Exploring newspapers

EXPLORING NEWSPAPERS
EXPLORING NEWSPAPERS
Complied and adapted by: PHAN HỮU LỄ

Unit 1
DOG SOUP BANNED FROM KOREAN TABLE
SEOUL: The Government yesterday tanned restaurants from/serving
traditional soup made from dog and snake meat to improve the country's
image for the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Olympics being held here.
A government statement said “The ban, which had already been
enforced in Seoul, would now take effect throughout the country. Both snake
and dog are eaten in several Asian countries, including China.
Seoul civic authorities reported that 300 dog meat soup shops which
had served the dish in the capital had been closed and others were being
phased out.
Dog meat soup (Boshin-tang), is believed by many Koreans to help)
invigorate health during the hot summer months. Snake meat soup is
traditionally served in the cold winter months.
The ban has caused a lively debate in Seoul newspapers with readers'
letters complaining that local habit formed over hundreds of years should not
be changed to suit foreigners.
The Government, however, has received strong protests from dog-lover
organisations in the US and Europe over eating dugs.
Some people breed dogs and fatten them up for the summer months
like cattle or sheep are reared in other countries.
Dog meat is cooked by boiling and is eaten with a sauce of hotired
peppers and garlic powder.


The meat is often seen in traditional Korean open markets, which has
offended foreign tourists who have been able to identify the carcasses as

canine.
Dog and snake meat are by no means the most prominent of Korea's
traditional health foods.
They also include fried grasshoppers, deer antler horn powder, bull
testes powder and the famous ginseng root which is believed to increase
sexual performance.
1. Explain the meaning of the following words used in the article:
image (line 2)
ban (line 4)
phased
out (line 8)
suit (line 12)
2. What are the reasons for the Korean government's banning of dog
soup? 

Unit 2
A HEAVENLY PIECE OF KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN
Traditional lion dances and crashing cymbals greeted the formal
opening in Peking yesterday of the world's largest Kentucky Fried Chicken
shop.
“The one, the only, the original recipe" proclaimed the hoardings, as
sinuous dancers waved red scarves and hundreds of balloons were released
over Tiananmen Square in the heart of the Chinese capital


“The Chinese have some of the finest dishes in the world - now they
have one more," said Mr. Richard Mayer, chairman of the American fast food
chain.
From the top of the new three-storey restaurant, the jolly, bespectacled
features of the company's founding father, Col. Sanders, look out across the

vast square towards the portrait of Chairman Mao, on the Gate of Heavenly
Peace.
The present Communist party authorities say the welcome given to
Kentucky Fried Chicken is in line with the policy of opening to the outside
world, reaffirmed at the party congress earlier this month.
The restaurant, a joint venture with two Chinese state corporations,
seats 100 and can serve 2,000 chicken pieces an hour. The menu is the same
as in 57 other countries.
Four policemen seen tucking into the cartons of chicken, mashed potato
and coleslaw said with some surprise: "It tastes not bad.
Other customers, however, found the secret blend of 11 herbs and
spices somewhat less than finger-licking good, "I felt sick at the smell of it,"
said one.
In a city where a bowl of hot noodles or dumplings costs a few pence, a
meal at the American fast-food store costs up to £2, a week’s wages for many
Chinese.
A- COMPREHENSION
Read tbe article above and then choose the best answer for each of the
following.
1. The ceremony which officially opened the first Kentucky Fried
Chicken shop in China was
a. dignified and formal.
b. jolly and traditional.


c. noisy and colorful
2. The new restaurant is situated in
a. Shanghai.
b. Peking.
c. we are not told where.

3. The Chinese authorities are welcoming Kentucky Fried Chicken
because they
a. want to be friends with America.
b. like the idea of fast food.
c. have decided to be more open to the world.
4. The policemen
a. liked the food.
b. didn’t like the food.
c. thought the food smelt awful.
5. A meal at the Kentucky Fried chicken restaurant costa
a. more than £2.
b. as much as £2.
c. about £2.
B. VOCABULARY
1. Find a word or phrase in the text for each of the following.
a. large boards for advertisements
b. wearing glasses
c. enormous
d. a business enterprise with two or more partners
e. eating enthusiastically


f. it tastes so good you want to lick your fingers
2. Find in the article the name of
a. an item of clothing
b. a musical instrument
c. an animal
d. a cfapital
e. an American fast food
3. In the headline, can you explain the use of the words Heaventy

Place?

Unit 3
110-YEAR-OLD TOURIST
BRITAIN'S oldest man made his first visit to London yesterday at die
age of 110.
Mr John Evans had never found the time -or the money - to make the
trip from his home in Fforestfach, near Swansea. But, when British Rail
offered him an all- expenses-paid birthday treat to the capital he just could not
refuse.
He arrived in style at Paddington station, smartly turned out in his best
suit, favorite panama hat and a red rose in his buttonhole.
Sailed to Ilfracombe
"It's very exciting, there's no doubt about it." he said.
Until yesterday he had never been far from home, except for one trip to
Aberdeen.
"But I’ve been on the seas to that faraway land called Ilfracombe 21
miles from home," he joked.


Mr Evans, who spent 6Q years working as a miner in South Wales,
almost made the journey to London once before, at the turn of the century.
"There was a trip to the White City but it was ten shillings return from
Swansea - too much I thought All my money went to the family then," he said.
During the next two days Mr Evans will be taken on a whistle-stop tour
of London to see the sights.
Top of his list is a visit, to the Houses of Parliament organised by his
MP, Mr. Gareth Wardeli.
The only arrangement he does not care for is the wheelchair provided to
ferry him about if he gets tired. "I don't like the chair business - people will

think I am getting old." he said
His ingredients for a long and healthy life have been well- publicised no alcohol, no tobacco and no cursing.
Before setting off from Swansea with his 76-year-old son, Amwel, he
quipped: Tm glad to see they've given me a return ticket."
A. MEMORY TEST
After reading the article about John Evans, Britain's oldest man, test
your memory on the following exercise.
1. How old is Mr Evans?
2. Which is the nearest city to where he was bom?
3. Which London station did he arrive at?
4. What did he wear in his buttonhole?
5. Mr Evans worked for sixty yean. What was his job?
6. Why didn't he go to London before, when he had the chance?
7. Which special place is he going to see in London?
8. Why doesn't he like going about in a wheelchair?


9. Name two of Mr Evans’s secrets for a long and healthy life.
10. How old is Mr Evans's son?
B. VOCABULARY
What is the meaning of the following words and phrases as they are
used in the text?
1. a treat (line 3)
2. smartly turned out (line 5)
3. a whistle-stop tour (line 15)
4. MP (line 16)
5. ingredients (line 19)
6. cursing (line 20)
7. setting off (line 21)
8. quipped (line 21) 

Unit 4
MATCHING HEADLINES
Each of the nine news stories printed below should have a two-word
headline – a word form Group A followed by a word from Group B. Study the
news stories and then write the appropriate headline
Group A:
Hotel / flat / fallout / ferries / skiers / gallery / racial / double / murder
Group B:
Accord / hit / raid / killing / paid / blast / lingers / trouble / probe / hurt


Unit 5
NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
Here art some typical, mostly genuừie, newspaper headlines. Each has
been 'translated' into tveryday language, with some words missing. Can you
supply the musing words?
1. Jobless total tops 3m
… 3 million people are now….
2. Storm over pit closures
There has been an angry… to the announcement that some… are to be
closed.
3. QUAKE TOLL RISES
The number of… of the… has risen.
4. KREHUNUPSARHSSPENDXNG
The... government have… their defence budget.
5. PEACE MOVES IN DOCKS:
There has been an… to … both sides in the port wofken dispute.
6. TXACHXRS TO BE AXZD
Some teachers are going to lose…

7. MAYOR GOES IN BRIBES STORM
After the discovery that he had… bribes, the mayor has been 8.TWO
ON KIDNAP CHARGE
… people have beenr... in connection with the kid napping.

Unit 6
CARTOON
Peanuts “good of Charlie Brown”


A boy and his dog miking like perfect comrapes through the woods
I hear footsteps
This is the way it was meant to be
Hey, Snoofy. Let’s go for a walk
If you see a souvernir or a deer, or a pleasant or a…
This cartoon has become disarranged by studying the pictures and
reading the captions you should be able to put it back into its correct
sequence. It’s not difficult

Unit 7
PRESIDENT HAILS NEW ZEALAND
EDUCATION, SEEKS COOPERATION
President Nguyen Minh Triet praised the New Zealand education
system at a meeting with tliat country's Education Minister Chris Drier in Hanoi
yesterday, and called for boosting bilateral cooperation in this field.
He hailed the recent development of bilateral ties in fields like
economics, trade, education, culture and environmental protection. He
believed that Carter's visit would lead to closer ties, especially in education
and training.
Carter recalled Triet's visit to New Zealand last September as a

landmark in friendship between the willing to two countries.

Vietnam

He realized that Vietnamese teachers, leaders paid dose attention to
cooperation with New Zealand in the field of education, he said.
He apprised Triet of an agreement reached during his discussions with
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Tnien
Nhan to focus on English language training for Vietnamese teachers and
vocational training and post-graduate education for Vietnamese students.


'New Zealand is send language experts to to help train English he said
A. VOCABULARY
What is the meaning of the following words and phrases as they are
used in the text?
1. praised
2. boosting bilateral cooperation
3. hailed
4. landmark
5. apprised
6. vocational training
C. COMPREHENSION
What, in your opinion, are some benefits that Triet’s visit to New
Zealand brings about to our country?

Unit 8
THE GREAT HURRICANE
Houses damaged, cars wrecked, power cuts, no trains... the most
ferocious storm for three hundred years did not spare anybody

Battle against the disaster in the night
SOUTHERN Britain was a scene of devastation when the dawn came
after a night of howling terror and confusion. Meanwhile, the East Coast
awoke to face the full fury of the storm.
Across most of the south, there was no electricity, no transport, many
roads closed and many telephones not working.
Not even the worst winter blizzard could have paralysed the country
with such total efficiency. Some people surveyed the damage: hundreds of


cars destroyed by uprooted trees, thousands of windows smashed, roofs tom
off, garages demolished.
Some people set out for work to find trees and lampposts across the
roads. They abandoned cars to walk to railway stations - and there they found
no staff and no trains.
Awesome
Some people - workers in the emergency services - went on doing what
they had been doing ail night, fighting flat out to save their fellow citizens from
the effects of a natural disaster greater than anything Britain had seen for 300
years.
To police headquarters in the different counties, the reports flooded in.
They concerned deaths into double figures and injuries into the hundreds.
The storm had struck with awesome indifference to human frailty or
strength, affluence or poverty.
Drivers of high-priced cars found them crushed and broken, side by side
with old bangers equally destroyed.
Death struck impartially. It claimed one victim here in a 50 soft hotel
bed, another there, sleeping rough on a vagrant’s pavement.
It took young and old. People died in their homes, in their cars or doing
their jobs in the battle against the storm's ravages.

In human terras, the storm broke down barriers and reserve, bringing
forth a flood of kindly neighbourliness.
In the worst-hit areas, thousands of people were up through the night,
opening their homes to others who had lost theirs.
In the wrecked caravan parks of the South Coast, firemen and police
waded through deep water to rescue elderiy retirees from mobile homes that
were now piles of twisted metaj and broken glass. Hospitals could not


telephone their staffs to man the additional emergency rooms that were
needed.
The staffs fought die wind and die danger - and at the peak of the storm
it was very dangerous to take to the sừeets - to turn up voluntarily in theừ
hundreds.
So did the part-time workers in the front line of emergency services,
special constables, ambulance men, part-time firemen.
Two of these, from Christ-church, Dorset, Ernest Gregory, 47 and
Graham White, 46, died when a tree crushed the cab of their fire engine. They
were answering an emergency call.
Across the country, firemen broke into damaged buildings to save lives,
to evacuate the old from risky tower blocks and cut the injured out of smashed
cars.
In the sừeets and on the motorways, the police worked frantically to
divert traffic and clear blocked roads to prevent the havoc creating an even
greater death toll.
This morning the storm, its power waning, is out in the i io North Sea...
and Britain be-’gins a weekend of clearing up after a night to remember for a
long, long time.
On the night of 15/16 October 1987, the south of England was hit by a
hurricane. It was the worst storm Britain had experiencedfor 300 years. This

article gives a general account of the damage caused and the work of the
rescue services.
A. VOCABULARY
There are a number of verbs in the present article which describe the
violent action of the hurricane. Look at the two lists below and, after reading
the article, see if you can match them up.
the country was

damaged


trees were blocked
windows were crushed
roofs were diverted
garages were paralysed
cars were

evacuated

caravan parks were uprooted
buildings were tom off
the elderly were

smashed

roads were demolished
traffic was

wrecked

B. COMPREHENSION
1. What is the meaning of Death struck impartially?
2. What ‘good’ did the storm bring?
3. In what way were the staffs of the emergency services particularly
brave?

Unit 9
NEW BRIEFS
(1)……………………
(TN-HANOI) Over 10 percent of imported medicines in 2007 Idid not
meet local standards, tripling the previous year's statistic, the Ministry of
Health reported in Hanoi yesterday.
According to the report, the ratio of counterfeit medicine as a
percentage of all medicines on the market was 0.17 percent, a six year-high.
Traditional medicines and medicines produced from smuggled materials
were said to occupy 50 percent of the local market in southern provinces.


A sampling of the cosmetics market showed nine out of 24 lipstick
specimens contained Sudan, a toxic dye that is a confirmed carcinogen.
(2)……………………
(TN-HCMC) A groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of two
rest stops along national highways will be held today and Friday in the
northern provinces ofNinh Binh and Hoa Binh.
The projects are funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA) and are a part of JICA's Study for Roadside Stations Master Plan in
Vietnam that was started in February 2007. The stations are expected to
begin operation in August this year.
The two roadside stations will be the first of their kind in Vietnam. In
addition to serving as roadside rest areas for travelers, the stations will

provide public information as well as space for the merchandizing of local
delicacies and artifacts.
The Vietnam Road Department says 80 similar stations are to be built
across the nation by 2015.
(3)……………………
(TN-HANOI) The National Assembly's Standing Committee held a
special session in Hanoi yesterday on the progress of the construction of the
new National Assembly House, and agreed to the proposed completion date
of 2011.
Due to recent architectural modifications, the building will now have a
floor area of around 30,000 square meters, a little smaller than the initial
design.
Because of the reduced floor space, some departments of the National
Assembly may have to operate in a different building, according to
construction minister Nguyen Hong Quan,
(4)……………………


(TN-HCMC) The Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group
(VNPT) has doubled the speed of its ADSL/MegaVNN broadband Internet
services and increased their fees.
Taking effect yesterday, the new maximum download speeds are
1,024Kbps to 8Mbps, depending on the package. The upload speeds range
from 512Kbps to 640Kbps.
The new monthly fees for the various packages range from VND24.000
to VND2 million, changed from VND28,000 to VND500,000.
VNPT said it would automatically increase the connection speeds for all
existing subscribers.
(5)……………………
(TN-DAK LAK) Storms have caused damage worth VND2 billion

(US$125,000) in the last few days in the central highlands province of Dak
Lak.
The districts of Buon Don, Krong Bong and Krong Nang were battered
Monday.
In Buon Don, high winds blew the roofs off four classrooms in Hoang
Van Thu Primary School while
120 children were seated inside. The students and teachers were
unharmed.
In Krong Bong, 19 houses, four classrooms and two brick kilns had their
roofs blown off, while another house came crashing down.
In Krong Nang, the storms blew off seven houses' roofs, destroyed five
shops in a market, heavily damaged a gas station and toppled 200 electric
poles.
A. What is the meaning of the following words as they are used in the
News Briefs?
1. tripling (line 1)


2. counterfeit medicine (line 3)
3. a groundbreaking ceremony (line 10)
4. local delicacies (line 17)
5. architectural modifications (line 23)
6. to operate (line 25)
7. existing subscribers (line 34)
8. unharmed (line 40)
9. brick kilns (line 41)
10. toppled (line 44)
B. Put each of the headings below in the blank space above each item
of news
a. STORMS DESTROY PROPERTY WORTH $125,000 IN DAK LAX

b. VNPT DOUBLES INTERNET CONNECTION SPEED
c. CONSTRUCTION OF NEW NA HOUSE TO BE COMPLETED IN
2011
d. WORK STARTS ON REST STOPS IN NORTHERN PROVINCES
c. FAKE AND L o W-QUAUTY MEDICINES ON THE RISE

Unit 10
THAI PRINCESS GIVES AID TO VIETNAMESE SCHOOLS
(VNA) Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhom has donated over VND120
million (US$7300) to improve nutrition and hygiene in three schools in
northern Vietnam, said Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Kittiphong na Ranong on
Monday.


The three schools include Ninh My Primary School in Ninh Binh
Province, Cao Son Secondary School in Hoa Binh Province and Hung Tbang
Secondary School in Quang Ninh Province.
The funds will be allotted forgrowing mushrooms, raising pigs and
building water systems in the schools.
The financial aid was handed over to die United Nations Educational,
Sdentific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Vietnam Committee as part of
a larger project titled "Enhancing Living Conditions of Asian-Pacific Children
and Youth," particularly focusing on upgrading nutrition, and hygiene factors.
The princess had previously donated over $36400 to die same three
schools last year.
1. What did the Princess do to help the three Vietnamese schools?
2. What will the financial aid be used for?
Google to Jet users edit documents offline
(REUTERS-SANFRANCISCO) Google Inc. said on Monday it is taking
the next step to make its web- based software useful in the real world of spotty

Internet access by allowing users to edit word processing documents offline.
The world’s top Internet company said it will begin over the next several
weeks to allow users of its Google Docs word processing application to edit
documents without an active web connection, on planes, trains and other
disconnected spots.
The offline feature of Google Docs temporarily stores documents
changes on a user’s local computer. Once reconnected to the Internet, any
changes the user made will automatically be synchronized and stored on
Google-hosted computers.
Offline editing is a free feature using a technology known as Google
Gears that the company introduced around 15 months ago to application
developers to build offline features into their own programs.


1. What is Google Docs?
2. What is Google Gears usedfor?

Unit 11
THE HEAVENLY GROUND IN BU DANG
Just a three-hour ride away from Ho Chi Minh City, Trang Co - better
known to locals as "The heavenly ground" - is a picturesque swath of
grassland that presents a fascinating tourist spot located in Binh Phuoc
Province's Bu Dang District.
The road leading to Trang Co is a portrait of dreamlike beauty, with
clumps of reeds swaying along sloping streets, along with two quaint bridges
over silt-laden streams and green gardens filled with banana trees.
Once a visitor views the trove of wild violet flowers, one has arrived in
the vicinity of Trang Co. Herds ofy buffaloes roam lazily, while flocks of white
storks comb the grassland searching for food here. One can even hear the
tinkling sound of wooden rattles attached to the neck of the lead buffalo

amidst the tranquil scenery. The manicured field boasts a great variety of
colorful floras dotting the green pasture.
Trang Co has many clusters of forests scattered among the grassland.
These forests arc small but vibrant with melodious bird songs. In the past,
visitors could see deer scampering playfully. Nowadays, one can still discover
many species inhabiting the environs, from birds to squừrels and weasels.
Those who do not want to trample on the beautiful grass can instead
follow the dirt pathways, which lead to a series of large ponds lying at the
heart of Trang Co. Legend tells that fairies once came to bathe in these pools.
Sitting by the reflective water, travelers can pause to listen to the gentle
sounds of buffaloes puffing in the water. Stilt houses built by the Stieng ethnic


minority people borders along the small lakes, providing a charming
complement to the primeval setting.
In Bu Dang District, adventurous tourists can also visit the Ndrot Fail,
ride their motorbikes through forests, or spend a night camping out in nature
with friends.
What are some special traits about "The heavenly grounds”?

Unit 12
'BRAIN TRAINS’ GIVE COMMUTERS CHANCE TO LEARN JAPANESE
By John Petty, Transport Correspondent
FLEETS of 'brain trains' on which commuters will be able to study
anything from Japanese or palaeography to human biology, American football
and antiques are planned by British Rail.
Some trains already have commuter study clubs, but Sir Robert Reid,
BR chairman, is to give official backing to a huge expansion of the scheme.
And Mr Gordon Pettitt, general manager of Southern Region, said:
“Every suitable train in the region is being surveyed to test demand for

classes."
The commuter clubs started 10 years ago when Mr Michael Young, now
Lord Young of Dartington, and his daughter, Sophie, then 15, walked through
a Cambridge-London train and questioned every passenger.
Huge range
They found many people interested in using theừ daily journey to study
a huge range of subjects, such as psychology, architectural history,
accountancy and law.


“The remarkable thing was that there were also people on the ừain
willing to teach the same subjects at no charge," Lord Young said yesterday.
“It was a kind of educational miracle.”
Now the commuter clubs offer more than 100 classes a year, generally
with three pupils and one teacher in each group.
They are organised by Mrs Pamela lc Pelley and her new assistant, Mrs
Marilyn Phillips. Classes are usually free.
The main growth in the scheme will be in Network South East, because
that is where long-distance commuters are concentrated. But GlasgowEdinburgh is among other routes with study clubs.
Places saved
Surveys to extend the system are being carried out on trains from
Salisbury, Portsmouth, Didcot, Dover, Bournemouth, Bognor and many other
places.
British Rail provides stickers to put on caưiage windows and cards to
put on seals to save places for the regular travelling students.
Learning Japanese has proved particularly attractive on trains bound for
the City. A request for a class on American football has come from the
Littlehampton line, while human biology - with a diffe¬rent part of the body
studied each week - is on the Didcot-Paddington line.
The request for a class on palaeography - the study of the history of

handwriting -was on the Portsmouth-Waterloo line.
A. MEMORY TEST
Read the article right through carefully and then test your memory by
seeing how many of the following questions you can answer.
1. What nickname is given to those trains where passengers can study
on their way to work?
2. How long ago did commuter clubs start?


3. How much do the classes cost?
4. Where do the teachers come from?
5. How many students are there usually in a class?
6. In which part of Britain are the commuter clubs concentrated?
7. What are placed on carriage windows to reserve the compartments
for student passengers?
8. Which subject is popular with business people travelling to the City?
9. Which line in Scotland has trains with study clubs?
10. Several subjects for study that passengers were interested in were
mentioned in the article. How many can you remember?

Unit 13
“If the steak pie hasn’t gone off, you’re being invited to supper”
“Mother thinks it’s time I got married and settled up”
“You’ve eaten enough, Sidney. There’s a new recipe for using up
leftovers I want to try out
Arrange these verb phrases and definitions into their proper pairs
Phrases
1. wrap up
2 break (it) off
3. use up

4. try out
5 go off
7. wear out
8. hang up


9. take to
10. book in
Definitions
a. become unfit to eat or drink
b. make unusable through continuously handling
c. form a liking for
d. be quiet
e. use until no more is left
6. settle down
f. discontinue a relationship
g. use something to see if it functions well
h. end a phone conversation by replacing the receiver
i. marry, and begin a stable and calm

married life

j. register

Unit 14
PUNS
A pun is a humorous use of a word or phrase which has two meanings
or of two words orp&rases which look or sound similar. Puns are used not only
in jokes but in many forms of publicity because they catch the eye and amuse.
Explain the following puns by giving the two possible meanings (often one

meaning is literal and the other figurative).
E.g. WHEN YOU DECIDE TO GIVE HER A RING, GIVE us A RING
(Advertisement for a jeweller's shop)
Explanation: ’to give someone a ring’ means, literally, to give a wedding
or engagement ring, or, figuratively, ‘to telephone’.


a) FOR A FEW POUNDS YOU CAN LOSE A FEW
(Advertisement for a slimming course)
b) GO UP IN THE WORLD
(Advertisement to recruit air stewards and stewardesses)
c) WE'LL GIVE YOU SOUND ADVICE
(Hi-fi shop advertisement)
d) HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT BUYING OUR NEW BED?
SLEEP ON IT (Advertisement for a new bed)
e) IT’S NOT WORTH DYING FOR A DRINK
(Advertisement warning of the dangers of alcoholism)
f) MAKE A SNAP DECISION
(Advertisement for a new camera)
g) IT’S GOOD FOR YOU, NATURALLY
(Advertisement for fruit juice)
h) GO B Y AIR. ITS PLANE COMMON SENSE
(Advertisement for air travel)
i) WE’LL GIVE YOU RED-CARPET TREATMENT (OR BLUE, OR
GREEN OR BROWN, OR YELLOW...)
(Carpet shop advertisement)
j) SEA FOR YOURSELF
(Advertisement to attract recruits to the Royal Navy)
k) TRY OUR GLUE ONCE AND YOU'LL ALWAYS STICK WITH us
(Advertisement for a brand of glue)

l) WE'LL GIVE YOU FOOD FOR THOUGHT
(Restaurant advertisement)


Unit 15
BRAZILIAN ADVENTURE
OUTLOOK UNSETTLED
THERE are, I suppose, expeditions and expeditions. I must say that
during those six weeks in London it looked as if ours was not going to qualify
for either category. Our official leader (hereinafter referred to as Bob) had just
the right air of intrepidity. Our Organizer, on the other hand, appeared to have
been miscast, in spite of his professional-looking beard. A man of great
charm, he was nevertheless a little imprecise. He had once done some
shooting in Brazil, and we used to gaze with respect at his photographs of
unimaginable fish and the corpses (or, as it turned out later, corpse) of the
jaguars he had killed. But when pressed for details of our own itinerary he
could only refer us to a huge, brightly- coloured, and obsolete map of South
America, on which the railway line between Rio and Sao Paulo had been
heavily marked in ink. 'From Sao Paulo,' he would say, ‘we shall go up-country
by lorry. It is cheaper and quicker than the train. Or, alternatively: The railway
will take us right into the interior. It costs less than going by road, and we shall
save time, too.’ It was clear that Bob, for all his intrepidity, viewed our
Organizer's vagueness with aporehension.
At the other end - in Brazil, that is to say - the expedition's interests
were said to be in capable hands. Captain John Holman, a British resident of
Sao Paulo whose knowledge of the interior is equalled by few Europeans, had
expressed his willingness to do all in his power to assist us. On our arrival in
Brazil, as you will hear, this gentleman proved a powerful, indeed an
indispensable ally; but at this early stage of the expedition's history our
Organizer hardly made the most of him, and Captain Holman was

handicapped by the scanty information which he received with regard to our
intentions. In London we were given to understand that the man who really
mattered was a Major Pingle - George Lewy Pingle. (That is not his name.


You can regard him as an imaginary character, if you like. He is no longer
quite real to me.)
Major Pingle is an American citizen, holding - or claiming to hold - a
commission in the Peruvian army. He has had an active and a varied career.
According to his own story, he ran away from his home in Kentucky at the age
of 15; joined a circus which was touring the Southern States: found his way
across the Mexican border: worked for some time on a ranch near Monterey:
accompanied an archaeological expedition into Yucatan, where he nearly died
of fever: went north to convalesce in California: joined the ground staff of an
aerodrome there and became (of all things) a professional parachutist: went
into partnership with a German, whose ambition it was to start an airline in
South America: and since then had travelled widely in Colombia, Peru, Chile,
and Brazil. All this, of course, we found out later. All we knew, or thought we
knew, in London was that Major Pingle was a man of wide experience and
sterling worth who had once accompanied our Organizer on a sporting
expedition in Brazil, and who was even now preparing for our arrival in Brazil buying stores, hiring guides, and doing everything possible to facilitate our
journey. A great deal, obviously, was going to depend on Major Pingle. This
Major Pingle, I used to tell people, ‘is going to be the Key Man.'
It was difficult to visualize Major Pingle, all those miles away. The only
thing we knew for certain about him was that he was not very good at
answering cables. This, we were told, was because he must have gone upcountry already, to get things ready. Whatever die cause, however, very
imperfect liaison existed between his headquarters in Sao Paulo and ours in
London; and when a letter did at last reach London from Brazil, our Organizer
lost it. So it was impossible to find out definitely whether Major Pingle’s
preparations were being made in the light of our plans, or whether our plans

were being made to fit his preparations or neither, or both. It was all rather
uncertain.
Find the answers to these questions in the article above: