Part A –How about asking questions so as to get the underlined answers?
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, one
of the world’s richest men, rules 430,000
subjects of the tiny, oil-soaked island of
Borneo as an absolute monarch, who also holds the titles of prime minister, defense minister,
finance minister and foreign minister . He owns a gold-plated
Rolls-Royce, and lives in a palace with air-conditioned stables for 200 polo ponies.
The sultan pushed for the adoption of a harsh Islamic code, which came into force last
month. Among other brutal punishments, it calls for
the amputation of a right hand on a first offence or left foot on a second
offence as punishment for thieves, and death by stoning for for adultery or sex outside
marriage. Sex between men and
insulting the Prophet are also all punishable by stoning. Whipping is
prescribed for all manner of crimes; children are not exempt.
Although the death penalty has
long been on the books, there have been no executions since 1957. Yet there
is no guarantee that Brunei’s courts will not implement
the new laws.
Brunei gained full
independence from Britain in 1984,
but the Sultan still pays for about 2,000 British troops to be based in the country
under a five-year agreement due to expire next year.
The sultan’s family has not
always lived up to the standards he expects of his
subjects.
The most famous person to have
been accused of theft in Brunei is Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the brother of Sultan
Hassanal Bolkiah.
The Prince owns 600 properties, 2,000 cars, a
private Boeing 747 and several works by Renoir, Manet and Degas. He allegedly
embezzled almost $15bn from a sovereign-wealth fund during his tenure as finance minister in the 1990s.
He has a reputation as a
womanizer, too. Several women have claimed that he kept
them in sexual slavery in a crowded
harem. (The prince named one of his yachts Tits and
her two supply ships Nipple 1 and Nipple 2.)
Part B –Let’s think of synonyms for the highlighted items
Part C –Please fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions
The boycott against businesses
owned by the Brunei state has grown ________ recent days, following an
outcry ________ the introduction of the new rules.
With other celebrities
including the actor George Clooney giving their support ________ the boycott campaign, a string of companies
will no longer use The Dorchester five-star hotel’s facilities and are
cancelling events.
Clooney said: “Every single
time we stay ________ or dine ________ any of these nine The Dorchester hotels, we
are putting money directly ________ the pockets of men who choose to stone and
whip to death their own citizens ________ being gay or accused ________ adultery.”
The English National Ballet,
Make-A-Wish Foundation will be reviewing their associations ________ The Dorchester.
Major companies, such as
Deutsche Bank, are banning their staff ________ staying in Brunei-owned hotels.
“The new laws introduced________
Brunei breach the most basic human rights, and we believe it is our duty as a
firm to take action ________ them,” the
Deutsche Bank chief risk officer, Stuart Lewis, said ________ a statement.
The mayor of London, Sadiq
Khan, has agreed ________ pull advertisements promoting Brunei as a tourist
destination ________ the city’s
transport network.
