CRIME PREVENTIONº Ex. 20 A First read the following sentences, then listen to the text of Part 4 and tick R the factors mentioned. 1. Programmes showing violence and crime should be banned.£ 2. Valuable items should be labelled.£ 3. Children should be taught that crime is bad.£ 4. We should punish children if they steal.£ 5. Criminals should be fired from work.£ 6. Neighbourhood watch schemes should be organised.£ 7. Everyone should get a gun.£ 8. Burglars should be locked up in prison.£
B For questions 2-11 choose from the statements A-E. Some of the statements may be chosen more than once. When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order. There is an example at the beginning (1). Which statement or statements: 1. suggests installing an alarm? A 2. place responsibility on the government?£ £ £ 3. blames unemployment?£ 4. suggests harsher punishments?£ 5. say that people are responsible for solving the problems?£ £ £ 6. suggest teaching children about crime?£ £ 7. blames television? £ 8. stresses preventing crimes?£ 9. suggests that citizens should be better organised?£ 10. disapproves of personal weapons?£ 11. says a bigger police force is needed?£
Ex. 21 Look at the police leaflet advising the public on ways to keep themselves safe. Put a tick (ü) in the boxes next to the precautions which you and your family have taken/ can you suggest any other ways of preventing crime?
Home Alone Ex. 22 In the following text, the writer gives an account of the fear and insecurity she feels at night in bed when her husband is away from home. Choose which of the paragraphs A-G match the numbered gaps (2,4,6,8,10 and 12). There is one paragraph which does not fit anywhere. It is a still, cold night. A silver frost covers the ground, glistening in the light of a perfect full moon. In the distance can be heard the plaintive howling of the wolves in the zoo. One by one all the lights go out. [2] But what was that? I sit bolt upright in bed. I surely heard a door opening? I slide noiselessly out of bed and tiptoe across the landing, my heart pounding, my ears straining for further evidence of intrusion. I sit on the top step and resume my lonely vigil. It is 4 a. m. and I am home alone. [4] I always start the night off well. I watch television to the point where my eyelids are starting to confuse the plot -taking care to avoid all programmes that might possibly provide fodder for my over-voracious imagination. Thus thrillers are out, and even the news – every lunatic and terrorist in the south-east seems to be on the run from prison or mental hospital the night my husband is away. [6] Having satisfied myself that all is secure and that there is no maniacal rapist secreted about the place, I turn on the burglar alarm and make my way upstairs. [8] When we were first married, I used to heave the wardrobe door across the bedroom door – the possible hazards of fire had not at that time occurred to me, although it was a little inconvenient if the phone rang downstairs or one needed the loo in the middle of the night. [10] One friend of mine confided that when her husband is away, she wanders around the house talking to herself in n a very loud voice and even stands upstairs and shouts down to him to come to bed. This does not however solve the problem of sleeping. [12] I did once heed my sister's advice to sedate myself with a bottle of wine. I slept like a log, but woke the next morning with a thumping hangover and found that I had been so drunk that I had left the patio doors not only unlocked but open. I shall definitely sleep tonight. The house is securely locked, the burglar alarm is on and I have taken my neighbour's advice and brought up to bed with me a pot of black pepper to throw in the face of any possible assailant. But what if...?
A When I must finally switch off – always remembering to pull out the plug – I begin my tour of inspection. All windows and patio doors are checked and doors seen bolted. I then unplug the downstairs phone. I then check behind all interior doors, in the garage, under the stairs – and the beds – and in the wardrobes.
B Another friend always sleeps with a sharp knife under her pillow. Yet another friend suggests getting a dog. A dog? Haven't I got enough to worry about without me and my babies being savaged in our beds?
C By this time, of course, I am wide-awake.
D By day I am an eminently sensible woman. But turn the clock round to midnight, remove my husband to foreign climes and you will see before you a neurotic wreck, whose nerves explode at the slightest creak of a central heating pipe.
E So we eventually decided against the idea of a guard dog even though this appealed to the children.
F The arrival of the children made life more problematic, however. Not only was the wardrobe a no-no, but for heaven's sake, if I was murdered in my bed how long would it be before anyone heard those poor, crying, starving babies the next morning?
G I sit rigid in my bed in the dark. My bedroom door is wide-open onto the large, square, well-lit landing. I have full view of my children's bedrooms, which open onto it, and of the staircase, which rises into it. Every fibre of my being is stretched, taut and alert, listening; the silence roars in my ears. All is well. Eventually I lower my guard, relax back into my pillows and start to drift away from this threatening world.
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