UNIT 9 Answers to Coursebook activities

2 a i Example answers
vulnerable – exposed to risk
distracts – takes away your attention
dispensing – supplying, distributing
disclose – reveal
deter – put off
ii vulnerable – vulnerability
distracts – distraction
dispensing – dispensary, dispensation
disclose – disclosure
deter – deterrent
b valuables – noun (plural)
hung – adjective
second – noun
picking – verb (present participle)
public – adjective
c Example answer
‘So’ is used to begin new sentences in order to make the sentences shorter, more
instructive and memorable, and to show the causal connection between not taking
precautions and having your possessions stolen. The more correct ‘thus’ and
‘therefore’ would sound too formal for this genre of writing.

4 a Example answers
assets – possessions
intuition – instinct
abundance – plenty
inventory – list of contents or possessions
shimmer – scintillate, shine waveringly
stature – rank
trials – sufferings
patriot – someone who loves or supports their country
pressing – urgent
proceeds – money raised by an event or activity
b Example answers
racked – tortured
dithered – hesitated
scrimped – economised, been thrifty
waived – cancelled
flattered – complimented
c i Nearly everybody who consulted her was satisfied
ii It focuses on the positive, i. e. the number of people who were satisfied.

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 UNIT 9 Answers to Coursebook activities

5 b Paragraph 4: ‘I am not ashamed to be called an African patriot,’ said Mma Ramotswe.

‘I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people
who live in this place. They are my people, my brothers and sisters. It is my duty to
help them to solve the mysteries in their lives. That is what I am called to do.’
Paragraphs 6 and 7: ‘Everything,’ thought Mma Ramotswe, ‘has been something
before. Here I am, the only lady private detective in the whole of Botswana, sitting in
front of my detective agency. But only a few years ago there was no detective agency,
and before that, before there were even any buildings here, there were just the
acacia trees, and the river-bed in the distance, and the Kalahari over there, so close.
‘In those days there was no Botswana even, just the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and
before that again there was Khama’s Country, and lions with the dry wind in their
manes. But look at it now: a detective agency, right here in Gaborone, with me, the
fat lady detective, sitting outside and thinking these thoughts about how what is one
thing today becomes quite another thing tomorrow.’
They are needed because this is the persona speaking to herself, and thoughts as
well as speeches are indicated by writing inverted commas.
Note : there is an opening inverted comma at the beginning of paragraph 7 to
remind the reader that speech is continuing across the paragraph break.
c Example answer
The use of dialogue with her father and her own thoughts presented as a
monologue make the relationship intimate and the reflections direct and empathic,
using the idiom of the speaker.
d Example answer
The lines of capital letters convey how the sign looked outside her office, how
proud she was of it, and how imposing and commanding it would have seemed to
her clients.
e Plural possessive forms: detectives’, agencies’, secretaries’, people’s, cattle’s. Where
the noun form is an irregular plural without an ‘s’, the apostrophe goes before the ‘s’.

6 a Example answers: dry, sparse, arid, desiccated, baking, shrubby, somnolent

b Example answers: devoted, diligent, shrewd, selfless, proud, patient
c Example answer
Mma Ramotswe is an only child who respected and loved her father. She
appreciates the beauty of her environment and enjoys company, being sociable and
religious. The job of detective, and helping others, she considers to be her calling;
she is clever, intuitive and observant. She is not afraid to be original, and has high
standards, but she does not stand on dignity; she ‘never used of herself’ the formal
title she could have insisted on. She finds time to reflect on the past and on change.
The style of her speech/thought is generous with words and sensitive to detail, e.g.
the ‘lions with the dry wind in their manes’. Her reputation is more important to
her than money, and her ability to empathise with others makes her not charge
them if they are disappointed.

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 UNIT 9 Answers to Coursebook activities

7 a Example answers:
stunts – spectacular actions
scourge – avenger, instrument of punishment
feats – heroic deeds
bemused – puzzled
indifferent – uninterested
c Example answers:
self-styled saviour – someone who has appointed himself or herself as a rescuer
goes by the name of – is generally known as
pushing 40 – close to the age of 40
civic action – public service
be it about – whether it concerns

8 a Example ideas
Yes because: there aren’t enough police officers; the police aren’t always around to
see crimes committed; we should all play a part in preserving our safety, property
and environment; it would be a deterrent and reduce petty crime
No because: people should be selected for their suitability for the job; it requires
knowledge and training; it could allow bullying or prejudice; it would offend
members of the public; people might not accept the rights of vigilantes to interfere
or punish

9 a Example answers
i He feels such a daring exploit will impress the gang and secure his place in it; at
the moment they don’t feel he belongs because he is of a higher social class: ‘It
only needed a single use of his real name and the gang would be at his heels’.
He wants to do something extreme, unique and clever, which everyone will talk
about in the area, and to go unpunished: ‘Who’s to prove?’. He enjoys being
able to surprise people: ‘Next day T. astonished them all’. He wants to remove
something beautiful from the world, as a warped kind of creativity: ‘as though
he were absorbed in some dream he was unwilling – or ashamed – to share.’
ii Blackie will do everything T. tells him because he has lost his authority over the
others and is under T.’s spell now: ‘Blackie gave a single hoot of laughter and
then fell quiet, daunted by the serious implacable gaze.’
iii The story will end with the total destruction of the house as T. is determined
to prove himself and to perform this act against society: ‘We’ll pull it down,’ he
said. ‘We’ll destroy it.’ We know that T. is fanatical about carrying out his plan,
which is risky in many different ways but which provides him with a challenge
he relishes.

10 a Example answer
There is no such word as ‘destructors’, so the title is compelling and draws
attention to the fact that the event contained in the story must go beyond any
normal act of destruction. It lends a new and impressive name to the gang.

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 UNIT 9 Answers to Coursebook activities

11 a Example answers
flight – escape, getaway, taking refuge; disputed – challenged, denied, contradicted;
proposition – suggestion, offer; tenacity – persistence, perseverance, constancy;
gesticulations – gestures, handwaving; apparition – phantom, ghost, spectre;
cultivate – develop; strain – streak; mortal – deadly; molly-coddle – pamper
b Leave alone – ignoring the issue of; hereafter – from now on; laughing-stock –
subject of ridicule/butt of jokes; with all his might – as powerfully as he could;
for the sake of – on account of, on the grounds of, in consideration of
c Ellipsis shows that: the speaker is interrupted; the speaker is unable to complete a
thought or finish a sentence; a switch from direct speech to narration; time passing.
The device enlivens narrative and dialogue.

12 Example answers
a The story is apparently about a 12-year-old boy having his courage tested by being
made by his father to sleep alone and in the dark, of which he is afraid. It is really
about how one’s fears and misunderstandings can sometimes make one do things
which appear brave to other people, and how things can take an unexpected turn.
b The story and title are ironic because Swami isn’t really a hero at all – he didn’t
know there was a burglar in the house – but his father, who thought he was too
timid, now believes that he is heroic, and is therefore willing to let him go back to
sleeping with his grandmother. Swami, although much weaker, has won the battle
with his father, who meant to humiliate him but has made him into the opposite of
a ‘laughing-stock’.
c The reader is not sympathetic to the father, who puts pressure on Swami to do
something he doesn’t want to do by bullying and threatening him. The mother and
grandmother are sympathetic because they are gentle and affectionate with the
child and try to protect him. The reader is positioned to take up these viewpoints
because of the direct speech given to the characters – which shows their natures –
and because we are told Swami’s thoughts and feelings, for instance: ‘Swami felt cut
off from humanity. He was pained and angry. He didn’t like the strain of cruelty he
saw in his father’s nature. He hated the newspaper for printing the tiger’s story. He
wished that the tiger hadn’t spared the boy, who didn’t appear to be a boy after all,
but a monster ....’
d The first sentence is short and surprising. We have no idea who Swami is and are
curious to find out, and ‘an unexpected turn’ sounds mysterious and possibly
unwelcome. This is an example of an in medias res opening which launches straight
into an existing situation.
e The ending is ironic: Swami is back where he started and prefers to be, under the
blanket, as if the whole story never happened. His father has backed off because
actually he is already satisfied with his son’s performance as ‘a hero’, equal to
that of the tiger boy, and doesn’t need to worry about him being molly-coddled
any more – although he would not have wanted Swami to hear this. Normally a
child would not be pleased to be given up on, but Swami does not like his father’s
attention being focused on him and his sleeping arrangements.

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 UNIT 9 Answers to Coursebook activities

13 a Example answers
insignia – official badge or emblem
affably – amiably
accomplices – partners in crime
legislation – laws
motley – varied, incongruous
b conservative – radical
forfeit – reward
amateurs – professionals
disgorging – swallowing
unkempt – well groomed, of tidy appearance
c Example answer
The visitors were friendly, civilised and professional. They loaded into their van
all the household appliances. They were proud of the job they did. The owner was
given a list of the stolen items in order to make an insurance claim. Then a gang of
police arrived, looking like robbers.
[50 words]

14 a Mrs Morrison feels it is unfair that she should be targeted again so soon, only two
weeks after the previous robbery.
b She would have been punished by the robbers with a ‘forfeit’ consisting of her
windows being broken.

15 a Example answers
• ‘Visitors’ are usually invited guests or at least people who come to one’s house
with harmless intentions, except when the word is being used ironically.
• Mrs Morrison’s house has been ‘visited’ only a couple of weeks before so it really
isn’t her turn.
• The robbers are wearing uniforms and they identify themselves.
• They try to make things easy for the victim, even suggesting she might wish to
make a complaint.
• They tell her that licensing robbery was a necessary way to solve the
unemployment problem.
• They show her what they have stolen.
• The police do not look respectable; they have the age and appearance of a gang
of thieves.
• They already know there has been a robbery because they are working together
with the robbers.

© Cambridge University Press 2014 Cambridge Checkpoint English 9: A World View 5