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Engramme: Your Daily English Programme #44: New York Day (Reading B1-B2) |
Welcome to Week 12, our last week from the first series of daily English lessons. Today, we will be looking at quite a few incidents that happened on this day, September 11, in the history of the United States, and in particular, New York City.
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Think Before You Read |
Do you recognize the city in these pictures? Do you know the difference in time between the two pictures? How has the city changed during this period of time?
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Time to Read |
We probably need September 11th marked on the calendar as New York Day: of the numerous events that occurred on this day in the history of the United States, many of them tragic in scope and effect, the majority took place in New York City.
Scan the Chronological Entries Below: Which events took place in "New York City"? Which one happened outside of the U.S.?
mouse over the underlined words to see their meaning
On September 11, 1609, Henry Hudson, a British explorer working
for the Dutch East India Company, discovered Manhattan Island and the
indigenous people living there. Although contact with the Island’s Lenape Tribe
had earlier been made by other Europeans, it was Hudson who was given credit
for the discovery because he mapped the area.
On September 11, 1773, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, a political
theorist and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, wrote his famous
maxim, “There never was a good war or a bad peace”.
On September 11, 1941, ground was broken in Arlington,
Virginia, for the construction of the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United
States Department of Defense. The 5-sided concrete and steel structure is regarded
as the symbol of America’s military strength.
On September 11, 1976, a group of Croatian nationalists led
by Zvonko Busic planted a bomb in a coin locker at Grand Central Terminal in
New York City. The bomb exploded, killing one NYPD bomb squad specialist.
On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked a
passenger plane and crashed it into the Pentagon causing the death of 125
people.
On September 11, 2001, attempt by passengers and crew members
of United Airlines Flight 93 to retake control of their hijacked plane from
Al-Qaeda terrorists remained unsuccessful causing the plane to crash in
Pennsylvania field, killing all 64 people on board.
On September 11, 2001, two airplanes hijacked
by Al-Qaeda crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. At 8:46 a.m.,
the North Tower of the WTC was hit by the first plane. Less than 20 minutes
later, at 9:03 a.m., the second plane hit the South Tower. At 9:59 a.m., the
North Tower collapsed. The South Tower collapsed at 10:38 a.m. A total of 2,753 people lost their lives at
the WTC during the attacks.
On September 11,
2012, the U.S embassy in Benghazi, Libya was attacked, resulting in 4 deaths.
(see the first comment below to compare your answers)
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Let's Practice |
1. Why does credit for the discovery
of Manhattan Island go to Henry Hudson?
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a. The passengers were trying to
take control of the plane from terrorists but failed.
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2. What does the Pentagon’s
headquarters symbolize?
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b. the embassy of the United States
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3. Why did the UA Flight 93 airplane
crash in Pennsylvania field?
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c. The attacks took a heavy toll,
killing over 2,700 people.
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4. What caused the collapse of the
North & South Towers of the World Trade Center?
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d. He was the first person to map
the area.
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5. How many people died in the
9/11/01 WTC attacks?
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e. America’s military strength.
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6. What was the target of the 2012
attack in Benghazi, Libya?
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f. Two hijacked planes hit the two
towers of the WTC in less than 20 minutes.
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(compare your answers with the ones in the first comment)
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Over to You |
Take a closer look at Dr. Benjamin Franklin's quote. What does the statement mean? Do you agree with the idea? Why (not)? (let us know in the comments below)
Congratulations! You've successfully completed another day's lesson on Engramme. This week marks the 12th and last week in our first Series of Daily English Lessons. We will be back with new daily posts after a week's break ;)
Would you like to Review the Vocabulary from this lesson? Click here.
Would you like to Download a pdf Copy for use in the classroom? Here's the link.
Answers to the first reading question: 3 events took place in NYC: discovery of Manhattan Island (although one could argue that this was before NYC as we know it today was there!); bombing at Grand Central Terminal; 9/11 attacks on the WTC
ReplyDeleteAnswers to the matching exercise: 1. d, 2. e. 3. a, 4. f, 5. c, 6. b