Part IV. Writing

1. Your teacher has asked you to write a discription of the most famous building in your town for the university magazine. Write your article including historical facts as well as describing its exterior and interior.

2. Describe a new shop in your town which you feel will be successful, give reasons for your opinion.

3. You are a reporter for an international travel magazine. The magazine is publishing a series of articles about castles. Write an article describing a famous castle, including its history and a description of both the exterior and interior.

4. You have recently spent the weekend at your employer’s cottage. Write a letter to him/her, outlining what you enjoyed most about your visit and inviting him/her to visit you at your own house in the near future.

UNIT 3

Meals and cooking part I. Listening

Task 1

1. Extracts

a) Listen to each extract. Focus on the speaker's main idea – don't worry if you don't understand every word. You will hear each extract twice.

b) Choose one of the options after listening the first time. If you don't know an answer, have a guess and go on to the next question.

c) Listen again to check your answers. Make sure the other options could not be correct.

You will hear people talking in eight different situations. For questions 1-8, choose the best answer А, В or С.

1. You hear the beginning of a radio programme about food. What does the presenter say is most surprising about the website he's describing?

A the number of recipes available

В the way that different flavours have been combined

С the fact that one ingredient appears in so many of the recipes

2. You hear an old woman talking about vegetarianism. What is she doing when she speaks?

A supporting the principles of vegetarianism

В doubting the seriousness of many vegetarians

С explaining why she has become a vegetarian

3. You hear part of an interview with a woman who is in favour of organically-grown food. What opinion is she expressing?

A Only food grown locally should be labelled as organic.

В It's best to avoid the organic sections of supermarkets.

С Even commercially produced organic food is a good thing.

4. You hear part of a radio discussion about travel guidebooks. What does Graham find disappointing about the book called The Ultimate Guide!

A the range of information included

В the quality of the illustrations

С the clarity of the descriptions

5. In a radio play, you hear two people talking about pizza. Where is this scene taking place?

A in their home

В in a restaurant

С in a supermarket

6. You hear part of a radio programme about looking for a job on the Internet. Which group of people is being described?

A unemployed people

В people dissatisfied with their jobs

С part-time workers looking for full-time jobs

7. You hear a radio news report about a scientific conference. What is the main aim of the experiment described?

A to attract attention to an idea for a new product

В to demonstrate the power of marketing

С to get funding for a new area of research

8. You hear the owner of a large restaurant talking about her work. What is her main aim in running the restaurant?

A encouraging competition between the chefs

В ensuring a standardised product for the customers

С involving all the staff in checking the quality of the food

Task 2

Before you listen

What do you know about the world health?

1 Which nationalities do you think have particularly healthy or unhealthy lifestyles? What are the reasons for this?

2 What are the most common diseases in the world today? Are some more common in specific countries?

Sentence completion

You will hear an interview about health and diet in some countries around the world. For questions 1-10, complete the sentences. The first one is done for you.

1. A growing problem in Britain today is the number of overweight children.

2. Penny believes that improving the quality of __________ will have a big effect on the nation’s health.

3. At the moment, the British spend four times as much on food for __________ than for schoolchildren.

4. In a traditional Japanese diet, _____________ of their calories come from carbohydrates.

5. The Inuit of Greenland are an extremely _____________ population.

6. A link between omega-3 oils and better _____________ has only just been found.

7. Eating curries could be the reason why many elderly Indians still have good ___________.

8. It is now thought that drinking ___________ could be good for the health.

9. Penny says the French tend to eat fewer ___________ than the British.

10. Penny points out that French people may stay slim because of the timing of their __________.

Discuss these questions.

1 Were you surprised by anything you heard in the interview?

2 How does your country compare to the ones you heard about?