Prime Time 7, Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks

kind who chased down smart kids to spray them with Mace. “A revolver,” a counsellor said, stroking his chin. “Could you please elaborate?” The black guy cocked his head and frowned, as if the beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks of his experiment had grown legs and hurried off. “You were just kidding,” the dean said, “about wiping out all of mankind. That, I suppose, was a joke.” She squinted at me. One of her hands curved atop the other to form a pink, freckled molehill on her desk. “Well,” I said, “maybe I meant it at the time.” I quickly saw that this was not the answer she wanted. “I don’t know. I think it’s the architecture.” Through the dimming light of the dean’s office window, I could see the fortress of the old campus. On my ride from the bus station to the campus I’d barely glimpsed New Haven – a flash of crumpled building here, a trio of straggly kids there. A lot like Baltimore. But everything had changed when we reached those streets lined with gothic buildings. I imagined how the college must have looked when it was founded, when most of the students owned slaves. I pictured men wearing tights and knickers, smoking pipes. “The architecture,” the dean repeated. She bit her lip and seemed to be making a calculation of some sort. I noticed that she blinked less often than most people. I sat there, intrigued, waiting to see how long it would be before she blinked again. (From: ZZ Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere ; adapted) 55 60 65 70 75 80 Analysing the tone and style a) Describe the tone of this passage. Use quotations from the text to support the points you want to make. • What is the tone at the beginning of this extract? • Where in the extract does the tone change and why? • How has the tone changed at the end? b) What does the author want to express with this technique? Dina’s views a) What is Dina’s view of Yale University and the people she meets there? b) What could be the reasons for her gradual change of attitude? c) What does Dina’s behaviour reveal about herself? d) Were her feelings similar to the ones you anticipated? Writing: Black, powerful, new Write a personal account (for your diary, your blog, etc.) of the orientation games from the point of view of a student (black or white) who has just observed the incident. Watching a video clip: American immigration: Failure to stem immigration tide Watch this video clip about illegal immigrants to the US and make notes on the following: • the details of the main problem presented in the video clip • the motivation to cross the border • the way in which the US reacts to the situation Writing: An article You have seen the video clip on illegal immigration and decide to write an article for a leading American newspaper to present your views on the problem. In your article you should: • describe the problem • analyse the reactions to the situation • suggest alternative strategies Give your article a title . Write around 250/400 words . 4  VIP file ZZ Packer , an award-winning African American author, was born in Chicago in 1973 and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and Louisville, Kentucky. In 2005 she received a Guggenheim Fellow- ship for fiction. V 5  6  7  2 8  127 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv