TEXT

[1]

     Jet crash survivor Pierre Cota was dubbed the luckiest man on earth yesterday.
For he scrambled alive from the French Airbus disaster only 12 hours after escaping
unhurt when his car was written off in a horrific pile-up.

[2]

     Pierre, a 45-year-old engineer, said last night : "I suppose I've up a lifetime's
luck". Ironically, the head-on smash helped save him later when the airliner plunged
into a mountain due to bad weather conditions, killing 87 passengers and crew.
Because he was late, he was given a seat in the back of the plane, the only section to
remain intact. Eight other people including a 13-month old girl, a boy of nine and a
man of  71 also survived.
          

[3]

      Pierre said of his first brush with death : "I was driving to Lyon to catch the early
plane to Strasbourg when I was involved in a serious crash on the motorway. I was
taken to the hospital but the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with me. This was
already pretty miraculous. I had missed my flight so I booked on the evening plane to
Strasbourg that then crashed. Again I survived. This was really my lucky day".
          

[4]

      There was no warning before the Air Inter Airbus A 320 went down in snow and
fog at ten sharp, five minutes before it was due to land on Monday night. Pierre said :
"We fell into a forest and we were brought to a stop by the trees. There was a lot of
noise and flames". He grabbed the nine-year-old boy next to him and escaped through
the ripped fuselage. As French authorities probed the tragedy, it was revealed that
many passengers who survived the impact died because it took rescuers five hours to
reach the scene.
            

[5]

     It was revealed a radio beacon designed to guide them failed to work. The crash
site was only 30 minutes drive from Strasbourg airport. But the 1,000 rescuers only
pinpointed the spot after villagers reported the smell of burning. It was the third
Airbus A 320 disaster since they went into service in 1988.

By Peter Stephens and Mark Dowdney
Daily Mirror, January 22, 1992.

  1. READING COMPREHENSION
  1. Give a suitable title to the text.

.........................................................................................................................................
              

  1. Read the following statements about Pierre's story then number them from 1 to 8 following the order in which they happened.

                              Statements

    		 Numbers
    a- Pierre missed the early plane.   
    b- He was involved in a car accident.   
    c- That's how he managed to survive for the second time.   
    d- He booked on the evening flight to Strasbourg.   
    e- Pierre was driving to Lyon.  
    f- He was taken to the hospital.  
    g- He was involved in the plane tragedy.  
    h- He was allowed to leave the hospital.  
  1. Focus on paragraphs 4 and 5 and say whether the following statements are true or false.
    Put a tick (x) in the right box then justify your answers with reference to the text.
                      
    Statements T F Justification
    a- The accident happened unexpectedly.
    b- The rescuers could have saved more lives.
    c- Pierre Cota cared only for himself.
  1. Complete the following table with reference to the text.
      
    The Plane The incident

      Type of plane

    .......................

    		   What happened ......................
    ......................

      Flying from

    .......................

    		   How it happened ......................
    ......................
     
      Flying to

    .......................

    		   When it happened ......................
     
      Expected arrival time

    .......................

    		   Where it happened ......................

      Damage to the plane

    .......................

    		   How many passengers survived ......................
  1. Find in the text words meaning nearly the same as :
           
    a- investigated (par.4)............................................................................................. .
    b- seized ( par.4)....................................................................................................... .
    c- fell ( par.4)............................................................................................................. .
  1. What do the words underlined in the text refer to ?
              
    a- This (par.3) refers to ...........................................................................................
    b- We (par.4) refers to .............................................................................................
  1. LANGUAGE
  1. Circle the right alternative to get a coherent paragraph.
                     

    ( Unless - despite - although ) all the atrocities falsely ( attributing - attribute - attributed )
    to it, the gorilla is essentially a ( peace-loved  -  loving-peace  - peace-loving ) creature that would rather retreat than fight except when its life is (threatened  -  risky  - sore). In the wild, it ( has been never seen  - has never been seen  -  has been seen never ) eating meat. Nor (gorillas seem  -  have gorillas seemed  -  do gorillas seem ) to drink water in the wild ; they apparently get what moisture they ( require  -   inquire  -  acquire ) from their diet of greenery and ( a  -   the  -  Ø ) fruit.
  2. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the bracketed  words.
                                

       The statue of Liberty, conceived and fashioned by French sculptor F.A. Bartholdi, (to present) .............. to the U.S.A. by the people of France as a symbol of Franco-American (friend)   ..............
       Though not at first related to the concept of (immigrate)   ................., the fact that the statue was the first (to see)   ...................... viewed by immigrants who came to the U.S.A. by ship from Europe soon forged a mental and (emotion)  ...................... link between the statue and the millions of immigrants. This link was expressed by Emma Lazarus's poem, "The New Colossus" (to write)   ........................in 1883.
  3. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate items from the box below.
      

    tough  -  safety  -  reduce   allowed  -  laws  - raised
      

It's high time a world code were created to  .............................. this senseless waste of human life. With regard to driving, the   .............................. of some countries are not   .......................... enough. Here are a few examples of some of the things that must be done : the age at which young people are   .............................. to drive any vehicle should be   .............................. to at least 21 ; all vehicles should be put through strict annual tests for  .............................. 
  1. Complete the following paragraph with the appropriate items from the box. You may use the same item more than once.
down  - at  -  with  -  for   - except
In a restaurant, my son and I were joined  .................... our table by a young mother   ..................... her little boy who told us he was going to have peas  ......................... dinner. We all settled   ................ to eat. Having eaten everything   .............................. some onions my son hadn't asked for, he put  .............................. his knife and fork. The little boy looked  .............................. his plate, then said : "No sweets  .............................. you because you haven't eaten all your dinner !".
                                  
  1. Put each of the 8 words in the box below under the appropriate heading.

garbage - defendant - court - oil spills - plaintiff - decay - allegation - pesticide
Justice

Pollution
...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................
 

...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................
 

  1. WRITING
  1. Reorder these sentences to obtain a coherent paragraph.
  1. It can also be used to tell the police if the driver has been speeding on the motorway.
  2. The Credit-card style document includes a microchip which will store various bits of information.
  3. And it can eventually give information about blood groups and other medical details.
  4. Among them is to indicate the driver's previous record when scanned by the police.
  5. A driving license which tells on its owner is set to be introduced in France shortly.
  1. The following paragraph contains 3 grammar mistakes, 2 wrong words and 1 spelling mistake. Pick them out and correct them in the table below.
                                   
       Robert Hamilton is one of the best students at University. He assists all his lectures and when he will graduate, he will lend money from his local bank and have his own business.
    In no way he will work for someone else nor is he ready living on a poor salary.
Type of mistake Mistake Correction
  Grammar   1.
  2.
  3.		   1.
  2.
  3.
  Wrong Word   1.
  2.		   1.
  2.
  Spelling   1.   1.
  1. Use the following information to write a 10-line biography of Mahatma Ghandi.
                        
1869,   October 2. Born in Porbandar in Western India. Married at the age of 13.
1887-88, College studies in London
1891,  Returned to India
1893, Went to South Africa - Racism - Immigrants oppressed
1896-97,  Collected wife and children to live in Durban. Known for "Passive Resistance" to
the  British rule.
1922,  Back in India ; arrested ; sent to prison for 6 years.
1924,  Released - President of the Indian National Congress Party.
1930, Arrested again for Civil resistance - prison for 6 months.
1948, January 30 - Meeting in Delhi - shot by a young Hindu fanatic.


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