Chernobyl 30 Years On
reading
b This month marks the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
What do you know about the disaster?
B Read the article below and ask the appropriate questions to obtain the missing information.
The Guardian
Chernobyl 30 years on
This month marks the 30th
anniversary of the Chernobyl
nuclear disaster. On April
________, 1986, technicians
conducting a test caused
reactor number four to
explode. Several hundred
staff and firefighters spent
__________ tackling a blaze
that sent radiation around
the world in the worst-ever
civil nuclear disaster. More
than _______ reactor and
emergency workers were
killed at the time.
It took 36 hours for the
Soviet authorities to order
the evacuation of the
Ukrainian city of Pripyat, just
__________ from the plant.
Once they did, more than
49,000 people left their
homes in ______________
hours, in a fleet of 1,200
buses.
They were told they
would be gone for two or
three days and advised to
Apil 2016
take the minimum: identity
papers, documents, food and
clothing. None ever returned
to live in Pripyat, declared
too radioactively dangerous
for human habitation for at
least __________________.
Six months after the disaster,
the
Soviet
authorities
declared a new city would be
built around ____________
from the power station, to
replace the old one. Many of
the families evacuated from
Pripyat moved to this city,
Slavutych.
The area on which it
was built was first covered
in two metres of fresh,
uncontaminated
soil.
Photographs in the city’s
museum
capture
the
excitement of the first
residents: many followed
the Ukrainian tradition of
letting a _________ cross
the threshold of their new
homes for good luck.
Today, thousands are still
1/3
employed at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant, despite
its closure in 2000 because of
______________________.
Every morning the train
from Slavutych transports
workers such as 62-yearold
Pasha
Kondratiev,
on a journey that lasts
50 minutes to its only
destination: the Chernobyl
plant. All undergo daily
____________________,
including the train.
Kondratiev
works
at
Chernobyl checking radiation
measuring equipment. On the
day of the accident he and his
wife Natasha and daughters
Tatiana, 12, and Marina,
10, walked to the bridge
over the river subsidiary
feeding the nuclear plant’s
cooling pond, to get a better
view of what was going on.
The site was later named
_____________________”,
because of the levels of
radiation in the area.
Chernobyl 30 Years On
In the hours after the
accident, everyone received
a dose of radiation. Everyone
has relatives and friends who
have died of cancer, which
they link to the catastrophe
30 years ago. But none
express concern about the
continuing danger from
radioactive contamination.
For them, the threat is
_____________________.
Many fear that when
the new _______-funded
“sarcophagus” – a huge
enclosure — the world’s
largest land-based moving
structure — is “pulled slowly
over the site later this year
to block radiation and allow
the remains of the reactor to
be dismantled safely they will
reading
lose their jobs.
The challenge facing
Slavutych today is how to
ensure an economic disaster
does not transform the city
into another Pripyat.
b Have there been any major industrial disasters in your country and if so, who was
to blame and how were they dealt with? “Many followed the Ukrainian tradition of
letting a cat cross the threshold of their new homes for good luck.” Do you have
similar traditions in your country?
VComplete the gaps with the appropriate vowels to make the words defined. They were
all in the article.
1 c_nd_ct
do something, perform a task
2 st_ff the people who work for a particular company
3 t_ckl_
deal with (a problem, difficulty, etc.)
4 l_tallow
5 cl_s_r_ the process of making a business stop operating permanently
6 _q_ _pm_nt
the tools, machines, etc. that you need for a particular job or activity
7 r_l_t_v_
a member of your family, especially one who does not live with you
8 thr_ _t
something that potentially could cause harm; danger
VComplete these sentences with the correct form of the words:
1 Most of my ______________ live in Australia, but I do have an aunt who lives in London.
2 The _____________ of a terrorist attack is making many people nervous in Europe.
3 The company ________________ a test to see which members of its _________ were the
most suitable to be managers.
4 The prime minister promised to ________________ the problem of crime in the country.
5 The _____________________ of the factory made many people unemployed.
6 John ______________ me use his computer when he is not here.
7 You need special ____________________ to go climbing such as ropes, helmets, etc.
2/3
Chernobyl 30 Years On
reading
E Look at these extracts from the article:
The Guardian
Apil 2016
Several hundred staff and firefighters spent 10 days tackling a blaze...
...on a journey that lasts 50 minutes...
It took 36 hours for the Soviet authorities to order the evacuation...
= We use the verbs spend, take and last to talk about time periods. You can sometimes
interchange the verbs in sentences of this type, but the formation of the sentence
changes depending on the word used. Remember the following when using each
verb.
spend - The person or thing doing the activity is the subject of the sentence and the
activity which is taking the time (if mentioned) is in the gerund form.
last - The subject of the sentence is what is taking the time.
take - The verb is used in the impersonal form with the appropriate pronoun. The
activity which is taking the time (if mentioned) is expressed by an infinitive with to.
V Identify the incorrect sentences and then correct them.
1 It only took me ten minutes to get to work today. There was no traffic at all.
2 The meeting lasted all day.
3 It lasted twenty minutes to get to the airport.
4 They took me two hours to write the report.
5 The waiter lasted ages to bring our food.
6 It took us five hours to drive back home from London.
7 They spent four hours to cook dinner.
The meeting lasted all day.
8 We spent the whole day watching TV.
V Now write some sentences with take, spend and last using these prompts:
1 how long / learn / English
2 film / two hours
3 ages / paint / house
4 this cold / two weeks
3/3
Chernobyl 30 Years On
Teacher’s notes 1
student pages 3
week of 11.04.16
reading
low-intermediate+ (A2+)
B Read the article below and ask the appropriate questions to obtain the missing information.
The information for the gaps in order and the suggested questions:
26: On what date did the accident happen?
10 days: How long did staff and firefighters spend tackling the blaze?
50: How many people were killed at the time?
two miles: How far is Pripyat from the plant?
under four: How many hours did it take them to evacuate Pripyat?
24,000 years: How long will Pripyat be too radioactively dangerous for human habitation?
30 miles: How far is Slavutych from the power station?
cat: What do Ukrainians let cross the threshold of their new homes for good luck?
European Union pressure: Why was the power plant closed?
radiation checks: What do all the workers at the plant undergo every day?
the bridge of death: What was the bridge over the river later named?
unemployment: What is the threat for the people of Slavutych?
EU: Who is paying for the “sarcophagus”?
VComplete the gaps with the appropriate vowels to make the words defined. They were
all in the article.
1 conduct 2 staff 3 tackle 4 let 5 closure 6 equipment 7 relative 8 threat
VComplete these sentences with the correct form of the words:
1 relatives 2 threat 3 conducted / staff 4 tackle 5 closure 6 lets 7 equipment
= Point out that although you can interchange spend, last and take to say the same thing in
different ways, sometimes one particular way sounds best.
V Identify the incorrect sentences and then correct them.
1 CORRECT
2 CORRECT
3 TOOK not LASTED
4 IT not THEY
5 TOOK not LASTED
6 CORRECT
7 COOKING not TO COOK
8 CORRECT