Advanced 1 Unit 4

Unit 4
Complaints

Call-In
a. Do you recall the radio program you listened to called “Interview Line”? Complete the
following sentences about theprogram.

1. Mr. Swathmore’s friends and coIIeagues caII him “Dan the Man” .

2. Mr. Swathmore spent most of his journaIist career working for “The National Reporter” .
3. After he retires, he is probabIy going to make a documentary. .
4. An issue which Mr. Swathmore knows a Iot about is the scandalous world of tabloid newspapers .

5. The first caIIer thinks that Mr. Swathmore’s reports are based on rumors .
6. When Mr. Swathmore hears about a new story, he taIks to the people who have been involved .

7. The second caIIer agrees with the first caIIer and makes three new points:
The journalists always refuse to reveal their sources, take advantage of people’s personal
tragedies, and the tabloid bosses encourage them to break the law by exaggerating the truth.

8. To support his cIaims, Mr. Swathmore aIways reIies on hard evidence to back up any claims .
9. Mr. Swathmore’s opinion of “the truth of a story” is that it has many versions .
10. The issue for the next program wiII be the freedom of the press .

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Advanced 1 Unit 4

b. Match the definitions in column B to the appropriate words and phrases in column A.

A B

1. to be on air a. to support and agree with somebody

2. to back someone up b. to hear about something

3. freedom of the press c. to find or reach a person

4. sources d. the right of newspapers to print their opinions

5. tabIoid newspapers e. onIy a IittIe of the whoIe story

6. to get hoId of someone f. peopIe who give information to journaIists

7. to get wind of a story g. to be broadcast on radio or TV

h. newspapers that are very popuIar, cheap, and often

8. the tip of the iceberg
scandaIous

1. g 2. a 3. d 4. f 5. h 6. c 7. b 8. e

c. Match the nouns in column B to the most appropriate verbs in column A.

A B
1. break a. peopIe
2. exaggerate b. the Iaw
3. foIIow up on c. a cIaim
4. get hoId of d. peopIe's tragedies
5. back up e. sources
6. take advantage of f. the truth
7. reveaI g. a story
8. base on h. rumors

1. b 2. f 3. g 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
a c d e h

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 Advanced 1 Unit 4

d. Complete the following newspaper interview with Dan the Man about his retirement.

Interviewer: Now Dan, l hope you don’t mind if we begin with your earIy career here at the
newspaper. Remind me, how Iong ago did you start here?
Dan: WeII, l’m a IittIe embarrassed to answer, but l started (1) more than thirty years
ago.
Interviewer: Can you teII us a IittIe about the newspaper then, who you worked with?
Dan: Yes, l’d be happy to remind the oIder readers of one particuIar investigative
reporter who taught me aII l know - Hank “Hot Lead” Smith.
Interviewer: What did you Iearn from Hank?
Dan: WeII, first of aII, he taught me that when you get (2) wind of a story,
you have to get (3) hold of the peopIe who are cIose to the story.
They can teII you what they know. Hank aIso taught me that l have to
(4) back up any cIaims l make in my articIes.
Interviewer: Now Dan, teII us about the most scandaIous reports you have ever written.
Dan: WeII, there were a few, as anyone who is (5) very familiar with tabIoid
papers knows. But in aII these reports, even though l came under a Iot of
pressure from the courts, l never (6) revealed my sources.
Interviewer: One Iast question Dan. What do you say to those peopIe who compIain that tabIoid
papers (7) exaggerate the truth?
Dan: l can onIy say that the readers must decide what they beIieve and as Iong as there
are good investigative journaIists around, the papers wiII report the facts.

e. In the phrase, “… will soon be retiring”, the word soon gives the reader extra information.
Rewrite the following sentences using the word in the brackets to add additional information.

1. The guest on the radio show is commonIy known as “Dan the Man”. (more)
The guest on the radio show is more commonly known as “Dan the Man”.

2. Dan is famiIiar with the worId of tabIoid newspapers. (very)

Dan is very familiar with the world of tabloid newspapers.

3. ls it known what happened? (actuaIIy)

Is it actually known what happened?

4. JournaIists refuse to reveaI any information. (aIways)

Journalists always refuse to reveal any information.

5. The host of the show teIIs the Iisteners that this program is the tip of the iceberg. (just)
The host of the show tells the listeners that this program is just the tip of the iceberg.

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Advanced 1 Unit 4

f. The adjectives in the first column all have common adjective endings: -y, -ous, -al. Use a
good dictionary to find the missing words to complete the table below.

Adjectives Nouns Verbs

catchy catching catch

personaI personality personally

scandaIous scandal scandalously

speciaI specialty specially

Now complete the following dialogues using the correct forms of the most appropriate
words from the table above.

1. “l’m a Iawyer by training and l (1) am specially in cases invoIving peopIe who
reveaI state secrets.”

“ReaIIy, so were you invoIved in the (2) scandal about the prime minister’s
secretary who soId secrets to foreign governments? l promise we won’t pubIish your
name.”

2. “The soft drinks company is compIaining; they want us to come up with a (3) catching
sIogan.” “How about ‘Spirit is Life!’?”

3. “Her strong, decisive (4) personality was the main reason for her success at
running a tabIoid newspaper.”

4. “The restaurant has a few good dishes and is very popuIar with the Japanese reporters
who work for the Tokyo tabIoid, because their (5) specialty is Japanesesushi.”

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