Unit 8 • Reports
1.1 Planning a formal eye-witness report
Part1 writingtaskYesterdayyou and a friend set off fora stayin Britain.Yo ur friend was dueto
beginan Englishcourse in Oxford,whereasyou areon an ecological st udy
visit to the remote ShetlandIslands. Youboth travelled on the sameplane ,
but had to separateon arrivalin Britain: you were ina hurry tocatch your
connection, butyour friend washeldupin Customs.
Just after youhad checkedin attheairportin your own country,a stranger,
apparently an Americanstude nton the same flight , hadstarteda
conversationwithyour friend.This ispartoft he conversationyou heard.Stranger
Friend
StrallgerFriend
StrangerFriendStrangerFriendH ave yo u boughtany duty-free goodsyet?
\ Vhat doyou mean?
\Ve ll, alcoholandtobaccoarevelYexpensiveillBritain, so yo u
can save a loto f mone ybytakingso mewith)' 01 1.Evenifyou
yourse lf don't smoke ordrink,it's a goodidea to take so me as a
p re se n t.
I don't think I'llbother.I've go te no ugh to carry alre ady.
You'recrazy!Don't yo tl knowthat ciga rettes areabo ut8,5 a
packet in Britain?I'mgo ing to be staying fo urweeks, so that's
mo r e thanS100.AmI I'monly astudent.
\ Ve llifyo usmoke thatmuch, vo u' rl bet te rbringYO l l rown
c igarett e s wit hyo u.
That's just t heprohlem .Theyonly let yo ucarry200 duty -free
c igarett e sin. I've takena risk, I've got 400. But if theycatch
me atC usto msI' llhaveto pay afine , andI could n't afford that.
Look, whydon't you giveme 200 of th emandI'I1take them
thnmgh Customs fo ryo u...120 • Task typesA British lawyerrepresent ing yourfriendhas just phonedyou at your hotel in
theShetlands to tell you thatyourfriendis being heldby t he police in London:
the packag e your friend offered to carrycontainednot cigarettesbutdrugs.
The strang erhasnot been caught ; indeed , thepolic e have no reason to
believeyour friend's story.
The lawyerasksyou tofaxhim a statement within thenext hour inwhich you
reportw hathappened.Write th estatement(about 250words).A Planning
As withevery CAEw rit ingtask,
1 becertain notto changeanyof the factsyou aregiven.
2 rememberwhatyouare tryingto achieve - in thiscase,to get yourfriend out
ofa police cell.
3 don 't includeirrelevant details, anddon 't writetoo much.
W hatsho uldyou includ ein your report and in whatorder?Considerthefollowing
list , and deleteanythingirrelevant.
a yo ur opin ionofdrug dealer s
b whatyOll thinkhappened
c descriptiono f yo ur fe el ingsabou tyourfrien d'sarrest
d a pleato the British authoritie s' senseo f f airplay andjustice
e a headi ngor title
f directquotationofthe dialogue
g d escripti vedet ails thatbringvournarrativeto life
h a se ntencetestifyi ng to your friend'sgoo d characte r