This listening text includes actual news
footage from the event, as it happened. Be prepared for a wide variety
of voices, the American accents and some speedy delivery in the audios.
Click the speaker and listen carefully to
these radio programs while you check the audio transcription.
PROGRAM
PRESENTER
Anyone who was listening to the news on 22 November 1963 finds it
hard to forget what they heard. On that day the American President
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. The shooting happened
while the youngest man ever to hold the highest office in America
was touring the Texas city of Dallas. At 12.30 on November 22, 1963
two shots hit the President as he was travelling in a motorcade in
downtown Dallas. Let's hear how the event was recorded by news
reporters present at the scene.
ARCHIVE
'It appears as though something has happened
in the motorcade route. Something I repeat has happened in the
motorcade route'.
'We're here at the Trademark. The motorcade
is coming by here. I can see many many motorcycles coming by now,
police motorcycles. Just heard a call on the radio for all units and
all industrials to pick up the motorcade. Something has happened
here. We understand there has been a shooting. The presidential car
coming up now. We know it's the presidential car. I can see Mrs
Kennedy's pink suit'.
PROGRAM
PRESENTER
Shortly afterwards this solemn message was heard
throughout America:
ARCHIVE
'From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently
official, President Kennedy died at 1 pm Central Standard time'.
PROGRAM
PRESENTER
America was stunned by the news. Twenty-four-year-old
Lee Harvey Oswald was picked up in connection with the shooting. But
he denies any involvement:
ARCHIVE
'Did you kill the President?'
'No, I've not been charged with that. In fact
nobody has said that to me yet. The first thing I heard about it was
when the newspaper reporters in the hall er – asked me that question'.
PROGRAM
PRESENTER
And just before going to trial, Oswald is shot
by Jack Ruby:
ARCHIVE
'Oswald has been shot'.
'Holy mackerel!'
A shot rang out as he was led into his car. To me he appears dead.
There's this gunshot wound in his lower abdomen'.
PROGRAM
PRESENTER
Because of this, mystery still shrouds the death
of the President. There have been claims of Mafia, anti-civil rights,
foreign agents and even a crime of passion, but to date the memory
of the death of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is still as
haunting as the day it happened.
ARCHIVE
'From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently
official, President Kennedy died at 1 pm Central Standard time'.
JFK's assassination (II)
ACTIVITY 213:
Now, listen to the audio again carefully and do
not refer to the transcription above. It is important to point out
that in order to do this activityyou need to be able to
collect and hold in your head information from more than one part of
the text.
For questions 1-5, choose the answer (A, B, or C)
which you think fits best according to the radio program. Then
check your answers.
1.
From
this program we learn that President Kennedy ...
A.
came from a famous political family. B. was the youngest president of the USA. C. had a son and a daughter.
2.
We
also learn that the President was in Dallas because ...
A. was on his way to meet his wife. B. lived there. C. was making an official visit.
3.
What
do we learn about the President's death?
A. He died instantly.. B. No one knows who killed him. C. He was shot twice by one person.
4.
What
do we learn about Lee Harvey Oswald?
A. He denied killing
the President. B. He was shot when he was arrested. C. He was found
guilty of killing the President.
5.
Why
was this news item included in the radio programme?
A. to show the style
of earlier news reporting B. to explain the importance of the assassination
C. to look back on
an important event in modern history
CONGRATULATIONS !!! You have finished UNIT 8 - LESSON 30
at OM Personal First Certificate. Before moving on to next lesson, please remember
to revise everything you have learnt here.
