A) Look through some English newspapers and find headlines illustrating the points given above.

B) What headline would you give to the following article?

 

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Generations of children have been saying this for years but finally it is official: Shakespeare is boring, unlikely and ridiculous.

At least that is the view of a committee of teachers appointed by the education department of South Africa’s most important province, Gauteng, which wants to ban some of the Bard’s works from state school reading lists because they have unhappy endings, lack cultural diversity and fail to promote the South African constitution’s rejection of racism and sexism.

Julius Caesar never had a chance of making it past the sexism criteria, with the committee condemning the work because it “elevates men”. Anthony and Cleopatra and The Taming of the Shrew fared little better, both being described as undemocratic and racist.

Hamlet was declared persona non grata on the grounds that the play is “not optimistic or uplifting”. But it was the “too despairing” King Lear that fared the worst. “The play lacks power to excite readers and is full of violence and despair. The plot is rather unlikely and ridiculous,” the committee concluded.

Those that slipped through included Romeo and Juliet (presumably not for its happy ending), The Merchant of Venice (anti-semitism not being considered racism?) and Macbeth.

Shakespeare was not alone. Gulliver’s Travels is to be pulled because its humor is deemed foreign to South Africans. Even the country’s Nobel laureate and Booker prize winner, Nadine Gordimer, is to be removed from school libraries as her writing is allegedly “deeply racist,” even though three of her books were also banned by the apartheid regime.

The Gauteng education department, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, is ready to ban Mrs Gordimer’s July’s People, which has been set reading in schools for seven years, because it is “deeply racist, superior and patronizing. The novel seems one-sided and outdated.”

“To be called a racist as a white South African and as someone who stayed here through all of the worst time and as someone who identified closely with the struggle – that is just very insulting,” Mrs Gordimer said.

Some of Africa’s most prominent writers and artists plan to send a letter of protest to the ruling African National Congress accusing it of “political correctness gone mad”.

(From ‘The Guardian’ April 18, 2001)

 

 

Grammar Revision

Grammar Training

 

25. Supply the correct form of the verbs given in brackets.

A.

Controversial Cleric Vows to

Defy Mosque Ban

 

Mr Abu Hamza, a Muslim cleric, has until midnight on Monday to respond to a decision by the charity commission to remove him as the main cleric of the North London Central Mosque which he (1) _______________ (to allege) (2) _______________ (to turn) into a hotbed of Islamic extremism.

Commissioners concluded in December that a succession of statements by Mr Hamza (3) _______________ (to be) of “such an extreme and political nature as to conflict” with the charitable status the mosque (4) _______________ (to enjoy). Commissioners will meet to decide what action to take if he (5) _______________ (to ignore) the ban and may seek a court order (6) ____________________ (have/he/remove) by force.

Mr Hamza, 45, who is an Egyptian national, remained defiant. He said: “As long as I (7) _______________ (to be) free I (8) _______________ (to continue) preaching.”

His solicitor, Muddassar Arani, said investigators (9) _______________ (to fail) to speak to Mr Hamza and said the ban (10) _______________ (to challenge).

Anthony Robbins of the charity commission said the cleric’s denunciations of the US and Israel (11) _______________ (to be) unacceptably vehement: “His statements (12) _______________ (to be) of such an extreme nature and (13) _______________ (to be) so political that they (14) _______________ (to be) at odds with the status of a mosque as a charity.”

Massoud Shadzareh of the Islamic Human Rights Commission said he (15) _______________ (to disagree) with Mr Hamza, but (16) _______________ (to support) his right to freedom of speech: “When the Archbishop of Canterbury attacks the government about the Gulf war he (17) _______________ (to be) political but no one (18) _______________ (to talk) of removing the Church of England’s charitable status, or that of rabbis who (19) _______________ (to support) Israel. There’s a double standard.”

(From ‘The Guardian’, abridged)

 

B.

West Africa Fuels Illegal

Ivory Trade

 

The west African states of Nigeria, Senegal and Ivory Coast (1) _________________ (to name and shame) yesterday for allegedly fueling the illegal ivory trade. A new report from conservation watchdogs said the three, largely (2) _______________ (to wipe out) their own elephant population, now (3) ___________________ (to import and sell) tons of ivory which (4) _______________ (to poach) in nearby countries. The report accused the countries of undermining the worldwide campaign to stamp out lucrative trade in endangered species.

After years of debate the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, (5) _______________ (to ban) the ivory trade in 1989 – a ban which (6) _______________ (to apply) to 164 nations. At first the ban worked well, but a spate of large African ivory shipments (7) ______________ (to intercept) in Asia earlier this year promoted the warnings that demand (8) _______________ (to rise). “Not only there (9) _______________ (to be) a lack of political will to implement CITES, corruption (10) _______________ (to prevent) effective control on the ivory trade,” said Susan Lieberman, director of the international species programme.

(From ‘The Guardian’, abridged)

 

C.

‘Vicious Racism’ Costs Met £250,000

A middle-aged black man with no criminal record who (1) _______________ (to assault) by police officers, (2) ______________ (to subject) to racist abuse and (3) (to prosecute) _______________ on trumped-up charges (4) _______________ (to win) nearly £250,000 damages yesterday, one of the biggest awards ever (5) _______________ (to make) for police misconduct.

Judge Michael Dean, at Central London County Court, ordered the Metropolitan police to pay the damages to Sylbert Farquharson, 57, (6) _______________ (to describe) by the judge as “a respectable middle-aged family man of good character.” The sum includes exemplary charges, which (7) _______________ (to award) against defendants who (8) _______________ (to act) “in an aggressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional manner as agents of the state.”

Mr Farquharson, then a delivery van driver, arrived in Landor Road, south London, in July, just after his cousin, Stephen Smith, (9) _______________ (to arrest) for protesting to police about the handcuffing of a black café owner who (10) _______________ (to search) on suspicion of involvement in dealing cannabis.

The café proprietor, Clinton Washington, who was in his 50s, had no criminal record. But police said they (11) _______________ (to see) him (12) _______________ (to wave) to a black man in a BMW car and (13) _______________ (to think) he might (14) ________________ (to involve) with drugs.

Mr Smith told the police the handcuffs on Mr Washington, who offered no resistance, were too tight. Officers arrested Mr Smith for obstruction. When Mr Farquharson arrived on the scene, he saw his cousin and went to find out what (15) _______________ (to happen). Judge Dean said he (16) _______________ (to assault) by three police officers and (17) _______________ (to throw) facedown in the gutter in the presence of members of the public, who rightly (18) _______________ (to appall). He (19) _______________ (to restrain) with two sets of handcuffs. They (20) _______________ (to suppose) (21) _______________ (to doublelock) so as not to cut into the wrists, but the police neglected to do this. He (22) _______________ (to suffer) permanent damage to his wrists and (23) _______________ (to leave) with chronic pain syndrome.

(From ‘The Guardian’, abridged)

 

D.

Car Dealer Was Wallis Simpson’s

Secret Lover

Wallis Simpson kept a secret lover – a Ford car salesman – while (1) _______________ (to conduct) a passionate love affair with the future King Edward VIII, according to a special branch files that reveal she (2) _______________ (to be) under close surveillance.

Long before the abdication crisis broke in 1936, detectives (3) _______________ (to trail) Mrs Simpson through London high society in an attempt to discover more about the American woman who (4) _______________ (to capture) the Prince of Wales’s affections.

The papers do not substantiate long-held rumours that the government (5) _______________ (to compile) the so-called China dossier on Mrs Simpson’s sex life in the 1920s. Nor they (6) _______________ (to confirm) that the Queen Mother was instrumental in forcing the couple out of the country.

Deep inside a Metropolitan police file are several reports, stamped “secret”, that record officers’ pursuit of vicious gossip about the already twice-married Mrs Simpson. One of the first police reports, (7) _______________ (to date) June 25, 1935, opens on a note of frustration: “The identity of Mrs Simpson’s secret lover yet (8) _______________ (not to ascertain). Mrs Simpson is very jealous of a woman who POW (Prince of Wales) (9) _______________ (to meet) on his recent visit to Australia. This woman since (10) _______________ (to be) in London and (11) _______________ (to spend) time with POW. Mrs Simpson is, in consequence, apprehensive of losing the affection of POW, which she is very anxious to avoid for financial reasons. She is therefore extremely careful and (12) _______________ (to spend) as much time as possible with POW.”

By that time Mrs Simpson already (13) _______________ (to be) a frequent visitor to Fort Belvedere, Price Edward’s private residence near Windsor. The report notes that her then husband, Ernest Simpson, the heir to an Anglo-American shipping fortune, (14) ________________ (to be) well aware of her affair with the prince and (15) _______________ (to hope) to profit by it. “Mrs Simpson has mentioned that he expects (16) _______________ (to create) a baron. He is very talkative in drink.”

A later report, (17) _______________ (to date) early July 1935, opens with a triumphant revelation: “The identity of Mrs Simpson’s secret lover now (18) _______________ (to ascertain). He is Guy Marcus Trundle, now (19) _______________ (to live) at 19 Britton Street.”

The 36-year-old Trundle, the report said, (20) _______________ (to be) a charming adventurer, good-looking, well-bred and an excellent dancer. “Trundle is a motor engineer and a salesman and (21) _______________ (to say) (22) _______________ (to employ) by the Ford Motor Company. Trundle claims (23) _______________ (to meet) POW through Mrs Simpson. He (24) _______________ (to say) (25) _______________ (to boast) that every woman falls for him.”

(From ‘The Guardian’, abridged)

 

Grammar in Speech