2. Complete each sentence with an appropriate word from exercise 1.

1. I worked until 11 o’clock at night to meet the ......................... for presenting the report.

2. I work six days a week and never have a holiday. My girlfriend says I’m a ............................. .

3. Carl has a heavy ............................ at the moment because several colleagues are sick.

4. She left a highly paid job to join a research group in India. She has completely changed her ..................... .

5. A .......................... system can help to reduce stress levels of employees.

3. Use the following word combinations in sentences of your own:

meet the deadline

be/ become a workaholic

have a heavy workload

change the lifestyle

a flexitime system

Reading

Dealing with stress

It is common knowledge that people are stressed at work nowadays because our modern lifestyle can’t provide them with an opportunity to relax properly. And the problems they have to deal with are becoming one of the main causes of stress not only at work, but at home as well.

Another major cause of stress at work today is increasing job insecurity. People are afraid that they can lose their job. They don’t feel that it’s safe. Moreover, working long hours is becoming more and more common in all European countries. A typical family nowadays is a working family where both the members have a job and spend most of their time at their work place. It ruins the work-life balance of people and results in family problems.

But men and women deal with stress in different ways. Women are more flexible and seem to cope with pressures better than men. Many working women have double pressure on then because they have to look after their children, work in the home- do the cooking and cleaning – as well as work in a paying job. But the number of women who become ill from stress seems to be less than men. This is because women have a number of strategies to cope with stress. They can express their emotions openly, which men find difficult to do. They can go to somebody and talk about their problems. And in general women don’t pretend that problems don’t exist.

1.Underline the correct variant in the following sentences.

1. Men/Women are more flexible.

2. Men/Women cope with pressure better.

3. Men/Women have more stress-related illnesses.

2. In your opinion, which of the following apply more to men or women. Why?

Men/Women

1. are better time managers

2. are less worried about deadlines

3. have more pressure outside work

4. are less ambitious

5. worry more about making mistakes

6. pay more attention to detail

7. are better at doing many things at the same time

8. are more likely to become angry when stressed

3. Retell the text.

Grammar review.

Past Simple and Present Perfect

1. Cross out the incorrect sentence in each pair.

1. Stress levels have increased in recent years.

Stress levels increased in recent years.

2. The role of women changed dramatically since 1999.

The role of women has changed dramatically since 1999.

3. I resigned two years ago.

I have resigned two years ago.

4. Have you ever been abroad on business?

Did you ever go abroad on business?

5. I have attended a sales conference last week.

I attended a sales conference last week.

2. Write the time expressions from the box under the correct heading.

So far two years ago ever in 2004 yet just yesterday already never last Monday since 2001 when I was at university for three years lately