15. Find the following phrases in the text above. Read aloud the sentences.

To uncover evidence; run a risk of; to increase; to increase from… to …; to decline; to be based on.

16. Make the sentences complete using the phrases.

1. The police ….. of a plot.

2. Smoking in pregnancy ………………. the risk of producing a low birthweight baby.

3. If you refuse this assignment you …………………. losing your job.

4. The number of day students ………………….. from 2000 to 1000.

5. The novels are all …………………… the author’s life.

6. The number of job applicants ………………200……400.

17. Make your own sentences with the phrases.

18. Take a group survey. Find out how many students in your group smoke, drink alcohol, use drugs. Discuss your survey results.

name	smokes	drinks	uses drugs
e.g. Natalia	+	-	-

19. Read about attitudes to alcohol in Europe. Is the problem serious enough? What do they do to reduce the incidence of binge drinking? Find in the Internet some information about the situation in other countries and prepare a short presentation.

SWEDEN

For many decades Swedes – including young Swedes – have had a rather low alcohol consumption when seen from a European perspective.

This has been due to a consistent national alcohol policy with a state monopoly on the sale of alcoholic beverages, strict rules on sales of alcohol to minors (defined in Sweden as under 20) and high alcohol prices.

Despite this, the trend has been upward ever since Sweden entered the EU in the early 1990s - due to increased access to cheaper alcohol in neighbouring countries.

However, in the past couple of years Sweden has seen a decrease in the level of teenage alcohol consumption.

The non-governmental organisation, the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs, publishes an annual survey of the drinking habits of ninth-grade students (aged 15 to 16).

For 2007 the statistics suggest that more than 30% of the students claim that they do not drink alcohol.

This is up from 20% non-drinking 15 to 16-year-olds in the late 1990s.

In real figures, the council has found that on average boys of that age drink 3.0 litres of pure alcohol, dramatically down from 5.3 litres at the peak year 2000 - girls consumed 2.2 litres in 2007, also down from 3.2 litres in their peak year 2005.

However, this decline is not seen among the slightly older Swedes. Young men in their early 20s in particular drink a great deal, and a great deal more than young women.

Young men between the age of 20 and 25 consume on average 14 pints of strong beer weekly while women of the same age group half as much.

By Julian Isherwood

SPAIN

Spain's problem with alcohol is minor compared with countries like the United Kingdom.

The relative size of drinks in Spain is a good guide to the scale of the problem. When you order in a bar, the standard serving of beer is a caña - a glass with a volume of 200 millilitres, just over a third of the size of a British pint.

Many people start drinking in their early teens in Spain, but not just with their friends - often with their parents.

There's a high social tolerance for alcohol consumption and the atmosphere in which drinking is done - in bars, restaurants - is usually relaxed and more suited to slower drinking than in some other countries. It is rare to see alcohol-fuelled violence.

That is not so say that Spain is immune from alcohol issues.

The Ministry for Health says about 5% of Spaniards have an alcohol-related problem.

And, a phenomenon known as Botellon (Big Bottle), where young people meet and consume alcohol on the street is a cause of concern for some Spaniards who say it encourages binge drinking. Botellon has been banned in some cities.

But you only have to go out at night in Spain to see that, generally, alcohol is well under control.

By Danny Wood