The Doctor Who Tried to Warn the World About the Coronavirus Pre-Listening

Listening comprehension by Martin Ehrensberger

The doctor who tried to warn the world about the Coronavirus

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Pre-listening

1. The subhead of the article is: “People in China are angry that the government silenced a man who wanted to tell others about the disease”.

a) What does the verb “to silence” mean in the subhead? Mark (✓) the correct answer. ☐ to print a letter, an article, etc. in a newspaper or magazine ☐ to create a space without sound ☐ to make someone stop expressing opinions that are opposed to yours b) Think of four possible reasons why the Chinese government didn’t want the doctor to tell others about the virus. Fill in the mind map with your ideas. When you are done, find a partner, and compare your mind maps.

Reasons

© 2020 Carl Ed. Schünemann KG Bremen. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Von dieser Vorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. The doctor who tried to warn the world about the Coronaviru

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Vocabulary

1. a) Match the English definitions below with the corresponding German nouns.

A the quality of being honest 1 Bürger B a sudden, violent shaking of the earth’s surface 2 Wut C what people say, write, or do to show their feelings, opinions, and ideas 3 Erdbeben D the action of doing something in an open way without secrets 4 Mensch E physical, mental wellness 5 Ausdruck F a particular example of something 6 Misstrauen G a feeling of not being able to trust somebody or something 7 Transparenz H not allowing certain books, films, etc. 8 Ausbruch I the group of people who run a country or a state 9 Gesundheit J an illness affecting humans, animals or plants, often caused by infections 10 Krankheit K the sudden start of something dangerous or unpleasant, especially diseases 11 Vorfall L a strong feeling you have because of something wrong or bad 12 Regierung M a person rather than an animal or a machine 13 Zensur N a person who has legal rights and belongs to a particular country 14 Ehrlichkeit

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N

b) Match the English definitions with the corresponding German definitions on the right.

A to quarantine s.o 1 jdm. etw. befehlen B highly-contagious 2 jdm. eine ernste Warnung aussprechen C to order s.o. to do s.th. 3 auf unverschämte Arte und Weise D to accuse s.o. of s.th. 4 vergehen E to spread a rumour 5 jdn. unter Quarantäne stellen F to solemnly warn s.o. 6 sich schützen G to keep doing s.th. 7 ein Gerücht verbreiten H with impertinence 8 bei jdn. eine Krankheit feststellen I to bring s.o. to justice 9 umgehen mit J to protect oneself 10 sich bei jdn. entschuldigen müssen K to go by 11 jdn. einer Sache beschuldigen L to diagnose s.o. with a disease 12 jdn. vor Gericht stellen M to be forced 13 gezwungen sein N to owe s.o. an apology 14 hochgradig ansteckend O to deal with 15 weiterhin etw. tun

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

The doctor who tried to warn the world about the Coronaviru

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c) Complete the grid by writing the English nouns next to the German ones. Then use the answers to fill in the crossword below. To help you, the vowels in each word have already been given. You can also find all of the words in the vocabulary list at the end of the article.

ACROSS DOWN German noun English noun German noun English noun

3 Erdbeben ______1 Bürger ______

7 Transparenz ______2 Wut ______

8 Ausbruch ______4 Mensch ______

10 Krankheit ______5 Ausdruck ______

11 Vorfall ______6 Misstrauen ______

12 Regierung ______8 Ehrlichkeit ______

13 Zensur ______9 Gesundheit ______

1 I

2 A 3 E A 4 U A 5 E U

6 E I A

7 A A E E

8 O U E A

U 9 I

10 I E A E 11 I A E O A

12 O E E E

13 E O I

The doctor who tried to warn the world about the Coronaviru

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Listening Comprehension

1. After listening to the text, write a summary about it in three to five sentences. Use at least three of the following words.

doctor • disease • false comments • coronavirus • warn • post •

openness • apology • hashtag • government • outbreak

______

2. Listen to the text and tick the following statements true (T) or false (F).

Statement T F

a) Li Wenliang, a doctor in Wuhan, posted a message on 13 December 2019.

b) SARS broke out in China in 2002.

c) The doctor didn’t sign the letter.

d) It is certain that coronaviruses came from animals.

e) The Chinese government warned doctors to protect themselves while treating

patients. f) As soon as Li Wenliang was in hospital, China declared the coronavirus outbreak

a national emergency.

g) Millions viewed Li Wenliang’s posts that he wrote from his hospital bed.

h) Dr Li told the New York Times that there should be more openness and

transparency.

i) Dr Li was 34 years old when he died on 6 February.

j) The Chinese government wasn’t able to censor hashtags on Weibo.

k) By the middle of February 2020, the new coronavirus had caused almost as many

deaths as SARS.

The doctor who tried to warn the world about the Coronaviru

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3. Listen to the text and complete the sentences with two to five words. a) On December 30, 2019, Li Wenliang, a doctor at the Wuhan Central Hospital, posted a message

in an ______for classmates from his medical school. b) Chinese health authorities found out about Dr Li’s post and ordered him, in

______, to come to the government Public

Security Bureau. c) As SARS had already proved, once a coronavirus infects humans, the disease can then

______. d) But another ten days would go by ______the

Coronavirus outbreak a national emergency. e) Dr Li said: “If the officials had disclosed ______

______earlier, I think it would have been a lot better. f) The BBC looked through Weibo later that morning and found that hundreds of thousands of

comments had ______. g) But the anger faded in the end and ______

returned to everyday life in China.

4. Listen to the text, and answer the following questions. You do not have to write full sentences, but one word isn’t enough. a) Why did Dr Li write a message in an online chat room for classmates? ______b) How many people were infected and how many killed by SARS in 2002/2003? ______c) What was Dr Li accused of by the Public Security Bureau? ______

The doctor who tried to warn the world about the Coronaviru

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d) How do coronaviruses find their way into the human body? ______e) What is Weibo? ______f) What wish did Dr Li tell the New York Times? ______g) What do you know about Dr Li’s family when he died? ______h) How many people have already died of the coronavirus compared to SARS? ______

The doctor who tried to warn the world about the Coronaviru

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Answer key Pre-listening 1. a) ☑ to make someone stop expressing opinions that are opposed to yours b) sample answers: people might panic • safety reasons • political reasons • government wants to have control • didn’t want to damage the tourism industry • didn’t want to damage China’s international reputation Vocabulary 1. a) A B C D E F G H I J K L M N

14 3 5 7 9 11 6 13 12 10 8 2 4 1

b) A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

5 14 1 11 7 2 15 3 12 6 4 8 13 10 9

c) ACROSS DOWN 3 Erdbeben earthquake 1 Bürger citizen 7 Transparenz transparency 2 Wut anger 8 Ausbruch outbreak 4 Mensch human 10 Krankheit disease 5 Ausdruck expression 11 Vorfall instance 6 Misstrauen distrust 12 Regierung government 8 Ehrlichkeit openness 13 Zensur censorship 9 Gesundheit health

1 C

2 A 3 E A R T 4 H Q U A K 5 E

N N U X

G 6 D M P

E I A R

7 T R A N S P A R E N C Y E

T S

8 O U T B R E A K S

P U 9 H I

10 D I S E A S E 11 I N S T A N C E O

N T A N

12 G O V E R N M E N T L

E T

13 C E N S O R S H I P H

The doctor who tried to warn the world about the Coronaviru

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Listening Comprehension

1. Sample answer: A Chinese doctor wrote a message to warn others that some patients had caught a new disease. It was the coronavirus, but the Chinese government accused him of making false comments and made him stop talking about it. A month later, shortly before he died in hospital, he posted on a Chinese social media platform that he had been silenced by the government. This made many Chinese people very angry because they want more openness. They created hashtags with messages showing their anger.

2. a) F (§1) • b) T (§1) • c) F (§2) • d) F (§3) • e) F (§3) • f) F (§4) • g) T (§5) • h) T (§6) • i) T (§7) • j) F (§8) • k) F (§9)

3. a) online chat room (para. 1) b) the middle of the night (para. 2) c) spread from person to person (para. 3) d) before China declared (para. 4) e) information about the epidemic (para. 6) f) already been wiped (para. 8) g) governmental censorship (para. 10)

4. a) to warn classmates to wear protective clothing (para. 1) b) thousands of people were infected and 774 died (para. 1) c) making false comments and spreading rumours (para. 2) d) probably start in animals then mutate to infect humans (para. 3) e) a Twitter-like social media platform in China (para. 5) f) there should be more openness and transparency (para. 6) g) he had a four-year-old child and his wife is due in June (para. 7) h) hundreds of more deaths than SARS (para. 9)

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