Exercise 2. Match the words on the left with their opposites on the right

Sixteen-year-old Peter Stone went free yesterday after admitting killing his father with a home-made knife.

He stepped in as his parents were arguing one night and stabbed him through the heart.

He told the police, 'He hit my Mum in the face. When I was younger he used to hit her and I could do nothing.'

But after his arrest the student said of his father, 'He always loved me.'

Stafford Crown Court was told that there had been a strong bond be­tween father and son, but this broke down as 49-year-old Leonard Stone tyrannized his wife for four years after loosing his job.

Stone, said to be 'quiet, well-spoken and non-violent' by police, is the youngest of six children.

His father became violent towards his 40-year-old wife Sylvia after loos­ing his lorry-driving job because of a drink-driving conviction nearly four years ago.

He became depressed and made several half-hearted suicide attempts — but always when someone was close by.

He frequently attacked his wife — although several months could go by without him raising his fists — and he spent periods in a psychiatric hospital.

Yesterday Peter Stone, from Walsall, was put on probation for three years after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Mr. Justice Kenneth Jones told him, 'You are on the threshold of your life. This is inevitably a burden you will have on your conscience and will have to carry over the years. I do under­stand the position in which you found yourself.

I accept your father was a difficult man. Any father must understand nothing is quite so insupportable in the eyes of a son as violence offered by a father to a mother.'

And the judge referred to his courage in admitting the offence, and said he was taking 'a perhaps exceptional course'.

He said, 'I do it because I have faith in you. I hope you will in the fu­ture do everything in your power to justify the faith I'm showing in you.

(From: The Evening Standard. — November 17, 1993)

Vocabulary

admit (v) — признавать; признаться

argue (v) — спорить

stab (v) — наносить удар ножом, вонзать; всадить нож в спину

hit (v) (hit, hit) — бить

a drink-driving conviction — признание факта вождения в нетрезвом

виде

convict (v) (of) — признать

suicide attempts — попытки самоубийства

to put on probation — условное освобождение на поруки

to plead guilty — признать виновным

manslaughter* — непредумышленное убийство

justify (v) —оправдывать, извинять, подтверждать

to justify the faith — оправдать доверие

acquit (v) — оправдывать в суде

E.g. They acquitted him when they found the police had been lying.

* synonyms: a crime of passion; unpremeditated crime;

* antonym: a premeditated crime;

/. Circle a), b) or c) to answer the question.

1. What cold steel did Peter Stone use to kill his father?

a) a home-made knife;

b) a stick;

c) a sward.

2. Did Peter Stone get on well with his father?

a) Yes, they loved each other;

b) No, they hated each other;

c) They were very friendly four years ago, but Leonard Stone's vio­lence broke that friendship.

3. When did Peter Stone's father become violent towards his wife
Sylvia?

a) 10 years ago;

b) 4 years ago;

c) a year ago.

4. Was Peter imprisoned?

a) Yes, he was;

b) No, he escaped;

c) No, he was put on probation.

5. Did Justice Kenneth Jones sympathize with the defendant?

a) Yes, he had faith in the boy;

b) No, he was hostile;

c) He was indifferent.

//. Read the text again and say what made Peter Stone kill his father: