Health

Activity 1

How to live to be 142

The inhabitants of Vilacabamba in Educator think it's normal to live to be 100 years old. The possible reason for their long lives is their low-calorie diet. The average 1,700 calories a day, which is half the average in Britain. They eat very little meat - only one ounce per week. The valley where they live is quite and peaceful and the climates is mild. The Vilacabambas them-selves think it is because of the herbal teas they drink.

From: Callow, Margaret

1. What is the average age of the inhabitants of Vilacabamba?
2. What is good about their diet?
3. What is bad?
4. Why do they think they live so long?

Activity 2
List the three kinds of advice of the Vilacabamabas' long live.

Activity 3
Study the following expressions.

Giving advice:

1. You'd better.........
2. Why don't you ...........
3. Why noy ..........
4. Perhaps you could .........
5. Have you thought about ...........
6. I have an idea ............
7. Let's ..............
   

Fauna

Read the following sentences and underline the words with sounds /ae/

1. Rabbit and cat are tame animals.
2. A bat can fly but a bet cannot.
3. They have not talked about the bad bat.
4. The absence of the trainer makes that animals absent.
5. That day that animals cannot stand.
   

Plants

Complete the sentences with the appropriate words in brackets.

1. A small plant is called a .......... but many tall trees are called .......... (jungle - bush)
2. The small green part of a plant is called a ......... and the part below the ground is the .........(leaf - root)
3. The height of a tree depends on its .... but its size depends on its ............... (branches - trunk)
4. People usually eat ...... from a tree and grow its .........(fruit - seed)
5. We smell the ........ which come out from its .......(bud - flower)
6. A farmer starts to .......... his farm by ....... it. (cultivate - ploughing)
7. The ......... picked flowers are ........ (fresh - newly)
8. Raflessia Arnoldi is .......... to see but horrible to ........... (nice - smell)
9. Tress ........flowers or fruit for people as long as they .... ..them well. (keep - provide)
   

Botanical Garden

Read the text carefully. Then match the information with the number of each paragraph. Tick the right number.

A botanical garden is an institution to keep plant collections.It is usually possesses a large number of species and is arranged to serve educational, aesthetic, scientific, and economic purposes. Botanical gardens also serve as places of recreation.

A botanical garden serves many purposes: as an outdoor plant science laboratory for university students, as a place to learn about growing plans for members of garden clubs, as nature trails and botanical education for young people and as a place of recreation for the public.


Information Paragraph
a. What people can see in a botanical garden 1 / 2
b. The purpose of a botanical garden 1 / 2
c. The people who make use of botanical garden 1 / 2

Learn together words based on the same root.

Can you add any words or expression to these two groups?

• price priceless overpriced
• handy single-handed give me a hand

Learn words with a grammatical association together.

Here are some groups of words, each of which has a grammatical connection. Can you see what the connection is? What other words could you add to these groups?

• child tooth ox
• cut split burst
• information furniture food

What should you do when your come across new words?

When you are reading something in English, don't look up every new word or expession or you will soon get fed up. Only look up something that is really important for understanding the text. When you have finished reading, look back at what you have readand then perhaps look up some extra words and write down new expressions that interest you.

Similarly when you listen to English don't panic when you hear some words expression that you don't know. Keep listening and the overall meaning will often become clear.

When you read or listen to English it is sometime possible to guess the meaning of a word you don't know before you look up or asking its meaning. Decide first what part of speech the word is and then loo for clues in its context or form.

Before you read the text below, check whether you know what the italic words mean.

Atortoise is a shelled reptile famed for its slowness and longevity. The Giant Tortoise of the Galapagos may attain over 1.5 maters in length and have a lifespan of more than150 years. Smaller tortoises from South Europe and North Africa make popular pets. They need to be tended carefully in cool climates and must have a warm place in which they can hibernate.

Which of the marked words can you perhaps guess from the context or fro the way the word is formed? Guess and then check whether you were correct by using a dictionary. Some words are impossible to guess from context or the structure of the word. In such cases, ask someone or to go a dictionary for help.

(from English Vocabullary in Use)

What does knowing a new word mean?

• It is no enough just to know the meaning of a word. You also need to know:
  a) what words it is usually associated wit; b) whether it has any particular grammatical characteristics; c) how it is pronounced
• Try to learn new words not in isolation but in phrases.
• Write down adjectives together with nouns they are often associated with and vice versa, e.g. royal family; rich vocabulary.
• Write down verbs with the structure and nouns associated woth them, e.g. to add to our knowledge of the subject; to express an oppinion.
• Write down nouns in phrases, e.g. in contact with; a train set; shades of oppinion.
• Write down words woth their propositions, e.g. at a high level; thanks to your help.
• Note any grammatical characteristics of the words you are studying. For example, note when a verb is reggular and when a noun is uncountable or is only used in plural.
• Make a note of any special pronounciation problems with the words you're learning.
  

What do you need to learn?

1. How many words are there in English? At least:
a. 10.000 b. 100.000 c. 250.000 d. 500.000
2. Winston Churchill was famous for his particularly large vocabulary. How many words did he use in his writing?
a. 10.000 b. 60.000 c, 100.000 d. 120.000
3. How many words does the average native English speaker use in his/her everyday speech?
a. 2.500 b. 5.000 c. 7.500 d. 10.000
4. How many words make up 45% of everything written in English?
a. 50 b. 250 c. 1.000 d. 2.500

To sum up, there are many words you don't need at all and there are other words that you simply need to understand when you read or hear them.Finally, there are words which you need to be able to use yourself. Clearly you need to spend most time learning this last group.

In the text below calculates the words you'd like to be able to use.

English vocabulary has a remarkable range, flexibility and adaptability. Thanks to the periods of contact with foreign languages and its readiness to coin new words ut of old elements, English seems to have far more words in its core vocabulary than other languages. For example, alongside kingly (from Anglo-Saxon) we find royal (from French) and regal (from Latin). There are many such sets of words which add greatly to our opportunities to express subtle shades of meaning at various levels of style.

You probably marked many words that you would like to be able to use. You probably ned only to understand, rather than to use, the verb 'coin' as used in the context above.