Sir Paul McCartney attacks French school over vegetarian ban

Sir Paul McCartney has attacked the French Government for banning vegetarian meals in schools.
There will be no meat-free days in French schools for six million children following a new decree from their government that all students will have to eat meat if they want lunch at school. Taking a packed lunch is not an alternative as they are also banned.

The ban will shortly be extended to kindergartens, hospitals, prisons, colleges and old people's homes.

French agriculture minister, Bruno Lemaire, said in January that the Government's aim for nutrition was to defend the French agricultural model and counter initiatives such as those by vegetarian campaigners like Sir Paul – who has called for a reduced consumption of meat.

But writing on his website, Sir Paul said: "The French Government's recent decree effectively enforcing the consumption of animal products in public institutions is a backward step for France. It goes against the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union by prohibiting individuals' right to express their beliefs.No one needs to eat animals – and we can combat climate change and lessen the risk of suffering from heart disease and other ailments by reducing the amount of meat we eat."
This week People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) launched a new stamp range featuring the 20 most famous vegetarians of all-time, including the ex-Beatle. Sir Paul along with Natalie Portman, Pamela Anderson and Morrissey have agreed to feature on the stamp. The stamps can be purchased throughout December at www.peta.org

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Question 1. Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text.

a) Students cannot take home-made lunches to school.
b) Currently there are no meat-free meals for people who are in prison. c) Sir Paul McCartney believes that the French Government’s decision does not respect people’s rights. D) According to McCartney, people who eat meat are more likely to suffer illnesses.

Question 2. Answer the following questions in your own words.

a) Why has Sir Paul McCartney reacted against the French Government?
b) What has PETA done about the ban?

Question 3. Find a word or a phrase in the text that means the same as:

a) soon (par.3) b) attenuate, decrease (par.5) c) buy (par.6)

Question 4. Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a) The French Government has banned packed lunches.
Packed lunches ......................................................
b) " No one needs to eat animals and we can combat climate change.”
Sir Paul McCartney said that .................................................
c) Mr. Dahl suffered from heart disease because he ate too much meat.
If Mr Dahl .................................................

Question 5. Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:
What do you think about climate change? How can you help?

Cambridge

Watch the video and answer the questions below:

1. How many colleges can you find in Cambridge?
   


2. How long did it take to build King's College Chapel?



3. Who founded Trinity College?



4. What's the name of the river that flows through the city?



5. What's the shortest way between the two buildings in St. John's College?



6. What's the best way to see the city?



7. Who built the chapel in Pembroke College?
   


8. What did he also build?
   


9. How far is Ely from Cambridge?



10. What shape is the tower at Ely's Cathedral?
    

KEY

1. over 30 colleges



2. over 100 years



3. Henry VIII



4. River Cam



5. Bridge of Sighs



6. going punting



7. Sir Cristopher Wren



8. St. Paul's Cathedral



9. a few



10. octogon

South Korea to Swap Textbooks for Tablets

South Korea’s government has announced ambitious plans to revolutionize school classrooms and provide the world’s first “smart education” system. It intends to digitize all textbooks in all schools by 2015. This means bulky, paper-based books are out and handheld tablets and e-readers are in. First in line to go digital are elementary schools, which will switch to online devices by 2014. South Korea’s Ministry of Education says it will invest $2.4 billion to create and deliver the e-learning and mobile-learning materials. Education Minister Lee Ju Ho explained the need to ensure teachers are sufficiently trained in using the new tech in class. "It's very important to make sure that the two can work together,” he said.

The Ministry has not yet made a decision on which make of products it will bring into the classroom. Many industry experts predict it will opt for Korean-made devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab rather than gadgets from international rivals Apple or Sony. In addition to digital content in the classroom, the Ministry is also hoping to make online classes available for students who miss lessons. South Korea is well known for its embrace of technology and high-speed Internet. A Ministry official stated: “Korean students have ranked first in terms of digital literacy among developed nations…That’s why Korean students, who are already fully prepared for digital society, need a [major] shift in education.”

Question 1. Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text.
a) South Korea is not the first country in the world to go totally digital.
b) South Korea’s “smart education” project will start with high schools.

c) All schools will be equipped with Korea-made Samsung products.

d) Korean students are the tops when it comes to digital literacy.

Question 2. Answer the following questions in your own words.
a) What does South Korea’s government want to do?
b) How will students benefit from the new plans?

Question 3. Find a word or a phrase in the text that means the same as:
a) heavy and big (paragraph1)
b) competitor (paragraph 2)
c) enthusiastic acceptance (paragraph 2)

Question 4. Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning.
a) South Korea’s government has announced ambitious plans to revolutionize school classrooms.
Ambitious plans ......................................................
b) "It's very important to make sure that the two can work together,”
Lee Ju Ho said that .................................................
c) Korean students are fully prepared for digital society. That’s why they need a major shift in education.
If Korean students .................................................

Question 5. Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:
What do you think of the idea of swapping textbooks for tablets?

Universities raise £50m in library fines

British universities have raised nearly £50 million from fining students for overdue library books, figures have revealed. Top of the pile was Leeds University, which has raised more than £1.8 million in the last six years. In second place was Manchester University, which collected almost £1.3 million and in third was the University of Wolverhampton with £1.25 million. At the bottom of the table was Imperial College London, which collected just £26,703 in fines.

With fines as little as 10p for each day a book is overdue, it shows that students are returning thousands of books late each year. However, many are never returned at all as more than 300,000 books remain unaccounted for across the country. Leading the way at number one was Bucks New University with 30,540, closely followed by Oxford University with 20,923 and the University of Kent with 19,613.
Penalties at the universities vary. Most students are fined 10p for every day a book is overdue, while at Edinburgh Napier University daily fines can be as much as £1 per day.

"The charge reflects the amount it would cost us to replace the item," the university revealed. "Sometimes a student who has genuinely lost an item will buy it through Amazon at a reduced price and give us the book - we are very happy to accept that.
For persistent offending, students can have their library account suspended or lose access to their university's IT system. Some may even be barred from graduating if they owe their university money. As little as a £5 debt at Exeter University will prevent graduation, as will £20 at Lancaster University or £25 at the University of Glasgow.

1 Match each number with the correct information based on what you read in the text.

1 £50 million
2 £5
3 10p
4 20,923
5 £25
6 30,540
7 £1
8 £1.8 million
9 £26,703
10 300,000

a) The total number of books missing from university libraries.
b) The highest rate charged per day for every day a book is not returned after the return date.
c) The total amount paid by university students to British universities for not returning books to the library on time.
d) The smallest total amount collected by a university library for late returns.
e) The limit on the money students can owe Glasgow University if they want to graduate.
f) The number of books permanently missing at Oxford University library.
g) The biggest number of books missing from one university.
h) The largest amount of money collected by a university library for late returns.
i) The limit on the money students can owe Exeter University if they want to graduate.
j) The most common daily library fine.

2 Find words or expressions in the text that mean:

Paragraph 1
a) an action or obligation not carried out before a certain date
b) show, make public

Paragraph 2
a) missing, not located

Paragraph 3
a) differ
b) every day

Paragraph 4
a) constant, repeated
b) honestly

Sir Paul McCartney attacks French school over vegetarian ban

Question 1

a. True. “Taking a packed lunch is not an alternative as they are also banned.”
b. False. “The ban will shortly be extended to kindergartens, hospitals, prisons, colleges and old people's homes.
c. True. "The French Government's recent decree effectively enforcing the consumption of animal products in public institutions is a backward step for France. It goes against the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union by prohibiting individuals' right to express their beliefs.”
d. True. “No one needs to eat animals – and we can combat climate change and lessen the risk of suffering from heart disease and other ailments by reducing the amount of meat we eat."

Question 2

a. The French Government has prohibited vegetarian meals in schools and Sir Paul McCartney ,who is a vegetarian himself, thinks that meat is not essential in a balanced diet, so he doesn’t agree with the measure. He believes that we can reduce the risk of having certain illnesses and also help to fight climate change by not eating much meat.
b. They have put up for sale a collection of stamps with the photograph of some of the most famous vegetarians ever. These include singers, actors and other successful people.

Question 3

a. shortly b. to lessen c. purchased / to purchase

Question 4

a. Packed lunches have been banned by the French Government.
b. Sir Paul McCartney said that no one needed to eat animals and we could combat climate change.
c. If Mr. Dahl hadn’t eaten so much meat, he wouldn’t have suffered from heart disease.

South Korea to Swap Textbooks for Tablets

Key

Question 1

a. False. “South Korea’s government has announced ambitious plans to revolutionize school classrooms and provide the world’s first “smart education” system..”
b. False.” First in line to go digital are elementary schools,”
c. False.” The Ministry has not yet made a decision on which make of products it will bring into the classroom. Many industry experts predict it will opt for Korean-made devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.”
d. True.” “Korean students have ranked first in terms of digital literacy among developed nations.”

Question 2

a. South Korea’s government wants the students to use new technology devices such as tablets and e-readers instead of traditional textbooks. It aims to make sure that teachers are technologically competent enough to be able to use the technology in the classroom.
b. The students who attend school will not have to carry heavy books and those who cannot go to school will be able to follow the lessons on the web.

Question 3

a. bulky
b. rivals/rivals
c. embrace

Question 4

a. Ambitious plans to revolutionize school classrooms have been announced by South Korea’s government.
b. Lee Ju Ho said that it was very important to make sure that the two could work together.
c. If Korean students were not fully prepared for digital society, they wouldn’t need a major shift in education.

Twitter Year

Kate Bussmann, Twitter expert, author of A Twitter Year the first ever "social-media almanac", which charts the events of the past 12 months, as recorded by Twitter's 100million users.

‘On the back of my book it says there are 230 million tweets a day. That's already out of date: there are now 250 million. When news breaks I don't go to the TV any more, I turn straight to Twitter. You instantly get a rounded view of what's happening – and what people think about it.

The most tweeted event of the year was Beyoncé's pregnancy announcement at the MTV awards, which generated 8,868 tweets per second (TPS). The royal wedding peaked at about 3,966 TPS. There are stats to prove Pippa Middleton didn't actually overshadow her sister. Of the tweets about the guests, 35.1 per cent were about the Queen, 20.5 per cent were about Prince Harry, and 14.7 per cent were about Pippa.

Reading Twitter during the riots was fascinating and terrifying: not only were journalists reporting on huge fires and major incidents, you also had people tweeting things like "A gang has just chased me home". But what happened the next morning was even more interesting. A musician called Sam Duckworth (of Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly) started an @RiotCleanUp account, helping people to come together to clean the streets.

After a natural disaster, phone coverage gets really patchy, but Twitter works. After the earthquake in New Zealand in January, a man in San Francisco, tweeted: "Is anyone near this area of Christchurch, and could they check on my Dad?" Somebody replied: "Yes, I'm five minutes away, I'll drive round to his house." They found him sitting outside and tweeted to say that he was fine. After the Turkish earthquake, a newsreader asked his followers whether any of them had a spare room for people who'd been made homeless. He had 23,000 followers, and 17,000 people emailed him saying yes.

The Twitter founders didn't know what they were creating. Now medical scientists are researching whether you can spot flu trends by tracking the words people are tweeting.’

Kate Bussmann's website

Question 1 [2 points]
Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a) It is difficult to quantify the number of tweets per day because it is growing
all the time.
b) Kate Bussmann finds out about the latest events from the television.
c) When Beyoncé told the world that she was expecting a baby, it was the
second most popular subject of tweets in 2011.
d) 23,000 people contacted a Turkish news presenter to offer to let someone
stay at their home after the earthquake.

Question 2 [2 points]
Answer the following questions in your own words.

a) What different examples are given about how people used Twitter during the
riots in Britain?
b) How did a man in San Francisco find out that his father was safe after the
New Zealand earthquake?

Question 3 [1.5 points]
Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a) a complete, balanced picture (paragraph 1)
b) to make someone seem less important than another person (paragraph 2)
c) a group of people who spend time together and cause trouble (paragraph 3)

Question 4Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a) After a natural disaster, phone coverage gets really patchy, but Twitter
works.
Although phone ….
b) Medical scientists are researching whether you can spot flu trends by
tracking the words people are tweeting.
The question of whether ………………………………………………. by
medical scientists.
c) When news breaks I don’t go to the TV to find out the details anymore, I
turn straight to Twitter.
If I want to …………….

Question 5Write a short essay (between120-150 words) on the following topic:
‘Our world is changing faster than ever before.’ Do you agree?

Computer Terms

Fill in the gaps with the following words

wire screen hackers mailbox search engine information web links sites bloggers blog mouse tail cursor steal

Computer technology has become a major part of people's lives. This technology has its own special words. One example is the word ............. A computer mouse is not a small animal that lives in buildings and open fields. It is a small device that you move around on a flat surface in front of a computer. The mouse moves the pointer, or ...................., on the computer ..................

Computer expert Douglas Engelbart developed the idea for the mouse in the early nineteen-sixties. The first computer mouse was a carved block of wood with two metal wheels. It was called a mouse because it had a .............. at one end. The tail was the ................ that connected it to the computer.

Using a computer takes some training. People who are experts are sometimes called .................... A hacker is usually a person who writes software programs in a special computer language. But the word hacker is also used to describe a person who tries to .................. information from computer systems.

Another well known computer word is Google, spelled g-o-o-g-l-e. It is the name of a popular “............. .................” for the Internet. People use the search engine to find information about almost any subject on the Internet. The people who started the company named it Google because in mathematics, googol, spelled g-o-o-g-o-l, is an extremely large number. It is the number one followed by one-hundred zeros.

When you "Google" a subject, you can get a large amount of ................... about it. Some people like to Google their friends or themselves to see how many times their name appears on the Internet.

If you Google someone, you might find that person's name on a ............. . A blog is the shortened name for a Web log. A blog is a personal ................. page. It may contain stories, comments, pictures and .................. to other Web .............. . Some people add information to their blogs every day. People who have blogs are called ....................... .

Blogs are not the same as spam. Spam is unwanted sales messages sent to your electronic ................... . The name is based on a funny joke many years ago on a British television show, "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Some friends are at an eating place that only serves a processed meat product from the United States called SPAM. Every time the friends try to speak, another group of people starts singing the word SPAM very loudly. This interferes with the friends' discussion – just as unwanted sales ...................... interfere with communication over the Internet.


KEY

Click here and listen to the answers

New verbs from old nouns

I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week, and I said 'I'll pencil it in my diary', and my friend said 'You can ink it in', meaning that it was a firm arrangement not a tentative one!

Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology. An obvious example is the word fax, which is a shortening of facsimile – originally, an exact copy of a book or document. We all got used to sending and receiving faxes, and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we'd fax it immediately. So, noun into verb in two easy stages. Then along came email and we were soon all emailing each other madly. How did we do without it? I can hardly imagine life without my daily dose of emails.

Email reminds me, of course, of my computer and its software, which has generated another couple of new verbs. On my AppleMac computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I'll want to look at again, thus saving all the effort of remembering their addresses and calling them up from scratch. I can do the same thing on my PC, but there I don't bookmark; I favourite – presumably coming from 'favourite pages', so the verb is derived from an adjective not a noun. I wasn't really sure people said this, but someone told me recently that they had favourited a site I was looking for and so they could easily give me its address.

A few years ago I noticed that lots of my friends had acquired pagers, and kept saying things like 'I'll page you as soon as I know what time we're meeting'. They couldn't say it to me, though; I refused to have one. So my children bought me a mobile phone – now known simply as a mobile – and I had to learn yet more new verbs. I can message someone – that is, I can leave a message (either spoken or written) for them on their phone. Or I can text them – write a few words suggesting when and where to meet, for example. How long will it be before I can mobile them – that is, phone them using my mobile. I haven't heard that verb yet, but I'm sure I will soon. Perhaps I'll start using it myself!


FILL THE GAPS BELOW WITH THE CORRECT NEW VERBS AND TENSES USED IN THE ARTICLE ABOVE.

1. I won't send the letter by post, I will __________ it to you early tomorrow morning when I go into the office.

2. I can easily give you that website address because I have ________________ it on my computer.

3. My friend's mobile was on but he wasn't answering so I __________________ him instead of speaking to him.

4. I'll ___________________ you this afternoon from the internet cafe.

5. If we're definitely going to go away on holiday during Christmas Season, I'll _________________ in the dates.

KEY:

1. fax 2. favourited 3. messaged 4. e-mail 5.ink

Amazing rescue – Thanks to mobile phone!

Two teenagers capsized in the sea off the south coast of England and called Japan on a mobile phone to ask for help. That was when brother and sister Ken and Emily Booth were on a sailing holiday near Southampton. But because of huge waves their small boat capsized and they were thrown into the sea.

Ken, 17, and Emily, 16, spent 30 minutes trying to right the capsized dinghy, but without success. They couldn’t get back into the dinghy, and they couldn’t attract the attention of passing ships. After they had been in the water for about 40 minutes, the situation was getting serious, and they felt very cold. Then Emily remembered her mobile phone in its watertight container in her pocket and reached for it.

But she didn’t think of dialling 999, the emergency number. Instead she phoned their father, who was 6,000 miles away in Tokyo on a business trip. Emily explained: ‘I thought it would be quicker to phone someone I knew and tell them our position. I dialled Dad’s number and contacted the coastguard.’

About ten minutes later, after they had held on to the dinghy for nearly an hour, they heard a helicopter. Next, everything happened very quickly, and ken and Emily were picked up and carried to safety.

Afterwards, the coastguard said that the teenagers were lucky to be alive and very, very lucky that the mobile phone had worked. ‘Anyone in trouble should contact the coastguard direct on 999,’ he added.


1. Answer these questions from the text:

a. How were the teenagers rescued?
b. Why did their dinghy capsize?
c. How far is Tokyo from Southampton?

2. Find in the text words or expressions which mean the same as:

a. (n) small sailing boat
b. (v) turned over in the water
c. (n) opposite of danger.

3. What do the underlined words refer to?

a. they: ...
b. it: ...

4. Fill in each blank with one word from the list:

Higher sighted graduates rooted labour backgrounds

a. University ... spend a lot of time looking for a job.
b. ... -saving machines have made Man’s life easier.
c. People from different cultural ... can co-exist and live in peace if they believe in tolerance.
d. A short-... person is someone who can’t see very well.

5. What would you say in the following situations?

a. Ask your brother to help you with a maths exercise.

b. Your teacher wants you to do an exercise, but you don’t know what you’re supposed to do. Express lack of understanding and ask for clarification.

6. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct form:

a. Susan gave up (go) ... to the gym a year ago.
b. My friends (listen) ... to music when they heard an explosion outside.
c. I managed (solve) ... the problem by myself.
d. Emily said she (dial) ... her father’s number.

7. Join each pair of sentences using the words given:

a. Jo trains regularly. Yet, she is too fat. (although)

b. Nancy is nice. Nevertheless, she doesn’t get on well with her husband.(in spite of)

8. Make compound adjectives that match the definitions below:

a. A person with a kind heart:
b. An exercise that consumes too much time


Key

1. Answer these questions from the text:
a. Emily phoned her father who was in Tokyo and the helicopter came to rescue them.
b. Because of huge waves.
c. 6,00 miles.

2. Find in the text words or expressions which mean the same as:

a.dighy:(n) small sailing boat
b.capsized:(v) turned over in the water
c.safety:(n) opposite of danger.

3. What do the underlined words refer to?
a. they: Ken and Emily b. it: mobile

4. Fill in each blank with one word from the list:
a. graduates
c. labour
d. backgrounds
e. sighted

5. What would you say in the following situations?
a. Can you help me with maths, please?
b. I'm sorry sir I don't quite follow you. Could you be more explicit?

6. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct form:
a. going
d. had been listening
c. to solve
d. had dialled

7. Join each pair of sentences using the words given:
a. Although Jo trains regularly, he is too fat.
b. In spite of her nice nature, she doesn't get on well with her husband. / In spite of the fact that she is nice, she...

8. Make compound adjectives that match the definitions below:
a. a kind-hearted person
b. a time-consuming exercise

Hawaii

Watch the video and answer the following questions about Hawaii

1. How many islands does Hawaii have?
2. and How many miles?
3. How many tourists visit Hawaii every year?
4. Where is Honolulu?
5. What’s the most famous beach in Honolulu?
6. When and where was surfing invented?
7. What happened on 7th December 1941?
8. What’s the largest island?
9. What does it mean?
10. What is Kilauea?
11. Name three animals you can see in Hawaii.
12. How often do jam sessions take place?
13. What kind of climate does Hawaii have?
14. What does “aloha” mean”?


Key

1. 137
2. 1500
3. 7 million
4. In O’ahu island
5. Waikiki
6. about 1000 years ago in Hawaii
7. Japanese attack in Pearl Harbour
8. Hawaii
9. The big island
10. A volcano(the most active)
11. Sea turtles, Hawaiian monk seal, whale.
12. Every week
13. Tropical
14. Hello, goodbye and I love you.

Twitter Year

Key

TV giraffe takes a tumble into a swimming pool

Talk about head over heels, but this is quite the giraffe gaffe!
Firefighters were called to the set of ITV1 drama Wild at Heart in South Africa after Lucy, one of the show's giraffes, fell into a swimming pool. Crew worked into the night to dig a trench so she could get out safely.
Wild at Heart star Stephen Tompkinson said: "It was such a bizarre sight - as soon I walked round the corner all I could see was this great neck sticking out of the pool."
No one's quite sure how it happened, but it's thought she was trying to drink from the pool when she took a tumble. The nine-year-old giraffe must have been thirsty, as she managed to squeeze through a fence which usually prevents her from getting near the pool.
The giraffe emerged without any injuries from the rescue, which happened in September during the show's filming.
Lucky was 14 months pregnant at the time, so it was important they got her out safely and kept her calm.

Vocabulary
Match each words to its definition

crew / gaffe / injuries / pregnant / prevents / tumble

when you do something that is a embarrassing mistake
stops something from happening
group of people who work together
damage to your body
fall down quickly
when a person or animal is having a baby

True or false?

1. Lucy was the only giraffe in the show.
2. The pool had water in it.
3. The show was being filmed in South Africa.
4. The fence kept Lucy away from the pool.
5. Lucy was not hurt by the accident.
6. Firefighters rescued Lucy from the pool.
7. Stephen Tompkinson knows how Lucy fell into the pool.
8. Lucy fell into the pool last September.

Which word or phrase means the same as the one in italics?

1. emerged

a) the same as arrived
b) the same as came out
c) the same as entered

2. bizarre

a) the same as frightening
b) the same as strange
c) the same as amusing

3. calm

a) the same as agitated
b) the same as safe
c) the same as relaxed

4. trench

a) the same as ditch
b) the same as hollow
c) the same as mound


KEY

gaffe
when you do something that is a embarrassing mistake
prevents
stops something from happening
crew
group of people who work together
injuries
damage to your body
tumble
fall down quickly
pregnant
when a person or animal is having a baby

1. False
2. True
3. True
4. False
5. True
6. True
7. False
8. True

1. b) the same as came out
2. b) the same as strange
3. c) the same as relaxed
4. a) the same as ditch