7. Find the mistake in each sentence. Write the correct sentence into the box.

Example:

You can't go in that bar, you're over age.  You can't go in that bar, you're under age.

1	Stop acting like a child. Act my age! !
2	Vinegar, like wine, improves around age. .
3	He doesn't look like his age. He looks more! !
4	People disapprove because he's two times her age. .
5	I can't go on that holiday! There's an age stop. .
6	He's getting very slow at his old age. .

8. Read the text and do the assignments.

“It was horrifying because I’m of a certain age and I kept thinking, ‘If I don’t do it right I will drop dead halfway through this and someone else will get the role!’”- Actress Sally Field on playing the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in the film Lincoln. (“US Weekly”)

It’s funny. When you’re a little kid, it’s exciting to get older. But when you actually get older, at some point, you want to stay young. There’s particular pressure on women to continue to appear young, and many products, including skin creams and hair dyes, are marketed to women for this reason.

Because of this pressure to remain youthful, some people stop telling others how old they are at a certain point. Some might lie about their age, like the actress who amazingly has her 35th birthday every year. Others might simply say they are of a certain age. This implies that they are getting older, without being too specific.

Though some might remember Sally Field from when she played the youthful Gidget on TV, she is now significantly older. She’s old enough that she worried about whether she’d stay alive for the shooting of Lincoln. She doesn’t want to say just how old she is, though, so she says she’s of a certain age.

Do you often tell people exactly how old you are? Do you know anyone who has lied about his or her age to appear younger? Is there pressure to appear youthful in your country?

1. How do you understand the expression in bold? Define it using the text and the examples below:

1. “She tells everyone she’s 40, but she’s just hiding the fact that she’s of a certain age.”

2. “Some people think women should stop wearing mini-skirts when they’re of a certain age, but I say if they’ve reached that age they’ve earned the right to wear whatever they want.”

3. “Don’t ask him how old he is. He’s of a certain age and doesn’t like to discuss it.”

2. Answer the questions in the last passage.

Vocabulary – The Stages of Life

a preemie = a preemie is baby that is born ‘prematurely’ – before it has completely developed in the mother’s womb. Generally it takes 37 weeks/9 months for a baby to fully develop, so if a baby is born before 37 weeks/9 months, it’s considered a preemie.

 

a newborn = a baby that was just born; this term is usually used for the first 4 weeks of life.

 

an infant / a baby = the first year of life (from birth to 1 year old); an infant is a baby who has not started talking or walking yet and who needs constant care.

 

a toddler = a child who is learning to walk; the 2nd year of life (generally between 12 months and 2 or 3 years old)

 

a child There is no set age definition of ‘a child’; ‘childhood’ can be both the time before someone becomes a teenager and the time before someone become an adult. Most of the time, it refers to someone younger than a teenager.

 

pre-teen / tween = around 10–12 years old; a child who has not yet reached the ‘teenage’ years. ‘Tween’ is short for ‘in between’!

a teenager = someone who is 13–19 years old (any number with ‘teen’ in it!)

an adolescent = a formal term for the teenage years; someone who is becoming an adult.

a young adult This is hard to define! Generally someone becomes an ‘adult’ at the age of 18, but nowadays people are taking longer to mature into the adult years! A young adult could be anyone over the age of 18 but before ‘middle age.’ Most of the time a young adult is someone between the ages of 18 and 24.

middle-aged / over the hill (adjectives) Since people are living longer, ‘middle age’ is changing. Generally, ‘middle–aged’ is the term for someone in the middle of their life, around 40–50 years old. “Over the hill” is a humorous (sometimes insulting) way of saying someone is old! 

a senior citizen = a polite way of saying ‘an old person’! The age at which someone becomes a ‘senior citizen’ can vary from country to country: it could be 55 years old, or it could be 65 years old!

elderly (adjective) = a polite way of saying that someone is very old!