Additional exercises to the topic

1. Change the verbs to the Past Simple or the Past Continuous. Then retell the story.

The unlucky burglar

One evening Alf (watch) the television and (eat) his supper when the door suddenly (open) and a burglar (come) in. He (wear) a mask and (carry) a sack. Before doing anything else he (tie) Alf to the chair. Then he (go) upstairs to look for money. Although he (not find) any money he (find) a lot of jewellery, which he (put) into his sack. In his rush to get downstairs he (not see) the dog which (lie) at the bottom of the stairs and he (fall) over it, loosing his glasses. While the burglar (look for) them, Alf (try) to free himself. Finally, Alf (manage) to escape and he (phone) the police. As soon as the burglar (find) his glasses he (run) out of the house. However, unfortunately for him, the police (wait) for him at the end of the garden.

2. This is a story told by an American tourist who has recently been to Italy. Fill in the blanks the words from the bracket, and translate the sentences.

(the jungle, robbed, kidnapped, customs, laws,  protect, rely on, fear, prescribe, imperfect)

Every country has its …. That’s perfectly true. When I first came to a tiny Italian village I was shocked: everyone was smiling and waving at me. The … of hospitality … local people to … the foreigners from any trouble. In daylight and even at night you can go out without … of being … or …. Though the Italian laws are … like all the laws, in the country you can … … open-heartedness and every possible support of the natives. The law of … is for huge industrial cities.

3. Complete the following sentences with the words and phrases from the bracket:

(Arrested; offender; commit; shop-lifting; charged; embezzlement; witness; burglary)

a. The number of young people who ---- crimes has risen sharply in recent years.

b. Another house was broken into last week. This is the third --- in the area in the past month.

c. The shop decided to install closed-circuit television in an effort to combat the problem of ----.

d. He was --- by the police outside a club in Chicago and --- with murder.

e. An --- is a person who breaks the law.

f. A --- is someone who sees a crime being committed.

g. The bank manager admitted taking 250,000 dollars of the bank’s money during the previous five years. He was found guilty of ---.

Supplementary reading

Some newspaper articles

Text№1

1. Read and translate the following newspaper article.

Some new words to the text:

To dig                                   копать

To dig up                              вскопать, раскопать

Ring                                      кольцо, группа

Borough                                район

Spokesman                           представитель

Joint                                      совместный

Task force                            оперативная группа

Warrant                                 ордер, предписание

To point                                указывать

Homicide                              убийство

To bury                                 захоронить

To shoot (shot, shot)             выстрелить

Shot                                            выстрел

Mob                                       воровская шайка

Mobster                                 член воровской шайки

Bouncer                                 вышибала (сленг)

US police dig up yard for ex-boxer

   Livingston, New Jersey – Police dug up the back yard of a New Jersey house Friday searching for the body of a former Russian Olympic boxer. The authorities believe he was killed by members of a Russian organized crime ring.

« The Russian ex-boxer, of the Brooklyn borough of New York, was last seen in November four years ago», FBI spokesman Joseff Valiquette said.

The Joint Eastern European Organized Crime Task Force, made up of the FBI and New York City Police, won a federal search warrant to dig up the yard of a home in suburban Livingston, New Jersey. Valiquette would not say what led the authorities to the house but said the information points to a homicide.

«The information we have which led to the search warrant indicates that he was buried there, which logically would indicate that he was murdered. So yes, we do believe that he was the victim of a homicide», Valiquette said.

New York’s Daily News reported that the ex-boxer was shot in the garage by three Russian mobsters days after an incident at the bar where he worked as a bouncer.

(from Reuters)

2. Answer the following questions:

1. Do you know the name of this ex-boxer?

2. How do you think the police leaned where the boxer was buried?

3. Was his body found in the yard?

4. Were the murderers identified and arrested?

5. Is it an exceptional case?

 3. Write out all the information on each point from the newspaper item:

1. the Russian ex-boxer

2. the suspected murderers

3. the place and time of the murder

4. the investigation

4. Agree or disagree:

1. The police dug up the back yard of the house where the ex-boxer lived.

2. The FBI alone was investigating this case.

3. Most probably the General Attorney issued a federal research warrant.

4. Joseff Valiquette was a member of the task force.

5. The newspaper had all the facts in their hands.

Text№2

1. Read and translate the following newspaper article.

Some new words to the text:

Brute                                   жестокий, грубый

Brutality                              жестокость, грубость

To brutalize                         обходиться грубо

To tarnish                             запятнать

Even and odd numbers        четные и нечетные числа

To be at odds with smb        не ладить с кем-либо

To drop                                падать

Lobby                                        коридор

Apparently                           очевидно

To reach for smth                 потянуться за чем-либо

Bullet                                    пуля

Conscious                             осознанный

To cite                                   критиковать

To launch                              запускать, начинать

Police brutality

  Outside police headquarters in New York City, the protesters show up each day. In the courts, the biggest criminal cases are against cops. And at City Hall, the law-and-order record of Mayor Rudolph Guiliani appears tarnished.

A combination of brutality charges, federal investigations and public relations problems has thrown the United States’ largest police department into its worst crisis in years. Police and the city’s minorities seem increasingly at odds, and morale in the department is dropping.

The department’s troubles come just two years after it was riding high on news that the city’s crime rate was dropping for the first time in 28 years.

What’s created the most anger is the case of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant shot to death by police in an apartment lobby. The police, apparently believing Diallo was reaching for a gun, fired 41 bullets at him. He was hit by 19 shots.

Now the four white officers who killed him are on trial accused of murder. The defence says it was a tragic accident; the prosecution accepts that the officers did not set out that night to kill a black man but says that they made a conscious decision to shoot him once they got out of their car.

And the protesters have other cases to cite in their charge of police misconduct.

In New York’s borough of Brooklyn, jury selection is to begin Monday for the trial of three other officers accused of brutalizing a Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. The trial centres on allegations the officers brutalized him in a precinct station.

Federal and state prosecutors have launched investigations of the NYPD (New York Police Department). The commission will hold hearings in May on whether the police tactics violate the public rights, especially in minority neighbourhood.

(from The Guardian)

2 Check if you remember:

1. About what country and police does this newspaper item speak?

2. Where are the protest organized?

3. Are the biggest criminal cases against the cops?

4. Is the Mayor of New York involved?

5. What testifies to the crisis in the New York Police Department?

6. With what part of the population do the police confront most?

          3. Sum up what newspaper item said about:

           - the morale of the NYPD in the past

           - the case of Amadou Diallo and the trial

           - the case of Abner Louima

           - the federal and state investigations of the NYPD.

Text №3

1. Read the following text and translate the sentences given in bold type in writing: