Unit 5 • Peopleandplaces
1.0 Model
Thisdescriptionof laundrymen in Mali, WestAfrica , doesn'tdescribeany
individual person, but givesa lot ofspecificdetail.
A Complete the descriptionby writingthemissing wordsin the gaps. The
exercise beginswith an example (0).B How many of the categoriesin thecheckliston page 79 can you recog nize?TheLaundrymenofBamako
Onethingthathadst ruck ma n y ofth e trave lersthroughoutthe
Bambaraarea was themuscul ar sym m etryofthe men's bodi es.
I (0) h a d read overand(1) again
somethinglike'Asthe oarsme n drovetheir can oesthrough the
surgingcurrentonecou ld noth elp ad m irlngthe st reng t hof
b icepsandshou lde rs, (2)_ gavethe d arkb odi es
akindofrud e poetr y (3) theyleaned into
t he irtask(4 ) • t he incongruity ofthe work they were
doing,themen 's bodi eshadthis kindof wiry st reng t h. Most
ofthem(5) tall an dwide -sho u lde red ,t he ir
upperbodiestap e rin g (6) thin waists.The ir
skin was very dark , almostbiackin tone. The exercisethey
gotswingi ngwetsh irts (7). the sto nesgave
(8) t hesamefu p plemuscul arit ytheyh ad
h ad a hu ndredyears ago (9) warrio rs.
Beyondt he m I(10) se ethe samelean,
wide-shou lderedbodies(11) , boatmen as
t h ey stood intheirlog can oespullingatbrush woodtan gledin
t h e grassof a sma ll islandclo se (12) the
ba n k. Except (13) allthatlaundry spread
out(14) th e grass,the scene res embled
t h e exaggerated ro ma nce of(15) _
19 thcenturyeng ravi ngfrom a travelbook.1.1 Writing practice
You were involved in ashipw reck,andyourlifewas saved by another survivor
who kept youalive in the water.When you comeout of hospital, you wantto find
your rescuer and thank them, but you realizethat you don't evenknowthe
person 's name. A journalist offers to help you findthem: w rite the description you
give tot he journalist(about 75 words).80 • Typesof writing