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Gang mayhem grips LA
Level 1 Elementary
1
Key words
Match these key words from the text with the deinitions below.
mayhem to bury to ruin a crackdown a gang
a summit to despair to grip an injunction a probation oficer
1. A group of young people who spend time together and often cause trouble.
2. To put a dead body in the ground.
3. To hold tightly.
4. A very confused situation.
5. Strong action taken by the authority to stop a particular activity.
6. A meeting or series of meetings between leaders.
7. To feel a situation is so bad that nothing can change it.
8. An oficial order from the police that stops someone from doing something.
9. To destroy or seriously damage something.
10. Someone who helps and gives advice to criminals who are not in prison, and checks that they are
behaving well.
2
General understanding
A From the title:
Read the title and choose the best explanation (use the answers from exercise 1 to help you understand
the words).
1. Gangs in LA are confused about their situation.
2. Gangs are causing problems in LA.
3. LA has eliminated its gang problem.
B Skimming the text:
Read quickly and ind the paragraphs with the following information.
1. A new reality TV show is going to start in LA soon.
2. The gang problem in LA is the worst in the United States.
3. Gang members shot a young black girl.
4. There is a project to help people leave gangs.
5. The police have a list of the worse gangs.
6. Father Boyle buried another gang member.
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007
NEWS LESSONS / Gang mayhem grips LA / Elementary
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Gang mayhem grips LA
Level 1 Elementary
Gang mayhem grips LA
Paul Harris
March 18, 2007
a racial war is going to explode in this city,” says
Khalid Shah, director of Stop the Violence, one of
the groups organizing the meeting.
1
Father Greg Boyle counts the young gang
members he has buried. Number 151 was
Jonathan Hurtado, 18 – fresh out of jail. Now the
Jesuit is sad for him. “The day he got out I found
him a job. He never missed a day. He was doing
really well,” Boyle says.
8
Green’s death also caused Villaraigosa’s
crackdown. The police published a list of the
11 worst gangs, including 204th Street. They
promised to go after them with police, FBI agents
and court injunctions. But the people of Los
Angeles have seen it all before. The city’s history
is full of anti-gang projects.
2
Hurtado made a mistake: he went back to his old
neighbourhood. While sitting in a park, a man
on a bike came up to him and said: “Hey, homie,
what’s up?” He then shot Hurtado four times.
9
Publishing the ‘hit list’ could be a mistake.
“Putting out a list was a bad idea. Groups that
don’t make the list will want to be on it. They
don’t think rationally,” said Alex Alonso, a gang
historian.
3
Boyle’s Los Angeles is a world away from the
glamorous Hollywood hills, Malibu beaches and
Sunset Strip – the city that David Beckham and
Posh Spice will soon make their home.
10
But there is hope. Alfonso ‘Chino’ Visuet, 23,
started gang life as a teenager. He was attracted
by the excitement and riches and had a dificult
home life. “People who join a gang are always
running away from something. They run to the
gang,” Visuet says.
4
In Boyle’s Los Angeles an estimated 120,000
gang members ight over land, pride and
drugs. It is a city of violence as a new race war
grows between new Hispanic gangs and older
black groups. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who
has referred to his city as “the gang capital of
America”, has launched a crackdown on the
problem.
11
Visuet now works for Father Boyle’s Homeboy
Industries. It’s a project that helps people
leave gang life. It provides jobs, an education,
pays to have gang tattoos removed and
gives counselling. It wants to remove the
circumstances that lead to crime: poverty, abuse
and unemployment. All of its workers are former
gang members and it has created a bakery, a
printers and a restaurant.
5
Just before Christmas a 14-year-old black
girl, named Cheryl Green, died. As she stood
on a corner talking with friends, two Hispanic
members of the neighbourhood’s 204th Street
gang walked up and started shooting, killing
Green and wounding three others.
12
It worked for Visuet. He starts college this
autumn and wants to be a probation oficer. “I
was on the edge of doing something that would
ruin my life, either by doing violence or having it
done to me. That’s over now,” he says.
6
Last year there were 269 gang-related killings
in LA. Gang-related crime went up 15.7 per cent
last year, as most other types of crime went
down. Hate crimes against black people have
also gone up.
13
Visuet despairs at the conlict. “A brown gang
member now just sees a black gang member.
They don’t see how that person comes from the
same place they do. They might have a mother
who is an alcoholic as well or a father who hits
them. They have the same story,” he says.
7
Green’s death made the public aware of the gang
war between ‘brown and black’. Next week there
will be a summit called the Black and Brown
Strategy Meeting . “All of the signs are there that
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007
NEWS LESSONS / Gang mayhem grips LA / Elementary
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Gang mayhem grips LA
Level 1 Elementary
14
LA is a city of two worlds – Hollywood and gangs.
On a two-lane highway that goes through LA,
there is a sign for a new TV show called Sons of
Hollywood. It shows three rich young men and
some palm trees. It says it is a ‘reality’ show, but
for most of the poor people of Los Angeles it is
only a fantasy.
© Guardian News and Media 2007
First published in the Observer 18/03/07
3
Comprehension check
Choose the correct answer.
1. Father Boyle...
a) ... helps young people leave gangs.
b) ... works for the police.
c) ... only buries gang members.
2. There are 120,000...
a) ... gangs in Los Angeles.
b) ... gang members in Los Angeles.
c) ... dead gang members in Los Angeles.
3. Cheryl Green was killed...
a) ... by the 204th street gang.
b) ... on 204th street.
c) ... by accident.
5. All workers in Father Boyle’s Homeboy Industries...
a) ... are probation oficers.
b) ... used to be gang members.
c) ... are violent men.
6. The show Sons of Hollywood is...
a) ... about gang life in Los Angeles.
b) ... is on a two-lane highway in Los Angeles.
c) ... very different from the real lives of people in Los Angeles.
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007
NEWS LESSONS / Gang mayhem grips LA / Elementary
4. The police ‘hit list’ is...
a) ... an idea of the Black and Brown Strategy meeting.
b) ... not the irst anti-gang initiative in LA.
c) ... a very long list.
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Gang mayhem grips LA
Level 1 Elementary
4
Vocabulary 1: Phrases in context
Find phrases with the following meanings.
1. to be succeeding ___________ ___________ ___________ (para 1)
2. far away ___________ ___________ ___________ (para 3)
3. talked about ___________ ___________ (para 4)
4. it’s clear this is going to happen __________ __________ __________ __________ _________ (para 5)
5. secretly leaving a place ___________ ___________ (para 10)
6. it’s inished now ___________ ___________ ___________ (para 12)
7. it’s not real ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ (para 14)
5
Vocabulary 2: Law and order
Order the letters to make words connecting to law and order from the text.
1. licpoe _____________
2. ilja _____________
3. meric _____________
4. ckcrawdno _____________
5. crout _____________
6. IFB sentag _____________
7. jintoinunc _____________
6
Vocabulary 3: Word building
Complete the table.
adjective adjective noun noun
1.
glamour
2. violent
3.
race
4. exciting
5.
dificulty
6. poor
7.
reality
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007
NEWS LESSONS / Gang mayhem grips LA / Elementary
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Gang mayhem grips LA
Level 1 Elementary
KEY
1 Key words
4 Vocabulary 1: Phrases in context
1. gang
2. to bury
3. to grip
4. mayhem
5. a crackdown
6. a summit
7. to despair
8. an injunction
9. to ruin
10. a probation oficer
1. doing really well
2. a world away
3. referred to
4. all the signs are there
5. running away
6. that’s over now
7. it’s only a fantasy
5 Vocabulary 2: Law and order
2 General understanding
1. police
2. jail
3. crime
4. crackdown
5. court
6. FBI agents
7. injunction
A
2
B
1. para 14
2. para 4
3. para 5
4. para 11
5. para 8
6. para 1
6 Vocabulary 3: Word building
adjective noun
1. glamorous glamour
2. violent violence
3. racial race
4. exciting excitement
5. dificult dificulty
6. poor
3 Comprehension check
1. a
2. b
3. a
4. b
5. b
6. c
poverty
7. real
reality
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007
NEWS LESSONS / Gang mayhem grips LA / Elementary
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