Why are blue eyes so fascinating? asks the actor Gerard Butler.

                           

                                  

I have blue eyes. They are like the sea. People regularly get lost in them. Apparently they are also cold, the eyes of a killer, and the wolfish representation of something cruel and Aryan. OK, so people don't talk about my eyes that much, but when they do, the themes they return to are often the tropes associated with the blue-eyed character. Now we have news that a hunter-gatherer who lived in Europe 7,000 years ago had dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes. This discovery was made following genetic tests carried out on a skeleton found in north-west Spain and it has surprised the scientific community, who had assumed that ancient Europeans had fair skin to go with their blue eyes.

Although I may be biased, our culture does seem to have a fascination with blue eyes that does not extend to other optical hues, whatever Van Morrison or Shane MacGowan say. At the heart of this fascination is a duality. On the one hand, blue eyes are seen as an ideal of beauty, a myth that has been exported round the world. On the other, they are seen as chilling and, in many cultures, are thought to bring a curse. In the Aegean, amulets that ward off the "evil eye" are blue. 

Blue eyes also have a relation to danger. When Peter O'Toole died recently, a string of pieces talked about the beauty, wildness and danger present in blue eyes, including my own. O'Toole's blue eyes are at the centre of Lawrence of Arabia; in them we see Lawrence's madness, coldness and vision. They are terrifying but beautiful, like a wolf's eyes. So too, Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, his clear blue eyes a haunting shorthand for "this guy is a dangerous psycho". In Homer's Odyssey, the goddess Athena's blue eyes are "flashing" - she is beautiful, but she is dangerous.

These negative associations will not stop the celebration of blue eyes. When I was eleven, the car I was in with an Indian family broke down in Uttar Pradesh. A group of Kashmiris pulled up, one leaning down to look straight at me through the window, his dark skin set off by eyes as blue as mine. I've never forgotten the startling beauty of the contrast.  This combination, of dark skin and blue eyes, seems to be one shared by ancient Europeans. It is a combination that unites us, rather than dividing us.

Finally, there is also sadness in blue eyes. "Oh where have you been / my blue-eyed son", sang Bob Dylan, conjuring up the image of someone lost alone in the world. In the Velvet Underground's song Pale Blue Eyes, the girl with the eyes mostly drives Lou mad. Her eyes are pure and strange and they are beyond him now. Now, we can add a new image to this tableau, one of a dark-skinned man trekking across the wilds of ancient Europe, in the mountains of northern Spain, his spear ready, his blue eyes flashing.

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. Scientists found a human body with blue eyes in north west Spain

b. According to the writer our society is equally interested in eyes of any colour.

c. Peter o' Toole's eyes are compared with the eyes of a wolf.

d. Ancient Europeans had dark hair and blue eyes.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a. What do we learn about the hunter gatherer from the text?

b. What happened to the writer when he was eleven?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a. implement (para.1)              d. surprising (para.4)

b. cold (para. 2)                       e.walking (para. 5)

c. series of (para. 3)

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a. Scientists have found the skeleton of a hunter-gather in north west Spain.

The skeleton......

b. Athena is beautiful, but she is dangerous.

In spite of....

c. 'Where have you been, son?' asked the boy's father.

The boy's father asked....

Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

'Beauty is only skin deep' What is your opinion of this famous saying?

British and American English 3 shops, places in towns.

Match the British word with the American one

British	American
1.      Pub	a.      Store
2.      Chemist	b.      Candy store
3.      Off-licence	c.       Bar
4.      Shop	d.      Movie house / theater
5.      Confectioner	e.      Newsdealer / newsstand
6.      Filling station	f.        Office (doctor’s, dentist’s)
7.      Cinema	g.      Private school
8.      Newsagent’s	h.      Public school
9.      Surgery	i.        Hardware store
10.  Public school	j.        Gas station
11.  State school	k.       Liquor store
12.  Ironmonger’s	l.        Drugstore / pharmacy

KEY

1.      C          2. L      3. K      4. A      5. B      6. J       7. D     8. E      9. F      10. G    

British and American English 2 Jobs and professions

Match the British word with the American one

British	American
1.      Caretaker	a.      Druggist
2.      Chairman (business)	b.      Principal
3.      Chemist	c.       Newsdealer
4.      Estate agent	d.      Desk clerk
5.      Guard (railway)	e.      Janitor
6.      Headmaster/headmistress	f.        Sales clerk /sales girl
7.      Newsagent	g.      President
8.      Postman	h.      Lawyer / attorney
9.      Receptionist	i.        Realtor
10.  Shop assistant	j.        Mailman
11.  solicitor	k.       conductor

KEY

1.      e          2. g      3. a      4. i       5. k      6. b      7.c       8.j        9. d      10. f     11. h    

British and American English 1 food and Drink

Match the British word with the American one

British American 1.      sweets/ chocolate a.      chips 2.      biscuit b.      liquor 3.      crisps c.       powdered/confectioner sugar 4.      chips d.      T-bone 5.      spirits e.      endive 6.      Stone (fruit) f.        candy 7.      Icing sugar g.      take out food 8.      Aubergine h.      Hamburger meat 9.      Steak i.        French fries 10.  Mince j.        eggplant 11.  Chicory k.       Pit 12.  Take away food l.        cookie
KEY

1.F       2. L      3. A      4. I       5. B      6. K      7. C      8. J       9. D     10. H   11. E    12. G

Lesson Plan: Speaking Practice

Getting your students to talk

Love them or hate them, speaking exams are in and here to stay. In this section we'll be giving you tips on how to prepare your students for speaking exams by offering a list of functions, communication strategies and practical, easy to use classroom activities.

Talking about 'yourvirtualself'...

This activity is a slant on the customary talking about yourself exercise which is introduced in most text books at the beginning of the school year.

Students can choose to be a virtual person and create a completely different character for the purposes of this activity. They prepare a few notes based on the information below before the class and could even be encouraged to find a photo on the internet.

Useful Language

My name’s ...

I’m from ... / I live in ...

I was born in ...

I’m ... years old.

I go to ... school.

I like ... because ...

I don’t like ... because ...

In my free time / After school, I ...

My best friends are ... because ...

My favourite (school subject, actor, pop group, sport) is ... because ...

I have ... brothers and sisters.

In the future, I’d like to ... because ...

In class the following day, the teacher tells the students they have to interview each other and decide on the 3 people they would most like to have a lifetime friendship with and why. Allow the students enough time to interview each other and then ask for written feedback to be handed in at the end of class.

'Wobbly' planet perplexes scientists

Nasa scientists are amazed by the discovery of a very wobbly planet. The planet was discovered by the Kepler telescope which watches how stars are dimmed as something passes in front of them.

                Planets normally stick to a regular pattern, but not Kepler-413b. Its erratic progress in the Cygnus solar system, 2,300 light years away, has astonished experts at the American space agency. Not only does the planet bob up and down as it makes an irregular orbit of two orange and red dwarf stars, but it spins on its own axis, rather like a child’s spinning top. “Everything wobbles a little bit,” said a spokesman for the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. “But this is much much faster. If our skies kept on wobbling like this it would make a real mess of our star signs and astrology.”

                Normally planets behave like clockwork, transiting in front of the star and blocking the light. But Kepler 413-b behaves rather differently. "Looking at the Kepler data over the course of 1,500 days, we saw three transits in the first 180 days – one transit every 66 days,” said Veselin Kostov, the principal investigator on the observation. “Then we had 800 days with no transits at all. After that, we saw five more transits in a row." Whether this is a one-off is a matter of conjecture although scientists believe there could be others behaving in the same way that have yet to be discovered.

                There is interest in another couple of Kepler planets, but neither has behaved as dramatically as 413-b. "This is the first really wobbly planet to be found. There are a couple of others which wobble a bit, but much more slowly," said Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian centre for astrophysics. "The thought is though that they might be rather common, and we've been missing them in our searches, but now we know they exist we'll think of better ways to find them."

                Kepler 413-b's tilt can be as much as 30 degrees and this has also led to a rather unpredictable climate. “Imagine living on a planet with seasons so erratic you would hardly know whether to wear Bermuda shorts or a heavy overcoat,” said a Nasa spokesman. In fact, because it orbits so close to its stars, Kepler is too hot for liquids to exist.

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. Kepler 413-b revolves around the Cygnus.

b. It would be impossible to study the stars and planets if all of them wobbled.

c. Kepler 413-b has been studied for more than four years.

d.Thanks to the discovery of the Kepler 413-b, it might be easier to find other similar ones

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a. What makes Kepler 413-b different? Give two reasons.

b. Could life be possible in Kepler 413-b? give two reasons. 

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a. fade (paragaraph 1)

b. model (paragaraph 2)

c. main (paragaraph 3)

d. exception (paragaraph 3)

e. investigation (paragaraph 4) 

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a. Nasa Scientists are amazed by the discovery of a very wobbly planet.

   The discovery…

b. Scientists believe there are other planets behaving in the same way.

    Other planets…

c. Jonathan McDowell said: “This is the first really wobbly planet to be found”

    Jonathan McDowell explained that…

Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

“There can be life in other planets”. Do you agree with this statement?

Rephrasing

1.       My family believes that this painting is worth a lot of money.

This painting …………………………………………………..

2.       Jennifer regretted her foolish behaviour.

Jennifer wished ……………………………………………………………….

3.       We took more clothes than we needed on holiday last summer.

We needn't ……………………………………………………………………

4.       “We didn’t paint on the wall,‟ the children said.

The children denied… ……………………………………………..

5.       You’re walking in the country. You would like to take some photographs, but you didn’t bring your camera.

I wish ……………………………………………………….

6.       You are quite slim. It’s not necessary for you to do so much exercise.

You are quite slim. You …………………………………………

7.       It’s ages since he last played the viola.

He hasn’t ……………………………………………………..

8.       The chair had to be thrown away because its springs had been broken.

We ………………………………………………………………..

9.       Please, stop smoking here. It’s forbidden.

You ……………………………………………………………….

10.   It's compulsory to fasten your seatbelt when landing and taking off.

You must ………………………………………………………………..

11.   It's not necessary for you to attend the meeting.

You don’t need ……………………………………………………………….

12.   They say the Pink Panther was one of the most successful TV cartoons.

The pink Panther…………………………………………………………

13.   Nobody has heard anything about the workers' strike.

Nothing ……………………………………………………………………..

14.   Perhaps he missed the last train.

He might …………………………………………………………………….

15.   If I were you, I wouldn't renew the wallpaper.

You …………………………………………………………………………..


KEY

1.       This painting is believed to be worth a lot of money.

2.       Jennifer wished she hadn’t behaved so foolish

3.       We needn’t have taken so many clothes on holiday last summer.

4.       The children denied painting on the wall.

5.       I wish I had taken my camera.

6.       You are quite slim. You needn’t do so much exercise.

7.       He hasn’t played the viola for ages.

8.       We had to throw the chair away because its springs had been broken.

9.       You mustn’t smoke in here. You aren’t allowed to smoke in here.

10.   You must to fasten your seatbelt when landing and taking off.

11.   You don’t need to attend the meeting.

12.   The pink Panther is said to be one of the most successful TV cartoons.

13.   Nothing has been heard anything about the workers' strike.

14.   He might have missed the last train.

15.   You shouldn’t renew the wallpaper.