Exercises
8. Answer the questions about the words and expressions. 1 If you are raring to go, are you eager to (a) leave, or (b) start an activity? 2 If you get your bearings, do you (a) lose your way, or (b) find out where you are? 3 If you are nowhere close to done, do you (a) still have a lot more work to do to finish the job, or (b) still feel strong and ready to work?
Exercises
6 All of these thoughts were landing in my brain in a kind of flashpoint … What are these thoughts, and how do they contrast with the situation in the north tower? What do they tell us about Picciotto? The thoughts are about Picciotto’s family, job, the bagels, firefighters’ customs, his colleagues, the things his life consists of, his values, his bravery and yet his ordinariness.
Exercises
decent evacuate gratitude herd leadership massive 3 There was a group of cows standing in the corner of the field. herd 4 There have been very big increases in food prices over the last few months. massive 5 All the people should leave the building immediately when the alarm sounds. evacuate 6 She has displayed all the qualities needed for being a leader in her job. leadership
Exercises
Exercises
Exercises
Exercises
Exercises
9. Look at the sentences from the passage and answer the questions. 1 Some guys were sweating like pigs. Why? Because they felt hot and exhausted. They had been engaged in heavy physical activities. 2 … we all froze. What does this mean? It means we stayed completely still. 3 Every possible worst-case scenario, and a few more besides. What was the firefighter imagining? He was imagining an extremely big fire or explosion.
Exercises
10. Work in pairs and answer the questions.
1 What has been omitted in the elliptical sentence Dead solid still? The complete sentence might be we stood dead solid still. 2 Which different things does the writer compare the noise of the falling building to? It was like an earthquake, an amusement park thrill ride, a thousand runaway trains, a herd of wild beasts, and the thunder of a rockslide.
Exercises
Exercises
7. Replace the underlined words with the correct form of the words in the box. decent evacuate gratitude herd leadership massive
1 He’s a very honest, fair and well-behaved sort of person. decent 2 I’d like to express my thanks for everything you’ve done for me. gratitude
Exercises
4 I thought about my wife and my kids, but only fleetingly and not in any kind of life-flashing-before-my-eyes sort of way. So does he look back over his whole life in a single second? No, he just thought about his family very quickly. 5 “I’ll see you at the big one.” What is the big one, and why don’t firefighters call it by its name? They minimize the fire which has just happened and imagine the ultimate fire. The expression is one common to firefighters, so they know what they are referring to.
Text
Exercises
Dealing with unfamiliar words
5. Match the words in the box with their definitions. 6. Complete the paragraph with the correct form of the words in Activity 5. 7. Replace the underlined words with the correct form of the words in the box. 8. Answer the questions about the words and expressions.
Exercises
7 Does whatever the hell it was suggest that the writer (a) knew exactly what the noise was, or (b) didn’t know what the noise was? 8 If something is part of the shorthand, can you (a) easily understand it, or (b) not understand it? 9 If you are fumbling for a fix, are you (a) trying to understand something, or (b) trying to stay where you are?
Exercises
4 If you haven’t made a dent in something, have you (a) made good progress, or (b) hardly begun the job? 5 Is a racket (a) a loud and unpleasant noise, or (b) a low musical sound? 6 If something goes berserk, is it (a) quiet and wellbehaved, or (b) out of control?
Exercises
chaotic extinguish heroism nightmare toll tragedy utmost 4 a very sad event that causes people to suffer or die ( tragedy ) 5 as much as possible ( utmost ) 6 impressive actions that prove someone is very brave ( heroism ) 7 happening in a confused way and without any order or organization ( chaotic )
Exercises
5. Match the words in the box with their definitions. chaotic extinguish heroism nightmare toll tragedy utmost
1 to make a fire stop burning ( extinguish ) 2 the total number of people who have been killed or hurt ( toll ) 3 an extremely difficult or frightening situation ( nightmare)