Today's Headlines:

A dangerous route to Europe

Safety concerns for Mumbai's sewer workers

Bad news for some British school pupils

Transcript:

To the deserts of North Africa now where many start their journey to Europe in search of a better life. As the EU cracks down on people arriving in Greece from Turkey more and more people are risking their lives on the merciless route across the Sahara to Libya. Then over the Mediterranean to reach Europe. The International Office for Migration estimates 100,000 people pass through there last year alone.

In India it's sewers – they run beneath the streets and they are an essential part of infrastructure. Keeping them free from blockages is not just a hard and unpleasant job but it can also be dangerous because workers are employed on a day-by-day basis, often without safety gear.

The children of white British parents do worse in their GCSEs [exams] than those who speak English as a second language. This is according to an education think tank. It's The Centre Forum, which also says many primary school pupils are falling behind the world's leading countries in education such as Finland and Canada.   

Words and phrases and definitions:

cracks down
starts to deal with a situation in a more severe way

merciless
unforgiving / very hard

infrastructure
system that enables something to run smoothly

think tank
group of experts who together develop ideas on a certain subject

Exercise:

Use one of the words or phrases from Lingohack to complete each of these sentences. Note that you may have to change the form of a word or phrase to complete the sentence correctly.

cracks down / merciless / infrastructure / think tank

1. The teachers are ___________ on pupils who bring mobile phones to school.

2. Schools should consider flexible working to tackle a teacher supply crisis, a ________ has said ahead of a teachers' conference.

3. The huge storm has destroyed the city's ________ and it will cost millions of dollars to repair.

4. Our trek up the mountain was _________ but views from the top were worth all the pain.

Answers:

1. The teachers are cracking down on pupils who bring mobile phones to school.

2. Schools should consider flexible working to tackle a teacher supply crisis, a think tank has said ahead of a teachers' conference.

3. The huge storm has destroyed the city's infrastructure and it will cost millions of dollars to repair.

4. Our trek up the mountain was merciless but views from the top were worth all the pain.