Learning English - Words in the News - Driving change in the West Bank

Last updated at 10:58 BST, Wednesday, 04 June 2014

Driving change in the West Bank

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Transcript:: Checking a bus engine is an unusual start to the day for a woman in the West Bank.

But there's nothing Najlaa Asia would rather do. She's the first woman licensed to drive public buses in the Palestinian city of Tulkarm.

Being a pioneer isn't easy. She had to pass 12 driving tests. But Najlaa encourages other Palestinian women to break with taboo, and compete on an equal footing with men in all professions.
engine: mechanical part of a vehicle which makes it move
licensed: with official permission to do something
pioneer: person who does something others are not yet doing
taboo: something that is avoided for religious or social reasons
on an equal footing: having the same rights and conditions as others

Exercise

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from news reports.

Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

engine / licensed / pioneer / taboo / on an equal footing

1.
"I didn't know anyone else who was building a little house at the time, anywhere," Williams recalls. A warm, energetic woman, Williams is a __________ in the tiny-house movement and was the keynote speaker at the Tiny House Conference.

2.
"Summer schools will ensure pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds can start secondary school ___________ with their peers, setting them up to succeed."

3.
Whereas once it was greatly frowned upon for a Jew of any stream to marry a non-Jew, today, among unaffiliated (no synagogue), non-denominational (those who don't identify with any movement), conservative or reform Jews, it is not the __________ it once was. The intermarriage rates of non-denominational Jews approach 80%, he says.

4.
A New Forest taxi driver says too many cabs trying to use the rank at Brockenhurst railway station is making it dangerous for pedestrians.

South West Trains says 17 taxis are __________ to use it, but it has not had any complaints about safety.

5.
The fact that car manufacturers are achieving these targets suggests the internal combustion __________ is far from dead yet, despite the push towards electric vehicles.