Practice English Listening B1 Exercises – Here is the news

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a   A climber called her husband from a mobile phone when she was on a mountain.

b   The climber was on K2. Her husband was in Paris.

c   Police have arrested two students in Puerto Rico who, they think, created a computer virus.

d   Bella Karsfield has warned people against the computer virus ‘Money for jam’.

e   The Internet romance was between someone from Oxford (UK) and someone from Tuscaloosa (USA).

f   The man in the romance was 35, the woman was 65.

g   The company, which lost $70 million, sold holiday homes on the Internet.

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a   Francoise Pilenko

b   On the mountain K2

c   Mr Pilenko

d   Police are trying to trace the source of the computer virus ‘Money for jam’.

e   Matt Runyon and Monica Greenlife

f   Monica Greenlife

g   The Internet company Mountain View

h   Financial analysts

Good evening. Here is the news read by me, Alan Piper.

A French climber was saved from almost certain death when she and her climbing companion used her mobile phone to call for help. Francoise Pilenko broke her ankle shortly after reaching the summit of K2, one of the most difficult climbs in the Himalayas. They were unable to signal to their colleagues waiting for them below because of appalling weather conditions. But Mrs Pilenko had her mobile phone with her, and despite poor reception, was able to phone her husband, Maurice, back home in Paris, France. Once he had got over his surprise, Mr Pilenko alerted the rescue authorities, who got both climbers off the mountain by helicopter, He is flying to Nepal to join his wife in hospital.

Computer experts have warned that a new virus, which has appeared in the last two days is one of the most dangerous that has ever been invented. Called ‘Money for jam’. it fills computer screens, which it attacks with pound and dollar signs, sends itself to other computers via its new host’s email, and then destroys all the information on the computer’s hard disk. Police are doing their best to trace the source of this latest danger, and have arrested two students in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Asked what can be done, Bella Karsfield, head of the computer research department at the University of Washington said that people should not open emails unless they are sure who has sent them.

An American woman has been arrested by police in Tuscaloosa. Alabama after a young British man discovered his Internet girlfriend was not in her thirties, as he thought, but was 65. Matt Runyon, from Oxford, England, met the love of his life on the Internet last September. Over the next few months he and his girlfriend, Monica Greenlife, sent each other daily emails and eventually agreed to marry. Matt travelled to Tuscaloosa from his home in England to meet his fiancée, but was shocked when he discovered that she had lied about her age. Matt Runyon is not talking to the press about his ordeal.

An Internet company, Mountain View, has just announced that it’s to cease business after losing $70 million in two months. Mountain View, which sold holiday homes through its web pages, is just the latest dotcom company to crash. Financial analysts expect more business failures over the next few months as the economic situation gets more difficult.

In sport, Spanish tennis player Claudia Gonzalez Terrano has reached the final of the US Open, and at home, Manchester United have clinched their place …