Surviving with wolves

This is the story of Misha Defonseca, a Belgian Jewish* girl, who was adopted not once, but twice, by wild wolves. She broke her silence after nearly 60 years, and says that her tale is true...

It started in the autumn of 1941, when Misha was seven years old. It was the time of the Second World War and Jewish people were being arrested and taken away by the Nazis. One day Misha's own parents were taken away. She lived with another family, but wanted to find her mother and father again. So, after six months, she packed a small bag and ran away.

Misha started her trip to Germany. She remembered from a school atlas that it was near Belgium. Afraid of being caught, she followed lonely forest paths instead of busy roads. At night, she slept in deserted buildings, or in the woods.

She begged or stole food to survive. If Misha was passing through a village, she waited for church bells to ring. When the people left their homes she would go inside and take some bread and cheese. When she couldn't beg or steal, she ate wild berries, seeds and insects.

One day, a farmer hit her with a stone when she was running away with some stolen food. Misha escaped to a forest. She was crying with pain when a big grey wolf approached. The wolf sniffed* her, and went away, but it came back. A few nights later, the she-wolf came up to the girl and slept next to her... The two shared food and walked in the forest together. Then, a hunter killed the wolf. Misha was very sad and alone again.

Soon afterwards, she had another meeting with wolves. Some wolf-cubs* were playing on a rock and Misha came near, delighted. She stayed with this wolf- family sharing food and shelter with them. After a while, she moved on... Sadly, she never found her parents. Eventually, she returned to Belgium where she was adopted and went to school.

Today, Misha Defonseca is living happily in the US with her husband, two dogs and 23 cats. Her book, Surviving with Wolves, was published in 1997. Every week Misha visits the wolves in her local zoo...

2. The author describes Misha's first meeting with wolves. Find this extract and read it aloud.

3. What made Misha run away and go to Germany?

4. Why did Misha avoid busy roads while going to Germany?

№56

1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

The most difficult language?

People often ask which language is the most difficult to learn, and it is not easy to answer because there are many factors to take into consideration.

A native speaker of Spanish, for example, will find Portuguese much easier to learn than a native speaker of Chinese because Portuguese is very similar to Spanish, while Chinese is very different. The greater the differences between the second language and our first one, the harder it will be for most people to learn.

Many people answer that Chinese is the hardest language to learn possibly influenced by the thought of learning the Chinese writing system. The pronunciation of Chinese appears to be very difficult for many foreign learners, too. However, for Japanese speakers, who already use Chinese characters in their own language, learning this language will be less difficult than for speakers of languages using the Roman alphabet.

Some people seem to learn languages readily, while others find it very difficult. Teachers and the circumstances in which the language is learned also play an important role, as well as each learner's motivation for learning. If people learn a language because they need to use it professionally, they often learn it faster than people studying a language that has no direct use in their day-to-day life.

British diplomats and other embassy staff have found that the second hardest language is Japanese, which will probably come as no surprise to many. But the language that they have found to be the most problematic is Hungarian, which has 35 grammatical cases.

Different cultures and individuals from those cultures will find different languages more difficult. In the case of Hungarian for British learners, it is not a question of the writing system, which uses a similar alphabet, but the grammatical complexity, though native speakers of related languages may find it easier.

2. The author explains why people find Chinese a very difficult language to learn. Find this extract and read it aloud.

3. What factors play an important role in learning a language?

4. Why do British diplomats find it difficult to learn Hungarian?

№57

1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.