Special Report

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Listening level
Advanced

Special Report

1. Identification. Match the characters in Column I with their identities in Column II.
Column I
(1) Merrick Adelman
(2) Hannah Kroll
(3) Yahannes Tashimska
(4) Lawrence Weshler

Column II
a. author of Shielding the Flame
b. prototype of the dramatis personae of Shielding the Flame
c. one of translators of Shielding the Flame
d. another translator of Shielding the Flame

Answer: (1) —
; (2) —
; (3) —
; (4) —
.

2. True or False Questions.
(1)
Shielding the Flame was written in English ten years ago.
(2)
Merrick Adelman shares the view that people usually have of the Jewish ghetto uprisings in Warsaw during World War II.
(3)
Though Dr. Adelman was not a doctor then, he worked in a clinic near the train station where the Jews were taken off to the concentration camps.
(4)
Dr. Adelman described how the girls in beautiful clean uniforms broke the legs of those chosen fighters for the uprising and his description creates an awful and shocking scene.
(5)
According to Adelman, seven thousand people went aboard the train.
(6)
Shielding the Flame is written in a chronological order.

3. Choose the best answer (a, b, c, or d) to complete each of the following statements.
(1) The freedom fighters in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw during World War II _____________.

a. have always been cherished by survivors of the German extermination of Jews b. have been fully recorded in the history of Jews in Poland c. created one of saddest parts in the history of Jews in Poland d. are remembered as heroes in the struggle against German occupation during World War II
(2) Shielding the Flame is ____________. a. Adelman's story of the ghetto uprising b. An official history of the World War II freedom fighters in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw c. Adelman's attempt to combat the conventional view of that part of the history of Jews in Poland d. a faithful account of the German extermination of Jews
(3) As a member of the underground in the ghetto, Adelman undertook the task of ____________. a. breaking the legs of all strongly built men b. providing medical treatment for wounded fighters in the uprising c. keeping a record of the number of Jews taken off to death camps d. selecting the people needed by the underground
(4) Adelman succeeded in saving many people for the Jewish underground because ___________. a. people with broken legs were unwelcome in German death camps b. the disabled could not do any manual labors c. the Germans kept lying to the Jews that they were taken off to work d. he was aided by many students at the nurses' school
(5) Hannah Kroll says that she understands it is easier for people to die shooting because ____________. a. Adelman was the witness of the extermination action and the ghetto uprising b. she experienced all this herself during the Second World War c. the American professor who talked with Adelman reveals this truth d. the tranlation of the book arouses a keen sense of human nature

4. Focusing on Details. Fill in the detailed information according to what you have heard.
(1) The Nazis took
to their deaths, and
died defending the area when the Germans invaded.
(2) According to Dr. Adelman, dying in the ghetto uprisings
; it was easier than
. And that people who
were actually lucky, in a sense. They had
; they could
what was going on while those
who were led to the train cars were equally
, but their death was much more
.
(3) This book is a little bit
two people who aren't that
the fact that someone else is
it. And they don't
this other person who might be
it. They don't help
.

5. Paraphrase what the name Shielding the Flame means, according to Dr. Adelman's explanation.

Listening answers

Special Report

1. Identification. Match the characters in Column I with their identities in Column II.
Column I
(1) Merrick Adelman
(2) Hannah Kroll
(3) Yahannes Tashimska
(4) Lawrence Weshler

Column II
a. author of Shielding the Flame
b. prototype of the dramatis personae of Shielding the Flame
c. one of translators of Shielding the Flame
d. another translator of Shielding the Flame

Answer: (1) —
; (2) —
; (3) —
; (4) —
.

2. True or False Questions.
(1)
Shielding the Flame was written in English ten years ago.
(2)
Merrick Adelman shares the view that people usually have of the Jewish ghetto uprisings in Warsaw during World War II.
(3)
Though Dr. Adelman was not a doctor then, he worked in a clinic near the train station where the Jews were taken off to the concentration camps.
(4)
Dr. Adelman described how the girls in beautiful clean uniforms broke the legs of those chosen fighters for the uprising and his description creates an awful and shocking scene.
(5)
According to Adelman, seven thousand people went aboard the train.
(6)
Shielding the Flame is written in a chronological order.

3. Choose the best answer (a, b, c, or d) to complete each of the following statements.
(1) The freedom fighters in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw during World War II _____________.

a. have always been cherished by survivors of the German extermination of Jews b. have been fully recorded in the history of Jews in Poland c. created one of saddest parts in the history of Jews in Poland d. are remembered as heroes in the struggle against German occupation during World War II
(2) Shielding the Flame is ____________. a. Adelman's story of the ghetto uprising b. An official history of the World War II freedom fighters in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw c. Adelman's attempt to combat the conventional view of that part of the history of Jews in Poland d. a faithful account of the German extermination of Jews
(3) As a member of the underground in the ghetto, Adelman undertook the task of ____________. a. breaking the legs of all strongly built men b. providing medical treatment for wounded fighters in the uprising c. keeping a record of the number of Jews taken off to death camps d. selecting the people needed by the underground
(4) Adelman succeeded in saving many people for the Jewish underground because ___________. a. people with broken legs were unwelcome in German death camps b. the disabled could not do any manual labors c. the Germans kept lying to the Jews that they were taken off to work d. he was aided by many students at the nurses' school
(5) Hannah Kroll says that she understands it is easier for people to die shooting because ____________. a. Adelman was the witness of the extermination action and the ghetto uprising b. she experienced all this herself during the Second World War c. the American professor who talked with Adelman reveals this truth d. the tranlation of the book arouses a keen sense of human nature

4. Focusing on Details. Fill in the detailed information according to what you have heard.
(1) The Nazis took
to their deaths, and
died defending the area when the Germans invaded.
(2) According to Dr. Adelman, dying in the ghetto uprisings
; it was easier than
. And that people who
were actually lucky, in a sense. They had
; they could
what was going on while those
who were led to the train cars were equally
, but their death was much more
.
(3) This book is a little bit
two people who aren't that
the fact that someone else is
it. And they don't
this other person who might be
it. They don't help
.

5. Paraphrase what the name Shielding the Flame means, according to Dr. Adelman's explanation.

Suggested version: At some point of the book, Dr. Adelman explains that what he did during the Second World War and later is to shield the flame from God and to protect people, either as a service to God or a struggle against God.