Dam Collapses in Syria

The words below should help you to fill in the gaps

complain
lose
logistics
rupture
relieve
make
devastate
recede

Students:

In some cases, you will need to turn the words above into adjectives or nouns.

If you don\'t know the words, go to dictionary.cambridge.org and look up their meaning!

Teachers:

1. In what ways is this Hot Potatoes exercise different from the ones you created yesterday?

2. How could this exercise be improved? Discuss with a colleague.

3. What other Hot Potatoes exercise types could be used to exploit a passage like this?

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'; if (is.CRAPBrowser){ReadingText=ResolveAllURLs(ReadingText);} var NavBar=''; var TitleCode = ''; TitleCode += '' + ExerciseTitle + '
'; TitleCode += '' + ExerciseSubtitle + '
'; TitleCode += ''; var WordBox = ''; var ClozeOpener = ''; ClozeOpener += ''; var Buttons = '

'; ClozeOpener += '

'; Buttons += '

'; var GapCode = ''; var ClueButton = ''; ClueButton = ''; function GoBack(){ var BackSkip = history.length - PreviousPage; if (BackSkip > 0){ history.go((BackSkip+1)*-1); } else{ parent.history.back(); } } function ShowReading(){ if (ReadingFrame != null){ if (ReadingURL.length > 0){ ReadingFrame.location.href=ReadingURL; } else{ ReadingFrame.document.clear(); ReadingFrame.document.open(); ReadingFrame.document.write(ReadingText); ReadingFrame.document.close(); } } } function BuildExercise(){ var OutString = ''; var ClozeStuff = ''; for (var i=0; i'; } else{ GapLen = I[i][1][0][0].length; if (GapLen < 3){GapLen = 3;} Gap = ReplaceStuff('[strGapSize]', GapLen, GapCode); Gap = ReplaceStuff('[strGapName]', 'Gap' + i + '', Gap); Gap = ReplaceStuff('[strItemNum]', i + '', Gap); Gap = ReplaceStuff('[strValue]', State[i][5], Gap); ClozeStuff += Gap; //Create and add the clue button if (I[i][2].length > 0){ Btn = ReplaceStuff('[strItemNum]', i + '', ClueButton); ClozeStuff += Btn; } } } //Add the last bit if (Text.length > I.length){ ClozeStuff += Text[Text.length-1]; } //Put the final pieces together OutString = ClozeOpener + ClozeStuff + ClozeCloser + Buttons; BuiltCloze = OutString; } function WriteFeedback(Feedback) { if (is.CRAPBrowser){Feedback=ResolveAllURLs(Feedback);} //Build the output string var OutString = ''; OutString += ''; OutString += ' '; OutString += ''; OutString += NavBar; if (Feedback.length>0){ OutString += '' } OutString += '

'; OutString += ''; OutString += Feedback; OutString += '

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'; //Write it to the frame TopFrame.document.clear(); TopFrame.document.open(); TopFrame.document.write(OutString); TopFrame.document.close(); } function DisplayExercise(){ //Build the output string var OutString = ''; OutString += ''; OutString += ' '; OutString += ''; OutString += TitleCode; OutString += ''; OutString += NavBar; OutString += '

'; if (WordBox.length > 0){ OutString += WordBox; } OutString += ''; OutString += BuiltCloze; OutString += '

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'; if (is.CRAPBrowser){OutString=ResolveAllURLs(OutString);} //Write it to the frame BottomFrame.document.clear(); BottomFrame.document.open(); BottomFrame.document.write(OutString); BottomFrame.document.close(); } function ShowClue(ItemNum){ //alert(ItemNum); State[ItemNum][0] = 1; WriteFeedback(I[ItemNum][2]); } function SaveCurrentAnswers(){ for (var i=0; i-1){ FirstBit = InString.substring(0, i); LastBit = InString.substring(i + Token.length, InString.length); InString = FirstBit + Replacement + LastBit; i = InString.indexOf(Token); } return InString; } I = new Array(); I[0] = new Array(); I[0][1] = new Array(); I[0][1][0] = new Array(); I[0][1][0][0]='devastating'; I[0][1][1] = new Array(); I[0][1][1][0]='terrible'; I[0][1][2] = new Array(); I[0][1][2][0]='damaging'; I[0][2]='something which does great damage (adjective)'; I[1] = new Array(); I[1][1] = new Array(); I[1][1][0] = new Array(); I[1][1][0][0]='ruptured'; I[1][2]='broke violently'; I[2] = new Array(); I[2][1] = new Array(); I[2][1][0] = new Array(); I[2][1][0][0]='losses'; I[2][2]=''; I[3] = new Array(); I[3][1] = new Array(); I[3][1][0] = new Array(); I[3][1][0][0]='subsiding'; I[3][2]='receding'; I[4] = new Array(); I[4][1] = new Array(); I[4][1][0] = new Array(); I[4][1][0][0]='logistical'; I[4][2]='connected with transport and supply'; I[5] = new Array(); I[5][1] = new Array(); I[5][1][0] = new Array(); I[5][1][0][0]='relief'; I[5][2]='disaster assistance'; I[6] = new Array(); I[6][1] = new Array(); I[6][1][0] = new Array(); I[6][1][0][0]='complained'; I[6][2]='protested'; I[7] = new Array(); I[7][1] = new Array(); I[7][1][0] = new Array(); I[7][1][0][0]='made'; I[7][2]='constructed'; Text = new Array(); Text[0]='The death toll from the '; Text[1]=' floods caused by a collapsed dam in northern Syria has risen to 20.

Hundreds of homes were destroyed leaving thousands of people homeless when the six-year-old Zeyzoun dam north of Hama '; Text[2]=' on Tuesday.

"The number of victims has risen to 20, and four people have been reported missing in the most recent toll of human '; Text[3]=' from the collapse of the dam," official newspapers quoted the state-run SANA news agency as saying on Thursday.

It is feared that '; Text[4]=' waters could reveal more deaths.

Syria has said it will seek financial and '; Text[5]=' help from international aid agencies to deal with the floods, and has been offered a grant of some $40,000 by the Japanese embassy in Damascus to help pay for '; Text[6]=' efforts.

President Bashar al-Assad has ordered 50,000 Syrian pounds (about $1,000) in aid for each of the victims, SANA added.

People living near the village of Zeyzoun on the Orontes River in northern Syria, said they had '; Text[7]=' about cracks in the dam, which held 71 million cubic metres of water.

"They '; Text[8]=' this dam to water all the crops, and wound up killing us with it," an elderly woman told Reuters news agency.

In the nearby village of Ziara, a little more than a mile from the dam, residents described a sudden deluge of water flooding homes and farmland shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

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'; if (AllCorrect == 0){ Output += '
' + Incorrect; } BuildExercise(); WriteFeedback(Output); DisplayExercise(); RestoreCurrentAnswers(); } function TrackFocus(BoxNumber){ CurrentWord = BoxNumber; } function CheckBeginning(Guess, Answer){ var OutString = ''; var i = 0; var UpperGuess = ''; var UpperAnswer = ''; if (CaseSensitive == false) { UpperGuess = Guess.toUpperCase(); UpperAnswer = Answer.toUpperCase(); } else { UpperGuess = Guess; UpperAnswer = Answer; } while (UpperGuess.charAt(i) == UpperAnswer.charAt(i)) { OutString += Guess.charAt(i); i++; } OutString += Answer.charAt(i); return OutString; } function FindLongest(InArray){ if (InArray.length < 1){return -1;} var Longest = 0; for (var i=1; i InArray[Longest].length){ Longest = i; } } return Longest; } function GetGapValue(GNum){ var RetVal = ''; if ((GNum<0)||(GNum>=I.length)){return RetVal;} if (eval('BottomFrame.document.Cloze.Gap' + GNum) != null){ RetVal = eval('BottomFrame.document.Cloze.Gap' + GNum).value; RetVal = TrimString(RetVal); } else{ RetVal = State[GNum][5]; } return RetVal; } function SetGapValue(GNum, Val){ if ((GNum<0)||(GNum>=I.length)){return;} if (eval('BottomFrame.document.Cloze.Gap' + GNum) != null){ eval('BottomFrame.document.Cloze.Gap' + GNum).value = Val; } } function FindCurrent() { var x = 0; FoundCurrent = -1; //Test the current word: //If it's state is not set to already correct, check the word. if (State[CurrentWord][4] != 1){ if (CheckAnswer(CurrentWord, false) < 0){ return CurrentWord; } } x=CurrentWord + 1; while (x -1){return ''} RightBits = new Array(); for (var i=0; i 0){ SetGapValue(CurrGap, HintString); State[CurrGap][1] = State[CurrGap][1] + 1; } WriteFeedback(GiveHint); } function Blank(){ return ' ©Half-Baked Software. Loading...

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'; } //--> //]]>

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