A monthly magazine about social issues has asked readers to send in articles on worthy causes. You decide to write an article in which you describe a charity you support, explain how and why you support it, and assess its importance for the community.
What does it (1)__________ to make a huge difference in
someone’s life? Would you be (2)__________________ to learn that
all you need is a friendly pet and few hours a week?
But let me back (3)_______________ a bit. When my elderly neighbour
moved (4)_____________ aged care, I decided to visit her one
Sunday. I wasn’t sure (5)_____________ to expect: Would she feel
depressed at having to leave her own home?
I needn’t have (6)_____________. An amazing charity called Pet
Set had taken care of that. Sitting by her (7)___________ was a
big white English Bulldog, Winston. It was Winston’s
job to offer companionship to the elderly residents,
and this he (8)______________with great success. Apparently, Winston
visited three times a week and (9)__________ everyone’s
spirits. Speaking with his owner, I learned that Pet Set
volunteers take their good-natured dogs to places like
aged care facilities and hospitals to (10)__________ improve the
wellbeing of residents and patients.
‘What a great idea!’ I thought. Wanting to take
part, but not (11)___________ a pet, I offered my time (12)_______________ an
administration officer. Twice a week, I work the phones
and organise the volunteers. Knowing that I’m doing
something (13)______________ with my time is important to me.
Getting to know the dogs and seeing the joy they bring
is an (14)_____________ bonus.
I constantly hear heart-warming stories resulting (15)__________ these visits. For the elderly residents who have
experienced the trauma of giving (16)______________ their own beloved
pets, a regular visit from a friendly dog does (17)_____________
for their morale and gives them something to look
forward to. (18)_____________ for the dogs, they love the attention and
the treats they get!
Don’t think twice about it. I encourage anyone who has
spare time and a placid pooch to enquire about getting
involved. (19)__________ if, like me, you don’t have a pet, there
are ways you can help. Look (20)______________ it – you won’t regret it
A helicopter winched the passengers and crew from the sinking boat
The (1)_______ (GUITAR) who saved hundreds of people on a (2)________ (SINK) cruise (3)___________ (LINE)
When
the luxury ship Oceanos started taking on water in rough seas during a
voyage around the coast of South Africa in 1991, (4)__________ (MUSIC) Moss Hills
and his colleagues suddenly found themselves responsible for everyone on
board.
It
was during dinner that Moss Hills began to realise just how (5)_______________ (SEVERITY) the
storm was. The ship's waiters, normally completely adept at carrying
drinks and food without spilling anything, were struggling. Moss, a
guitarist from Zimbabwe working on board the cruise liner (6)___________ (ALONG) his
wife Tracy, a bass player, had never seen the waiters dropping trays
before.
Earlier
that day, (7)__________ (GALE) winds and heavy rains had delayed sailing for the
final leg of the cruise towards Durban several times. But with no sign
of conditions improving, the captain eventually decided to lift anchor
and the Oceanos, with 581 guests and crew on board, sailed off into
40-knot winds and 9m-high (30ft) waves.
The storm just got worse and worse and suddenly all the lights went out. When none of the ship's officers appeared to issue instructions, Moss, who was not easily frightened, began to feel (8)________ (EASE). Then he suddenly realised he couldn't hear the
constant, background noise of the engines. The ship had lost
power and was slowing down. Soon the 153m (502ft) Oceanos was drifting sideways onto the crashing waves.
Anxious
guests began pouring into the lounge. Moss grabbed an
acoustic guitar and began singing with some of the other (9)_____________ (ENTERTAIN) to
try to keep people calm. But as time stretched on, Moss noticed that
the ship was no longer coming back to a level position when it
was being thrown about in the storm.
"Something bad is happening," Moss said to Tracy, "I'm going to try and find out what's going on."
Hanging
on to the (10)______________ (HAND), Moss and another entertainer, Julian, a magician
from Yorkshire, made their way through the (11)_____________ (DARK) below deck. They
could hear excited voices speaking many different languages. Officers
were running around, some were carrying bags, some had life jackets on,
and some were wet.
"Everyone
was pretty (12)_______________ (EYE) and panicked-looking," Moss says. "We were trying
to ask, 'What's happening?' but it was like we didn't exist."
Julian and Moss continued down to the engine room - the lowest part of the ship.
"We
were way below the (13)_______________ (WATER), in the dark, on our own, and there was
no-one there," Moss says. "That would never, ever happen, even when
you're (14)_____________ (DOCK)."
The
thick, metal doors which acted as a (15)_________ (SAFE) barrier by preventing water
moving from one compartment of a ship to another in the event of
flooding, were (16)_____________ (TIGHT) closed.
"But it sounded like there was a large body of water (17)_________ (SLOSH) about behind those (18)_____________ (WATER) doors," Moss says.
The Oceanos was sinking.
Back
up in the lounge, there had still not been any (19)______________ (ANNOUNCE) about what
was going on. Moss found the cruise director who said the captain had
told her they were going to have to abandon the ship.
"Then we found out that one lifeboat had already gone with a lot of the crew and senior officers on it," he says.
Moss
and the others had no idea how to evacuate a cruise ship, nor how to
launch the lifeboats which hung high above the deck along each of the
ship's sides, but there was nobody more (20)___________ (QUALIFY) around to do it.
One
by one, they began lowering the starboard side lifeboats down to the
deck.
"We'd
let them go, off into the night, and they would just drift away into
the (21)_________ (POUND) waves," he says. "The people in the lifeboats had a (22)____________ (TORTURE) time - it was cold and
completely dark, but we just had to carry on until all of the starboard
side lifeboats were launched."
(23)_____________ (EVENT), he realised it was too dangerous to continue.
"In the effort to try and rescue people we were (24)__________ (POSSIBILITY) going to kill them," Moss says. And time was running out.
(25)________________ (ABILITY) to launch any more lifeboats, but with hundreds of people still in need
of rescue, Moss and others made their way up to the ship's bridge -
where they assumed they would find the captain and the (26)___________ (REMAIN) senior
officers - to ask what to do next.
"We looked inside, but there was no one there," Moss says. "That's when we realised - it's just us."
Orangey-red
lights blinked in the darkness, but Moss had no idea what most of the
equipment was for, never mind how it worked. They took turns trying to
use the radio to send an SOS.
"I was calling, 'Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!' and just waiting for somebody to answer," Moss says.
A big, deep, rich voice eventually replied. "Yes, what is your Mayday?"
(27)_______________ (RELIEF), Moss explained that he was on the cruise ship Oceanos and that it was sinking.
"OK. How long have you got left to float?"
"I
don't know - we've taken on a huge amount of water," Moss said. "We
still have at least 200 people on board."
"OK. What is your position?"
"We're probably about halfway between the port of East London and Durban."
"No, no, no, what are your coordinates?"
Moss had no idea what their coordinates were.
"What rank are you?"
"Well, I'm not a rank - I'm a guitarist."
A moment's silence.
"What are you doing on the bridge?"
"Well, there's nobody else here."
"Who's on the bridge with you?"
"So I said, 'It's me, my wife - the bass player, we've got a (28)___________ (MAGIC) here…'"
Moss
was put in contact with two small ships that were close to the Oceanos.
They told Moss to find the captain and get him onto the bridge. But
Moss had no idea where he was.
"I
knew he wouldn't be down below because we were sinking," he says. "I
was making regular checks to see where the water level was, and one deck
below us was flooded."
Eventually,
Moss found the captain, right at the back of the ship, smoking in the
darkness. Moss explained that they needed his help - (29)____________ (URGENCY).
"He was just looking at me, wide-eyed and vacant, saying, 'It's not necessary, it's not necessary,'" Moss says.
"I think he was in deep, deep shock."
The
two ships close to the Oceanos had only one lifeboat each, so there was
little they could do to help. They shared the sinking vessel's
coordinates with the South African authorities who began to organise an
air rescue mission.
As
the storm continued to batter the ship, Moss and Tracy sat together in
the near darkness, praying that help would arrive before it was too
late.
"I think the ship is going to go down and it's very likely we're going to go down with it," Moss said to his wife.
He
and Tracy had a 15-year-old daughter, Amber, who'd been on board the
Oceanos for the holidays and (30)__________________ (EMBARK) just days earlier. Amber was
now back at (31)___________ (BOARD) school in South Africa.
"She can't lose both parents," Moss remembers saying. "(32)_______________ (WHAT) we do, we've got to make sure at least one of us gets off."
More than three hours passed before the first rescue helicopter arrived and hovered above the ship.
Two
navy divers were winched down to the Oceanos' deck. They said they
needed help to get everyone off before the ship sank, and Moss was given
a five-minute crash course on how to run a helicopter (33)______________ (AIR).
One
navy diver went to organise the helicopter rescue at the rear of the
ship and Tracy and Moss were to organise a second at the front.
(34)__________ (DANGLE) in mid-air from the helicopter cable, people who Moss was trying to
save were being blown against parts of the ship by the strong winds as
they were winched into the sky. There was no way of knowing how badly
hurt they were and Moss (35)______________ (MOMENT) lost his nerve. But with so many
people still on board, he realised he had no choice but to keep going.
In
total, five helicopters joined the rescue mission, (36)___________ (SHUTTLE) back and
forth, carrying 12 people at a time to safety as dawn broke and the
darkness lifted.
(37)____________ (DRAIN) and exhausted, Moss and Tracy were among the last to be strapped into harnesses.
"As
we were hovering above the ship it really hit me," Moss says, "I could
see the Oceanos was in a (38)______________ (CRISIS) situation. We could see waves breaking
over the bow where we had been rescuing people."
When
the helicopter carrying Moss touched down on the grass, cruise
passengers ran towards him singing and cheering, and reaching out to hug
him.
"I started to choke up and sob," Moss says, "and then I collapsed."
On
4 August 1991, about 45 minutes after the last person on board had been
airlifted to safety, the Oceanos slipped away below the water. Everyone
who had been put into lifeboats was rescued by passing ships and (39)_____________ (REMARK) no lives were lost.
Moss
and Tracy, who now live in Liverpool, continued working as cruise ship
entertainers for many years. Even now, three decades later, Tracy
prefers not to talk about the sinking or dwell on how close they all
came to losing their lives.
But
Moss, who's been asked about the Oceanos many, many times, finds it (40)____________ (CATHARSIS) to talk about. He looks back on what happened with great
relief.
"I'm not invincible," Moss says, "but if I can get through that, I can get through anything."
There
was an inquiry in Greece which found the captain of the Oceanos and
four other senior officers (41)_____________ (NEGLIGENCE) in the ship's sinking.
KEY
1. guitarist
2. sinking
3. liner
4. musician
5. severe
6. alongside
7. gale-force
8. uneasy
uneasy: feeling worried or unhappy about a particular situation, especially because you think that something bad or unpleasant may happen or because you are not sure that what you are doing is right. Synonym: anxious. Sp. inquieto, preocupado.
E.g.
She had an uneasy feeling that something terrible was going to happen.
uneasy about something: He was beginning to feel distinctly uneasy about their visit.
uneasy about doing something: She felt uneasy about leaving the children with them.
9. entertainers
10. handrails
11. darkness
12. wild-eyed
wild-eyed /ˈwaɪld aɪd/ having an expression in the eyes of fear, anger, panic (= fear that prevents reasonable thought and action), or insanity (= serious mental illness).
E.g.
A wild-eyed look of desperation.
13. waterline
the waterline: the level that the water reaches along the side of a ship. Sp. línea de flotación.
E.g. The ship was struck below the waterline by a single torpedo.
14. docked
15. safety
16. tightly
17. sloshing
slosh: + adv./prep.(of liquid)to move around making a lot of noise. Sp. chapotear.
E.g.
The water was sloshing around under our feet.
18. watertight
19. announcements
20. qualified
21. pounding
pound: to hit something/somebody hard many times, especially in a way that makes a lot of noise. Synonym: hammer. Sp. golpear.
E.g.
pound at/against/on something Heavy rain pounded on the roof.
All she could hear was the sound of waves pounding against the cliffs.
Someone was pounding at the door.
22. torturous
torturous /ˈtɔːtʃərəs/ very painful or unpleasant to experience.
E.g.
a torturous five days of fitness testing
23. Eventually
24. possibly
25. Unable
26. remaining
27. Relieved
28. magician
29. urgently
30. disembarked
31. boarding
32. Whatever
33. airlift
34. Dangling
dangle: to hang or move freely; to hold something so that it hangs or moves freely. Sp. colgar.
E.g.
A single light bulb dangled from the ceiling.
35. momentarily
momentarily/ˈməʊməntrəli/ for a very short time. Synonym: briefly
E.g.
He paused momentarily.
She was momentarily blinded by the light.
36. shuttling
37. Drained
drained: very tired and without energy
E.g.
She suddenly felt totally drained.
The experience left her emotionally drained.
38. critical
choke up to find it difficult to speak, because of the strong emotion that you are feeling.
E.g.
She choked up when she began to talk about her mother.
sob: to cry noisily, taking sudden, sharp breaths.
E.g.
I heard a child sobbing loudly.
He started to sob uncontrollably
slip away to stop existing; to disappear or die. Sp. esfumarse.
E.g. Their support gradually slipped away.
39. remarkably
40. cathartic
cathartic adjective /kəˈθɑːtɪk/ involving the release of strong feelings as a way of providing relief from anger, mental pain, etc. Sp. catártico.
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."
