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--- lesson 43 Fully insured |
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--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below. |
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--- Who owned the pie dish and why? |
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Insurance companies are normally willing to insure anything. |
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Insuring public or private property is a standard practice in most countries in the world. |
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If, however, you were holding an open air garden party or a fete it would be equally possible to insure yourself in the event of bad weather. |
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Needless to say, the bigger the risk an insurance company takes, the higher the premium you will have to pay. |
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It is not uncommon to hear that a shipping company has made a claim for the cost of salvaging a sunken ship. |
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|
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Admittedly it was an unusual pie dish, for it was eighteen feet long and six feet wide. |
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It had been purchased by a local authority so that an enormous pie could be baked for an annual fair. |
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The pie committee decided that the best way to transport the dish would be by canal, so they insured it for the trip. |
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Shortly after it was launched, the pie committee went to a local inn to celebrate. |
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At the same time, a number of teenagers climbed on to the dish and held a little party of their own. |
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Dancing proved to be more than the dish could bear, for during the party it capsized and sank in seven feet of water. |
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The pie committee telephoned a local garage owner who arrived in a recovery truck to salvage the pie dish. |
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Shivering in their wet clothes, the teenagers looked on while three men dived repeatedly into the water to locate the dish. |
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They had little difficulty in finding it, but hauling it out of the water proved to be a serious problem. |
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The sides of the dish were so smooth that it was almost impossible to attach hawsers and chains to the rim without damaging it. |
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Eventually chains were fixed to one end of the dish and a powerful winch was put into operation. |
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The dish rose to the surface and was gently drawn towards the canal bank. |
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For one agonizing moment, the dish was perched precariously on the bank of the canal, |
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but it suddenly overbalanced and slid back into the water. |
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The men were now obliged to try once more. |
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This time they fixed heavy metal clamps to both sides of the dish so that they could fasten the chains. |
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The dish now had to be lifted vertically because one edge was resting against the side of the canal. |
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The winch was again put into operation and one of the men started up the truck. |
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Several minutes later, the dish was successfully hauled above the surface of the water. |
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Water streamed in torrents over its sides with such force that it set up a huge wave in the canal. |
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There was a danger that the wave would rebound off the other side of the bank and send the dish plunging into the water again. |
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By working at tremendous speed, the men managed to get the dish on to dry land before the wave returned. |