OPTIONS 2 M4 READING

1 Read the headlines and the news articles. Then answer the questions that follow.

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Daily News HURRICANE HARVEY NEWS

HEADLINES – 29th August, 2017

• Harvey: Category 4 hurricane worst in 50 years
• Hurricane Harvey hits Texas coast
• Harvey causes floods in Louisiana and Texas
5 • Flood kills woman in car
• Kind citizens help hurricane victims
TEXAS RECEIVES CLEAN WATER
The Anheuser-Busch company in Georgia usually makes beer. But yesterday, their
workers weren’t doing their usual jobs. Instead of filling cans with alcoholic drinks, they
10 were filling them with clean drinking water. People in the disaster areas haven’t got
clean drinking water, so the company is sending them more than 155,000 cans of
water. This wasn’t the first time this company stopped production to help disaster
victims. Last year, they sent water to the victims of California’s forest fires.
MATTRESS MACK OPENS HIS DOORS
15
Many people lost their homes in the hurricane and didn’t have places to sleep. Jim
“Mattress Mack” McIngvale sells furniture in Houston, Texas. He has got two large
furniture shops and he opened the doors to these shops and invited victims to come to
his shops to sleep. More than 750 people were sleeping on chairs, sofas, beds and
mattresses in these shops after the hurricane.
20 GENEROUS FAMILY FEEDS RESCUE WORKERS
Rescue teams and volunteers were working hard to save people from the floods. Weak
and hungry from hours of work, they needed food to continue. There weren’t any
restaurants or shops open, so Matthew Otero decided to open his doughnut shop to
help them. There wasn’t any electricity, so Otero used an electric generator. He and his
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family were working day and night to make coffee and doughnuts for the rescue teams
and other people in the area.
BRAVE PEOPLE SAVE LIVES
Today, many brave citizens arrived with boats to pull people out of the water. CNN
reporter Ed Lavandera was also travelling on a boat in the floods. During his news
30 report, a woman called to him and asked for help to rescue her parents. He immediately
stopped reporting and helped to pull the family into his boat.

1. What is the common theme of all the reports and headlines?

2. What was happening at the Georgia company the day before the report?

3. How many people did Mattress Mack help and how did he help them?

4. According to the report, how did the rescue workers feel?

5. What is Lavandera’s job and why was he in the area of the floods?

1
 2 Complete the sentences.
1. There was a very bad storm about years before the report.
2. There were floods in and .
3. The disaster areas received of water from .
4. Otero gave the rescue workers , although he didn’t have .
5. A woman asked Lavandera to help because he
.
3 Find the words in the text to match the definitions below.
1. a type of alcoholic drink (lines 5-11)
2. metal containers (lines 5-11)
3. soft part of a bed (lines 14-20)
4. groups of people working together (lines 22-28)
5. people living in a particular town, city or country (lines 25-30)

2
 1. Read the emails. Then complete the sentences that follow and number the events in the
correct order.

To:
From:

Hi Sally,

Can I say with you for a few days? Is there an empty bed in your house? I’m afraid to stay at
home right now because there was a robbery in our street last night. It was at my friend Kelly’s
house, and she heard the criminals!

5 Someone broke the kitchen window while Kelly and her family were sleeping. The noise woke
Kelly, but she thought it was their cat. She left her room and then she saw some dirty footprints
on the rug. She knew they weren’t hers and her parents never walk around the house with dirty
shoes. When she heard strange voices in the living room, she understood what was happening
and was really scared. She ran out of the house to her neighbours and told them to call the
10 police.
The police were very quick. They came ve minutes later, but the criminals were already driving
away. Kelly didn’t see them, so she couldn’t give the police o cers a description that may help
them, but she saw the criminal’s vehicle. It was a yellow minivan and that’s not a common
colour for a vehicle! The police also examined the footprints on the oor and rug and took
15 some ngerprints from the window and doors. I hope it helps them nd those horrible
criminals!

I don’t want to stay in our house until they catch the criminals and arrest them!

Love

Jen

To:
From:

Hi Jen,

Of course you can stay with us. I’ve got an extra bed in my room. We can work on our science
20
project and complete it quickly.

You have to put a security alarm in your home! We’ve got one because there’s more crime
everywhere now. People are writing angry letters to the town council because they aren’t doing
anything about it. The town needs to put security cameras in the streets. Studies show there
25
aren’t as many robberies in places where security cameras are installed. They also help the
police to identify criminals and catch them.

Come at about 08:00pm and we can watch a lm together - not a crime one, I promise!

Love,

Sally

3
fi
fi
fi
ffi
fl
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___a. _____________ arrived quickly.
___b. _____________ heard the criminals.
___c. _____________ recommend getting a security alarm.
___d. _____________ called the police.
___e. _____________ broke a window

2. Answer the questions.

1. Why does Jen want to stay with Sally?

2. When did Kelly understand criminals were in thehouse?

3. What evidence have the police got?

4. Why are people writing letters to the town council?

5. Which two activities does Sally suggest doing with Jen?

3. Find words or phrases in the text to match the de nitions below.

1. the opposite of full (lines 1-4) ____________________

2. sounds that people make when they speak or sing (lines 5 - 10) ___________________
3. frequently seen (lines 10 - 15) ____________________
4. research (lines 20 - 25) _____________________
5. put in (lines 20 - 25) _____________________

4
fi
1 1. Hurricane Harvey
2. The workers were filling cans with clean drinking water.
3. He helped more than 750 people by providing them a place to sleep.
4. weak and hungry
5. Lavandera is a reporter. He was reporting on the hurricane floods.
2 1. 50
2. Louisiana, Texas
3. cans, the Anheuser-Busch company / a beer company
4. coffee and doughnuts, electricity
5. her parents, was on a boat
3 1. beer 4. teams
2. cans 5. citizens
3. mattress