Going under_elementary.pdf

Going under

Level 1 Elementary

Pre-reading A: Predicting the content

Read the headline and the sub-heading below. What do you think the article is going to be about?

•

Umbrellas breaking in the rain?

Rainwater illing houses and streets?

Tourists staying away because of the rain?

Going under

Everyone knows that it often rains in Britain. We often have week upon

week of rain. So why have a few heavy showers caused so much damage

here this summer?

Aida Edemariam reports

July 24, 2007

Pre-reading B: Key words

Match these keywords from the text with the meanings below.

disaster loods results run-off

drainage

sewers

ploughs

absorb

1. ____________ removing liquids from something

2. ____________ water from rivers illing the land

3. ____________ a very bad accident or serious damage

4. ____________ a system of pipes underground to carry waste water away

5. ____________ things that happen because something else happened

6. ____________ take in liquid a little at a time

7. ____________ too much water that cannot go down into the ground

8. ____________ digs up the land in lines, using machines

Now read the article, check the words in context, and see if your answer to Question 1 was correct.

NEWS LESSONS / Going under / Elementary

Going under

Level 1 Elementary

Going under

Everyone knows that it often rains in Britain. We

often have week upon week of rain. So why have

a few heavy showers caused so much damage

here this summer?

Aida Edemariam reports

July 24, 2007

lucky that the Victorians built the systems as big as

they did. Especially in London, they thought the city

would get bigger, and that has protected London

until now.” But London’s population is now four

times as big – and last Friday, the sewers couldn’t

handle so much water.

“Our sewers are not designed to have so much

water lowing through them,” says Nicola Savage,

a spokeswoman for Thames Water. And they are

not designed for the way we use them nowadays.

“We each, personally, use much more water than

ever before. Also, the public often use the sewers

as a rubbish bin,” Savage adds. “People put things

like babies’ nappies down the toilet. And also, we

need to encourage people not to pour fat and oil

down the sink. The sewers were never designed to

handle this kind of thing.”

People trying to take a train to or from the

southwest of England this weekend could think

they had accidentally walked into a disaster movie.

Some trains never arrived, and the people who

had to watch their homes and businesses go under

water couldn’t believe that such a short rainstorm

could cause so much damage.

I can understand their surprise, because this

country is famous for its wetness. Rain is our

national weather. Snow can cause us problems,

yes, and very hot weather, like last summer,

causes dificulties, too – but rain? With our wide

experience, surely we should lead the world in rain

management.

Saul is also investigating how farmers can control

the low of water off land. If Farmers plough across

hills, not down them, there will be less runoff. And

carefully placed trees can help stop looding. Also,

the more animals walk over a piece of land, the

harder the ground becomes, and the less water it

can absorb. Then, plants can’t grow well, and there

won’t be enough food. And if farm animals get no

drinking water for 48 hours, thousands will die, and

meat will cost more.

Unfortunately not. Thousands of people had

to leave their homes over the weekend, and

thousands more are still trapped inside their

houses. Some towns in the south had loods of up

to ive metres. In the north of England, some people

still can’t go home after last month’s loods, which

killed 8 people. Everyone is asking how such short

rainstorms – just one hour in London, slightly longer

in other places – could have such terrible results.

Scientists are also investigating how each of us can

help reduce a problem that, in fact, we have helped

create: by extending our houses, paving driveways,

and building car parks. All this takes away soft

ground that could absorb water, and adds to the

runoff into drains and rivers. And we should collect

any water that runs off the house instead of letting it

go into the sewerage system. We can use rainwater

to lush toilets or run washing machines. Every little

helps.

In fact, the answer is partly because it all happened

so quickly. Brize Norton in Oxfordshire had

121.2mm of rain between midnight Thursday and

5pm Friday – a sixth of what it would expect for the

whole year. South Yorkshire got a month’s worth of

rain on June 25. It has been raining for weeks now,

“and the ground is very wet, so immediately you get

rainfall, you get runoff”, explains professor Adrian

Saul, of Shefield University.

For although this month’s weather in Britain has

been very unusual, that may happen more, and

more often, as our climate changes. Today people

in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire are having to

leave their houses. Tomorrow, next month, next

year – who knows?

It isn’t just that the ground cannot absorb so much

so fast – drainage systems get too full, too. “When

you design a system you have to plan for possible

dangers, and generally the plans are good enough

to protect our communities,” says Saul. “It’s very

First published in The Guardian , 24/07/07

NEWS LESSONS / Going under / Elementary

Going under

Level 1 Elementary

Scanning for information

First,readthetextquicklytoindthewordsandnumbersintheboxbelow.Underlinetheminthetext.

ive metres eight people 121.2mm 5pm Friday June 25

Adrian Saul the Victorians four times Nicola Savage 48 hours

Now, read the text again, and use the information from the box to complete the sentences below.

1. _____________ built the sewers in London.

2. The rain stopped in Oxfordshire at _____________.

3. _____________ were killed in loods last month in the north of England.

4. _____________ is a professor at Shefield University.

5. Farm animals may die if they can’t drink water for _____________.

6. _____________ of rain fell in ive hours in Brize Norton.

7. _____________ gave some information from Thames Water.

8. In South Yorkshire, on _____________, it rained as much in one day as it usually rains in a month.

9. Flood water was _____________ deep in some towns in the south.

10. There are _____________ as many people living in London now as when the London sewers were built.

Vocabulary development

Find words in the text that mean the following. Paragraph numbers are given to help you.

1. ____________ – kept somewhere, like a prisoner (para 3)

2. ____________ – to think and plan how to build something (para 5)

3. ____________ – succeed in working with (para 5)

4. ____________ – special pieces of soft material for babies to wear because they can’t use the toilet (para 6)

5. ____________ – covering (the ground) with hard material like concrete or bricks (para 8)

6. ____________ – to wash away with a lot of water (para 8)

NEWS LESSONS / Going under / Elementary

Going under

Level 1 Elementary

Language development: Prepositions

Choose prepositions from the box to go with the words below.

on like for over in

1. ______ the weekend

2. ______ the south

3. ______ June 25

4. raining ______ weeks

5. plan ______ possible dangers

6. Especially ______ London

7. designed ______

8. things ______ babies’ nappies

Now scan the text quickly to see if you were right.

Pronunciation: Syllable stress

The 3-syllable words in the box all come from the article.

disaster businesses management

terrible

professor possible protected nowadays encourage

carefully

scientists extending rainwater unusual

Whichsyllableisstressed?Putthemintherightcolumn.Theirst2aredoneforyou.

0 o o

o 0 o

bus inesses

di sas ter

NEWS LESSONS / Going under / Elementary

Going under

Level 1 Elementary

KEY

2 Pre-reading B: Key words

5 Language development: Prepostions

1. drainage

2. loods

3. disaster

4. sewers

5. results

6. absorb

7. run-off

8. ploughs

1. over the weekend

2. in the south

3. on June 25

4. raining for weeks

5. plan for possible dangers

6. Especially in London

7. designed for

8. things like babies’ nappies

3 Scanning for information

6. Pronunciation: Syllable stress

1. the Victorians

2. 5pm Friday

3. eight people

4. Adrian Saul

5. 48 hours

6. 121.2mm

7. Nicola Savage

8. June 25

9. ive metres

10. four times

0 o o

o 0 o

bus inesses

di sas ter

management

terrible

possible

nowadays

carefully

scientists

rainwater

professor

protected

encourage

extending

unusual

4 Vocabulary development

1. trapped

2. design

3. handle

4. nappies

5. paving

6. lush

NEWS LESSONS / Going under / Elementary

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