Learning English - Words in the News


Learning Objective: At the end of the session, the students are expected to be able to be updated with the latest happening around the world and learn new words and phrases and use them in their own sentences.


Fragile peace returns to Gaza

19 January, 2009 - Published 13:14 GMT

Christian Fraser, BBC News, Gaza





There were traffic jams on the road north, families heading to Gaza City to reunite with friends and relatives. Long lines of cars backed up at the makeshift roadblocks the Israelis have left behind. But the tanks are gone, only the deep tracks remain.

There were buildings pitted with Israeli tank rounds; from the holes that have been punched in the walls it was clear there had also been snipers waiting for them. North of Khan Younis we saw some of the Qassam fighters returning home, their rifles slung lazily around their shoulders.


The destruction we've seen has largely been inflicted on the Hamas infrastructure: police stations, military outposts, government buildings, so far the most extensive damage - that at the border in Rafah where nothing was spared.


For three weeks the Israelis pounded the tunnels that run beneath the perimeter wall but last night we met people who insist that some of these tunnels are still open and still some fuel is being pumped from the Egyptian side; impossible for us to verify independently, but they say they are determined to reopen them and to dig them deeper. If the border crossings remain close, say the Palestinians, these tunnels are their only link to the outside world.





1. heading to

2. makeshift

3. pitted with

4. snipers

5. slung lazily around

6. inflicted on

7. military outposts

8. nothing was spared

9. to verify

10. determined