Pit stop #9: Læseprøve

Chris Carter Tim Kendon Dorte Maria Buhl Dorte Juel Hansen

PIT STOP TO PIC B OOK

9

#

Alinea

Chris Carter Tim Kendon Dorte Maria Buhl Dorte Juel Hansen

PIT STOP

TO P IC B OOK

9

#

Alinea

Pit Stop #9 Topic Book/Web Chris Carter, Tim Kendon, Dorte Maria Buhl og Dorte Juel Hansen © 2013 Alinea, København - et forlag under Lindhardt og Ringhof Forlag A/S, et selskab i Egmont Mekanisk, fotografisk, elektronisk eller anden gengivelse af denne bog eller dele heraf er kun tilladt efter Copy-Dans regler.

Tidligere udgivet som: “Pit Stop #9, Topic Book” © 2009 Alinea, København ISBN: 978-87-23-03147-1.

Forlagsredaktion: Christine Hartmann og Katrine Rørvig Billedredaktion: Vibeke Sommer Grafisk design: Caroline Seehusen mDD Tegninger: Teis Dyekjær-Hansen (Tam’s Tricks) Pernille Lykkegaard (Law and Order) Caroline Seehusen (øvrige tegninger og vignetter) Repro: Highlight Tryk: Livonia Print 2. udgave, 1. oplag 2013 ISBN 978-87-23-50399-2

www.alinea.dk

Welcome to Pit Stop #9!

Hi everyone, Tam’s back, together with six fabulous new topics for you to en joy.

This Topic Book is packed full of stories, songs, poems, texts and pictures which will help you to learn English.

The basic texts are for the whole class to read and work with. But there are more texts.

When you see this symbol which extra text(s) you want to work with.

Yes, don’t forget to listen to Tam’s Tricks at the end of each topic – that’s me with my unique blend of humour and wisdom.

Use your Task Book to find out how to work with the texts.

Have fun!

you can choose

Contents

35 Spot the Crime 36 On the Beat with Sergeant Pete 38 Happy Slapping 40 Let Him Have It, Chris!

44 A Smack and a Cuddle 46 Life Behind Bars 50 Drop the Weapons 52 Dead Man Walking

7 In Between 8 The Importance of Getting my Licence 12 Mermaids 14 Get a Job

56 Chain Gangs 58 The Case for the Defence 62 Going Straight 66 Tam’s Tricks: Tam’s Crime and Lack of Punishment

16 What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?

18 Dicing with Death on SA Trains 20 Hunger 24 If 26 Gift 30 The Misunderstanding 34 Tam’s Tricks: Ladybirds and Roses

67 California Dreaming 68 Tracy’s HWY 1 Travel Blog 72 Canyon of Gold 76 Solvang 78 Al Capone Does my Shirts 82 Going to California to Learn 84 Land of Disaster 86 The Governator 88 Tam’s Tricks: Peas and Carrots

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115 Recipe for Good Relations 116 Juno 118 BFF? 89 Free Speech 90 School Airbrushes Pupil’s Pink Hair 92 Children have Rights too!

94 Animal Farm 96 Whose Right? Who’s Right?

100 The Stolen Generation 102 In Texas School, Teachers Carry Books and Guns 104 GPS’s Help Parents Track Teens 106 I Have Been to the Mountaintop 110 Girl Fights for Abortion of Deformed Foetus

120 Wolves 124 Have you Hugged your Robot Today?

126 Sea Change 132 Secrets and Lies 136 I Like Guys 140 She’s Leaving Home 142 Friends or Foes?

144 Tam’s Tricks: Mr. (F)right

Glossary 145-155 Text by Text 156-167 A - Z

112 Imagine 114 Tam’s Tricks: Free the Fish

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In Between At fifteen, I’m too old to play with my brother, too young to joke with my father.

So I just stand here, my hands in my pockets.

The Importance of

licensed · her: som har kørekort ed · forkortelse af: education

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Getting My License

by Alan O’Connor

In the USA most states will give you a driver’s permit when you’re 15 years old. This allows you to drive a car with another licensed driver who is over a certain age – like 21. That person is usually your mom or dad.

My mom refused to drive with me after just one outing. I accidentally hit the gas instead of the brakes in a crowded Wal-Mart parking lot. My father managed four outings before he gave up. My dad loves wildlife and I had apparently run over a squirrel. I’m not sure if this is true or not. I never saw the squirrel.

I got my license thanks to Mr. Hill, my driver’s ed teacher, and thanks to my uncle Max. My uncle was out of work at the time. He let me drive him all over central Vermont while he drank beer and thought about his life. This usually led to him falling asleep and me getting loads of uninterrupted driving practice.

Mr. Hill never got into a car with any of us. He just showed us film after film about all the different ways your car and your body could be mutilated. My favorite was called „Prom Night“. In this film, a van full of drunken teens smashes into a school bus in a one lane tunnel. We don’t have any tunnels in Vermont so that part really caught my attention. I don’t know why the school bus was out on prom night. Or why there was a boy in the back of the bus playing with a knife, but bloody it was! Mr. Hill was of course trying to scare us into driving sensibly and I must say he did a pretty good job of scaring us.

Most of us sat in driver’s ed considering the equation “driver’s license =

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freedom”. I also focused on the equation “driver’s license = freedom = privacy = sex with Mary Grant”. I dreamed that once I got my license Mary Grant would be mine, all mine.

In February I turned sixteen and got my license a week later. I dropped off my uncle and drove straight to Mary’s. She wasn’t home. February in Vermont is, as my Uncle Max says, colder than a mother-in-law’s kiss. The snow stays and the lakes freeze almost solid. It was out to one of these lakes I took my first solo drive. I wanted to check out a few places I might bring Mary.

When I got to the lake I parked at the fishing access and watched the fishermen. They had their little fishing huts all set up. A few had their pick-up trucks parked alongside their huts. Suddenly it occurred to me that my Mom’s Ford Escort was much lighter than a pick-up truck. If the ice could hold a pick-up truck …

I don’t know how she found out about my fun on the ice, but I lost my car privileges for a whole month. And that on the very first day I had my license!

I was desperate. Oh, Mary Full of Grace! I could not stand the thought of waiting another month. “You’ve waited 16 years”, said my mother, “another month won’t kill you.” She thought it was all about the license.

privileges · privilegier unsnap · her: knipse omen · tegn

On the first Friday in March I tried again. Mary was home this time. I drove her straight to the lake. We parked out by the state park which was closed for the winter. There wasn’t another soul for miles around. I pointed this fact out to Mary as I pulled her close. We started kissing but when I tried to get her out of her parka, she reminded me that it was 20 below zero outside and not much warmer in the car.

The next Friday I made sure the car was nice and warm before I picked her up.

As we drove around the lake I slowly turned up the heat whenever I thought she wasn’t looking. I had her out of her parka before we even reached the park. When we arrived I left the engine running and managed to get her out of her sweater too. Things were moving along nicely when all of a sudden, another car pulled up. It was a couple of old people out for a god-damn walk!

Why do old people like to walk so much?! I suggested just waiting until they left but Mary was embarrassed and wanted to go home. She said they were from her church.

I kept trying all through March and into April but something always got in the way. Once I got stuck in a snow bank trying not to hit a cat. The next Friday we ended up going to the mall so she could buy her sister a birthday present.

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Another time I had such a bad cold that she didn’t want to even kiss me.

Another time there was a blizzard and her mom wouldn’t let her out of the house.

By mid-April the ice on the lake was too thin for fishing. Mary and I had begun using the fishing access for our special times alone. We could relax here because any other car coming out to the access would have to drive along the west shore of the lake before they reached us. This would give us at least five minutes to find our clothes and get them on again. We got really fast at finding clothes and getting back into them. This isn’t so easy inside a car. Sometimes we went home wearing things inside out. Twice I ended up wearing her socks home.

It was a starry night at the end of April. The sweater came off with ease. I even managed to unsnap her bra using only my left hand. I took that as a good omen. I was so pleased about unsnapping that bra with just one hand that I laid back and relaxed for a moment. I smiled up at Mary and waited for her to make the next move. She smiled down at me then glanced out the back window to check the western shore. My eyes followed hers and then, I swear to God, we both saw a star shoot right across the western sky.

“Did you see that?” I asked. “Uh-huh”, said Mary. She bit her bottom lip and looked deep into my eyes. I quickly made a wish.

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© 1990 Orion Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Mermaids Moving is what Rachel Flax is great at. And her oldest daughter, Charlotte, knows the signs.

When they move to a little town on the east coast Charlotte falls in love with Joey, the young caretaker of the nearby nunnery. In this scene, Charlotte’s little sister, Kate, is in hospital after an accident. Mrs. Flax is furious because Charlotte went to see Joey when she should have been watching Kate. Now Charlotte finally stands up to her mother and tells her how she feels about moving around so much. stands up to · her: tager kampen op med, trodser being judged by · at du dømmer mig major · hovedfag tramp · slang: vandrepokal, luder doing your damnedest · gøre dit yderste didn’t come out · her: var slørede sniffle · snøfter

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screenplay by June Roberts, based on the novel by Patty Dann

Mrs. Flax: (walks past Charlotte and in to house) If you’re smart, you’ll just stay away from me.

(Charlotte follows) Mrs. Flax: I mean it. (starts to pack a bag) Charlotte: (Tries to help. In a small voice:) Here’s, um, you wanna take a book for her …

Mrs. Flax: (Very angry) What the hell were you thinking about huh? She could have died! Your sister, who you were supposed to be watching out after, could have died! What the hell was she doing up there? What the hell were you doing? Oh I know what you were doing up there. The whole goddamn town knows what you were doing up there!

Charlotte: Mom. Mom! Mrs. Flax: I’m warning you! I’m angry! I’m crazy angry!

Charlotte: (Angry) Don’t walk away from me Mom! You’re not going to walk away from me! I am not invisible! Talk to me! Now! Yes, I made a mistake! Yes, I am really, really, sorry! It was a big mistake, I know that. You make mistakes. You’re always screwing up and we’re always paying for it! Every time you get dumped, every time you dump on somebody, and it’s just – it’s not fair Mom! It is not fair!

(Gives up, walks back in house, slams door) Mrs. Flax: (follows her into house) I am sick and tired of being judged by you! You’re a kid!

Okay, when you become an adult you can live your life anyway you want to, but until then we’re gonna live my life, my way! (Brings Charlotte a suitcase) Start packing!

Charlotte: (smashes plate) No! Mrs. Flax: I said pack! This move is on you and if lover boy doesn’t like it, that’s too goddamn bad!

Charlotte: This is not about him! This is about me, okay? That’s over. He is gone. He’s left!

Gone!

Mrs. Flax: Surprise! Surprise!

Charlotte: No! It’s not like that! Look, maybe your life works for you but it doesn’t work for me and I want to stay!

Mrs. Flax: And do what?

Charlotte: Finish high school.

Mrs. Flax: Great start! What’s your major, town tramp?

Charlotte: No Mom, the town already has one.

Mrs. Flax: (slaps Charlotte hard across face) (Charlotte walks out of kitchen holding face. Sits on sofa in living room.)

Mrs. Flax: (Sighs, stands in kitchen) You know … you’re just one year younger than I was when I had you. If you hate my life so much, why are you doing your damnedest to make the same mistakes?

(Charlotte doesn’t answer.)

Mrs. Flax: How do you feel about this guy?

Charlotte: I thought I loved him.

Mrs. Flax: That sounds familiar.

Charlotte: I thought you were gonna take him away.

(Long silence) Charlotte: Did you love my father?

Mrs. Flax: Yeah. I did.

Charlotte: What was he like?

Mrs. Flax: Oh, he was uh, charming and he made me feel really special for about a minute and a half. And then he was gone.

Charlotte: What did he look like?

Mrs. Flax: He looked like you, only taller. I don’t have any pictures. You know we took pictures at the wedding and they didn’t come out. I guess I should have known then.

Charlotte: He is never coming back, is he?

Mrs. Flax: No. Charlotte: Has he ever even seen me?

Mrs. Flax: Yeah, he did once. You were about four.

Charlotte: He wanted us back?

Mrs. Flax: No, he met some other woman and he wanted to get married. How do you feel about Joe leaving?

Charlotte: (small voice) It’s fine.

Mrs. Flax: Well I guess it’s a little bit too late for our birds and bees talk isn’t it?

Charlotte: Mom, can we – can we please stay?

Mrs. Flax: I don’t know, you know Charlotte, there’s gonna be so much talk and it’s such a small town.

Charlotte: Well, you know there’s always talk, it’s just usually it’s about you. (laughs weakly) I’m sorry.

Mrs. Flax: (smiles) (both sniffle) Charlotte: Just for a year. Just give it a year.

Mrs. Flax: (Puts her arm around Charlotte. They hug) I don’t know.

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Get a

Job

The Strength to Live Out your Dreams Did you know that there are over 150 career options to choose from in the army? Many of them also feature high-tech equipment and hands-on skills training that you can only get in the Army – giving you an edge over your peers in the civilian workforce. This is the perfect time for you to take the next step.

Be a Counselor for an American Summer Camp The American Summer Camps cater to more than 10 million children. These camps generally exist in beautiful, rural areas, typically including a lake or pool. All camps have one goal in common: to provide a safe, rewarding and positive experience for their campers.

Camp Counselors USA places you at a summer camp that matches your personality, skills and interest. When your camp assignment ends, you are free to travel in the USA for up to 30 days before you return home. Why not hike the Grand Canyon or climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty? The CCUSA program is an ideal way to gain international work experience, make many new friends and have the best summer of your life!

Training You will become a Soldier after you attend Basic Combat Training (BCT) and complete Advanced Individual Training (AIT) to learn your Army job skills. After that, you’ll take part in a variety of Ongoing Training opportunities. You will be physically and mentally prepared to face even the most difficult mission.

Minimum Age: 17+ years old

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cater to · henvender sig til, appellerer til monitor · overvåge habitats · opholdssteder, voksesteder endure · her: vare ved, bestå conservation · bevaring, fredning

Be an SCA Crew Member The world is calling. Not everyone hears the call and fewer respond to it. Are YOU ready to answer?

Elves Are you happy, friendly, outgoing, and a good communicator? Do you like working with people?

And would you like to work with Father Christmas in his grotto? You will be required to wear a full elf costume and remain in character at all times. You will meet and greet children and their families, take them to see Santa, take photographs, work on the till, monitor queues and refill Santa’s toy sacks. Uniform will be provided by the employer. This is a temporary position for November and December.

As an SCA Nation crew member you will build hiking trails, protect threatened habitats, sleep under the stars and connect to the land in ways you never thought possible. You will share this experience with other high school crew members and two experienced adult leaders. You will make new friends, some perhaps for a lifetime. The work you do will endure, making an important difference in our national parks and forests. Crew assignments typically run anywhere from three to five weeks, so you will need at least a month during which you are available to serve.

In the SCA Community Programs you can meet others who share your conservation ethics and make a significant contribution to the community where you live.

Walk the Dog Dog walking is rewarding but hard work and for those who love the outdoors and dogs, this could be one of the best jobs you’ll ever have.

But make no mistake this is a real job, not a vacation from one, and we accept nothing less than walking dogs professionally.

Keys to success at Downtown Pets are: 1 A love for dogs and animals in general.

2 The ability to receive feedback and not repeat mistakes.

3 An interest in dog training and dog psychology.

4 The ability to maintain a schedule and be organized.

5 Good communication skills.

6 Taking a personal interest in seeing your dogs do well.

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Providing for his family and taking care of his retarded brother Arnie is exhausting work for Gilbert Grape. He doesn’t have a lot of extra energy to spend on his sisters, especially not on his baby sister Ellen, who seems to despise him. In this scene, Ellen tells Gilbert why he should be a little more supportive and tries to explain to him how hard life can be for a sixteen year old girl.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?

by Peter Hedges

16

It’s the same morning of the same day, and I’m asleep on the couch in the family room. I’m truly savouring this period of rest, this catnap, when a rude smell comes dancing up my nose and starts screaming in my head.

My eyes smack open. I look around, fuzzy at first, only to find my little sister sitting there in shorts and a halter top, painting her nails. The smell of that – Jesus!

My little sister’s name is Ellen. She turned sixteen last month. She also just got her braces off, and for days now she’s been walking around the house, running her tongue all over, going “Oo-ah” – like she can’t believe the feel of teeth.

Ever since Ellen got her braces off she has been one big pain in the butt. And now with a sudden penchant for lip gloss and painting her toes red, she has bumped to the big time – becoming even more of an already impossible thing.

The smell of the polish forces me to rise up and look her in the eye. She stays

what’s eating · hvad går der af

providing for · at drage omsorg for, at sørge for

despise · foragte catnap · lur dishes · køre frem med; diske op med

smother · begrave, tildække

pries · vrister

fixed on the toe of the moment. So I say, “Little sister, must we?” She keeps painting, coating toe after toe, no response, no answer. So I say, “CAN’T THIS BE DONE SOMEWHERE ELSE?” Without looking at me, my sister dishes this shit: “Gilbert, some of us are only sixteen. Some of us are trying to do something with our one chance at life. I am trying something new, a brand-new color is being applied, and I could use your support and your encouragement. When that is there, I might consider moving, but you are my brother. And if you don’t support these new steps, who will? Who will? Tell me, who will!”

She breathes a few times fast through her nose, making a whistly noise: “I’m at such a difficult age. Girls my age bleed. We bleed every month, and it’s not like we did anything wrong. Just to be sitting there in church.”

“You don’t go to church.”

“Hypothetical, Gilbert.”

“Don’t use big words.”

“Okay. I’m at work, mixing the toppings or making cones. And suddenly I feel it coming, and I didn’t do anything. You are a guy, so you don’t know how this feels. You should be understanding, and let me in peace. Do the one thing that brings me joy and a sense of completion. So thank you, Gilbert, thank you sooooo much!”

I stare at her trying to decide the most discreet way to murder. But she turns suddenly and stomps out of the family room leaving only the smell of her new toes. I decide to smother myself, as it is my most immediate option. Covering my face with an old orange sofa pillow, I begin the process.

It gets to the interesting part where my lungs want air and my heart doesn’t, when I feel this poking on my arm. This family. If it’s Ellen, I’ll smother her, first thing, and if it’s Arnie, we’ll have a pillow fight, laugh a bit, then I’ll do the smothering.

But this time the voice is that of my big sister, Amy. She’s whispering, “Gilbert, come here.”

I don’t move ...

“Gilbert, please ...”

I’m almost dead. Surely she can see this.

“Gilbert!”

I give in to the idea of air and say, ‘’I’m busy,” from underneath the pillow.

“You don’t look busy.”

Amy pries off the cushion and pulls it away from me. My eyes adjust to the sudden light. She’s wearing a worried and concerned look, but what else is new? This look of terror is most often her face of choice. And I’ve grown fond of it. I find its predictability somehow comforting. It’s only when Amy smiles that you know something is wrong.

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Dicing with Death on SA Trains

by Franz Kruger, BBC News, Johannesburg

dicing with death · lege med døden

SA · short for: South African disorientation · forvirring, desorientering

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Thabo Thedise knows his hobby is dangerous. “Yes, I can fall, but I can phone my mom, she can take me to the doctor,” he says. The tall 19-year-old is one of Johannesburg’s “train surfers”: mostly young men who perform daring stunts on the city’s commuter trains.

The most dangerous is train surfing proper, standing on top and dodging bridges and high-power cables. Then there’s a trick that involves swinging out of a door as the train travels through a tunnel and running along the sides.

The mildest, and most common, move involves jumping off the train as it begins moving, and jumping back on board again.

If he dies, so be it, Thabo says, to the laughter from the crowd that surrounds him at central Johannesburg’s Park Station. “They will cry and they will bury me. I will be a born again. You know anytime you are going to be born again.

I might be a white boy. I have to go and attend to some chicks,” Thabo says.

Johannesburg’s commuter trains have seen a rise in train surfing, partly because of a long-running security guard strike.

Lebohang Motsamai, a strong young man with hair braided tightly, describes another move, known as “gravul” from the gravel on the tracks: “I get under the train, when it is in motion, and kick the stones, kin, kin, I play with my legs.” Surrounded by a group of admirers, he says he plays these games to impress girls. “Because when I do this, they are going to love me. They are going to say, eish, this boy is clever.”

Some miles away, Desmond Motsemme, 15, is lying in hospital. His arms are tied to the rails of his bed because he’s become aggressive in his disorientation. It’s visiting time, and his grandmother and mother are there every day, talking softly and feeding him yoghurt.

After weeks in hospital, he can still hardly speak. He fell while swinging out of a train, trying to catch his cap that had flown off. The result: severe concussion, and most of his scalp ripped off. His grandmother, Ruth Motsemme, says the injuries were terrible to see.

“I couldn’t look at him, really, like that. The skin of the head was just off, from here to here, he was terribly swelling, and bleeding badly. It was upsetting me to look at him like that.

I couldn’t believe that boy would survive, it’s a miracle that boy is alive.”