UNIT 5. 5F, page 45
Exercise 2
a √
b -
c -
d √
e √
LISTENING 11
I’d like to state from the outset that I don’t agree that tougher prison sentences are the answer to knife crime since spending time in prison in the company of hardened criminals is not going to make a young person less likely to re-offend. Of course many people would take a different view and say that the threat of imprisonment is a good deterrent for any potential knife criminal. However, to my mind, that argument doesn’t hold water since most knife criminals don’t believe they will get caught. It can also be argued that for some criminals a spell in prison just adds to their tough image and gives them increased respect in the eyes of some members of their community.
The government has also attempted to tackle the problem with er ... what’s the word? ... erm when they allow people for limited period of time to hand in illegal knives and other weapons without getting punished. Oh, yes ... an amnesty. But I entirely reject the notion that this is a useful strategy because knife crimes are often committed using knives that are easily obtained from the kitchen drawer.
So I’d now like to deal with some alternative solutions. One way forward is for the government to educate people better through, say, workshops and school talks about the dangers of carrying knives, making it clear that knives make you less safe rather than more safe, and could easily be turned against you. I also think there could be some merit in arranging meetings between knife criminals and the knife attack victims. This way people are forced to face up to the consequences
of what they have done and I believe it could have a far deeper impact than imprisonment. Another effective measure could be to arrange for people who have been caught in the possession of knives to visit prisons and meet up with young people who have been convicted of actually using knives on other people.
To conclude, then, I’d like to reiterate the point that I made earlier that knife crime can’t be eradicated by stiffer prison sentences.
Exercise 3
1 different view b
2 doesn’t hold water c
3 be argued b
4 reject, notion c
5 deal with a
6 reiterate, point d
Exercise 5
1 admit b
2 on to a
3 hand c
4 Returning to d
5 restate d
6 merit b
7 to a