Try and solve the lateral thinking problems. Follow these instructions:
Read each of them and make a note of any vocabulary which stops you understanding them.
Ask other students and check in a dictionary to find out the meaning of the unknown vocabulary.
Work with another student. Discuss ideas you have to explain each of the problems.
1. A police officer was sitting on his motorcycle at a red traffic light when two teenagers in a sports car drove by him at 50mph. He did not chase them or try to apprehend them.
Why not?
2. A man was driving alone in his car when he came off the road at high speed. He crashed through a fence and went down a steep slope before the car plunged into a fast flowing river. As the car slowly settled in the river, the man realized that his arm was broken and that he could not release his seat belt and get out of the car. He was trapped in the car. Rescuers arrived two hours later, yet they found him alive.
How come?
3. A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Friday.
How come?
4. Bobby lives with his parents in London. Last week, while his parents were out, Bobby’s neighbour Susie came round to spend the evening. At 8 o’clock precisely she went out to buy some cigarettes from the corner shop five minutes walk away. One minute after she left, two men burst into the house and, ignoring Bobby, took the TV set, the stereo and a computer. Bobby had never seen the men before and they had no legal right to remove the equioment – yet he did nothing to stop them. In fact, he didn’t even act surprised by their behaviour.
How come?
4
5. A man leaves hospital and begins to walk home. On his journey he passes a phone box which begins to ring. Instead of answering it he punches the air and runs all the way home cheering. Why?
6. When a fire broke out in an airplane, a panicking passenger opened the emergency hatch and threw himself out, even though he had no parachute.
How was it that when the rescue services found him, he was alive and well and without injury?
Unit 10. Crime
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Read the article and find out where the pickpocket usually worked and why he was caught this time. As you read, try to guess the missing words but don’t write them.
Pickpocket chooses the wrong victim
A __1__ from France who was trying to rob members of the US Athletics team was lying in a Spanish __2__ yesterday after being chased and captured by the sprinter Maurice Greene, currently the fastest man on Earth. Greene and his team mates were in Seville, southern Spain, for the World Athletics
Championships. Greene who broke the 100-metre world record in Athens, ran after the thief at the airport in Seville, after seeing him put his __3__ into the bag of another member of the American team.
It took Greene, who is capable of covering 100 metres in only 9.79seconds, just a few seconds to __4__ the pickpocket as he tried to run away across the airport. Greene, with the help of Larry Wade, a 110 metre hurdler, held the thief against a wall until Spanish police arrived at the scene. They immediately __5__ the surprised pickpocket although he tried to pretend he was an __6__ French tourist. He was, however, unable to explain why he had started to run across the airport __7__ .
Police said yesterday that he was a __8__ pickpocket with an extensive police record whose speciality was to travel to major international events that attracted large __9__ of visitors. They added that he had already been detained on 24 separate occasions and was going to be __10__ from Spain.
Number the words below 1-10
innocent ___
crowds ___
professional ___
catch ___
pickpocket ___
hand ___
police cell ___
expelled ___
arrested ___
lounge ___