News Lessons 2.pdf

(273 KB) Pobierz
340769817 UNPDF
Return to Algeria
Level 2 l Intermediate
1 Key Words
Match the words from the text with the deinitions.
1. anxious
2. talkative
3. determined
4. innumerable
5. indifferent
6. hostile
7. daring
8. dilapidated
9. slightly
10.hospitable
a. impossible to count
b. old and in a bad condition
c. generous towards visitors and guests
d. not willing to let anything prevent you from doing what you have decided to do
e. lacking interest or sympathy
f. brave enough to do dangerous things
g. just a little
h. worried
i. behaving in a very unfriendly way
j. talking a lot
2 Find the information
Look in the text and ind this information as quickly as possible.
1. Where are the people in the text travelling to?
2. When did they leave Algeria?
3. Why are they going back?
4. What was the attitude of French people towards them when they arrived in France?
5. When did Pierre’s family irst settle in Algeria?
6. What did Enrico think of Algiers?
No one says a word. They are anxious, lost in their memories and perhaps their fears too. Once on board
the plane they start to relax. “When we get there, it will be like stepping back into my teens,” says Robert,
60. It is his wife Marie-France’s irst light. They live near Marseille, and in less than an hour they will be in
Algiers. “I have two little brothers there,” he suddenly says. They are buried in the Christian cemetery of
Algiers, next to his father and his grandparents.
As we approach Algiers he becomes more talkative. “I was born in the Hussein Dey district,” he says. “I
started work at 15. We lived in a rented lat, but we were happy. All we wanted was to go to the beach, do
some ishing and shooting.” When the plane lands, Robert simply says: “Here I am, back where I started 44
years ago.”
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the Magazine section in www.onestopenglish.com
340769817.012.png 340769817.013.png 340769817.014.png
Return to Algeria
Level 2 l Intermediate
Everyone in the group of about 50 people seems to want to do the same thing: see their old street, their
house, maybe their school and perhaps some childhood friends. The three-day tour is organised by a
French tour company which organises visits specially for French people who left Algeria in 1962. In the past
two years about 60,000 people have made the trip and numbers are increasingly steadily.
“When I saw the advert I didn’t hesitate for long,” says Lydia, 50. “My family and friends all said: ‘Algiers? But
you’re crazy. What are you are going to do in a place like that? What do you expect to ind?’ Perhaps they
think we are going to Baghdad.” She was determined to go and told them: “Perhaps I’ll be disappointed, but
at least I’ll have tried.” So here they are again in Algiers for the irst time in almost half a century. During the
dark years of Islamist terror (1990-2000) they thought they would never see the place again. For many it is
a big surprise, the streets full of people, the trafic jams and pollution, the innumerable satellite dishes, and
washing drying everywhere.
They cannot believe the warmth of their reception. Wherever they go they hear the same greeting:
“Welcome home.” Older people come up to them and ask, in French: “Why did you leave? Come back, we
need you.” Even the young people tell them: “It’s good to see Europeans again.” As time passes the anger
they have felt for so long begins to disappear. Who, they wonder, was actually threatening them when they
left in such a hurry in the summer of 1962? Was it the victorious National Liberation Front or the [far-right]
OAS extremists? Nothing seems clear any more. “I should never have left. Here, at least, I would have been
some use,” says Mary-Josette, a retired nurse. “We had no choice. We had to go,” say the others.
None of them have forgotten their nightmare arrival in France. Suddenly Algeria was no longer part of
France and they were no longer important. They lost everything. In France people were indifferent to them
and sometimes even hostile. “In Marseille and Toulon they referred to us as ‘repatriates’ but that was
nonsense. We were immigrants. Only here, in Algeria, are we really repatriates,” says Lydia.
Fabienne, 73, and Pierre, 60 met on the plane and discovered they were born in the same quarter of
Algiers. Fabienne is a colourful igure. Pierre, in contrast, is quiet, with blue eyes and fair hair. His family,
from Alsace, irst settled in Algeria in 1870. He plans to visit his family’s old lat, a move that seems too
daring for Fabienne. She gathers some earth from outside her former home, a dilapidated block of lats.
This is where she used to buy doughnuts for breakfast and where she did her athletics training. At one point
in the 1950s she was the “Algerian champion over 100 and 200 metres”. She sees a bar she used to visit.
“Ah, I was young then,” she says, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. To the Algerians who smile at her,
she says: “Khuya” [my brother], adding: “I feel I know them, we have the same blood.”
When he reaches his building Pierre hesitates. “It’s all a bit too much,” he says, his voice full of emotion. He
climbs to the second loor and rings the bell. The door opens slightly. His wife Dominique waits on the stairs,
anxious. Her husband has been dreaming of this moment for 40 years and she wonders what will happen if
he is turned away. A woman, in her 60s appears. “Come in,” she says with a smile. Little has changed inside
the lat. Pierre goes from room to room. He inds the room where he was born, once occupied by his mother,
a musician. And here is the ireplace where the family used to put their Christmas presents. For a while,
Pierre says nothing, lost in his thoughts.
“Goodness, you have kept everything the same as it was,” says Pierre. The woman, who has lived in the lat
with her husband’s family since 1963, says: “This gentleman was born here and now he is reliving his whole
life. It must be terrible for him.” Finally everyone sits down and they exchange addresses. “You must come
back with your family, stay for a week,” says the old woman’s husband, when the visitors leave. “It’s a lot to
take all at once,” says Pierre, his eyes full of tears.
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the Magazine section in www.onestopenglish.com
340769817.015.png 340769817.001.png 340769817.002.png
Return to Algeria
Level 2 l Intermediate
Marcel Pontier has still not recovered from the shock he had that afternoon. He was taking a photograph of his old
home when the owner appeared. Marcel apologised and explained that he once lived there. The other man replied:
“Oh, you must be Mr Pontier.” Andre, a Jew born in the poor district of Bab el-Oued, is delighted. “What a welcome!
After all that has happened, it is quite unexpected. These are our people.”
Enrico, 79, does not share the enthusiasm. A barber and former member of the OAS, he now lives in the US. “It’s
dirty. I should have stayed at home with my memories. Still, I must admit, I’ve never seen such hospitable people.”
3 Comprehension Check
Decide whether these sentences are True or False according to the text.
1. All the travellers in the group were very talkative on the plane.
2. Robert’s two brothers live in Algiers.
3. Everyone in the group seems to want to revisit the scene of their childhood.
4. Lydia’s friends thought she was crazy to want to visit Algiers.
5. People in Algiers were indifferent and hostile to them.
6. The woman living in Pierre’s old lat has changed everything.
7. Pierre was invited to return and stay for a week.
8. Enrico was pleased he had visited Algiers.
4 Vocabulary 1 Collocations
Match the verbs with the nouns.
1. make
a. a bell
2. feel
b. a photograph
3. do
c. addresses
4. ring
d. a trip
5. exchange
e. training
f. take
f. anger
5 Vocabulary 2 Prepositions
Fill the gaps using prepositions.
1. full
tears
2.
board the plane
3.
the irst time 4.
a hurry
5.
contrast
6. recover
7. refer
8. smile
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the Magazine section in www.onestopenglish.com
340769817.003.png 340769817.004.png 340769817.005.png
Return to Algeria
Level 2 l Intermediate
6 Vocabulary 3 Word building
Complete the table.
Verb Noun
1. receive
2. greet
3. disappear
4. hesitate
5. threaten
6. arrive
7. discover
8. recover
7 Discussion
What things do you remember from your childhood and adolescent years? Do you ind it an emotional
experience to visit the house where you were born or to go back to your irst school?
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the Magazine section in www.onestopenglish.com
340769817.006.png 340769817.007.png 340769817.008.png
Return to Algeria
Level 2 l Intermediate
KEY
1 Key Words
1. h; 2. j; 3. d; 4. a; 5. e; 6. i; 7. f; 8. b; 9. g; 10. c
2 Find the information
1. Algiers (Algeria)
2. 1962
3. To visit the place where they were born (their old house, their street, school, childhood friends)
4. They were indifferent or hostile
5. 1870
6. He thought it was dirty (but the people were very hospitable)
3 Comprehension Check
1. F; 2. F; 3. T; 4. T; 5. F; 6. F; 7. T; 8. F
4 Vocabulary 1 Collocations
1. d; 2. f; 3. e; 4. a; 5. c; 6. b
5 Vocabulary 2 Prepositions
1. of; 2. on; 3. for; 4. in; 5. in; 6. from; 7. to; 8. at
6 Vocabulary 3 Word building
1. reception
2. greeting
3. disappearance
4. hesitation
5. threat
6. arrival
7. discovery
8. recovery
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the Magazine section in www.onestopenglish.com
340769817.009.png 340769817.010.png 340769817.011.png

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin