Reading_for_the_Real_World_1_2nd_Ed

U N I T 6 Law & Crime 2

Bounty Hunters

Pre-Reading Questions

Think about the following questions.

1.What happens to criminals who escape to other countries or cities?

2.Besides police, what other people can catch criminals?

3.Have you ever gotten money for returning something that was lost?

Vocabulary Preview

Match each word or phrase with the correct definition.

1.	capture	a. a person who commits a crime
2.	criminal	b. a strict keeping; imprisonment
3.	custody	c. the area or region where laws apply
4.	flee	d. to catch
5.	fugitive	e. to run away in order to escape
6.	jurisdiction	f. a person who has escaped

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Bounty Hunters Track 23

	ounty hunters are people whose job is to go
	after “skips.” Skips are people who either
	Bescape from police custody or never show up
	to their court dates. Sometimes skips are dangerous
5	criminals who commit terrible crimes like murder or
	rape, but most often skips are people who have
	committed more minor crimes, things like having drugs
	or failing to pay child support for their children.
	Sometimes, criminals who run away from the
10	police or don’t show up at court are helped to hide by
	their friends and family, or they may flee to another country where the laws are
	different from the laws of their native country. In these cases, the police may
	offer a special reward, or bounty, for anyone who helps to capture the fugitives.
	This is where the term, bounty hunter, comes from. Bounty hunters are not

15official members of the law-enforcement community, but they have a special role to play nonetheless. They are paid to go after and capture criminals that the police are unable to find or are unable to capture. Sometimes the bounty, or reward, is small, just a few thousand dollars. Other times, however, the reward can be quite large, up to several million dollars. For example, in 2003, the

20United States put a twenty-five-million-dollar bounty out for Osama Bin Laden. If a bounty hunter were to find and capture Osama Bin Laden, he or she would become a very rich person.

Bounty hunters operate outside of jurisdictions, or boundaries, which means that they can go anywhere to catch a criminal while most police cannot.

25For example, a police officer in New York cannot go to California to follow a suspected criminal. He or she must wait until the police in California catch the

5	commit --- to perform
8	child support --- money paid to a spouse to care for children after divorce
23	operate --- to work
26	suspected --- assumed

28relatively --- in comparison with others

29chase --- to follow or run after to catch

33	skip --- a slang term for “run away”
39	appoint --- to set; to assign

43license --- an official document of permission

44felon --- a person guilty of committing a serious crime

criminal or the criminal returns to New York. In most cases, if the crime that a person is suspected of is relatively minor, or small, the police may not spend the time and money to chase the person. However, if the person is wanted for a

30serious or dangerous crime, the police may send out notices offering rewards to whoever captures the suspect. This is where bounty hunters come in.

Is bounty hunting legal? The answer is both yes and no. In most states, it is legal to go after people who have “skipped bail.” Skipping bail is when a person commits a crime in a city or a state and then tries to run away to

35another city or state before his or her court date. For many situations in the US and Canada, if someone commits a minor crime, he or she can pay some money to the court and stay out of jail until the court date; this money is called bail. If

the person goes to court on the appointed date, then they get

40the money back. If they miss the court appointment, then they

lose the money and must go to jail for a longer time if they are caught by the police or a bounty hunter.

Many states also allow bounty hunters who have special licenses to go after dangerous criminals called felons, but some do not allow this at all.

45Illinois, Kentucky, and Oregon have laws against bounty hunting, while California only allows it up to 180 days after the skip flees. Interestingly enough, in the states that allow bounty hunting, people are allowed to break the law in order to catch a fugitive.

Reading Time

_______ minutes _______ seconds

579 words

73

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Reading Comprehension

AMark each statement as either true (T) or false (F) according to the reading.

1.____ Only police can catch criminals.

2.____ Bounty hunters hunt so they can get the reward money.

3.____ Bounty hunters may travel to do their jobs.

4.____ Bounty hunting is illegal in some places.

BChoose the best answer.

1.What information is probably important for bounty hunters to know?

a.The law in different states

b.Exchange rates for money in different countries

c.The names of important police officers

d.How to break the law

2.What is bail?

a.The money bounty hunters collect

b.The money criminals steal

c.The money the police offer for reward

d.The money given to the court

3.When do the police use bounty hunters?

a.When they are too busy

b.When the criminals have committed a serious crime

c.When a dangerous criminal escapes the police’s area

d.When a criminal committed a minor crime

CFor the next two questions, look for the answers in the passage and write them on the lines provided.

1.When can’t bounty hunters go after criminals?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

2.How do bounty hunters get paid?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Summary

Fill in the blanks with the words from the list. Use each word only once.

custody	jurisdiction	fugitive
flees	criminals	capture

A bounty hunter is a person who tries to catch 1 _________________. These criminals may have either escaped from police 2 _________________ or skipped bail. When a person skips bail, a bounty hunter may try to catch the

3 _________________ and collect a reward by taking the person to the police. In some cases, the police cannot pursue criminals outside their 4 _______________. However, bounty hunters can 5 _________________ criminals in other states.

And even if the criminal 6 _________________ to another country, bounty hunters may still go after them.

Vocabulary Extension

Here are six words or phrases that are related to the topic but are not in the reading. Fill in each blank with the best word or phrase from the list. Use each word or phrase only once.

handcuffs

probation

case

offense

violated

track down

1.“How did you __________ the criminal?” “I just went to his girlfriend’s house.”

2.Police officers use __________ so the criminal can’t get away.

3.George is on __________ now because he was caught drinking and driving. Next time, they will take away his license.

4.Tom __________ his probation when he was caught stealing.

5.Now a lawyer is defending Tom’s __________.

6.Since it is Tom’s first __________, the lawyer thinks he will not go to jail.

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Supplemental Reading

The Most Successful Bounty Hunter

Track 24

Though bounty hunting is very dangerous work, it is a job that is not limited to men; some women are bounty hunters, too. Mackenzie Green is a woman--- and a very well-respected bounty hunter. In fact,

she has been called “the most successful bounty hunter in the US.” Why is she so

5successful? She relies more on her brain than on physical strength. “A good bounty hunter relies on gut feelings and people skills to pick up information on the whereabouts of a skip,” she says. This means that she trusts her feelings about people and situations to figure out if they are telling her the truth or if they are trying to hide something. She also doesn’t carry a gun. “You can’t tame

10a bull by hitting it with a stick,” she says. This means that violence always leads to more violence. She prefers to use good people skills to get people to trust her.

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Then, when they least expect it, she arrests them. When asked what qualities make a good bounty hunter, Mackenzie Green had this to say, “Being a bounty hunter is difficult work, and a person has to have experience in self-defense like judo and boxing, as well as a familiarity with weapons. A person also must be part detective to track down the skips, part lawyer to know what the different state laws allow, and part actor to try and get people to give you information that they otherwise wouldn’t give out. A person must also be patient and lucky.”

Discussion

Discuss the following questions.

1.Do you think bounty hunting is a dangerous, exciting or difficult job? Why?

2.If you were a bounty hunter, what kind of equipment or techniques would you use?

U N I T 7 Language & Literature 1

King’s March on Washington Address

Pre-Reading Questions

Think about the following questions.

1.What is Martin Luther King, Jr. famous for?

2.When did he live? When did he die?

3.What was his “dream” that he spoke about in the famous speech he gave?

Vocabulary Preview

Match each word or phrase with the correct definition.

1.	blow off steam	a. a strong belief or trust in something
2.	discrimination	b. to do something to get rid of a feeling of frustration
3.	equal	c. the unfair treatment of one group in society
4.	faith	d. official separation of two or more groups
5.	freedom	e. the right to make your own choices or decisions
6.	segregation	f. the same

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King’s March on Washington

Address	Track 25

One hundred years ago, Lincoln signed a law that gave freedom to all slaves in the United States. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later,

the life of the Negro is still sadly chained by segregation and discrimination.

5When the creators of our vast republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were making a promise to all of their children. This promise was that all men would be guaranteed the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is clear today that America

has not kept her promise as far as her citizens of color are concerned.

10 Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be quiet and happy will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to doing things the way they have always been done.

There will be neither rest nor peace in America until the Negro is given his

15rights as a citizen. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand waiting at the doorway into the palace of justice. In the process of getting our rights, we must not be guilty of wrongful acts. We must not allow our protest to fall into violence. Again and again we must rise to the challenge of meeting

physical force with soul force. Go back to Mississippi. Go back to Alabama. Go 20 back to Georgia. Go back to the ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that

somehow this situation can and will be changed. In spite of the difficulties of the moment, I still have a dream. I have a dream that one day

this nation will rise up and live out the true

25meaning of its belief that all men are created equal. I have a dream that my four children will

4 negro --- past term to refer to African-Americans, now considered offensive

as far as . . . are concerned --- with regard to rude awakening --- shocking surprise

in spite of --- despite

live out ---to live according to

39‘tis --- old poetic form for “it is”

39thee --- old poetic form for “you”

40pilgrim --- a traveler, usually following her or his religious beliefs

48almighty --- having complete power

48at last --- finally

one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day in the state of Alabama little black boys and little

30black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

This is our hope. This is the faith

35	with which I return to the South. With
	this faith we will be able to stand up
	for freedom together, knowing that we
	will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to
	sing with new meaning, “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I
40	sing. Land where my fathers died. Land of the pilgrim’s pride. From every
	mountainside, let freedom ring.”
	And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom
	ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty
	mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the peaks of California!

45Let freedom ring from every hill in Mississippi. When we let freedom ring, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Reading Time

_______ minutes _______ seconds

577 words

79

80

Reading Comprehension

AMark each statement as either true (T) or false (F) according to the reading.

1.____ King had no children at the time of this speech.

2.____ King believed that the men who wrote the Constitution wanted Blacks and Whites to be equal.

3.____ King said that violence is only necessary when others use violence.

4.____ When this speech was made, Blacks had equal rights

so they were “free at last.”

BChoose the best answer.

1.What is the main idea of the reading?

a.The fight for equal rights has been won.

b.The fight for equal rights must continue.

c.The fight for equal rights should begin.

d.The fight for equal rights will be violent.

2.In the song “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” what is the “land where my fathers died”?

a.Alabama

b.England

c.The South

d.The United States

3.What is an “old Negro spiritual”?

a.A ceremony to celebrate freedom

b.A famous Black leader

c.A song that lifted people’s spirits

d.The place where Black slaves prayed

CFor the next two questions, look for the answers in the passage and write them on the lines provided.

1.What will give some people a “rude awakening” about Black protests for equal rights?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

2.How does Martin Luther King hope his children will be judged?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________