What happened to the Time magazine reporter?
Leisure ActivitiesAccording to a magazine I read recently, we now live in an age of increasing leisure. Not (1)____are more and more people reaching retirement age with their taste for enjoyment and even adventure, but the working week is becoming shorter and the (2) opp____ for leisure are becoming greater and greater all the time. Not to (3) m____ the fact that people tend to spend less time travelling to work or may even be working from home. What I can’t understand, (4) h____, is who these people are. As far as I can (5) t____ the whole thing is another one of those journalistic fictions. I admit that there are a lot of (6)____(retire) people nowadays, but I am not sure whether all of them are dashing about learning hang-gliding or sailing singlehanded (7) r____ the world. My own parents seem to (8)____most of their time gazing at the television. And as for the shorter working week, I wish someone (9)____(will) remind my company about it. I seem to be working longer and longer hours all the time. The little leisure time I have is eaten into by sitting in (10)____jams or waiting for trains to show up at rain-swept platforms. I haven’t noticed any dramatic improvements in my lifestyle either, but perhaps I just have to wait until I get my pension.
Passage 8 ● Read the magazine article below about a company which checks on the service provided by shops.
● Choose the correct word to fill each gap, from A, B or C on the opposite page.
● For each question 29-40, mark one letter (A, B or C) on your Answer Sheet.
SECRET SHOPPERS Tim Wright knows all about making companies more efficient. His firm, Check-up, sends ‘secret shoppers’ into retail and leisure companies (29)______ order to make sure that customers are receiving good service. After (30)______ visit, the secret shoppers prepare a report for the company to let them know (31)______ good or bad the service was. ‘Companies like to know,’ says Mr. Wright, ‘that (32)______ customers go into a store just a few minutes before closing time, they will (33)______ get good service.’ Check-up (34)______ set up in the west of England in 1992 and (35)______ two years moved to London so it could offer a nationwide service. (36)______ the last three years, Check-up’s profits have (37)______ dramatically as companies have come to realize (38)______ great importance of good customer service. Having started with just; three employees, Check-up now has a staff (39)______ sixty-five and last week (40)______ an important new contract with a major supermarket chain.
29. A in B by C on
30. A our B his C their
31. A whether B how C if
32. A while B when C. As
33. A still B yet C. Already
34. A has B is C was
35. A until B. After C later
36. A From B During C Since
37. A increase B increasing C increased
38. A this B that C the
39. A of B. At C too
40. A sign B signed C signing
Why does the author mention the book and magazine budgets of individual developers in Para 1?
Practice 1 Directions: Read the texts from a magazine article in which five business leaders talked about their predictions for high-tech developments in the 21st century. For Questions 1 to 5, match the name of each person to one of the statements (A to G) given below. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. Maguel de Icaza: Free software benefits people, countries and companies by giving them complete control of the software on which they depend. This is helping close the digital divide between developed and underdeveloped countries. People who previously might never have had access to this sort of technology are already leading the efforts to bring it to the developing world. Free software is the foundation on which a fairer future and a more efficient economy is being built. Austin Hill: Welcome to the future. Your mobile phone tracks your location, your interactive TV records your viewing habits. Privacy is to the information age what environmentalism was to the industrial age. Businesses will protect themselves, and their customers, by introducing privacy-promoting technologies and building better data controls into every aspect of their operation. A leading class of privacy protectors will emerge in every industry, and both they and their customers will reap the rewards of the ethical privacy brand. Ng Ede Phang: This will be the year that plain old text e-mail sits up and starts talking--and talking a lot. The human voice is powerful weapon. An e-mail doesn’t tell me whether you’re happy, sad or excited, whereas lnternet voice services provide all these key emotional characteristics. The human voice adds a very powerful element to business relationships that e-mail just cannot match. Murray Goldman: For those of us who live on airplanes, a key decision is which electronic devices to carry on a trip. The future is in the appropriate combination of communications and computing devices. Many business travelers will require the full computing power of a personal computer, with a screen large enough to do intensive work. As a result, lightweight notebooks have been introduced to the market with innovative options such as built-in DVDs, cameras and wireless capabilities. Christine Karman: We’ll see agents on portals and community websites helping people trade goods and information. Venture capitalists are shifting from dotcoms to software and hardware companies. In Europe, that shift is hard to make because we don’t have a Silicon Valley from which lots of companies are conquering the world. As a consequence, the slowly emerging Internet and software industry in Europe may not survive. If I were starting a new software company now, I’d go to California or Boston. Now match the name of each person (1 to 5) to the appropriate statement. Note: there are two extra statements. Statements
What happened to the magazine Female Focus under her management?
The extract below comes from an article which appeared in a magazine called Society Today. You read the extract and have strong feelings about its contents, and decide to write an article, in which you respond to the points made and express your own views. You should write the article in no fewer than 120 words. Now write your letter on the answer sheet.
Practice 2
Directions: Read the texts from a magazine article in which five people talked about the importance of doing exercise. For questions 1 to 5, match the name of each person to one of the statements ( A to G)given below. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
Eufraeio Tolentino:
I did regular exercise when I was young, but by my 30s, I had a family and a busy job. I neglected exercise for years. At 59, I had a stroke that resulted from lack of exercise. Now I visit a recovering center in the morning and spend my afternoons exercising. I encourage my friends a start exercising. If they don’t, engaging too much in their work or family, they may also suffer from a stroke.
Raymond Chiew:
Think you’re healthy just because you’re within your ideal weight range for your height? Wrong! Take me as an example. I figured I got enough exercise playing tennis once a week, for I wasn’t overweight and didn’t smoke or drink. Then at 57, I woke up one early morning with chest pains and tests revealed that I had serious heart trouble. I was shocked. Now I walk for an hour every day and my doctor says that my heart is improving.
Dr Santos-Ringor:
Whether you hire a personal trainer, take exercise classes at the community center or rent exercise videos, spending money on fitness is really money well spent, for health is wealth. But if you can’ afford any of those, just get a comfortable pair of shoes: walk is free. I form an exercise group with friends, play catch with my kids or set aside Saturdays for long walks in the country.
Ruth Cheah:
You’re never too late or too out of shape to start exercising. I didn’t start to exercise on a regular basis until I was 59. Now, as old as 79, I take a daily 45-minute walk, go swimming twice a week. These exercises free me from medicines, and I feel active and alert. People tell me that I look younger than my age.
V· M. Chandran:
Many people start exercising because they want to lose weight, and when that doesn’t happen immediately, they may give up. But the same volume of muscle weights more than that of fat, so a large person who is fit could be healthier than a thin person who is not. When I saw my weight rise past 90 kilos in my late 40s, I began taking walks for 45 minutes a day. Even though I still weigh over 90 kilos, I feel much stronger. I’ m proud to have muscles, not fat.
Now match the name of each person (1 to 5) to the appropriate statement.
Note: there are two extra statements.
Statements
Directions:You are going to read an article from a consumer magazine about the London underground railway. Choose the most suitable heading (A-F) for each part (1-5) of the article. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. Mark your answers on the Answer Sheet.
The world’s first underground railway (the Tube) opened in London in January 1863. Today there are 11 lines serving 272 stations, the busiest of which, King’s Cross, sees the start and finish of around 70 million journeys a year. But the system is in crisis—mainly as a result of underinvestment. Overcrowding combined with poor reliability can lead to problems for travellers, particularly those who use the Tube during its busiest hours
This report looks at service and safety on the Underground. It’s based on the findings of our survey of passengers. Last June we interviewed 1,698 Tube travellers outside 46 Underground stations in London; 517 regular travellers (those using the Tube throughout the year on three or more days each week) were contacted again and asked more detailed questions by phone.
Since 1981 the number of passengers using the Tube has increased by almost half. The increase in passengers has not been matched by an expansion of the Underground system and there is widespread congestion, particularly during the six peak hours when over 60 per cent of all journeys are made. London Underground Limited (LU) states that over the busiest rush hour no more than one person should have to stand for each seated passenger. But LU’s own statistics show that this standard is often not met over large areas of track on a daily basis.
Forty-three per cent of regular travellers had missed an appointment or been late for something in the two weeks before the survey because of delays on the Underground.
Forty-three per cent of regular travellers mentioned graffiti, rubbish and generally dirty conditions as one of the aspects of the Underground’s service they disliked. The aim set by Government for train cleaning is that carriages should be cleaned internally every day they are in use. LU’s figures show it has come very close to achieving this. But there are no standards to define or measure how well trains have been cleaned. LU has made progress in dealing with rubbish at major stations but graffiti, old coaches and unmodernised stations remain serious problems.
Well over half of the regular travellers said they were dissatisfied with the information provided when something goes wrong on the system; 72 per cent of those who were dissatisfied complained that the information was wrong or given too late; 49 per cent couldn’t hear or understand what was said. LU told us that a new system has been installed, which should mean clearer messages. However, the new system applies only to messages broadcast within stations; those coming from a central control room may not improve for some time to come.
Most of this report reflects the experiences of regular Tube travellers but we also asked those who do not travel every day for their views. The most popular type of ticket bought by these travellers was a one-day pass. Few appeared to have had problems finding their way around the system—89 per cent said finding their way around was “easy”.
Parenting Today is a magazine ______ monthly by the Association of Concerned Mothers.