Episode 59

EPISODE 59
LEVEL A1.2/A2.1

 

 

READING COMPREHENSION 

 

IN COURT

 

Mr X stole a car a few weeks ago (= he took another person’s car from a street). It means he committed a crime (= he did something wrong, against the law). The police stopped him and now he is accused of stealing the car (= the police say he stole it). He will go on trial (= some lawyers will decide if he goes to jail and for how long). A jury will decide if he did it or not, and a judge will decide what the punishment should be (= how Mr X should pay for what he did). During the trial a witness (= a person who saw the crime personally) will tell everybody what happened. The lawyers will present some evidence (= material which shows what really happened). Finally, the jury will reach the verdict (= they will make their decision about him).

 

More contexts for the new words: 

• He witnessed a crime yesterday. (= He saw it with his own eyes) 
• There were 8 women on the jury yesterday. (= There were 8 jurors who were women yesterday)

 

EXERCISE 1 

Put the events of the story in a logical order.

1. A witness came to the police.
2. John stole an old lady’s bag.
3. John went on trial.
4. John went to prison for ten years.
5. Lawyers presented some evidence.
6. The judge decided that the punishment should be prison.
7. The jury reached the verdict – that he had done it.
8. The police accused John of stealing the bag.

 

EXERCISE 2 

Match the question halves, then answer the questions.

 

1. Have you ever witnessed                                         a) with a jury?
2. Has anyone stolen                                                    b) anything from you?
3. Do you think Poland should have trials               c) a crime?

 

 

ENGLISH IN USE  

 

 

Let’s look at the sentence which begins the text above:
M. X stole a car a few weeks ago.

This sentence is about the past and that is why we use a past simple form of the verb here: stole. We know that the three forms of this verb are:

steal stole stolen (e.g. He has never stolen anything)

There are some more verbs which are similar to this one:
break broke broken (e.g. I broke my arm last week)
drive drove driven (e.g. I have driven this car three times before)
ride rode ridden (e.g. To relax I ride a horse every week)
wake woke woken (e.g. I woke up at 5 a.m. yesterday)

 

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP 

 

A/ How much did you pay for this dress?

B/ Only ten dollars. It’s A STEAL!

 

If something is a steal,  it costs much less than it is really worth.

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

 

 

1. When you BREAK OUT OF prison, you escape from prison.

Three prisoners have broken out of a top-security jail.

 

2. When you GET AWAY WITH something, you manage to do something bad without being punished or criticized for it.

Company director got away with fraud for ten years.
How can he get away with speaking to her like that?

 

 

EXERCISE 3 

Complete the sentences with the missing words.

 

1. They have often broken the law and got away …………………….. it.
2. Jack was sent to prison, but hoped to break out …………………….. it quickly.
3. Only five zlotys for a bungee jump? That’s a ……………………….!

 

 

NEWS

 

OVERCROWDED PRISONS

 

A governmental report was published last week, officially admitting what the society has known for a long time – namely that Polish prisons are terribly overcrowded. It is estimated that each prisoner has at their disposal approximately one square meter of space – and an ordinary bed requires two square meters! Prison authorities suggest that there are only two ways out of the problem: to build more prisons, or to stop taking new prisoners. So, which do you prefer: paying higher taxes for the construction of more penal facilities, or having dangerous criminals in the streets?

 

GLOSSARY 

– overcrowded – with too many people in too little space

– estimated – used when you don’t give a precise number, but only ‘more or less’

– approximately – about

– authorities – bosses

– penal facilities – prisons

 

 

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