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Level 4 English Test N°3 THE TEXT
Up to 70,000 lives could be saved every year if people improved their diets, the Government said yesterday.
One in ten premature deaths would be prevented if Britons reduce the amount of salt, sugar and fat they eat, it was claimed. And people are digging an early grave for themselves by not eating enough fruit, vegetables, fibre or oily fish, according to a report by the Cabinet Office.
They put themselves at risk from cancer and heart diseases – totally unrelated to the current rise in obesity. And those who eat unhealthily but manage not to pile on the pounds are still at risk.
The hard-hitting report concluded: “The public health and diet challenge is urgent, compelling, and goes beyond obesity. Existing patterns of food consumption will result in our society being loaded with a heavy burden of obesity and diet-related ill-health.”
A third of cardiovascular cases and a quarter of cancer deaths are believed to be diet- related, scientists say. But only a quarter of people eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. The average intake of saturated fat is a quarter above recommended levels, and men are eating twice as much salt as they should. Consumption of ready meals has trebled over the past decade and almost two billion are bought from takeaways every year.
All this is having a devastating impact on the nation’s health – with children’s health being
“of particular concern”, because they are eating more fat and drinking more sugary drinks than adults. The report calculated that boosting fruit and vegetable consumption to the recommended five portions per day would have the biggest impact on the nation’s health – potentially cutting 42,200 premature deaths each year.
Reducing daily salt intake from the average 9g to the recommended maximum of 6g could cut the death toll by 20,200 annually. Cutting excess saturated fat and sugar intake could mean 7,000 deaths being avoided each year.
Obesity rates have trebled in the past 20 years, with nearly a quarter of adults in England now classed as obese – so fat that their health is in danger. That figure will surge to 60 per cent by 2050, according to predictions by scientists last year. Diabetes rates are expected to increase by 15 per cent between 2001 and 2010, with more than half due to increasing obesity rates.
The Cabinet Office’s report found that older people have a slightly better diet than younger people, because they eat marginally more fruit and vegetables and slightly less red meat than average.
Health Minister Ivan Lewis said: “We will be using the analysis in radical long-term strategy to tackle obesity.”
Daily Mail, January 4, 2008
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READING COMPREHENSION
1/Complete the paragraph with information from the text. Each blank stands for one word.
People should avoid eating --- to prevent obesity and --- diseases. Changing our --- would be of a great --- to our health and our well-being.
2/ Pick out complete sentences from the text to show that the following statements are false.
a- Only adults are putting their lives at risk because of their bad eating habits.
---
b-Unlike the obese, the people who don’t have a healthy diet aren’t running any risk of getting any disease.
---
c- Scientists predict that the number of people suffering from obesity will decrease in the near future.
---
d- Old people are the most affected by diet-related diseases.
---
3/ What should people do to have a balanced diet? List down 3 recommendations.
A --- B --- C ---
4/ Rephrase the following expression using your own words.
People are digging an early grave for themselves: --- --- 5/ What do the underlined words in the text refer to ?
a. all this (paragraph 4 ) :--- b. that figure(paragraph 6 ):---
6/ If you read the report about ill-health and diet-related diseases, would you feel concerned and take it seriously? Why? Why not?
---
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LANGUAGE
1/ Fill in the blanks with 8 words from the box.
curriculum / better / system / blended / academic / all / deprivation / test mixed / test / through
A Scottish school has placed 60 of its brightest first-year pupils in a fast-track class in an attempt to improve results. Critics have claimed the introduction of a controversial streaming --- at St Paul’s High School, in the area of Glasgow, goes against the principles of comprehensive education in which pupils of --- ability are taught together. Rod O’Donnell, head teacher at the school – located in an area of unemployment and social --- claimed that streaming would allow children to make --- progress. He said: “I differentiate and create an appropriate - --- for all my first-year pupils based on the information we have from prior learning in the primaries.” Mr O’Donnell said he believed that ---
achievement would rise for the entire school as --- children are taught in lessons tailored to their ability. “I want every child in my first year right --- to my sixth year to have an equal experience . If I can adjust the curriculum suitably to improve that quality I will do that.”
2/Put the bracketed words in the right tense or form.
A severely deaf 76-year-old has been told she faces a 14-year wait for a hearing aid.
Six months ago hospital staff (tell) --- June Hews she was number 582 on the waiting list for a pair of digital hearing aids to replace her analogue unit. Since then she (crawl) --- just 20 places up the queue – which works out at a 14-year wait.
“It’s incredible the list should be so long,” Mrs Hews said yesterday. “Should this rate of progress be maintained, I (get) --- my new hearing aids in 2020. “It’s possible that I may be alive in 14 years’ time but what about the people on that list who (be) --- in their 80s and 90s. Mrs Hews, from Cheltenham, has used analogue devices for many years but now (need) --- digital aids because her hearing has continued to deteriorate. Now she is considering going private because of the long waiting list “I’ve considered going private to get these hearing aids (quick) --- but why should I have to pay out money for it? A spokesman for Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are sorry Mrs Hews has had such a long wait. There’s a growing demand for this service but our staff are doing all they can to address the problem!
3/ Circle the correct alternative.
More than a million Britons have left for new lives abroad since the turn of the Millennium, figures showed yesterday.
The number of emigrating people each year (has gone / is gone /went) up by more than a third since the mid-1990s. And while more and more people are (going / heading / moving) for France, Spain, Australia or the US, fewer Britons are returning than at any time in a decade. Analyst Robert Whelan said “People are emigrating (as / because / despite) of a sense of hopelessness about the problems here. They see us going round and round in circles but nothing is (never / either /ever) done about the big problems like education, health care, crime. For many people this is an act of despair, and there can be more
DOC4LTANGSS0003 Page 4 indicated that (the most / the more / the least) popular destinations in Europe were France and Spain. Half a million Britons live in the US and more than 600,000 in Australia hold UK passports.
WRITING 1
1/Express the following sentences differently .Start as shown.
a/ My parents never talk to me about anything and I feel so desperate about the situation.
If---
b/ Some countries are making great efforts to preserve wildlife in National Parks and Game Reserves.
Efforts ---
c/ Postnatal depression kills everyday, yet help for mothers to cope with this disease is non existent.
Although---
d/ It’s so important for parents to approach the problem of their overweight children by giving them unconditional love to avoid depression and eating disorders.
If only parents---
e/ Although women work very hard , men still haven’t figured out how to shoulder their share of the household burden.
In spite of---
Writing 2
You have just come back from a holiday abroad. You were not satisfied with a number of things, essentially accommodation and hotel services.
Write a letter to the holiday agency (Luxury Holidays, 10, Richbell Road, London WC 2 8IO), to complain about what went wrong and ask for compensation.
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