1. Assignment:
Grammar test
Choose the correct words to complete these sentences.
1. Last week I used to go/got to work late twice, firstly because of the traffic
and then because my car broke down.
2. I used to/would think that climate change was not a serious problem,
but now I have changed my mind.
3. When I was at school I used to/was used to getting up early, so now it’s more or less a habit for me.
4. Some people think that you mustn’t/don’t have to train hard if you are already good at sport. I don’t agree.
5. In some countries people are more or less made/let/allowed to recycle rubbish from home and are fined if they don’t.
6. A report I read said there’s a good doubt/chance that children aged 2 or 3 today will live to be 100.
7. Although it may happen, I think it’s likely/unlikely that there will be a nuclear war in the next few years.
8. I’m not really a pessimist, but one thing I’ve learnt is that if I go out without
an umbrella, it’s bound/probable to rain!
9. Technology will probably/probably will make education a fully automatic
process involving robots before the end of the century.
10. Before it gets better, pollution shall/could well get worse.
11. Many people say that it’s unlikely if/that computers will replace teachers.
12. If you work hard and learn all you need, you’re sure/probable to do well
in the exam.
13. I can’t suppose/imagine what cars will look like in 50 years’ time. Can you?
14. We should go now because the shop will have closed/be closing soon.
15. Do you think they’ll be finishing/have finished the work by tomorrow?
I can’t concentrate with the noise they are making.
16. I don’t think people will have learnt/be learning languages from books
in 20 years’ time. It will all be online.
2. Assignment:
Grammar test
Add the missing word to these sentences.
1. When we were young, my parents make us do something cultural every week. At the time I didn’t enjoy it, but now I think it was a good idea.
2. I never to like cheese when I was growing up, but now I eat some almost every day.
3. Scientific evidence indicates that it is no possible to deny that climate change is happening.
4. At school we were forced read the Bible every day. I don’t think that’s the right way to interest people in religion.
5. Mark and I were very close at university, but we’re not in contact more.
6. In the future it will almost be the case that most if not all household work is done by computer.
7. By 2050 it’s sure that new forms of personal transport will have invented.
8. If we don’t improve things soon, people won’t complaining about air pollution in 2090 – we’ll all be dead!
3. Assignment:
Vocabulary test
Complete the sentences with these words or expressions. You do not need all of them.
adventurous affected as far as bright side
carbon footprint a challenge circle competitive
demanding difficult time eager environmentally friendly
fancy dress good fun impact lead to
life-threatening lifetime matter of fact a million
myth the odds repay resulted in
rough weather solar energy steady job strict discipline
sympathetic tricky situation unrealistic unreliable
well off well organised wreck
1. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly [. . .], but I do like [. . .], so if people say something is difficult, I enjoy trying to do my best to do it well.
2. We’ve got a [. . .] at work. The boss’s son is part of our team, and last week he was responsible for a major mistake that [. . .] us losing an important contract. Now I have to tell the boss, his father.
3. I wouldn’t say that Helena is [. . .]; she generally does what she says she’ll do. It’s more that she’s not always very [. . .].
4. One thing you can do if you want to reduce your [. . .] is to install some panels on the roof of your house and use [. . .].
5. I can imagine that weeks of [. . .] in the Antarctic that made it impossible to spend time outdoors would have a big [. . .] on your mood.
6. It’s a well known fact that [. . .] jobs can [. . .] high levels of stress.
7. The school we went to was famous for its [. . .] and that has [. . .] how I feel about team games. I hate them.
8. Plastic isn’t at all [. . .], but it’s [. . .] to expect companies to stop using it completely as it has so many uses.
9. I’ve been going through a [. . .] lately, so I don’t think I will be able to [. . .] you the money I borrowed for a few weeks. I hope that’s OK.
10. I went to a [. . .] party at the weekend. I normally avoid things like that, but actually it was quite [. . .].
11. When I went to university, I was really [. . .] to expand my [. . .] of friends as I had the chance to meet people from all over the world.
12. I’m not the [. . .] type. I would never go bungee jumping or anything like that. All I want is a [. . .] with good security and a regular salary.
13. Jenny is amazing. Even if she had a [. . .] disease, I’m sure she would still be positive. She has the gift of looking on the [. . .] of everything.
14. Some people say it’s a [. . .] that climate change is man-made. As a [. . .], that’s what my uncle believes.
15. What are [. . .] of this happening? – Maybe one in [. . .].
16. Peter used to be a [. . .] man, but losing all his money has [. . .] his life.
4. Assignment:
Text production
Choose one of the following two options (Option 1 OR Option 2).
Option 1 text-based composition
Look again at the text ‘Why we think we’re going to have a long and happy life’ on pages 56 and 57 of the course book.
“Even if our optimism is unrealistic … without it we might all still be living in caves” (part of the final sentence of the last paragraph on page 57).
Explain the quote above in relation to the whole text of Why we think we’re going to have a long and happy life and comment on the advantages and disadvantages of being optimistic and not ‘average’.
Option 2 Composition
“It is not particular events that change our lives for the better or the worse, but relationships, even if we don't realise it at the time.” Discuss.
Write about 300 words.
5. Assignment:
Mediation
In this activity, you have to read and understand a text in English and then select certain information about the text for a school magazine. You should NOT use complete sentences of the original text. Don’t worry if the text is long or contains new vocabulary – you should focus on the key points.
To do this well, you should:
1. Read and understand the main ideas – the gist – of the text.
2. Check what information you have to provide, and why, and who wants it from you.
3. Find the key information required in the text.
4. Decide what style to present the information in (e.g.: formal and impersonal for an article, informal for an email to a friend)
5. Summarise the key information required, using paraphrase so that you don’t simply copy the information.
6. Check that you haven’t expressed your own ideas or opinions or included unnecessary details such as specific examples, direct speech quotations etc.
Here is your task:
A friend of yours is working on a school magazine project called ‘The secret of happiness’ and has asked for your help. He found this article after a Google search and has asked you to write a summary of the relevant information.
Write about 250 words.
The secret of happiness
It’s not easy being happy!
Listen to the conversations around you, and you will probably hear people complaining about work, their colleagues, the weather, the cost of things, how busy, stressed and short of time they are and more. Conversations about positive things seem in short supply. Open a newspaper or watch the news, and you’ll hear about war, death, destruction, corruption and scandals, extreme weather conditions, rising costs and so on. Positive stories are few and far between.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that we are eating and drinking too much, driving too fast and spending money unwisely.
The science of happiness is a relatively new thing, which is profoundly odd when you consider that for most people, the goal of life is to be happy.
Of course, one of the problems of investigating happiness is that it is a subjective emotion. Different things make different people happy. For some, an evening of head-banging in an ear-splitting heavy metal concert is bliss, while for others it’s their idea of hell. Some enjoy nothing better than spending an hour doing yoga in the calm and quiet of the natural beauty of mountains; others would die of boredom in that situation.
Happiness is elusive. You can decide to go and see a film, eat in a restaurant, or catch up with a friend, and any of these might make you happy as a result. But it’s much harder and much less logical to decide to be happy, and then see a film, eat out or phone a friend in order to do that. Happiness is a by-product.
One thing we do know is that money can’t buy happiness. A famous study in the 1970s showed that while income grew in the US after World War Two, reported happiness didn't increase in line with it. The research suggests that once you have secured the basic necessities such as food, shelter and healthcare and have access to company and some form of entertainment, income doesn’t really play a significant role in increased happiness. The richest people in the world are not the happiest. That is something we can all find comfort in! Again and again, in fact, we hear that what people want in order to find true happiness is some form of ‘the simple life’ where they are in harmony with their environment, both in terms of nature and the people around them. The simple pleasures of good food, good company and good fun account for a great deal.
Indeed, researchers comment that humans find happiness when they are looking for something else. Typically that involves relationships with others that create a sense of purpose and belonging, and activities and lifestyles that are engaging and stimulating.
There is however some evidence that some people are genetically more predisposed to feeling happy. This is called trait happiness. Some people have an abundance of it, and others have precious little. The bad news is you can’t control your genes. The good news is that other forms of human happiness do lie within our control. This includes having supportive relationships, making positive choices to do the right thing like helping others, not lying for your own benefit, returning lost property to its rightful owner, and being faithful to your partner.
In addition, there is a lot of interest currently in what is known as flow. This is a state where you are fully engaged in something, for example painting a picture, reading a book, solving a problem, playing a game of tennis, and you don’t notice time passing. You are fully absorbed in what you are doing.
Another thing is also clear from recent research. You are unlikely to be happy if your idea of happiness is borrowed from (or imposed by) someone else. Nobody can tell you to be happy. It’s important to define your own success and your own happiness. This brings us back to the complaints we often hear. We live in a society where having a good job, earning lots of money, living in a nice house, driving a good car and so on are treated as badges of success. We become competitive about those things, so we soon feel we want a better job, more money, a bigger house, a faster car. That’s how the consumer society works, but it is not the path to happiness. The opposite in fact, as we have seen.
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