TASK 1: HEALTH, WEALTH AND HAPPINESS

In this unit, you will:

• Practice skimming, scanning and speed-reading techniques
• Study and practice sentence completion
• read different types of text.

Getting started

These photos show important factors for staying healthy. Discuss the questions
below.

1. To what extent is cost a factor in these things?

2. Which of these factors most often occur(s) in the news in your country? Why?
3. Do you know something about Dr. Wynn Tran? Tell us!
Rank these factors from 1 to 10 in terms of importance for your health (1 = most
important).
• not smoking
• not drinking alcohol
• getting enough sleep
• avoiding stress
• eating healthy food
• keeping in touch with friends and family
• taking regular exercise
• avoiding exposure to the sun
• avoiding polluted areas
• getting immunized against preventable diseases
Discuss these questions
1. Why do some people find it difficult to do the right thing for their health and
well-being?
2. Do you think enough is done to promote campaigns for/against any of the
factors in Exercise above?
3. Which of these things should be controlled by the government, and which
should be left to the individual?

SPOTLIGHT ON LANGUAGE
Health and happiness collocations
1. Make as many collocations connected with health and happiness as you can by
combining words and phrases from box A with those from box B
A B
1. chill a. condition
2. cut down on b. factor
3. feel-good c. fiddle
4. fit as a d. headache
5. on cloud e. lifestyle
6. out of f. modified starch
7. over the g. moon
8. sedentary h. nine
9. splitting i. out
10. stop j. smoking
11. be in high k.spirits
12. watch l. your weight
2. Complete these sentences with collocations from Exercise 1
1. Victoria has been …….. ……. ever since she got into Cambridge University.
2. The diet magazine says that a good way to lose weight is to ………….……..
3. When Petra got her exam results, she was ………….. . She passed with flying
colours.
4. I put in such long hours at work that when I get home I just ……..………….
5. My grandfather's 93, but he's as …………….…………….
6. It is common for footballers to say they are ……….….when they are asked how
they feel about winning a big match.
7. Our dependence on computers has meant that many of us lead a
…………………
8. That noise is giving me a ………………….
9. The single most important thing anyone can do to improve their health is
……………..
10. Physical exercise releases endorphins into your blood, and that gives you a …
…… ..
11. I can't have any chocolate. I’m not an allergy - I'm just ………………..
12. I'm going to start jogging again because I'm ………….………………..

3. Discuss to what extent you agree with these comments, and explain why

Health and happiness are You have to work at being healthy,

connected. You cannot happy if but being happy is something you
you aren’t healthy. can’t really control.

You can decide to be happy,

whatever your circumstances.
SPOTLIGHT ON EXAM SKILLS 1

Skimming and scanning

While you can go into the IELTS test with a lot of confidence and even
enthusiasm, one thing you don't have a lot of in the exam is time. Your ability to
read quickly and to process the information effectively is of paramount
importance. Each text that you have to read will be up to 900 words long, so you
need to develop the ability to read quickly. Two key techniques that can help you
do this are skimming and scanning.

Skimming strategies

Skimming involves running your eyes quickly over the text to find out the main
ideas contained within it.
It is useful to:
• read the questions first to know what you are looking for
• read the title of the text and any subheadings
• read the first paragraph to see where the article is heading
• read the first line of each subsequent paragraph
• read the last paragraph, which may include a summary and/ or conclusion
• see how any diagrams or pictures could relate to the article.

While skimming, you should:

• try to read three or four times faster than normal
• get a good idea of what the article is about without checking new words in the
dictionary
• underline key words, e.g. dates, places, figures
• focus on key words like nouns, verbs, adjectives.

Scanning strategies

When you look for someone's name in a telephone directory or look a word up in a
dictionary, you don't read every line. You can scan through the text to find the
information that you are looking for. For this to be successful, you need to know
what you are looking for. That means you should read the question first and
identify key words in it to guide you.
It is useful to:
• read the questions so you know what you are looking for
• find the relevant part of the text as quickly as possible
• avoid reading the text line by line
• avoid mouthing the words as you read
• be aware of key words in the distractors that may also occur in the text. They
may wrongly make you think you have the right part of the text.

While scanning, you should:

• look for key words in the text - nouns that reflect the questions, and words like
problem, solution, idea, goal, improvement, danger
• look for key words that help you interpret the text and the writer's opinion -
verbs like must, can, help, ensure, increase, offer, measure, change and
adjectives and adverbials like probably, without doubt, definitely, possible,
much worse
• think of paraphrases for key words from the question and look for them in the
text.

The two strategies - skimming and scanning - work together. If you have skimmed
the text effectively, then you will have a better idea of where to find the
information you are looking for. You may have underlined an important fact, date,
figure or key word. While scanning, you may notice other key words which you
can underline.

Five ways to practice skimming and scanning

1 Get into the habit of reading longer texts and articles in English regularly.
2 Pay particular attention to the first and last paragraphs of an article.
3 To get the key ideas of a text, before you read, ask yourself: who, where, what,
why, when and how? Try to find the answers to those questions as you read
through an article.
4 Don’t focus on new vocabulary, and don't use a dictionary on your first reading
of a text.
5 Don't try to vocalize the text as you read - use your eyes, not your voice.

I. Practice your skimming and scanning with the article below about
happiness. Read it quickly to find out what it says about the following:
1 sources of happiness
2 the relationship between happiness and politics
 3 research into happiness
4 living standards and happiness
5 how to measure happiness
6 how different countries promote happiness

HOW CAN WE MEASURE HAPPINESS

by Philip Johnston

Western leaders are looking beyond traditional indices of economic and social
well-being and turning to ways of measuring national happiness.

What makes you happy? The smell of new-mown grass on a spring morning,
perhaps; or the laughter of your children. For many of us, happiness is spiritual,
individual, difficult to define and ephemeral. A Buddhist monk with no
possessions beyond his clothes and an alms bowl might consider himself happier
than a City financier with homes on three continents.

Personal happiness is something we all aspire to; so what about national

happiness? Can the well-being of a country be measured? Is it possible to
aggregate all those individual experiences into a happiness index that can be
published quarterly, along with crime statistics, inflation rates and unemployment
figures? Some political leaders think it is. They subscribe to the idea that
measuring a nation's well-being by its economic output is a policy dead-end. Is this
wise?

The consideration of happiness and how to maximize it is hardly a new activity. It

has exercised great minds from Socrates to Montaigne and on to Bentham, Mill
and the authors of the American Declaration of Independence. But while
philosophers tended to deal with how we should lead our lives as individuals, the
idea of happiness both as a science and a specific aim of national policy has only
taken off in the past decade or so.

It is hardly surprising that the idea appeals to many politicians, especially when
most of the economic news is gloomy and government policy is couched in the
downbeat language of austerity. In such circumstances, looking beyond the
traditional measurements of national well-being is a great temptation, even if it
risks being criticized as a gimmick that has no place in the serious business of
politics.
Moreover, economists believe that the pursuit of public happiness as a policy goal
has merit even when the economy is booming. This is because, as their data have
become more comprehensive and sophisticated, they have noticed one apparent
paradox: that despite the fact that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased
substantially in the industrialized West, the levels of human contentment have
remained static.

This realization encouraged Lord Layard, professor at the London School of

Economics and adviser to a former prime minister, to urge the last Labor
government to recognize that economic growth need not be an overriding priority.
He believed governments should embrace the principle that 'the best society is that
where the people are happiest, and the best policy is the one that produces the
greatest happiness'.

They found this hard to do because so little was known about what made people
happy. But, as Lord Layard points out, 'The first thing we know is that in the past
50 years, average happiness has not increased at all in Britain or in the United
States - despite massive increases in living standards.' In better-off countries, in
other words, simply raising incomes does not make people any happier.

In truth, Prime Minister David Cameron has been thinking along these lines for a
while. Shortly after he became Tory leader in 2005, he said: 'Well-being can't be
measured by money or traded in markets. It's about the beauty of our surroundings,
the quality of our culture and, above all, the strength of our relationships.
Improving our society's sense of wellbeing is, I believe, the central political
challenge of our times.' He added: 'It's time we admitted that there's more to life
than money, and it's time we focused not just on GDP but on GWB - general well-
being.'

In order to avoid a politically biased view of what 'constitutes national

contentment, it would be essential to have an independent body such as the Office
for National Statistics deciding what questions to ask and when to do so. A survey
conducted in the middle of a cold, wet January, for instance, might produce
significantly gloomier results than one carried out in summer months.

So what might a list of questions contain? Measurements of national wellbeing are

already included in cross-border surveys carried out by the UN or the OECD* and
include such indicators as a perceived lack of corruption; low unemployment; high
levels of education and income; and the number of older people in the labor
market. Using such criteria, polls can try to paint a picture of what a country thinks
about itself.

It seems that modern politicians have bought so heavily into the idea that the state
can do everything that they have deluded themselves into believing it can deliver
the most elusive of all human desires: happiness. They have been persuaded that it
is possible to measure life satisfaction and that its achievement on a national scale
should be a goal of government. The difficulty is to establish an index that does not
remain static or decline. After all, which politician will enjoy being accused of
making his fellow citizens less happy than they were?

If measuring happiness is a relatively new phenomenon in the West, it has

underpinned the public policy of one country for almost 40 years. The Kingdom of
Bhutan has pursued the goal of 'gross national happiness' since 1972. In addition to
the promotion of equitable socioeconomic development and the establishment of
good governance, it also stresses the importance of the preservation and promotion
of cultural values.

It probably helps, too, that there is little in the way of traffic, commuting into
major cities does not involve an hour-long journey crushed together like sardines,
television was banned until 1999 and the Himalayas provide a visual backdrop to a
stunning sub-tropical landscape. No wonder they are happy.

SENTENCE COMPLETION

1. Remember you're looking for specific information.

2. Do a grammar check as your read: does the gap require a singular or plural
noun, a verb, an adjective, an adjective plus a noun ... ?
3. Use words from the text.
4. The stem is not likely to have the same words in the text, so skim the text for
synonyms and paraphrases.
5. Be careful with spelling.
6. Remember that the answers are in the same order as in the text.
7. Numbers can be written as words or numbers (e.g. ten or 10).
8. Hyphenated words count as one word (so well-being is one word).

II. Read the text again and complete these sentences with NO MORE THAN
THREE words from the text. Use the scanning techniques on page 21 to
help you find the answers. Underline the sections of the text that helped
you to find the answers.
 1. Some politicians feel that it is not wise to focus on a country's …
………………….
2. Governments have only really taken the importance of promoting national
happiness seriously in … …………………..
3. While the idea of measuring happiness appeals to some politicians, others
believe it could be .. ……………….... for lacking in seriousness.
4. Although there have been ... …………........ in personal wealth, people in the
rich West are not happier.
5. For David Cameron's government, the attempt to increase the … ………. …
of the people is a key priority.
6. Surveys may have different results depending on the weather, with …
………… results being possible for those carried out in winter.
7. As part of its policy of promoting happiness, the government of Bhutan
thinks it is important to ensure the country remains true to its … ………….
………
8. According to the writer, Bhutan has the advantage of having almost no …
……………… , which is a source of stress in Western countries.

III. When you have finished, answer these questions.

1. How long did you take on your first reading?

2. Which questions did you manage to answer?
3. Do you think you need more practice skimming and scanning?

WORD BUILDING

One good way of building a large and flexible vocabulary is to focus on word
building. For example, in the text, a key word was happiness. Related words are
happy, unhappy, happier, happiest, unhappier, happily, unhappily. Can you think
of one more?

IV. a. Spend five minutes looking up the words related to happy in the
dictionary to find expressions they occur in, then decide which is needed to
complete each of these expressions.

1 ............................. married 6 many .............................returns

2 more than ............................to… 7 lived ......................... ever after
3 ............................. ending 8............................. for me, ...
4 ............................. families 9 ............................. hour
5 keep them ............................. 10 ................ is a good book.

b. It's a good idea to do this with one or two key words for each text you
read. Which other key words could you choose from the text?

DEALING WITH NEW WORDS

It is likely that the texts in the IELTS test will contain vocabulary that you are
unfamiliar with. However, don't panic because:

1 you are sure to know the vast majority of the words and expressions in each text
2 many of the new words or expressions will not be important
3 important words or phrases are likely to be guessable from the context they are
in.

In the test, you won't be able to use a dictionary, so you need skills and strategies
for dealing with new vocabulary.

Some of the most useful include:

• working out the meaning from the context
• working out the meaning from the form and function of the word or expression
• ignoring the word or expression if you think it is not important.

V. Read the text again and highlight every word or expression you have not
seen before. Then write them in the appropriate section of this table.

I have not seen this word or I have not seen this word or expression in
expression in English before, but it is English before, but I can work out its
very similar to a word in my language. meaning from the context.

I have not seen this word or I have not seen this word or expression in
expression in English before, and I English before, and I can’t work out its
can’t work out its meaning from the meaning from the context, and, as a result,
context, but this doesn’t affect my I don't have an overall understanding of
overall understanding of the context. the text.
VOCABULARY BUILDER

Paraphrase practice

1. Find two-word phrases in the text which match these definitions

1 recently cut grass.

2 someone who works in the money markets
3 figures showing the level of thefts, physical attacks, etc.
4 statistics showing how many people are out of work
5 an official strategy developed for a whole country by the leaders of that
country
6 something that seems to be illogical
7 an organization which works separately from the government
8 all the people who are in work

2. Which of these phrases are most useful? Find five more expressions in the
text that you think are worth learning

SPOTLIGHT ON EXAM SKILLS 2

Speed reading

The problems of reading slowly:

 You might not finish all the texts.
 You create extra pressure for yourself.
 You probably waste lots of time on sections of the texts that are not relevant
to the answers you need.
  Slow reading does not necessarily make you a more accurate reader.
 You will probably read less in preparation for the test.

Being able to read quickly and accurately gives you many advantages:

 You get the gist of the texts faster, so can orient yourself more quickly.
 You will be more confident that you can read all the texts.
 You will be more confident of having enough time to answer all the
questions.
 You have more time to check your answers.
 When preparing for the exam, you can get more practice with a wide variety
of texts on different topics.

I. Read this text, paying attention to the ‘chunks’ or groups of words between
the marks.

One useful technique / to increase your reading speed is this: / when you read a
line of text, / which is typically 12–14 words, / don’t let your eyes rest on each
word. / This is a very inefficient way of reading. / Your brain should have no
problem / coping with chunks of language, / four or five words at a time. / This
means you will move your eyes / three times per line, not 4. / It does take
practice, / but it is a skill you should develop / if you want to get a good result / in
the IELTS test. / This type of reading is / much easier when you know collocations
and phrases / because in essence you ‘chunk’ the text / into groups of words that go
together.

Another technique you can use to improve your reading speed is to focus your eyes
more or less down the middle of the paragraph you are reading. Your brain can
actually notice and make sense of the words around your focus. At first, this can
seem strange and might not be easy to do, but it gets easier with practice.

II. Try to read the text on the next page about the history of Manchester in no
more than one minute by focusing on the words in bold. Then decide
whether each of these statements is true (T) or false (F)

1 The text is about the geography of Manchester.

2 The text is factual rather than opinion-based.
3 Manchester was already an important population center when the Romans
arrived.
 4 The population only started to grow with the Industrial Revolution.
5 Without cotton, the history of the city would have been different.
6 The only work available in Manchester was in the cotton mills.
7 Transport was an important element of the Industrial Revolution.
8 The attraction of the work available was it was well paid.
9 Families in Ireland sent their children to work in Manchester.
10 The city briefly changed its name as a result of its rapid growth.

THE HISTORY OF MANCHESTER

Although the history of Manchester stretches back to Roman times, when a small
settlement grew up around the Roman fort known as Mamuciam, it was not until
the later years of the eighteenth century that it became a population center of any
great magnitude. Records indicate the population grew from 10,000 to approaching
80,000 in just a few decades, increasing to around 150,000 by the Industrial
Revolution, which saw its transformation into the country’s and the world’s
leading industrial metropolis. The engine for this change was cotton, which began
to be imported via the port of Liverpool and which was delivered by canal to
Manchester in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The rapid and profitable
boom in textile manufacture saw the streets of Manchester and surrounding towns
become home to huge numbers of cotton mills, textile print works and engineering
workshops. The expansion of transport links facilitated this development. In 1824,
one of the world’s first public omnibus services began in Manchester, quickly
followed in 1830 by the opening of the first steam passenger railway linking
Liverpool and Manchester. Often overlooked, however, was the ‘human fuel’ that
made all this possible. The promise of work, however poor the pay, however bad
the conditions, resulted in wave after wave of immigration from the surrounding
countryside and abroad, the villages and towns of Ireland in particular, where
terrible poverty and the threat of famine drove whole families to leave everything
they knew for a life in ‘Cottonopolis’, as the city was dubbed.

Paraphrase practice

III Decide if these expressions from the text above are similar in meaning to
the expressions in italics or not
1 of any great magnitude of some size and importance
2 metropolis capital city
3 the engine for this change what was mainly responsible for this development
4 rapid … boom in quick change in
5 facilitated this made this possible
6 often overlooked with a view over a particular place

IDENTIFYING TEXT TYPES

We read different sorts of texts in different ways and for different purposes. For
example, we don’t read a telephone directory for pleasure, or try to learn facts
from an advertisement. Being able to identify what sort of text you are reading
helps you in many ways. Understanding the purpose of the text and knowing how
the author expects you to react gives you control over how to read it more
effectively.

IV Work in pairs. Discuss the differences between the types of text below.
Think about

 format and layout

 fact and opinion
 register and language
 grammar and vocabulary
 headings and illustrations
 length.

1 an advertisement / a history book

2 a legal document / a newspaper article
3 a personal story / a book review 4 an information leaflet / an encyclopedia

SKIMMING FOR STYLE

V Read these extracts (A–H) from different types of text about immigration
and match them to the text types in Exercise 4

A Immigration derives from the Latin word migration and means the act of a
foreigner entering a country in the aim of obtaining the right of permanent
 residence. Immigration may have economic or political motivation, or be a
matter of family reunification or caused by natural disaster. In many cases,
immigrants simply desire to improve their circumstances by relocating.

B Timofey Pnin is surely one of the most memorable of Nabokov’s characters.

We meet a bald and middle-aged teacher of Russian, and discover that he’s
completely lost. Much that he encounters in the world around him is a source
of confusion, including timetables, the use of articles in English and also –
comically – the habits of the Americans who are his neighbours. These are all
things that many if not all fellow immigrants are likely to have in common
with him. Yet Pnin is a unique character, both in life and in literature.

C The precise date of the first human from 1788, when the first transports
occupation of Australia is likely to bearing convicted criminals made the
remain unknown, but evidence has long journey south. This was quickly
been uncovered to suggest human followed in the early 1790s by the
presence on the continent for at least first wave of voluntary – and hence
40,000 years. Migration from europe free – immigrants.
dates
D
Immigration control concerns both how and why people from countries outside
the UK are allowed to enter the country and how long they are permitted to
remain. Furthermore, it governs what they may and may not do while during
their stay in the UK; for example, whether they have the right to obtain paid
employment, whether relatives may join them here, and whether they have
access to the National Health Service and similar state benefits. The paragraphs
that follow give advice about all aspects of immigration control.
E
Syed Ahmed, 22, a to renew his visa so he this country. Instead,
bright and hard-working could stay here on the fact he’d taken up
young man, is studying completion of his playing cricket for a
at a leading British threeyear degree course local club since his
university to become an was approved, the final arrival from Bangladesh
accountant. When his decision was not based turned out to be the
application on the contribution he basis of the judge’s
could make to decision.
F
With over 25 years’ experience of providing a comprehensive range of
immigration and legal services, we offer our clients a friendly and professional
service for all immigration needs. Our extensive experience enables us to
 advise you on the prospects of success and problems to be aware of when
submitting an application. Working together, we will use our experience to
find a solution that matches your needs wherever possible. As specialists in
business immigration, we have developed a range of strategies that can assist
organizations in obtaining work permits, visas and rights to remain.
G
I came to this country at the age of good people, we don’t have a
12. When I started high school, I criminal record, we pay taxes, we go
could hardly understand the to school, we work hard, and we love
language. That seems an age ago. living here. I just want a chance to
Now I’m married, studying at college get the job I feel I deserve, and to
and would like to become a teacher. normalize our situation. Ultimately,
Unfortunately, that can’t happen as a we aim to use the years we’ve been
result of my status as an illegal here as justification to become
immigrant. The future now seems so naturalized, so we can be treated as
H uncertain. But we are citizens of the country.

If directions are given under Part I of Schedule 2 or Schedule 3 to the 1971 Act
for a person's removal from the United Kingdom, and directions are also so
given for the removal with him of persons belonging to his family, then if any
of them appeals under • section 59, 63, 66, 67 or 69(1) or (5), the appeal is to
have the same effect under paragraphs 10 to 14 in relation to the directions
given in respect of each of the others as it has in relation to the directions given
in respect of the appellant.

SKIMMING FOR CONTENT

5 How many of the extracts in Exercise 5 mention

1 education?
2 nationalities?
3 work?
4 free time?
5 law and law-breaking?

6 These expressions are taken from the extracts in Exercise 5, but each
one has an extra word. Scan the extracts to find which one each
expression is from and cross out the extra word
1 speedy professional service
2 then quickly followed in
3 source of considerable confusion
4 entering a European country
5 all persons belonging to
6 have the legal right to
7 university degree course
8 hardly understand anything

SENTENCE COMPLETION

8 Answer these questions about the extracts in Exercise 5 using NO MORE

THAN TWO WORDS for each answer
1 The aspect of English grammar Pnin finds most problematic is ……………..
2 Preceding those who chose to settle in Australia by a few years, ……………
were the first European migrants.
3 Immigration control includes rulings on whether people are allowed to look
for………
4 The hope to live together again with one's ………….. is in some cases a reason
for immigration.
5 The author of extract G hopes to change nationality by being ………. as a result
of the length of time she has spent in the country.
6 Extract H states that anyone under threat of ............................. from the country
has a right to appeal.
9 Complete these sentences logically using the number of words indicated in
brackets. Then compare your answers wjth a partner

1 I spent last weekend .............................. (2 words)

2 I did/didn't go to the cinema last week because .............................. (3 words)
3 If I had more money, I would .............................. (2 words)
4 I feel happiest when I ............................. . (3 words)
5 My favourite time of day is .............................. (1 word)
6 What worries me most about the future is .............................. (3 words)
7 Two techniques for reading quickly are .............................. (3 words)
8 8 All the short texts above involve the theme oL. .......................... . (1 word)

CLASSROOM WORKOUT
Arguing a position

• Think about these two statements:

- Health is far more important than happiness.
- Happiness is far more important than health.

• Work in groups. Half the groups find as many arguments as possible which
support the first statement. The other half do the same for the second statement.
• You have five minutes to think of your arguments. Try to use key expressions
from this unit. Then present your argument to the class. The group with the most
convincing arguments wins.

CHECK YOURSELF

• Make a list of five different sorts of text in English that you plan to read this
week in order to practise skimming and scanning techniques. They must come
from different sources and be on different topics. You should allow at least 20
minutes for each type of text.
• Make a list of 10-15 collocations or expressions that you could use in a
discussion on the topic of health and happiness.
• Write down three facts you now know about ways of measuring happiness as a
result of reading the texts in this unit.

SUMMARY

In this unit, you:

• looked at many words and collocations connected with health and happiness.
How many did you write down in your notebook?
• read about skimming, scanning and speed-reading techniques. What are the
advantages of reading quickly in the IELTS test?
• looked at sentence-completion questions. What common mistakes do some
students make with this question type?
• looked at coping with new words. Do you know why it is not always necessary
or useful to reach out for your dictionary when you come across unknown
words?

OVER TO YOU
1 Look online to see what health issues are likely to become more important in the
future.
2 Try to find three articles online or in newspapers and magazines about how to be
happy and healthy.
3 Some people say that happiness is the by-product of doing something else.
Think of three examples that prove or disprove this point and tell your friends.
4 Find some texts you think are interesting and practice breaking them into logical
'chunks'.

If you work with a friend, see if you both agree on how to 'chunk' the same text.