MILITARY OBSERVER
F: Good evening, this is First Hand and I am Frank Shewster. This evening I am joined by Major Markus Olsson. Markus is a Swedish Army officer currently serving with the United Nations Observer Mission in Cape Gold, or UNMOC. How are you, Markus? M: I’m very well, thank you, Frank. F: Markus, is this your first mission with the UN? M: No, actually this is my third mision. I first served in a UN mission in the Balkans, in Kosovo in 1999. Then, I served with the UNMOC mission in the Congo in 2001. F: And how long have you been here in Blueland? M: I’ve been here since January – a little more than six months. And my tour of duty is twelve months. F: What can you tell us about UNMOC? M: Well, UNMOC was established after the ceasefire between Redland and Blueland forces. The mission of UNMOC was and still is to monitor the ceasefire and patrol the DMZ. F: I’m sorry, what’s the DMZ? M: DMZ stands for demilitarized zone. This is tha area along the border where both sides have agreed not to station troops. UNMOC is responsible for patrolling on both sides of the border. F: Thank you. And how many UNMOs are there? M: At the moment, there are 34 unarmed UN monitors, supported by UN and local civilian staff. F: I’m sorry. You say that UNMOs are unarmed. So, you don’t have weapons? M: That’s right. F: And what do you do if there’s any trouble? M: Well, in case of trouble, we can call on US troops deployed in the area. In the next village, there’s a company of South Korean special forces. F: And, have you ever asked the UN troops for help? M: No, we haven’t had any real problems yet. My district is pretty quiet. F: Can you tell me about your team? M: Sure. I’m part of three-man team. The senoir UNMO in my team is a Ukrainian lieutenant colonel. Then there’s a French major and me. F: And how are relations with the local population? M: When we arrived here, the locals were a bit suspicious. Probably because we wear military uniforms. However, we’ve tried to help a little in the village in our free time and the people are now a lot more open with us. In fact, now we have really friendly relations with the villagers. I think I’ve been to eight weddings in the last six months. F: And what have you done in the village, Markus? M: Well, a lot of buildings were destroyed in the war and we’ve tried to improve things a little. With a lot of help from the South Korean special forces guys, we’ve rebuilt the local school and we’ve repaired the electricity lines in the village. F: Is that part of your job? M: Not officially. F: Can you tell us something about your duties? M: Sure. The role of an UNMO is to observe and report on any situation that may be of interest to the UN. In practice, that means most of our time is spent on patrol. Almost every day, we carry out foot patrols and vehicle patrols and when we get back, we have to submit patrol reports. Another important part of our job is inspections. In the ceasefire agreement, both sides agreed not to deploy artillery or tanks in an area fifty kilometres each side of the border. These are called ‘arms limitation agreements’ and we regularly carry out inspections to make sure that each side is respecting these agreements. We also mount OPs or ‘observation posts’, close to the DMZ and we investigate reports of shooting across the DMZ. F: Sounds like you’re busy. M: I certainly am. Yesterday I started work at six o’clock in the morning and I didn’t finish till eleven o’clock at night. F: Well, Marcus. That’s all we’ve got time for. Thank you very much for talking with us and good luck in the next six months. M: Thank you, Frank.
1. DMZ D_m_l_t_r_z_d Zone 2. MUNOC M_ss__n of United Nations _bs_rv_rs in the Congo 3. OP _bs_rv_t__n Post 4. UNMO United Nations M_l_t_ry Obs_rv_r 5. UNMOC Un_t_d N_t__ns of Mission of Obs_rv_rs in Cape Gold
1. Who is Major Marcus Olsson? 2. Where has Marcus served with the UN? 3. How long has Marcus been in Cape Gold? 4. Who can the UNMOs ask for help in case of trouble? 5. How many observers are in Marcus’s team? 6. Has the attitude of the local population changed? How?
1. Marcus _____ with the UN mission in the Congo in 2001. (serve) 2. He _____ in Cape Gold six months ago. (arrive) 3. He _____ his family since December. (not see) 4. He _____ to eight weddings since he arrived. (be) 5. Marcus is still on patrol. He _____ to the base. (not return)
GRAMMAR: MODALS MUST / MUSTN’T / NEEDN’T NOTE: ü We use must (= it is your duty to do sth, you are obliged to do sth) to express obligation. E.g. You mustwear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle.
ü We use mustn’t (= it is forbidden to do sth, you are not allowed to do sth; it is against the rules or the law) to express prohibition. E.g. You mustn’t feed the animals in the zoo.
ü We use needn’t (= it isn’t necessary to do sth) to express absence of necessity. E.g. You needn’t water the plants. I’ve already watered them.
1. You ______ take photos when you are in the National Museum. 2. You ______ smoke when you are at a petrol station. 3. He ______ come to the party if he doesn’t want to. 4. You ______ buy this book. I can lend you mine. 5. You ______ wear formal clothes in order to attend the reception. 6. You ______ go to the bank. I can give you some money. 7. You ______ come in tomorrow. There’s not much work to do. 8. When on a plane, you ______ turn off your mobile phone.
1. It’s not permitted to walk on the grass. – You mustn’t walk on the grass. 2. It is necessary for John to renew his passport. 3. It is forbidden to park your car here. 4. It isn’t necessary for you to come along if you don’t want to. 5. He’s obliged to be at work at six o’clock in the morning. 6. It is forbidden to take photos in the museum. 7. It is your duty to protect the environment. 8. You aren’t allowed to use a dictionary during the exam.
1. We’ve got plenty of time. We needn’t leave yet. 2. I can manage the shopping alone. You ______ with me. 3. We ______ all the way home. We can get a taxi. 4. Just help yourself if you’d like more to eat. You ______ first. 5. We can keep this a secret between ourselves. We ______ anybody else. 6. I understand the situation perfectly. You ______ further.
1. We haven’t much time. We ______ hurry. 2. We’ve got plenty of time. We ______ hurry. 3. We have enough food at home, so we ______ go shopping today. 4. Gary gave me a letter to post. I ______ remember to post it. 5. Gary gave me a letter to post. I ______ forget to post it. 6. There’s plenty of time for you to make up your mind. You ______ decide now. 7. You ______ those tomatoes. They’ve already been washed. 8. This is a valuable book. You ______ look after it carefully and you ______ lose it. 9. What sort of a house do you want to buy? Something big? – But it ______ be big – that’s not important. But it ______ have a nice garden – that’s essential.
Note: compare needn’t (do) and needn’t have (done). Ø Everything will be OK. You needn’t worry. (it’s not necessary) Ø Everything was OK. You needn’t have worried. (you worried, but it was not necessary)
1. Paul went out. He took an umbrella because he thought it was going to rain. But it didn’t rain. He needn’t have taken an umbrella. 2. Linda bought some eggs when she went shopping. When she got home, she found that she already had plenty of eggs. She …………………………….. 3. A colleague got angry with you at work. He shouted at you, which you think was unnecessary. Later you say to him: ‘You ……………………………… 4. Brian had money problems, so he sold his car. A few days later he won some money in a lottery. He ………………………………………………………. 5. We took a camcorder with us on holiday, but we didn’t use it in the end. We ……………………………………………………………………………….. 6. I thought I was going to miss my train, so I rushed to the station. But the train was late and in the end I had to wait twenty minutes. ……………………….
1. Why did you rush? Why didn’t you take your time? You needn’t have rushed, you could have taken your time. 2. Why did you walk home? Why didn’t you take a taxi? 3. Why did you stay at a hotel? Why didn’t you stay with us? 4. Why did she phone me in the middle of the night? Why didn’t she wait until the morning? 5. Why did you leave without saying anything? Why didn’t you say goodbye?
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