10. Supply the correct form of the verbs given in brackets and perform the role play given below. Rabbit Keeps Wolf from North Korea’s Door

A German pensioner who won a prize and world-wide fame for breeding his country’s largest rabbit – Robert, the size of a dog (10,5 kg) – (1) ______________ (to offer) an unusual opportunity to exploit his fame. Karl Szmolinsky (2) _________________ (to give) a contract by North Korea to supply giant rabbits to help boost meat production in the country which (3) _________________ (to suffer) severe food shortages for decades. The only problem is that such huge rabbits consume vast quantities of food as they grow.

Mr Szmolinsky, who is 68 next month, told ‘The Times’ he (4) _________________ (to breed) German grey Giants since he (5) ______________ (to retire) and for the past few years he (6) ___________ (to sell) them to other breeders in Germany for between €200 and €250. Mr Szmolinsky (7) ________________ (to contact) by the North Korean Embassy in Berlin after Robert (8) ________________ (to attract) press coverage. “They want to boost meat production. They (9) ______________ (to arrange) for me to go to Pyongyang next April to advise them on setting a breeding farm,” he said. An attaché from the embassy came to his door and asked to see his rabbits. The diplomat so (10) _______________ (to impress) that he placed an order for eight females and four males, which (11) _____________ (to ship) to North Korea a few weeks later at a prize of €80 each.

Robert was among the first consignment. “I don’t know how many more they (12) __________________ (to want) and whether I (13) _______________ (to get) any new orders,” Mr Szmolinsky said.

The North Korean Embassy in Berlin could not be reached for comment, but the state-run news agency reported that people (14) ___________________ (to encourage) to breed rabbits for food. Mr Szmolinsky’s 12 rabbits could produce 60 babies in a year – which presumably (15) __________________ (to make) little impact on the high malnutrition rates in the country of 23 million.

The rabbits are also voracious eaters, which is why Mr Szmolinsky said that he (16) __________________ (not to boost) his own animal production because feeding them (17) __________________ (to be) too expensive.

(From the ‘Times’, abridged)

Role play

Role 1. You are David Crossland, the author of the article given above. A year has passed since it was published. Now you are at the Berlin airport and you’ve just met Mr Szmolinsky who is returning from North Korea. Find out how “the rabbit story” developed.

Role 2. You are Karl Szmolinsky. Your cues: You – to go to Pyongyang as – to arrange; when you – to arrive, 7 rabbits – already to die; the attendants – not to feed them properly; they – to give them leftovers from a local café instead of carrots and cabbages; they said you – to sell sick animals; you – to detain; you – not to allow to get in touch with anybody; when you finally managed to get in touch with the German Embassy, the authorities – to investigate your case for months; you – to live in terrible conditions all the time.

Focus on Grammar 2:

Adjectives and Adverbs