READING 2 Leggi il brano e correggi le affermazioni. The dark secrets of the Smugglers In the past centuries, Hastings, a nice, quiet seaside town in Sussex, was one of the centres of smuggling. To smuggle means to take something illegally from one country to another. In the 19th century, Joseph Golding, a 34-year-old greengrocer, accidentally discovered something important. To his surprise, while he was working in his garden, he found himself in a vast cavern, so he started to explore it. He discovered a labyrinth of underground caves, St Clement s Caves, in the heart of the West Hill of Hastings. These places concealed the secrets and the thrilling history of smugglers and outlaws. Here they hid tea, sugar, spices, pepper, salt, but also leather and jewellery, alcohol and tobacco. The caves have a rich history, they were not only places for smugglers. In fact, they were mines used for extracting sandstone, and, at the beginning of the 19th century, the troops of the Duke of Wellington (who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo) used them as a military hospital. During the Second World War, the caves were transformed into air raid shelters for 600 people. The caves became also an attraction for tourists: the first illustrious visitors were the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1864. If you go there now, you can find a sort of theme park, with a reconstruction of the smugglers world including 70 life-size figures, interactive displays, light and sound effects and a few surprises! There is also a mysterious side: people say that inexplicable events happened in the caves and that the deepest and coldest part is haunted. A legend says that ghosts live there! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hastings is a big, industrial town. ................................................................................................................................................................. Smuggling means hiding. ................................................................................................................................................................................... Joseph Golding was a famous smuggler. ............................................................................................................................................. The smugglers hid people in the caves. ................................................................................................................................................. The caves were also a gold mine. ............................................................................................................................................................... During the Second World War the caves were closed. ............................................................................................................... In the 19th century the Queen of England visited the caves. ............................................................................................... Now the caves are empty. .................................................................................................................................................................................. In the caves there is no electric light. ....................................................................................................................................................... You can see a ghost in the caves. ................................................................................................................................................................. USEFUL WORDS air raid shelter = rifugio anti-aereo; cave = caverna; to conceal= nascondere; to defeat = sconfiggere; greengrocer = fruttivendolo; haunted = infestato dai fantasmi; to hide (hid, hidden) = nascondere, nacondersi; inexplicable = inspiegabile; leather = cuoio; life-size= a grandezza naturale; mine = miniera; outlaw = fuorilegge; sandstone = arenaria; to smuggle = contrabbandare; spice = spezia; theme park = parco a tema. 46 week five