Vocabulary:

behaviour - поведінка

statement - ствердження

snap - миттєвий

pace - темп

desktop - кришка письмового столу

fuss - суєта

frills - непотрібні прикраси

conversely - навпаки

to put upon - обтяжувати

to beware - остерігатися

a chip on the shoulder - зухвала поведінка

exorcise - виганяти

jolly - розм. приємний

chaos - хаос

to rummage - перерити

clutter - безлад

slob - презирл. нечупара

frenetic - нестримний

within reach - під рукою

ingenuous - нехитрий

twig - розм. зрозуміти

cactus (pl. cacti) - кактус

trophy - пам'ятний подарунок

odds and ends - всяка всячина

exuberant - бурхливий, нестримний

larger than life - такий, що виходить за звичні межі

garish - кричущий

Questions:

1. Do you agree that what you display on your desk is a social statement?

2. Do you form an opinion about people from the way their desks look?

3. Define the six types of desktop personality identified by Donna Dawson.

4. What type of desktop personality do you think you belong to?

5. To your mind which of the types of desktop personality has better career prospects?

Text 9 exam stress

Whenever I've got exams coming up, I always get very tense and nervous. I find it harder to sleep, and sometimes I can't even make myself work for the exam, I'm so depressed. Is this normal? If not, is there anything I can do about it? I don't want to feel stress like this when the exam comes around.

Irini Nicolaou, Athens, Greece

You may be starting to get a little nervous. You may have "butterflies in the stomach", as the English saying goes. Of course, stress is quite normal. If you're feeling some, that's good. In fact, a degree of stress is vital for good performance.

But if your stress levels rise too far, it won't help you at all. Unfortunately levels of stress show in people in different ways. Some people just fall into depressed activity in the weeks before the exams - they can't do any work or revise. Some people lose sleep, some don't eat and some even have psychosomatic illnesses.

Apparently, the people affected most by stress levels like these are not those who think they'll fail, but those who expect a lot of themselves and are worried that they will do less well than they really can.

But it's important to remember that stress levels like these will prevent you doing well in your exams. So if you feel yourself getting too nervous, try to calm down. Talk to someone you trust about how you feel, and perhaps they'll help you to "come down" from those unhelpful levels of stress.

Meanwhile, here are six rules for coping with exam stress

1. In the weeks to come before the beginning of exams, give yourself plenty of time to revise. Most students perform best by revising over a longer period, rather than just "cramming" a few days before the exam. Whatever time you've got now - use it. Don't wait until the night before.

2. Plan you revision. Work out how many days there are before your exam, and mark down how many hours you'll spend on revision, homework and projects. Stick to these hours, and revise all areas properly - not just the things you're good at. In the case of your English exams, revise areas of grammar and vocabulary (particularly areas you're weak on), practice listening and reading comprehension and practice writing timed compositions. Be methodical - plan what you're going to revise and revise it well and thoroughly. Don't jump about in a panic from one area to another.

3. Don't revise one area too much, at the expense of others, just because it interests you. For example, don't get carried away with revising vocabulary for your English exam. That's only one aspect of the language!

4. Keep your working area neat and simple. Just have the notes and books you need around you - not untidy piles that just remind you of how much work there is to do!

5. Take breaks. Don't work hour after hour without stopping - you just won't be concentrating properly. Work for twenty-minute stretches, then have a short break, or change your activity. But remember that exams can be long. The exam papers are up to two hours long - so make sure you are able to concentrate for this long as well.

6. Work on what you need to remember. Don't just read and re-read notes or books. Do something with the information. Re-write notes as diagrams, summarize information on cards, and put these where you can look at them frequently. In the case of revising for an English exam, of course use the language: write in it, practice speaking in it.

In the exam

Look at how much time you have in each written paper to do the exercises you have to do. Plan out how much time you'll spend on each part of the paper. Remember to leave time for checking your answers afterwards, and in the Paper 2 composition questions, give yourself time to plan each composition carefully.

Meanwhile - good luck!