7. Write a paragraph about your country. Write about the national flag, the

national day and the national symbols. Is your country ‘united’, or are theresome parts of it that have a separate identity?

APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER

1. Read and practise.

Text A

"How old are you?" It's a simple question, and there is usually a simple answer: "sixteen years old," "twenty years old," "fifty-five," etc. But if someone is described as young or middle-aged or old, then how old is that person? It's difficult to know because these are words that have different meanings for different people. Except for the word teenager, which describes someone whose age ends in the syllable "teen" (such as fourteen, fifteen or sixteen), words which describe age are not exact. When, for example, does a baby stop being called a baby and become a young child? When does a boy become a young man and a little girl become a young woman? At what age does middle age begin? When do you call someone elderly and not simply old? At what age does someone become an adult? In some countries, it is when the government says a person is old enough to vote. Is that really the difference between a child and an adult? The answers to these questions partly depend on how old you are. There is a saying that old age is always ten years older than yourself. If you are fifteen, then you think someone of twenty-five is old. At thirty, forty seems old. If you are seventy, then you probably think someone of eighty is old. A recent survey showed that there was some truth in the old saying. People were asked. "What is middle age?" Those in their early twenties usually answered, "Between thirty-five and fifty," and people in their thirties answered, "Between forty-five and sixty."

2. Decide whether these statements are true (t) or false (f) according to the passage.

1. When people are asked their age, they usually answer with a number.

2. If someone tells you that he or she is middle-aged, you know the exact age

of that person.

3. It is possible to call someone who is twelve a teenager.

4. There is an exact age when a baby becomes a young child.

5. "Elderly" is similar in meaning to "old".

6. Some governments say that an adult is a person who can vote.

7. According to the saying, if you are twenty-nine, then you think someone

of thirty is old.

8. As you get older, your ideas change about when middle age begins.

3. Think about.

1. What are some of the joys and problems of each age?

2. Are you happy with your present age?

3. How do you feel about growing older?

4. How important is age? in marriage? in work?

Text B

How important is your appearance? Although everyone wants to be good-looking, are beautiful people always happier people? For example, it must be a problem to be a really beautiful woman, because some men may be more interested in looking at you than talking to you. They think of you as a picture rather than a person. There are also some people who think that women who are exceptionally pretty and men who are particularly handsome must be stupid. They believe that only unattractive people can be intelligent.

On the other hand, no one wants to be really ugly, and have a face that even your mother doesn't want to look at; and no one wants to be plain either — that is, to be neither attractive nor unattractive, and have a face that is easily forgotten.

Being attractive is like being rich — it can help you find happiness, but it doesn't always make you happy. So maybe the best thing is not to worry too much about how you look, but simply try to be an interesting person. For interesting people have interesting faces, and interesting faces are almost always attractive.