Ss Practice - Para Traductorado

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I.E.S. “Olga Cossettini” Profesorado en Inglés Traductorado Literario y Técnico-Científico en Inglés Material para práctica autónoma área Inglés La ejercitación que se incluye a continuación ha sido seleccionada teniendo en cuenta contenidos, destrezas y estrategias fundamentales que pueden ser evaluadas en la prueba de nivel. No debe considerarse exhaustiva ni indicativa del formato o contenido de dicha evaluación. Se recuerda que para abordar satisfactoriamente el estudio de la carrera los aspirantes requieren un nivel mínimo de competencia en el idioma extranjero equivalente al nivel B2 del “Marco común europeo de referencia para las lenguas”. Se espera que el aspirante sea capaz de: Comprender las ideas principales y secundarias de textos complejos sobre temas concretos, abstractos y técnicos. Interactuar oralmente con fluidez, flexibilidad y creatividad en situaciones de comunicación diversas. Producir textos escritos precisos y claros, que tengan coherencia, cohesión y vocabulario apropiado, sobre una amplia gama de temas. Expresar opinión tanto en forma escrita como oral sobre un tema explicando ventajas y desventajas desde diferentes puntos de vista Contents Reading Comprehension..................... p. 2 Answers................................................ p. 21 Grammar and Vocabulary ................... p. 27 Answers................................................ p. 39

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Transcript of Ss Practice - Para Traductorado

  • I.E.S. Olga Cossettini

    Profesorado en Ingls

    Traductorado Literario y Tcnico-Cientfico en Ingls

    Material para prctica autnoma rea Ingls

    La ejercitacin que se incluye a continuacin ha sido seleccionada teniendo en cuenta contenidos, destrezas y estrategias fundamentales que pueden ser evaluadas en la prueba de nivel.

    No debe considerarse exhaustiva ni indicativa del formato o contenido de dicha evaluacin.

    Se recuerda que para abordar satisfactoriamente el estudio de la carrera los aspirantes requieren un nivel mnimo de competencia en el idioma extranjero equivalente al nivel B2 del Marco comn europeo de referencia para las lenguas. Se espera que el aspirante sea capaz de:

    Comprender las ideas principales y secundarias de textos complejos sobre temas concretos, abstractos y tcnicos.

    Interactuar oralmente con fluidez, flexibilidad y creatividad en situaciones de comunicacin diversas. Producir textos escritos precisos y claros, que tengan coherencia, cohesin y vocabulario apropiado, sobre una amplia gama de temas.

    Expresar opinin tanto en forma escrita como oral sobre un tema explicando ventajas y desventajas desde diferentes puntos de vista

    Contents

    Reading Comprehension ..................... p. 2

    Answers ................................................ p. 21

    Grammar and Vocabulary ................... p. 27

    Answers ................................................ p. 39

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    READING COMPREHENSION

    READING TEXT N 1

    READ THIS EXTRACT CAREFULLY

    It was his last chance. The capital had been taken, cities were falling by the hour and border towns

    like this one would soon be subjected to military protection.

    He had known that a through ticket would have meant suspicion followed by questions; his accent

    would have immediately identified him as a foreigner. But as soon as he stepped off of the train, ten

    minutes before the customs post closed for the night, he realized he would have to ask for directions.

    Two words: La frontera? He had practised under his breath, just in case, for the last 200 kilometres.

    He had worked on the vowels--no diphthongs, keep them clear; the consonants--roll both rs; the

    intonation--start low, rise a little.

    Then he saw the stationmaster. His uniform and bearing reeked of authority. But there were no

    porters, there were no other passengers: it had to be him. A shiver as the sweat on his back turned

    suddenly cold, a few determined paces forward, eye contact established and the question was asked.

    Not the question he had intended, though. At the last moment the name of the town across the frontier

    flashed into his mind and he pronounced it faultlessly.

    The answer was brisk and dismissive; there would be no repetition for a native speaker. Had he said

    derecho--straight on, or derecha-- to the right? The railway line--no lights, no bends in sight--seemed

    both the safer and the quicker option, but after covering a few hundred metres he found himself in a

    winding cutting where the trees blocked out such moonlight as there was. Still no sign of the border,

    and although he could not see his watch in the gloom he knew it was very close to midnight. His

    senses were scalpel sharp; he had already picked up the characteristic smells of eucalyptus wafting

    on the lazy warm air when he heard low voices ahead. He was getting near. He turned off to the right,

    following a path for some minutes and miraculously found himself right outside the border post just as

    the sound of helicopter blades clattered through the night.

    The building was in darkness except for one office; he strode and greeted the seated policemen with a

    well-rehearsed buenas noches, simultaneously registering the unfamiliar uniforms. He was wondering

    whether they were part of a newly-arrived specialist force, and what the implications of that would be,

    when one of them answered him in Portuguese and took his passport. It dawned on him: he had

    unwittingly walked right across the frontier. He had made it.

    FIND EVIDENCE IN THE TEXT TO SUPPORT OR DISPROVE THESE STATEMENTS. WRITE

    TRUE OR FALSE AND JUSTIFY YOUR CHOICE QUOTING KEY WORDS OR PHRASES FROM

    THE TEXT. DO NOT QUOTE FULL SENTENCES.

    The first one has been done for you.

    0. The man was determined to cross the border.

    TRUE: It was his last chance

    1. The man had bought a ticket to get across the border into Portugal.

    2. He was able to pronounce the question to the stationmaster properly because he had been practising it on the train.

    3. Asking the stationmaster to repeat his answer would have betrayed his foreign origin.

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    4. Although at first the railway line had seemed to him the safer and quicker option, then he decided to take a short cut through the woods.

    5. He realized he had managed to cross the frontier when he found himself outside the border post.

    READING TEXT N 2

    READ THE ARTICLE CAREFULLY AND MATCH EACH OF THE SENTENCES BELOW IT WITH THE APPROPRIATE BLANK IN THE TEXT. BE CAREFUL, THERE IS ONE EXTRA SENTENCE. The first one has been done for you.

    Are you a teacher or a teacher for learning? The answers we give and the comments we make say a lot about us. 0- ___D___. So, what do your

    answers and comments suggest about your priorities in the classroom? In my job as an education

    consultant, I am frequently asking teachers: How was that lesson? Here are some recent and very

    typical responses:

    Pretty good. I wanted the group to cover pages 22 to 23. By the end of the lesson, we got there,

    just! 1- ___________.

    A bit disappointing. Id spent a long time preparing that activity but it didnt seem to work as well as

    Id expected.

    Good. I like it when my lessons go as planned. When you put so much time and energy into the

    preparation, its really satisfying when it goes well.

    2- ___________. All teachers know that coverage, well organised groups, set activities and good

    planning are all important factors for making lessons successful. But they do give a clue to what

    matters most to these teachers. All the points they emphasised coverage, activities, planning are

    about their teaching, rather than about their pupils learning.

    3- ____________. Instead, they might have said:

    We covered the planned pages today but only Beth really got it. Im going to revisit the lesson

    tomorrow or well have just wasted our time.

    The activity didnt work out as Id planned, but it didnt matter because most of the class learned

    what I intended for them.

    The lesson went to plan. The problem was that I realised I hadnt checked how much the children

    could already do. It went perfectly but they werent challenged. 4-___________. Must change

    things for tomorrow.

    If the first set of (true) comments shows that teaching is what matters, the second set of (revised)

    comments show that learning is what matters.

    As a teacher, theres always so much to focus on its not easy. 5-___________. I find that the best

    teachers arent always those who are better at instructing pupils its those who have different

    expectations of their lessons and who are different in the way they critique themselves.

    In my work with teachers, I start with one question that seems to help everyone apply a new

    perspective to what they do. I invite you to use it at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of

    every lesson. Its this: are your pupils busy or are they busy learning?

    6- ___________. Lets be teachers for learning rather than simply teachers.

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    A- If these teachers had learning at the centre of their thinking they may have answered quite differently.

    B- Theres nothing wrong with any of these comments, of course.

    C- But I think we all should view our classes through a new lens.

    D- They give a good sense of what we value.

    E- We should set goals and enable students to reach them.

    F- Perfect plan but poor learning.

    G- Lets change the lens and improve the learning.

    H- Were on target to cover everything by the end of the year.

    READING TEXT N 3

    The following four sentences have been taken from the text below them. There is a sentence missing in the first, second, fourth, and fifth paragraphs, and you have to decide where each one of sentences 1-4 has been taken from. Write the letter of the right sentence where this sentence should go.

    a) Their existence on the border between food and medicine has given rise to their new catch-all handle nutraceuticals.

    b) It is full of the amino-acids of which we ourselves are composed and has a taste that compares favourably to a light sparkling Moselle.

    c) Today there are endless mind foods, smart drugs, potions and compounds available to counter the unwelcome side effects of life.

    d) This is the only food some patients can take.

    NUTRACEUTICALS

    Those of us who doze our way through life have always been the target of mountebanks and quacks. ______ Some, of course, work only because we want them to work. Suggestibility is a vital part of the healing process. ______

    But others show signs of increasing popularity and acceptance. _____

    At Charing Cross Hospital in West London, for example, the appearance of lively cocktail waiters on the cancer wards has done much to improve patients daily nutritional intake.

    Patients get a welcome opportunity to engage with the volunteers who run the service on a light hearted level that is, frankly, fun. ______ The cocktails are made from a variety of nutraceutical food supplements, fruit juices and yogurt. _____

    In the commercial market, there are items such as Kombucha, a naturally fermented elixir of what the French call le champignon de longue vie. _____ Obtain a Kombucha mother (like a ginger beer plant), look after it well, and drink the liquor to keep your metabolism well-tuned and the effects of age at bay.______

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    READING TEXT N 4

    Read the text and do the exercises on it.

    Salty rice plant boosts harvests

    British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil contaminated with salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive once more, writes Sean Hargrave.

    Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex Universitys School of Biological Sciences, have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty.

    The pair have recently begun a three-year programme, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, to establish which genes enable some plants to survive saline conditions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops starting with rice.

    It is estimated that each year more than 10 m hectares of agricultural land are lost because salt gets into the soil and stunts plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics, mangroves that create swamps and traditionally form barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean, a series of droughts have caused the water table to drop, allowing sea water to seep in. In Latin America, irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated by the heat, leaving salt deposits behind.

    Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavy concentration of minerals in the plants curbs the process of osmosis and stop them drawing up the water they need to survive.

    To overcome these problems, Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little salt and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants growth. They have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop, but it will take about eight harvests until the resulting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use.

    Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known, Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the appropriate genes into all manner of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again, providing much needed food in the poorer countries of the world.

    1- Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD FROM THE PASSAGE for each answer.

    Aim of research: to identify a) ____________________ that promote growth in salt water

    Problem: b) __________________ inhibits plant growth

    Causes of problem:

    Natural c)____________________ to sea water have been destroyed (in tropics)

    Water levels have gone down after d) _______________________ (in Mediterranean)

    Salt remains after e) _______________________ (in Latin America)

    2- Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS, complete the following sentences WITH WORDS FROM THE PASSAGE.

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    Some farms have been a)______________________________ because the soil is too salty. The research team hope to assist in the adaptation of other b)_______________________ _________ to salt water. c)___________________________________ of farmland are ruined annually. The team aims to develop rice plants that d)__________________________________ excess salt. The team must wait for e)______________________________________ before they know whether they have been successful.

    READING TEXT N 5

    Read the text below and then answer the questions about it.

    Prehistoric insects spawn new drugs by Steve Connor, Science Correspondent

    A Insects entombed in fossilised amber for tens of millions of years have provided the key to creating a new generation of antibiotic drugs that could wage war on modern diseases. Scientists have isolated the antibiotics from microbes found either inside the intestines of the amber-encased insects or in soil particles trapped with them when they were caught by sticky tree resin up to 130 million years ago. Spores of the microbes have survived an unprecedented period of suspended animation, enabling scientists to revive them in the laboratory.

    B Research over the past two years has uncovered at least four antibiotics from the microbes and one has been able to kill modern drug-resistant bacteria that can cause potentially deadly diseases in humans. Present-day antibiotics have nearly all been isolated from micro-organisms that use them as a form of defence against their predators or competitors. But since the introduction of antibiotics into medicine 50 years ago, an alarming number have become ineffective because many bacteria have developed resistance to the drugs. The antibiotics that were in use millions of years ago may prove more deadly against drug-resistant modern strains of disease-causing bacteria.

    C Raul Cano, who has pioneered the research at the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, said the ancient antibiotics had been successful in fighting drug-resistant strains of staphylococcus bacteria, a superbug that has threatened the health of patients in hospitals throughout the world. He now intends to establish whether the antibiotics might have harmful side effects. The problem is how toxic it is to other cells and how easy it is to purify, said Cano.

    D A biotechnology company, Ambergene, has been set up to develop the antibiotics into drugs. If any ancient microbes are revived that resemble present-day diseases, they will be destroyed in case they escape and cause new epidemics. Drug companies will be anxious to study the chemical structures of the prehistoric antibiotics to see how they differ from modern drugs. They hope that one ancient antibiotic molecule could be used as a basis to synthesise a range of drugs.

    E There have been several attempts to extract material such as DNA from fossilised life-forms ranging from Egyptian mummies to dinosaurs but many were subsequently shown to be contaminated. Canos findings have been hailed as a breakthrough by scientists. Edward Golenberg, an expert on extracting DNA from fossilised life-forms at Wayne State University in Detroit, said: They appear to be verifiable, ancient spores. They do seem to be real. Richard Lenski, professor of microbial ecology at Michigan State University, said the fight against antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, such as tuberculosis and staphylococcus, could be helped by the discovery.

    F However, even the discovery of ancient antibiotics may not halt the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. Stuart Levy, a micro-biologist at Tufts University in Boston, warned that the bacteria would eventually evolve to fight back against the new drugs. There might also be an enzyme already out there that can degrade it. So the only way to keep the life of that antibiotic going is to use it sensibly and not excessively, he said.

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    1. The text has six paragraphs labelled A-F. Which paragraphs contain the following information? Write the appropriate letters A-F in the boxes.

    NB You only need ONE letter for each answer.

    You may use any letter more than once.

    Two examples of bacteria that can resist antibiotic drugs

    The length of time we have been using antibiotics

    The original source of new drugs being discussed

    The scientist responsible for setting up the research into fossilised insects

    Examples of other similar studies that have been undertaken

    2. Below there is a summary of the main ideas in the article you have just read, but it has been broken down into gapped sentences. Complete the sentences by selecting the correct word from the box below the summary. Use the words you choose ONCE ONLY.

    SUMMARY

    a) Microbes that may supply new antibiotic drugs have been ____________________ in the

    bodies of fossilised insects.

    b) The discovery may help destroy bacteria that are no longer ____________________ to

    modern medicine.

    c) What needs to be done now is to find out how ____________________ the antibiotics will be.

    d) Microbes that seem to have the characteristics of __________________ diseases will have to

    be killed.

    e) It is thought that a _______________________ molecule could lead to a whole series of

    drugs.

    f) Other scientists who have tried to produce antibiotics in a similar way have been

    _______________________.

    g) This work is considered a _______________________ achievement.

    h) It is necessary to be ____________________ about maintaining the life of the antibiotics

    LIST OF WORDS

    deadly

    safe

    unsuccessful

    combined

    unusual

    resistant

    significant

    successful

    particular

    placed

    responding

    preserved

    careful

    contributing

    serious

    modern

    single

    prehistoric

    lifetime

    excited

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    READING TEXT N 6

    Welfare wagon-train to the west

    Many Irish families are packing up and moving to small farms in the wild west, rejuvenating rural communities ravaged by generations of emigration.

    One Sunday last June, Anthony Boland read an article in an Irish newspaper about a man called Jim Connolly. A sculptor who grew up on the wild windswept peninsula of Loop Head in county Clare in the west of Ireland, Connolly looked around his village one day thinking something was missing and then realised what it was: the people had gone. So what Connolly did was start up Rural Resettlement from his front room, offering city families like the Bolands a chance to move to the country. It is a harsh landscape. A pitiless north-west wind bends the telegraph poles and for four months last winter it did not stop raining.

    In 1990, Connolly went on Irish radio with a message: go west and I'll help you find a house and a plot of land. One hundred and thirty-eight families have been resettled through the scheme and so far only nine have given up and returned home.

    Paul Murphy, a former Dublin bus driver, has become Connolly's second-in- command and spends his time looking for empty houses of which there are many. Now there are 2,300 families on their waiting list. The filing cabinet is stuffed with applications from Dublin, Glasgow and London the waves of emigrants who have left the land since the Fifties and who now want to return home and bring up their children. And there are city-dwellers who fear that the humble dream of a house, a family and, most of all, a job, might never be fulfilled.

    Nine-year-old Rebecca Boland is already beginning to sound like a country girl from Clare. Rebecca and her brothers and sisters go to Doonaha school at the bottom of the road, where they make the numbers up to 24 in the stone building that looks out onto the Atlantic.

    The Bolands have no car and the shopping is brought home on a tractor from Kilrush, 10 miles away. Noeleen Boland, 30, misses going to the shops herself. What Anthony Boland misses are chicken curries from his favourite take-away in Dublin. Other than that, they look at each other across the table and agree that there's nothing they really miss.

    Anthony's mother told him he was mad to be leaving Dublin. Now she tells him he's looking like a Californian surfer, with his blond hair bleached by the sun and his shoulders made broad and muscular by digging the land. When the Bolands first came to Clare, their plans to rent a house fell through. They left their second house after four months. They had no phone and lived miles from their nearest neighbour. Once, Rebecca was choking on a piece of meat and there was no way of getting medical help. Noeleen said they had to go back to Dublin. She would not risk her children's lives again.

    Their return was short. Youths kept ramming their garden wall with stolen cars on the way through to waste land near their home. Sometimes the car thieves did not make it and Anthony remembers a Ford Fiesta that came into his garden. I was watching my son talking to his pal. The mate was saying to him. Did you see the Fiesta last night. Wasn't it great? Yep, said my son, fab. What worried me was that he would start doing the same thing when he got older. Now he's out in the fields with me saying, How long does it take to be a vet? He wants to be a vet or a farmer not a thief.

    In Dublin, Anthony Boland was just another figure on the unemployment register. I was watching him get more and more depressed, Noeleen says. The Bolands, like many of those living along the western seaboard, depend on welfare to survive. Anthony hopes to find work as a farm labourer. Local people's worries about blow-

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    ins (new arrivals) taking what few jobs are left in the area have been largely calmed. Paul Murphy's standard response is that for generations the people of the west have been going to cities; now the trend has reversed.

    The arrival of 260 extra children has also meant that local teachers have kept their jobs. Mary Roche watched the numbers at her school dwindle from 65 in 1974 to only 16 in 1994. Without the arrival of the settlement children she would have lost her job. Now she has been made principal and another teacher, who is married to a local farmer, has been taken on.

    The process of integration has been slow but the blow-ins seem committed. Three of the Gaelic football team are resettled children and their father trains the team. A jackeen (Dubliner) arranges the music for the choir, and Paul Murphy's history of Loop Head has sold more than 700 copies and raised IR2,000 for the local community. Murphy has bigger plans. He has written a film script about his family's odyssey from the city to the west coast. What Do You Think Of The Wind? is with an agent.

    Murphy thinks that he is a romantic and that anyone who makes it in the west has to be. For many, it's the children that are the chief motivation and the act of moving helps people strike out in new directions. It is like joining a wagon-train, Connolly says. By taking a brave step, you can boost your spirit and your sense of enterprise.

    1- Answer questions 1-15 by choosing from the names A-F.

    A Anthony Boland D Rebecca Boland

    B Jim Connolly E Noeleen Boland

    C Paul Murphy F Mary Roche

    Which person had to withstand criticism from a parent? 1. is doing a completely different kind of work? 2 3. has an accent that has changed? 4. has responded to fears voiced by local people? 5. has recently been joined by a new colleague? 6. is still without job? 7. wanted to attract people back to the community? 8.. has written a history of his/her new home? 9.. thought living in the countryside was dangerous? 10 provided a scheme giving practical help? 11 was alarmed by something a child said? 12 has used the family's experiences for artistic purposes? 13 ran the risk of being made redundant? 14 is now much fitter physically? 15

    2- Replace the words in italics with a phrasal verb. Then look back at the text to check your answers. a- Connolly founded Rural Resettlement b- their plans to rent a house failed. c- (Rebecca and her brothers and sisters) increase the number to 24 d- the building that faces the Atlantic. e- (emigrants) want to return home and raise their children f- (another teacher) has been hired. g- the act of moving helps people go in new directions

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    READING TEXT N 7

    Working mothers: what children say.

    1- Look at the five questions below and then read the text about Debbie Hollobon to find the answers. a- Why was it a difficult time for Debbie when her mother started working full-time? b- How did she feel about her sister at that time? c- What did she soon enjoy about the new arrangement? d- Does she feel that her mother neglected her in any way? e- What advantages does Debbie think there were in having a working mother?

    2- Now read the five questions about Peter Swift and the text below. a- What does he dislike about having a working mother? b- What did his mother agree to before she started work? c- Does he feel that his mother has neglected him at all? d- What advantages does Peter think there have been in having a working mother? e- Does he think the advantages make up for the disadvantages?

    Debbie Hollobon, aged 21, comes from

    Daventry, Northamptonshire. Her

    mother, head of the mail room in a

    staff agency, has worked full time

    since Debbie was aged 13 and her

    sister, Sarah was ten.

    I didnt like it a bit when she took a full

    time job and, as the elder sister, I had to

    look after Sarah. Everything seemed to

    come at once: wed just moved to

    Daventry and I was in my second year at

    comprehensive school and meeting new

    people and making new friends. I felt I had enough on my plate without having Sarah tagging along every time I went out. I went trough a stage where I

    couldnt stand her; she seemed to get in

    the way of everything I wanted to do.

    I never told my mum how I felt. I knew

    shed have been miserable sitting at home

    alone in a town where she didnt know

    anyone, so the job was very good for her.

    Once the initial shock wore off, I got to

    like it, being trusted with my own key and

    feeling grown up and independent.

    However much she had to do, coming

    home to the cooking and cleaning after a

    days work, she always had time for us

    when we wanted to talk. There was never

    a time when she shrugged us off because she was too tired or too busy.

    I probably helped around the house more

    than I would have done with a stay-at-

    home mother, but she never told me to do

    any chores before she got home. I did

    Peter Swift, aged 15, lives near Leeds.

    His mother has worked as a graphic

    designer for the last three years.

    I hate it; Ive always hated it. Mum

    disappears at 7.30 am and doesnt get home

    until about 7.30 pm, so we come home to an

    empty house. It doesnt worry my sister

    Elizabeth. Shes a year older than me and

    she has loads of homework, so she sits

    upstairs working and Im left on my own.

    When she first had the chance of going

    back to work we all talked about it and she

    said that it was only a trial period and if we

    werent happy with it she could give it up.

    But it wasnt a fair test because in the

    beginning it was all rather thrilling being on

    our own; like a big adventure. I didnt realise

    what it would be like long term.

    She started her new job two days before I

    started at comprehensive school and I had

    to go by myself, when all the other boys had

    their mothers with them. Of course,

    everybody was much more interested in

    what had happened at the new job than what

    had happened at the new school. Elizabeth

    and I both have our own chores. I load the

    dishwasher and I sometimes wash the car or

    mow the grass. Elizabeth does the ironing-

    well, she says she does, but she never seems

    to get round to ironing my shirts. We get

    extra pocket money because we help out, so

    I suppose its fair, but all my friends do

    absolutely nothing around the house.

    There is a good side to it. Mum has lots of

    interesting things to tell us and I like to

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    what I felt like when I felt like it and I

    knew she wouldnt nag if it wasnt done. Since I got married, last June, Ive

    appreciated the extra independence that

    came from looking after myself for part

    of the day. I know what things cost

    because Im used to shopping and I know

    how much work goes into running a house.

    A lot of the girls I grew up with, who

    never learned to fend for themselves,

    must have come down to earth with a

    bump. When I have children, I just hope

    I can do as well as my mother, but I dont

    know if I will have enough patience and

    energy.

    hear her talk about the people she meets.

    We probably get more freedom, too- I can

    make my models on the table without

    getting told off. We wouldnt have as much

    money for trips to France or hobbies like

    photography if she didnt work, but Id swap

    all that if it meant shed be at home like she

    used to be. I dont think a womans place is

    in the home or anything like that, but I dont

    think a career should be fitted round the

    children, not the other way round, and in my

    opinion what the children think should come

    first.

    3- Say whether the following statements are true or false in your opinion and why.

    a- Both Debbie and Peter have similar relationships with their sisters.

    b- Neither Debbie nor Peter liked their mothers working at the beginning.

    c- They both feel that the opportunity to work has been good for the mothers.

    d- They were both given special jobs to do around the house.

    e- Both their mothers started working at difficult times for their children.

    f- Both Debbie and Peter admire their mothers for what hey have done.

    g- Debbie feels that other girls probably find it more difficult than she did when they first leave home.

    h- Peter thinks the trial period at the beginning worked well.

    4- Debbie uses several idiomatic expressions. Choose the best explanation for the examples below, which are underlined in the text:

    A) . . . I had enough on my plate . . .

    a- enough things to deal with b- enough food to eat c- enough work to do.

    B) . . . Sarah tagging along . . .

    a- watching me b- waiting for c- following me

    C) . . . she shrugged us off . . .

    a- behaved violently towards us b- made us angry c- treated us as unimportant.

    D) . . . she wouldnt nag . . ..

    a- understand b- complain c- approve.

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    READING TEXT N 8

    1- Read the following magazine article. Choose which of the paragraphs from A to G fit into the gaps. There is one extra paragraph, which does not fit in any of the gaps.

    Chewing gum culture

    Its fashionable, classless and Americans chew 12 million sticks of it a

    day. Discover how an ancient custom became big business.

    Chewing gum contains fewer than ten calories per stick, but it is classified as a food and must therefore conform to the standards of the American Food and Drug Administration.

    Todays gum is largely synthetic, with added pine resins and softeners which help to hold the flavour and improve the texture.

    American colonists followed the example of the Amero-Indians of New England and chewed the resin that formed on spruce trees when the bark was cut. Lumps of spruce for chewing were sold in the early 1800s, making it the first commercial chewing gum in the country.

    Modern chewing gum has its origins in the late 1860s with the discovery of chicle, a milky substance obtained from the sapodilla tree of the Central American rainforest.

    Yet repeated attempts to cultivate sapodilla commercially have failed. As the chewing gum market has grown, synthetic alternatives have had to be developed.

    Most alarming is the unpleasant little chicle fly that likes to lodge its eggs in the tappers ears and nose.

    Braving these hazards, barefooted and with only a rope and an axe, an experienced

    chiclero will shin up a mature tree in minutes to cut a path in the bark for the white sap to flow down to a bag below.

    Yet, punishing though this working environment is, the remaining chicleros fear for the livelihood.

    Not so long ago, the United States alone imported 7,000 tonnes of chicle a year from Central America. Last year just 200 tonnes were tapped in the whole of Mexicos Yucatan peninsula. As chewing gum sales have soared, so the manufacturers have tuned to synthetics to reduce costs and meet demands.

    Plaque acid, which forms when we eat, causes this. Our saliva, which neutralises the acid and supplies minerals such as calcium, phosphate and fluoride, is the bodys natural defence. Gum manufacturers say 20 minutes of chewing can increase your salivary flow.

    In addition, one hundred and thirty-seven square kilometres of America is devoted entirely to producing the mint that is used in the two most popular chewing gums in the world.

    Paragraphs

    A Gum made from this resulted in a smoother, more satisfying and more elastic chew, and soon a whole industry was born based on this product.

    B Meanwhile, the worlds gum producers are finding ingenious ways of marketing their products. In addition to all the claims made for gum it helps you relax, peps you up and eases tension (soldiers during both world wars were regularly supplied with gum) gums greatest claim is that it reduces tooth decay.

    1

    2

    3

    4

    5

    6

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    C Research continues on new textures and flavours. Glycerine and other vegetable oil products are now used to blend the gum base. Most new flavours are artificial but some flavours still need natural assistance.

    D This was not always the case, though. The ancient Greeks chewed a bum-like resin obtained from the bark of the mastic tree, a shrub found mainly in Greece and Turkey. Grecian women, especially, favoured mastic gum to clean their teeth and sweeten their breath.

    E Each chiclero must carry the liquid on his back to a forest camp, where it is boiled until sticky and made into bricks. Life at the camp is no picnic either, with a monotonous and often deficient maize-based diet washed down by a local alcohol distilled from sugar cane.

    F The chicleros grease their hands and arms to prevent the sticky gum sticking to them. The gum is then packed into a wooden mould, pressed down firmly, initialled and dated ready for collection and export.

    G Today the few remaining chicle gatherers, chicleros, eke out a meagre and dangerous living, trekking for miles to tap scattered sapodilla in near 100 % humidity. Conditions are appalling: highly poisonous snakes lurk ready to pounce and insects abound.

    2- Say if these statements are True or False. Justify your answer quoting from the text.

    a- The ancient chewing gum was not synthetic.

    b- The gum business started in the 19th century.

    c- Sapodilla was found in Greece and Central America.

    d- Manufacturers are concerned about the serious dangers chicleros are exposed to.

    e- Mint is the most popular substance in the world.

    3- Look at the words underlined in the passage. Read the text around each of them carefully and decide WHO or WHAT is referred to in each case.

    a- It ...................................................................................... .

    b- Their ................................................................................ .

    c- It ...................................................................................... .

    d- This ................................................................................. .

    e- Tappers .......................................................................... .

    f- Hazards ........................................................................... .

    g- Their ................................................................................ .

    h- This .................................................................................. .

    READING TEXT N 9

    1) Before reading, predict whether each of the following statements is true or false.

    a) Not having the right balance in our diet can damage our health.

    b) If other members of our family get fat quite easily, we probably will too.

    c) If we like eating sweet things, its probably a habit we learnt from our parents.

    d) Men are just as likely to get fatter as they grow older as women are.

    e) Most people dont eat enough protein.

    f) Its useless for most people to take vitamin pills.

    g) The more calories we eat in food, the more energetic we will feel.

    h) We should try to reduce the amount of bread and potatoes we eat.

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    2) Now read the article and check your predictions.

    Food and UsFood and UsFood and UsFood and Us

    1-

    The average person swallows about half-a-ton of food a year not counting drink and though the body is remarkably efficient at extracting just what it needs from this huge mixture, it can only cope up to a point. If you go on eating too much of some things and not enough of others, youll eventually get out of condition and your health will suffer. So think before you start eating. It may look good. It may taste good. Fine! But how much good is it really doing you?

    2-

    What you eat and the way it affects your body depend very much on the kind of person you are. For one thing, the genes you inherit from your parents can determine how your body-chemistry (metabolism) copes with particular foods. The tendency to put on weight rather easily, for example, often runs in families which means that they have to take particular care. And your parents may shape your future in another way. Your upbringing shapes some basic attitudes to food like whether you have a sweet tooth, nibble between meals, take big mouthfuls or eat chips with everything. Eating habits, good or bad, tend to get passed on. And then theres your lifestyle. How much you spend on food (time as well as money), how much exercise you get these can alter the balance between food and fitness. And finally, both your age and your sex may affect this balance. For example, youre more likely to put on weight as you get older, especially if youre a woman. So, everybodys different and the important thing is to know yourself. Read on and see if you think you are striking the right balance.

    3

    Your food should balance your bodys need for: NUTRIENTS (proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water) the raw materials needed to build and repair the body-machine. ENERGY (calories) to power the body-machine, all the thousands of different mechanisms that keep you alive and active. DIETARY FIBRE (a complex mixture of natural plant substances) the value of which we are just beginning to understand

    4

    If youre eating a fairly varied diet, it is just about impossible to go short of proteins, vitamins or minerals. It is likely, too, that you have more than enough fats and carbohydrates. Take proteins for instance. On average, we eat about twice as much protein as we need. Vitamin pills arent likely to help either. A varied diet with plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and cereals along with some fish, eggs, meat and dairy products will contain more than enough vitamins. Unless you have some special medical reason, it is a waste of time and money to take vitamin pills. As for minerals, there is no shortage in the average diet and it is useless to have more than you need.

    5-

    Just about everything you eat contains energy measured as calories; the higher the number of calories, the more energy. But dont make the mistake of thinking that eating extra energy-rich foods will make you more energetic. The amount of energy in your daily diet should exactly balance the energy your body-machine burns up. If you eat more than you use, the extra energy is stored as body fat. And this is the big problem.

    6-

    Over hundreds of thousands of years, mans food came mainly from plants.

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    He ate cereals (like wheat), pulses (like beans and peas), vegetables, fruit and nuts. So our ancestors were used to eating the sort of food that contains a lot of fibre. In comparison with our ancestors, the sort of food we eat today contains very little fibre. Our main foods are meat, eggs and dairy products, which contain no fibre at all. Lack of fibre seems to be connected with various disorders of the digestive system. Some experts also believe that lack of fibre may even lead to heart disease. If youre worried about your weight, eating more fibre may actually help you to slim! Food with plenty of fibre like potatoes or bread can be satisfying without giving you too many calories.

    3) Each sentence below (A-G) is a summary of one section of the article. Choose a summary sentence for each section and write the correct letter in the spaces (1-6). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

    A If we eat food with more calories than we need, we get fat. B Fibre is an important part of a good diet. C It is better to eat regular meals than to wait for one big feast at the end of the day. D We all need the right mixture of different types of food in our diet. E People differ in the food they enjoy and also in the way food affects them. F We are likely to get all the proteins, vitamins and minerals we need in a good balanced diet. G A bad diet can damage our health.

    4) Now look at Sections 1 and 2 again and find the words which mean the same as:

    Section 1 1. able to do a job well 2. taking out 3. very big 4. manage successfully 5. in the end

    Section 2 6. receive 7. decide 8. training and caring for a child 9. take small bites 10. change

    READING TEXT N 10

    DO MEN AND WOMEN SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE?DO MEN AND WOMEN SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE?DO MEN AND WOMEN SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE?DO MEN AND WOMEN SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE?

    A Do men and women understand the same things from the spoken word? Judging by the misinterpretation, misunderstanding and general mystification that can arise from a single simple sentence, there are grave reasons for doubt. In fact, I would put it even stronger. Do we even speak the same language?

    First and contrary to the general impression men use language more. Like everyone else, I used to believe that women were the talkative sex, says Dale Spender, a sociolinguist. But when I analysed the results of over one hundred and forty recorded conversations between men and women, the result was quite the opposite. Whether were talking about social gatherings or business meetings, one element never changes: in any conversation with a man, a woman who talks more than a third of the time is seen as talking too much.

    Nowhere is this more obvious than on radio or TV talkshows. One host, Robert Robinson, once said, Its difficult to find the right kind of woman to participate in my programme. Most of them cant stand up to me and so stay silent. They also find interrupting a bit tricky. On one occasion, a well-known female thinker became so cross and unhappy at being what she regarded as shouted down that she remained silent for the last fifteen minutes of the programme. Even those women who are perfectly capable of holding their own are notably less talkative than their male counterparts.

    Another female characteristic is the belief that conversation should be a reciprocal exchange rather than an attempt to dominate the other person. According to sociologist Jennifer Coates, When a woman in a group raises a topic, the others will encourage, sympathise or elaborate. The next female

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    speaker may enlarge on some point, add a personal anecdote, or simply make Go on interjections. But one thing she wont do is flatly contradict the previous speaker and abruptly change the subject. But men in a group with women often get bored with what they see as the slow build-up of a topic. The tried and tested method of avoiding this hazard is by doing what most women hate: interrupting.

    The effect constant interruption has on women is that they become silent, says Dr Coates. It isnt solely that men regard conversation as a contest; there is also a clash of styles. We all think we know what a question is. But with men and women it triggers different reactions. Men think questions are requests for information, whereas women think they are part of the way in which a co-operative conversation works. If a woman asks a man a question, shes trying to keep the conversation going, while the man thinks this is a request for information, so he gives her a lecture. In social situations, this different view of the polite enquiry can often cause bad feeling. The woman thinks, What is he on about? I didnt want a run-down on company accountancy, and the man thinks, Why is she looking so cross? If she didnt want to know, why did she ask?

    Although women have much greater sensitivity to what the other person is feeling, it is equally true that, in situations where power is concerned, the mens cut-and-thrust style is the norm. Male language allows them to have

    clear goals, stick to decisions, answer directly without fudging and assert themselves, says Natasha Josefowitz, author of Paths to Power. Women say I think I can, where men say, I can. And though the woman may be right who knows if she can carry out a particular task until she is doing it? what employers go for is confidence. In female conversation, this general tentativeness emerges in the use of soft phrases such us I wonder if I might ...?, and Perhaps this isnt the moment to disturb you but ... instead of the simpler expressions Please may I ...? or Can I come in?.

    Dr Coates believes female politeness involves other factors as well. Partly it is a recognition that other people may not be imposed on. If I go next door, I say, I hope you dont mind, but could you possibly lend me a pint of milk, please? not Can I have some milk?, which allows my neighbour the freedom to say Yes, of course or Im sorry, I havent got one. What it is doing is giving the other person a chance to get out of an obligation without losing face. Partly, too, it is a question of giving what Dr Coates calls positive face, which means reassuring others about their own value.

    The reason for such discrepancies is something that frequently makes male English a rather different language from the female version of English: most men use language to conceal their feelings whereas women see it as means of revealing their emotions

    1. For questions 1 5, choose the answer which you think fits best.

    1) Before Dale Spender undertook her research, she A intended to show what made women aggressive.

    B thought she knew what the outcome would be.

    C realised men tended to speak more than women.

    D wanted to discover the situations where women spoke most.

    2) When women appear on his chat show, Robert Robinson A is delighted they have agreed to appear.

    B provide special support.

    C has found their behaviour inappropriate.

    D has thought them to be impolite.

    3) According to Dr Coates, in a mixed group of speakers A men tend to contradict.

    B women concentrate on talking about themselves.

    C women discuss boring topics.

    D men experience feelings of frustration.

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    4) Dr Coates considers that questions can cause bad feelings if A the reason behind the question is misunderstood.

    B a sensitive subject has been raised.

    C there is a desire to hide the truth.

    D an uninteresting topic has been introduced.

    5) Dr Coates thinks that the politeness of female language A works against women.

    B is helpful to other people.

    C could easily be modified.

    D allows others to be assertive.

    2. For each of the eight paragraphs, choose the sentence that best summarises the main idea. The first one has been done for you.

    a) Usual misunderstandings between men and women hint that their use of language in conversation is different.

    b) Women regard male interruptions as an offensive strategy.

    c) The incompatibility between men and women lies in the way they choose to reveal their emotions.

    d) In an employer-employee relationship, the mens style shows self-assurance whereas the womens shows caution.

    e) Research beats the belief that women are the talkative sex.

    f) Womens co-operative style vs. mens tendency to dominate.

    g) The female tactful style encourages freedom of choice in the interlocutor.

    h) Women want to keep the flow of the conversation while men just inform.

    3. Explain the following expressions in your own words.

    i) Most of them cant stand up to me ...

    j) ... the slow build-up of a topic...

    k) ... co-operative conversation...

    l) ... the mens cut-and-thrust style...

    4. Suggest an alternative for:

    a) shouted down

    b) flatly

    c) hazard

    d) a run-down

    e) fudging

    READING TEXT N 11

    The Risks of Cigarette Smoke

    Discovered in the early 1800s and named nicotianine, the oily essence now called nicotine is the main active ingredient of tobacco. Nicotine, however, is only a smallcomponent of cigarette smoke, which contains more than 4,700 chemical compounds, including 43 cancer-causing substances. In recent times, scientific research has been providing evidence that years of cigarette smoking vastly increases the risk of developing fatal medical conditions.

    In addition to being responsible for more than 85 per cent of lung cancers, smoking is associated with cancers of, amongst others, the mouth, stomach and kidneys, and is thought to cause about 14 per cent

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    of leukemia and cervical cancers. In 1990, smoking caused more than 84,000 deaths, mainly resulting from such problems as pneumonia, bronchitis and influenza. Smoking, it is believed, is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths from cancer and clearly represents the most important preventable cause of cancer in countries like the United States today.

    Passive smoking, the breathing in of the side-stream smoke from the burning of tobacco between puffs or of the smoke exhaled by a smoker, also causes a serious health risk. A report published in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emphasized the health dangers, especially from side-stream smoke. This type of smoke contains more, smaller particles and is therefore more likely to be deposited deep in the lungs. On the basis of this report, the EPA has classified environmental tobacco smoke in the highest risk category for causing cancer.

    As an illustration of the health risks, in the case of a married couple where one partner is a smoker and one a non-smoker, the latter is believed to have a 30 per cent higher risk of death from heart disease because of passive smoking. The risk of lung cancer also increases over the years of exposure and the figure jumps to 80 per cent if the spouse has been smoking four packs a day for 20 years. It has been calculated that 17 per cent of cases of lung cancer can be attributed to high levels of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke during childhood and adolescence.

    A more recent study by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) has shown that second-hand cigarette smoke does more harm to non-smokers than to smokers. Leaving aside the philosophical question of whether anyone should have to breathe someone elses cigarette smoke, the report suggests that the smoke experienced by many people in their daily lives is enough to produce substantial adverse effects on a persons heart and lungs.

    The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA), was based on the researchers own earlier research but also includes a review of studies over the past few years. The American Medical Association represents about half of all US doctors and is a strong opponent of smoking. The study suggests that people who smoke cigarettes are continually damaging their cardiovascular system, which adapts in order to compensate for the effects of smoking. It further states that people who do not smoke do not have the benefit of their system adapting to the smoke inhalation. Consequently, the effects of passive smoking are far greater on non-smokers than on smokers.

    This report emphasizes that cancer is not caused by a single element in cigarette smoke; harmful effects to health are caused by many components. Carbon monoxide, for example, competes with oxygen in red blood cells and interferes with the bloods ability to deliver lifegiving oxygen to the heart. Nicotine and other toxins in cigarette smoke activate small blood cells called platelets, which increases the likelihood of blood clots, thereby affecting blood circulation throughout the body.

    The researchers criticize the practice of some scientific consultants who work with the tobacco industry for assuming that cigarette smoke has the same impact on smokers as it does on non-smokers. They argue that those scientists are underestimating the damage done by passive smoking and, in support of their recent findings, cite some previous research which points to passive smoking as the cause for between 30,000 and 60,000 deaths from heart attacks each year in the United States. This means that passive smoking is the third most preventable cause of death after active smoking and alcohol-related diseases.

    The study argues that the type of action needed against passive smoking should be similar to that being taken against illegal drugs and AIDS (SIDA). The UCSF researchers maintain that the simplest and most cost-effective action is to establish smoke-free work places, schools and public places.

    Cambridge IELTS 3, Examination papers from the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate, Cambridge University Press.

    a) Choose the appropriate letters AD

    1) According to information in the text, leukaemia and pneumonia

    A are responsible for 84,000 deaths each year.

    B are strongly linked to cigarette smoking.

    C are strongly linked to lung cancer.

    D result in 30 per cent of deaths per year.

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    2) According to information in the text, intake of carbon monoxide

    A inhibits the flow of oxygen to the heart.

    B increases absorption of other smoke particles.

    C inhibits red blood cell formation.

    D promotes nicotine absorption.

    3) According to information in the text, intake of nicotine encourages

    A blood circulation through the body.

    B activity of other toxins in the blood.

    C formation of blood clots.

    D an increase of platelets in the blood.

    b) Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer?

    YES if the statement reflects the claims of the writer

    NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

    NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

    1) Thirty per cent of deaths in the United States are caused by smoking-related diseases.

    2) If one partner in a marriage smokes, the other is likely to take up smoking.

    3) Teenagers whose parents smoke are at risk of getting lung cancer at some time during their lives.

    4) Opponents of smoking financed the UCSF study.

    c) Choose ONE phrase from the list of phrases AJ below to complete each of the following sentences (1-4).

    1) Passive smoking ...

    2) Compared with a non-smoker, a smoker ...

    3) The American Medical Association ...

    A includes reviews of studies in its reports.

    B argues for stronger action against smoking in public places.

    C is one of the two most preventable causes of death.

    D is more likely to be at risk from passive smoking diseases.

    E is more harmful to non-smokers than to smokers.

    F is less likely to be at risk of contracting lung cancer.

    G is more likely to be at risk of contracting various cancers.

    H opposes smoking and publishes research on the subject.

    I is just as harmful to smokers as it is to non-smokers.

    J reduces the quantity of blood flowing around the body.

    d) Classify the following statements as being

    A a finding of the UCSF study

    B an opinion of the UCSF study

    C a finding of the EPA report

    D an assumption of consultants to the tobacco industry

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    NB You may use any letter more than once.

    1) Smokers cardiovascular systems adapt to the intake of environmental smoke.

    2) There is a philosophical question as to whether people should have to inhale others smoke.

    3) Smoke-free public places offer the best solution.

    4) The intake of side-stream smoke is more harmful than smoke exhaled by a smoker.

    READING TEXT N 12

    Hearing Problems

    1) The old adage extols the virtue of silence by claiming it is golden, yet experience tells us that silence is as hard to come by as the precious metal itself. The benefit of silence to the human ear is scientifically demonstrable. Less superfluous noise, less impairment to the hearing. Yet this precious commodity is no longer valued. Noise is ever present in modern life and is an accumulative experience. The ill effects of noise pollution are of two kinds: acute exposure to an individual instance of a very loud noise, such as a gunshot or explosion; and chronic the experience of too much noise over an extended period of time.

    2) City and urban dwellers exist in an increasingly noise-ridden environment, and it is now almost impossible to escape exposure to high noise levels. Even if we exclude the more obvious sources of noise pollution such as jetplane engines, road works, power tools, loud music at dance parties and so on, it is clear that noise is a constant and often unwelcome companion. We have only to walk through a suburban shopping mall or department store, or catch a bus or train to be subjected to noise levels that a few decades ago would have been considered beyond human endurance. The popular practice of 'layering' sound, by adding a louder source of noise to that which already exists in order to mask it, merely compounds the problem. Because of the accumulative nature of noise abuse, constant noise is worse than noisy periods interspersed with silence.

    3) Our noise level acceptance threshold is rising in step with the number of persons developing hearing problems. Data available from a recent survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that 7.4% of people over 14 years of age have some discernible hearing problem. According to the survey, 24.6% of the 7.4% of persons with affected hearing have problems caused by subjection to a constant barrage of noise, either at work, in the everyday living environment, or as the result of a particular choice of leisure activity. The problem is most severe for males aged between 25 and 64 years of age, 9.1% of whom have a hearing disability, and for which the cause is constant noise in 44.4% of cases.

    4) Of current concern to acoustical engineers and psychologists at the National Acoustics Laboratories in Sydney, Australia, is the potential for damage to the ear drum caused by the transmission of loud sound through earphones placed directly into the ear canal. An almost universal fad among young people, the pocket-sized radio-cassette player (commonly known by the brand name 'Walkman') may be exposing its owner to greater than the maximum safe dosage of noise recommended for industrial workers - 90 decibels* over a period of 8 hours. This dosage, called Dose 1, can be achieved much sooner by exposing the ear to only slightly more than 90 decibels. Increases to the decibel level logarithmically shorten the exposure time required to reach a given dose. For instance, to achieve Dose 1 in 4 hours, it is necessary to raise the decibel exposure level by a mere 3 decibels.

    5) One danger posed to young ears is that the peak sound level from these radio-cassette players is often far too great; at high volume it is all too easy to receive Dose 1 in a short period of time. Any further noise heard above 90 decibels that day and the recipient is causing measurable damage to his or her ears. Another danger is the likelihood of a change in the pain threshold of noise resulting in users compensating by increasing the volume to levels way above what is considered safe. Finally, insertable earphones block the ear canal, thereby further increasing the noise level absorbed.

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    6) But perhaps the most alarming potential for danger caused by insertable earphones is the ease with which the listener can exceed the safe time length of exposure to noise. The small earphones can be comfortably worn for extended periods of time. What is more, there is the danger of falling asleep with the earphones inserted, leading to an accumulation of excess noise while unconscious.

    7) Noise abuse soon leads to varying degrees of hearing loss. What may begin as an acute temporary condition, in time becomes a chronic and irreversible disability. A common complaint is 'tinnitus', or a 'ringing in the ears' which fails to subside after the ears are subjected to a short but extreme dose of noise. It is an exhausting condition that can seriously threaten the composure of the sufferer who can be driven to near madness. It is believed the composer Beethoven was particularly aggravated by this malady. At present, there is little that can be done in the majority of cases, although the victim might be able to obtain some temporary relief by using a masking device which blocks out the offending frequencies of sound with other, less annoying frequencies.

    8) Inevitably, though, years of excessive noise accumulation take their toll and partial or complete deafness results. If silence is the cure for ailing ears (or, at least, the best way to prevent further deterioration of one's hearing), it is sobering to realise that it is also the unfortunate and permanent curse of a lifetime of noise abuse caused by ignoring the warnings.

    * decibel: standard unit of sound measurement

    (http://education.kulichki.net/lang/ieread.html)

    1) Skim the text and match paragraphs 1-8 to these subheadings (a-l). Be careful! There are more headings than required. The last paragraph heading has been completed for you as an example.

    A. Research into earphones inserted in the ear canal. _____

    B. Listening through earphones for too long. _____

    C. The maximum noise level of the 'Walkman.' _____

    D. The benefit of silence. _____

    E. An environment of constant noise. _____

    F. Three problems caused by inserted earphones. _____

    G. The maximum safe noise dosage. _____

    H. The curse of silence. __8__

    I. A cure for 'tinnitus'. _____

    J. Alarming statistical evidence. _____

    K. A chronic hearing loss impairment _____

    L. The danger of falling asleep. _____

    2) Read the statements below and write True or False. The first one has been done for you as an example.

    a) Silence is not beneficial to the human ear F

    b) Silence is no longer a precious commodity.

    c) There are basically two kinds of noise pollution.

    d) The noise from a jet plane engine is not an obvious form of noise pollution.

    e) 'Layering' sound reduces the overall amount of sound by masking it.

    f) More males than females suffer the consequences of constant noise.

    g) To achieve Dose 1 in 4 hours, the ear needs to be exposed to 93 decibels for that period of

    time.

    h) The passage outlines four main dangers from using insertable earphones.

    i) Deafness is caused by not listening to the warnings about noise abuse.

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    3) Answer the questions below by using words and phrases taken from the reading passage. You can use a maximum of three words for each answer.

    a) In Paragraph 1, what are the words of the old adage?

    b) In Paragraph 1, less damage to the hearing is the result of

    c) How many sources are given for hearing problems caused by constant noise?

    d) What might a sufferer of 'tinnitus' get by blocking out certain sound frequencies?

    ANSWERS TO READING EXERCISES

    READING TEXT N 1:

    Items between brackets are correct but not necessary for a full mark.

    1. The man had bought a ticket to get across the border into Portugal.

    FALSE: a through ticket would have meant suspicion followed by questions; his accent would have immediately identified him as a foreigner.

    2. He was able to pronounce the question to the stationmaster properly because he had been practising it on the train.

    FALSE. and the question was asked Not the question he had intended, though.

    3. Asking the stationmaster to repeat his answer would have betrayed his foreign origin.

    TRUE: there would be no repetition for a native speaker

    4. Although at first the railway line had seemed to him the safer and quicker option, then he

    decided to take a short cut through the woods.

    FALSE: (but after covering a few hundred metres) he found himself in a winding cutting

    5. He realized he had managed to cross the frontier when he found himself outside the border post.

    FALSE: when one of them answered him in Portuguese and took his passport

    READING TEXT N 2:

    1. h

    2. b

    3. a

    4. f

    5. c

    6. g

    READING TEXT N 3

    NUTRACEUTICALS

    Those of us who doze our way through life have always been the target of mountebanks and quacks. __C____ Some, of course, work only because we want them to work. Suggestibility is a vital part of the healing process. ______

    But others show signs of increasing popularity and acceptance. __A___

    At Charing Cross Hospital in West London, for example, the appearance of lively cocktail waiters on the cancer wards has done much to improve patients daily nutritional intake.

    Patients get a welcome opportunity to engage with the volunteers who run the service on a light hearted level that is, frankly, fun. ______ The cocktails are made from a variety of nutraceutical food supplements, fruit juices and yogurt. __D___

    In the commercial market, there are items such as Kombucha, a naturally fermented elixir of what the French call le champignon de longue vie. __B___ Obtain a Kombucha mother (like a ginger beer plant), look after it well, and drink the liquor to keep your metabolism well-tuned and the effects of age at bay.______

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    READING TEXT N 4

    1-

    Aim of research: to identify a)genes that promote growth in salt water

    Problem: b) salt inhibits plant growth

    Causes of problem:

    Natural c) barriers to sea water have been destroyed (in tropics)

    Water levels have gone down after d)droughts (in Mediterranean)

    Salt remains after e) irrigation (In Latin America)

    2-Some farms have been a)abandoned because the soil is too salty. The research team hope to assist in the adaptation of other b) crops to salt water. c) 10m hectares of farmland are ruined annually. The team aims to develop rice plants that d)store excess salt. The team must wait for e)8/eight harvests before they know whether they have been successful.

    READING TEXT N 5

    1.

    Two examples of bacteria that can resist antibiotic drugs E

    The length of time we have been using antibiotics B

    The original source of new drugs being discussed A

    The scientist responsible for setting up the research into fossilised insects C

    Examples of other similar studies that have been undertaken E

    2-SUMMARY

    a) Microbes that may supply new antibiotic drugs have been preserved in the bodies of fossilised insects.

    b) The discovery may help destroy bacteria that are no longer responding to modern medicine.

    c) What needs to be done now is to find out how safe the antibiotics will be.

    d) Microbes that seem to have the characteristics of modern diseases will have to be killed.

    e) It is thought that a single molecule could lead to a whole series of drugs.

    f) Other scientists who have tried to produce antibiotics in a similar way have been unsuccessful.

    g) This work is considered a significant achievement.

    h) It is necessary to be careful about maintaining the life of the antibiotics

    READING TEXT N 6: Welfare wagon-train to the west

    1- Multiple matching. 1- A 2- C/B 3- B/C 4- D 5- C

    6- F 7- A 8- B 9- C 10- E

    11- B 12- A 13- C 14- F 15- A

    2- Phrasal verbs

    a- started up b- fell through

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    c- make the number up d- looks out on e- bring up

    f- taken on h- strike out

    READING TEXT N 7: Working mothers: what children say.

    1) a- Because she had just moved to Daventry and she was at her second year of comprehensive school, meeting new people and friends. b- She resented her. c- Feeling grown up and independent. d- No, her mother was always there for her. e- Extra independence, and she knows how much goes into running a house. 2) a- That his mother is never home and he is always on his own. b- She said it would only be a trial period, and if they werent happy with it she would give it up. c- Yes, what had happened at the new job seemed more interesting than what had happened at the new school. (they dont listen to him) d- His mother has lots of interesting things to tell them about the people she meets at work, he has more freedom, extra money for trips and hobbies, and pocket money for doing some house chores. e- No, he would swap all the advantages for a full time mom at home. 3) a- F Debbie says at one time she couldnt stand her, implying she now gets on with her, while Peter hardly talks to his. b- T Debbie had to take care of her things and of her sister all the time, and Peter found the experience exciting though he felt neglected. c- F Peter has always hated having a working mother. d- F Peter has to do some chores. Debbie helps round the house but she was never told what to do. e- T Debbie had just moved, and Peter was just starting comprehensive school. f- F Debbie admires her mother, but Peter doesnt. g- T because a lot of the girls she grew up with never learned to fend for themselves. h- F because it wasnt a fair trial period, at the beginning it seemed ok, but he didnt realise what it would be like in the long term. 4): a- A enough things to deal with. b- C following.

    c- C treated us as unimportant. d- B complain.

    Reading Text n 8: Chewing gum culture 1)

    1 D 4 E F Extra paragraph! 2 A 5 B 3 G 6 C

    2) a TRUE. The ancient Greeks chewed a bum-like resin obtained from the bark of the mastic tree b TRUE Lumps of spruce for chewing were sold in the early 1800s c FALSE the mastic tree, a shrub found mainly in Greece and Turkey. the sapodilla tree of the Central American rainforest. d FALSE . No mention in the text. e FALSE. mint that is used in the two most popular chewing gums in the world

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    3)

    a- It: chewing gum. b- Their: Grecian womens. c- It: lump of spruce. d- This: chicle (the substance obtained from the sapodilla tree). e- Tappers: chicleros f- Hazards: the dangers chicleros are exposed to such as poisonous snakes, insects and the

    chicle fly. g- Their: producers. h- This: tooth decay.

    READING TEXT N 9: Food and Us

    2) a) T b) T

    c) T d) F

    e) F f) T

    g) F h) F

    3) 1) G 2) E

    3) D 4) F

    5) A 6) B

    4) 1) efficient 2) extracting 3) huge 4) cope

    5) eventually 6) inherit 7) determine 8) upbringing

    9) nibble 10) alter

    READING TEXT N 10: DO MEN AND WOMEN SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE?

    Exercise 1 1 B 2 C

    3 A 4 A

    5 D

    Exercise 2

    Paragraph 1: Usual misunderstandings between men and women hint that their use of language in conversation is different. (a) Paragraph 2: Research beats the belief that women are the talkative sex. (e) Paragraph 3 : Women regard male interruptions as an offensive strategy. (b) Paragraph 4: Womens co-operative style vs. mens tendency to dominate. (f) Paragraph 5 : Women want to keep the flow of the conversation while men just inform. (h) Paragraph 6: In an employer-employee relationship, the mens style shows self-assurance whereas the womens shows caution. (d) Paragraph 7: The female tactful style encourages freedom of choice in the interlocutor. (g) Paragraph 8: The incompatibility between men and women lies in the way they choose to reveal their emotions. (c)

    Exercise 3 a- they cant defend themselves against the offensive interruptions of the host. b- the topic is gradually enlarged by the different contributions of the women involved in the

    conversation. c- conversation built up with the many contributions of the women taking part so as to keep the

    flow and enlarge the topic. d- their style consists of interrupting and moving quickly to another subject. Their language is

    much more assertive and straight-forward.

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    Exercise 4 a- addressed loudly so that her voice couldnt be heard. b- firmly / definitely. c- danger d- a report, a brief summary ( informal ) e- avoiding important decisions.

    READING PASSAGE N 11

    a)

    1) B // are strongly linked to cigarette smoking

    2) A // inhibits the flow of oxygen to the heart

    3) C // formation of blood clots

    b)

    1) NO // N

    2) NOT GIVEN // NG

    3) YES // Y

    4) NOT GIVEN // NG

    c)

    1) E // is more harmful to non-smokers than to smokers

    2) G // is more likely to be at risk of contracting various cancers

    3) H // opposes smoking and publishes research on the subject

    d)

    1) A // a finding of the UCSF study

    2) B // an opinion of the UCSF study

    3) B // an opinion of the UCSF study

    4) C // a finding of the EPA report

    READING PASSAGE N 12 Activity 1

    A. Research into earphones inserted in the ear canal. Paragraph 4 B. Listening through earphones for too long. Paragraph 6 C. The maximum noise level of the 'Walkman.' D. The benefit of silence. Paragraph 1 E. An environment of constant noise. Paragraph 2 F. Three problems caused by inserted earphones. Paragraph 5 G. The maximum safe noise dosage. H. The curse of silence Paragraph 8 (example) I. A cure for 'tinnitus' Paragraph 7 J. Alarming statistical evidence Paragraph 3 K. A chronic hearing loss impairment. L. The danger of falling asleep.

    Activity 2

    a) F b) F c) F d) F e) F

    f) T g) T h) T i) T

    Activity 3 a) Silence is golden b) less superfluous noise. c) 3 d) some temporary relief

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    GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

    1- Read the text below and choose the best answer A, B or C.

    No Smoking Day Research Studies

    Teenagers are a vital weapon in the battle to stop people smoking, according to research published to coincide with No Smoking Day. The study shows that at any given point in time in time more than 75 per cent of teenagers (1)...... to persuade their parents to quit. Even youngsters who (2)...... to smoking themselves say they have nagged their parents to give up. The survey of 11-to 15-year-olds (3)......... that children and teenagers (4)........ smoking as rebellious and trendy any more. They (5)......... more concerned about the effects of their parents habit on their own health. Smokers with children (6).........also more likely to want to quit and to have tried to give up. The researchers who carried out the study (7).........that almost three-quarters of 10,000 asthmatic youngsters who (8)......... in the survey (9)......... other peoples cigarette smoke had made their condition worse. Of those, 31 per cent (10)......... with someone who (11)........at some stage. Two further studies (12)....... to mounting evidence that genes (13)..........an important role in nicotine addiction. People taking part in the survey who had started smoking at 16 or younger and who (14)........repeatedly to successfully kick the habit share a common genetic make-up. But genes hardly (15)........... the full story. In about 25 per cent of identical twin pairs only one twin (16)........... , though they (17).......... the same genes. Clearly, environment and willpower (18).......... a role as well. Last year, two million people (19)........... in No Smoking Day with an estimated 40,000 giving up for good. Over the past 10 years an estimated half a million people (20).......... helped to stop smoking by the venture. 1- A are trying B tried C were trying 2- A are admitting B admit C have admitted 3- A had suggested B suggests C is suggesting 4- A have not seen B do not see C did not see 5- A are B were C have been 6- A are B were C have been 7- A are finding B have found C found 8- A took part B take part C were taking part 9- A are believing B believe C believed 10- A were living B live C are living 11- A smokes B was working C had smoked 12- A are adding B have added C added 13- A are playing B had played C play 14- A had failed B are failing C fail 15- A tell B are telling C told 16- A is smoking B was smoking C smokes 17- A shared B have shared C share 18- A have played B play C are playing 19- A took part B had taken part C have taken part 20-A were B have been C had been 2- Complete the following text with the correct form of the verb. You will need the gerund, the infinitive or the infinitive without to.

    Robert was tired of ......... (1.take) the train to work every day. He had ...... (2.catch) a very early train to be sure of ...... (3.arrive) at work in time. Often, delays due to bad weather and strikes prevented him from ...... (4.get) home in time to watch his favourite television programme. He objected to ....... (5.pay) such high fares for such a poor service. He decided ...... (6.buy) a bike. It might ......(7.be) exhausting at first but he would soon get used to ...... (8.cycle). He remembered ...... (9.cycle) a lot as a child. In fact, he used ...... (10.ride) his bike to school every day. He knew that bikes had improved a lot since those days and a friend advised him ...... (11.buy) a mountain bike and suggested ...... (12.get) some waterproof and windproof clothing as well. His first day of cycling to work went well. He chose his route so as to avoid ....... (13.go) up the hills and he rode carefully because he didnt want to risk ...... (14.have) an accident. The weather was fine and there was little wind, so he enjoyed ...... (15.ride). Being out in the open air made him ...... (16.feel) invigorated. On the way home, however, he got a puncture. Fortunately, he had remembered ...... (17.bring) a puncture repair kit. When he had finished ...... (18.mend) the puncture, he looked around for the pump. He had forgotten ...... (19.bring) it! 3- Fill in the gaps in this letter with an appropriate active or passive form of the verb in brackets.

    Dear Julie,

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    Well, I arrived safely ... but my luggage didnt! After many enquiries I found that it 1 ....... (send) to Finland instead of England! Apparently, it 2 ........ (label) wrongly at check-in. Anyway, it finally 3......... (arrive) three days ago and, other than that, I 4......... (have) a great time ever since I arrived.

    The people I am staying with are very nice and 5.......... (already/show) me all the local tourist sites. I 6......... (treat) exactly like one of the family and 7........... (introduce) to all their friends. I share a room with Penny, the daughter in the family, who is my age. Its amazing ... Every morning we 8............ (wake up) by her mother with a cup of tea! Yesterday (Sunday), we 9........... (even/give) breakfast in bed!

    Today was my first day at my new language school. When I arrived, I 10......(take) to a special room where we 11.......... (welcome) by the Director. He 12......... (explain) what was going to happen and who all the staff were. Then we 13.......... (go) to a large room where we 14......... (give) a test to do. It was quite difficult, but it was soon over and then we 15........ (have) an interview with a teacher who 16....... (check) our spoken English. As we 17...... (leave) we 18...... (hand) a form to fill in with all our personal details and we 19........ (tell) to arrive early tomorrow to give us time to find our new classes. In the afternoon we 20.... (take) on a guided tour of the city by bus, which was very interesting.

    Im really looking forward to tomorrow when we 21.......(put) in our new classes.

    I dont know yet what level Ill be in apparently we 22........ (tell) when we arrive tomorrow. At the same time we 23.... (give) the various books that we need for the course. Its all quite exciting! I just hope I like my teacher!

    Love,

    Rosario

    4- Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between two and five words, including the word given.

    1- What went wrong, Frankie? said Paul. asked Paul wrong. 2- Can I stay here for a couple of days, Jude? said Phil. there Phil asked Jude ..........................for a couple of days. 3- Yes, I went there on my own, Haskins said. gone Haskins admitted that he ...............................own. 4- Dont mention this ever again, Chris, said Brenda. to Brenda told Chris ............................again. 5-I think, Joe, that you should tell the council about it, said Mr Green. advised Mr Green ......................... the council about it. 6- What time does this pub close at weekends, Jack? said Alexis. time Alexis asked Jack ........................ at weekends. 7- You will ask for a receipt, wont you? Anna said to Steve. reminded Anna ................................ a receipt. 8- Were going tomorrow, said Melanie. going Melanie said that ............................... day. 9- Dont touch this cable, the electrician said to us. touch The electrician warned ........................ ... cable. 10- Show me whats in your hand, Smith, said the policeman. show The policeman ordered Smith ..........................in his hand. 5- Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each space.

    Edward Munch

    Edward Munch, (0) ...one... of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, (1)...... born in Norway in 1863. He began his artistic career in Paris, (2) ...... he became familiar (3) ......the current trends in