alex@soka.ac.jp
You will need a pencil and a sheet of paper to do this assignment. REMEMBER to take notes on both the reading and listening passages. If this is a speaking task use Soft recorder to record your speech. Make sure you save the sound file before you send it to me. If this is a writing task, put your essay in the correct report box. Make sure you save your essay word file before you place it in the report box. |
Remember you MUST take notes on this passage. Try to focus on the main points |
Remember you MUST take notes on this passage. Try to focus on the main points |
In what way does the incident in the listening passage differ from the incident in the reading passage? |
Look at your reading notes. If they are too detailed, highlight or underline the main points. Step 2
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December of 1914 was the fifth month of World War I. Many British troops were living in a line of trenches in the south-east corner of Belgium, near the town of Ypres and their opponents, the Germans, lived in trenches only a few hundred metres away. Life in the trenches was cold and miserable and anyone who raised his head above the edge of the trench was likely to be killed by enemy fire. On the night of December 24, Christmas Eve, all was quiet, when to their surprise the British noticed the Germans had decorated the edges of their trenches with candles. They then heard the sound of singing coming from the German lines. To their even greater surprise they realized they recognized the tunes as famous Christmas songs they all knew: the only difference being the words were being sung in German. The British soldiers joined in and started singing the same songs with English words. The next day, there was no sound at all. After a while, one soldier bravely looked over at the German line. He saw German soldiers, not shooting at him, just looking. One of the Germans, unarmed, climbed out of the trench and started to walk into no-man’s land, the area between the opposing trenches. A British soldier cautiously climbed out of his trench and slowly walked towards the German. All the soldiers in both sets of trenches were now watching to see what would happen. The two men in no-man’s land stopped a few paces from each other spoke a few words and then shook hands. More men climbed out of their trenches and started to walk forward. Soon hundreds and then thousands of British and German soldiers were standing in the middle of no-man’s land talking with their ‘enemies’. Some brought out pictures of their families which they showed to their new acquaintances. Some shared cigarettes with men they had been trying to kill only hours before. Some British soldiers offered drinks of whisky to the Germans and the Germans in return offered drinks of Schnapps. Some even started to play soccer together. And there, in the frosty ground of no-man’s land it became just like Christmas. They were filled with the spirit of goodwill, they were eating, drinking, playing games and exchanging gifts with their ‘family’. Not their real family, obviously, but a family created by the shared horrors they had all experienced in the previous five months. Of course, it could not last. When the high commands, both British and German, heard what was happening they were afraid. They wanted their soldiers to hate the enemy and not to realize that he was a human being just like they were. The generals ordered their troops to return to their own trenches or be severely punished. After a few days the fighting started again. For the remaining Christmases of the war, the generals made sure that artillery was firing during the Christmas period to discourage any repetition of the events of 1914. |