Worksheet
Answer Key
Dirty Money Sue Leather
Summary
Joe and Sandy have recently moved from a dirty,
noisy city in England to the small town of Murray
near Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. They
love the wild countryside – the beauty of the trees, the
mountains, the water and the birds ... and the silence.
Joe is working for the Murray Echo, one of two local
newspapers. Sandy works in the local hospital.
One day as they are admiring the view from their
new home, the silence is disturbed by a terrible noise.
Through his binoculars, Joe sees machines have started
work on the mountain nearby, cutting down trees and
digging a hole. He also sees a sign with the name Pan
Global on it. He goes to investigate and the driver
of one of the machines tells him they are mining for
diamonds. All Joe’s neighbours complain about the
disturbance and ask him to help by writing about it in
the newspaper.
At work the following Monday, Joe checks out
Pan Global on the Internet and phones its boss,
Karl Johnson, who tells him the same story as the
driver: they’re digging for diamonds. He also stresses
that there will be lots of jobs for people in Murray.
Joe starts to write an article about it, but his boss,
Cameron Grady, tells him to write about the tennis
tournament which is just starting instead.
Joe gets up at three o’clock next morning and drives
out to the mine. The hole is bigger now. A security
guard shouts at him, and he gets back into his car and
drives away; however, the guard follows and rams Joe’s
car in the back so that it crashes into the trees.
Joe wakes up in hospital with his wife at his side. He
decides to go to work to write about the mine. Grady
forbids him to write the story, telling him the same
thing as Johnson – it will create lots of jobs. This
arouses Joe’s suspicions even more.
Cambridge English Readers © Cambridge University Press 2009
Starter Level
That night he goes to the mine on foot, taking a rope
and a torch. He lowers himself down into the hole,
and walks. Eventually he comes to a white door
with the notice ‘Danger: Nuclear Material’ on it. He
realises they are digging a nuclear dump, and the
diamond mine is just a front. He is concerned about
the environment.
He goes to see Ed Bains, boss of the other Murray
newspaper, the Murray Daily. Bains asks him to
investigate the story, but asks how he feels about
writing for another newspaper. Joe says the
environmental issue is more important than his job.
Joe waits outside Grady’s house in disguise each night.
Finally, on Sunday Grady goes out. Joe follows him
to a bar called Milligans, where Grady meets Karl
Johnson and the mayor of Murray, Ken Reid. They
are clearly friends. Later, as the three men leave the
bar, Johnson gives the other two an envelope each. Joe
calls the police. Joe sees the mayor open his envelope
and start counting the money inside. Just then the
police arrive.
The story closes with Joe writing the headline for his
story, stating that the mayor and the newspaper boss
were getting $500,000 to keep quiet about the nuclear
dump. He sends the story to Ed Bains, who offers him
a job on his newspaper, which Joe accepts. Joe is left
enjoying the silence of the Canadian countryside.
Before reading
1. b
2. Possible answers: it’s about the countryside; it’s
about nature.
3. a Joe / Ed Bains / Cameron Grady, b Murray,
c boss and mayor
4. near Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada
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 Worksheet
Answer Key
Starter Level

Dirty Money Sue Leather

Check your reading
Chapters 8 and 9
Chapter 1
1. a T, b F, c T, d F, e F
1. c 2. Karl Johnson and Ken Reid
2. a beautiful, quiet, b small, dirty, noisy 3. a brown envelope
3. a Joe, b Joe, c Sandy, d the driver, e the driver 4. To call the police.
5. He opens it and starts counting the money.
Chapters 2 and 3

1. They feel angry. Chapter 10

2. They want Joe to write about it in the paper. 1. Joe is at home. Grady, Reid and Johnson are
3. Pan Global with the police.
4. Karl Johnson 2. c
5. the tennis tournament 3. a
4. a job at the Murray Daily
Chapters 4 and 5 5. Yes, he does.
6. He feels happy.
1. d, a, f, b, e, c
2. In hospital.
3. To work. After reading
4. To write about the mine.
1. The money paid by Karl Johnson, the boss of
5. ‘It’ is the mine; he says it’s ‘good’ because lots of
Pan Global, to Cameron Grady, boss of the
people from Murray can work there.
Murray Echo, and to Ken Reid, the mayor of
Murray, to keep quiet about the nuclear dump.
Chapters 6 and 7 2. b
1. He thinks he knows something is bad about 3. He goes into the mine twice. He follows Grady
the mine. to the bar.
2. To go down into the mine at night. 4. He’s a good person who wants to help people
3. A sign saying that it is a place for nuclear and places. He fights against wrong things.
5–8. Student’s own answers.
material.
4. A place where they put old nuclear material.
5. To see Ed Bains at the Murray Daily.
6. b

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