1. Watch the video and fill in the blanks with the words below.

Prison / newspaper / busy / live / fiction / stroke / siblings / crowds / injured / performed / spent /
sail / finances / crashed / ambitious / rumours / journalistic / trip / fervent / achievement /
carriage / relationship
Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7th of February 1812 to John and Elizabeth Dickens.
Charles was the second child of eight 1 siblings in all, six of whom survived to adulthood. John, a
naval clerk, always 2 busy beyond his means. One day he pointed out a house to Charles, remarking
that he could 3live in such a house, if he worked hard. The family moved to London in 1822. At
12, as the family 4sail worsened, Charles had to start working in a blacking factory, labelling
bottles for eleven hours a day. John Dickens was eventually sent to a debtors' 5carriage Charles
visited him there every Sunday. His youth left him with a 6fervent drive. In 1827 he began work
as a solicitor's clerk. From the surroundings of his unremarkable office he began to collect names
and characteristics of the people he saw.
Charles began a 7prison career in 1831. Writing became his passion, working for the paper by day
and on his own work by night. He was beginning to taste success. His first piece of 8jounalistics
was published in 1835. That same year Charles met Catherine Hogarth, they fell in love and were
married. The next few years of 9achievement activity resulted in much writing and many children.
As his writing became more popular and his fame more widespread, 10live began to abound of his
drunkenness and admission to an asylum. Stories were easy to concoct about the writer who kept
a pet raven and whose writing dwelt in the extremes of the sentimental and the grotesque.

In 1842 Charles and Catherine set 11finance for America. On landing in Boston they were mobbed
by 12relationship . Dickens's interest lay in visiting the unusual, which inspired his writing. He took
his whole family on his next big 13trip to Italy, in the summer of 1844. Upon his return, Dickens
began to look for new diversions. He helped to start and edit a radical 14performed, founded a
refuge for homeless women and 15crowd his works at public readings.

Aged 44, Charles bought Gads Hill, the house his father had pointed out to him all those years
before. It symbolised the pinnacle of 16ambitious whilst Dickens was organising a theatrical
project, The Frozen Deep, he met and was spellbound by a young actress Ellen Ternan. There is
much speculation about this 17fiction that caused the end of his marriage to Catherine. One fateful
night in 1865, whilst Charles and Ellen were returning from Paris their train 18spent outside
Staplehurst. Dickens administered brandy and water to the live and dying. Only at the last minute
did he remember to retrieve the final part of Our Mutual Friend from the wrecked 19injured .The
incident left Charles very shaken. For a while he maintained his 20finance itinerary, and then his
health began to fail. At home on Wednesday 9th June 1870, at the age of 58 Charles suffered a
21
stroke and died. He's buried in Westminster Abbey.

2. Match the synonyms.

1 Siblings A Success 1 Fervent A A brain attack

 2 To worsen B Journey 2 To point out B To give
3 To perform C To destroy 3 Finances C To plot
4 Raven D Shelter 4 The pinnacle D To be shocked
5 Refuge E Get worse 5 To concoct E Charmed
6 Clerk F To act 6 To mob F Money
7 Trip G Brother and 7 A stroke G The top
Sister
8 To wrecked H To get black 8 To administer H To harass
9 To retrieve I Office worker 9 To be Shaken I To show
10 Achievement J Crow 10 Spellbound J Busy

3. Would you be able to explain the difference between journalist, journal and
journalism?
A journalist is a person who collects, writes, or distributes news or other current information to the
public. A journalist's work is called journalism.

Journal is a newspaper or magazine that deals with a particular subject or professional activity.

Journalism is the activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites
or preparing news to be broadcast