Chemical Secret

Chemical Secret
Before Reading
TALKING ABOUT THE COVER

• Where is the person in the picture working? (in a
laboratory)
• What secrets might there be in a laboratory?
(commercial secrets or secrets about the dangers of
a chemical)
• Could a ‘chemical secret’ be something good or
only something bad?
• Why do people or businesses keep secrets of this
kind?

3 Why . . .? Because hestarted a boat-building
business with his wife.
4 What . . .? She died in a storm in a sailing race.
5 Why . . .? To make sure that everything in the
factory was safe / to tell the government that it was
safe to work there and safe to have a paint factory
near the town.
6 How . . .? He disliked him because Wilson made
him feel uncomfortable and seemed to enjoy making
people feel small.
7How . . .? Two years.
8 Why . . .? Because her father had never had enough
money to pay for it.
CHAPTERS 3 AND 4 WHILE READING

BEFORE READING ACTIVITIES (PAGE 60)
ACTIVITY 1 BEFORE READING

Encourage students to speculate. Right answers do not
matter at this stage but the ‘yes’ answers are probably
2, 4, and 5.
ACTIVITY 2 BEFORE READING

Encourage students to speculate but do not tellthem
the answers.
1 John Duncan doesn’t tell the truth about his job.
2 The chemical factory kills some animals.
3 John Duncan loses his job at the chemical factory.
4 By the end of the story John Duncan is a poor man.
ACTIVITY 3 BEFORE READING

Encourage students to think about different types of
guilt, in order to prepare them for thinking about John
Duncan at the end of the story – ishe guilty, and if so,
what is he guilty of?
Some ideas for the discussion:
• The man who kills his wife’s lover (or woman who
kills her husband’s lover) is guilty of deliberate
intentional murder, but has the excuse of being
provoked.
• The drunk driver is not guilty of deliberate murder,
but the death of the victim is equally tragic.
• The person who knows the name of a murderer haskilled no one directly, but shares in the guilt of the
murder and may be putting other victims at risk by
keeping silent.

While Reading

1 The company had brought four hundred new jobs to
the town.
2 The waste products from the factory went into the
river.
3 The factory was two kilometres from the sea.
4 The town’s drinking water came from the river five
kilometres upstream.
5 John hadspilt some of the waste products on his
leg, but was not very worried about it.
6 John bought a boat for his children.
7 When Mary came to dinner, the evening went badly.
8 Everybody enjoyed watching the seals on the
sandbank.
CHAPTERS 5 AND 6 WHILE READING

Several experiments were done on rats to test the
waste products which are produced by the factory.
These chemicals are dilutedand on most days less
than two parts per million go into the river. Two
groups of mother rats were given drinking water which
contained the waste products: the first group had five
parts per million; the second group had two parts per
million. When the baby rats were born, in the first
group some had no eyes, some had no ears, and some
had six legs. In the second group some were born
withoutlegs.
These results show that it is not safe to put these
chemicals in the river. The company must build
machines to clean up the waste products before they
leave the factory.
BEFORE READING CHAPTER 7

Encourage speculation. The one ‘yes’ answer is
number 5.

CHAPTERS 1 AND 2 WHILE READING

1 How . . .? Forty-five.
2 What . . .? Biology and boats.

OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY S TAGE 3© OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

CHEMICAL SECRET

ACTIVITIES ANSWERS

STAGE 3

ACTIVITY 2 AFTER READING

3+8

ACTIVITIES ANSWERS

CHAPTERS 7 TO 10 WHILE READING

Students may come up with their own ideas during
discussion, but here are some suggestions:
John Duncan was a good father because . . .
• he liked to talk to his children.
• he looked after his children when their...