A famous novel says that without rules we turn on each other. This is the true story of six boys who were shipwrecked for fifteen months — and of the scientists who tested human honesty with 17,000 lost wallets.
Ten words and phrases in four activities. Say your answer out loud before you reveal it.
Three words: to intervene · cynical · to cooperate. Say the right one, then reveal.
Read each part. Then answer the quick questions from memory before you check. Then discuss the question.
In the 1950s, an English schoolteacher called William Golding wrote a novel about a group of British schoolboys who are stranded on an island with no adults. At first they try to organise themselves. But soon they stop looking after the fire, paint their faces, turn violent — and three children die. When a naval officer finally arrives, he says he would have thought that British boys could "put up a better show than that". The novel, Lord of the Flies, sold tens of millions of copies. For many readers, it showed the truth about human nature: take away the rules, and we become savages.
Many years later, a Dutch historian, Rutger Bregman, wondered whether real children had ever been in that situation. After a long search through old newspapers, he found a story from 1966. In June 1965, six Tongan boys, aged 13 to 16, had run away from their strict boarding school in the capital, Nuku'alofa. They "borrowed" a fishing boat without asking. That night a storm destroyed the sail and the rudder. They drifted for eight days with no food, sharing rainwater equally — one sip in the morning, one in the evening — until they reached a rocky, empty island called 'Ata.
They stayed there for fifteen months. And they did not turn on each other. They made a strict roster and worked in teams of two: garden, kitchen, guard duty. They kept a fire burning the whole time. When they argued, they separated to calm down. They began and ended each day with songs and prayers; one boy, Kolo, made a guitar from driftwood, half a coconut shell and wire from their wrecked boat. When Stephen fell from a cliff and broke his leg, the others carried him back up and set the leg with sticks and leaves.
On 11 September 1966, an Australian sea captain, Peter Warner, saw burned patches on the cliffs and a boy diving into the sea. The first boy to reach his boat shouted that his name was Stephen, that there were six of them, and that they thought they had been there for fifteen months. When Warner radioed the capital, the operator came back on the line in tears: the boys had been given up for dead, and funerals had been held. A doctor later said he was astonished by their strong bodies — and by Stephen's perfectly healed leg.
1. What happens to the boys in Golding's novel?
2. Give three things the real boys did to survive together.
1. They try to organise themselves, but soon they turn violent, and three children die.
2. Any three: they shared water equally, made a roster and worked in pairs, kept the fire burning, separated to calm down after arguments, sang and prayed, made a guitar, cared for Stephen's broken leg.
One story is not science. So how could you test human honesty on a big scale? Four researchers — Alain Cohn, Michel Maréchal, David Tannenbaum and Christian Zünd — had an idea: lose a lot of wallets.
Their research assistants visited 355 cities in 40 countries and handed in more than 17,000 "lost" wallets at banks, hotels, post offices, museums and police stations. Each wallet was a transparent card case containing three business cards with an email address, a shopping list and a key. Some contained no money. Others contained money worth about US$13. The assistant put the wallet on the counter and said, "Hi, I found this on the street around the corner. Somebody must have lost it. I'm in a hurry and have to go. Can you please take care of it?" — and left. Then the researchers waited to see who would email the owner.
Most people would expect fewer returns when there is money inside. The opposite happened. On average, 40 percent of the empty wallets were reported, but 51 percent of the wallets with money. This happened in 38 of the 40 countries. In the United States, the UK and Poland, the team also tried wallets with almost $95 inside. Then the rate climbed to 72 percent.
Before publishing the results in 2019, the researchers asked ordinary people and professional economists to predict them. Neither group got it right; many ordinary people predicted that more money would mean fewer returns. The researchers' explanation: people care about the owner — and most people don't want to see themselves as a thief. The more money there is, the more it feels like stealing.
1. What was inside the wallets — and what did the assistant say when handing one in?
2. What happened when there was more money in the wallet?
1. Three business cards, a shopping list, a key, and sometimes money. The assistant said they had found it, were in a hurry, and asked the person to take care of it.
2. More people reported it: 40% with no money, 51% with about $13, and 72% with about $95 in the three countries tested.
For fifty years, psychology students have learned about the "bystander effect": the idea that when many people see an emergency, each person feels less responsible, so nobody helps. The most famous example was the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York in 1964. The media reported that 38 bystanders watched for half an hour without helping — although later research has questioned that version of the story.
A team of researchers led by Richard Philpot at Lancaster University asked a different question. Never mind what one person does — if you are attacked in a public place, will anyone help you? To find out, they didn't use a laboratory. They used real footage from street security cameras.
They studied 219 real arguments and fights filmed in three cities: Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Lancaster in the UK and Cape Town in South Africa. In nine out of ten cases, at least one bystander did something to help — for example, by calming the attacker with a gesture, blocking contact between the people, pulling someone away, or comforting the victim. On average, almost four people intervened. The result was similar in all three cities, even though they feel very different in terms of safety.
And the more bystanders there were, the more likely it was that someone would help. The researchers, publishing their work in 2019, argued that it was time to change the story: help is not the exception in public conflicts. It is the norm.
1. What is the "bystander effect"?
2. What did the researchers find in the camera footage?
1. The idea that when many people see an emergency, each feels less responsible, so nobody helps.
2. In nine out of ten conflicts, at least one bystander helped — usually several. It was similar in all three cities, and more bystanders meant a greater chance of help.
This story is full of people reporting what others said: the officer in the novel, Stephen on the boat, the radio operator. When we report words later, the tenses and pronouns usually move.
Complete the reported sentence.
1. "My name is Stephen." → The boy said that his name Stephen.
2. "We have been here for fifteen months." → He said that they there for fifteen months.
3. "I will pay for the boat." → The captain said he for the boat.
4. "Can you take care of it?" → The assistant asked the receptionist care of it.
1. was 2. had been 3. would pay 4. to take
Present → past; present perfect → past perfect; will → would; requests: ask + person + to + verb.
Report each line from the story. Start with the words given.
1. "These boys have been given up for dead." (The operator said…)
2. "I'm in a hurry and have to go." (The research assistant said…)
3. "Will anyone help me?" (The researchers wanted to know…)
1. The operator said (that) the boys had been given up for dead.
2. The research assistant said (that) he / she was in a hurry and had to go.
3. The researchers wanted to know if / whether anyone would help.
Check: did you move the tenses back, change the pronouns, and use statement order for the question?
You'll use it again in the Speak tab — Task C asks you to report a conversation.
The events and numbers in this story are real, and come from the people who found them. But the question behind them — what are people really like? — is one of the oldest arguments there is.
Speak against the clock — and report what people said where it fits: He said that… · She asked if… · They told him to…
Retell the story in your own words. Use these steps: Golding's novel and the naval officer → Bregman's search → six boys and a stolen boat → eight days drifting → fifteen months on 'Ata → the roster, the fire, the guitar, the broken leg → Captain Warner and the radio → 17,000 wallets → 40%, 51%, 72% → the wrong predictions → the bystander effect → 219 camera recordings → nine out of ten.
Use at least four reported sentences and five key words (shipwrecked, bystander, selfish, cynical, cooperate, intervene, honest, roster, benefit of the doubt, judge a book by its cover).
First argue YES: use the Tongan boys, the wallets and the cameras. Then argue NO: think about history, crime, war, and the limits of each study. Finally, say what you really think — and what would change your mind.
Think of a time a stranger helped you — or you helped a stranger. Tell the story, and report the conversation: what did each person say and ask? Use said, told, asked if and asked … to. Then say what you think the other person would tell their friends about it.
Or choose one of these: