Car burning in Germany

Fill in the blanks while reading the following article from The Economist

BERLIN has been overtaken by a strange wave of car-burning.

Last night nine cars …………………………………………(go up) in flames. The night before it ………………………………………… (be) 15. Altogether this year 290 cars ……………………………………… (torch). Last year ………………………………………… (be) relatively quiet, with only 44 cars attacked; 2009, though, ………………………………………… (be) a big year, with 401.

Torching cars, by placing a firelighter under a tire …………………………………………(be) absurdly easy, and hard to prevent. The targets ………………………………………… (be) any kind of car, from BMWs to Volkswagens.

A police spokesman ………………………………………… (say) a lot of the recent cases ………………………………………… (be) probably copycat acts by "confused" people. The most recent series ………………………………………… (be) the work of one group, or even an individual.

In general the motives ………………………………………… (vary) from vandalism to insurance fraud, revenge, or "political" acts carried out by left-wing extremists. This last explanation ………………………………………… (account) for around one-third of car-burnings.

Interestingly, in Hamburg, where 193 cars ………………………………………… (burn) this year, police judge fewer than ten cases ………………………………………… (be) political.

Last week Klaus Wowereit, the mayor, ………………………………………… (call) on Berliners to be vigilant. But the arsonists’ areas of operation …………………………………………(be) unpredictable, ranging from prosperous Charlottenburg in former west Berlin to Friedrichshain, formerly part of the communist east.


adapted from The Economist


And now, what about listening to the following audio so as to compare the information provided by NPR and by The Economist?





After getting the main ideas and the details, please play the audio once again. Our target now is to identify the following words

in a row
hooliganism
unrest
tough
car arson
targeted
rising rents
do not fit
more likely
dealing with
motivation
gentrification
none
so far
torched
quote
warned
recent riots
dismisses
a lone arsonist
comparable
reward
catch