Unit 06 That's Impossible

Unit 6 Page 56 READING exercise 3 HOW ON EARTH DOES HE DO IT? Perhaps the world's most famous magician, David Copperfield has entertained his audiences for years with his fantastic magic tricks and thrilling illusions. Time and time again, people have wondered: 'How did he do that?' The Great Wall In a 1986 TV special, Copperfield appeared to walk through the Great Wall of China. He walked in one side and out the other. First, he stepped into a box and the audience could see his silhouette on the white screens around the box. Then, he appeared to enter the wall. Minutes later his silhouette could be seen pushing out through the wall into a similar box on the other side. The white screens were lifted and there stood the magician, on the other side of the wall. The Statue of Liberty A live TV event was staged in April 1983. A huge audience sat on Liberty Island in New York Harbour, facing the Statue of Liberty. There was a column on each side of the stage and the statue was visible between the two columns. A white screen was raised and the statue was hidden from view. Minutes later, the screen was lowered, and to the amazement of the audience, the statue had disappeared. There was nothing there. Then, as the stunned audience watched, the screen was raised again. But this time, when it was lowered, the Statue of Liberty was there again. Lucky 13 Imagine the scene at one of David Copperfield's shows. From the stage, 13 soft balls are thrown into the audience. People who catch one are invited to come up onto the stage. These 13 volunteers enter a cage, which is raised above the stage. The people inside are given torches to shine at the audience, and then a cover is lowered over them. When the magician lifts the cover, the cage is empty – but then, moments later, the 13 people reappear at the back of the theatre, still holding the torches they were given. The audience is absolutely amazed. This is David Copperfield's famous Lucky 13 trick, which he performed for nearly 20 years. How did he do it? The secret revealed Normally magicians guard their secrets, but this time we know the answer. In 2013, 55-year-old chef Gavin Cox was at one of Copperfield's shows in Las Vegas. He was called up to the stage by the magician to take part in the Lucky 13 illusion. As soon as the cage was covered, he and the other 12 volunteers were pushed quickly into a secret passage and outside the theatre. In the confusion, Mr Cox was injured. "They were shouting 'Hurry! Run, run, run'," he said. He didn't know where he was going. It was very dark and he fell. After the accident, there was a court case and Copperfield had to reveal the trick and the technique of his famous 'disappearing audience' illusion. Page 57 PRONUNCIATION exercise 1 Welcome to Film Night Television. Our guest is Tom Potts, who stars in an unusual thriller called Asian Treasure. Why did you decide to take on this role? It was a difficult decision, Helen. I play the part of an amazing illusionist. There are so many collisions and explosions in the film that I thought you would never find that treasure. It's true! Occasionally I was frightened for my own life! Page 57 PRONUNCIATION exercise 3 Welcome to Film Night Television. Our guest is Tom Potts, who stars in an unusual thriller called Asian Treasure. Why did you decide to take on this role? It was a difficult decision, Helen. I play the part of an amazing illusionist. There are so many collisions and explosions in the film that I thought you would never find that treasure. It's true! Occasionally I was frightened for my own life!

Page 59 LISTENING exercise 7 and 8 James! What have you done? What? I've had my hair cut. You've had it cut and you've had it dyed. That's right. So do you like it? Do I like it? It looks awful! Your mum and dad are going to go crazy. Maybe. But it's great. It's just what I wanted. It's really not attractive. So how did they do it? It was pretty difficult. First, I chose the design. A lizard. Yes, a lizard. Either a lizard or a spider. I'm glad you didn't go for the spider. Then what? Then the hairdresser dyed the top of my hair green. And then he started to cut part of my hair. That took a long time because it's so thick. He had to be careful, too, to get the shape. And then he added a bit of blue and a bit of red. Magic! He's an artist. It's a work of art. A work of art? You must be joking. It's a disaster! And there's Emily's wedding on Saturday. She's your sister! You'll spoil her wedding photos. I'll make her wedding photos special. There isn't time for the hair to grow back, but we could change the colour and you could wear a hat. So you really don't like it? No, I don't. I think it was a really silly thing to do. Why? Because it looks terrible. And I repeat: your sister's wedding is coming up. It's her big day and she should be the centre of attention, not you. So you think Mum and Dad and Emily are going to be annoyed? Annoyed? I think they'll be furious! Well, I can have the lizard shaved off, I suppose. But what about the green? I can have it dyed brown or ... What are you doing? I'm just taking it off. You mean ... Yes. It isn't my real hair. It's false hair, just a kind of wig. How silly do you think I am? I don't want to spoil Emily's wedding. I can't believe you did that. Oh, look at the time. I have to go. I'm going to have my arms tattooed! What?! James Just joking! Ha, ha!

Page 60 READING exercise 2 BIG QUESTIONS BIGGER ANSWERS! I've just discovered a fantastic new show called Big questions – bigger answers! It's one of the best online series at the moment! The idea is simple: take a topic – like dolphins, for example – and then think of lots of little mysteries that can be explained. How do dolphins communicate? How do baby dolphins stay awake for a whole month? How can dolphins hear sounds that are so far away? That sort of thing. Then get two young, enthusiastic presenters to travel the world and find answers to these questions, add some cool graphics to explain the rest and there's your show. Get the idea? Each episode looks at a different subject. As well as Dolphins, topics that have already been covered include Famous buildings, The body, Around the house, Natural wonders and Magic – my favourite so far. Still to come are Sport and Travel. But back to dolphins. I really learnt a lot of fascinating facts about them. Here's one I liked: how can dolphins look in two different directions at the same time? The answer: one eye looks in front and the other looks behind – amazing! And what about this? Dolphins replace their skin every two hours. Yes, every two hours! Also, did you know that dolphins can dive 550 metres under water and hold their breath for 12 minutes? These are just a few of the things I learnt on this great new show. And yes, I think you've guessed that I love dolphins! What I like best about the show is that it's fun and you learn something at the same time, so you don't feel guilty about spending 60 minutes in front of a screen. We've been shown how birds make their way back to exactly the same place each summer (they use the stars), and how a touch screen works (that one didn't really make much sense to me). We haven't been shown how to eat chocolate without putting on weight yet, but I'm still hoping they might include that! In future episodes, secrets like how top athletes can run so fast and why elephants can't jump will be revealed. The one I'm personally looking forward to the most is how frogs can freeze without dying. So if you aren't already watching Big questions – bigger answers!, I strongly recommend that you make time to. It gives you facts that you can use to pretend that you're actually quite intelligent for a while – as long as you can remember them, of course. Why not log in and watch this week's show now or download the box set at the end of the series? Many fascinating questions will be answered. So get watching and start learning!

Page 62 Fiction exercise 2 THE MIND MAP BY DAVID MORRISON Lucho and Eva are classmates at a school in Salvador. Their teacher tells them to make a mind map together. Lucho starts one at home, around the word guaca, which are special gold objects made by South American tribes. At home Lucho has a gold pendant that his grandmother gave him. Here, Lucho and Eva go to a computer to find more information for the mind map Lucho started. Eva typed 'Kogi' and pressed Enter. (... Soon [she] had found the web page she was looking for. 'OK'. Eva started reading. 'The Sierra Nevada mountains are home to the Kogi tribe. The ancestors of the Kogi were the brave Tairona ...' she continued. 'Like their ancestors, the Kogi still make things from gold.' Should I write this down?' asked Lucho. 'Of course, or we will forget it,' Eva answered. Lucho put his notebook on the table next to the computer and looked at the screen, where there was a photograph of a Kogi chief. The chief was wearing a jaguar skin and he had jaguar teeth on a piece of gold string round his neck. He seemed to be looking straight at Lucho from the screen. [...] 'What are you waiting for, Lucho? Write these things on your mind map!' Eva said. [Lucho] opened his notebook and turned to the page where he had drawn his mind map, but when he saw what had happened, he almost fell off his chair. 'Eva, something's wrong!' Lucho shouted. 'Shh!' said Eva. 'We're in the library!" 'The mind map has changed, Eva. Look!' He showed her the mind map. There were words now in the four circles he had drawn with the pendant. The words were, 'Nebtashi', 'Hotel Continental', 'Esmeralda' and 'Ichua'. I don't even write like that, Eva!' 'Lucho,' said Eva, 'this is not the time for silly jokes. We don't have much time before the next class.' 'Eva, I promise. All I did last night was to draw the circles and the lines and write"guaca" in the centre circle. Something amazing has happened! Eva stood up. 'I'm sorry, Lucho.' Her voice was very serious now. 'I don't think you're a bad person, but you are a little strange. I will do the mind map alone. You can tell your story to Mr Parra on Monday.' Eva walked out of the library. Lucho didn't know what to think. How had the words appeared on the mind map? Something strange, something very strange, was happening. Quickly, he typed 'Ichua' into the computer, but couldn't find any information. He now knew that 'Nebtashi' meant 'jaguar', and 'Esmeralda' was his grandmother's name. He looked for information about the 'Hotel Continental', but could only find pages about hotels in places he had never heard of. 'I must show Eva that I'm not lying!' he said to himself as he put his notebook and pen into his bag and stood up. Suddenly he sat down again. Big red letters had started to appear on the computer screen and slowly the letters became words, three words: 'TAKE IT BACK.' Lucho could not believe his eyes.

♪