On Screen p 53. ALL FOOLS’ DAY - 1ST of APRIL. Extra Cloze

Have you ever 1__________ for one? It’s not a holiday but nearly everyone knows the date of All Fools’ Day – April 1st in the English-Speaking World. Many Radio and Tv stations carry 2_________ broadcasts on the day and Newspapers try to catch their readers with false, but 3_________ reports.
One of the most famous April Fool jokes was 4___________ by the BBC, relying 5__________ the then British Public’s unfamiliarity 6____________ non-British food. It was called, the “Great Swiss Spaghetti Harvest”
7____________ 1 April 1957, the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks 8__________ a very mild 9___________ and the virtual 10___________ of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti 11___________. It accompanied this announcement 12___________ footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of 13__________ down from trees.
Huge numbers of viewers were taken 14____________. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could 15__________ their own spaghetti tree. 16___________ this the BBC diplomatically replied, "17_____________ a sprig of spaghetti in a 18_________ of tomato sauce and hope for the best." Some are 19_________ hoping.
Probably the most outrageous 20___________, though, was the 1 April 1992 broadcast of America’s National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation program that revealed that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was 21____________  for President again. His new 22___________ slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." Accompanying this announcement were audio 23________ of Nixon delivering his candidacy 24__________. Listeners “25__________ their tops” at the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and outrage. 26__________ during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical 27_____________. Nixon's voice had been 28___________ by comedian Rich Little.




KEY

1. fallen
fall for something [no passive] (informal) to be tricked into believing something that is not true. E.g. I'm surprised you fell for that trick.



2. hoax
hoax /həʊks/ an act intended to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially something unpleasant. Sp. Broma, inocentada, engaño. E.g. a bomb hoax. Hoax calls. The emergency call turned out to be a hoax.



3. plausible
plausible /ˈplɔːzəbl/ (of an excuse or explanation) reasonable and likely to be true. E.g. Her story sounded perfectly plausible. The only plausible explanation is that he forgot.



4. played
VERB + JOKE crack, make, tell He's marvellous at telling jokes. | play He's always playing jokes on people.  



5. on 



6. with 



7. On 



8. to 



9. winter 



10. elimination
weevil: /ˈwiːvl/ a small insect with a hard shell, that eats grain, nuts and other seeds and destroys crops. Sp. gorgojo. 

 



11. crop
bumper: /ˈbʌmpə(r)/ (approving) unusually large; producing an unusually large amount. E.g.  a bumper issue (= of a magazine, etc.) A bumper crop/ harvest/ season/ year. Farmers have been celebrating bumper crops this year.



12. with
footage: part of a film showing a particular event. E.g. Old film footage of the moon landing. People see live footage of the war at home on their televisions.



13. spaghetti
strand: a single thin piece of thread, wire, hair, etc. E.g. a strand of wool. A few strands of dark hair. She wore a single strand of pearls around her neck.



14. in
take somebody in: to make somebody believe something that is not true. Deceive. E.g. She took me in completely with her story. Don't be taken in by his charm—he's ruthless. 



15. grow/ plant 



16. To 



17. place
sprig: a small stem with leaves on it from a plant or bush, used in cooking or as a decoration. E.g. a sprig of parsley. 



18. tin 



19. still 



20. hoax 
hoax /həʊks/ an act intended to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially something unpleasant. Sp. Broma, inocentada, engaño. E.g. a bomb hoax. Hoax calls. The emergency call turned out to be a hoax.



21.  running



22. campaign



23. clips



24. speech



25. blew

blow your top/lid/stack (informal) to get very angry. E.g. My father will blow his top when he sees what happened to the car.

 

 

 

26. Only 

 

 

 

27. joke

practical joke: a trick that is played on somebody to make them look stupid and to make other people laugh. Sp. inocentada, broma. E.g. She glued her boss's cup and saucer together as a practical joke. He thought his uncle had been playing a practical joke on him.

 

 

 

28. impersonated 

Complete text 
Have you ever fallen for one? It’s not a holiday but nearly everyone knows the date of All Fools’ Day – April 1st in the English-Speaking World. Many Radio and Tv stations carry hoax broadcasts on the day and Newspapers try to catch their readers with false, but plausible reports.
One of the most famous April Fool jokes was played by the BBC, relying on the then British Public’s unfamiliarity with non-British food. It was called, the “Great Swiss Spaghetti Harvest”

On 1 April 1957, the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees.
Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best." Some are still hoping.


Probably the most outrageous hoax, though, was the 1 April 1992 broadcast of America’s National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation program that revealed that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech. Listeners “blew their tops” at the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and outrage. Only during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke. Nixon's voice had been impersonated by comedian Rich Little.
Another NPR hoax story came in 2009, when All Things Considered reported from Belleville, Illinois where "the nation's first farm-raised whales are being grown and harvested." 

 

Jamie Keddie's story:

Objective Proficiency p 82. The Truth about Children Who Lie. Extra Listening

Psychotherapist Philippa Perry delves into the world of childhood deception to discover when and why children lie. Are we all born liars? What role do parents and school play in developing our ability to lie? When and why can it become problem behaviour?

Philippa speaks to author Ian Leslie who believes that a child's first lie is a cause for celebration. On the other hand, neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris deplores all types of lies - even tiny white ones - and tells his children the unvarnished truth about almost everything. Even at Christmas.

We meet a group of excitable seven year olds who describe with great gusto their experiences of lying and being lied to. As Philippa observes, children receive very mixed messages from parents - on the one hand they're told not to lie but then they witness their parents lying all the time, often without even realising it. Similarly, she asks TV critic and mum Julia Raeside if television, particularly soaps, might be normalising lying.

Philippa tracks down Margaret Connell, former headmistress of her daughter's secondary school, to discuss the life-changing advice about lying that Margaret gave to parents on the first day of term. Margaret believes that parents put too much weight on truth-telling and teenagers often feel pushed into an impossible situation. Students from Haringey Sixth Form College also explain why they feel it necessary to lie to teachers, parents and fellow classmates.

We also hear about pioneering experiments by Dr Victoria Talwar of McGill University, Canada, which are increasing our understanding of how children develop their capacity to lie and the best ways for adults to foster their honesty.

Listen to the programme

Objective Proficiency p 82 & 83. Vocabulary

Gapped Text

• Jumble: /ˈdʒʌmbl/ to mix things together in a confused or untidy way. E.g. Books, shoes and clothes were jumbled together on the floor.
• Jumbled: (adj) E.g. a jumbled collection of objects. Jumbled thoughts.
• Hang together: to fit together well; to be the same as or consistent with each other. E.g. Their accounts of what happened don't hang together.
• Blatant: /ˈbleɪtnt/ done in an obvious and open way without caring if people are shocked. Descarado. E.g. a blatant attempt to buy votes. It was a blatant lie.
• Upstanding: behaving in a moral and honest way. Upright. E.g. an upstanding member of the community.
• Pervade: /pəˈveɪd/ to spread through and be noticeable in every part of something. Llenar, invadir. E.g. a pervading mood of fear. The sadness that pervades most of her novels. The entire house was pervaded by a sour smell. 
• Poll: (also opinion poll) the process of questioning people who are representative of a larger group in order to get information about the general opinion. Survey. E.g. to carry out/conduct a poll. A recent poll suggests some surprising changes in public opinion. A nationwide poll revealed different food preferences in the North and the South.
• Machiavellian: /ˌmækiəˈveliən/ using clever plans to achieve what you want, without people realizing what you are doing. Cunning, unscrupulous. Maquiavélico. E.g. Machiavellian manipulation. 
• Fabricate something: to invent false information in order to trick people. Make up. E.g. The evidence was totally fabricated. The prisoner claimed the police had fabricated his confession. 
• Fabrication: (N) E.g. Her story was a complete fabrication from start to finish.  
• Withdrawn: / wɪðˈdrɔːn/ not wanting to talk to other people; extremely quiet and shy.
• Deceit: /dɪˈsiːt / dishonest behaviour that is intended to make somebody believe something that is not true; an example of this behaviour. Deception. Engaño. E.g. He was accused of lies and deceit. Everyone was involved in this web of deceit. Their marriage was an illusion and a deceit.
• Plausible: /ˈplɔːzəbl/ reasonable and likely to be true. E.g. Her story sounded perfectly plausible.The only plausible explanation is that he forgot. The story was plausible but that didn’t necessarily mean it was true.
• Fib: to tell a lie, usually about something that is not important. E.g. Come on, don't fib! Where were you really last night? 
• Smooth-talking: talking very politely and confidently, especially to persuade somebody to do something, but in a way that may not be honest or sincere. E.g. a smooth-talking lawyer.
• Consummate: /ˈkɒnsəmət/ extremely skilled; perfect. E.g. She was a consummate performer. He played the shot with consummate skill. (disapproving) a consummate liar.
• Take something/somebody on: to decide to do something; to agree to be responsible for something/somebody. E.g. I can't take on any extra work. We're not taking on any new clients at present.
• Mayhem: /ˈmeɪhem/ confusion and fear, usually caused by violent behaviour or by some sudden shocking event. E.g. There was absolute mayhem when everyone tried to get out at once. It only takes a few stupid people to create mayhem in a crowd.
• Ensue: / ɪnˈsjuː/ to happen after or as a result of another event. Seguir. E.g. An argument ensued. Mayhem ensued.
• Weed something/somebody out: to remove or get rid of people or things from a group because they are not wanted or are less good than the rest. E:g. Most applicants get weeded out before the interview stage.
• Oust: to force somebody out of a job or position of power, especially in order to take their place. E.g. He was ousted as chairman. The rebels finally managed to oust the government from power.
• Truss somebody/something (up): to tie up somebody's arms and legs so that they cannot move. E.g. The guard had been gagged and trussed up.
• Gag: to put a piece of cloth in or over somebody's mouth.
• Lend itself to something: to be suitable for something. E.g. Her voice doesn't really lend itself well to blues singing.
• Giveaway: something that makes you guess the real truth about something/somebody. E.g. She pretended she wasn't excited but the expression on her face was a dead (= obvious) giveaway.
• Shifty: seeming to be dishonest; looking guilty about something. Sospechoso. E.g. shifty eyes. To look shifty.
• Fabricator: someone who tells lies. 
• Capitalize on/upon something: to gain a further advantage for yourself from a situation. Take advantage of something. E.g. The team failed to capitalize on their early lead.
• Blink: when you blink or blink your eyes or your eyes blink, you shut and open your eyes quickly. E.g He blinked in the bright sunlight.