Communication activities. When I saw his clothes I was sure that he was going to ask me to give him some money

Task21. a) Read the story.

HATE FOR WATCHES

When I saw his clothes I was sure that he was going to ask me to give him some money. He came up to my table, sat down and took an old watch out of his pocket. “It’s yours for $2. Nothing wrong with it,” he said. ”I don’t want it,” I answered.

But as I felt sorry for the old man I gave him ten shillings and invited him to sit down at my table. I ordered some food and drink for him. I saw that the man wanted to tell me something. “I don’t like watches. They started all this,” he began. I had an hour before the train was due to leave, so I stayed and listened to his story. “Chris Selby was his name,” the man began. “Chris was rich, but he wanted to get richer. He was a nice man with a warm smile and a pleasant voice. Most people liked him because they didn’t know his real character. Only a few people knew that Chris would stop at nothing to make more money.

So, twice a year he went to Paris to buy watches and to smuggle them back to England for sale. Most of the Customs officials knew him and liked him.

One November day Chris Selby left London for Paris in his car. He was angry, as the watches he had bought during the last trip were not as good as he had expected. In Paris he went to see the man who had sold him the watches. He told the man that he was not satisfied with his last purchase. As the man didn’t want to lose his reputation and the profit which he made, he promised Chris that this time the watches would satisfy the customer’s demands. They were packed into boxes and put under the back seats of the car.

The following morning Chris was driving to Dover. As always it didn’t take him long to go through the French Customs. At Dover his suitcases were opened by the Customs official. Chris gave him a big smile, answered his questions and everything was all right. He was about to get into the car and drive away when suddenly he heard whistles. Chris knew what it was. They lasted for a few minutes and then everything stopped and there was silence. Chris and the Customs man were standing by the car from which suddenly came the sound of five thousand watches. The salesman had wound them up to show Chris that the quality of his watches was high.” The man interrupted his story to finish lunch.

“I wonder what happened then,” I asked him.

“I am that Customs officer,” was the answer. “Chris said that it was necessary for him to get money for his mother who was not well. I felt sorry for him and let him go. I even agreed to help him again during his next trip. But that time we were both caught. With money Chris got away easily but I was brought to court and that was the end of my career. I never saw Chris again.”

b) Answer the questions:

1. Who was Chris Selby? Why did he take on smuggling?

2. How was his business organized?

3. Why did the salesman wind up the watches?

4. Why did the Customs official decide to help Chris?

5. Why couldn’t the Customs officer get away as easily as Chris did?

6. Why is the story called “Hate for Watches”?

c) Do you sympathize with Chris Selby? Why (not)?

d) Surf the internet and find some reports about unfortunate smugglers. Don’t tell the group about the end of your story. Let them guess what went wrong in the smuggling operation.

Task 22. a)What do you call someone who comes from each of these countries? What languagesare spoken in each country?Complete the chart.

b) Study the model.

Toshiba is a Japanese company. The headquarters are in Japan.

What about these companies?

1. Honda

2. IBM

3. Olivetti

4. Ericsson

5. Norsk Hydro

6. L’Oreal

7. Rolls-Royce

8. Nestle¢

9. Siemens

10. Philips

Task 23. Work in groups. Make a list of the 30 most important vocabulary words for a customs officer. Compare with the other group(s). What are the most common words?