NOTE: IN ORDER TO WORK WITH THE TEXT, UNDERSTAND AND PREPARE IT BETTER I RECOMMEND THESE EXERCISES.
THERE WILL BE TWO TYPES OF EXERCISES:
1. EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT: THESE ARE EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE READING COMPREHENSION, WORKING WITH VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS.
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION: EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE PREPARATION FOR THE DISCUSSION.
1.1 TRUE FALSE: Look at the article and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or False (F):
a. A British woman might be executed by the government in Laos.
b. The woman was arrested on suspicion of trafficking drugs.
c. The woman´s trial will be in couple of months´ time.
d. The British government has sent a team of lawyers to see the woman.
e. Activists are concerned about how the woman got pregnant.
f. Prisoners in Laos volunteer to do most things while they are in jail.
g. The woman will be shot to death if she is found guilty.
h. Britain´s government refuses to talk to the Laotian government.
1.2 SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
1. the death penalty ....... a. get
2. prison ...................... b. conscious
3. accused of ................ c. starting
4. receive .................... d. capital punishment
5. concerned ................. e. asked
6. questioned ................ f. jail
7. sparking .................... g. charged with
8. reputation ................. h. serious
9. grave ....................... i. image
10. aware ..................... j. worried
1.3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
1. fighting a battle ............. a. of the death penalty
2. prison ......................... b. conscious
3. accused of .................... c. starting
4. receive ........................ d. capital punishment
5. concerned ..................... e. asked
6. questioned .................... f. jail
7. sparking ........................ g. charged with
8. reputation ..................... h. serious
9. grave ........................... i. image
10. aware ......................... j. worried
1.4 GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text:
TRIAL - CHARGES - MISTAKE - SINCE - CONCERNED - BATTLE - DENIES - RECEIVE
British human rights lawyers are fighting a __________ against time to save a Briton from the death penalty in Laos. Samantha Orobator, 20, has been in a Laotian prison __________ August last year. She was arrested at the international airport in Laos on drugs __________. She is accused of being in possession of 680g of heroin. Ms Orobator __________ any knowledge of the drugs. She claims Laotian officials have made a terrible __________ and mistook her for a drug trafficker. The court in Laos has suddenly decided Samantha´s __________ will be next week. If she is found guilty, she will __________ the death penalty. The British government is very __________ a they now have almost no time to help Samantha with a lawyer.
CONCERNS - WHILE - REPUTATION - AWARE - WORRIED - FACE - VOLUNTARY - OPPOSED
Human rights campaigners are very __________ about Samantha. They have questioned how she became pregnant __________in prison, sparking fears she was raped. British lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said: "Nothing that happens in that prison is __________." The jail has a very bad __________ and many prisoners complain of shocking abuse. Mr. Smith said: "If convicted next week, Samantha would __________ death by firing squad. Samantha is severely distressed, and [we have] grave __________ for her health and that of her unborn child." British Foreign Minister Bill Rammell said: "The British government is __________ to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances. We have made the Laos authorities __________ of this at the highest levels."
DEATH PENALTY: A SOLUTION?
ReplyDeleteThe discussion about death penalty is so long. A lot of people say that countries where death penalty is used are not safer than those where it is not allowed. But we can consider this topic from different points of view.
Before consider if death penalty is a solution, we can wonder what we want to solve. Clearly death penalty is not a solution if we consider it as a therapeutic method to avoid crimes. We cannot hope that bad people don’t steel, kill, rape, etc, due to the possibility of death penalty. Most of this sort of people are not frightened of death, because they don’t have anything to lose.
However we might consider death penalty just like a punishment. We don’t expect anything from this penalty, but to punish people who are criminals. We can wonder if people who is able to rape and kill a child deserve to belong to our society, or harder than this, if society could spent more money in this sort of people. But just in this exact spot appears the moral and ethical side of the situation. It is in this moment of the problem when appears questions like: if we use death penalty against someone, are we just as killer as him or her?, or perhaps our action can be justified as a reaction against his or her acts?
This is a very difficult decision that deserves a deep discussion from all the possible points of view without avoiding any of them.