1. English reading articles

Pre-reading task

1.What are ethical clothes?

2.What is organic cotton?

Now, read the article and see if your answers are correct.

Business and ethics by Carolyn Hardwick

Case study: James Carston, Fine Shirtmakers

Set up in the 1920s by James Carston, a Manchester tailor, the company has remained in the family and is now run by James’ grandson, Paul Carston. Employing fewer than 50 people, the company has a reputation for producing high-quality men’s shirts, which it sells by mail order, and has a loyal customer base. As Paul Carston says: ‘Once someone has tried our shirts, they tend to come back for more. Our customers appreciate the attention to detail and the high-quality fabric we use.’ And it’s the fabric they now use that makes the company exception al in the world of men’s shirt manufacturers.

When Paul Carston took over running the company in 1999, he inherited a business that prided itself on using local, well-paid machinists rather than sweatshop labor, and looked upon its employees as members of an extended family. Paul, a committed environmentalist, felt that the company fitted in well with his values. The shirts were made from 100 per cent cotton, and as Paul says: ‘I t’s a completely natural fibre, so you would think it was environmentally sound.’ Then Paul read a magazine article about fair trade and cotton producers. He was devastated to read that the cotton industry is a major source of pollution, and that the synthetic fertilizers used to produce cotton are finding their way into the food chain.

Paul takes up the story. ‘I investigated our suppliers, and sure enough found that they were producing cotton on an industrial scale using massive amounts of chemicals. Then I looked into organic cotton suppliers, and found an organization of Indian farmers who worked together to produce organic cotton on a fair trade basis. Organic cotton is considerably more expensive than conventionally produced cotton, so I did the sums. I discovered that if we were prepared to take a cut in profits, we would need to add only a couple of pounds to the price of each shirt to cover the extra costs. The big risk, of course, was whether our customers would pay extra for organic cotton.’

Paul did some research into the ethical clothing market and discovered that although there were several companies producing casual clothing such as T-shirts in organic cotton, there was a gap in the market for smart men’s shirts. He decided to take the plunge and switch entirely to organic cotton. He wrote to all his customers explaining the reasons for the change, and at the same time the company set up a website so they could sell the shirts on the Internet. The response was encouraging. Although they lost some of their regular customers, they gained a whole customer base looking for formal shirts made from organic cotton, and the company is going from strength to strength.

Exercise 1

Comprehension: Summary. Look at these summaries of the text. Which is the best summary? a. Began trading in 1923 and has always been a family business; has always paid its employees

well; now produces men’s shirts using organic cotton

b. Began trading in1919 and was sold to Paul Carston in 1999; stopped using sweatshop labor in 1999; now produces T-shirts in organic cotton

c. Began trading in 1999 and set up by Paul Carston; all employees are members of his family; produces formal and casual men’s clothes in organic cotton

Exercise 2

Comprehension: True of false. Read the article and decide if the following statements are true or false:

1.James Carston was Paul’s grandfather.

2.The company has over 50 employees.

3.The shirts are sold in shops.

4.When Paul started running the company, he immediately decided to change to organic

cotton.

5.Conventionally produced cotton is cheaper than organic cotton.

6.The company didn’t lose any customers when they changed to organic cotton.

Exercise 3

Vocabulary: Grouping. Put these items of clothing into the correct column - a) for items worn on the head; b) for items worn on the chest; and c) for items worn on the legs or feet:

hat/trousers/socks/shirt/skirt/jumper

Answers

Exercise 1: summary a

Exercise 2:

1. True

2. False

3. False

4. False

5. True

6. False

Exercise 3: a. hat b. shirt, jumper c. trousers, socks, skirt

Pre-reading task:

Before you read the text, go to Exercise 1 on page 5 and match the expressions with their correct meanings.

Change management by Graham Bradford

The rate of change and development in the business world is always increasing. New competitors, new markets, new technologies, new products all result in an enterprise having to embrace change to remain successful.

How can an organization know when change is necessary? Charles Handy, a former professor at the London Business School, suggested that organizations should embrace change when they are doing well; they should not wait until things take a turn for the worse. It is doubtful that many organizations follow this advice. It is more likely that traditional indicators such as sales information can be used to decide when and what to change. Changes in the external environment need to be monitored- what are tour competitors planning? Do you suddenly have a new competitor?

How can an organization achieve change? Financial and accounting information can help in the

planning and implementation of change. However, for Professor Senger, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this isn’t enough. He suggests that a vital factor in the successful implementation of change is that organizations must ‘learn to learn’. The traditional top-down, authoritarian way of doing things is not flexible enough to cope with today’s rapidly changing business environment. Senger lists five factors that help make an organization a ‘learning organization’.

‘personal mastery’-an employee’s desire for lifelong learning to continually update that employee’s set of job skills

‘the creative use of mental models’- all employees should question all aspects of a company’s organization

‘building a shared vision’-the vision of the company’s future must be positive, innovative, constantly evolving and something that all employees wish to achieve

‘systems thinking’-this requires a wide vision across all sectors of an organization; in fact the concept of ‘a sector’ within a company is not useful-activities in a company should be seen as a whole; it is also important to recognize patterns across an organization, even in complex circumstances.

If a company can become a learning organization then it should be able to bring about successful organizational change.

Exercise 1

Vocabulary: Matching. Match the words from the text with their correct definitions:

1.embrace change

2.take a turn for the worse

3.traditional indicators

4.external environment

5.top down

6.implementation of change

7.lifelong learning

Exercise 2

Vocabulary: Matching. Choose the correct words to fill the gaps in the sentences:

achieve / change / learning / vision

embrace / individuals / indicators / organization / lifelong

The rate of [1]……in the business world is always increasing. Charles Handy suggests that companies should not wait for [2]…… such as poor sales to tell them that change is necessary. A company should [3]…… when it is doing well. Professor Senge says that [4]…… organizations are better at embracing change. Such organizations share five factors: employees embrace[5]……learning; employees are encouraged to question all aspects of the company’s [6]……; the vision of the company’s future should be something that all employees wish to[7] ……; employees need to learn as teams not as [8]…… ;wide [9]…… across all sectors of an organization is required.

Answers Exercise 1

1.d

2.f

3.b

4.e

5.a

6.g

7.c

Exercise 2

1.change

2.indicators

3.embrace

4.learning

5.lifelong

https://www.sodocs.net/doc/82964065.html,anisation

7.achieve

8.individuals

9.vision

Pre-reading task

1.How often do you go to the cinema?

2.How many George Clooney films can you name?

3.Have you seen any “political” films?

Now, read the article and compare your experiences with those outlined in the article.

Cinema and politics by Carolyn Hardwick

Don’t just sit there, participate!

Film producers are usually in it for the money, whatever they might say about wanting to produce great art or entertainment. But when Jeff Skoll, founder of Participant Productions, says he wants his films to change the world, you somehow believe him. After all, he doesn’t exactly need the money.

Skoll, together with a university colleague, founded eBay, and consequently is now a billionaire. When he left eBay in 2000 he turned his sights to philanthropic projects. He had long harbored a dream to write stories that would change the world, but then realized he could use his wealth to hire writers. And what better way to get those stories out to the public than to make them into films?

Participant Productions came into being in 2004, and now has its first batch of successful films under its belt. Syriana, starring George Clooney as an American spy, looks at how America’s dependence on Middle Eastern oil results in global violence. Another George Clooney film, Good Night, and Good Luck,which the actor also directed and co-wrote, is a drama about Senator Joseph McCarthy and his attempts to censor American television news. In 2007 An Inconvenient Truth, the film presented by Al Gore about the climate crisis, won Academy awards for Best Documentary Feature and Original Song. The first film to come out, North Country, was less successful at the box office than the Clooney films, but still critically

acclaimed. Starring Charlize Theron, it tells the story of a woman working as a miner, and the sexual harassment she and her female colleagues face.

Hollywood has been a spate of ‘political’ films, such as Munich, The Constant Gardener and Blood Diamonds, and it could be said that Participant is jumping on the bandwagon. Nobody else, however, is doing what Skoll is doing. Participant works in partnership with activist groups and organizes a specific campaign to tie in with each film. Its community website (www. Participate. net) helps people get involved by taking part in group blogs as well as the campaigns.

For North Country the company has set up a campaign to end sexual harassment and domestic violence, and the website has downloadable information kits. Good Night,and Good Luck is tied in with a campaign to promote better reporting of the news, which

encourages people to write in with news stories from their neighborhoods. Syriana’s campaign is Oil Change, which aims to reduce dependence on oil by informing people about ways they can make a difference as individuals.

Are these campaigns having any effect? It’s too early to say, but if the number of people visiting the website is anything to go by then the message is getting across that people can participate and films can be a vehicle for social change.

Exercise 1

Comprehension: Multiple choice. For each question choose the correct answer:

1.How did Jeff Skoll make a lot of money?

a.By producing successful films

b.By setting up eBay

c.By writing stories

2.Which of these films does not feature George Clooney?

a.Syriana

b.Good Night, and Good Luck

c.North Country

3.What is the main function of www. participate. net?

a.To inform people about campaigns

b.To give details of the films

c.To encourage people to set up their own blogs

Exercise 2

Vocabulary: Use words from the text to fill the gaps:

Syriana

1.George Clooney plays a US……

2.Examines link between America’s oil dependency and world……

3.An associated campaign is …… Change

4.Its aim is to help people as …… to reduce dependency on oil

Good Night, and Good Luck

5.Co-written and …… by George Clooney

6.True story about Joseph McCarthy’s censorship of American …… news

7.An associated campaign promotes better reporting of the ……

North Country

8.Charlize Theron plays a ……

9.Looks at the issue of …… harassment

10.An associated campaign aims to end sexual harassment and …… violence

Answers Exercise 1

1.b

2.c

3.a

Exercise 2

1.spy

2.violence

3.Oil

4.individuals

5.directed

6. television

7.news

8.miner

9.sexual 10.domestic

Pre-reading task

1. What are the effects of global warming?

2. What do climate analysts feel about the recent changes in the environment?

Now, read the article and see if your answers are correct.

Climate change by Katharine Bisborough

1.Climate change, global warming, the greenhouse effect …these days nobody denies that

there is something strange and worrying happening to the atmosphere. But for the second year running scientists are puzzled by the rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They are afraid that the world may be a short way from what they refer to as runaway global warming.

2.At Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, meteorologists have been carefully monitoring the

amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere for the past 50 years. Until recently here has been a gradual increase of around 1.5 parts per million (ppm). Scientists began to feel anxious in 2002 when the figure rose to 2.08 ppm. Their fears heightened the following year when they registered an increase of 2.54 ppm.

3.This is not the first time that the carbon dioxide count has gone off-course. Natural

events-such as when the Pacific warms up during hurricanes-have explained other changes in CO2 levels.

4.Climate analysts feel that it is too soon to draw conclusions about the phenomenon although

some are concerned that the carbon dioxide emissions are getting out of control. They are starting to think that instead of having decades to find a solution to the problem, we might have only a few years. Some believe that the Earth’s natural systems for absorbing the gas are breaking down resulting in the runaway greenhouse effect. This is something that could happen if the Earth’s temperatures rose to such a degree that the planet was unable to contain the heat.

5.One interesting aspect of this climate change is that it is not happening in a uniform way

around the world. Carbon dioxide levels in the South Pole are noticeably lower. This suggests that something has happened in the northern hemisphere that set off the rise. Forest fires might hold the answer to the puzzle, along with a couple of very hot summers in Europe.

Vegetation would have died off and more carbon dioxide would have been released from the soil into the atmosphere.

6.The 2003 heatwave was certainly out of the ordinary. Statistics claim that more than 30000

people lost their lives as a direct result of the high temperatures. Scientists are being cautious in their interpretations. Most feel that it is too soon to say that a new trend has been set. All agree that the phenomenon needs to be closely observed.

Exercise 1

Comprehension: Matching. Mach each of the six topics with one of the paragraphs in the text:

a.Time is running out

b.North and South differences

https://www.sodocs.net/doc/82964065.html,ws of nature

d.Keeping a close eye on things

e.Increase in growth rate

f. A puzzle

Exercise 2

Vocabulary: Matching. Choose the correct words to fill the gaps in the sentences:

released/rise/emissions/trend

registered/absorbing

1.Scientists are puzzled by the …… in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

2.Fears heightened the following year when they …… an increase of 2.54.

3.The carbon dioxide …… are getting out of control.

4.The Earth’s natural systems for …… the gas are breaking down.

5.More carbon would have been …… from the soil into the atmosphere.

6.Most feel that it is too soon to say that a new …… has been set.

Answers Exercise 1

1. f

2. e

3. c

4. a

5. b

6. d

Exercise 2

1. rise

2.registered

3.emmissions

4.absorbing

5.released

6.trend

Pre-reading task

1.Do you buy goods over the Internet?

2.Do you worry about Internet security?

3.Have you ever been the victim of an Internet scam?

Now, read the article and compare your experiences with those outlined in the article.

E-commerce by Graham Bradford

Protect yourself! Don’t become a victim of Internet fraud

Internet fraud is big business and it’s getting even bigger. Consumers and businesses lose millions of pounds every year in Britain alone. Doing business with well-known e-commerce companies is

fairly safe, especially if you pay by credit card. But there is no such thing as a completely safe Internet site.

We asked Julian Chan from https://www.sodocs.net/doc/82964065.html,/econsumer/english to tell us how to avoid becoming another victim of Internet fraud. Here are Julian’s nine but tips：

1．Always research e-commerce companies and the people who run them before you do business with them. There are plenty of sites. For information on British companies check the UK’s Financial Services Authority site at: www. fsa. gov. uk.

2．Don’t open spam. This stuff doesn’t come from proper businesses. It might even be from a hacker who wants to get into your computer system.

3．Avoid giving out personal financial information such as bank account and credit card numbers or passwords online to people you don’t know anything about. Some criminals pretend they are from well-known e-companies and ask people for their credit card number or password.

4．Think carefully before buying anything from auction sites that offer luxury items such as designer watches and bags at very low prices. The majority of Internet fraud complaints are about auction sites. More than 20 per cent of so-called luxury goods are cheap copies, while eight per cent of all goods paid for never arrive.

5．Watch out for e-commerce companies that ask you to send cheques to a PO Box address before you have received their goods or services. Pay by credit card- this will reduce your liability.

6．Be careful about online investment schemes that promise to help you ‘Make ￡1000 into ￡10000 fast!’ or that put pressure on you to make a quick decision-they are probably scams.

Talk to a trusted financial adviser and see if they can offer you a better deal, offline, with less risk.

7．Be suspicious of e-commerce advice given in online chat rooms. Some of the people you talk to could be e-commerce employees or worse, criminals who are running investment scams. 8．Make sure you keep a record when you make payments online and check your monthly credit card statements. If you find anything that shouldn’t be in your statement, contact your bank immediately.

9．Be sure to destroy any electronic or credit card receipts or old credit cards that you don’t need. Criminals search rubbish for these kinds of documents and use them to but expensive goods and services with your money.

If you want to report an Internet crime, you can contact the Metropolitan Police Service Computer Crime Unit (https://www.sodocs.net/doc/82964065.html,/computercrime).

Exercise 1

Comprehension: True/False. Read the article and decide if the following statements are true of false:

1.Well-known e-companies don’t send spam.

2.Chat rooms have been used to promote scams.

3.Criminals use old credit cards and receipts to buy goods and services.

4.It’s easy to get information about Internet companies and the people who own them.

5.Most online get-rich-quick schemes are OK but you should check with a financial expert first.

6.It’s better to pay for online goods and services by credit card rather than cheque.

7.Auction sites cause more problems for consumers than any other form of e-commerce.

8.The problem of Internet fraud is getting worse.

Exercise 2

Vocabulary: Matching. Match the words from the text with their correct definitions:

Spam/hacker/fraud/auction/receipt

1. A person who tries to gain unauthorized access to computer systems.

2. A way of selling goods whereby people make offers and the person who makes the highest

offer buys the item for sale.

3. A type of crime in which people do not receive the goods or services for which they have

paid.

4. A piece of paper given to the customer that states the product and the price paid for it.

5.Automatically produced e-mail sent to millions of people at the same time.

Answers Exercise 1 1.True 2.True 3.True 4.True 5.False 6.True 7.True 8.True

Exercise 2 1.hacker 2.auction 3.fraud 4.receipt 5.spam

Pre-reading task

1.Do you follow fashion?

2.Have you ever bought counterfeit merchandise?

3.How much would you spend on a bag?

Now, read the article and compare your experiences with those outlined in the article.

Fashion industry by Carolyn Hardwick

Flattery or piracy? The fashion industry can’t decide.

The audience gasps. Fashion editors scribble notes. Cameras flash. As the model sashays down the catwalk it’s clear to everyone that this is going to be the must-have dress of the season. And long before the applause has died down, photographs of the dress have been sent to manufacturers, who will then copy and produce “knock-off”versions for a fraction of the designer’s price tag.

Blatant theft of ideas, or flattering imitation and extra publicity? The fashion industry, and even designers themselves, can’t decide if the massive knock-off industry is a good or bad thing. Some fashion houses are taking retailers to court for selling copies that they say are too close to the original article. They argue that they are not only losing sales, but copies that are inferior in quality affect their reputation. Designer bag companies in particular claim that poorly made knock-off bags that fall apart all too soon have a negative effect on their image.

Other designers feel that the proliferation of cheap copies in high street stores can only be a good thing. They argue that those who buy a 50 euro imitation would never be able to afford the 5000 euro original anyway, and that a design that is copied by all popular retailers increases the profile of the fashion house that produced it. Everyone knows who designed the original, and so no harm is done. There is also a theory that copying benefits the fashion industry by increasing creativity. As new designs rapidly become popular trends, designers have to come up with even newer ideas to keep the real ‘fashionistas’ happy.

Counterfeiting, which involves the blatant copying of brand names and logos, is of course outlawed. So would it be possible to legislate against the greyer area of knock-offs? European designers have some protection under law, but that hasn’t stopped a thriving knock-off business in high street stores. Designers in the USA have no protection at the moment, as fashion design is historically considered a craft, not an art, and outside the scope of copyright protection. Policing copyright on fashion would be particularly difficult. Knock-off versions can be in the shops within two or three days of a fashion show, before the original is even available for sale, so how can you prove who had the idea first?

Exercise 1

Comprehension: True/False. Read the article again and decide if the following statements are true or false:

1.Photographers take pictures of clothes at fashion shows and send them to manufacturers.

2.All fashion designers think that the knock-offs are bad for the fashion industry.

3.Fashion designers are taking retailers to court for selling poor-quality copies.

4.Designer bag-makers say that copies have a bad effect on their image.

5.Some designers think that copying results in the fashion industry becoming less creative.

6.Some people say that copying results in the fashion industry becoming less creative.

7.Copying brand names and logos is against the law.

8.In the US fashion designs are not covered by copyright law.

Exercise 2

Vocabulary: Matching. Match a word from the first column (1 to 5) with a word from the second column (a to e) to make common collocations:

1.fashion a.copyright

2.designer b.trends

3. popularc.copying

4. blatant d.bag

5. police e.editor

Answers Exercise 1

1.True

2.False

3.True

4.True

5.True

6.False

7.True

8.True

Exercise 2

1.e

2.d

3.b

4.c

5.a

Food by Julie Bray

When I was at school, out teacher told the class: ‘You are what you eat.’ My friends and I would laugh and call each other ‘hamburger’and ‘biscuits’. Our teacher was trying to show us the importance of eating the right food to stay health.

This was a few decades ago when there were big campaigns to make British people healthier. We decided to throw out our chip pan, which we had used until then to make chips every day for dinner. We replaced our chips with boiled potatoes. We also started using semi-skimmed milk instead of whole milk in our cups of tea and bowls of cornflakes. At first I felt like I was eating my cornflakes in water and my potatoes had no taste at all. But after a while I started to prefer healthier food because I felt stronger and I didn’t get sick so often.

Japanese people are reputed to be the healthiest in the world because of the food they eat. The healthiest Japanese people ear rice and fish and vegetables every day. They drink green tea or water when they’re thirsty, and snack on dried fish, fruit or ginkgo nuts. The traditional Japanese diet is famous for helping you to live a longer and healthier life.

So we have proof that you become what you eat. Can you tell what your friends eat just by looking at them? When you know the effects of different types of food, you can use your knowledge well and eat what you want to become.

Food has an impact on our physical and emotional health. Have you ever heard any of the following advice?

1.Lettuce or milk can make you sleepy.

2.To stop feeling sleepy you should eat peanuts or dried fish.

3.To keep your teeth clean you should eat apples often.

4.Garlic helps you not to catch a cold.

Everyone has their own advice to give, which they have read about or have been told by older relatives. Some of these pieces of advice seem to contradict each other.

1.Eating chocolate makes you fat and gives you spots.

2.Chocolate contains the essential minerals iron and magnesium.

What we need to figure out is what type of chocolate to eat to get the benefits and how much of it to eat. We can do this by reading the list of ingredients on the chocolate bar wrapper. Exactly how much real chocolate is in there? And how much of that do we need to eat to get the benefits of the minerals it contains?

Future restaurants might be named after the physical or emotional state they hope to create. Their menus will list the benefits of each dish and drink. Some restaurants have already started this concept, and list the nutritional content of their dishes on the menus.

Let’s take the restaurant Winners as an example. Their menu would list dishes specifically designed to help you win sports competitions. There would be Night-before vegetable lasagne, a pasta dish with extra layers of spinach pasta for slow-burning energy, rich tomato sauce full of vitamin C and soft, easy-to-digest vegetables. All this would be topped with a little fresh cheese-just enough to help you get a good night’s sleep, but not enough to give you nightmares. Or you could choose the Go-faster salad, which is a large bowl of mixed raw vegetables in a light salad dressing, giving you energy without making you gain weight. The vegetables are carefully chosen to include plenty of natural vitamins and minerals.

What kind of dishes do you think would be on the menu at the Clever Café (which sells food

that’s good for your brain)?

So what’s going to happen to hamburgers and biscuits? Will the concept of eating food because it’s tasty go out of fashion? Of course not. Junk food is also changing. If ice-cream is not good for children, can’t we give them fat-free, sugar-free tofu ice-cream? Unhealthy food is going out of fashion, so brands are changing. We are told not to drink cola because of the sugar and caffeine content so cola companies are making sugar-free and caffeine-free drinks. We are told dried fruit is a healthier snack than biscuits so some biscuit companies are making biscuits with added vitamins. Snacks might soon be changing their names to Skinglow and Chocomineral. So in the future you might be able to eat your way to your idea of perfection.

Vocabulary

Five words/phrases from the text:

1.Semi-skimmed milk: milk with some of the fat removed to make it healthier

2.Snack on: to eat small amounts of food between meals

3.Wrapper: the covering (usually made of paper or plastic) used to protect something

4.Salad dressing: oil, vinegar, salt and other ingredients mixed together to eat with salad

5.–free (sugar-free, fat-free, caffeine-free): a suffix that means ‘without’

Exercise one

Vocabulary gap fill. Now use the five words/phrases to fill the gaps in the sentences below:

The doctor recommended …… (1) instead of full fat milk to reduce my cholesterol.

Teenagers these days …… (2) chocolate and crisps.

If you want to know what these sweets contain, read the …… (3).

You can’t smoke here, it’s a smoke …… (4) zone.

Waiter, can you bring me some …… (5) please?

Exercise two

Comprehension: answer the five questions using information from the article:

1.Why are Japanese people so healthy?

2.How is chocolate bad for you? And how is it good for you?

3.What can we find out by reading a chocolate wrapper?

4.What is the food at Winners good for?

5.How are cola companies making their drinks healthier?

Answers Vocabulary

1.semi-skimmed

2.snack on

3.wrapper

4.free

5.salad dressing

Comprehension

1.Japanese people are so healthy because they have a healthy diet. They eat rice, fish

and vegetables every day, drink green tea or water and snack on fruit

2.Chocolate makes you fat and gives you spots; it contains iron and magnesium

3.By reading a chocolate wrapper we can find out exactly how much chocolate it

contains

4.The food at Winners helps you win sports competitions

5.Cola companies are making their drinks healthier by making their drinks

caffeine-free or sugar-free

Pre-reading task

What is gas flaring?

In which countries is flaring a common practice?

Which African country produces the most crude oil?

Now read the article and compare your answers with the facts in the text.

Gas industry by Maargaret O’Keeffe

Gas flaring

During the production of oil by energy companies, unwanted natural gas is regularly burned off and released into the atmosphere. This is known as ‘gas flaring’- a cheap but environmentally damaging process.

There are a number of reasons for flaring. In the past, gas was considered to be a waste product and global warming was not an issue. Second, contracts between governments and oil companies allowed flaring, and there was no obligation to find a market for the gas that was found while exploring for oil.

A third issue is that, until recent years, there hasn’t been such a developed market for gas as there was for oil, and it’s much more difficult and costly to get gas to consumers.

As a result, oil-producing companies burned off gas worth $40 billion at 2007 US prices. That’s equivalent to 5.5 per cent of the world’s total production of natural gas, according to one recent study of flaring.

The negative impact of flaring is threefold. It represents a waste of energy, it causes serious health and contamination problems for local communities in oil-producing areas, and it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

Nowadays, gas flaring is increasingly recognized as a large environmental problem, contributing more than one per cent to global emissions of CO2. Eight countries-Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia and Venezuela-account for 60 per cent of flaring worldwide, according to World Bank estimates. By contrast, in Western Europe, 99 per cent of ‘associated’gas, found during oil exploration, is used or reinjected into the ground.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest producer of crude oil and flaring levels are the highest in the world. Nigeria currently burns off almost half of its daily production because the gas-gathering network is insufficient. In fact, over the past 45 years, most of the natural gas discovered, together with the country’s oil, has simply been burned off.

Governments and the energy industry have been trying to cut back on flaring for years, but with little success. The total volume of gas flared each year has been more or less the same since the mid-1990s. Nigeria’s government is now committed to ending gas flaring by the end of 2008, but several Western oil companies have already said they cannot meet the deadline.

Natural gas is now seen as a valuable natural resource, and there is increasing investment in gas-gathering networks. However, at a time of high oil prices, there is pressure on oil companies and governments to favor higher levels of oil production, which, in turn, leads to higher levels of gas flaring.

Exercise 1

Vocabulary: Matching. Choose the correct words (a to g) to fill the gaps in the sentences:

1.Minerals, oil, forests and coal, which can be found and used by people, are all examples

of ……

2.We call the gradual increase in world temperatures, which are caused by polluting gases ……

3. A …… is an unwanted or unused substance produced during a process.

4.Unrefined, liquid petroleum as it comes out of the ground is known as……

5.…… refers to negative, harmful effects on air, water and land.

6. A …… is the infrastructure needed to capture, collect and distribute gas.

7.Two examples of …… are carbon dioxide and methane.

A.waste product

B.global warming

C.greenhouse gases

D.crude oil

E.gas-gathering network

F.natural resources

G.environmental damage

Exercise 2

Comprehension: True/False. Read the article and decide if the following statements are true or false:

1.Flaring is a process used to produce natural gas.

https://www.sodocs.net/doc/82964065.html,ernments have traditionally prohibited energy companies from flaring.

3.It’s more expensive to collect and distribute gas than oil.

4.Flaring is one factor contributing to global warming.

5.Over half of global gas flaring occurs in Europe.

6.Due to poor infrastructure, nearly 50 per cent of gas is burned off in Nigeria.

7.It’s likely that oil production will soon fall in favor of gas production.

Answers Exercise 1

1.f

2.b

3.a

4.d

5.g

6.e

7.c

Exercise 2

1.False

2.False

3.True

4.True

5.False

6.True

7.False

Pre-reading task

1.Do you have a car?

2.Does the impact cars have on the environment worry you?

Now, read the article and compare your experiences with those outlined in the article.

Hybrid cars by Carolyn Hardwick

a. Hybrid cars are cars that run on both petrol and electricity. They have a small standard petrol engine and a battery and electric motor to provide electric power.

b. There are some differences between different models of hybrid cars, but the general principle is that the car runs on petrol, and the electric motor kicks in when additional power is required, for example when going uphill or accelerating. In some hybrid cars the petrol engine turns itself off when not needed, for example when the car has stopped at traffic lights, keeping only the electric engine running.

c. Conventional cars have large engines to cope with driving uphill and accelerating. Most of the

time, this high engine capacity is not needed, but the engine continues burning up fuel. Hybrid cars have much smaller petrol engines, boosted by electric motors when needed, so they use less petrol. Hybrid cars are also lighter and aerodynamically designed for greater fuel efficiency. Another way that fuel consumption is cut is by a system of ‘regenerative braking’.

d. The electric motor is used to slow down the car, rather than conventional brakes. The energy produced by the slowing car is converted into electrical power, which is automatically stored in the battery. In effect, the battery recharges when you brak

e. In conventional cars the energy produced when braking is wasted.

e. Car manufacturers and engineers have been experiencing with electric and hybrid cars since the late 19th century. In 1928 Ferdinand Porsche built an experimental hybrid car that used both an internal combustion engine and electric motors. The first mass-produced hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, came out in Japan at the end of 1997. However, hybrid cars became available in the USA only in 1999, when the Honda Insight went on sale.

f. As they use less fuel, hybrid cars are cheaper to run. There are also many initiatives in place to encourage people to buy them. In some countries, hybrid car owners pay a lower rate of tax, and don’t have to pay on certain toll roads. In some cities around the world, hybrid cars are allowed to park for free.

Exercise 1

Comprehension: Matching. Match a question with the paragraph in the text that contains its answer:

1.What are the advantages of hybrid cars?

2.When were hybrid cars first produced?

3.What is ‘regenerative braking’？

4.How do hybrid cars consume less energy than conventional cars?

5.How do hybrid cars work?

6.What are hybrid cars?

Exercise 2

Comprehension: True/False. Read the article and decide if the following statements are true or false:

1.Hybrid cars use two forms of energy.

2.All hybrid cars work in exactly the same way.

3.Electric power is used in conjunction with the petrol engine when going up hills.

4.Conventional cars have bigger petrol engines than hybrid cars.

5.Hybrid cars weigh more than conventional cars.

6.In regenerative braking, energy which is usually wasted is stored in the battery.

7.Hybrid cars were first commercially available in Japan.

8.Hybrid cars get free parking in all major cities.

Answers Exercise 1

1.f

2.e

3.d

4.c

5.b

6.a

Exercise 2

1.True

2.False

3.True

4.True

5.False

6.True

7.True

8.False

Illiteracy by Linda Baxter

I’ve written this article and you’re reading it. So we are members of the same club. We’re both literate - we can read and write. And we both probably feel that literacy is essential to our lives. But millions of people all over the world are illiterate. Even in industrialised Western countries, such as the UK and the USA, approximately 20 per cent of the population have ‘low literacy levels’. But what exactly does that mean?

My parents both left school at 14. They could read and write, but except for a quick look at the daily newspaper, reading and writing didn’t play a big part in their lives. There were very few books in the house. My mother was amazed because the woman who lived next door always wrote a list of what she needed before she went to the supermarket. Why couldn’t she remember? We laughed about that for weeks. Our family didn’t write lists. And when I was only 14 years old my father gave me an important letter th at he’d written to the bank and asked me to check it for grammar and spelling mistakes. And there were quite a lot. He never usually wrote letters or postcards or even Christmas cards. So when he had to write he wasn’t comfortable or confident.

Does that mean that my father had a ‘low level of literacy’? I don’t think so.

What is illiteracy?

There are lots of different definitions of literacy.

Some experts define it as having the reading and writing skills that you need to be independent in your everyday life. So, for example, if you can read instructions, write a cheque, fill in a form - anything that you need to do in everyday life - then you are ‘functionally literate’.

Other people say that you are illiterate if you think that you are illiterate. In other words, if you feel that you can’t read or write as well as you would like to.

If you live in a society where most people are literate then you will feel ashamed or embarrassed and avoid situations in which you have to read or write. The father of a friend of mine finally admitted to his family that he couldn’t read when he was

45 years old. He bought the newspaper every day and pretended to read it - and believe it or not, his family had no idea.

Literacy in the past

We often forget that writing is a recent invention. Many years ago, the word ‘literate’ meant being able to communicate well in speaking - in other words what we now call ‘articulate’. Storytelling was an important activity in the past and still is today in some societies. Reading was often a co-operative activity - someone would read aloud to a group, often from a religious text such as the Qur’an or

the Bible.

Only a hundred years ago, in the United States, you were considered to be literate if you could sign your name to a piece of paper. It was an important skill. You were not allowed to vote if you couldn’t sign the voting register, so literacy was connected with political rights, and many people were excluded from the democratic process.

Nowadays we see reading and writing as being connected, but that wasn’t so in the past. Many people could read, but not write. Writing was a skilled profession. If you needed something written then you paid an expert to write it for you. And of course, rich and important people have always employed people to write things for them. Important company bosses dictated letters to their secretaries or personal assistants. And now, with new computer software, you can dictate directly to your computer.

Is literacy important?

Being illiterate ca n have a big effect on people’s lives. For example, a study in the UK

showed that

people who write and spell badly are seen as

careless, immature and unreliable, and often

unintelligent. So it is more difficult for them to find

jobs, even when reading and writing are not

necessary for the work.

Worldwide statistics show that literacy problems are

associated with poverty and a lack of political

power. More women than men are illiterate. Illiterate

people have worse health, bigger families and are

more likely to go to prison. So literacy campaigns

must be a good thing. But don’t forget that an

illiterate person, or someone with a low level of

literacy, isn’t necessarily stupid or ignorant - and

may not be unhappy at all. Knowledge and wisdom

isn’t only found in writing.

Vocabulary

Five words/phrases from the text:

■confident: feeling certain that you can do things

■aloud: speaking so that other people can hear

■careless: not paying attention to what you

are doing

■unreliable: that people can't depend on

■wisdom: the experience and knowledge to

make good decisions

Exercise one

Vocabulary gap fill. Now use the five

words/phrases to fill the gaps in the

sentences below:

His actions weren’t taken without a lot of thought.

They showed......hi

I am often afraid to speak..pi in front of a

group of people

He says he will do something and then he

doesn’t. He’s very...13]

You've made quite a few....m mistakes.

Try to be more careful in future.

She seems to be a very....tsj young woman.

I think she will go far in her career.

Exercise two

Comprehension: reordering sentences.

Put the sentences below in the order they

appear in the article:

a Companies in Britain are often reluctant to

employ people with poor handwriting,

b in the past literacy was more identified with

having good speaking skills,

c Literacy can mean not being dependent on

other people in order to read and write things,

d Peopl

e with low levels o

f literacy are not

necessarily more unhappy than the rest of

the population.

eTne ability to read did not always imply an

ability to write.

Answers Vocabulary

1.Wisdom

2.aloud

3.unreliable

4.careless

5.confident

Comprehension

1.c

2.b

3.e

4.a

5.d

Pre-reading task

What is knowledge management?

Now, read the text and find out if your answer is correct.

Knowledge management

by Alison Driver

Did you know we are living in

what is commonly termed the

‘information society’? This is

because information and data have

become easier to obtain thanks to

advances in computers, modem

means of communication and the

internet. Organisations believe that

having better information leads to

better decision-making. However,

with greater access to information

comes the problem of information

overload - which pieces of

information are important to make

the best decision? The problems of

selecting and obtaining the right

information and the ability to use

this information to make decisions

that can give an organisation a

competitive advantage, gave rise to

the field of knowledge management,

or KM, and it is being adopted by

more and more businesses today.

In order to understand what knowledge management is, it is necessary to define what knowledge is. In fact, we need to distinguish

between data, information and knowledge and

some concrete examples can help. Looking at

the daily transactions of a shop, I may see that

12 units of product X have been sold that day

- that is an interesting piece of data but I

cannot make a decision based on this as it

lacks context. I can change this data into

valuable information if I know that last week