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Avalanche! – Dictionary Skills

Read a news story about a dramatic rescue, then practise using a dictionary to find the right German meanings.

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Reading Read the news story about four climbers in Scotland.
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Ex 1 – Dictionary Entry Use a dictionary entry to find the right German words.
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Ex 2a – Underlined Words Find German meanings for words from the text.
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Ex 2b – New Contexts Find new meanings for the same words.
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Reading

Avalanche hits rock climbers

Read the news article carefully. Pay attention to the underlined words — you will need them later.

Internet
Ben Nevis, Scottish Highlands
Mountain rescue team
🗺️ Scotland
Ben Nevis (1,345 m)

Map of Scotland

Avalanche hits rock climbers
10:35 published Monday 8th January

Four rock climbers who set off an avalanche in the Scottish Highlands on Sunday 7th January were very lucky to escape with their lives.

The four young men, all from London, were climbing Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK. At about 2 p.m. a huge wave of snow swept them 300 metres down the mountain.

In an interview later that day one of the men said, "I fell for a very long time. I didn't believe that I would survive. My friends and I, we all had safety equipment like red coats and red helmets. But still we were really lucky to walk out. It was a very scary adventure. The rescue helicopter had already started to look for us. It took us to hospital, but we were all OK. Only one of my friends had a twisted ankle."

Next year, the climbers will climb the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc.

Exercise 1

Look at the dictionary entry.

Use the entry for 'hit' to find the right German word(s) for each sentence below.

💡 How to use a dictionary entry
  • The words in a dictionary are in groups or 'entries'. Each entry has a root word. Look for the root word first.
  • The letters in brackets [ ] tell you how to say the word.
  • Look for the letters n, vt, vi, adj — these tell you if the word is a noun, verb or adjective.
  • Numbers like ① ② show that a word has more than one meaning.
  • Words in italics in brackets — like (shoot) — help you find the right meaning.
  • Phrases marked with ♦ show useful expressions with the word.
hit [hɪt] I. n ① Schlag m ② (shot) Treffer m; to suffer a direct ~ direkt getroffen werden ③ (success) Hit m; to be a [big] ~ with sb bei jdm gut ankommen ④ INET Besuch m einer Webseite ⑤ COMPUT (match) Treffer m II. vt <-tt-, hit, hit> ① schlagen ② button drücken ③ (collide) to ~ sth gegen etw akk stoßen; car gegen etw akk krachen ④ (shoot) to be ~ getroffen werden ⑤ (occur) to ~ sb jdm auffallen III. vi to ~ hard kräftig zuschlagen; to ~ at sb nach jdm schlagen ② (attack) to ~ at sb jdn attackieren ♦ hit back vi zurückschlagen; to ~ back at sb jdm Kontra geben ♦ hit it off vt to ~ it off [with sb] [fam] sich prächtig [mit jdm] verstehen
Find the German word(s) for 'hit' in each sentence.

Look at the meaning of 'hit' in each sentence, then find the correct German translation in the entry above.

1
The avalanche hit the climbers.
2
The car hit a tree.
3
The musical Cats is a real hit.
4
The boy hit the ball very hard.
5
There were 143 hits for this search.
Exercise 2a

Work with a dictionary.

Find the right German meaning for the underlined words in the avalanche text. Use an English–German dictionary.

💡 Remember You can also use online dictionaries (e.g. dict.cc or leo.org). But be careful — don't just take the first meaning you find. It's always good to double-check the translation you choose in a German–English dictionary.
Underlined words from the text — find the German meanings

Think about how the word is used in the text to find the right meaning.

1
"…very lucky to escape with their lives."
2
"The four young men were climbing Ben Nevis…"
3
"…a huge wave of snow swept them down…"
4
"…a huge wave of snow swept them 300 metres down…"
5
"The rescue helicopter had already started to look for us."
6
"Next year, the climbers will climb Mont Blanc."
Exercise 2b

What do the same words mean here?

The same words from the text appear in new sentences. Find the correct German meaning for how they are used here.

💡 Scaffolding tip The underlined word is the same as in the article — but the meaning may be different! Always look at the context (the words around it) to find the right meaning. Check more than one entry in the dictionary if needed.
Find the German meaning in each new context.
1
The man waved wildly from the window.
2
A tornado swept through the town.
3
Can I have a look at that magazine?
4
The man escaped from prison in the night.
5
The plane went into a steep climb.
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