Hilton puts her fame to good use
Level 3 Advanced
1
Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.
probation
pundit
mainstay
cynic
sincere
supercialcompassionscenariodownfallmisconception
1. A ____________ is a person who believes that people care only about themselves and are not sincere
or honest.
2. A ____________ is a situation that could possibly happen.
3. A ____________ is someone who is an expert in a subject and often talks to the public about it.
4. A ____________ is a wrong belief or opinion as a result of not understanding something.
5. ____________ is a feeling of sympathy and caring for someone who is in a bad situation.
6. ____________ is a punishment where an offender is not sent to prison but has to agree not to break the law for
aspecicperiodoftime.
7. The ____________ of someones life is the element in it that they really depend on.
8. If something is ____________, it is not important and does not have a serious effect.
9. A ____________ person talks and acts in a way that shows they really mean what they say.
10. A ____________ is the sudden loss of power, status or success.
What do you know?
Are these statements True (T) or False (F)? Check your answers in the text.
1. Paris Hilton was sent to prison for speeding.
2. She spent 30 days in prison.
3. She was released from prison after three days.
4. A judge ordered her to be sent back to jail.
5. She served her sentence in a jail in New York.
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6. One of Hiltons friends is Britney Spears.
Hilton puts her fame to good use
Level 3 Advanced
Hilton to use her fame to promote
great causes
6
Hilton said she suffered from claustrophobia
andattentiondecitdisorder,forwhichshetook
medication.Shesaidthesheriffsofcialshad
releasedhertohomeconnementafterjustthree
days because of claustrophobia, anxiety and panic
attacks. After a judge ordered her back to the
California jail, Hilton said she coped by meditating
and reading letters from fans. But she still had
nightmares of someone trying to break into my cell
and hurt me.
Just the whole idea of being in jail is really scary,
she said. I hate to be alone so that was really just
hard for me in the beginning. Her life was now
at a crossroads, she said, insisting the scenario
was neither a downfall nor a failure, but a new
beginning.
She said: Im glad it happened in a way because
its changed my life for ever. I feel stronger than
ever and I feel like this is a lesson in disguise.
Asked by King about the crowd she hangs out with,
which includes the singer Britney Spears and the
actress Lindsay Lohan, Hilton replied: Everybody
makes mistakes.
She said a big misconception about her is that she
lives off her familys money. I work very hard. I run
a business. Ive had a book on the New York Times
bestsellerslist.ImonthefthseasonofmyTV
show. I did an album. I do movies, she said.
1 Inherrstinterviewafterserving23daysinprison
2 Theres a lot more important things in life [than
partying], said Hilton, who was released on
Tuesday, during an hour-long, pre-recorded
interview, after which pundits described her as
looking demure and contrite. Im frankly sick of it.
Ive been going out for a long time now. Yeah, its
fun, but its not going to be the mainstay of my life
any more, she said. She said she would never
drink and drive again and insisted she did not have
an alcohol problem. The world will see a new Paris
Hilton, she told King.
3 Cynics might wonder at how dramatic this change
is going to be, given that talking to King, veteran of
thecelebrityconfessional,wasoneofherrstacts
after being freed. But Hilton - who apparently did
the interview without payment - insisted she was
sincere and wanted to be a better role model. Alone
in her cell for 23 hours a day, Hilton devoted herself
to reading, writing a prison diary and thinking,
she said.
4 Reading from her prison diary on the CNN show,
she said: I feel like being in the spotlight. I have a
platform where I can raise awareness for so many
great causes and just do so much with this instead
ofsupercialthingslikegoingout.Iwanttohelp
raise money for kids and for breast cancer and
multiple sclerosis.
5 She spoke about her compassion for those I
left behind at the prison and said she wanted to
help set up a place where these women can get
themselves back on their feet. She read: I know
10 Last week, Hilton, who was educated at Catholic
schools,toldTVjournalistBarbaraWalters,ina
telephone interview from her prison cell, that she
had become more religious and wanted to work
with children. She told King she had always been
religious and always had a sense of spirituality
but even more so after being in jail. She bought a
Bible from the jail commissary and read it daily, she
said. Asked to name her favourite passage, she
smiled and looked away. I dont have a favourite,
she said.
Guardian News & Media 2007
First published in The Guardian, 28/6/07
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forviolatingatrafcoffenceprobation,ParisHilton
has said she will be partying less and using her
fame for the forces of good. The hotel heiress told
CNNs Larry King last night that she wants to work
for various social causes, including raising funds
for children and cancer sufferers and setting up a
centre to help released female prisoners to get their
lives back on track.
Mark Oliver and agencies
June 28, 2007
I can make a difference and hopefully stop this
vicious circle of these people going in and out
of jail.
Hilton puts her fame to good use
Level 3 Advanced
3 Comprehension check
Choose the best answer according to the text.
1. WhatdoesParisHiltonwanttodonowshehasleftprison?
a. She now wants to spend more time partying.
b. She now wants to do charity work.
c. She now wants to be in the spotlight again.
2. Howdoesshefeelaboutherfellowprisoners?
a. She feels angry that they are in prison.
b. She feels sure they will be released soon.
c. She understands how they feel.
3. WhichofthesethingshelpedHiltontosurviveherspellinprison?
a. being alone
b. meditating and reading fan mail
c. writing a diary
4. Whichofthesebestdescribesherattitudetoreligion?
a. She has always been religious but is now more religious than before.
b. She became religious during her spell in prison.
c. She wants to teach religion to children.
4 Vocabulary 1: Find the word
Lookinthetextandndthesewordsandexpressions.
1. An adjective referring to a woman and meaning quiet and shy. (Para 2)
2. An adjective meaning sorry and ashamed for something you have done. (Para 2)
3. A three-word expression meaning to spend a lot of time doing something. (Para 3)
4. A two-word expression meaning a process in which the existence of a problem causes other problems and this
makes the original problem worse. (Para 5)
5. A word meaning fear of enclosed spaces. (Para 6)
6. A noun meaning a bad dream. (Para 6)
7. An adjective meaning frightening. (Para 7)
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8. A two-word verb meaning to spend time with particular people. (Para 8)
Hilton puts her fame to good use
Level 3 Advanced
5 Vocabulary 2: Collocations
Match the verbs with the nouns.
1. raise
a. medication
2. make
b. claustrophobia
3. suffer from
c. awareness
4. take
d. a business
5. run
e. probation
6. violate
f. a difference
6 Vocabulary 3: Phobias
Matchthephobiaswiththedenitions.
1. arachnophobia
a. fear of open spaces/public places
2. technophobia
b. fear of enclosed spaces
3. agoraphobia
c. fear of spiders
4. claustrophobia
d. fear of foreigners
5. xenophobia
e. fear of heights
6. acrophobia
f. fear of gadgets
7 Discussion
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AnAmericanTVnewsreaderrefusedtoreadaheadlineaboutParisHilton,sayingitwasntnewsandshouldntbe
anewsheadline.Doyouagree?DoyouthinkthatpeoplelikeHiltonsurviveontheoxygenofpublicity?
