1. Comprehension. Answer the following questions:

1. What was Mark Webster jailed for?

2. What did he feel when he ran over Anthony Wilkinson?

3. Under what circumstances did the accident happen?

4. How did Webster account for the fact that he hadn’t stopped his van?

5. Were there any witnesses to the accident?

6. When was Webster arrested?

7. What did a breath test show?

8. What offences did Webster admit?

9. What prison term was he sentenced to? Was the sentence adequate?

10. What is the position of Wilkinson’s constituency authorities?

2. Vocabulary. Choose the most appropriate explanation for the following words and phrases:

to mow smb. down

1. to drive a vehicle into smb.

2. to imprison smb.

3. to frighten by shooting at smb.

to plough into

1. to dig

2. to hit

3. to plant

4. to kick

to come forward

1. to enter a room or building

2. to be useful for a particular purpose

3. to offer to give help or information

to care for

1. to deal with

2. to love

3. to look for

4. to help

appalling

1. shocking and very bad

2. causing a strong feeling of disgust

3. making people happy

flagrant

1. noticeable by being brightly coloured

2. behaving in a way that is not responsible or expected

3. shocking because of being so obvious

derisory

1. unable to control

2. ridiculous

3. depressing

4. enjoyable

offence

1. crime

2. privilege

3. misuse

3. Vocabulary. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words and word combinations from the vocabulary list:

1. The police examined all the facts and have decided not to _____ _____ against him.

2. Many people believe that putting an offender _____ _____ isn’t a cure for crime.

3. Driving while drunk is a serious _____.

4. For age reasons they don’t usually imprison _____ _____.

5. My flat is _____ against fire.

6. The car _____ _____ a tree and burst into flames.

7. A _____ _____ showed that the driver was intoxicated. He was fined for _____ _____.

8. Why was your brother _____ _____ driving?

9. Has anyone _____ responsibility _____ the explosion in the Central square?

4. Writing. The One life, six months story is about 500 words long. Write a shorter version of it, in not more than 200 words. Keep all the important facts but leave out all the unnecessary details.

Text 2

The day before The Sun ran the same story of the drunk driver killing the schoolteacher. In the next issue of the newspaper there appeared an article in the section Sun Campaign for Justice. Read it and do the exercises below.

Give us laws that make killer drivers REALLY pay

Soft sentences must stop

By STEVE KENNEDY and HEATHER BROWNE

The Sun is launching a campaign today to sort out Britain’s muddled driving laws – so killer motorists get tougher sentences.

In case after case, maniacs cause death on the roads – only to end up being charged with minor offences for which they get light sentences.

The daft laws were highlighted by The Sun yesterday when serial offender Mark Webster, 36, got just 5 ¹/₂ months’ jail for killing teacher Anthony Wilkinson, 35, after a six-hour drinking binge.

Currently killer drivers who could be charged with causing death by dangerous driving often end up facing the lesser charge of careless driving.

Some of the worst cases involve hit-and-run killers, who are charged only with failing to stop or failing to report an accident.

But last night a growing band of campaigners – including families of victims, MPs and road safety watchdogs – called for killer drivers to face a single offence of MANSLAUGHTER.

Zoe Stow, of safety group Roadpeace, said: “At the moment there are too many offences and clever lawyers are able to exploit loopholes. The current offences are far too feeble. Often the maximum sentence is six months and magistrates rarely give the maximum. Sentences should reflect that someone has died.”

A spokesman for the Victims of Crime Trust added: “There should be a charge of manslaughter for those drivers that kill. Leaving someone lying for dead on the road with a broken body is contemptible.”