On June 11th a new football world cup will start.

This time one of the

greatest sport events will take place in Africa for the first time in history.
South Africa, the organizer of the 2010 World Cup was chosen by FIFA six
years ago, only ten years after the first multiracial democratic elections
hold in the country.

Few nations have shown so much progress in such a short span of time.
In the second half of the 20th century South Africa was ruled by apartheid, a
system of legal racial segregation, which meant that a minority of white
people controlled the vast majority of black people. It was in the last decade
of that century when the last white president, Frederick de Klerk and
Nelson Mandela started destroying that mean political system. One fact that
symbolizes the cruelty of apartheid is that Mandela, the first black
president, spent twenty seven years imprisoned for his fight against the
white government.

Today South Africa is the richest country in Africa but the country has to
solve some very serious social and economical problems. The first one is the
high rate of unemployment, specially among the black population. Also the
wealth is not shared equally; many people live with a few rands, the coin of
South Africa , while the big fortunes are in the hands of the whites. However
the most threatening problem is the development of Aids which has caused
millions of casualties. Unfortunately the government has not found the way
to control the pandemia.

1. How long has South Africa been a multiracial democracy?

2. How is the effect of apartheid still felt in the economy today?

3. When was the end of apartheid?

TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS COPYING FROM THE TEXT

4. South Africa was chosen to organize the World Cup in 2004

5. Apartheid started in the fifties

6. Mandela was imprisoned for fighting against de Klerk

7. Aids is one of the main worries of the government

LEXICON

8. Give a synonym of casualties (noun)

9. Find a synonym of cruel in the text (adj)

10.Give a synonym of span (noun)

11.Give a verb with the same root that development

12.Give an antonym of richest (adj.)

13.Find a synonym of celebrated (v.) in the text