PART 3: ERROR RECOGNITION

Most but not all of the following lines contain one error. There may be a spelling or punctuation or
grammatical mistake, a word may be wrongly used, or the line may contain an unnecessary word.
Underline the error. If a line is correct, tick ( ) it.

STEEPLECHASING

01. Steeplechasing early began in the eighteenth century as a sport among the fox-hunting

02. gentry. In those days, they raced through the countryside to a place marked by a

03. distant church spire, or steeple. It was a reckless and dangerous sport. By 1830,

04. it became a part of formal racing, and is today an established winter sport. The

05. courses, which there are over 40 in England and nearly 30 in Ireland, have

06. artificial barriers in place of the real ditches, walls, streams and hedges. From

07. October to March, hundreds of steeplechase jockeys, professional and amateur,

08. risk life and limbs. Of all the races in the steeplechasing calendar, the most

09. popular is the Grand National, run over a distance of ten kilometres and forty

10. high jumps. Everyone in the country takes an interest to it and most people

11. seems to buy a sweepstake ticket, or put a pound or two on the horse they think

12. will win. In some years, where the going is especially bad, as

13. much as three-quarters of the horses will not finish the race.

BUFFALOBURGERS

01. Buffalo Bill and men like him hunted the American bison to exhaustion. In 1900,

1
02. with the West tamed, there were only a few hundred buffalo over. Today, there are

03. thousands. There meat is in demand for buffaloburgers. A buffalo steak is the

04. smart thing to order, and restaurants throughout the United States have supplies

05. flown in daily. One rancher, Mr Roy Huck, has 3,500 heads on his 50,000-acre

06. ranch in South Dakota. He says: "We owe a lot to the conservationist which

07. rescued a small herd 70 years ago and saved the buffalo from dying." With the

08. growth of buffalo ranching in recent years, it is reckoned there are now 50,000,

09. all descended from the handfull who were saved. For a rancher, buffalo have many

10. advantages. They are wild animals and look after themselves in their nature

11. habitat. In winter, they don't have to be brought in because they can dig through the

12. snow to find food. They have a strong sense of survival. Unlike cattle, they do not

13. need special care. They are decease-free, and can live and reproduce longer.

YOGI FACES GRISLY FATE

01. Yellowstone National Park is home to Yogi Bear. So Yogi Bear, as everyone ought to know,

02. ranks only second next to Peanuts in the popular strip-cartoon world. He is, therefore, dear to

03. the heart of every American child. Whatever it happens to Yogi becomes a matter of national

04. concern. And it does appear that Yogi is in to deep trouble. He is in danger of extermination.

05. Or, at least, his real-life brothers are. Out there in Wyoming, in the Yellowstone Park, there

06. used to be more hundreds of grizzly bears. A few years ago, there were about 250. Last

07. year, the number had dropped to just over hundred. And now ecologists claim that within a

08. few years, to as far as Yellowstone is concerned, the grizzly will be extinct. For almost a

09. hundred years, the bears had been feeding at the great rubbish dumps which are being found

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40. in the park's remoter regions. They found out the collected dumps of travellers' garbage a

11. source of food, available all year round about. Often, the bears would arrive at a dump in

12. a great huge gang, thirty or forty strong. Then, suddenly, the park administrators ordered all

13. the dumps to be closed up, and any bear found near them to be shot. Hungry bears raged through the
park.

DUCATION IN BRITAIN

01. Parents in Britain are being required by law to see that their children receive full-time

02. education between the ages of 5 and 16. At the present, there are about nine million

03. school-children at about 40,000 schools. The number is increasing, mainly because of some

04. increase in the birth rate, and such primary school numbers are very high.

05. Although the birth-rate has now stabilised, each year more of children stay

06. on at school from beyond the minimum leaving age. There is, therefore, a

07. continuing need for more teachers and more school buildings. In England, Wales and

08. Northern Ireland, it is usual for boys and girls to be taught all together in primary schools: that

09. is, up to the age of 11, but about half the secondary schools are for boys and girls only.

10. Although mixed schools are more common in Wales and Scotland, where all but a few city

11. schools take both boys and girls. As to a result of the reorganisation of schools, and the

12. introduction of comprehensive education, much more children are attending co-educational

13. establishments. While in the independent sector, more than half the schools are

14. co-educational; but of those that providing secondary education, the majority are either for

15. boys or girls. These independent schools do receive no grants from public funds,

16. and charge fees. They are of two types: the preparatory schools and the public schools.

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Complete with a word formed from those in the list.

John Lennon

Lennon, if he is a symbol of anything, is a symbol of (01) .......... , of play. He believed you could change
the world. If you made the right gesture, a (02) .......... might take place. His life has become a myth, and
high claims are made for him. He said that the Beatles were better known than Jesus Christ, which
seemed to Christian (03) .......... a (04) .......... and (05) .......... thing to say, but he was probably right. The
(06) .......... thing is that, by his violent death, he seems himself to have been elevated from musician, from
supreme exponent of rock and roll, to the rank of prophet, shaman, myth. His wife, Yoko Ono, still serves
as the (07) .......... of the myth, the keeper of the relics. She says: "He certainly wasn't a person who
kowtowed or tried to preserve himself by shutting up. It's a very precious thing, I think, very (08).......... :
this man who said it in a way for all of us. People identified with him because he said the truth, especially
the truth they could not say."

01. CHILD .......................

02. TRANSFORM ......................

03. CHURCH ......................

04. SENSE ......................

05. RESPONSIBLE ......................

06. IRONY ......................

07. MAID ......................

08. COURAGE ......................

Northern Ireland

For thirty years Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland, was divided, torn by (09) .......... riots, blasted
by car bombs, patrolled by armoured cars. A whole (10) .......... grew up in the city knowing nothing else
but what the Irish (11) .......... call "the troubles". The place suffered not only from violence, but from
poverty, low (12) .........., lack of incentive, lack of a future.

The young complained of (13) .......... by the police and security forces. But the (14) .......... by terrorists,
Catholic or Protestant, could be much worse. The example is given of one 15-year-old Catholic boy with
85 offences behind him. He fled from Northern Ireland after being told that the IRA was waiting at his

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home. Six cushions had been laid out in his sitting room in(15) .......... for a (16) .......... shooting - elbows,
knees and ankles. This was a country where the concepts of law and order no longer had any meaning.

09. SECT ......................

10. GENERATE ......................

11. EUPHEMISM ......................

12. EXPECT ......................

13. VICTIM ......................

14. HARASS ......................

15. PREPARE ......................

16. PUNISH ......................

Unwelcome Guests

Throughout east London, new buildings go up, and unwanted tenants move in, often before the new ones
arrive. The story of Richard Glanville is one example. He explains:

"The flat was just what we wanted and we thought we were lucky to get it. We snapped it up quickly. The
(01) ............... were still here when we moved in, and in the first few months we had no sign of our new
neighbours. But then they started to introduce themselves. Our (02) ............... were first aroused when our
dog started chewing up the edges of the carpet in our bedroom. We thought he was just being deliberately
(03) ................ In fact he was trying to alert us to what lay underneath the floorboards.

"We realised there was something seriously wrong when we were woken up at four in the morning by a
scratching sound. It seemed to be coming from the wall between the bedroom and the living room. It was
a (04) ............... sound - sharp nails tearing up the cavity walls and racing along underneath the
floorboards.

"We called in the local health office, and a private firm. The (05) ............... were ripped up and a
programme of poisoning was carried out. Well, the scratching at night stopped. But the idea of our new
home was ruined. It didn't feel like a home any longer. In the end we just wanted to get out."

In some parts of the capital, there has been an 80 per cent increase in the number of (06) ................ There
has been a huge increase in the number of (07) ............... restaurants. More rubbish seems to get dumped
in the streets than ever before, and that doesn't help.

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Developers want to get people in as fast as possible, often before the building has been completed and the
drains properly connected. As a result the rats can sometimes be in there ready and waiting for the new
(08) ............... to move in.

Unfortunately, a lot of people have an `out of sight, out of mind' policy towards rodents just because they
are (09)............... But they pretty soon make their presence felt if nothing is done about them. Rats love
house-hunting and they don't pay rent.

01. BUILD ..............................

02. SUSPECT ..............................

03. DESTROY ..............................

04. NERVE ..............................

05. FLOOR ..............................

06. SIGHT ..............................

07. TAKE ..............................

08. OCCUPY ..............................

09. GROUND ..............................

Smaller Families

Over the past two hundred years the family in the western world has changed (10) ............... In the 18th
century, families were restricted by high rates of infant (11)............... and by epidemics of smallpox and
cholera which carried off children (12) ............... With the 19th century, and improved health and hygiene,
families of 10, 12 and 14 children became commonplace. The (13)............... of effective means of
contraception, increased (14) ...............and expectations of higher living standards meant that, at the
beginning of this century, the nuclear family became the norm. Despite divorce, the nuclear family - mum
and dad and two kids and a television set - has remained the ideal to which most people have aspired.
Now, however, a completely new family unit has come on the scene, and dad is no part of it. It consists
simply of mother and child.

The new family unit was greeted in the British popular press under the title, Virgin Birth. Of course, it
isn't. It's artificial insemination, and is sought by women who seek (15) ..............., not through the
Almighty, but through medical science. According to one report: "Many single women (just how many is
not specified) want a child without the direct involvement of a man either in its conception or in its

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(16) ................ Artificial insemination by donor (AID) is a simple, cheap and (17) ............... popular
means for them to achieve pregnancy."

10. DRAMA ..........................

11. MORTAL ..........................

12. SALE ..........................

13. ARRIVE ..........................

14. URBAN ..........................

15. MOTHER ..........................

16. BRING ..........................

17. INCREASE ..........................

Chemical Controls

The more chemical controls are used, the more resistant the insects and microbes become. According to
Dr Robert Metcalf, professor of entomology at the University of Illinois, "Some strains of insects and
microbes have appeared that are (01) .................. to nearly everything in our arsenal. The short-sighted
and (02) .................. use of antibiotics has produced monster bugs. And it's getting worse. Pests are now
quicker to develop resistance to new (03) .................. weapons. The earliest (04) .................. like DDT
were highly (05) .................. for many years. The (06) .................. of the latest (07) .................. is often
measured in months."

Jobs for the Boys and Girls

American ambassadors are political (08) .................., a way of thanking those who have given time and
money to the (09) .................. campaign. Take the example of Della Newman, a Seattle real-estate broker
and friend of George Bush, eminently qualified to be Ambassador to New Zealand. Her certificate of
competence from the State Department points out: "Mrs Newman's background in the real-estate
business, combined with her many civic (10) .................., gives her the (11) .................. qualities to make
her an (12) .................. candidate for Ambassador to New Zealand." (13) .................. diplomats have been
appalled, and someone started to leak the competence certificates, which are supposed to show that the
ambassador will have a (14) .................. of "the country's principal language, and understanding of its
history, culture and political structure." A State Department official commented: "By keeping them
(15) .................. they obviously hope to shepherd more turkeys through the Senate." One certificate,
provided to an operator of fast-food restaurants in Kansas, read in full: "Mr Wilkins's (16) ..................
background in business will serve him well as the next US ambassador to the Netherlands."

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01. RESIST ..................

02. RESPONSE ..................

03. CHEMISTRY ..................

04. INSECT ..................

05. EFFECT ..................

06. USE ..................

07. VARY ..................

08. APPOINT ..................

09. PRESIDE ..................

10. COMMIT ..................

11. MANAGE ..................

12. EXCEL ..................

13. PROFESS ..................

14. KNOW ..................

15. CONFIDE ..................

16. EXTEND ..................

CENSORSHIP

England has a reputation for being a land free of censorship. A number of events have shown that the (01)
.......................... is not entirely deserved. There is political censorship and moral censorship, and both are
(02) ........................... In regard to all (03) .......................... of censorship, the law is vague and confused.
Here are two examples of what might be loosely termed political protest.

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In the first case, the accused person was carrying a poster which depicted the then Prime Minister, Mrs
Thatcher, dressed in a black slip and (04) .........................., a whip in her hand and with a stiletto heel
resting on a kneeling member of her cabinet. The (05) ......................... had to show that the average
person would be alarmed or distressed or harassed by the poster. As there were no members of the public
(06) .......................... available who would admit to being distressed, two policemen had to qualify as the
victims of this hideous (07) ........................... As all they could admit to was a slight attack of laughter, the
case was dismissed. In a different case, a group of demonstrators were walking down Whitehall past the
end of Downing Street. One of them shouted a few rude, four-letter words and made a V-sign, a gesture of
contempt, in the direction of No 10, the Prime Minister's residence. As a result, he was arrested and
convicted of insulting (08) ........................... If you are going to protest in Britain, you had better do it
quietly.

01. REPUTE ..........................

02. DISCRIMINATE ..........................

03. APPLY ..........................

04. SUSPEND ..........................

05. PROSECUTE ..........................

06. READY ..........................

07. PROVOKE ..........................

08. BEHAVE ..........................

HARD LIFE FOR SOME YOUNG PEOPLE

But you don't have to go to distant (09) .......................... or Ugandan villages to find young people in
trouble and in need of help. The situation in England is bad enough, and gives little optimism for a
(10) ...................... in the level of (11) ......................... of young across this (12) .......................... world.
Angela Lambert, reporting for The Independent newspaper, writes : "There are at least 50,000
(13) .......................... people under the age of 20 in London alone, and perhaps three times as many in the
whole of England. An estimated 2,000 are squatting in derelict (14) ..........................; 10,000 are living in
hostels; 2,000 in bed-and -breakfast hotels; and the rest, if they are lucky, find temporary accommodation
with friends - usually sleeping on the floor. The (15) .........................., as is (16) .......................... obvious
to any Londoner, live rough - sleeping on park benches, in shop (17) .........................., and anywhere else
they can find. Many are permanently hungry."

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09. ORPHAN ..........................

10. LESS ..........................

11. TREAT ..........................

12. POPULATE ..........................

13. HOME ..........................

14. BUILD ..........................

15. LUCK ..........................

16. INCREASE ..........................

17. DOOR ..........................

Read the passage and answer the questions.

THE ECONOMY: SHADES OF GREY

The London Times reports that a Spanish tax inspector boarded a Mediterranean cruise ship incognito. He
sought to check whether the returns made by the cruise company, in respect of food and drink consumed,
tallied with reality. He put on his brightest holiday clothes and went aboard. Two things followed quickly.
First, his disguise was found to be inadequate; he was discovered immediately. Secondly, it happened that
the ship had a large number of British holiday-makers aboard. These merry jokers forced him to walk the
plank. While he was swimming around in the water, some of the merrier girls dived in after him and
merrily removed his shorts. We may feel sorry for the poor fellow, who was only doing his job, but the
story does show that tax collectors are as unpopular now as they were in the days of Robin Hood or
George Washington.

Tax inspectors are universally unpopular, not simply because they collect money, but because they are the
greatest of all bureaucrats. They put their little restrictions upon every aspect of ordinary life. In Britain, if
you drive a friend to the station, babysit for the neighbours, fix a car engine in exchange for a bottle of
whisky, or make a pot of jam for charity, then technically, you have become a part of the shadow
economy. The estimates of the size of the shadow economy vary greatly, from two per cent to 15 per cent
of the national income, the difference in Britain of between four and 54 billion pounds. The best estimate
puts it at around five per cent. One of the reasons for the difference is the definition which is used. The
black economy is only the darkest side of the picture. For example, the shadow economy runs from

10
voluntary work for charities, to barter between neighbours, to housework. But it also takes in handling
stolen goods, tax evasion, and working while drawing welfare payments.

One area of growth of the shadow economy in Britain has been household employment, and services to
help the working mother. Clearly, no one pays their window-cleaner by cheque, not if they want to see
him again. But, more importantly, in the last 25 years, as married women flooded out to work, they have
begun again to do what their grandmothers did, to pay others to look after their homes and children. This
area of home help has become a deep grey as far as the tax authorities are concerned. In general, the
shadow economy becomes pitch black once money changes hands, in used notes: for example, when we
pay each other for child-minding rather than taking it in turns to run a playgroup.

While the tax authorities have their beady eye on payment in kind, there may be another distinction,
between regular work on the one hand, and occasional, irregular favours on the other. Even so, it would
seem that moonlighting, the second job, the odd extra evening work, is what makes up most of the
shadow economy. A more useful distinction lies between the trivial and the substantial. There is a lot of
difference between giving someone a regular lift to the station in the mornings, perhaps in exchange for
some help with the petrol bill, and loaning him a company car which is not declared on his tax returns.

A large proportion of the shadow economy might not be liable to tax anyway. Small traders, for example,
prefer cash as much to avoid office work as to cut their sales tax. But, at the bottom end of the scale, even
very small cash earnings can cause trouble to the unemployed. The reason lies in the speed with which
unemployment support benefits are withdrawn if even small amounts of money are earned. Conservative
politicians are always saying that a large proportion of Britain s unemployed are earning a healthy living
in the shadow economy. With three million officially, and four million unofficially, out of work, they are
more likely to be picking at bones rather then living off the fat of the land.

The shadow economy may be essential to the health of the country. Of course, tax enforcement is
necessary, but snooping is not and that is where one loses sympathy with the Spanish tax inspector. There
needs to be a balance which can possibly be achieved by limiting the state s legal interest in small sums,
the taxation of which is more expensive than the revenue collected.

Select the answer most likely to be correct.

01. Why did the Spanish tax inspector end up in the Mediterranean? .......................

A. He was travelling incognito.

B. The passengers were British.

C. His disguise was penetrated.

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D. He was disliked.

02. Why did the passengers force him to walk the plank? ..............................

A. They were playing at being pirates.

B. The ship was under construction.

C. To prove he was sober.

D. Because he was a tax inspector.

03. Why are tax inspectors so unpopular? .............................

A. They persecute people.

B. They have no sense of humour.

C. They send us forms to fill in.

D. They are petty-minded.

04. When does the grey economy become black? ..............................

A. When people exchange services.

B. When cash changes hands.

C. When people barter goods.

D. When a person handles stolen goods.

05. When a person moonlights, what does he do? .............................

A. Works at night, in the dark.

B. Has a second job, apart from his main work.

C. Works for himself, as self-employed.

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D. Runs a nightclub or disco or other entertainment.

06. What are Britain's unemployed most likely to be doing? .............................

A. Earning a good living in the shadow economy.

B. Eking out a bare living.

C. Being investigated by bureaucrats.

D. Living off the fat of the land.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Most countries have had, and some still have, educational systems that are, in one way or another, social
disasters. The English educational system is unique, however, in the degree to which it has created
educational institutions which perpetuate privilege and social division. Most countries have some private
schools for the children of the wealthy; the English have dozens of them. In fact, about 3,000. Some nine
million children are educated at state schools; just under half a million are educated at private schools.

What is the result of such a system? The facts seem to speak for themselves. In the state system, about
eight per cent make it to university; in the private system, almost half the students go on to university. But
those statistics are deceptive: middle class children do better at examinations than working class, and
most of them stay on at school after 16. Private schools are entirely middle class, and so this positive
attitude creates an environment of success.

Private schools are enormously expensive, as much as £18,000 a year for a boarder at somewhere like
Eton or Harrow to at least £8,000 a year almost everywhere. Why are parents, many of whom are not
wealthy or even comfortably off, willing to sacrifice so much in the cause of their children's schooling?
One father replied to this question by saying: "Everything is on the margin. If my son gets a five per cent
better chance of going to university, that may be the difference between success and failure." You can
believe him if you like, but £50,000 minimum is a lot to pay for a five per cent better chance. Most
children, given the choice, would take the money. The real reason parents fork out the cash is prejudice:
they don't want little Henry mixing with the workers, or getting his accent wrong. And anyway, at your
next dinner party it won't sound too good if all the guests are sending their kids to St Swotting-by-the-Sea,
and you say your kid is going to the state school down the road even if, as a result, you are able to serve
Chateau Margaux with the filet steak.

Of course, at many of the best private schools, your money buys you something. One school, with 500
pupils, has 11 science laboratories; another, with 800, has 30 music practice rooms; another has 16 squash
courts, and yet another has its own beach. On investment in buildings and facilities, the private schools

13
spend £300 per pupil; the state system spends less than £50. On books, the ratio is £150 to £50. One of
the things that your money buys which is difficult to quantify is the appearance of the school, the way it
looks. Most private schools are established in beautiful, well-kept country houses, with extensive grounds
and gardens. They look good in contrast with the state schools, the worst of which, like public lavatories,
are tiled or covered in graffiti, and the best of which have architectural design on the level of an industrial
shed.

Leaving aside the question of money, the attitudes generally to be found in the private schools are
repellent. In a book published in 1988, some former Etonians were invited to talk about themselves and
their old school. One of them said: "At school you could point out the freaks very easily. Freaks were
spotty or ugly, freaks were scholars, basically people who had too many brains, and were looked down
upon because they didn't pay." Yet another talked of the hunger marchers of the thirties who came through
Windsor like "some sort of cloth-capped cavalcade", and went on "one was more aware of George V
dying, because you were part of the same village." Another said that saving up to send a son to Eton was
"the wrong thing... you're bred in terms of privilege and education to be a racehorse, and you end up
having to toil in some office block somewhere in the City..., it's a waste of an expensive training. You
don't go and run a donkey in the Derby, do you?"

One old Etonian tells how he was received by the printers when he went to work on a provincial
newspaper. Printers were well-known as belonging to the most left-wing of all unions, and yet: "They
loved me, they adored me... because I was nice and jolly with them, I was little Lord Fauntleroy, and they
used to say, `Isn't it marvellous, he was at Eton and he still talks to us, and he jokes and laughs and he's
really quite a nice guy.'"

Some, perhaps many, private school pupils find life there unpleasant in the extreme. Such a one was
Graham Greene. Yet he still sent his own son to the same school. In another case, an Old Etonian admitted
the school was "a ghastly hideous place, it was a nightmare" and yet he too wishes the school upon his
son: "I found it was a reflex that, as soon as Alexander was born, within three weeks I went and registered
him." Rather, when one thinks about it, as one might register a pedigree dog with the Kennel Club.

One has to ask the question if such privileges and attitudes are relevant to a country in which there is
almost as great a chance of an individual attending psychiatric hospital as of going to university.

01. The English educational system is different from any other because

A. has a balance between state and private education

B. has more private schools than anywhere else

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C. contributes to creating a class system

D. has so many things wrong with it

02. More private school children go to university because

A. they are better taught

B. their parents are middle class

C. the schools create success

D. they stay at school longer

03. Parents most often send their children to private school

A. for social reasons

B. for a margin of success

C. to show how much money they have

D. to pass university entrance examinations

04. Children at private schools

A. work very hard all the time

B. are conformist and prejudiced

C. are very clever and highly educated

D. are well-bred and cultivated

05. Former students of private schools

A. automatically send their children there

B. are inclined to think it is not worth the money

C. are worried that they might end up in psychiatric hospital

D. think carefully and then enrol their child in the best school

15
SAFETY AT SEA

Catastrophes at sea and in the air make grim headlines: they represent a great deal of sorrow for the
families of the dead and injured. Why do they occur? Terrorists plant bombs, as in the case of the
destruction of the American airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland. Pyromaniacs light fires, as in the case of
the ferry, Scandinavian Star, sailing from Norway to Denmark. In the week following that tragedy, there
were two other cases of fires on board ferries: on one plying between Wales and Ireland, and on another
between Portsmouth and Cherbourg. In both of them, a man died.

Clearly, fire is a commonplace hazard, and a very dangerous one, at sea. Talking after the Scandinavian
Star had been towed into the small port of Lysekil, a Swedish police spokesman made it clear how awful
if had been. He said: "The toll from the blaze that engulfed the ferry south of Oslo fjord is still officially
75 dead and 60 missing but about 100 bodies have already been taken off the ship and as many as 50 to
100 could still be on board. People tried to save themselves in the cabins and they are lying in big piles
and it's difficult to figure out how many there are. There are a lot of children."

In the immediate aftermath of such catastrophes reports of inadequate safety measures circulate. On board
the Scandinavian Star, a fireman said the ferry had only one system to pump and spray water on to the
flames and that pumping and spraying had to be done alternately. On a wider scale, newspapers reported
once again on the world-wide system of "flagging-out" which means that ships are not registered in the
countries where they operate, and where the regulations are strict and expensive, but in places like
Panama and Cyprus and the Bahamas, where they are lax and cheap. The Scandinavian Star, although
Danish-owned, was registered in the Bahamas.

One of the more outrageous cases came to light in October 1989. A general cargo ship named the Bosun
set sail from Hamburg under the flag of the small central American state of Belize. West German police
arrested and charged two men, the ship's British master and its German owner. They were charged with
flying a false flag, and forgery of Belize government documents. A police officer said: "Belize was not the
latest entrant in the cheap flag stakes; they in fact operate no shipping whatsoever. When we contacted the
Belize High Commission in London, they were astonished to learn that a ship was pretending to be
registered in their country."

Rules are laid down for ship safety by United Nations organisations. The rules are strict, and specify that
a ship must be built with heat and fire resistant bulkheads, fire doors to passenger and crew areas, sealed
cable and air conditioning trunking to block smoke, non-combustible materials and/or sprinkler systems,
smoke detectors and alarms, and signposted emergency exits. But all these rules of ship design are
meaningless according to an expert from the Nautical Institute. He explains: "The big loophole is the lack
of power to test whether these rules are being enforced. The port state is entitled to carry out spot checks
on ships to make sure their safety certificates are in order; the lifeboats are all there and don't have holes
in them; and that there are the necessary charts, life-jackets in the racks, and fire hoses in their reels. But

16
they don't have the power to test whether they all work, or the crews know how to use them. I think the
public has a right to be worried." He goes on to point out that the Scandinavian Star would have been
built to a very high design standard. However, it is likely that neither her crew nor her safety equipment
could have been checked in the Bahamas before she began carrying passengers.

Why do the shipowners do it? According to the Secretary of the National Union of Seamen, the answer is
cost. He says: "The Danish owners of the ill-fated Scandinavian Star could have registered her in
Denmark and employed ratings belonging to the appropriate union. These would have been properly
trained in fire-fighting and lifeboat drills and been able to communicate with their officers and the
passengers in the event of an emergency. The ship would have come under the rigorous scrutiny of the
Danish port inspectorate.

"But the inspectors might have insisted on potentially costly modifications and the ratings would have
asked for Danish wages and accompanying social benefits. Much simpler (not to mention cheaper) to
register her in the Bahamas and at a stroke free the owners from such irksome restrictions. Among the
survivors of this horrific tragedy there may be some ideologues who share this free-market philosophy,
but I doubt it."

01. Fires sometimes occur on board ships

A. because someone deliberately lights them

B. when there are inadequate safety measures

C. when the crew has not been trained

D. because the safety measures are inadequate ...............

02. Flagging-out

A. is common all over the world

B. means that ships must register

C. is a matter of flying the national flag

D. helps poor nations export ...............

03. The Belize High commission was surprised to have a ship registered in the country because

A. they had only just started registering shipping

17
B. it is a land-locked country, like Switzerland

C. no ships operate under the Belize flag

D. it was the first time forged Belize documents had been used ...............

04 When are the strict rules of shipbuilding ineffective?

A. When the crew is untrained.

B. When the safety equipment does not work.

C. If regulations are not enforced.

D. If there are not enough lifeboats. ...............

05. Being involved in a serious accident at sea is likely to make people sceptical of

A. free-market economics

B. ship builders

C. ship owners

D. government restrictions ...............

INDUSTRIAL WASTE

Domestic waste is one thing; industrial waste is another. Industrial waste may contain such nasty things as
compounds of heavy metals and dioxins and PCBs. Nobody, but nobody, wants that cancerous stuff in
their own backyard. So what do you do? According to one man in the business: "It's simple - you go to
Senegal, Djibouti or somewhere like Mauritania, all poor and semi-desert countries. You contact the local
authorities and they take you somewhere really crazy, out in the middle of nowhere, just scorpions and
snakes. You pay well, and then you start to dig your pit, some 30 metres down, all water-proof and
according to US, Swiss and EC regulations. Finally, you can start your shipments."

In Europe it costs about $500 a ton to dispose of hazardous waste; in Africa, it can cost as little as $2.50 a
ton. Like the drugs rackets or the armaments business, the trade in toxic waste frequently involves a man,
a telephone and a small office, registered in a country where owners do not have to be named. Payments
made to African companies and individuals are sometimes bigger than the entire GNP of those countries.
But those payments are not revealed. The business goes on in a sort of twilight zone between the legal and
the illegal. The director of the United Nations Register of Toxic Chemicals explains: "What we have seen

18
is the formation of middlemen, a telephone and a company registered in Liechtenstein or the Isle of Man.
They know nothing of who is generating the waste, or possibly even what the waste is, but they get
import permits in African countries and then go to companies in Europe who have waste to dispose of."
The sums of money involved in the business are astronomical: according to a report in The Independent,
an African diplomat in London said he was offered £3 million by a company dealing in toxic waste for an
introduction to his country's president. A proverb from northern England says: "Where there is muck,
there is money." How true!

A typical case is that of Benin. Benin signed a ten-year deal with a Gibraltar-based company to store up to
one million tons of industrial waste a year from several European countries. The price was $2.50 a ton,
plus local investment. When one considers that the customer will be charged one hundred times as much -
$250 a ton - it is quite clear a lot of money is being made by someone, especially over ten years. In this
case the company concerned was given a monopoly on waste shipments. It is perhaps worth noting that
the average income per capita in Benin is $300 a year and that the country's annual trading deficit is $125
million. A properly organized waste disposal trade could easily wipe out the country's national debt. One
must suppose, possibly, that the failure of Benin to take a "proper" commercial attitude to the toxic waste
business lies in the country's Marxist-Leninist political system or then, perhaps not. Also from Benin
comes the story of the shipment of two shiploads of radioactive waste from France. Reports that it has
been buried in an area known for its opposition to the government have been denied by Benin's president,
Matthieu Kerekou.

An interesting case is that of Guinea-Bissau, a place with a population of about a million, a literacy rate of
nine per cent, a GNP of $150 million, and a per capita annual income of $170. Guinea-Bissau dropped
plans to double its GNP by taking 15 million tons of toxic waste form western countries. The deal was
worth $600 million to the country over five years. The price was $40 a ton. However, it has gone ahead
with a deal with a Swiss company to take 50,000 tons of toxic waste annually for 10 years.

One of the more publicised scandals occurred in Nigeria. It was deal arranged between government
departments and an import-export company. The company was registered to "import residues of several
industrial processes". Taking advantage of this broad and imprecise definition, several Italian companies
started importing the waste quite legally. As a result, several Italians were arrested in Lagos. The waste
was disposed of at Koko, a small port, well away from Lagos and inspection. However, the waste stank.
Drums of it became so hot that dockers could not handle them. The smell of the waste affected the whole
area. It turned out that the drums contained PCB (polychlorobiphenyl).

The waste which worries people most of all is nuclear, both low-level and high-level waste. You do not
have to go to Africa to find it. England has large amounts, and has been dumping low level waste into
open pits for more than thirty years, on the coast beside one of the country's beauty spots, the Lake
District. The stuff was tipped loose into trenches dug in the clay soil. When the trench was full, the eight-
metre deep trenches were then covered with soil. The water accumulating in them was allowed to run into

19
the local stream, and then into the Irish Sea, a great place to swim, and a great place for shellfish. Now
things have been tightened up: all the waste has to be in metal containers, and the pits are lined with
concrete.

The comments of the local Member of Parliament apply as much to Africa as they do to the British
nuclear industry. He said: "The scandalous length of time it has taken to put this low-level waste site in
order does not bode well for progress to the disposal of high-level radioactive wastes. No wonder the not-
in-my-backyard attitude persists..."

Well-run or not, would you want a toxic waste dump anywhere near your backyard?

01. The business of disposing of toxic waste requires

A. a large organisation

B. contacts in third world countries

C. licensing

D. a remote site

02. The organisers of the business prefer

A. limited investment

B. to work on their own

C. to deal with individuals rather then companies

D. anonymity

03. For some countries, the amount of money involved would

A. create a positive balance of trade

B. provide development capital

20
C. allow them to limit opposition to the government

D. encourage communism

04. The Nigerian company was able to import PCB toxic waste because

A. it had bribed senior politicians

B. the registration agreement was too vague

C. an import licence had been issued

D. the waste was low-level

05. The problem in England was that

A. a beauty spot was polluted

B. the waste dump was not lined with concrete

C. the waste had been left exposed for too long

D. the low-level waste escaped into the sea

Answer from the paragraphs A to I.

Which "Indian" word(s)

is more likely to be Portuguese than Indian in origin? 01 . .......................

refers to coloured cloth? 02. ........................ 03. ........................

is in origin more north-western European than Indian? 04. ........................

derive from the name of a place in India? 05. ........................ 06. ........................

refers to something which is not, strictly speaking, properly Indian? 07. ....................

has been confused with a French equivalent? 08. ........................

came from Tamil? 09. ........................ 10. ........................

21
referred to a covering for the legs? 11. ........................

came into English from French? 12. ........................

became more precise in its meaning? 13. ........................

ANGLO-INDIAN ETYMOLOGY

A. Gingham

This is a kind of stuff, defined in the Draper's Dictionary as being made from cotton yarn dyed before
being woven. The origin of this word is obscure, but it is likely that it originated in the Indian trade. Still,
a Javanese dictionary gives ginggang, a sort of striped East Indian cotton. The verb ginggang in Javanese
means "to separate, to go away" but this throws no light on the matter, nor can we connect the cloth with
that of the name of a place on the northern coast of Sumatra. On the other hand, the Eastern derivation of
the name has been entirely rejected. The right explanation is simply that gingham is an old English
spelling of a town in Brittany, Guingamp, where linen was once manufactured.

B. Bungalow

The most usual class of house that was occupied by Europeans in the interior of India, being on one
storey, and covered by a pyramidal roof, which in the normal bungalow is of thatch, but may be of tiles
without impairing its title to be called a bungalow. In reference to the style of house, bungalow is
sometimes used in contradistinction to the (usually more pretentious) pucka house; by which latter term is
implied a masonry house with a terraced roof. A bungalow may be a small building of the type which we
have described, but of temporary material, in a garden. The term has been adopted by Europeans
generally in Ceylon and China. The word derives from bangla, which is probably from the place Banga in
Bengal. It is to be remembered that in Hindustan proper the adjective, of or belonging to Bengal, is
constantly pronounced as bangala or bangla. The probability is that when Europeans started to build
houses of this character in Behar and Upper India, these were called Bangla or "Bengal-fashion" houses.

C. Calico

This cotton cloth, of a reasonably fine texture, occurs in the 17th century in the form calicut. The word
may have come into English through the French calicot, which in turn comes from Calicut, which in the
Middle Ages was the chief city and one of the ports of Malabar. The fine cotton material of the Malabar
coast was mentioned by Marco Polo. The cotton itself seems to have been brought from the hinterland as
Malabar cotton, ripening during the rains, is not usable.

D. Pyjamas

This word derives from the Hindi pae-jama, literally translated as "leg-clothing", a pair of loose drawers,
tied round the waist. Such a garment was worn by Sikh men and by Moslems of both sexes. It was
adopted by Europeans as comfortable casual clothing and as night attire. It is probable that the clothing
and the word came into English usage from the Portuguese. Originally, pyjamas sometimes had feet sewn

22
into them and when a Jermyn St tailor was asked why, he replied, "I believe, sir, it is because of the white
ants." And as a traveller remarked in 1881, "The rest of our attire consisted of that particularly light and
airy white flannel garment, known throughout India as a pyjama suit."

E. Chintz

This, a printed or spotted cotton cloth, is called chint in Hindi, but appears to stem from the Sanskrit,
chitra, meaning variegated or speckled. The French form of the word is chite, which has suggested the
English sheet being of the same origin. But chite is apparently of Indian origin, whilst sheet is much older
than the Portuguese communication with India. The manufacture and export of chintzes from India to
Europe has now ceased. However, in Java and Sumatra, chintzes of a very peculiar kind of marbled
pattern are still manufactured under the name of batik.

F. Veranda

This, referring to an open pillared gallery round a house, is one of the very perplexing words for which at
least two origins may be maintained, both with equal plausibility. One group consider it to be of Sanskrit
origin, barandah, meaning a portico. However, others point out that verandah with the meaning in
question does not belong to the older Sanskrit, but is found only in comparatively modern works. That the
word as used in England and France was brought by the English from India need not be doubted. But
either in the same sense, or in one closely analogous, it seems to have existed quite independently in both
Spanish and Portuguese. The suspicion must be that the word was taken to India by the Portuguese and
thence re-exported by the English to northern Europe.

G. Cheroot

This is a cigar, but the term has been appropriated especially to cigars truncated at both ends, as Indian
cigars always were in the old days. The word is Tamil, shuruttu, translated as a roll of tobacco. In the
south, cheroots were chiefly made at Trichinopoly and were consequently known as Trichies. Grose, in
around 1760, speaking of Bombay, whilst describing the cheroot does not use that word, but another,
buncus, which is now entirely obsolete.

H. Thug

The word is found in Sanskrit and in Hindi where it means a cheat and a swindler, but during the 19th
century is acquired a more specific meaning, referring to robbers of a particular type who formed a gang
and pretended to be travellers, perhaps on business or on a pilgrimage. They would join other travellers
on the road, befriend them and then, given a suitable opportunity, would strangle them, plunder them and
bury their bodies. The proper name for such people was phansigar, from the word phansi, meaning "a
noose", because they would throw a slip-knot around the necks of their victims.

I. Curry

Curry consists of meat, fish, fruit or vegetables, cooked with a quantity of bruised spices and turmeric. A
little of this gives flavour to a large mess of rice. The word is Tamil in origin, kari, meaning "sauce". It is

23
possible, however, that the kind of curry found in restaurants is not of purely Indian origin, but has come
down to us from the spiced cookery of medieval Europe and Western Asia. There is, indeed, no room for
doubt that the capsicum or red pepper was introduced into India by the Portuguese. The Sanskrit books of
cookery, which cannot be of any considerable antiquity, contain many recipes for curry without this
ingredient. [definitions from Hobson-Jobson]

Which city/cities

... were not founded by the Romans? 01. ................. 02. .................

03. ................. 04. .................

... exhibits antiquities in a bedroom? 05. .................

... Is not situated on a river? 06. .................

... Is named after a local food? 07. .................

... owes its existence entirely to the Church? 08. .................

... has musical sculptures in its cathedral? 09. .................

... has a cathedral that made money out of the royal family? 10. .................

... has made good use of its penal institutions? 11. .................

... was in the wool business? 12. .................

... has some well-trained birds? 13. .................

... has a cathedral with beautiful windows? 14. .................

ENGLISH CATHEDRAL CITIES

A.

Gloucester

is a former Roman city on the River Severn. The ground-plan of the original Roman settlement is still
preserved in the four main streets which meet at right-angles in the centre of the town and are named after

24
the four points of the compass: Northgate, Southgate and so on. The fine cathedral is Norman to early
Perpendicular with a notable 14th century east window. The tomb of the murdered King Edward II is to
be found here. The possession of the body of this unfortunate monarch proved a source of great wealth to
the cathedral, and the pulpit where the priest stood to receive the contributions of the pilgrims still exists.
Also of special interest are the crypt, the choir stalls and the noble central tower. The Cathedral Close is
entered by two old gateways. A Cross stands to the memory of Bishop Hooper who was martyred here in
1555. Bishop Hooper's house is now a museum of English Rural Life. The famous Gloucester bell-
foundry of Abraham Rudhall cast over 4,500 bells. The Three Choirs Music Festival takes place every
third year in Gloucester. Near the city is Matson House which was the headquarters of Charles I during
the siege of Gloucester during the Civil War.

B.

Wells

is a beautiful little medieval cathedral city, situated at the foot of the Mendip Hills. Wells was never a
royal dwelling-place; it was never of commercial importance; it was never a place of military strength.
The whole interest of the city is ecclesiastical. The Cathedral, mainly 13th century, is famous for the west
front with its statuary. Also outstanding are the three towers, the north porch and the astronomical clock.
The moated Bishop's House retains a 13th century chapel, and the swans in the lake are famous for their
habit of ringing a bell for their meal. In the East and North Liberties are a number of interesting old
houses, including the Cathedral School and the Organist's House. Near the town, Tor Hill, which belongs
to the National Trust, is a good viewpoint.

C.

Durham

lies on the River Wear which is crossed here by three fine old bridges. The Cathedral, on a splendid site
overlooking the river, has very notable Norman work, including the remarkable Galilee porch which
contains the tomb of the Venerable Bede. The 13th century Chapel of the Nine Altars contains the tomb of
St Cuthbert. The well-known sculptures portraying the Dun Cow and the Milkmaids are set in the north-
west turret of a gable on the north front. There are remains of the monastic buildings and the Chapter
Library was formerly the monks' dormitory. It now contains Roman remains and Anglo-Saxon crosses.

D.

York

was known to the Romans as Eboracum. It is situated on the River Ouse and retains its impressive
medieval walls, three miles in extent, together with four fine gateways. The splendid Minster, Early
English to Perpendicular, is famous for the west front and the towers, and for its wonderful old stained

25
glass, particularly the 12th century Five Sisters window in the north transept. The octagonal chapter house
is 14th century while the oldest part of the structure are the walls of the crypt which may date from the
8th century. York is second only to Norwich in the number of its fine old churches. On a small hill in the
city stands Clifford's Tower, all that remains of the old York Castle. A former women's prison, dating from
1780, now houses the very interesting Castle Museum of Crafts and old social life. The adjacent Old
Debtors' Prison (1705) is also a museum, featuring toys and costumes. Near the station is the well-known
Railway Museum, including many actual engines and coaches.

E.

Ely

stands on a hill on the west bank of the Ouse, rising above the surrounding fenland. The cathedral,
towering above the town, is a landmark for miles around. It is mainly of Norman construction, and the
great western tower and the transept were completed in the 12th century. There are some fine tombs
inside the cathedral, such as that of Bishop Redman (1505) and the two chapels in the Perpendicular style
of Bishop Alcock and Bishop West. The town, according to early records, is supposed to derive its name
from the abundance of eels found in the local rivers.

F.

Exeter

is a former Roman city standing on the River Exe. The beautiful cathedral is mainly Decorated in style
but has two remarkable twin Norman towers. A minstrels' gallery with angels carrying the musical
instruments projects over the nave. The wood carvings and the 14th century clock are all worth seeing.
Elsewhere in the town, part of the Norman castle has survived, and there are stretches of the original city
walls. Much has been preserved, and a rare half-timbered 14th century merchant's house was removed
from its original site to a new location near the river.

G.

Canterbury

a former Roman military camp, standing on the Stour, is famous for its historical and ecclesiastical
associations. The beautiful cathedral was build between the 11th and the 15th centuries. It was the scene
of the murder of its Archbishop, Thomas a Becket in 1170, supposedly on the orders of the King, Henry
II. Of outstanding interest in the cathedral are the Norman crypt and the lovely 12th century choir. The
site was built upon long before the Norman period, as early as 200 BC, when there was a heavily
stockaded and ditched settlement. The Romans built a wall and fortified the place in 200 AD, and
archaeologists have unearthed the foundations of a large Roman theatre. Near the cathedral has been
found the remains of a Saxon abbey church, and tombs of Saxon kings have been discovered. Also nearby
is the oldest used church in England, St Martin's, which was standing before St Augustine came to

26
England. He was the first archbishop of Canterbury, 597-604. There are ancient fortifications, the ruins of
a castle and the Roman city wall still standing.

H.

Norwich,

standing on the River Wensum, depended for its early prosperity upon the trade in worsted cloth. Its
recorded history begins in 924 when it became a royal borough, and had a mint. The cathedral, largely
Norman, has a spire of the Decorated period which rises to a height of 315 feet. The 15th century choir
stalls and the cloisters are of interest. Little remains of the Norman castle and city walls, which were four
miles in circumference, although the inner keep of the castle continued to be used as a prison until 1880
when it was acquired by the city corporation and converted into a museum and art gallery.

Which crime writer

... was influenced by a non-English author? 01. .................

... made a lot of money in Hollywood? 02. .................

... was a successful playwright? 03. .................

... wrote books which were the essence of the heyday of crime fiction? 04. ............

... had a good grip of the details of everyday living? 05. .................

... created the typical style of the American crime story? 06. .................

... was influenced by her career as a thespian?` 07. .................

... features an upper-class hero? 08. ................. 09. .................

... features a European detective? 10. ................. 11. .................

... wished his hero was dead? 12. .................

... gave up detective fiction for more serious pursuits? 13. ............ 14. ..............

... had a hero with a code of honour? 15. .................

... moved from reason to mysticism? 16. .................

27
DETECTIVE STORY WRITERS

A.

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was born in South-West England. She enjoyed a quiet, middle-class
childhood that set the keynote for her adult life and personality. There was no encouragement for
biographers to link her life with her work. The more than 80 books she produced made her beyond doubt
the most famous detective novelist of the century. Her very first novel in 1920 introduced the Belgian
private detective, Hercule Poirot. In 1930, she introduced the shrewd and gentle Miss Marple, whose
fictional career rivalled Poirot's in length and popularity. Her books epitomise the so-called Golden Age
of detective fiction of the 1920s and 1930s. The novels have little in the way of setting or characterisation,
but centre exclusively on ingenuity of plot. Of the several short stories she adapted for the stage, The
Mousetrap, first produced in 1952, was hugely successful.

B.

Ngaio Marsh (1899-1982) was born and brought up in Christchurch, New Zealand. After leaving
university, she worked in the theatre, first as an actress and then as a producer. Her first novel in 1934
introduced Superintendent Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard. The settings of her novels are often
theatrical and her plots show a tight dramatic construction. She wrote more than 30 novels. She also wrote
travel books and two books on play production. Her autobiography is mainly about her life in the theatre.

C.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh and was brought up as a Catholic. However, by the time
he had finished his medical studies at Edinburgh University he had given up Catholicism. Much of his
writing reflects the scientific rationalism he adopted until his later conversion to spiritualism. He practised
as a doctor at the seaside resort of Southsea where the lack of patients gave him plenty of opportunity to
write. The first of the Sherlock Holmes stories was published in 1887, but his real popularity did not
begin until the publication of a collection of the stories in 1992. Doyle resented being identified solely as
the creator of Sherlock Holmes. His life reflected many interests and he was a versatile writer who dealt
also with historical and science fiction. In fact, he disliked his hero so much, he made a desperate attempt
to kill him off. The last years of his life were spent in an indefatigable defence of spiritualism.

D.

Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) was born in Chicago but brought up in England. The first part of his
life was taken up with journalism and business until he started to write fiction at the age of 45. The Big
Sleep, published in 1939, introduced his most famous character, the disillusioned but chivalric detective,
Philip Marlowe. Chandler is perhaps the best-known and most read of the American hard-boiled school of

28
detective story writers.

E.

Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) was born in Maryland and served in the United States army during
World War I. Afterwards he went to work for the Pinkerton Agency in San Francisco as a private
detective. His experiences served him well when he turned to writing. A first book of collected short
stories was published in 1944. His most famous book, The Maltese Falcon, was made into a successful
movie, as were the rest of his novels. He made and spent several fortunes as a movie scriptwriter. His
writing is spare and realistic and suited his material perfectly, the underworld of American gangsterism.
Hammett invented what has been called the hard-boiled school of crime fiction. His heroes are not merely
tough; they confront violence with full knowledge of its corrupting potential.

F.

Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) was born in Oxford and brought up in East Anglia. After studying at
Oxford, she worked variously as a schoolteacher, publisher's reader and copywriter at an advertising
agency, she became a full-time writer in 1931. By this time she had begun her series of detective novels
about the elegant and apparently light-hearted Lord Peter Wimsey which was to make her one of the most
popular writers of the day. The later novels in the series introduce a new note of seriousness. She also
wrote 11 short stories with the commercial traveller Montague Egg as the detective, and contributed
introductions to two collections of detective stories. Although she served as president of the Detection
Club from 1949 until her death, she had by then abandoned detective fiction for a sequence of radio plays
about the life of Christ and for translations of Dante into English.

G.

Margery Allingham (1904-66) was born in London and educated at Cambridge. She made her reputation
with a series of detective stories beginning with The Crime at Black Dudley in 1930 and ending with The
Fashion in Shrouds in 1938. Her hero, Albert Campion, is a light-hearted aristocrat, but from the start
Margery Allingham showed an unusually strong grasp of characterisation and a Dickensian eye for the
idiosyncrasies of London life.

H.

Nicholas Freeling, born in 1927, worked throughout Europe as a hotel and restaurant chef before
becoming a full-time writer in 1960. His immersion in European rather than British culture gives his work
not just its characteristic locations but its wry prose style. Love in Amsterdam (1962) began a series of
novels featuring the Dutch detective Van der Valk. His work is modelled on the example of the French

29
novelist, Simenon, and he shared Simenon's sharp sense of place. The Long Silence in 1972 killed off Van
der Valk, although Freeling revived him in 1989. Later novels featured a French detective.

Who

... took unusual still-life photographs? 01. ................

... trained as a teacher? 02. ...............

... worked as a journalist? 03. ................ 04. ...............

... used photography as an aid? 05. ................ 06. ...............

... took carefully composed pictures? 07. ................ 08. ...............

... was interested in outsiders? 09. ................ 10. ...............

... followed his own advice too closely? 11. ...............

.. was torn between painting and photography? 12. ..............

.. was a serious social reformer? 13. ..............

.. won prizes? 14. ..............

... made his photographs socio-political? 15. .............. 16. ..............

... was fashionable? 17. ..............

PHOTOGRAPHERS

A. Lewis W Hine was the outstanding exponent of social documentary photography in America. He
dabbled in various fields before enrolling at the University of Chicago and then in New York where at
Columbia University he studied social work. Hine began to take photographs in 1904. He realised that the
camera was an important instrument, both for his investigations as well as for the evaluation of the finds
of those investigations. After concluding his pedagogical studies in 1905, he taught at a photographic
club, which he also managed. Working for the National Child Labour Committee, he photographed
children working in coal mines and factories throughout the USA, and his photographs were used in a
campaign against child labour. During further travels throughout the USA, Hine documented the social
conditions of children, and he also gave lectures on behalf of the National Child Labour Committee. In
1918 Hine joined the Red Cross, which despatched him to France. From there, he travelled to Italy and
Greece. Returning to New York, he changed his emphasis from an objective, clear documentation without
emotion to a more interpretative style of photography. With his photographs of workers he sought to

30
demonstrate that it was not the machine but man who created affluence. In 1930, he was given the job of
documenting the gigantic construction project of the Empire State Building. The resulting photographs,
which Hine regarded as "industrial interpretation", are probably the most famous of his images.

B. Florence Henri, born in New York, was a trend-setting photographer of the twenties and thirties. She
studied painting in Berlin and Munich and then in Paris. She was then a student at the Bauhaus where she
began to take an interest in photography, and began experimenting with the possibilities of the medium,
such as unconventional perspectives, multiple exposures and montages. By the time she returned to Paris
in 1929, her work had already been exhibited and she had gained broad recognition. Photography caused
her painting to recede more and more into the background. She began to specialise in portraiture. Her
models were mostly celebrities from the artistic and intellectual circles of Paris. Another important
category in her work consists of dense arrangements of fruit, plates, reels of thread, perfume bottles or
purely geometric objects that were thought out to the last detail. By the use of mirrors she succeeded in
upsetting the familiar central perspective spatial arrangement of photography. In this, Florence Henri
reverted to the cubist form elements of her early abstract paintings. After she retired in 1963 to a small
village in Picardy, she gave up photography altogether and devoted herself entirely to her original
vocation of abstract painting.

C. Kyoichi Sawada became known as a press photographer who worked for United Press International
during the Vietnam War. Sawada's interest in photography began early in life. At the age of 20 he became
a newspaper editor in Tokyo. In 1965 he had himself transferred to Vietnam in order to experience the
reality of war with his own eyes. He received several international awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize in
1966 for his picture Flight to Freedom. The human drama of grief and terror, expressed by the distorted
faces of the four children and their mother who were able to flee an attack on their village by swimming
for their lives, tells of the reality of the Vietnam War. Sawada's pictures document the suffering of
civilians under the rule of soldiers, as well as wounding and pain on both sides. Sawada risked his life
many times on his assignments to isolated theatres of war. He was killed while on a photographic
assignment to Cambodia in 1970.

D. Ed van der Elsken completed his art studies in Amsterdam before moving to Paris to work as
freelance photographer. He also became a correspondent for a Dutch newspaper. Many of this politically
active photographer's socio-critical pictures and films were made during a trip round the world. At first he
worked only in black and white, taking up colour alter on. In a photographic series about jazz, he did not
use flash illumination because he considered it important to preserve the atmosphere and the emotions of
the moment in natural light conditions. Elsken published numerous photographic books about
Amsterdam, Japan and China. He expressed the drama of social injustice in a pictorially concentrated
manner with photographs of China and South Africa. He expressed his interest in people on the margins
of society, who are never shown in representative reports about a country.

E. David Octavius Hill, a pioneer of photography born in Scotland, who entered history as one of the
most important early portrait photographers, was actually a landscape painter and lithographer. He
resorted to photography only as an aid for executing an unusual assignment he was given in 1843. He was

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commissioned to paint a group portrait of the 457 men and women who participated in the founding
convention of the Free Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. At the suggestion of a friend, Hill decided first
to photograph all the delegates individually, and then to use the resulting picture as guides for rendering
their facial features correctly in the painting of the group. He was fortunate in securing the cooperation of
a competent photographer, Robert Adamson, who had opened a photographic studio in Edinburgh. The
two men did not concentrate exclusively on the facial features, but created elaborate and well-composed
portraits in the style of painted portraits of the times. Some are reminiscent of Dutch painting of the 17th
century. Nearly all the portraits were made outdoors, with exposure times of several minutes. Hill and
Adamson worked as a team. Hill was regarded as the project leader and as the one who set the artistic
tone. Yet Adamson's role appears to have been greater than that of a mere craftsman. Be that as it may,
Hill gave up his photographic activities for a time when Adamson died prematurely in 1848. Photographs
that Hill made later with a new partner did not reach the quality of earlier photographs made with
Adamson's creative input.

F. Robert Capa, born in Budapest in 1913, studied political science in Berlin, and then taught himself
photography. In 1933 he emigrated to Paris, where he began working as a freelance photographer. His
photographs of the Spanish Civil War won him a reputation in Paris, particularly his picture entitled Death
of a Spanish Loyalist. From then on he concentrated on being a photographic war correspondent. His
motto was, "If your picturers aren't good enough, you're not close enough." His talent for sharply
conveying the feelings and suffering of people in civil wars or rebellions in single pictures earned him
great admiration. He travelled to China and Israel. In 1954 he was fatally injured in Tai-Binh, Vietnam.
The quality of Capa's pictures lies in the fine line they portray between the will to live and the urge to
self-destruction.

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