.

Reading- Part 3

Youaregoingto readan article

about happiness. Before you read, in pairs discussthe

,
(hEf]!1GID:m?

f!) :-

following.
1 ,,", Are the people of your generation generallyhappieror unhappierthan 2 your parents'generation? Look at the title and introduction to the article. What do you think the writer's answerto his question will be? Readthrough quickly and check.

~~~

We've tried shopping and New Age cures, making money and spending it. We're still miserable. What'smissing from our lives?
Didyou notice an outbreak of jovialityand generosity last week? People beaming at you as they Jet you go ahead in the bus queue, grinning as they shared your morning traffic jam, smirking through the quarterly budget planning meeting? No? The oraanisers of National Smile Week willbe down in the mouth. 5 Alltheir effortsto perk us up for at least seven days have run, it seems, into the sand of our collective scepticism. Four out of ten of us think life has become worse in the past five years. Two million of us are on antidepressants; only a minorityof us think 'people can be trusted most of the time'. Mix in some road/air/office/phone rage, a rise in reported incivility-11 and a good dose of political apathy and the gloom looks even starker. We're a wretched lot. All this when average house prices have just blasted through the
100,000 mark, when life expectancy continues to lengthen, mortality rates are dropping and more than a third of young people enjoy what was once 1t the elite privilege of higher education. We are healthy, wealthy and wise. Yet we've never felt so bad. If we seem like a nation of ingrates, it may be because all the goodies that are supposed to make us happy don't do it for us any more - even if we have yet to wake up to the fact. So, your house is worth half a million. 2( Karl Marx, who for all his faults knew a bit about capitalism, captured the

STRATEGY POINT
Get the gist first by looking at the title and reading the text quickly.
Read the questions and question

stems (the actual questions, not the four choices).

Read

the

text

carefully

aJld

underline the parts which are relevant to the questions.

Choose

an

answer

to

each

question. Remember: Options which sound a lot like the text (e.g. ones that usewords that also appear in the text) are usuallywrong. Some wrong options may be generally true, but they don't answer the question or they are not true according to the text.

Which of the following is implied in the second paragraph? A B C D Peopleare getting stingier. Peopleare getting lesspolite. Peopleare arguing more about politics. Peopleare working longer hours.

Some wrong options are very

nearly correct, apart from one word (e.g. an adverb like 'never'). 3

In the third paragraph the writer saysthat higher education A B C D is only availableto a small, privileged group. is availableto the whole of the population. is availableto far more people than in the past. should only be availableto young people.

Forquestions1-7,choosethe
answer (A, B,( or D)which you think fits best according to the text. What can be inferred about
National A Smile Week? Its organisers did not expect it to succeed.

What isthe writer referring to when he says'[the palace] can be beamed into our living rooms'? (II. 28-30) A B advertising over-work

C
D

politics depression

B It seemsto have annoyed

some people. C D It was largely unsuccessful. It was not ambitious enough.

An increase in earnings fails to make most people happier because A B C their expenses are incredibly high. they realise that's not where happiness lies. there is always someone who earns more. they don't have financial problems.

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keeping-up-with-the-Joneses dynamic of market economies perfectly: 'A house may be large. or small; :!: as long as the neighbouring houses are likewise small, i satisfies all the social requirements of a residence. But let there arise next to the little house a palace and iPe little house shrinks to a hut.' With mass media, the :>aIace doesn't have to be next door - it can be

Iking

<?People 'inning as quarterly

le mouth. ~ems,into lk life has ~ on antilost of the

d incivility
m starker.

rough the tality rates was once and wise.

Ie goodies 'e - even if If a million.

lptured the

:learned into our living rooms. Money doesn't make most of us happy any more. :>oorpeople, understandably, see their life satisfaction -'sa with income but for most of the population in a :o..Jntry as affluent as ours, any jump-start to well': :e1'1g from a pay rise quickly wears off. 'I was windowS":Oppingin the South of France recently and I saw a :.amond-studded woolly hat, and I quite fancied it.' '"'en we get to that stage we should realise that more """"Of1eyisn't getting us much more in terms of -.a::>piness.Harrods is currently carrying a pair of s-'OeSpriced at a cool million - imaqine if somebody ~Ded on your foot. But what about health? Surely the virtual elimination =- """ostfatal diseases, rising life expectancy and falling -wliility should be cheering us up? Not a bit of it. All -aa t'Jappens is that our expectations rise just as or =-en '11orequickly. Objectively, our health is better on a.--oot every count, but this doesn't translate into our .'2e "g any healthier. We are more aware of our health, ~ o\'e get more anxious about it. Medicine has :e..:ome a victim of its own success: having massively :c ced the chances of death in childbirth, for = a ~e, people are now shocked if a life is lost - and for a lawyer. Death was unavoidable - now it is .-dXeptable. ~. e the answer to many great problems, however,
'7"""o::C'"

the answer to the question of happiness may be quite prosaic: once countries and households are free of material need, the biggest contributor to life satisfaction seems to be a healthy set of personal relationships. The relative happiness of late teenagers and those passing middle age may relate to their spending more time on friendships. The thirty somethings, fighting on the two fronts of work and children, are the most dejected. Those between full-time education and retirement may be spending more time on the activities they think willmake them happy - earning and spending - than on those that actually will:spending time withfriends and family. This friend-shaped gap explains the American paradox - why the residents of the richest nation in the world ~re so glum - according to Professor Robert E. Lane at Yale University. 'There is a kind of famine of warm interpersonal relations, of easy-to-reach neighbours, of encircling, inclusive memberships, and of solid family life,' he says. The secret of happiness? Not money. So leave the lawn, forget your investments and call in sick tomorrow.Do yourself a favour. Phone a friend.

60

65

70

~cording to the writer, improvements in health care

~ S C ~
On

Text Analysis

made no difference to the public's mood. alleviated some health worries. directly led to increased anxiety. only caused complex legal issues.

What does the writer mean by the underlined phrases in

the text? Discuss in pairs.

Discussion

average, people in their early thirties

have more friends.

a. The author believes that friends make you happy. How far do you agree with this? Discuss in pairs giving reasons.

;;,

fjavehappiermarriages.

::: are better-educated. ~ "acemore problems.

b. Readlines7 to 10.(Fourout... time].Thesestatements

are based on the results of a survey conducted to see how happy people in Britain are. What do you think the findings of a similar survey would be in your country? Discussin groups.

:xabulary Practice
l

=~ at least three words or phrases which a-resynonyms for the word 'miserable'.
2. ~~in the highlighted words.

c.

things which make you feel happy. Compare your list to your partner's. Which three are the most popular among the class?

Makea listof the fivemost important

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Gerund/Infinitive ~

Grammar Ref~rence a. Rewritethe following sentences usinga gerund, asin the example.
It takesheragesto put on hermake-up. Putting onhermake-up takes herages. It's nearlyimpossible for me to do two things at the same time. It isveryfrustratingfor her to haveto dealwith sucha problemon a Friday afternoon. It makesme feelreallyhappyto seeold peopleholding hands.

2 I ignoredthe streetnoiseandcontinued studying. 3 Let's think of allthe places whereyoumighthaveleft it. 4 Shecouldn't go on holidaywith her parentsso they boughthera carinstead. S I reallyneedyouto supportmeat the meeting. 6 Istopped tryingto get myhusband to do housework years ago.

2 3 4

Fillthe gapsin the following sentences usingthe gerundor the infinitive of the verbsin the parentheses.
I enjoy (live) in Spain,but I do

b. Now,answerthesequestionsin the two ways

shownabove.
1 Whattakesyoua longtime? 2 What isnearly impossible for you? 3 What makes youfeelreallyhappy?

p1iss (go)out with myfriends. 2 We agreed (meet)by the riverat 8 o'dock, but theynevershowedup. 3 Frank failed (complete) the course andsohewill haveto retakeit. (go) to the cinema, but Helensaid she didn't fancy ................................. (wait) in a queue. S I can't really afford (buy)a carthis year. 6 Marthapractised (play)the piano daily,but sheseemed (make)little progress. 7 Much as I dread (go) to the dentist,I don't think I can avoid................................. (visit)himthistime. 8 She certainly mentioned (see) Mark, but I don't remember her ................................. (talk) aboutVicky.

4 I suggested

a. Fillin the prepositions which usuallyfollow thesephrases. Usea dictionaryif you wish.
1 to disapprove ............. 8 2 to compliment sb ......... 9 3 to beashamed ............. 10 4 to apologise ............... 11 S to beinvolved............ 12 to compensate sb ......... to beguilty................... to beobsessed ............. to consist.....................

to object ...................... 6 to discourage sb........... 13 to protest..................... 7 to be keen ................. 14 to benefit .....................

b. Now write a sentence for each phrase, using a

gerundafter the preposition. Istrongly disapprove ofteenagers returning home after12.

Usethe verbsbelow in their infinitiveor -ingform to completethe six rulesfor achievingsuccess.

a. Matchthesephrasalverbswith their meanings.

respect focus gain improve imagine concentrate

J
1 2 3 4 S 6 takeup giveup block out counton make upfor runthrough a b c d e f rely start(e.g. a hobby) stoptrying ignore compensate examine

--

b. Rewritethe followingsentences usingthe phrasal verbsin Ex.3a.Usegerundswherepossible.

He'sbeena stampcollector sincehewasfive. Hetookupstamp collecting when hewas five.

Youmust yourselfandothersaround you. 2 Remember, on the outcome of yourgoal isa greatmotivator. 3 Try whatyourlife will belikeonceyou haveaccomplished youraim. 4 Buildupyourmotivationlevels by your diet. S Youshouldalways don't get distracted. 6 Youneedto eventsin yourlife. on the job at hand, controloverthe everyday

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'1g. veleftit. s sothey

.Jse of English- Part 1

STRATEGY POINT Read the wholetext firstto get an ideaof its theme(s) and content.
Consider meaning, naturalnessand form.

You will read a text on unusual ways to celebrate

birthdays.
Nork years

a. Readthe articlequicklyand answerthese questions.

1 Whatsortof activities arementioned in the article?

Styleisimportant;a veryformalword isunlikelyto fit in an informalpassage andviceversa.

Ig the

2 3

Doyouthinkthe writer isanadventurous person? Howwouldyoudescribe the toneof thisarticle? Why?

but I do 'iends. he riverat the course

1e cinema,

b. Now read the articleagain and for questions1-12, decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.

-)omet~ ifi~0iffere~t?
_::x>king for an unforgettableway to celebratethat specialoccasion?Well.the 0) ~.... :< optionsopen to today's youngster - or even 'oldster'for that matter.isa far cry fromthe -aditional party or restaurant visit.No longerisit 1) ,sufficient to inviteyourfriendsround,buy 5OIT1e food and 2) a bakerto produce a cake, No,today's birthdayboy or girlislookingforsomething :AJtof the ordinary,rangingfromth~ 3) expensive to the downrightdangerous.Anything4) ,as long as it isunusualand "'"1pressive, -ap of this year's popular extravagancesare as follows:taking some friendsrallydriving,for helicopter lessons, on a plane trip, ::>arachuting and hot airballooning,Then, thereis5) group bungeejumpingor takingyourbuddieson a stomach-churning, white .afer rafting6) down rapids,

................

,)a carthis

) the piano make)little

JO)to the .................. (see) ..................

'""Iedesirefor adventurous celebration is not restricted to the 7)

B) the milestone of eightyby havinga flyinglesson,

I recentlymet an octogenarian who celebrated

:)f course,ifyou havethe money,the wo~disyouroyster. A well-heeled relationof mineflewfiftyof hisfriends to a Caribbeanisland to ""1Ork the passing of hishalfcentury,Unfortunately, Iwasonlya 9) relation!
, the lessextravagantor lessadventurous among us. ~lr)doubtedly, the moretraditionalformsof celebrationdo continueto 10) -;owever, withmy own halfcentury11) on the horizon, I wouldn'tsayno to a weekendin Paris and a mealat the Eiffel Tower. I can '2) dream.Perhaps by the timeI'm eightyI'll be able to afford it,

rigform :cess.

0 A scale 1 A hoped 2 A make 3 A perfectly 4 A 5 A 6 A 7 A 8 A 9 A goes ever travel adolescents attaining distant

B B B B B B B B B B B

degree decided get dearly comes always voyage teenagers arriving remote distract

C C C C

range marked let

outrageously C wins C more C ride C C C C youth getting faraway absorb

D D D D D

variance considered want explicitly takes

>rs around I yourgoal onceyou ........your

I
I

10 A pacify 11 A appearing 12 A however

B looming B but

C darkening C nevertheless

D instead D crossing D young D reaching D slight D satisfy D showing D anyway

;r

Find words or phrases in the text above which are similar in meaning to the following. 1 verydifferentfrom 2 unusual 4 an importantevent 5 thereisno limit 7 approaching 8 I would like

b at hand, e everyday

3 frightening

6 wealthy

9 it'simpossible forme

19
-

--

--

---

--

Put weltin front of the verbsin the list, then use them to completethe sentences. Whichof the verbslistedbestcompletesthe caption?

~
9

Word Formation
a. Completethe following sentences with words formed from the noun alarm.
We had to call the doctor. Her temperaturewas high. 2 He's always spreading rumours thatwe'regoingbankrupt. He's a real . 3 4 Herexam results arequite anyproblems at home? Iwasrather I came straightover. . Has shehad bythe message youleft,so

brought up documented spoken thoughtof known travelled mannered

J, Sheknowsa great dealabout differentcultures.She's extremely . 2 Youmusthavereadhisbooks. He's avery.......................... author. Hewasa quiet,pleasant, man. young

3 4

Herparents haddonea marvellous job with her.Shewas very . S YoucantakelittleTony withyouanywhere. He's extremely . 6 Everybody respectshim in the community.He's very .

b. Completethe following sentences with words formed from the verb impress.
It wasan performance by Henman, who now lookssetto win the tournament. 2 Hefoundthe art exhibitionrather , saying that hehadexpected to seemoreartistsfromabroad. 3 Jeremywas by Shona's displayo~ anger;afterall, hewasusedto herlosinghertemper. 4 Hewasanxious to makea good on his fiance's parents, soheworea whiteshirtanda tie. S Tonyis only 16 and he is easilyinfluencedby those aroundhim;he'sa rather youngman.

7 Youcanfind out everything about the development of the Internet.It'svery .

Useof English- Part 3

10

Forquestions1-10,usethe words in bold to form wordsthat fit in the

numbered spaces inthetext.

STRATEGY POINT

~..AChinese wedding
1)

~..
were

..

Traditionally a Chinese wedding 0) originated with an elaborate marriage

. The

most important

people in this process

ORIGIN PROPOSE

Quicklyskim through the whole text to get an idea of the topicandthe tenses used.

the bride and groom's parents - not the young people themselves. SUIT When the boy's parents had identified a 2) bride for their son, they sent a gO-between to the girl's house with presents ACCEPT for her parents. If the offer was 3) to the girl's parents, they sent back a special chart with the date and hour that their BEAR . This document would then be daughter was 4) placed on the ancestral altar for three days. In the 5) .......................................... ABSENT of any inauspicious omens, such as quarrels, accidents or ILL 6) in the family, the chart was then given to an PROSPECT astrology expert, to discover whether the 7) bride would make a good wife for their son. Should the expert look FAVOUR 8) on the girl's horoscope, then a REPEAT 9) of the whole process took place with the boy's horoscope. 10) Only after this, would a personal, face-to-face of the two young people be made. INTRODUCE

Tryand identifywhat part of speechis missingfrom eachgap. Remember - in this partof the test,yourspelling must becompletely accurate. Onceyou havedecided on youranswers, readthrough thetextagain, checking that each wordfitsgrammatically andinterms of meaning.

20

Gapped sentences
I words

~1

rature was
Ig bankrupt.

Inthis sectionof the Useof Englishpaperyou have to lookat setsof three sentences. In eachset of sentences you mustusethe sameword in exactly the sameform to fill all three gaps.
a. Look at the three sentences below and choose the correct option in each sentence. There may be more than one correct option. Sheonly earnsa low wage and has trouble having/ making/reaching endsmeet. 2 All these bright lights and the loud noiseare making/ turning/causing myheadspin. 3.<\re youhaving/baking/making another chocolate cake?

Has shehad
~you left, so

:h words

enman,who

= Whichisthe only word which canfit in all three

sentences? ...........

, saying )m abroad.

j'S displayof lertemper. on his nd a tie. youngman.

_~ :;English- Part 4

.2

ced by those

=Or questions1-5,think of oneword which canbe used appropriatelyin all three sentences. can'ttalk now,I'm tryingto do myhomework. Nill you domea favour? "ou'dbetterhelplittle Anneto doup hershoelaces. "oucan on Joeto helpyouout if you'reintrouble. sheepand that puts me to sleep

STRATEGY POINT Read throughall three sentences quickly to identifywhat partof speech isrequired. Remember that in each set of three sentences the missing wordwill always be the samepart of speech (adjective, verb, noun,etc.).

'.f)en I can't sleep,I always straightaway.

Now read each sentence again very

'OJescaped from the accidentwith only a few bruises; I think you should yourselflucky! -~e weatherisalmosttropical -n,ebutlerwent in the southof the country. he'sa realsofty!

-ndrew seems verycoldandhard,but deep

)OINT

to the cellarto fetcha bottle of wine. to drivers approaching fromthe right.

\rough the jet an idea I the tenses

I

:::.., a roundabout youmustgive --e only

to findout the truth isto askhimdirectly.

to the meeting.

::0 i.,stopped to make some photocopies on his

what part

carefully. Make a note of any words which you think might fit each gap. The missing word couldbe part of a collocation, set phrase, phrasal verb,etc. Youmayhaveseveral possibilities for each gap. Checkthe wordsyou havenotedagainst eachgapuntil youfind onewhichfits all threesentences. -

When you think you havefound the correct

--e catdidn't appear to - :OJrguidewill

anyill effectsafter itsswimin the bath! usroundthe importantsitesof the cLty. anysigns of stopping,doesit?

lissing from

thispartof pellingmust accurate. decided on 'eadthrough :hecking that ~rammatically meaning.

--,S raindoesn't ~a~'s the

of hangingthe clothes out to dry nowthat it's raining? if youhavea headache. ; he'shandedin hisnotice.

'nnj( a little freshairwill do you --5 ,imeHarryisleaving for

word, readeachsentence throughagain verycarefully withyourchosen wordineach gap.Themissing word mustfit the gapin eachof the threesentences grammatically. Isit the rightpartof speech? Isit partof a collocation or phrasal verb,etc.?It mustalso fit in termsof meaning. Do eachof the threesentences make sense?

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