You can read the news and watch some videos on the BBC News, at a Venezuelan news website in English and also on Fox News.
After reading and learning the new vocabulary...
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has died from (1) ____ problems, aged 58. He had been seriously ill with cancer for over a year. There had been (2) ____ speculation over whether or not he would (3) ____ his health to resume his presidential duties. Venezuelan vice-president Nicolas Maduro (4) ____ the nation on Tuesday evening, telling Venezuelans that Mr Chavez had died, "after battling a tough illness for nearly two years." Maduro speculated that Chavez's cancer was started by (5) ____ play. He said: "We have no doubt that Commandant Chavez was attacked with this illness. We don't have a (6) ____ doubt. The established enemies of our land specifically tried to harm the health of our leader."
Hugo Chavez was a highly popular leader in his country who continually (7) ____ the causes and rights of the poor. He redirected significant (8) ____ from the country's considerable oil revenues into social welfare programmes. He became famous for his fiery speeches, especially those attacking the USA. He made several controversial attacks on (9) ____ president George W. Bush, whom he labelled a devil. Mr Maduro led a (10) ____ for Venezuelans to celebrate Chavez, saying: "We're going to grow, we're going to get past this. Have a lot of courage. Stay strong, be strong. Let his name (11) ____ up. Let's (12) ____ Hugo Chavez." He added: "Those who die for life, can't be called dead."
Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
| 1. | (a) | digestion | (b) | exhalation | (c) | perspiring | (d) | respiratory |
| 2. | (a) | many | (b) | lots | (c) | high | (d) | much |
| 3. | (a) | replete | (b) | regain | (c) | refill | (d) | reuse |
| 4. | (a) | confirmed | (b) | affirmed | (c) | informed | (d) | reformed |
| 5. | (a) | fall | (b) | fowl | (c) | foul | (d) | fail |
| 6. | (a) | single | (b) | one | (c) | unitary | (d) | whole |
| 7. | (a) | wins | (b) | championed | (c) | victors | (d) | crusaded |
| 8. | (a) | sums | (b) | coffers | (c) | totals | (d) | wholes |
| 9. | (a) | that | (b) | then | (c) | this | (d) | before |
| 10. | (a) | convene | (b) | summons | (c) | call | (d) | ring |
| 11. | (a) | arise | (b) | raise | (c) | rise | (d) | risen |
| 12. | (a) | prose | (b) | prize | (c) | prise | (d) | praise |
| a. | Hugo Chavez died from problems connected to his stomach. | |
| b. | There was very little talk about his future role as president. | |
| c. | Venezuela's vice-president believes Chavez's death wasn't so simple. | |
| d. | The VP said Venezuela's enemies contributed to Chavez's death. | |
| e. | Chavez used revenues from Venezuelan oil to help the poor. | |
| f. | He was continually attacked in fiery speeches from the USA. | |
| g. | Hugo Chavez said a former U.S. president was the devil. | |
| h. | The vice-president said it was time to forget Chavez and move on. |
Answers can be found in the comment section.
