1. ENGLISH 3 LISTENING
CHARLES DARWIN, CHILDHOOD
CHARLES DARWIN
CHILDHOOD
FROM : GREAT BRITONS, BBC, 2002
Life for Darwin ……………….. (A1 start) in Shrewsbury in England where he was (B1) born into a family of
poets, inventors and doctors, open-minded people who ……………….. (A2 hate) superstition and slavery. Darwin
was (B2) baptised on 17 February 1809 at X Church. ‘My people ……………….. (A3 be) destroyed through lack
of knowledge was (B3) the text the vicar ……………….. (A4 choose) for that Sunday song. It was (B4) a
well-off household. His mother Susannah ……………….. (A5 be) the daughter of pottery manufacturers, the
Wedgwoods, you may have heard of them, and his father Robert was (B5) a wealthy doctor. It is said that Robert
……………….. (A6 own) three quarters of Shrewsbury and knew (B6) the deepest medical secrets of the rest.
Charles ……………….. (A7 be) a quiet, dreamy child but from the beginning he was (B7) a passionate collector,
anything really, pebbles, plants, insects, birds eggs, even the wax seals of letters. He ……………….. (A8 ramble)
and fished (B8) and ……………….. (A9 set up) a chemistry lab to do experiments with his older brother. It
was (B9) a passion at the time, investigating matter, stuff, what things ……………….. (A10 be) made of. He was
(B10) sent to school first with the local minister and then on to board at Shrewsbury School. He ………………..
(A11 hate) it there, crowded, smelly and brutal and a diet of Latin and Greek hammered into the boys brought
(B11) him to tears. He ……………….. (A12 escape) as often as possible, running across the fields to spend a few
precious hours at home. He was (B12) first and always a child of our countryside. And what Charles Darwin
……………….. (A13 like) doing most was (B13) killing things. Shooting and hunting ……………….. (A14
be) his passion. As he grew (B14) his father ……………….. (A15 fear) he was (B15) growing wild. ‘You
care for nothing but dogs, shooting and rat catching. You will be a disgrace to yourself and your family.’ So, he
……………….. (A16 take) him out of school two years early and sent (B16) him to Edinburgh to become a
doctor.