1. Read the text and answer the questions.
Recent inventions
● A British company has invented a mobile lie detector – it looks almost exactly like a mobile phone, but it can immediately detect if a person is telling the truth or not! The police could use them soon to help catch criminals.
● Tiger has started selling a robot dog. The cyberpet can walk, sit down and stand up. It has got an intelligent sensor that can detect walls and borders and react to different sounds. It has even got a voice-recognition system so it knows who is speaking.
● For only twelve euros you can buy a mini-telescope. It’s fifteen centimetres long so you can carry it in your pocket. It looks like a silver pen, but scientists have perfected the lens so you can see a distance of up to eleven kilometres with absolute clarity. Nature-lovers use the mini-telescopes to observe animals and birds in their natural habitat.
● Creative Laboratories have designed the ideal present for music lovers. It’s a digital sound reproducer. This small, portable machine can record about 100 hours of music from your computer (that’s about 150 CDs!). You can programme it to play the songs in the order you choose. It costs around 510 euros.
1 Has the lie detector got a voice-recognition system?
………...... ……………………
2 Can the cyberpets detect who is telling the truth?
………...... ……………………
3 How many kilometres can you see with the mini-telescope?
………...... ……………………
4 How many hours of music can the digital sound reproducer store?
………...... ……………………
5 What does the robot dog react to?
………...... ……………………
6 Does the lie detector look like a pen?
………...... ……………………
7 Have the police used the lie detector yet?
………...... ……………………
8 Which invention have nature-lovers used?
………...... ……………………
9 Which company has invented the digital sound reproducer?
………...... ……………………
10 Is the mini-telescope expensive?
………...... ………………………….
2. Read the text carefully and answer the questions.
Birmingham is a large city in central England. In the past the police have had a lot of problems with gangs of young people and so they’ve started a controversial new project. Detective Inspector Davis is in charge of the project. Can you explain what the project is about?
Well, we had problems because a lot of the young people in Birmingham don’t have jobs, so they don’t have much money and they have a lot of free time. We often arrested them for drinking alcohol or for painting graffiti on public property. These aren’t serious crimes, but these young people could become criminals. The project offers a lot of opportunities. People who become part of it are allowed to choose different training programmes, from karate and judo to using a computer database. Young people who have completed more than two years on the programme can also decide to join the police or become instructors on one of the courses.
It sounds great. So, why do some people think the project is dangerous?
They don’t like the fact that we train these young people in martial arts. They think it makes them more violent.
You obviously don’t agree.
No. After three years, we’ve found these courses help young people to increase their confidence and they don’t spend all their free time on the streets. Of course, not all the young people stay, but it’s a start and we plan to continue it.
1 Where is the project?
……………...... ……………
2 Why were there problems with young people?
……………...... ……………
3 Did the police arrest the young people for serious crimes?
……………...... ……………
4 Can people on the project choose the programme they want to do?
……………...... ……………
5 How long do they have to be on the project before they can become instructors?
……………...... ……………
6 Are there any courses related to computing?
……………...... ……………
7 Does the interviewer think the project is good?
……………...... ……………
8 Does everyone approve of the project?
……………...... ……………
9 In D.I. Davis’ opinion, how do the courses help young people?
……………...... ……………
10 Are the police going to stop the project?
……………...... ……………
3. Read the text carefully and answer the questions.
Shopping habits have changed over the years. It’s true that a lot of people still shop in the traditional way – by going to the shops, looking at the different designs and prices and then choosing the one they want to buy. But this is no longer the only option. What other possibilities are there?
If you haven’t got enough time to go shopping, you can order a catalogue and look at it in the comfort of your own home. You’re allowed to take as long as you want to decide and then you simply order by phone and your shopping is delivered to your door. Alternatively, you can search for special offers on the Internet and buy what you want with a click of the mouse.
Another recent phenomenon is shopping through magazine auctions. All you need is a credit card and a copy of the auction magazine. This has adverts and photos of all the products that they are selling. These might be anything from dishwashers and irons to the most modern computers or perhaps cars and motorbikes. If you want to buy a new bike, for example, you look at the adverts. They show the usual prices of the bikes in the shops, a minimum price for each one and how many there are for sale. You phone with your offer and then wait. The auction company collects all the offers and accepts the highest offers. If you are successful, your bike will be delivered to you. Perhaps in the future we’ll do all our shopping by phone or on the Internet!
Auction: subasta
1 According to the writer, do people still shop in the traditional way?
...... …………………………………………
2 Traditionally, if you want something what do you have to do?
...... …………………………………………
3 What are two advantages of shopping by catalogue?
...... …………………………………………
4 What can you search for on the Internet?
...... …………………………………………
5 Are magazine auctions a new way of shopping?
...... …………………………………………
6 What do you need to participate in a magazine auction?
...... …………………………………………
7 What do the auction magazines contain?
...... …………………………………………
8 Can you buy household objects?
...... …………………………………………
9 What do the adverts show?
...... …………………………………………
10 How do you participate in the auction?
...... …………………………………………