Fears for Lone Missing Climber
Fears are growing here for a lone climber missing for the past 48 hours.
Jamie Biddals, 32, from New Zealand, is known to have left Kathmandu alone six days ago but has not been seen since. He is thought to have only a small amount of food and he is believed to be wearing only lightweight climbing clothes. As for equipment, he is known to be carrying a small rucksack and a lightweight tent.
He is said to have been heading for an old base camp.
The weather has deteriorated during the last 48 hours, and he is thought to have been trying to get to the camp when a severe blizzard started.
Jamie is considered to be one of the best climbers in the world but there are still fears for his safety in these conditions.
A: Answer the questions:
1. Is Jamie Biddals said to have left Kathmandu alone or with a group of other climbers?
2. How much food supplies is he thought to have taken with him?
3. What kind of clothes is he reported to be wearing?
4. Did he happen to take any tent to sleep in?
5. Where is he expected to have been heading for?
6. Why do people appear to be worried about Jamie?
B: Work in groups. Suggest any ideas about Jamie's escape. Exchange your ideas in the class. Use the following patterns:
| Jamie is | sure certain (not) likely bound | to do smth. to be doing smth. to be done, to have done smth. to have been doing smth. to have been done. |
С: Think about the development of tourism in your country in the short, medium and long term. Include your views on the likelihood of certain things to happen or not to happen.
14. Read a story of a girl, Vicky by name, who is learning Japanese. Identify constructions with infinitive.
It is no uncommon thing today to go to evening classes to learn a foreign language. All members of my family did it. It was easy for my brother to learn Spanish and it was no trouble at all for my farther to learn French at evening classes. But my mother found it quite difficult to learn German. As for me, it wasn't an easy thing to learn Russian at evening classes two years ago. Grammar rules were so complicated for me to remember!
Now I'm learning Japanese and it appears to be very hard for me again. It seems quite easy for our teacher to pronounce Japanese well. But it would be foolish for us (students) to expect to acquire perfect pronunciation. It takes a lot of time.
Gradually I get to understand that it is impossible for evening class students to learn to speak Japanese fluently. It will be more reasonable for me to simplify aim at making myself understood. But it would have been wrong for me to give up the course half way through as it is unusual for me to get discouraged. But anyway I must admit it'll be a relief for me to finish the course next summer! In fact, it would be best for me to go on holiday to Japan afterwards!
A: Answer the questions:
1. How do most people learn a foreign language today?
2. How difficult was it for Vicky's family to learn foreign languages?
3. What problems did Vicky have when she was taking a course in Russian?
4. Vicky finds Japanese quite easy to pronounce, doesn't she?
5. Does she expect to speak Japanese fluently after the end of the course?
B: Say what is quite easy / difficult / interesting / boring / useful / (un)necessary / helpful for you about your English studies.
C: Work in groups. Give some advice for students to improve their English. You may use the following:
| It is important / useful / necessary It will be a good idea / the best thing There are so many / different + noun | for you + to-infinitive |
15. Read the following jokes. Retell them in indirect speech. Use constructions with infinitive.
A Sound Sleeper
John: Hello, Bob, old boy. It's ages I saw you last. I want you
to knowthat I even spoke to you in my dream.
Bob: Sorry, but I didn't hear you speak.
A Cheep Secret
Young John: I saw you kissmy sister, Mr Brown. Would you like me to keep silenton the subject?
Mr Brown: Certainly, my boy. Here is a sixpence. And I expect you to keep it a secret.
John: A sixpence? Do you really mean I have to keep it
a secret for sixpence? I got two shillings for not telling I saw Mr Johns kissher.
***
Passer-by (to a rider on horseback passing slowly along the road): Hey, young man, one of your spurs is missing. You have got a spur on your right foot and none on your left one.
Rider: Never mind! One spur will do. If I make one side of my horse go, the otheris not likely to lag behind.
***
"Oh, Auntie!" cried little Annie, "Make Freddie behavehimself. Every time I happen to hit him on the head, he is sure to burst out crying".
***
A group of people were talking about strange things which had happened to them.
"When I was in India", said one of them, "I saw a tiger come downto the water where some women were washing clothes. It was a very fierce tiger, but one woman, had a presence of mind to splashsome water in its face - and it ran away".
"Gentlemen", said a man in an armchair, "the storyis sure to be true.Some minutes after the accident I was coming down to the water. I happened to meet this tiger and stroked its whiskers. Gentlemen, I found those whiskers to be wet".
The Gerund
The Gerund is a non-finite form of the verb that has both verb and noun characteristics. Its noun characteristics are the following:
1. The Gerund can be the subject of the sentence, and object, a predicative.
Reading is his favourite pastime.
I've finished working.
My worst vice is smoking.
2. It can be preceded by a preposition.
He insisted on coming.
3. It can be modified by a noun in the possessive case or a possessive pronoun.
Please, excuse my interrupting you.
The teacher said that she wouldn't tolerate Peter's arriving late every day.
Its verb characteristics are the following:
1. It can be followed by a direct or an indirect object.
Closing the factory means putting people out of work.
He hates speaking to strangers.
2. It can be modified by an adverb.
A teacher of English must avoid speaking too quickly.
3. The Gerund has voice and tense distinctions. The Indefinite Gerund expresses that the action denoted by the gerund is simultaneous with the action of the finite form of the verb in the sentence. The Perfect Gerund indicates that the action of the Gerund precedes the action of the finite verb in the sentence.