UNIT 6: IT’S YOUR CALL

READING

WARM-UP

What kind of mobile phones are you using?

What do you usually use them for?

What do you usually use them for?

What if you are not allowed to use phones during 24 hours?

READING LESSONA VERY DIFFICULT 24 HOURS

1. Relieve A. Question

2. Querry B. Be free from anxiety

3. Interruption C. Recognize something/somebody

4. Identify D. The ability to change easily

5. Flexibility E. Become fashionable

6. Take off F. The act of stopping something from happening

Match the words in the left column with their correct meanings in the right column

1. Relieve B. Be free from anxiety

2. Querry A. Question

3. Interruption F. The act of stopping something from happening

4. Identify C. Recognize something/somebody

5. Flexibility D. The ability to change easily

6. Take off E. Become fashionable

NOW WE’RE GETTING THE MESSAGE

• You are going to read a text about a woman who spent a day

with her mobile phone switched off as part of an experiment.

• Seven sentences have been removed from the text. Choose

from sentences A-H the one which best fits each gap (1-7).

There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

Task 1: Read the text and fill in the blank with a suitable word from the box

1. I really like fruits. ……….., I love eating strawberries, avocados, tomatoes, …

2. ………. protecting humans from danger, guns are being used for killing each other.

3. The director of Master Company was sick so she couldn’t attend the meeting. ………., she sent her secretary.

4. I really want to join the Christmas party, ……. I have so much homework to do and have to stay home.

Rather than Instead But For example

Task 1: Read the text and fill in the blank with a suitable word from the box

1. I really like fruits. For example, I love eating strawberries, avocados, tomatoes, …

2. Rather than protecting humans from danger, guns are being used for killing each other.

3. The director of Master Company was sick so she couldn’t attend the meeting. Instead, she sent her secretary.

4. I really want to join the Christmas party, but I have so much homework to do and have to stay home.

Rather than Instead But For example

Task 1: Read the text again and answer these questions

1. Does the 1st paragraph all discuss the drawbacks of the technology?

2. Where does Alice Thompson invite her friend to?

3. In the 3rd paragraph, why does Alice mention how she knew a guy through texting?

4. What does “it” in the 4th paragraph mean?

5. Do you think the teacher in the 6th paragraph strange when she stimulated her students to text her when they needed?

Task 1: Read the text again and answer these questions

1. No. It tells about the advantages of technology.

2. To a club. (a kind of social gatherings)

3. Because it helps her avoid shyness.

4. The fact that she can keep in touch with her old friends.

5. Yes. It is a new and strange thing that not many teachers do.

1st paragraph

When computers first started to be used on a wide

scale, some people predicted that we would spend so

long staring at computer screens that we would end up

forgetting how to talk to one another. 1 G. But in fact,

the rapid expansion of electronic communication in the

21st century has had the opposite effect. Rather than

retreating into themselves, people are using new

technology, in particular email and text messaging, to

find more and more ways to expand their network of

friends.

2nd paragraph

Alice Thompson, 23, is known as the Text Queen to her

friends because she sends out so many messages.

"When we go out, my friends and I text other friends,

saying, "We're in this club and it's really good. Come and

meet us.” (2) C. This flexibility when making social

arrangements means she no longer has to plan

ahead, she says. Instead, decisions can be made on

the spot, and friends can be gathered together at a

moment's notice.

3rd paragraph

Alice has found text messaging has other

advantages too. "If there is a guy I like, I find it easier

to send text messages initially rather than phone him

up," she says. (3) H. She finds that she feels less

nervous that way."There is one guy, a friend of a

friend, who I don't know that well, but we've started

to text message each other and that's how we

communicate. I would never phoned him up but this

way it feels OK."

4th paragraph

Text messaging and email also help Alice keep in

touch with old schoolmates she would probably

have lost contact with otherwise. (4) A. She can

send them a message saying "Hi, thinking of

you," much more easily than sitting down to

write a long letter. And she finds it's a great tool

for relieving boredom in the office where she

works, by sharing secret messages and passing

on jokes.

5th paragraph

It seems these forms of communication have filled a gap,

offering something that face-to-face conversation does not.

Professor Pam Briggs, a psychologist at the University of

Northumbria, believes that people enjoy sending text

messages and emails because they can take their time

planning their message, and they can be a bit more playful,

inserting jokes, pictures and bits of video clips. (5) F.

Through such additions, she says, they have the

chance to present themselves to the others in the way

that they want to.

6th paragraph

The fact that text messages are so quick and easy is a big

part of the attraction. Many people also find text messaging

more informal than making a phone call or writing a letter, and

therefore simpler to use. Annabelle Rose, who teaches at

London sixth form college, encourages her students to text

her when they have queries. "They don't find it so difficult to

keep in touch that way," she says. "I think they feel that a

phone call might be more of an interruption. I've always given

my number out to students and told them to call me if they

have any problems. (6) D. But no one ever did before text

messaging really started taking off."

7th paragraph

So is it all good? Annabelle has identified one negative

result of text messaging. "My students have developed

their own way of writing as well, which can cause a few

difficulties as they have started using these abbreviations

in their normal writing. B. For example, they might

write "tomoro" for "tomorrow", she says." But they

are never rude. If I text them back answering their

queries they always send another message saying "Thx",

even though it's not really necessary.”