Leccin 1: The Daily Grind

Leccin 1: The Daily Grind

Reading:

We love to hate our jobs. But if they're so terrible, why do we carry on doing them?

Alice Wignall

Monday February 6, 2006

The Guardian

Oh, we all hate work, don't we? Just can't stand it. Did I ever tell you about the time I called in sick for a week because I couldn't stand looking at my boss for one more moment? Or mention the time I cut my own arm off so there was no way they could make me take minutes in the meeting that day? How about the time I faked my own death to avoid the commute?

If you were in any doubt about just how much we loathe employment, you could take another look at lifelong.disappointement.com, a website we at Office Hours recommended recently for those wanting to vent their spleen about workplace miscreants.

One infuriated contributor writes about their boss: Mark reminded me of the kind of bloke who drives an unlicensed minicab for the sole purpose of raping drunken passengers. His minuscule IQ was matched by the number of baths he had a year.

Working in a factory can be a dull job at the best of times, but Mark managed the quite amazing feat of being both dull and infuriating at the same time. I'd find myself grinding my teeth into anger-powder at his banal and bigoted comments, while simultaneously berating myself for letting such a degraded Hobbit get to me in the first place.

And that is one of the more restrained entries.

While you're trawling the Things we hate about work bit of the internet (which you do all day, because you just hate your job so much, remember!) you could also take a look at jobsworth cards: greetings cards bearing slogans such as Helen had solved the boss problemNow, where to hide the body? And James had finally worked out how to turn the damn thing off beneath a picture of a man bludgeoning his computer with a rock.

The site and the cards are both funny, or course. You'd be slightly weird never to wonder if there was a way to make your boss disappear. Nor can there be a person on the planet, relying on a computer for some essential and urgent piece of work, who hasn't within five minutes wanted to hurl the thing off the nearest cliff.

No one could deny that a day in the office is a feast of irritation, frustration and sheer wonderment at the ridiculous things that you fellow human beings can say and do with, apparently, no sense of shame.

But is that a problem with work or with life? If you spent all day, every day in your own house, you'd be Googling for a website where you could record rants about home life before lunch on day one. Why does the postman always have to make such a racket? Who is this lobotomised streak of inanity that has somehow got a job presenting a national radio programme? Why are the streets filled with people whose default speed is slow shuffle between 9am and 5pm every weekday?

Most things in life are just annoying, especially if you don't have much choice about them, if they are repetitive, and if they require interaction with people you haven't personally selected for the purpose beforehand. It's just that we spend more time at work than anywhere else, so we think it's the fault of the job when in fact it's just the fault of, well, the world in general.

QuestionsA. Read the text carefully and explain the meaning of the words in bold:

B. Complete the sentences regarding the text with the correct answer A, B, C, D

C. Answer the following questions in your own words.

------ ooo O ooo ------Gap Fill A. Complete each sentence with one of the words or phrases given.

Logic / Responsibility / Pacify / Burden / Join / Traumatized / Obliviousness / Lack / Training / Judgements

------ ooo O ooo ------ListeningA. Listen to the news-reporter:

Teeth damaged by daily grind

Victoria Richardson

Thursday January 27, 2000

The Guardian

Rising stress at work is causing increasing numbers of young professionals to grind their teeth while they sleep. Dentists report higher numbers of people in their 20s and 30s showing the symptoms of grinding which include headaches, painful teeth, an aching jaw or neck and ringing ears.

Other problems include broken fillings and worn down teeth but many sufferers do not realise what is causing them.

The British Dental Health Foundation's chief executive, Nigel Carter, said he had noticed more and more young people needing treatment for the condition, technically known as bruxism.

"It is certainly increasing and one of the things you can put that down to is increased stress at work and in life in general. Certainly a lot of people in their 20s and 30s are showing signs of worn down teeth whereas traditionally that wouldn't be noticeable until they were in middle age. "A lot of people as well as grinding at night tend to clench their teeth during the day when they are concentrating and doing something with their hands. In the past it was generally more women who were affected with symptoms but now with a lot more people using keyboards that isn't the case and overall stress in the muscles during the day is building up.

"Once teeth are worn it can make a terrific noise like a circular saw and very often the first people know is if a spouse says something. In some cases you can really see great chunks ground out of teeth at a relatively early age."

Being made aware of daytime teeth clenching may be enough to help some people stop it but people who grind their teeth at night may have to wear plastic guards to stop their teeth rubbing together or have dental work done to give them a more balanced bite.

One sufferer is Verity Williams, 30, who works as an account handler for a London-based advertising agency.

"I get jaw ache and headaches in my temples but the dentist said the only way to stop doing it is wearing a brace at night which sounds revolting. I have done it since I was a child but it does get worse when I'm stressed.

"Several people I know do it because it does come up in conversation occasionally."

A British Dental Association spokeswoman, Jacinta Yeo, who has a practice in Harley Street , said: "In society life is faster and for some people they can find that stressful. If you tend to grind, stress will make your grinding worse. Some people say there is a genetic component, others say it is to do with the way the teeth meet but there's no question that stress makes it worse.

"I find that a lot of people who work in city jobs will tend to be grinders and a lot of them will tend to be young. Over the past 10 years I have seen more of it and I think it is on the increase because of the pace of life."

Stephen Palmer, director of the Centre for Stress Management, said there were a wide range of symptoms of stress.

The physical effects included palpitations, breathlessness, nausea, chest pains, clenched jaws or fists, back or neck ache, excessive sweating and frequent colds and flu.

The psychological symptoms included anger, anxiety, a lack of concentration and enthusiasm, mood swings and paranoid thinking.

Sufferers may also become more aggressive, more accident prone, eat more comfort food and have disturbed sleep.

B. Answer the following questions:

1. What age group is most likely to suffer from teeth grinding?

2. What are the main reasons why people grind their teeth? (3 reasons)

3. Why can grinding be dangerous?

4. How can people prevent bruxism?

5. Apart from grinding down the teeth, what are other symptoms of bruxism? (5 symptoms)

------ ooo O ooo -----Language Awareness - Loan Words

Nowadays, numerous words in the English language are loan words. Loan words are words that have been borrowed directly from other languages e.g. Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, etc and are used in conjunction with the English Language.

For example - This afternoon I had a siesta.

In this phrase - siesta - is the loan word because it comes directly from the Spanish language meaning a nap.

A. In the following sentences can you identify the loan words and guess their meaning?

B. In the following sentences, use one of the words given to fill the gaps in the sentences. Use each word only once.

Extravaganza / Hooligan / Spiel / Kamikaze / Blitz / Bistro / Imbroglio / Avant garde / Hoi polloi / Paparazzi

------ ooo O ooo ------

Talking PointLook at these houses and compare them.

What are their key features?

How do you envisage the interior of each house?

What types of people occupy these houses?

According to a recent survey carried out in the United Kingdom , most families are unhappy with their accommodation. The majority of families complain about the size of their dwellings. Describe in detail your ideal house.

------ ooo O ooo ------

Grammar - Non Count Nouns

In English, there are two kinds of nouns: count nouns and non-count nouns. It is important to understand the difference between them, because they often use different articles, and non-count nouns usually have no plural.

Non Count Nouns are usually things which cannot be counted, such as rice or water. Non-count nouns have a singular form, but when they are indefinite, we either use the word "some", nothing at all or a set expression, for example:

A piece of paper / advice / cake / meta

Using the word piece is acceptable here, however, sometimes we want to use a more precise word.

A. The words given below in the list on the left are more precise than piece. Match each one with a word from the list on the right.

B. Complete the following exercise using the following words

Spot / Teaspoon / Amount / Sign / Bar / Piece / Ounce / Knob / Bunch / Plot

------ ooo O ooo -----Literary Approach

A. What picture of the girls life emerges from this extract?

------ ooo O ooo ------Follow Up

A. You must choose the word of phrase which best completes each sentence

Leccin 2: The Animal Kingdom

Lead In

A. Put the following animals into the correct categories.

Monkey / Lobster / Frog / Haddock / Eagle / Gorilla / Crocodile / Salmon / Elephant / Mackerel / Whale / Parrot / Lizard / Baboon / Crab

------ ooo O ooo ------Reading & Questions

Giants under siege

The bear's head swings from side to side like a metronome as he lumbers across the slope. A week or two out of hibernation, he's spent the day filling his belly on the first lush greens of spring in the Valley of the Geysers on Russia 's Kamchatka Peninsula . Struggling to keep his eyes open, he stumbles a few yards to the top of a knoll and crashes, resting his massive head on his front paws, and immediately nods off. The long winter over, all seems well.

Not so. A new season has arrived filled with perils for Kamchatkas brown bears, the largest in Eurasia . During the Soviet era, when I was growing up here, across to the 750-mile-long peninsula was tightly restricted by the military, and there was plenty of federal money for wildlife management. As many as 20,000 bears roamed this wilderness. After the Soviet Union collapsed, international trophy hunting came to the region, oil exploration and gas development and gold mining increased, and fish and wildlife poaching grew rampant. The bear population fell to about 12,500.

Today international organizations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society, for whom I work as a biologist, are helping Russian wildlife managers. But here in Russia's untamed frontier, far from Moscow's prosperity, with the local economy still in a slump, the future of the bears is up for grabs - dependent on people with different stakes in the animals. To the hunting guide the bears are a source of income. To the scientists they're a key part of Russia 's wilderness. To the poacher they're competitors for salmon (and lucrative caviar). And to the reindeer herder they're wise and powerful neighbours. Whether the giants survive or fade away depends on who prevails.

Questions

A. Find a word or phrase in the text which, in context, is similar in meaning to:

B. Answer the following questions:

------ ooo O ooo ------Gap Fill

A. Complete each sentence with one of the words or phrases given

Wild / Stray / Poachers / Pests / Free-range / Prevention / Zoology / Hunting / Ecosystem / Organic / Food chain / Breeding / Decomposes / Herbivore

------ ooo O ooo------Language Awareness - Animal Images

Idiomatic expressions have long played an important role in the English language. In fact, the use of idioms is so wide-spread that an understanding of these expressions is essential to successful communication.

In this lesson we are going to look at idiomatic expressions with animal images.

A. Match an idiomatic expression with its definition.

B. Match the animal expression with its definition.

------ ooo O ooo ------Talking Point

Describe the following pictures. Where are the animals?

What do animals do in circuses? How entertaining would a circus be without animals?

Do you think having animals in circuses should be banned? Explain your argument.

------ ooo O ooo ------Grammar

A. Information and Emphasis

There are a number of ways to add emphasis to your sentences in English.

Emphatic Stress: I saw a dog

Emphatic Verb: I did see a dog

Cleft Sentences:

It: It was a dog that I saw What: What I saw was a dog B. Use of the Passive

The passive voice is used when focusing on the person or thing affected by an action. Generally, more emphasis is given to the beginning of a sentence. By using a passive sentence, we emphasize by showing what happens to something rather than who or what does something.

Example:

Reports are expected by the end of the week.

In this example, attention is called to what is expected of students (reports).

C. Inversion

Invert the word order by placing a prepositional phrase or other expression (at no time, suddenly into, little, seldom, never, etc.) at the beginning of the sentence followed by inverted word order.

Examples:

At no time did I say you couldn't come.

Hardly had I arrived when he started complaining.

Little did I understand what was happening.

Seldom have I felt so alone.

Note that the auxiliary verb is placed before the subject which is followed by the main verb.

D. Expressing AnnoyanceUse the continuous form modified by 'always', 'forever', etc. to express annoyance at another person's action. This form is considered an exception as it used to express a routine rather than an action occurring at a particular moment in time.

Examples:

Martha is always getting into trouble.

Simon is forever asking tricky questions.

George was always being reprimanded by his teachers.

Note that this form is generally used with the present or past continuous (he is always doing, they were always doing).E. Cleft Sentences: It

Sentences introduced by 'It is' or 'It was' are often used to emphasize a specific subject, object or adverbial.

Examples:

Subject: It was England who won the World Cup in 1966.Object: It was the World Cup that England won in 1966.Adverbial: It was in 1966 that England won the World Cup.

F. Cleft Sentences: WhatSentences introduced by a clause beginning with 'What' are also used to emphasize a specific subject or object. The clause introduced by 'What' is employed to emphasize the new information with a what-clause + be. The new information comes after be.

Examples:

What I've done is sent a letter of complaintWhat caused the accident was a cat.What happened after the party was that John and Dan went home. G. Exceptional Use of 'Do' or 'Did'

You have probably learned that the auxiliary verbs 'do' and 'did' are not used in positive sentences - for example: He went to the store. NOT He did go to the store. However, in order to emphasize something we feel strongly these auxiliary verbs can be used as an exception to the rule.

Examples:

No that's not true. John did speak to Mary.

I do believe that you should think twice about this situation. Note this form is often used to express something contrary to what another person believes.

H. Sentence Transformations ExercisesSentence transformation exercises help you expand your usage skills through testing various ways of stating the same idea.

For example, the sentence 'I've lived here since 1980.' can also be expressed: 'I moved here in 1980.

Complete the following sentences so that they mean the same as the original sentence.

------ ooo O ooo ------

Literary ApproachAnimal Farm (by George Orwell)

How they toiled and sweated to get the hay in! But their efforts were rewarded, for the harvest was an even bigger success than they had hoped.

Sometimes the work was hard; the implements had been designed for human beings and not for animals, and it was a great drawback that no animal was able to use any tool that involved standing on his hind legs. But the pigs were so clever that they could think of a way round every difficulty. As for the horses, they knew every inch of the field, and in fact understood the business of mowing and raking far better than Jones and his men had ever done.

The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership. Boxer and Clover would harness themselves to the cutter or the horse-rake (no bits or reins were needed in these days, of course) and tramp steadily round and round the field with a pig walking behind and calling out "Gee up, comrade!" or "Whoa back, comrade!" as the case might be. And every animal down to the humblest worked at turning the hay and gathering it. Even the ducks and hens toiled to and fro all day in the sun, carrying tiny wisps of hay in their beaks.

In the end they finished the harvest in two days' less time than it had usually taken Jones and his men. Moreover, it was the biggest harvest that the farm had ever seen. There was no wastage whatever; the hens and ducks with their sharp eyes had gathered up the very last stalk. And not an animal on the farm had stolen so much as a mouthful.

All through that summer the work of the farm went like clockwork. The animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced by themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a grudging master. With the worthless parasitical human beings gone, there was more for everyone to eat. There was more leisure too, inexperienced though the animals were.

They met with many difficulties-for instance, later in the year, when they harvested the corn, they had to tread it out in the ancient style and blow away the chaff with their breath, since the farm possessed no threshing machine-but the pigs with their cleverness and Boxer with his tremendous muscles always pulled them through.

Boxer was the admiration of everybody. He had been a hard worker even in Jones's time, but now he seemed more like three horses than one; there were days when the entire work of the farm seemed to rest on his mighty shoulders. From morning to night he was pushing and pulling, always at the spot where the work was hardest. He had made an arrangement with one of the cockerels to call him in the mornings half an hour earlier than anyone else, and would put in some volunteer labour at whatever seemed to be most needed, before the regular day's work began. His answer to every problem, every setback, was "I will work harder!"-which he had adopted as his personal motto.Questions What picture emerges of the pigs on the farm?

What is the general feeling on the farm?

Give a character description of Boxer

------ ooo O ooo ------Follow- UpA. Fill each of the numbered blanks in the following passage with one suitable word.

Leccin 3: Food for Thought

Reading

We are what we eatSep 4th 2003

From The Economist

Studies linking how genes and diet interact are helping food companies design products capable of protecting people prone to certain diseases. Some people eat three-egg omelettes topped with slivers of bacon and show no sign of a spike in cholesterol. Others indulge in one chocolate bar after another and stay as thin as a rake. Many, however, are less fortunate. Current research suggests that the culprit may be found in one's genes. Differences in genetic make-up may not only determine the body's ability to metabolise certain nutrients, such as fats and lactose, but also its susceptibility to disease.

The good news is that, within five years or so, researchers should learn how to modify people's diets to fit their genes and thereby prevent or delay the onset of a possible illness. At least, that is the goal of nutritional genomics-a new field that studies how genes and diet interact.

Projects in nutritional genomics are sprouting around the globe. Europe is merging its efforts in the field by launching NuGO early next year, a network that aims to integrate and develop the new branch of research. In America, the National Institutes of Health recently granted the University of California at Davis $6.5m to establish a Centre of Excellence for Nutritional Genomics.

In addition, there are international projects under way, such as HapMap, that focus on studying the pattern of inheritance of single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs (pronounced "snips"). These are places where the message encoded in the genome may vary by a single genetic "letter" between individuals. SNPs may determine differences in appearance, such as hair and eye colour, predisposition to illnesses, and how people respond to foods and drugs. Nutrition will be an important part of the new paradigm of "personalised medicine" and preventive health care, says Craig Venter, who spearheaded a private effort to sequence the human genome, and is now collaborating with Duke University Medical Centre to include genomic information in health-care planning.

Only a few diseases are based on mutations in single genes-as is the case with, say, cystic fibrosis or Huntington's chorea. As scientists have learned more about the human genome, they have found that many illnesses, including cancer and type II diabetes, are the result of an interaction between a number of genes and their environment. More than 100 genes have been implicated in the development of coronary artery disease (though carrying only one such gene is still a risk factor). But to express those genes, there needs to be a trigger-such as diet. Researchers estimate that diet may be the defining factor in a third of all cancers.

A gene is a recipe for making a protein. At the molecular level, various nutrients interact with genes by binding to DNA transcription factors-which regulate gene expression. Thus, the amount and type of food consumed affects the production of proteins directly.

Similar to "pharmacogenomics", which studies the effects of common genetic variants on drug response, nutritional genomics investigates the effect of diets on different individuals, groups and populations. But unlike drugs-which come as refined compounds, are administered in specific doses and have relatively short-acting effects-foods, like genes, act in concert. "They're like a great big symphony," explains Wasyl Malyj, who directs the laboratory for high performance computing and informatics at Davis's new centre. Moreover, the effects of foods are slow moving-and often take years before becoming visible.

As a result, no one meal is ever going to be detrimental for most people. The trick will be to find out what constitutes the best balance of nutrients over long periods. For example, a recent paper in the New England Journal of Medicine describes the effects of a traditional Mediterranean diet-lots of olive oil, fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts, moderate amounts of fish and wine, and little meat and dairy products. Those who adhered closely to the diet lived longer and were less likely to die of heart disease or cancer. There was, however, no association between longevity and any individual food component of the diet.

Questions

A. Answer these questions.

B. True or False - Please correct the False statements

C. Find a word or phrase in the text which, in context is similar in meaning to:

------ ooo O ooo ------Gap Fill

Fill each of the numbered blanks in the following passage with one suitable word from the box.

reduce / variety / get / set / combination / reasons / packed / source

------ ooo O ooo ------

Listening

Child obesity has doubled in a decade

Junk food and lack of exercise have created 'public health timebomb'

John Carvel, social affairs editor

Saturday April 22, 2006

The Guardian

More than a quarter of children in English secondary schools are clinically obese, almost double the proportion a decade ago, and an official survey released yesterday also showed that girls were suffering more than boys from a crisp and chocolate-fuelled life of too much eating and too little exercise.

Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said that the figures showed a "public health timebomb" in the making: children who were obese in their early teens were twice as likely to die by age 50, he said.

Researchers measured the height and weight of 11-15 year olds, and found 26.7% of girls and 24.2% of boys qualified as obese - nearly double the rate in 1995. Among children aged 2-10, 12.8% of girls and 15.9% of boys weighed above the obesity threshold - also well up on 10 years before.

The figures, based on 2,000 children, come from the National Health Survey for 2004, and have alarmed doctors as well as casting doubt on the government's ability to achieve its target to halt the rise in childhood obesity.

Amanda Eden, care adviser at Diabetes UK, said: "We will soon be seeing our children growing up losing limbs and becoming blind, as they develop the serious complications of having the condition. A firmer line needs to be taken to force the food industry to adhere to foodlabelling guidelines, so people know what's in the food they buy.

"They also need to ban junk food advertising to kids, and find more ways of encouraging people to exercise."

The increase in obesity accelerated sharply in 2004, especially among girls, the survey said. Figures for the 11-15 age group showed the proportion of obese girls grew from 15.4% in 1995 to 22.1% in 2003. But in 2004 it shot up to 26.7%.

Over the same period, the proportion of girls who were overweight, but not enough to qualify as obese, increased from 12.6% to 14.8%. In 2004 a total of 46% of girls and 30.5% of boys were either overweight or obese.

A report by the National Audit Office in February said that the government would fail to halt the rise in obesity without clearer leadership from the top.

The target of stopping the rise by 2010 had been set in 2004, but plans to change children's diet and exercise at school and home had hardly got off the starting blocks, it said.

Caroline Flint, the public health minister, said yesterday: "We have taken huge steps forward and are starting to change attitudes through the Five A Day campaign, the school fruit scheme, and more investment in school food and sport."

However, she added that the government recognised that it needed to do more to meet the target.

Prof Waine said that the latest obesity figures were disturbing. "This is serious news, because obesity in adolescence is associated with the premature onset of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

"It really augurs very badly for the future health of the population as these children move from adolescence to adulthood. We are in danger of raising a generation of people who have a shorter life expectancy than their parents."

He said that increased inactivity among children, such as not walking or cycling to school, coupled with more "energy dense foods" was fuelling the crisis. "Being obese at adolescence increases the cancer risk by 21% for girls and 14% for boys.

"In my youth, playing cricket and tennis were the norm. These have now been replaced by watching television and playing video games."

The survey also found that the obesity rate among adults had risen to 24%, in spite of people exercising more and eating more fruit and vegetables.

The proportion of men eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day increased from 22% in 2001 to 24% in 2004, while the figure for women went up from 25% to 27%.

However, more men gave up smoking than women, and in 2004 there were for the first time more women smokers (23%) than there were men (22%).

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said: "In the last decade, British children have got fatter faster than anywhere else in western Europe. We are at risk of an epidemic of vascular diseases as a result. We need active and competent, cross-governmental measures, and we need them now."

Questions A. Answer the following questions:

What do these figures refer to:

1.- a quarter

2.- 26.7%

3.- 12.8%

4.- 22.1%

Describe the trend over the past 10 years.

What are the dangers of obesity in children?

How can children combat obesity?

------ ooo O ooo ------Language Awareness - Food Idioms

A. Match the following food idioms on the right with there significance on the left.

B. Put each of the following food idioms in the appropriate sentences below.

A piece of cake / Cheesy / Bad egg / Couch potato / In a nutshell / Butter-fingers / Cup of tea / Nuts / In a jam / Peanuts

------ ooo O ooo ------Talking Point - Genetically Modified Food

Are there environmental, moral, or health issues associated with genetically modified food?

Should it be banned?

------ ooo O ooo ------Grammar - Reported Speech When statements, questions, commands and requests are reported, the original tense moves back one step in time. The rule is as follows:

Expressions of time and place may also change.

E.g.

Paula said "I went to Bilbao last week with my brother. I had a great time".

Reported Speech: Paula said that she had been to Bilbao the week before with her brother and that she had had a great time.Remember:

Sentences in reported speech are often longer than the original and may combine joining words like: and, but, so because, etc.

Some reporting verbs have special constructions

To tell someone to do something

To order someone to do something

To beg someone to do something

To advise someone to do something, etc

Exercises

A. Which verb can be used to report the direct speech in the sentences below?

Tell / Ask / Order / Invite / Remind / Warn / Beg / Refuse / Advise / Offer

B. Change the sentences into reported speech using the appropriate verbs

C. Look at this example and fill in the gaps. Imagine that your friend Ruth was talking to you about going to a party when you last spoke to her.

------ ooo O ooo ------

Literary Approach

Dinner with Trimalchio by Petronius (Satyricon)Now that the guests were all in their places, the hors d'oeurves were served, and very sumptious they were.... ....But I was speaking of hors d'oeurves. On a large tray stood a donkey made of rare Corinthian bronze; on the donkeys back were two panniers, one holding green olives, the other, black. Flanking the donkey were two side dishes, both engraved with Trimalchio's name and the weight of the silver, while in dishes shaped to resemble little bridges there were dormice, all dipped in honey and rolled in poppyseed. Nearby, on a silver grill, piping hot, lay small sausages, while beneath the grill black damsons and red pomegranates had been sliced up and arranged so as give the effect of flames playing over charcoal....

We meanwhile, were still occupied with the hors d'ouevres when a tray was carried in and set down before us. On it lay a basket and in it a hen, carved from wood, with wings outspread as though sitting on her eggs. Then two slaves came forward and, to a loud flourish from the orchestra, began rummaging in the straw and pulling out peahen's eggs which they divided among the guests. Trimalchio gave the whole performance his closest attention. "Friends," he said, "I ordered peahen eggs to be set under that hen, but I'm half afraid they may have hatched already. Still, lets see if we can suck them." We were handed spoons-weighing at least half a pound apiece- and cracked open the eggs, which turned out to be backed from rich pastry.

To tell the truth, I had almost tossed my share away, thinking the eggs were already addled. But I heard one of the guests, obviously a veteran of these dinners, say, "I wonder what little surprise we've got in here." So I cracked the shell with my hand and found inside a fine fat oriole, nicely seasoned with pepper....

Two curly haired Ethopian slaves followed him as he swept, both carrying little skin bottles like the circus attendants who sprinkle the arema with perfume, and poured wine over our hands. No one was offered water....

Glass jars carefully sealed and coated were now brought in. Each bore this lable:

Genuine falernian wine

Guaranteed one hundred years old

Bottled in the consulship of optimius

Petronius Abiter

Consul during the reign of Nero

Questions

What kind of a person is Trimalchio?

What is spectacular about the dinner?

------ ooo O ooo ------Follow Up

A. Choose the word or phrase which best completes each sentence.

B. Finish each of the following sentences in such a way that it is as similar as possible in meaning to the sentence printed before it.

Leccin 4: Fame & Fortune

Reading

BBC WORLD NEWS, Wednesday, 31 July, 2002

Three charged over Millionaire 'scam'Three people have been charged in connection with an alleged plot to swindle the makers of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? out of the jackpot prize.

Quiz show winner Major Charles Ingram, his wife Diana Ingram and college lecturer Tecwen Whittock were all charged with deception and conspiracy.

The Ingrams said they were confident they would be cleared of wrongdoing in connection with the ITV1 show, filmed in September of last year, and would sue for the 1m.

Major Ingram successfully answered all of the questions, but it was claimed he had been helped along by coded coughs from an audience member.

The prize was withheld by Celador, which makes the Chris Tarrant show, and Scotland Yard detectives began an investigation.

The Metropolitan Police said an unnamed 35-year-old man is on bail while investigations continue.

Bail

The Ingrams, who are both 38 years old and from Easterton, Wiltshire, issued a statement after being charged.

Their solicitor said: "Both Mr and Mrs Ingram intend to defend the charges and are confident that they will be cleared of any wrongdoing."

The solicitor said Major Ingram planned to "proceed with his claim against the makers of the programme for payment of the 1 million prize", once he was cleared.

"In the light of the forthcoming criminal proceedings neither Mr or Mrs Ingram will be making any further comments or statements at this stage," the solicitor added.

Mrs Ingram, a nursery nurse, and Mr Whittock, 52, of Whitchurch, Cardiff , south Wales , were charged earlier on Wednesday.

Mr Whittock is the head of business studies at Pontypridd College in south Wales .

The Ingrams and Mr Whittock were bailed to appear at Bow Street magistrates court in central London on 7 August.

They were first questioned by police last November.

Questions

A. Answer

B. Find words or phrases in the text which are similar in meaning to:

------ ooo O ooo ------Gap Fill:

A. Complete each sentence with one of the words or phrases given.

Stardom / Best-seller / Eminence / Popularity / Aspiring / Champion / Renowned / Autograph / Outstanding / Talented / Posthumous / Status / Legendary / Precarious / Notorious

------ ooo O ooo ------Language Awareness: The language of newspapers

In the United Kingdom there are two types of newspapers; broadsheets & tabloids. Broadsheets - Serious newspapers focusing on current political affairs and events.

Tabloids - Newspapers focussing on less "serious" content, especially celebrities, the Royal Family, sports, and sensationalist crime stories.

A. Look at the following examples of the same story and decide which is written in a broadsheet style and which is written in a tabloid style

Headlines Headline writing is considered a very skilled job. A good headline must:

Fit the story and tell the reader clearly what it's about.

Make the reader interested in the story and want to read on.

B. Look at the following headlines and match the word underlined in the headline to the explanation given in the list.

drop / marries / starts / prohibits / found not guilty / danger / exposes / tries / stopped / insists on / disappeared / close / progresses / delay / mocks

Headline Techniques

As seen above, headlines use special vocabulary and also particular grammatical forms. Here is a list of some of the forms of language and techniques used by headline writers.

Alliteration - repeating the same first letter or syllable in successive words to create a poetic or humorous effect (Sweet Smell of Success).

Clich - An over-used phrase or expression which has lost its originality e.g. the sun always shines after the rain.

Euphemism - the use of a polite or pleasant form of words to describe something less pleasant e.g. the little boy's room.

Exclamation - usually used to indicate surprise, sarcasm or amusement e.g. Woow!

Metaphor - comparison between two unconnected people or things e.g. the housing bubble has burst.

Metonym - where the name of a specific object or idea stands for something else to which it is related or a part of, e.g. the Royal Family is often referred to as The Throne of The Crown.

Pun - a play on words, often with a double meaning e.g. What kind of a tree grows on your hand? A palm tree.

Rhyming - words ending in identical sounds e.g. fat mat sat on his cat.

Slang - words or phrases not considered part of standard English e.g. cool, dago, da bomb

C. Try and match one of the techniques with one of the following headlines

------ ooo O ooo ------Talking Point

Would you like to be a celebrity? If yes, why? How do you imagine the life of a celebrity? What are the advantages of being a celebrity? And what are the disadvantages? What are the dangers of becoming a celebrity/millionaire overnight?

------ ooo O ooo ------Grammar - The Passive

A. Look at these examples of the passive and say what tenses they are in.

B. Which of these active sentences can be changed into the passive?

C. Complete these sentences using the correct verb forms

------ ooo O ooo ------Literary Approach The Lotos Eaters by Lord Alfred Tennyson

"Courage!" he said, and pointed toward the land,

"This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon."

In the afternoon they came unto a land

In which it seemed always afternoon.

All round the coast the languid air did swoon,

Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.

Full-faced above the valley stood the moon;

And like a downward smoke, the slender stream

Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.

A land of streams! Some, like a downward smoke,

Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go;

And some through wavering lights and shadows broke,

Rolling a slumberous sheet of foam below.

They saw the gleaming river seaward flow

From the inner land: far off, three mountain-tops,

Three silent pinnacles of aged snow,

Stood sunset-flushed: and, dewed with showery drops,

Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the woven copse.

The charmed sunset lingered low adown

In the red West: through mountain clefts the dale

Was seen far inland, and the yellow down

Bordered with palm, and many a winding vale

And meadow, set with slender galingale;

A land where all things always seemed the same!

And round about the keel with faces pale,

Dark faces pale against that rosy flame,

The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.

Branches they bore of that enchanted stem,

Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave

To each, but whoso did receive of them,

And taste, to him the gushing of the wave

Far far away did seem to mourn and rave

On alien shores; and if his fellow spake,

His voice was thin, as voices from the grave;

And deep-asleep he seemed, yet all awake,

And music in his ears his beating heart did make.

They sat them down upon the yellow sand,

Between the sun and moon upon the shore;

And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland,

Of child, and wife, and slave; but evermore

Most weary seemed the sea, weary the oar,

Weary the wandering fields of barren foam.

Then some one said, "We will return no more;"

And all at once they sang, "Our island home

Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam."

A. Exercises

Describe the land of the Lotos Eaters.

What are some features of the poem's language?

Does the poem seem to express ambivalence or hesitation about the prospect of continuing the voyage?

------ ooo O ooo ------Follow Up - Gap Fill

A. Complete these sentences

B. Finish each of the sentences in such a way that it means exactly the same as the sentence printed before it.

Leccin 5: Alternative Beliefs

Lead In

Identify the alternative beliefs in the photos. Do you believe in any of them?

Do you think there is intelligent life on other planets?

Some people claim to have seen UFOs. Do you believe them?

------ ooo O ooo ------Vocabulary

A. Match the appropriate word to the definition

Spooky / Soul / Ghost / Telepathy / Seer / Clairvoyant / Premonition / Coincidence

------ ooo O ooo -----

Reading & Questions

In praise of... Mischief Night

Friday November 4, 2005

The Guardian

It might seem idle to throw sand into the great commercial gale of trick-or-treat not least because the best way to encourage children to throw eggs and blackmail householders out of Halloween sweets is by giving them pompous instructions not to. But there are some lessons to be learned, especially in the south of England , by a few deliberately mysterious references to Mischief Night, which is where the tradition of youthful misrule at this time of the year began.

Like many apparently American inventions, from the Mormon faith to Wrigley's chewing gum, this has its roots in Yorkshire , Lancashire and the north-east, where mischief will be practised in some places tonight, the evening before bonfire night. It has a subtler and more imaginative history than the mass purchase of plastic witch masks which marks trick-or-treating, and crucially, a better understanding of the principle of community.

Mischief Night sees phantom door-knocking, gate-swapping and other minor acts of sabotage, but usually done with an awareness of targets which are appropriate and those which are not. The elderly are less harassed by the indiscriminate pestering encouraged by the "treat" part of trick-or-treat - unless they have been notoriously crotchety to local children in the year past.

The point, and the reason to encourage a little interest today, is to allow young people excluded from adult decision-making to make a point, in the clever, unexpected ways of which they are specially capable.

Questions

A. Answer theses questions

B. Find words or phrases in the text which are similar in meaning to:

------ ooo O ooo -----

Gap FillComplete each sentence with one of the words or phrases given

Sorcery / Cataclysmic / Alchemy / Amulet / Spell / Spooky / Harbinger / Goblin / Prank / Clairvoyant / Abracadabra / Superstition / Conjure / Petrify / Berserk / Haunted / Hair-raising / Vernacular / Raconteur / Muddled

------ ooo O ooo ------

Listening

Scientist to create haunted houseRachel Liddle

Thursday July 24, 2003

A scientist is continuing his quest to find rational explanations for unusual beliefs - by creating his own "haunted house".

Professor Richard Wiseman, a University of Hertfordshire psychologist who has previously researched luck, superstition and fake psychic phenomena, now hopes to use a house to explore the psychological effects of hauntings.

As a former magician, Wiseman has a few tricks up his sleeve - including eerie lighting, odd electromagnetic fields, infrasound vibrations, changes in temperature and draughts.

By manipulating these phenomena, he hopes to record visitors' responses to physical changes in their surroundings - testing his belief that "haunted" feelings are caused by responses to the environment, not ghosts.

"I think people have genuinely strange experiences," he says. "They can be because of environmental factors and if the house is known to be haunted."

Wiseman is known for his research into the more unusual aspects of psychology. He has previously studied reactions of people in Hampton Court Palace and Edinburgh Vaults, both notorious for creepy goings-on.

Researchers there found that people had ghostly sensations in the same areas of the buildings - which turned out to exhibit physical phenomena such as visual stimuli, electromagnetic fields, drops in temperature and draughts.

"The problem is that they have naturally occurring parameters, so we can't easily change them," says Wiseman.

Professor Chris French, of Goldsmiths College, London, a specialist in the psychology of paranormal phenomena, thinks the house could give more insight into the psychology of haunting.

"If Richard is actually able to create some kind of artificial environment in which people get the same sensations they typically get when walking around a haunted house, then that would be a big step forward in understanding the psychology of those kind of experiences.

"However, it may be that Richard will not be successful in his attempt. This will still be of scientific interest, as it would undermine some of the psychological theories that are currently under consideration.

"However, it would be much more exciting if he was successful in his attempts and I wish him well."

The concept of the house is still in the early stages. Wiseman expects the project to get under way in a couple of years, and is already trying to find a suitable house - perhaps Edinburgh or London .

The project is estimated to cost 50,000. Wiseman has not yet found funding, but doubts regular research sources will be offered: "I'd imagine it'd have to be a commercial backer, probably tied in with the media," he says.

A. Answer the following questions according to the listening

------ ooo O ooo ------Languaje Awareness- HomephonesHomophones are words that sound the same, but have different spellings and meanings e.g. flower and flour.

You need to learn these words as there are no spelling rules to help you remember them.Here is a list of 70 common homophones:

1. air, heir

2. aisle, I'll, isle

3. allowed, aloud

4. aren't, aunt

5. ate, eight

6. awe, oar, or, ore

7. be, bee

8. bean, been

9. bear, bare

10. berry, bury

11. blew, blue

12. break, brake

13. buy, by, bye

14. caught, court

15. cereal, serial

16. check, cheque

17. die, dye

18. draft, draught

19. earn, urn

20. fair, fare

21. find, fined

22. flew, flu

23. flower, flour

24. for, four

25. genes, jeans

26. guessed, guest

27. hair, hare

28. hay, hey

29. hear, here

30. higher, hire

31. hour, our

32. key, quay,

33. knight, night

34. maid, made

35. new, knew

36. none, nun

37. oh, owe

38. packed, pact

39. packs, pax

40. pair, pear

41. pause, paws

42. pea, pee

43. peace, piece

44. place, plaice

45. plum, plumb

46. practice, practise

47. profit, prophet

48. raw, roar

49. read, reed

50. road, rode, rowed

51. sale, sail

52. sauce, source

53. saw, soar, sore

54. scene, seen

55. sew, so, sow

56. sole, soul

57. son, sun

58. steal, steel

59. tea, tee

60. there, their, they're

61. through, threw

62. to, too, two

63. wail, wale, whale

64. waist, waste

65. war, wore

66. ware, wear, where

67. whether, weather

68. which, witch

69. would, wood

70. write, right

ExercisesA. Choose the right word or words to fill in the gaps in the sentences below.

B. In the following sentences there is a deliberate mistake. Correct the sentences.

C. Make a sentence with each of the following homophones.

------ ooo O ooo ------Grammar - Phrasal Verbs - To Set

A. Match the following phrasal verbs with their meaning

B. Now choose the appropriate phrasal verb to complete the following sentences

------ ooo O ooo ------Literary Approach

Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol

The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell you, by a hand. Not the curtains at his feet, nor the curtains at his back, but those to which his face was addressed. The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; and Scrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them: as close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow.

It was a strange figure -- like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength. Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, like those upper members, bare.

It wore a tunic of the purest white and round its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm.Questions

------ ooo O ooo ------Follow Up Gap-Fill

A. Fill each of the numbered blanks in the following passage with one suitable Word

B. For each of the sentences below, write a new sentence as similar as possible in meaning to the original sentence, but using the words given in capital letters, which must not be altered in any way.Example:

She really ought to start believing in her horoscope

HIGHIt's high time she started believing in her horoscope.

Leccin 6: The Queens English

Lean In

A. Can you identify where these flags come from?

B. Listening - Different Types of English

Can you find examples of these different types of English from the paragraphs below

American / Cockney / Australian

English Devices

A. Can you match each of the following English devices with its example? 1. gobbledygook ( an English term used to describe nonsensical language, sound that resembles language but has no meaning)

2. nursery rhyme ( A tale in rhymed verse for children)

3. tongue twister ( a phrase in any language that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly)

4. Limerick ( A five line poem. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme (aaa - above) and so do the third and fourth)

5. riddle ( A riddle is a puzzle, consisting of text with a question to answer)

6. anagram ( A word that is spelled with the exact same letters as another word)

7. pangram (A piece of text which uses every letter of the alphabet)

8. palindrome ( A sequence that reads the same in either direction)

------ ooo O ooo ------Reading & Questions

Mind your language

Where do words like 'bling' and 'nang' come from? A new documentary examines how youth culture sticks its tongue out at the Queen's English

Miranda Sawyer

Sunday August 14, 2005

The Observer

About halfway through next Wednesday's BBC Radio 1 Xtra documentary, Slangtionary, which attempts to explain where certain common urban phrases come from, an American rapper is asked what he thinks various British words mean. Sweetly, he gets almost all of them wrong. Which may make some older listeners feel better.

'Endz', 'blud', 'nang', 'butters' ... any idea? They're all everyday parlance for many UK teenagers, yet unlikely to be found in a lexicon, not even The Oxford Dictionary of Slang (try www.urbandictionary.com instead). Along with the distorted use of words like standard, bare and decent, such colloquialisms skid off the tongue of British urban youth, defining the speaker and the listener, alienating, explaining and classifying all at once. You don't get it? That's the point of slang.

Slangtionary acknowledges this and refuses to explain everything. There's an assumption that the listener will know what 'izzle' is (it's a way of speaking popularised by Snoop Dogg that turns most words into ones ending with izzle), that there's no need to clarify 'endz' (where you live) or 'nang' (cool). Even if you don't understand everything, you can still enjoy the show; trying to guess what they're talking about is part of the fun.

Elizabeth Biddlecombe, who produced Slangtionary, was inspired to do so when she moved from the UK to the west coast of the USA . 'I was surprised that people didn't always understand me,' she confesses. 'And when I started going out with an American boy, I found that if we were drunk or tired, then problems would occur. We'd both be going "what?" all the time.' Such lost-in-translation misunderstanding ran parallel with a shared transatlantic hip hop speak ('We both said "off the hook" or "it's all good"') and inspired Biddlecombe to investigate further.

Her documentary, which traces many current rap phrases to Oakland and the Bay area of California, and then nips back home to Britain to talk to academics, artists and teenagers, points up how most popular teenage slang comes from black speech and has done since the reggae explosion of the Seventies. Mistah FAB, a rapper from the Bay area, calls the way he and his friends speak 'nig-latin' (from pig-latin, a phrase which raised ire in both the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and the Ku Klux Klan).

These days, hip hop is an international language - think how quickly 'bling' and 'shorty' became part of British vocabulary - though British youth isn't just influenced by Afro-American rap. Afro-Caribbean chat and African ways of speech are also wound about in there, says Roots Manuva, born and bred in Stockwell, south London . Biddlecombe explains the dominance of hip hop speak as partly caused by record industry marketing and partly by the internet (teenagers will explain phrases to their instant messaging friends in other countries). 'On the one hand,' she says, 'slang is pinned to your physical location. And on the other, it's your tribe location, which is international and independent. So you'll have kids in Birmingham or Japan speaking izzle.'

Slangtionary is part of BBC Radio's Voices week, which runs from August 20 to 28, and celebrates the way we speak in the UK today. For Voices, more than 300 interviews were conducted with differently dialected sets of people, from the Channel Islands to the Shetland Isles. They were all asked the same 40 questions (to hear the results, tune into Word 4 Word on Wednesdays at 9am on Radio 4). Simon Elmes, creative director for BBC Radio, says that the research showed that we nurse two myths about the way we speak. One is that 'only we say that' - 'you wouldn't believe how many people said that "knackered" was a local word' - and the other is that 'no one says that any more'.

He agrees that, today, slang explodes and dies more quickly than before, due to mass communication - TV, mobiles, internet - and the fact that we move about more. As late as the early Eighties, more than 60 per cent of the UK population had never lived more than a dozen miles from where they were born: this no longer holds. Another recent development is that we're all anxious not to appear too posh; even upper-class people speak less correctly than 30 years ago. Weirdly, the middle and working classes used to have broader accents; now there's a linguistic levelling that's taking place across the country.

Professor Jean Aitchison, Emeritus professor of language and communication at Oxford University , agrees with Elmes about such levelling , but looks at slang slightly differently. 'Some of the changes in the way we speak aren't due to social implications, but to the properties of spoken sound,' she says. 'What is known as estuary English is having an impact on the whole of the UK , in Glasgow and in Manchester as well as around London .' She explains that, as a nation, we're losing the ends of our words, especially the ones that end with 't': 'It's natural, it's the way that sounds go.' In fact, poor old 't' is disappearing even in the middle of words - e.g. 'butters'is commonly said as 'bu'ers'. The most stable letters are 'm' and 'n', if you're interested; they're very unlikely to disappear from spoken language.

She also points out that our vowels are changing, so we're beginning to pronounce 'mean' as 'main', 'main' as 'mine' and 'mine' like 'main' - 'Our vowels are chasing each other'. This shift isn't unusual; it occurred in Shakespearean times, and you can hear it in the way New Zealanders speak. To a UK ear, Kiwis pronounce their 'i's as 'u's - 'fush and chups'.

Professor Aitchison's husband, John Ayto, is the editor of The Oxford University Dictionary of Slang. Recent additions include chav, bootilicious, bling, blog, dogging and lunchbox: 'I'm aware that once a slang word is in the dictionary,...#65279;people have already moved on. We struggle to keep up.' Still, there's always ye olde slange: 'gob' has been with us for five centuries and 'arse' was an everyday term 1,000 years ago.

Would you say arse to your granny? 'Personally, I don't find it offensive,' says Professor Aitchison. 'Not unless it's inappropriate. If a shop assistant swore at me, I'd walk out. But when I'm at Hackney market, it would be stupid to flinch every time someone used the f word.' 'You need to be able to switch from slang to something more formal,' agrees Slangtionary's Biddlecombe. 'Or you'll be at a severe disadvantage in life.'

Which explains the final truth about slang. Your mother will try and stop you speaking it. 'Oh yes, that's true across all generations,' says Elmes. 'People's mums try and change their accents. They want their children to speak properly.' S'standard, innit?

Comprehension Questions

A. True or False (Please correct the False statements)

B. Answer the following questions according to the text

C. Explain the meaning of the phrases underlined in the text

D. In about 100 words summarise what is said in the text about the changes in the English language

------ ooo O ooo ------Gap Fill

A. Complete each sentence with one of the words given.

Hinder / Behove / Diddle / Giggle / Enrapture / Indent / Apolitical / Knotty / Litigate / Mourn / Ordeal / Parable / Resilient / Shamble / Nondescript

Language Awareness Proverbs

The English Language has many proverbs - common sayings that are familiar that express a basic truth.

A. Look at the following proverbs and try and explain their meaning.

B. Proverbs often fall naturally into two parts. Match the beginning of the proverb on the left with its appropriate ending on the right. Then, explain what the proverb means.

C. Proverb Completion

Complete the following well known proverbs

------ ooo O ooo ------Talking PointShould everyone be taught and speak the same Language? What language should it be?

IntroductionSince the demise of Latin in the 15th century the world has lacked an official language of communication. Many have argued that it would be easier and contribute to global harmony if we could agree on one standard language. In fact L. L. Zamenhof created Esperanto specifically for this purpose at the end of the 19th century. However since then many have viewed English as a de-facto global language with local dialects like Singlish being spoken in many corners of the globes. The advance of English is resisted within many cultures that see language as an essential component of identity as well as a key tool for accessing the history and literatures of individual peoples.

Discuss.

------ ooo O ooo ------Grammar Conditionals

A. Complete the following conditional sentences using the correct form of the verb in brackets

B. Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the words given. (Do not change the word given!)

------ ooo O ooo ------Literary Approach

What does "How do you do?" mean nowadays and how is it used? Explain the kissing rule.

Watching the English - Kate FoxThe Rules of Introduction

Grooming-talk starts with greeting talk. Weather-speak is needed in this context partly because greetings and introductions are such an awkward business for the English. The problem has become particularly acute since the decline of "How do you do?" as the standard, all purpose greeting. The "How do you do?" greeting - where the correct response is not to answer the question, but to repeat it back, "How do you do?", like an echo or a well-trained parrot - is still in use in upper-class and upper-middle circles, but the rest are left floundering, never knowing quite what to say. Instead of sneering at the old-fashioned stuffiness of the "How do you do?" ritual, we would do better to mount a campaign for its revival: it would solve so many problems.

Awkwardness Rules

As it is, our introductions and greetings tend to be uncomfortable, clumsy and inelegant. Among established friends, there is less awkwardness, although we are often still not quite sure what to do with our hands or whether to hug or kiss. The French custom of a kiss on each cheek has become popular among the chattering classes and some other middle and upper-middle-class groups, but is regarded as silly and pretentious by many other sections of society, particularly when it takes the form of the air-kiss. Women who use this variant (and it is only women; men do not air-kiss, unless they are very camp gays, and even then it is done ironically) are disparagingly referred to as "Mwah Mwahs". Even in the social circles where cheek-kissing is acceptable, one can still never be entirely sure whether one kiss or two is required, resulting in much awkward hesitation and bumping as the parties try to second-guess each other.

------ ooo O ooo ------

Follow Up

A. Fill in the gaps with an appropriate word or phrase.

B.Choose the correct answer

Leccin 7: The Consumer Society

Lead-In

Look at and describe the photos below. Why do you think fashion changes every year? Do you follow the fashions? What is in fashion this year?

------ ooo O ooo ------Reading Comprehension

Cutting-edge Spain seizes design crown

Architects flock to land without a Prince Charles

Giles Tremlett in Madrid

Sunday February 12, 2006

The Observer

The last bits of machinery had disappeared from Europe's biggest building site last week to allow tens of thousands of travellers to stride across the glistening marble floors of the huge, wavy-roofed new terminal at Madrid's Barajas airport.

This glass-clad cathedral of light and space, its soaring roofs held up by brightly coloured pillars, is the work of Sir Richard Rogers, just one of the architects who have flocked to Spain as the country becomes the new frontier of world architecture. The man who built the Pompidou Centre in Paris has found a fresh lease of life in the bright world of Spanish architecture.

'The cork has been pulled out of the champagne bottle and now it is all just bubbling out,' says Rogers , explaining how the country's release from 40 years of stultifying dictatorship under General Francisco Franco helped generate a love of exciting new architecture.

He is not alone. This week the New York Museum of Modern Art will open an exhibition devoted to the remarkable new wave of bold architecture that is sweeping across Spain . 'This is the hothouse of Europe in terms of new buildings,' says the show's curator, Terence Riley. 'The percentage of commissions going to high-profile architects in Spain is notably high.'

He points to eight winners of the Pritzker prize - architecture's Nobel - who are all working there. 'If you are that well known, you can pretty much choose where you work,' says Riley. 'Now many of them have second offices in Spain .'

A spirit of enthusiastic optimism infects these professionals as they see buildings in Spain go up in half the time they would elsewhere.

Jean Nouvel, the French architect who has raised a colourful, cucumber-shaped block of offices to headquarter the water company in Barcelona , is one of those amazed at how fast the Spaniards can commission, give planning permission and build the new wonders. Nouvel's first architectural playground was Paris , but even there it took him up to a decade to build each of his three major projects.

Riley sees a mixture of European Union funding, Spain 's long-running building boom and a general desire to catch up with the rest of world in cultural terms as powering Spain 's rapid leap to the forefront of world architecture. 'In Spain people don't only want to do it, they want to do it quickly,' he says.

He points to what he calls the ' Bilbao effect', generated by the opening of architect Frank Gehry's shiny, titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum in former docklands. The Guggenheim is the dramatic centrepiece of an urban regeneration programme that saw culture and architecture as the driving forces behind an ambitious project that revitalised the depressed industrial city. Museums and conference centres by prominent architects have now sprung up in most major Spanish cities. Among the biggest are Peter Eisenman's City of Culture , now rising on a hillside overlooking rainy Santiago de Compostela, and the soaring collection of buildings that architect-cum-engineer Santiago Calatrava has built looking towards the Mediterranean in Valencia 's City of Arts and Sciences.

Gijs van Hensbergen, biographer of the great Catalan modernist architect Antonio Gaudi, says there is an appetite for risk-taking among a new generation of Spanish urban planners. 'The big gesture is something the Spanish are good at,' he says. 'In northern Europe we are less brave.'

Not all the new buildings are publicly funded. Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava, Sir Norman Foster and Rafael Moneo are all working on new bodegas with boutique hotels for Spain 's wealthiest vineyards. 'There is a huge sensibility among Spanish businessmen that design is really important. That is unique,' says Van Hensbergen. 'These are extraordinary buildings anyway, but they see them as part of a whole new branding exercise.'

He believes Spaniards are also blessed by not being restrained by their past. 'They don't have a Prince Charles,' he said. 'A lot of their buildings are homages to Gaudi and a new building method that he, in a sense, invented. His disciples have come on track 100 years later.'

Riley agrees that there is little to stop innovation in Spain . 'There is no voice against change or experimentation,' he says.

The architect Emilio Ambrasz, born in Argentina and now based in New York , has completed one of the strangest new buildings to have risen on Spanish soil. His House of Spiritual Retreat, partly buried underground, is topped by two soaring walls of brilliant white, which look like sails floating across the empty, rolling countryside near Seville , where horses and fighting bulls are reared.

Ambrasz explains that those who commission work in the town halls are often architects themselves. But, he says, this is just part of a deeper Spanish respect for culture: 'Spaniards have been very attentive to the cultural process and in so doing they have been very inventive.' Ambrasz's building was paid for by the owners of a stud farm.

Riley points out that, with the Madrid airport terminal finished, the next biggest building site in Europe will soon be another Spanish project, a Barcelona transport interchange. Among those at work in the city, where many of Spain 's most exciting architecture is being carried out, is Richard Rogers. The country 'has a culture that is willing to look for the best - it doesn't matter where it comes from', he says.

Questions

A. Answer the following questions in your own words, according to the text.

B. Explain the meaning of the following words or phrases underlined in the text

------ ooo O ooo ------Gap Fill

A. Complete each sentence with one of the words given.

Hip / Avarice / Zenith / Abhor / Chide / Oblivious / Cajole / Taciturn / Nadir / Alacrity / Penchant / Morose / Flabbergasted / Brazen / Vexed / Serendepity / Impertinent / Embezzle

------ ooo O ooo ------

Listening

Cutting edge medicine

Rory Carroll

Guardian Weekly

Another trolley is wheeled into the surgical pit with another stab victim, a man lying face down with eight puncture wounds in his back and a grape-sized hole in his neck. A few metres away a patient who was skewered in his left flank with a screwdriver or knife is having a plastic tube inserted into his lung. If the chest is not re-expanded, he could die.

Out in the corridor a man with dreadlocks limps past, trailing flecks of crimson on the tiled floor. He has been shot in the buttocks, but there is no exit wound. The bullet is inside his body. A line of glassy-eyed people on a bench barely notice him. Also wounded, they wait for their turn to see a doctor. A distant siren wails, heralding more arrivals.

Some would call this a scene from Dante's Inferno. Staff of the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital, by some measures the world's biggest, call it a quiet night. The sprawl of wards and clinics at Bara, as the hospital is known, serves more than 3 million residents of Soweto and some of the poorest, toughest parts of Johannesburg. Some nights the unit's queue of wounded stretches around the building. The vast majority are casualties of crime and traffic accidents. For South Africa, the level of carnage is a tragedy. For foreign medical professionals, it is an opportunity to learn. "I worked as a paramedic in Germany for nine years and never saw a gunshot wound. Here on my first night I saw 10," says Roman Pawlik, 28, an intern from Munich.

For more than a decade civilian doctors have flocked to Johannesburg to treat a variety and volume of injuries seldom seen in Europe or North America. Now they are being followed by military colleagues. Over the past year medics from the German and British forces have worked in South Africa's most violent city, honing skills that could be needed in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"It's frightening that people come to Johannesburg, our home, as preparation for a war zone," says Feroza Mohammed, a trauma doctor at Bara. But she welcomes the extra hands. There is a dire shortage of skilled surgeons.

Four German military doctors have worked at Bara, usually one at a time in 312-month stints. British military medics work across town at Johannesburg general hospital. Currently there are one from the Royal Navy and two from the army. "Our surgeons have gained valuable experience in trauma and surgical techniques," said a British high commission spokesman.

But a question mark hangs over the scheme's future. Jacques Goosen, the head of trauma at Johannesburg general hospital, said he had been notified that it would not be renewed when the present British intake ends its tour next month. "In my personal capacity I consider it a great pity. There is mutual benefit and that will be lost," he said.

There has been no official announcement, but it is alleged that the health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, resented British troops operating in a public hospital. No concern was voiced about the Germans, prompting speculation that UK involvement in Iraq, a war unpopular with the ruling African National Congress, prompted the objection. A health ministry spokesman, Sibani Mngadi, said the minister had requested information about the British presence but had not cancelled it.

However, the British Ministry of Defence said a new batch of medics would travel to South Africa in the new year. A request to visit the British at Johannesburg general hospital was denied, and it was not possible to reconcile the contrasting statements about the scheme's future.

The night spent at Bara's trauma unit leaves no doubt that military surgeons have much to learn from a city that recorded 694 murders last year and thousands of serious assaults. Recorded crime has plunged - from nine gunshot patients a day in 1994, the hospital is down to two - but it remains one of the world's highest rates and can evoke battlefield conditions. Staff tie blue plastic bags around their shoes to avoid bloodstains and put stickers marked "urgent" on the foreheads of the most seriously wounded.

After a relatively quiet start, the pace picks up after 2am with the arrival of a man with his skull cleaved open to expose his brain, a man with four machete-type hacks to his head and an unconscious youth with the grotesquely swollen features of one repeatedly smashed in the face with a blunt object. The gunshot victim is lucky. An x-ray shows the bullet is lodged in his left femur but there are no fractures. "Why was he shot? Maybe he was robbing someone. I don't want to know, that's not my job," says Todor Rosic, 40. The surgeon, a Montenegrin Serb from the former Yugoslavia, says he is training German medics bound for Kosovo who "end up treating my people who are being attacked by Albanians".

By 3am the floor is sticky with red blotches, and Gary Dos Passos, 28, is trying to insert a tube into a drunk with serious head injuries who is hysterical and has to be restrained by four nurses. The patient loses consciousness and the room goes quiet as the doctor fights to save him. The danger passes.

By 5am daylight is seeping through the windows and still the patients come, a line of bloodied bodies. They resemble battlefield casualties, but what brings most of them here are alcohol-related brawls, robberies and accidents. "We should get sponsorship from the beer companies," says Dr Rosic. "This gunshot was brought to you by . . ."

Questions

A. Listen carefully and answer the following questions.

------ ooo O ooo ------Language Awareness Puns

A pun is a deliberate confusion of similar-sounding words or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. Humour is more commonly the intent of puns in recent times, but formerly the serious pun was an important and standard rhetorical or poetic device.

A. Look at the following sentences and identify the puns. Identify the feature of the language are they based

B. Puns are frequently used in newspaper headlines. Look at the following headlines - what do you think the stories are about.

------ ooo O ooo ------Grammar - Structural Conversation

Study the following structural conversions and complete the exercises.

A. Better and BestYou'd better clean up your mess = You should / I strongly advice you to.

It's better to clean up than leave it in a mess = better of two alternatives

Itd be better to go to the gym than go to the bar = better of two alternatives

It's best to warm-up before going for a jog = best of several alternatives

B. I'd rather / prefer / like

I'd rather go by plane than by bus.

I'd rather you didn't smoke in front of the children.

We'd prefer you not to smoke, if you don't mind.

They would like you to go to the hospital immediately.

C. Wish, if only and hope

She wishes she were more intelligent.

She wishes (that) he had worked harder for his exams, but it's too late now.

If only I had worked harder, I would not be in this situation now.

I wish they wouldn't close the park before 21:00

I wish to speak to the Manager of the hotel

D. It's time

It's time we got the car and went home

It's time they changed into their costumes

E. Suggest

I suggest that you should use a dictionary

He suggested using a dictionary

F. Rewrite the sentences beginning with the words indicated.

------ ooo O ooo ------Literary Approach

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (Chapter 2)Yesterday afternoon set in misty and cold. I had half a mind to spend it by my study fire, instead of wading through heath and mud to Wuthering Heights . On coming up from dinner, however, (N.B. - I dine between twelve and one o'clock; the housekeeper, a matronly lady, taken as a fixture along with the house, could not, or would not, comprehend my request that I might be served at five) - on mounting the stairs with this lazy intention, and stepping into the room, I saw a servant-girl on her knees surrounded by brushes and coal-scuttles, and raising an infernal dust as she extinguished the flames with heaps of cinders. This spectacle drove me back immediately; I took my hat, and, after a four-mile' walk, arrived at Heathcliff's garden-gate just in time to escape the first feathery flakes of a snow-shower.

On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, and the air made me shiver through every limb. Being unable to remove the chain, I jumped over, and, running up the flagged causeway bordered with straggling gooseberry-bushes, knocked vainly for admittance, till my knuckles tingled and the dogs howled.

'Wretched inmates!' I ejaculated, mentally, 'you deserve perpetual isolation from your species for your churlish inhospitality. At least, I would not keep my doors barred in the day-time. I don't care - I will get in!' So resolved I grasped the latch and shook it vehemently. Vinegar-faced Joseph projected his head from a round window of the barn.

'What are ye for?' he shouted. 'T' mister's down I' t' fowld. Go round by th' end o' t' laith, if ye went to spake to him.'

'Is there nobody inside to open the door?' I hallooed, responsively.

'There's nobbut t' missis; and shoo'll not oppen 't an ye mak' yer flaysome dins till neeght.'

'Why? Cannot you tell her whom I am, eh, Joseph?'

'Nor-ne me! I'll hae no hend wi't,' muttered the head, vanishing.

Exercise

------ ooo O ooo ------Follow up -Gap Fill

A. Fill each of the numbered blanks in the following passage with one suitable word.

B. Finish each of the following sentences in such a way that it means exactly the same as the sentence printed before it.

Leccin 1: The Consumer Society

Reading

Buy, buy, buy: consumers fuel 1 trillion spending boomBritons are shelling out more than ever before on luxuries, but is it making us happy?

Paul Lewis

Friday May 12, 2006

The Guardian

Gone are the days when families would scrimp to buy a new toaster. Britain , it seems, has become a nation of hedonistic big spenders. According to a report out today, the country's apparently unquenchable thirst for the luxuries of life last year propelled consumer spending to a record 1 trillion.

The research reveals that housing is the country's biggest area of consumer spending, totalling about 327bn. But it is the "big treat" items, those one-off buys we know we should not indulge in, that have seen the largest growth, up 57% between 1995 and 2005. The amount spent on buying cars, DVD players, luxury furniture and, above all, holidays, is soaring.

The annual British Lifestyles report, by the consumer spending analyst Mintel, calculates that the average household spends 37,000 a year on consumer goods. Britain 's total consumer spending, the report says, has increased 43% over the last 10 years. The study finds consumer spending last year was 200bn higher than the government's estimate, in part due to Mintel's inclusion of council tax and discretionary pension payments.

Paul Rickard, Mintel's director of research, said the breakdown of figures revealed a "growing affluence".

"Our priorities as consumers appear to reside with fashionable 'must have' products like satellite navigation systems, flat-screen TVs and holidays," he said. "Compared to a decade ago, we're living in a society of instant gratification, and more and more of us have the financial means to fund that desire."

Holidays are the favourite non-essential buy, accounting for a third of the 139bn market in "considered" spending. The cost of vacations has reached an average of 790 a year for every adult and child in Britain , largely because of the move towards frequent short breaks.

Cars and computersSpending on motoring has also increased significantly, with drivers paying 65.5bn for their cars last year. Although the new models inspire interest, the report says second-hand cars account for the majority of spending.

Preferences in the home appliances market, another area that has seen big growth, have also shifted. Whereas in 1995 most spending in the sector was on "white goods" such as fridges, dishwashers and freezers, the preference now is for "brown goods" such as TVs, DVD players and stereos, which last year racked up 5.8bn in sales, a real-terms growth of 642% since 1995.

The home computer has attracted the biggest increase in spending - 695% - which the report says is all the more staggering given huge price deflation in the sector over the past 10 years.

Uninspiring everyday purchases such as food, drink, clothes and toiletries are a decreasing proportion of the consumer market, attracting no more than an 18% increase in spending. Occasional items that are neither essential nor luxury, such as books, gym memberships and visits to the cinema, are more popular, growing by 49% to account for 16% of the consumer market.

Particularly popular are hair and beauty treatments (up 56%), household goods and gadgets (62%), and plants and flowers (185%).

According to Andrew Leicester, of the Institute of Fiscal Studies , the trend towards consumer spending on luxuries can be loosely associated with improvements in quality of life. "As economists we presume that, as people's incomes increase, their disposable income also goes up, their spending rises, and they end up better off," he said.

But not everyone sees the economic picture in such a rosy light. Richard Layard, the author of Happiness and contributor to a new BBC documentary on what makes us happy, said: "The sad fact is that in the last 50 years people have not become happier ... despite a huge increase in their consumption."

Comprehension Questions

A. Choose the appropriate answer:

Gap Fill

A. Complete each sentence with one of the words or phrases given. You may need to conjugate the verbs and put them into the correct tenses!

To envisage / To peter out / About-turn / To bode / To slump / Balance / Break-up / Snapshot / To account for / Consortium / To falter / Run-up to / Boost / To subdue / Retail / High Street / To rip off / Cash flow

------ ooo O ooo ------Language Awareness Euphemisms

A euphemism is a word or expression that is spoken when people want to find a polite or less direct way of talking about difficult or embarrassing topics. For example, last week my dog passed away (died). Sometimes they are used to make things seem better than they really are. For example, the word administrative assistant to describe a secretary.

A. Identify the euphemistic expressions in these sentences. What do they really mean?

B. Look at the following euphemisms and explain them.

------ ooo O ooo ------Grammar - Joining Words

The constant use of short sentences can be a bit strange to read. To make your writing style more advanced, you can use two short sentences and join them together with a joining word/conjunction. This combination makes a compound sentence.A. Choose the best joining word/conjunction from the list below to join together the following short sentences.

Where / Before / After / Until / Since / When / Whenever / While / Although / Though / Whether / As

B . Choose the best joining word from the list below to join together the following sentences

In contrast / Therefore / Accordingly / However / Consequently / Furthermore / By the way / Otherwise / In other words / Frankly

------ ooo O ooo ------Literary ApproachA Society - Virginia WoolfThis is how it all came about. Six or seven of us were sitting one day after tea. Some were gazing across the street into the windows of a milliner's shop where the light still shone brightly upon scarlet feathers and golden slippers. Others were idly occupied in building little towers of sugar upon the edge of the tea tray. After a time, so far as I can remember, we drew round the fire and began as usual to praise menhow strong, how noble, how brilliant, how courageous, how beautiful they were how we envied those who by hook or by crook managed to get attached to one for life when Poll, who had said nothing, burst into tears.

Poll, I must tell you, has always been queer. For one thing her father was a strange man. He left her a fortune in his will, but on condition that she read all the books in the London Library. We comforted her as best we could; but we knew in our hearts how vain it was. For though we like her, Poll is no beauty; leaves her shoe laces untied; and must have been thinking, while we praised men, that not one of them would ever wish to marry her. At last she dried her tears.

For some time we could make nothing of what she said. Strange enough it was in all conscience. She told us that, as we knew, she spent most of her time in the London Library, reading. She had begun, she said, with English literature on the top floor; and was steadily working her way down to the Times on the bottom. And now half, or perhaps only a quarter, way through a terrible thing had happened. She could read no more. Books were not what we thought them. "Books," she cried, rising to her feet and speaking with an intensity of desolation which I shall never forget, "are for the most part unutterably bad!"

Of course we cried out that Shakespeare wrote books, and Milton and Shelley.

"Oh, yes," she interrupted us. "You've been well taught, I can see. But you are not members of the London Library." Here her sobs broke forth anew. At length, recovering a little, she opened one of the pile of books which she always carried about with her" From a Window" or "In a Garden," or some such name as that it was called, and it was written by a man called Benton or Henson, or something of that kind. She read the first few pages. We listened in silence. "But that's not a book," someone said. So she