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Reading
Read the following passage about Mary Kingsley, a famous British explorer. Answer the questions.
Mary Kingsley was born in London in 1862, the daughter of a doctor and a domestic servant. She received little formal education, as in those days, people did not think that it was necessary to educate girls. However, she spent time in her father's library, which was full of travel and science books.
In 1892, her parents died and Mary inherited £4,300, a considerable sum at that time. Mary had always dreamed of travelling to Africa, and with the money, she could now do this. She arrived in Sierra Leone in August 1893, lived with local people, and learned from them the skills needed to survive in the jungle. She often went alone into dangerous areas to collect plant and animal specimens. She returned to Britain in 1893 just to be back in Africa the next year. She daringly climbed the 4,040-metre-high Mount Cameroon by a previously unknown route wearing a long black dress.
In 1895, Mary went home again, taking some rare specimens, including a live reptile which she gave to a zoo. Mary wrote two books with her experiences -Travels in West Africa and West African Studies - in which she described the way of life of the indigenous people. She was very critical both of the missionaries who set out to convert the local people and of British colonial rule. She thought they damaged the African culture. Her fame grew and she gave lectures all over Britain. She went out to Africa again in March 1900, but before she could travel north to the part she loved, she died of typhoid in South Africa at the age of 37.
1 Why was Mary not sent to school?
2 How could she afford to travel to Africa?
3 What did she wear to climb Mount Cameroon?
4 What was her opinion of missionaries and of British colonial rule?
5 How many expeditions to Africa did she go on?
6 What did she die of?
Listening
🎧3.21 Listen to a talk about hovercrafts and fill in each blank with NO MORE THAN three words.
A hovercraft is a unique kind of vehicle which has got the 1________ over any kind of terrain land, water, mud, or ice. It has got special engines that blow air below the vehicle. The pressure of this air is 2________ pressure in the atmosphere and the 3________ than the in the pressure lifts the hovercraft above the surface so that it can travel over small obstacles 4________ one of the most 5________ making it vehicles in the world.
The hovercraft was first designed in Britain in the 1950s.
Today, these vehicles are used all over the world. They are particularly 6________ during disasters, because they can get to places that a boat or a helicopter can't reach. The manufacturers have created hovercraft 7________ The smaller models are easy to drive and their designers always have 8________ in mind.
Speaking
- Work in groups. Discuss the following questions.
- What is the most important character trait an explorer should have?
- Where on Earth is the most dangerous area to explore: a desert, the polar regions, or the sea?
Writing
Read the task below and write a letter of complaint (150-180 words) to the service provider.
You recently travelled by plane / coach / train and you were very dissatisfied with the service. Write a letter of complaint in which you describe what went wrong and suggest how the company could improve their service.
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