rEad & LiSTEN ii traCk 14: US MAN & ENGLISHMAN

Have you ever lost your mobile phone? the website

mobileinsurance.com has published some of the most unusual claims for lost phones. Here are a few of them.

a young man broke his phone after he dropped it from a tree. at the time, he was trying to film a blur concert in Hyde Park. He’d climbed up there for a better view.

a 33-year-old woman lost her mobile phone after her three-year-old son flushed it down the toilet.

a farmer lost his phone inside a cow. He was using the torch on the phone to help him deliver a calf.

a young woman dropped her mobile phone overboard during a cruise. she was with her boyfriend at the time, re-enacting the famous “i’m the king of the world” scene from the film Titanic.

a middle-aged man lost his iPhone 4s after it fell down a toilet bowl. Unfortunately, he only realised that it had fallen out after he flushed the toilet.

a young woman lost her mobile phone to a seagull. she was walking along the

beach when one of the birds swooped down and snatched it out of her hand.

a middle-aged father had his mobile phone stolen by a monkey. He was with his family at a nature reserve when some monkeys got into their car and one of them ran off with the phone. the man offered to give a description of the monkey that took it.

a pyro-technician managed to blow up his mobile phone. at the time, he was putting on a show at the national Fireworks championships in Plymouth. it was only as the smoke cleared that he realised he’d left his iPhone 3gs in the blast zone.

a middle-aged woman accidentally cooked her mobile phone in the oven. she was baking a cake for her daughter’s birthday when her nokia 630i fell into the sponge mixture. Unaware, she placed the cake in the oven. Unfortunately, the phone didn’t survive the high temperatures.

a 40-year-old man’s mobile phone was destroyed by his pet chihuahua. apparently, the dog chewed it to bits after having his play ball confiscated for

“misbehaving”.

whatever next?

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Answers on page 44

1 Pre-reading look at the list of words below. What possible connection do you think they could have with lost or damaged mobile phones?

2 Reading I read the article once to compare your ideas from the Pre-reading task. 3 Reading II

read the article again. then, answer the questions. Who… 1. …flushed his mum’s

phone down the toilet? 2. …had her phone stolen

by a seagull? 3. …dropped his phone

from a tree? 4. …had his phone stolen

by a monkey? 5. …lost his phone inside

a cow? 6. …blew up his phone?

a calf a tree a toilet

an oven a dog a monkey

a cruise ship a beach

unusual exCuses for lost mobIle Phones

exams this reading and listening activity will help prepare you for english exams such as FCe, ielts and tOeFl.

Objective To improve your reading and listening skills.

think about it When was the last time you lost something? What was it? How did you lose it? When was the last time you broke something? How did it happen?

a claim n if you put in a “claim” for something you’ve lost, you tell an insurance company about it so you can get some money for it to drop vb if you “drop” something, it falls out of your hand to flush something down the toilet exp if you “flush” the toilet, you press a button and water cleans the toilet. if you “flush something down the toilet”, it disappears after falling into the toilet and the toilet is flushed a torch n an electrical object that provides light to deliver n if you “deliver” a baby, you help the baby come out of the mother a calf n a baby cow overboard adv if you lose something “overboard”, it falls from the ship you’re travelling on to re-enact vb to act out a scene from a film a toilet bowl n the part of a toilet where the water is a seagull n a large white and grey bird that lives near the sea to swoop down phr vb if a bird “swoops down”, it flies down in a smooth movement to snatch vb to take something with force a nature reserve n a protected area with many trees, plants, animals, etc. to blow up phr vb if you “blow something up”, you destroy it with explosives fireworks n objects that create a lot of noise and light in the sky a blast zone n an area where an explosion happens an oven n an electrical device in the kitchen for cooking food. it’s like a box with a door in the front to bake vb to cook food in the oven sponge n a mixture for a cake that is made from flour, eggs and sugarto chew to bits exp if an animal “chews something to bits”, it bites it many times until that thing is in little pieces to confiscate vb if you “confiscate” an object from someone, you take it away from them to misbehave vb to act in a bad way; to be bad

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