The Impact of Excessive Television Viewing on Children’s Attention
Abuse of Antibiotics
1.
a. True. In poor countries, cheaper drugs are often used.
b. True. Developed nations overuse antibiotics, even for our children.
2.
a. Medicine has been able to control and cure infectious diseases for some years now. Present generations are not afraid of dying from a simple cold, but before antibiotics were discovered, that danger was, in fact, real and frequent.
b. The overuse of antibiotics allows microbes to resist them more and more easily. So, what we, individually, can do is to be aware of that fact and try not to take antibiotics unless they have proven to be effective for the particular illness we have.
3.
a) A small cut/scratch
b) Survive/remain
c) Increased/soared
d) Leave/bequeath
4.
a) the/for/killing
b) were once easily cured/stronger than
c) must
d) have been living/for
Coetzee Wins Nobel Prize
1.
a. False. The Nobel Prize has often been awarded to authors who write in English, such as Nabokov.
b. False. Coetzee was born in South Africa and his first language is English. He is known for his autobiographical novel.
2.
a. Political factors seem to have more importance than just literary ones.
b. He worked for IBM and after that, he was a professor of literature and published literary criticism.
3.
a) Without doubt/unquestionably
b) Completely/wholly
c) Ideas/assumptions
d) Quickly/swiftly
4.
a) who/last
b) winning/received
c) whose/wasn’t chosen
d) about/his
Compulsive Shopping
1.
a. False. Men are just as susceptible to compulsive shopping as women.
b. True. Doctors have concluded that compulsive shopping is a serious disorder that can have a devastating impact on people’s lives.
2.
a. A compulsive consumer, according to the text, is a person, either a woman or a man, who buys things that he/she doesn’t need at all, in order to be better dressed or made-up or to collect and have more technical items.
b. Men usually buy electronic and technical gadgets, such as laptops, music players, PDA’s, mobile phones, etc. While women mostly buy things to improve their physical appearance, such as clothing or makeup.
3.
a) Result/extent
b) Increased/rocketed
c) Tendencies/trends
d) Looking for/seeking
4.
a) be experienced/in
b) admitting/for
c) should/than
d) Yesterday the salesman told me not to pay at that moment.
Do You Sleep Enough?
1.
a. False. A good night’s sleep is essential for good health, from infancy to adulthood.
b. False. The youngsters’ mothers reported that their children had problems falling asleep and daytime sleepiness.
2.
a. It is mentioned because it is the one that published three articles about the problem of sleeplessness both in children and in adults.
b. Short-sleeping children show poorer results in mental and language tests than those who sleep the recommended hours a day, and they are also more likely to suffer from hyperactivity.
3.
a) Deal with/tackle
b) Insomnia/sleeplessness
c) Quantity/amount
d) Crucial/critical
4.
a) often/at
b) who/than
c) from/their
d) spent/an
Dragons
1.
a. True. To the Chinese, a dragon was a symbol of power and good luck.
b. False. All these dragons do have wings and breathe fire, although they tend to be shown differently in different cultures.
2.
a. They appear in European cultures following the legends and literature of the ancient Greeks and the medieval population.
b. It is said that dragons look like dinosaurs in size and shape.
3.
a) Clever/wise
b) Keeping/guarding
c) Look like/resemble
d) Hidden/submerged
4.
a) have formed/to know
b) is seen/because
c) largest/bigger
d) Steven Spielberg said that dragons had played an important role in his life.
Elvis Lives!
1.
a. False. Elvis, who was stationed in Germany, wrote a letter to his mother.
b. False. Even though they realized that the letter was a fake, they decided to create the Elvis Presley society.
2.
a. Because Elvis delivered the letter to his landlady who mislaid it, so the letter was not finally posted.
b. She felt deeply moved and cried.
3.
a) fainted/swooned
b) tomb/grave
c) living/staying
d) try to find/tracking
4.
a) their/was
b) was founded/was cleaned out
c) to/could
d) Karen promised Elvis that she would marry him if he sent her his autograph.
Evolution
1.
a. True. Primates resemble human beings; human beings must be included as primates if any sense is to be made of animal classification.
b. False. Could never look upon a monkey without very mortifying reflections.
2.
a. The writer seems to accept the theory of evolution, although they may be a little reluctant to include man in the same scheme of things and might share Congreve’s view about this.
b. According to the writer, people always find apes fascinating because they resemble human beings, although this fascination contains both elements of attraction and disgust.
3.
a) Strongly/closely
b) Common origin/single ancestral stem
c) Show/exhibit
d) Think/guess or reflect
4.
a) present/shown/these
b) between/ourselves/sought/have been found
c) largest
Greening the Sahara
1.
a. True. Egypt’s population is expected to double in the next 50 years, and the demand for water will only get worse.
b. False. So the government is keen to develop the desert, and they plan to reclaim 3.4 million acres within 10 years.
2.
a. Because he is a farmer whose job consists of growing fruits in a place that in the past was totally part of the Sahara Desert.
b. On the one hand, because they think that agriculture might not give as many benefits as the government wants, and on the other hand, because it might destroy the touristic wild environment in Egypt.
3.
a) Huge/vast
b) Probably/likely
c) Since/because
d) Instead of/rather than
4.
a) as/from
b) traveling/most ancient/was built
c) on
d) which/to promote
Self-Driving Google Cars
1.
a. False. With someone behind the wheel, the car drove more than 1,000 miles with only two human interventions.
b. True. Because the robot cars can avoid human errors, they can improve road safety and fuel consumption.
2.
a. Google self-driving cars have a small size and if you see it from above and outside, you will see that this Google’s new device has a cylindrical object which holds diverse technical devices to record and see other cars.
3.
a) More difficult/harder
b) In fact/eventually
c) Decreasing/reducing
d) Evidence/proof
4.
a) bought/has been complaining
b) than/are
c) are/driving
d) by/an
Should the State Tell Us What to Eat and Drink?
1.
a. False. We eat on the go more than anywhere else.
b. False. A sociologist told a group of people that they should eat at the dining table.
2.
a. People use very little fresh food; instead, the eating of junk food is increasing, everything is cooked in the microwave, and the act of eating has become a solitary activity, not a social one.
b. Taking a look at the rubbish, we can discover a lot of remnants from the wraps of junk food.
3.
a) research/enquiry
b) nearly/almost
c) whole/entire
d) unpleasant/nasty
4.
a) Eating/for
b) ate/loaves
c) have bought/twice
d) I offered her something else to eat.
Smart Shoes
1.
a. False. The expression “square eyes” refers to children who watch too much television.
b. True. Some researchers believe that smart shoes could be used to monitor our health.
2.
a. The microchip in the shoes sends information about the number of steps of the person who is wearing them to another microchip set on the TV. If the person has taken 12,000 steps, he or she can watch TV for 2 hours, and when they are reached, the microchip automatically switches the TV off.
b. Just a “square-eyes” limit of 2 TV hours may make the family aware of their sedentary life and the changes they should make.
3.
a) Worries/concerns
b) Ended/expired
c) Mechanism/device
d) Cause/bring about
4.
a) easiest/from
b) which
c) of/has increased
d) watching/tries/spent
Solomon’s Real Mine Discovered?
1.
a. True. The mines are enormous and would have provided enough copper for the whole of Israel and Judah.
b. False. The ancient mine was found in a valley called ‘Slaves’ Valley’, the Arabic name for copper.
2.
a. Because after getting information from the Bible and King Solomon’s novel and the location of the lost mines, they believe they have found the treasure.
b. They have been searching for the mines in Africa since the 19th century because the popular Victorian novel, King Solomon’s Mines, took place in that region.
3.
a) Dry/arid
b) Centre/heart
c) Commerce/trading
d) Nearer/closer
4.
a) about/from
b) becoming/a
c) gave
d) was written/whose
St. Valentine’s Day
1.
a. True. On February 14th, we celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, a holiday that became popular in the fourteenth century.
b. True. The modern celebration of St. Valentine’s Day is largely due to the efforts of card manufacturers and the post office.
3.
a) Moved/pranced around
b) Decapitated/beheaded
c) Banned/forbidden
d) Immense/huge
4.
a) since/has become
b) who/was buried
c) if/send
d) inviting/the biggest
The Bermuda Islands
1.
a. False. Ever since Spanish explorer Juan de Bermúdez sailed by these luxuriant islands, they have been known as the Bermuda Islands.
b. False. Mr. Allen’s aim is to mend the previous government’s neglect of the islands’ main industry and to restore Bermuda to its former glory as an elite vacation site for educated tourists.
2.
a. The plot of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest is supposed to be based on the story of a shipwreck written by a passenger who survived it.
b. Bermuda is one of the world’s most famous holiday resorts for water sports, especially underwater sports, due to its beautiful coral reefs.
3.
a) Trapped/snared
b) Hungry/starving
c) Loss of destruction of a ship at sea/shipwreck
d) Initiated/launched
4.
a) far/from
b) whose/since
c) visiting/had
d) are inhabited/is called
Too Much Television
1.
a. False. ADD experts say that watching too much television can contribute to the development of the disorder.
b. False. This new study tested children at the age of three and found that those who watched more than three hours of television a day were more likely to have attention problems by the age of seven.
2.
a. According to the new study, watching too much television is directly related to attention problems in children, problems such as the inability to read for a long time or pay attention.
b. Because earlier studies linked the habit of watching television in children to the increase of weight and aggressiveness.
3.
a) Quantity/amount
b) Symptoms/signs
c) Examined/tested
d) Previous/earlier
4.
a) began/between
b) often/a
c) on/are
d) He asked the girl what she would do when she finished her homework.
Where Does Dracula Come From?
1.a. True. Stoker, the author, is… library in London.
1.b. False. When his ship was damaged… of a huge dog.
2.a. Whitby is the little town which was inspired him to write his famous novel.
2.b. Madame Countess Bathori was an aristocrat from Hungary who killed girls in the 1600`s and was arrested for it. She is important because she used to wash on the blood of their victims to maintain her skin young.
3. a) Impressiveàimposing b) Involvedà engaged c) Seemsà appears d) Customà habit
4 a) Although / than b) had been / what c) deals / is explained d) I asked the girl what else had she seen