Kill your phone

Transcript:

Smartphones are everywhere, but they're easy pickings for criminals.

Here in San Francisco, high-end handsets are specifically targeted in more than half of all robberies.

Now, a new law means that smartphones in California will be required to have a "kill switch" which will make them useless if lost or stolen.

At the touch of a button, all the data on the phone is erased.

It's hoped this will help deter thieves, though some think the law will create other problems.

Vocabulary:

easy pickings things you get without working hard

high-end (of technology) more expensive and advanced than other products

robberies crimes of stealing from people by force

at the touch of a button very quickly and easily (used to describe things done using computers or technology)

deter make someone decide not to do something

Exercise:

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from news reports. Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

easy pickings / high-end / robberies / at the touch of a button / deter

1. "Chocolate was so expensive, it was really _________, nobody could afford it, at least in Italy," says Giovanni Ferrero.

2. "Thieves love Christmas. They know that there are plenty of _________ to be had this time of year," said Malcolm Tarling, from the ABI.

3. A flat-screen TV can be transformed into a curved-screen TV _________.

4. Rain failed to _________ people on a 16 mile march in Nottinghamshire to mark the centenary of World War One.

5. She lives with her family in a semi-rural location just outside Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, where violent _________ are a constant source of fear.

Answers:

1. "Chocolate was so expensive, it was really high-end, nobody could afford it, at least in Italy," says Giovanni Ferrero.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: Nutella: <link type="page"><caption> How the world went nuts for a hazelnut spread</caption><url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27438001" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>

2. "Thieves love Christmas. They know that there are plenty of easy pickings to be had this time of year," said Malcolm Tarling, from the ABI.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: <link type="page"><caption> Christmas gift warning from insurers</caption><url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20663987" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>

3. A flat-screen TV can be transformed into a curved-screen TV at the touch of a button.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: <link type="page"><caption> CES 2104: Director loses direction as teleprompter fails</caption><url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25631183" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>

4. Rain failed to deter people on a 16 mile march in Nottinghamshire to mark the centenary of World War One.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: <link type="page"><caption> World War One march recreated in Newark</caption><url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-28732732" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>

5. She lives with her family in a semi-rural location just outside Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, where violent robberies are a constant source of fear.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: <link type="page"><caption> South Africa's 'born-free' generation</caption><url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27146976" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>