Reading

1. Look at this headline from a newspaper article.

American children are getting fat!

1. Why are American children getting fat? Guess.

2. Read the article and check your guess.

Yes, it’s true! American children are getting fat, but they are also growing in other ways, too. Studies show that the height and weight of modern ten-year-olds are different from the height and weight of their parents at ten. American ten-year-olds are now on average 141cm tall (138-139 cm in 1972). The same studies show a 17% increase in weight.

The studies don’t give reasons for this, but we can guess that the children are changing for two main reasons: diet and exercise. These days children eat healthy food a lot of time, and this explains the increase in height to 141 cm, but they also eat a lot of junk food, for example, sweets, chips, cookies and candies. After school, many of today’s children sit down all evening. They watch TV, listen to music, or do their homework, but they often don’t take any exercise.

Vocabulary

height – высота

weight – вес

average – среднее число

guess – догадка, предположение

junk food – неполноценная пища

2. Match these words with the examples.

1) weight 160cm

2) height swimming, walking, aerobics

3) diet 75 kilos

4) exercise meat, bread, fruit

3. Are these sentences true or false?

1. Today’s ten-year-olds are the same height as their parents at ten.

2. On average, ten-year-old children in Scotland and England are about 139cm tall.

3. Some modern children have a bad diet.

4. These days a lot of children don’t take any exercise.

4. Please, point out pronouns in the text.

5. Give a short summary of the text in English.

Listening

1. Listen to the dialogue.

At the party.

- I think I don't know anybody here. Who are those girls over there?

- They are Kate's friends. Jane and Mary are students. Wendy is a model.

- Which one is Wendy?

- She is the one with the long fair hair.

- You mean that tall girl wearing jeans and a dark T-shirt. Well, she is a very serious-looking person.

- That's right. And the one next to her is Jane.

- The one with the long dark hair?

- No, she has short hair. Mary has long dark hair.

- Oh, I see. She is really beautiful.

- Yes, she is. Do you want to meet her?

- How about later?

- OK. Do you know Kate's new boyfriend?

- No, I don't. What's his name?

- Adam.

- What does he look like?

- Well ... he is short ... and dark ... and he has a moustache. - I think I can see him. Is he that handsome guy over there, drinking tea? - Yeah. That's him. - Look at those people on the sofa. I think I know one of them. - Which one? - The guy with glasses. - The tall guy with the glasses? The one with the blue shirt? - No, the one next to him. He has a beard.

2. What was it about?

3. Read it and point out all of the pronouns.