Straightforward Pre-intermediate

Straightforward Pre-intermediate

TIDY YOUR ROOM NOW!

As a psychologist, my view on teenagers’ bedrooms is quite straightforward. Personal space is very important in adolescence and privacy should be respected. If a teenager has his or her own room, then this space is for that teenager to arrange as he or she wishes. On no account should parents be temptedto tidy a teenager’s room. If arguments arise, patience and understanding are required on both sides.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. Let’s take the example of a typical English teenager called Tim. He and his Mum fell out about the untidy state of his room because they were looking at the problem from two completely different points of view. This is what Tim had to say:

Bedrooms are incredibly important when you’re a teenager. Everyone needs space, but at that time you need it most of all. I don’t mind Mum coming into my room as long as she knocks. The problem is that she goes round looking for things to put away and saying things like “Tidy room, tidy mind”. I tell her I don’t want tidy mind. She thinks it’s strange that although I’m hoping to study Interior Design at college, I don’t seem to bother about my own room at home. But what she fails to understand is that I like the mess. It’s interesting watching it grow, because it’s full of shapes and patterns. I like my Mum, but when she goes on at me about tidying my room, I just get more determined not to do anything about it. My advice to parents would be to leave their teenagers’ rooms till they are so bad that it’s impossible to walk in. Then the kids will have to tidy up.

And of course, Tim is right. In my experience, teenagers left to live in their own mess will eventually reach the stage where they clean it up. We have to remember that this is an important period of experimentation for them and they need to make their own decisions about things. Parents’ anxiety never solves anything during this period and it can actually have the effect of making things worse. This is what Tim’s Mum had to say:

I encouraged Tim to clean up after himself when he was young and he was happy to do it then. But he got older, he simply started to refuse. His room became a complete tip. He had lots of expensive designer clothes all thrown on the floor, along with waste paper, empty cans and leftovers of food he’d taken up there secretly. When I started being more insistent, I was very shocked by Tim’s response. He isn’t normally very rebellious but he just exploded, saying it was none of my business what he did in his room. When I tried to tidy it up myself, he just hit the roof, insisting that he wanted it like it was. After this, my husband, who is also horribly untidy, had a man-to-man chat with Tim about it. He didn’t get very far but he got a better reaction than me, which was irritating.

Things are better now for Tim and his Mum, although this is still not a subject which they can laugh about. Tim is just as messy, and still doesn’t want his Mum cleaning his room. She, however, came to realize that it was better not to interfere and so she has ignored the problem for the last six months. Tim, meanwhile, has taken to cleaning his own room once a week. His Mum daren’t ask him why or say how pleased she is in case he stops. Although it seemed like a big problem at the time, it looks like Tim and his Mum have found a solution.

Assignments:

1. Which of these statements are true? Correct any false statements.

1. If a teenager has a room of his or her own, this space should be arranged as he or she wishes.

2. It is a parent’s duty to tidy a teenager’s room patiently.

3. Tim gets annoyed when his mother comes into his room because she doesn’t knock before entering.

4. Tim’s mother doesn’t realize that he likes the mess in the room.

5. Tim’s room is tidier now because his Mum has not talked to him for the last six months.

2. Find a word in the text that means the same as the words and phrases below:

a) youth;

b) having a strong desire to do something;

c) ability to stay calm and not get annoyed;

d) dirty or untidy;

e) fashionable.

3. A. Suggest 5 words/phrases from the text that could be used as clues for you to retell the text.

B. Put 5 questions to the text using the key words/phrases from the text.

Give a gist of the text (Keep to a limit of 8-10 sentences).

5. Relate the information from the text you have read to your own experience and knowledge:

1. Do you have your own private space at home?

2. How do you/would you arrange it to feel yourself comfortable?

3. Do your parents interfere in your privacy?

Tidy your room now!

KEY

1. 1. T

2. F If a teenager has his or her own room, then this space is for that teenager to arrange as he or she wishes. On no account should parents be temptedto tidy a teenager’s room.

3. F I don’t mind Mum coming into my room as long as she knocks. The problem is that she goes round looking for things to put away and saying things like “Tidy room, tidy mind”.

4. T

5. F Tim is just as messy, and still doesn’t want his Mum cleaning his room.

2. a) teenager;

b) be tempted;

c) patience;

d) messy;

e) designer.

3. A. Suggested answers (other answers may be equally acceptable).

1. teenagers’ bedrooms / privacy

2. problem / different points of view

3. space / tidy / mess

4. period of experimentation

5. solution

Topic: The School Education in Great Britain (Unit 2)

Straightforward Pre-Intermediate

THE SCHOOL EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN

The aim of education in general is to develop to the full the talents of both children and adults for their own benefit and that of society as a whole. It is a large-scale investment in the future. The educational system of Great Britain has developed for over a hundred years. It is a complicated system with wide variations between one part of the country and another.

Education in Britain is compulsory for all children between the ages of 5-16.

School-children attend a primary school for 6 years. When students transfer to Secondary School at the age of 11, they do not take any examination, but their reports are sent on from the Primary School.

Secondary School. Most children go to a comprehensive school. “Comprehensive” means all-inclusive. They admit pupils of all abilities. But there are also “grammar schools” and “secondary-modern schools”. The pupils have to pass an exam to go there. Grammar school is a school for children over the age of 11, who are specially chosen to study for examinations which may lead to higher education. Secondary-modern school is a school for children over the age of 11, who are not expected to go on to higher study later. All types of secondary schools have the 5-year courses for pupils from 11 years up to the school leaving age.

Pupils in all state schools in England and Wales study 10 main subjects. They are Core subjects: English, mathematics, science and Foundation subjects: history, geography, a modern language, (art, craft and design), music, information technology, physical education. Religious education is also taught. Attainment tests are given at the ages of 7, 11 and 14, 16. At the end of a 5-year course, at the age of 16, students sit the General Certificate of Secondary Education exams in as many subjects as possible. At the age of 16 about two-thirds of these pupils leave school and get job or apprenticeships. About one-third stays on at school until the age of 18, preparing themselves for higher education.

More ambitious pupils continue to study in the 6th form. They stay at school for one or two years to prepare themselves for university. They have only three or four main subjects which are necessary to pass to advanced level exams at the age of 18.

All kinds of out-of-class activities are part of school life in Britain. Students have a lot of opportunities for playing sports, attending different clubs and singing in a choir.

Assignments:

1. Which of these statements are true? Correct any false statements.

1. The educational system in Great Britain started to develop 90 years ago.

2. While transferring to Secondary school children have to pass a special exam.

3. To go to a “grammar school” or a “secondary-modern school” a pupil doesn’t have to pass an exam.

4. Physical education is one of the 10 main subjects in all state schools in England and Wales.

5. All the pupils continue to study in the 6th form.

2. Find a word in the text that means the same as the words and phrases below:

a) advantage or sake;

b) required by regulations or laws; obligatory;

c) having a strong desire for success or achievement;

d) something that differs;

e) an organized group of singers.

3. A. Suggest 5 words/phrases from the text that could be used as clues for you to retell the text.

B. Put 5 questions to the text using the words/phrases you have chosen.

Give the gist of the text (Keep to a limit of 8-10 sentences).

5. Relate the information from the text you have read to your own experience and knowledge:

1. Where the educational system is better in Britain or in Ukraine?

2. What would you change in Ukrainian educational system?

3. What are the best / worst memories about your school days?

The School Education in Great Britain

KEY

1. 1. F The educational system of Great Britain has developed for over a hundred years.

2. F When students transfer to Secondary School at the age of 11, they do not take any examination.

3. F There are also “grammar schools” and “secondary-modern schools”. The pupils have to pass an exam to go there.

4. T

5. F More ambitious pupils continue to study in the 6th form.

2. a) benefit;

b) compulsory;

c) ambitious;

d) variation;

e) choir.

3. A. Suggested answers (other answers may be equally acceptable):

1.aim of education / complicated system

2. primary school

3. types of secondary schools / comprehensive school / grammar schools

4. main subjects / General Certificate / exams

5. to prepare for university / out-of-class activities

Topic: Working Day at School (Unit 2/7)

Straightforward Pre-intermediate

Mr. STROUD’S WORKING DAY

Mike Stroud’s school is situated a half-hour’s drive away from his home. It is a comprehensive school and all the pupils live near to it in its catchment area. The pupils there are aged between eleven and eighteen. Every day Mike gets up at six-thirty in the morning. The reason for this early start is that he is in training for the London Marathon. Every day he jogs round the park near his home. Then he goes home for a shower and breakfast before driving to work. He needs to be at school by half past eight.

Mike is in charge of a class as well as being a foreign languages teacher. He takes the register for a first year class and looks after them if they have any worries. Registration is at ten to nine and often they have an assembly, either with the other first year classes or with the whole school. Sometimes Mike leads an assembly himself. He always has a funny story, a reading from the Bible and a number of his favourite hymns close at hand in case he is asked to lead unexpectedly.

After the assembly the lessons begin. Mike teaches every year in the school. This means that he discusses Brecht’s play with the oldest pupils in one lesson and teaches first years very simple sentences in French in the next.

Some of his periods are free. He marks homework and prepares lessons. In the morning and afternoon breaks and at lunch-times Mike is either busy with his work or socializing with the other teachers in the staff room. This is a welcome break for him. He can have a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy a conversation over a sandwich. The teachers often discuss their pupils. In fact, the staff room is a real centre for gossip. Some of the teachers are close friends. Others find it difficult to get on with each other. It is a big school and there are many members of the staff.

The school day finishes at twenty-past three. Sometimes Mike is on bus duty. He keeps the pupils orderly as they queue for the bus home. Mike hates such times. He is always glad to get back home and put his feet up for half an hour. Then he starts on all the work he has to mark.

Assignments:

1. Which of these statements are true? Correct any false statements.

1. Mike Stroud never has breakfast to be fit to win the London Marathon.

2. Every morning Mike Stroud walks round the park near his home.

3. Mike Stroud is promoted to be director of the school therefore he leads the school assemblies.

4. Mike Stroud goes home when he has free periods.

5. Some of the teachers intrigue against others.

2. Find a word in the text that means the same as the words and phrases below:

a) to run for the purpose of keeping fit;

b) to be responsible for sth (phr. verb);

c) meeting;

d) to agree with somebody; to be on good terms with somebody (phr. verb);

e) to wait (in) line, to form line while waiting.

3. A. Suggest 5 words/phrases from the text that could be used as clues for you to retell the text.

B. Put 5 questions to the text using the words/phrases you have chosen.

Give the gist of the text (Keep a limit of 8-10 sentences).

5. Relate the information from the text you have read to your own experience and knowledge:

1. Give a brief story of your schooldays / university days.

2. Do you think the profession of a schoolteacher is prestigious? Why yes/not?

3. Do you want to be a lecturer at your University? Why yes/not?

Mr. Stroud’s working day

KEY

1. 1. F. Mike Stroud always has breakfast.

2. F. Every morning Mike Stroud jogs round the park.

3. F. Leading of the school assemblies doesn’t relate to Mike Stroud’s career.

4. F. Mike Stroud doesn’t go home in his free periods.

5. T. Some of the teachers find it difficult to get on with each other, staff room is a real centre for gossip.

2. a) to jog;

b) to be in charge of;

c) assembly;

d) to get on (with sb);

e) to queue.

3. A. Suggested answers (other answers may be equally acceptable):

1. Mike’s morning / jogging / shower / breakfast

2. in charge of a class / foreign languages teacher / leading an assembly

3. lessons / simple sentences in French / Brecht’s play discussing

4. free periods / staff room / members of the staff

5. Bus duty / to get back home

Topic: Home (Unit 3)

Straightforward Pre-intermediate

WHERE HOME IS

Fouad sits in the café that looks out over Jaffa Street listening to the sad, sad music playing on an old tape recorder. “Oum Khalsoum”, says one of the other men sitting in the café to nobody in particular. “This is Oum Khalsoum singing”.

Fouad takes another sip of sweet mint tea and nods in agreement without saying anything. Fouad’s uncle lives in Egypt, and every time Fouad visits him, he tells Fouad the story of how he saw the legendary singer at one of her concerts in Cairo in 1970, not long before she died. The song seems to go on forever, and it’s very sad. Fouad thinks it’s beautiful, but he doesn’t want to hear it now. It’s too sad for him. It makes him think of his uncle in Egypt who he hasn’t seen for many years now, and also about the reason why his uncle lives in Egypt while his aunt lived in Lebanon and why he, on the other hand, lives in Jordan, and why he is in Jerusalem now.

Fouad’s father had died a few months ago. After that, Fouad found that there were so many things that he had wanted to ask his father, but had never asked. He realised that he knew very little about his own family, and decided to try and find out more about the place where his father had grown up, and where his grandparents (who had died when he was very young) were from.

He has now spent a couple of days wandering around Jerusalem with an old, torn photograph in his hand. The photograph shows the whole family, his grandparents standing proudly at the centre of a group of four children in front of a house on a busy street. Next to the house there seems to be a garden with what look like cedar or olive trees in it.

Fouad, though, can’t find anywhere in this modern Jerusalem that looks much like the street or the house where the photograph was taken. He feels sadder than the sad song playing in the café, thinking now that he might never find the place where his father had been born and the place where his grandparents had lived until they moved away in 1947.

At first they had gone to Lebanon, then to Jordan and finally to Egypt, always staying with some distant relatives or old friends, trying to find work and a place to live. They left parts of their family, sons, daughters, cousins, uncles and aunts all over the Middle East. Some of them went to France or Britain or America. None of them ever lived in same place for long, never being able to find a home.

Oum Khalsoum keeps on singing her sad, sad song, and Fouad decides to head back home over the bridge into Jordan, hoping the checkpoint hasn’t been closed. He pays a few shekels then goes out onto the street.

Fouad is walking back over the bridge to a land which is where he lives but which he doesn’t feel is his home.

People who have looked for refuge from famine, oppression and poverty from all over the world spend time listening to Oum Khalsoum singing sad, sad songs and wondering if they will ever go home, and wondering where home is, and thinking that they could all sing songs that are even sadder than those of Oum Khalsoum.

Assignments:

1. Which of these statements are true? Correct any false statements.

1. People in the café are listening to a popular modern singer Oum Khalsoum.

2. Fouad is going to find his relatives in Jerusalem with the help of an old photo.

3. Fouad’s relatives live all over the world.

4. Fouad believes that Jordan is the best place to live in. He considers it to be his home.

5. Emigrants like listening to the sad songs of Oum Khalsoum.

Find a word in the text that means the same as the words and phrases below.

a) very well known, famous;

b) a picture;

c) an uncle’s or aunt’s child;

d) the state of being extremely poor;

e) up-to-date.

3. A. Suggest 5 words/phrases from the text that could be used as clues for you to retell the text.

B. Put 5 questions to the text using the words/phrases you have chosen.

Give the gist of the text (Keep a limit of 8-10 sentences).

5. Relate the information from the text you have read to your own experience and knowledge:

1. What happy / sad memories are connected with your native place, your home?

2. Should everyone know his/her origin, know about the ancestors, the relatives, their homes?

3. Suggest your ideas how to overcome nostalgia.

Where home is

KEY

1. 1. F. Oum Khalsoum is a popular but not modern singer. She died in 1970s.

2. F. Fouad hopes to find the place in Jerusalem where his grandparents used to live and his father was born.

3. T.

4. F. Jordan is a land where he lives but which he doesn’t feel is his home.

5. T.

2. a) legendary;

b) a photograph;

c) a cousin;

d) poverty;

e) modern.

3. A. Suggested answers (other answers may be equally acceptable).

1. café / sad music playing

2. uncle in Egypt / Jordan / Jerusalem

3. old photograph / grandparents / place where his father was born

4. go to / stay with relatives / parts of their family

5. home / look for refuge / to sing sad songs

Topic: Wedding Bells (Unit 4)

Straightforward Pre-Intermediate

A Real Wedding Story

Brian and I met through an online personals/dating service. We talked online for a week, over the phone and online for another week, and then we had our first date. It only took about two weeks and we knew that we were perfect for each other.

After dating for three months Brian came home one day with a package which he sat on the mantel over the fireplace and told me that I could not look in it. Since we had been talking about getting married, I assumed it was an engagement ring. He left it there for two weeks and I did not peek.

Finally after two weeks of anticipation, his son convinced him to let me open it. Much to my surprise, it was a gold letter opener that his son had won at an arcade for me.

Shortly after, that package disappeared from the fireplace mantel, it was replaced by a small ring box. Again, I assumed it was an engagement ring. I asked how long it was going to be before I could see what was in the box. He finally said it would be July 13th, but gave no reason why the 13th, or what the significance of that date was.

In the mean time he had my teenage daughter in on the plan, and they kept telling secrets and even contacted my boss. I assumed that Brian had arranged for me to get off early, or be off, on Friday, July 13th, so was I ever surprised on Thursday, July 12th when Brian, my daughter, his son, my boss, the Human Resources Director and the people who report to me at my job all showed up in my office.

Brian was carrying two dozen roses and his son had a bottle of wine with 'I Love You' balloons tied to it.

Brian first handed me a card where he had written how much he loved me and why he wanted to include our family and my friends from work.

Then he said the following: "Lisa, like wine takes years to age, we have taken years to find one and other. Like the roses, you are beautiful yet fragile, and need to be taken care of - like I want to spend the rest of my life taking care of you. Like the air in the balloons, when we kiss, I feel like I am walking on air."

Then he got down on one knee, opened the ring box, which was not the one from the mantel, to reveal my engagement ring. He then asked if I would do him the honour of being his wife. Of course I said yes.

Our wedding is planned for September 8th and I will never forget my wonderful proposal, it was like something out of a fairy tale!

Assignments:

1. Which of these statements are true? Correct any false statements.

1. After dating for three months Brian presented Lisa an engagement ring.

2. There was a gold letter opener in the package on the mantel over the fireplace.

3. Lisa had a son and a daughter.

4. Brian proposed to Lisa in her office.

5. Lisa considers Brian’s proposal to be rather boring.

Find a word in the text that means the same as the words and phrases below.

a) a social or romantic appointment or engagement;

b) a formal agreement to get married;

c) this word means that a person is aged between thirteen and nineteen;

d) organize, make plans for a future event;

e) a group or set of twelve.

3. A. Suggest 5 words/phrases from the text that could be used as clues for you to retell the text.

B. Put 5 questions to the text using the words/phrases you have chosen.

Give the gist of the text (Keep a limit of 8-10 sentences).

5. Relate the information from the text you have read to your own experience and knowledge:

1. Have you ever met people through an online personals/dating service? What was the reason?

2. What is your idea of romantic relations?

3. How do imagine your proposal?

A Real Wedding Story

KEY

1. 1. F. After dating for three months Brian brought a package and told Lisa that she could not look in it. Lisa thought it was an engagement ring.

T.

3. F. Lisa had a daughter and Brian had a son.

T.

5. F. Lisa believes the proposal was like something out of a fairy tale!

2. a) date;

b) engagement;

c) teenaged;

d) arrange;

e) dozen.

3. A. Suggested answers (other answers may be equally acceptable).

1. online dating service / first date

2. a package on the mantel over the fireplace / a gold letter opener

3. a small ring box / July 13th

4. secrets / July 12th / in the office

5. roses / a card / balloons / engagement ring

Topic: Summer Holiday (Unit 5)

Straightforward Pre-Intermediate

BACKPACKING

Backpackers take their name from the large rucksacks they typically use to carry their belongings while travelling. They generally favour an independent and grassroots style of travel, staying in hostels with dormitory-style facilities or in other types of low-budget accommodation.

Backpackers know no borders and can be found travelling all parts of the globe. Famous destinations include Australia and New Zealand, Europe, South America, India, and Thailand.

New backpacker hot spots now include Eastern Europe, China and the South Pacific. Although backpacking works best in areas where public transportation is readily available, both between cities and within them (such as much of Europe). Where private automobiles dominate (as in much of North America) or transport in general is sketchy (as in much of the developing world), you'll depend more on hitchhiking to get from place to place, which can be less dependable and less safe.

Backpackers favour cheap hostels and hotel accommodation. Youth hostels and budget hotels are the best bets for inexpensive accommodation. Hostels are dorm style accommodations ranging anywhere from private rooms to sleeping 16+bed sleepers. You may give up some privacy with shared bathrooms and even shared rooms, but it also gives you a chance to meet fellow travellers. Other popular ways of travelling and saving on accommodation costs include all inclusive coach tours, camping and hiring a campervan. Accommodation standards in the backpacker price range vary for each region of the world. Europe and Australia have some of the best types of backpacker hostels, whilst in America motel accommodation is more common.

Bringing a tent and camping out can bring a backpacking trip down from "affordable" to "cheap". One problem is that campsites tend to be on the outskirts of cities far from sights you might want to see, and may not be served well by local public transportation. They often have all the natural charm of a parking lot and all the modern comforts of…a parking lot.

No place on the planet is completely free from safety risks. That is why orient yourself with a map before setting out, and take local advice on undesirable areas to walk in. Keep your eyes open. Remember that it is better to travel in a group, and look out for each other.

Assignments:

1. Which of these statements are true? Correct any false statements.

1. Backpackers prefer fashionable hotels.

2. Backpackers used to travel a lot in Eastern Europe.

3. Backpackers have to share bathrooms and rooms in cheap hostels.

4. One problem with campsites is that they are more often situated on the outskirts of cities.

5. Public transport dominates in North America.

Find a word in the text that means the same as the words and phrases below.

a) a room, group of rooms, or building in which someone may live or stay;

b) the things that a person owns or has with him; possessions;

c) a place or piece of equipment provided for a particular purpose;

d) some dangerous places for travelling (two words);

e) an area of ground where people can leave their cars (two words).

3. A. Suggest 5 words/ phrases from the text that could be used as clues for you to retell the text.

B. Put 5 questions to the text using the words/ phrases you have chosen.

Give the gist of the text (Keep to a limit of 8-10 sentences).

5. Relate the information from the text you have read to your own experience and knowledge:

1) Have you ever travelled with a rucksack?

2) Who favours backpacking style of travel? (age, income, type of character)

3) What is your idea of a good holiday?

Backpacking

KEY

1. 1. F. Backpackers generally choose low-budget accommodation.

2. F. New backpacker hot spots now include Eastern Europe

T.

T.

5. F. Private automobiles dominate in much of North America.

2. a) accommodation;

b) belongings;

c) facility;

d) undesirable areas;

e) parking lot.

3. A. Suggested answers (other answers may be equally acceptable).

1. backpackers / rucksacks / style of travel

2. famous destinations / new hot spots / transport

3. inexpensive accommodation / saving on accommodation costs / accommodation standards

4. tent / campsite

5. safety risks / undesirable areas

Topic: Junk Food (Unit 6)

Straightforward Pre-Intermediate

JUNK FOOD

In today’s fast-moving world, people have less and less time to spend eating, let alone cooking. It is probably for this reason that junk food has become so popular, and there is no doubt that it’s here to stay. In fact, it seems that you simply can’t get away from it. One British hotel group recently announced that its guests are able to order fast food through room service, a move which is seen by many as signifying a new era in the couch potato life. So what exactly is junk food? Basically, it is anything that is high in calories but lacking in nutrition. Hamburgers, crisps, chocolate bars and hot dogs fall into this category. Pizzas, although they can have vegetable and cheese, are also included as they contain a lot of fat.

Obviously, a diet of junk food is not the best thing for your health. Apart from the risk of cancer, another side effect of consuming highly fattening junk food is that you are likely to gain weight. This is especially true because you tend to eat more as junk food is less satisfying and lower in vital nutrients than healthier food.

The best advice, then, for those who can’t live without their hamburgers or chocolate bars, is to limit the amount of junk food they eat. A little now and then will probably do no harm. But why have our eating habits change? “It’s lack of time and loss of tradition,” says one expert. He explains that people are too busy to cook and eat proper meals, so they grab whatever is available – and that is usually junk food. Also, the style of life represented on TV, especially in music videos, is fast. Young people pick up the idea that speed means excitement, whereas anything traditional is slow and boring. As a result, they turn down traditional food and go for junk food instead.

Another alarming thing about people’s lifestyles today is that while the amount of junk food we eat has increased, the amount of exercise we do has actually decreased. Exercise plays an important part in keeping the body fit and healthy; it helps to control our weight and, if taken regularly, can also decrease our chances of having a heart attack in later life. What is more, you don’t have to exercise much to gain visible benefits. Doctors say that twenty minutes’ exercise three times a week is all that is necessary.

Even though people nowadays are actually more aware of the importance of exercise and a healthy diet then they were a few years ago, the new unhealthy way of life is surprisingly popular. Ironically, if they were to make time to exercise and improve their eating habits, they would probably find that they were far better equipped to deal with stressful lifestyles than they are now.

Assignments:

1. Which of these statements are true? Correct any false statements.

1. Unlike hamburgers, hot dogs, crisps and chocolate bars, pizzas can’t be referred to junk food because they contain vegetables and cheese.

2. People who can’t live without their hamburgers are more likely to put on weight.

3. Junk food became so popular because people don’t like to spend a lot of time cooking and hate traditions.

4. Young people tend to choose junk food lifestyle because of the influence caused by television.

5. Today more and more people take regular exercises to stay fit and healthy.

2. Find a word in the text that means the same as the words and phrases below:

a) officially tell people about a decision or something that will happen;

b) the chemical or food that provides what is needed for plants, animals or people to live and grow;

c) the state of not having something or not having enough of it;

d) a regular practice, especially one that is hard to give up;

e) something that gives you advantages.

3. A. Suggest 5 words/ phrases from the text that could be used as clues for you to retell the text.

B. Put 5 questions to the text using the words/ phrases you have chosen.

Give the gist of the text (Keep to a limit of 8-10 sentences).

5. Relate the information from the text you have read to your own experience and knowledge:

1. What kind of food do you prefer? Why?

2. Are you a foodie? Can you describe a foodie?

3. What helps you to keep fit and stay healthy?

Junk Food

KEY

1. 1. F. Pizzas also fall into junk food category as they contain a lot of fat.

T.

3. F. Today people are not only too busy to cook and eat proper meals but also, according to the fast lifestyle represented on TV, traditional food is slow and boring.

T.

5. F. Although people are more aware of the importance of regular exercises, the new unhealthy way of life is extremely popular.

2. a) announce;

b) nutrient;

c) lack of;

d) habit;

e) benefit.

3. A. Suggested answers (other answers may be equally acceptable):

1) a new era/ couch potato life/ fast food through room service;

2) high in calories/ fast food;

3) to gain weight/ another side effect;

4) eating habits change/ turn down traditional food;

5) exercise/ to keep the body fit.

Topic: Job Selection. Celebrities. (Unit 7/9)

Straightforward Pre-intermediate

I’M FOLLOWING IN FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS

What is it really like to live up to a famous parent? Lucy Briers, the daughter of actor Richard Briers and actress Ann Davies, reveals the benefits and pitfalls.

The strangest thing about having a famous actor as a father was that, when I was about seven, my friends at school got confused about it. When they saw my Dad acting on the television, they decided that the actress who played his wife in the series was my mother. They used to ask me really silly questions. I just thought they were all incredibly stupid not to understand the concept of television.

I have always understood about my parents’ work because they used to take me to see plays with them from a very young age. When I was a child, I would go to the theatre every six months or so. I remember first seeing my Dad on stage when I was about four.

In one scene that I saw my father in, he ran on stage wearing a bright red curly wig, pushing a table on wheels. I thought this was hysterically funny, and so did the audience. As a child, I found it thrilling to see him at the centre of so much attention. I also loved going backstage and, at the end of the night, I would weep because I didn’t want to go home.

There is something exciting yet homely about the backstage of a theatre. A theatre company is like a family. It is a protected environment which I have known all my life and find comforting.

Nonetheless, initially I did not want to follow in my parents’ footsteps. My first real aspiration was to be an underwater sea explorer. That passed and, by the time I was ten, I knew I wanted to be an actress. I’m convinced that I was born with the need to act.

At first I tried to ignore it because my parents were both actors and I thought it would be too boring if I became one too. But I realized that it was a force that I couldn’t deny. My first role was in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream when I was sixteen at school. The minute I walked onto the stage, I knew that I loved it and began to consider acting as a career.

My parents tried to dissuade me, endlessly telling me what a hard life it can be. But I already knew that and was under illusions. While my Dad had enjoyed a consistent and successful career, my mother had had a very hard time.

Being the daughter of a famous actor is a double-edged sword. You are brought up with certain amount of success around you and so you have high expectations. If don’t live up to those, there are moments when you think, ‘I am not as good as my father.’ I have worked through those feelings now though, and decided that it is all right. I am very proud of the work I do, as are my parents, and that is what counts.

Assignments:

1. Which of these statements are true? Correct any false statements.

1. At the age of seven Lucy got confused when she saw her father acting on television.

2. She found thrilling to see her father in the centre of attention.

3. Since early childhood Lucy always wanted to be an actress as her parents.

4. The author thinks the backstage of a theatre to be extremely interesting and homely place.

5. Having a famous actor as a parent is a double-edge sword.

2. Find a word in the text that means the same as the words and phrases below:

a) a group of people who watch and listen to someone speaking or performing in public;

b) the area behind the stage in a theatre, especially the wings or dressing rooms;

c) being unable to understand clearly what someone is saying or what is happening (verbal phrase);

d) an actor's part in a play, film, etc;

e) a person who travels to places about which very little is known, in order to discover what is there.

3. A. Suggest 5 words/phrases from the text that could be used as clues for you to retell the text.

B. Put 5 questions to the text using the words/phrases you have chosen.

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