LEITURA: Vuvuzela: SA football's beautiful noise

What's plastic, a meter long, (1)__ colored and sounds like an elephant? It's the vuvuzela, the noise-making trumpet of South African football fans, (2)__ has come to symbolize the sport in the country. It's an instrument, (3)__ not always a musical one. Describing the atmosphere in a stadium packed with thousands of fans blowing their vuvuzelas is hard. Up close it's an elephant, but en masse the sound is more like a (4)__ swarm of very angry bees. And (5)__ there's action near the goal mouth, those bees go really crazy. To get that sound out requires lip (6)__ and lung strength - in short, a fair amount of technique. So be sure (7)__ in some practice before (8)__  a South African football match, or your sound will probably provoke laughter or cause some (9)__  in the seats around you! Vuvuzela supplier company Boogieblast offers this advice: "Put your lips inside the mouthpiece and almost make a 'farting' sound. Relax your cheeks and let your lips (10)__ inside the mouthpiece. As soon as you get that trumpeting sound, blow harder until you reach a (11)__ loud 'boogying blast'. Descendant of the kudu horn? The ancestor of the vuvuzela is said to be the kudu horn - ixilongo in isiXhosa, mhalamhala in Tshivenda – which was blown (12)__ African villagers to meetings. Later versions were made of tin. The trumpet became so (13)__ at football matches in the late 1990s that a company, Masincedane Sport, was formed in 2001 to mass-produce it. Made of plastic, they come in a (14)__ of colours – usually black, white or yellow, with little drawings on the side warning against (15)__ in the ear! There's uncertainty on the origin of the word "vuvuzela". Some say it comes from the isiZulu for  "making noise". Others say it's a slang word (16)__ related to the word "shower", because it "showers people with music". The announcement, on 15 May 2004, that South Africa (17)__ the 2010 Fifa World Cup gave the vuvuzela a huge boost in popularity; some 20 000 were sold on that day by (18)__ street vendors. It's a (19)__ thing, so there's no surprise some don't like it. Journalist Jon Qwelane once commented that he got used to (20)__ football matches at home - with the volume turned low - because of what he described as "an instrument of hell".    Adapted from http://www.southafrica.info/2010/vuvuzela.htm 1. Put the correct words from the table below in the above article. 1. (a) brightly (b) bright (c) brightness (d) brighter 2. (a) that (b) where (c) which (d) who 3. (a) so (b) because (c) and (d) but 4. (a) massiveness (b) massive (c) mass (d) massively 5. (a) which (b) when (c) whose (d) where 6. (a) flexibly (b) inflexible (c) flexibility (d) flexible 7. (a) to get (b) getting (c) get (d) gets 8. (a) to attend (b) attended (c) attend (d) attending 9. (a) amusing (b) amusement (c) amused (d) amuse 10. (a) vibrated (b) vibrating (c) vibrate (d) vibration 11. (a) ridiculously (b) ridicule (c) ridiculous (d) ridiculousness 12. (a) call (b) to call (c) for call (d) calling 13. (a) popularly (b) popular (c) popularity (d) unpopular 14. (a) varieties (b) variedly (c) variety (d) varied 15. (a) that (b) where (c) which (d) who 16. (a) to blow (b) blowing (c) blow (d) blew 17. (a) should host (b) will host (c) can host (d) would host 18. (a) enterprise (v) (b) enterprise (n) (c) enterprising (d) enterpriser 19. (a) noiseless (b) noisy (c) noise (d) noisily 20. (a) watched (b) watched (c) watch (d) watching 2. Find the synonyms that match the words from the text.Careful, there are extra definitions. 1. packed _____ difficult 2 hard _____ power, force 3. swarm _____ empty 4. strength _____ doubt 5. supplier _____ dealer 6. uncertainty _____ reverse 7. boost _____ crowded _____ increase, rise _____ group of insects 3. Mark as True or False      a.    The author compares the vuvuzela sound to the one produced by mosquitoes. b.    No one really knows how vuvuzelas originated. c.    No one really knows where the word comes from. d.    Vuvuzelas come in only one standard color.  e.    The sales of vuvuzelas have not been as good as expected.   T       F T       F T       F T       F T       F            4.    Sentence Transformation 1.    "It's annoying when someone plays a vuvuzela in your ear," a fan said. (said)       A fan _______________________________________________________  in your ear. 2.    They have based vuvuzelas on kudu horn instruments. (have)    Vuvuzelas _______________________________________________________ horn instruments 3.    Vuvuzela-makers could mass-produce the instrument in the 1990’s. (by)     The instrument _______________________________________________________ Vuvuzela-makers. 4.    A referee’s whistle is loud at 122 decibels, but a vuvuzela is louder.  (as)      A referee’s whistle_________________________________________________ a vuvuzela. 5.    South African authorities started organizing these events and still continue doing so.  (been)      South African authorities ________________________________________ these events. 6.    “What are people saying about the vuvuzela?”, she wonders. (what)      She wonders  ______________________________________________ about the vuvuzela. 7.    “What are people saying about the vuvuzela?”, a reporter asked. (wanted)       A reporter  _______________________________________________ about the vuvuzela 8.       Africans started playing the vuvuzela at football events in the 90’s. (been) Africans ________________________________________________________  the 90’s. 9.    They have compared the vuvuzela with a swarm of angry drones.  (compared) The vuvuzela ________________________________________  a swarm of angry drones. 10.  He has sold 1.5 million vuvuzelas in Europe. (sold)  1.5 million vuvuzelas ________________________________________ in Europe.   11.     The vuvuzelas have raised controversy among players; however, FIFA will not ban them. (although)  FIFA will not ban the vuvuzelas________________________________________ from players.   12.     It is impossible for football players to concentrate with so much noise. (concentrate)  Football players ________________________________________ with so much noise.    13.     “Could a vuvuzela cause hearing loss?” (know)   I want ________________________________________________ cause hearing loss.    14.      The best thing you can do is wear some ear plugs.  (were)   If ________________________________________________  wear some ear plugs.
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