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Choose the correct answer

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1.      If service are in creased, taxes……………………………………….
a.       Will probably go up
b.      probably go up
c.       probably up
d.      going up probably
2.      If my daughter were here, I ……………..happy.
a.       will be    b. am    c. would be     d. will am
3.      Let's get some of our money …………………..for dollars
a.       to exchange   b. exchange   c. exchanging   d. exchanged
4.      She forgot  about …………..her appointment.
a.       cancel   b. to cancel   c. cancelling   d. cancelled
5.      My friend must be ……………..now.
a.       call   b. calling    c. to call   d. called
6.      She would rather ……….than ………..a bicycle.
a.       drive, riding      b. to drive, riding    c. drive, to ride    d. drive, ride
7.      My sister usually helps me ………………the homework.
a.       do / b. to doing / c.  did    /d.  doing
8.      She …………………to State University.
a.       accepted      b. were accepted     c. has accepted     d. has been accepted

Conversation 2

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Narrator: Listen to a student talking to his professor.
Student: Uh, hi professor. Can I talk to you for a minute?
Professor: Sure, what’s up?
Student: Well, I noticed on the course outline, that you have a midterm scheduled for March 8th, but, the thing is that I’m going to have to be away that day.
Professor: Away?
Student: Yeah, yeah. I’m flying to England to get married, actually.
Professor: Oh, I see. Well, congratulations.
Student: Thanks. So I’m going to be away from the 7th to the 14th and I won’t be here for exam day. Is there any way I could write the exam before I leave—maybe on the 5th or the 6th?
Professor: No, I’m sorry, but there’s a university policy against giving the same exam at
different times because it jeopardizes the exam’s validity. We’ve had issues with students sharing questions, if you know what I mean.

Student: Oh, yeah, sure. I understand completely. What about, I mean…would you consider an additional research paper in place of the midterm?
Professor: Well, I really don’t think that a research paper could take the place of an exam on all of the content that we’ve covered in class, do you?
Student: Well, I guess not. Maybe I could do a summary of the course content up to that point. Do you think that might be an acceptable solution?

Professor: Well, I suppose, yeah that that might be acceptable. Of course, I would grade you on the quality of your summary and I’d expect a full integration of class lectures with the appropriate textbook chapters as well as handouts and supplementary readings. And you’d have to extract the relevant points from all sources and present them in some sort of coherent order—a summary though, no more than fifteen pages.
Student: Of course. And, and for me, I do believe it would be a totally useful exercise.
Professor: Oh and one more thing, I think it would be best if you complete the work before you leave. How does that sound?
Student: That sounds reasonable.
Professor: All right, then. It’s settled. So, you’ll write me a full summary of all course content including lectures and textbook coverage for the first half of the term and I also expect that you integrate the sources and give me an analysis of what you feel to be the most relevant points.
Student: Of course, professor.
Professor: Yes, and congratulations again. With all the excitement, I hope this won’t distract you from your studies.
Student: No, I’m totally on top of it. Thanks again, professor.
Professor: All right. So our next topic on the agenda is the parenting habits of emperor penguins.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the award-winning documentary. It’s called March of the Penguins, and it does a superb job at following the reproductive cycle of these Antarctic birds. So if you’ve seen it, I hope you won’t mind offering your input. Now, there’re a
number of reasons why the emperor penguin is interesting in terms of parental habits. Can anyone give me one?

Student 1: Well for me, I mean, what I find interesting is that the males play a major role in nurturing their offspring. For instance, as soon as the female lays the egg, the first thing she does is pass it to her partner who takes full responsibility for sheltering and protecting this egg for the next three months. The female, meanwhile, exhausted from giving birth, immediately takes off on something like a hundred-mile trek to the sea where she forages for food and rebuilds her strength. And then the male—it’s his job to keep the egg warm, at something like 95 degrees Fahrenheit, in his breeding pouch, just above his feet until it is ready to hatch. It’s really cute to watch how carefully the males waddle around, trying to keep those eggs safe from harm. And
they’re careful for a reason; exposure to the sub-zero temperatures of the Antarctic would mean almost certain death for the unborn chick.

Professor: Okay, so climate—and, how do the males manage as they care for the eggs?
Student 2: Well, by this time…we’re talking the dead of winter, with massive storms and winds gusting over 100 miles an hour and temperatures—they get as low as negative 130 degrees
Fahrenheit. So, to offset the elements, the males get together in a huddle, like some kind of football team, to protect themselves and their eggs from the bitter cold. And to make matters worse, they have to go without food—they’ve got absolutely nothing to eat—until their mates return in about three months’ time.

Professor: So let’s move on to when the female returns. What happens then?
Student 3: Well, she immediately takes over the nurturing responsibilities—feeding and protecting the newly hatched chick—so that the male can get back to the sea and to some food. The thing is that by this time, he’s lost over half his body weight. So some males, especially the older ones, do not survive the journey.
Professor: That’s right, and this brings me to an interesting lesson the emperor penguins can teach us. I mean think of it, these birds undergo extreme hardships to successfully bring new life into the world. I mean, it’s off-the-charts adversity. And to witness this hardship, it brings your own life into perspective somehow. Your problems seem almost insignificant when you compare them to what the emperor penguins have to go through. I mean, they have to suffer the freezing cold…go without food for months on end…and travel hundreds of miles, for the most part on foot…all in order to produce and protect a single egg. So, the next time you catch yourself complaining about mid-terms and finals, think for a moment about the emperor penguin, and count yourself lucky.

conversation 1

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Narrator: Listen to a student talking to his professor.
Student: Uh, hi professor. Can I talk to you for a minute?
Professor: Sure, what’s up?
Student: Well, I noticed on the course outline, that you have a midterm scheduled for March 8th, but, the thing is that I’m going to have to be away that day.
Professor: Away?
Student: Yeah, yeah. I’m flying to England to get married, actually.
Professor: Oh, I see. Well, congratulations.
Student: Thanks. So I’m going to be away from the 7th to the 14th and I won’t be here for exam day. Is there any way I could write the exam before I leave—maybe on the 5th or the 6th?
Professor: No, I’m sorry, but there’s a university policy against giving the same exam at
different times because it jeopardizes the exam’s validity. We’ve had issues with students sharing questions, if you know what I mean.
Student: Oh, yeah, sure. I understand completely. What about, I mean…would you consider an additional research paper in place of the midterm?
Professor: Well, I really don’t think that a research paper could take the place of an exam on all of the content that we’ve covered in class, do you?
Student: Well, I guess not. Maybe I could do a summary of the course content up to that point. Do you think that might be an acceptable solution?
Professor: Well, I suppose, yeah that that might be acceptable. Of course, I would grade you on the quality of your summary and I’d expect a full integration of class lectures with the appropriate textbook chapters as well as handouts and supplementary readings. And you’d have to extract the relevant points from all sources and present them in some sort of coherent order—a summary though, no more than fifteen pages.
Student: Of course. And, and for me, I do believe it would be a totally useful exercise.
Professor: Oh and one more thing, I think it would be best if you complete the work before you leave. How does that sound?
Student: That sounds reasonable.
Professor: All right, then. It’s settled. So, you’ll write me a full summary of all course content including lectures and textbook coverage for the first half of the term and I also expect that you integrate the sources and give me an analysis of what you feel to be the most relevant points.
Student: Of course, professor.
Professor: Yes, and congratulations again. With all the excitement, I hope this won’t distract you from your studies.
Student: No, I’m totally on top of it. Thanks again, professor.
Professor: All right. So our next topic on the agenda is the parenting habits of emperor penguins.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the award-winning documentary. It’s called March of the Penguins, and it does a superb job at following the reproductive cycle of these Antarctic birds. So if you’ve seen it, I hope you won’t mind offering your input. Now, there’re a
number of reasons why the emperor penguin is interesting in terms of parental habits. Can anyone give me one?
Student 1: Well for me, I mean, what I find interesting is that the males play a major role in nurturing their offspring. For instance, as soon as the female lays the egg, the first thing she does is pass it to her partner who takes full responsibility for sheltering and protecting this egg for the next three months. The female, meanwhile, exhausted from giving birth, immediately takes off on something like a hundred-mile trek to the sea where she forages for food and rebuilds her strength. And then the male—it’s his job to keep the egg warm, at something like 95 degrees Fahrenheit, in his breeding pouch, just above his feet until it is ready to hatch. It’s really cute to watch how carefully the males waddle around, trying to keep those eggs safe from harm. And
they’re careful for a reason; exposure to the sub-zero temperatures of the Antarctic would mean almost certain death for the unborn chick.
Professor: Okay, so climate—and, how do the males manage as they care for the eggs?
Student 2: Well, by this time…we’re talking the dead of winter, with massive storms and winds gusting over 100 miles an hour and temperatures—they get as low as negative 130 degrees
Fahrenheit. So, to offset the elements, the males get together in a huddle, like some kind of football team, to protect themselves and their eggs from the bitter cold. And to make matters worse, they have to go without food—they’ve got absolutely nothing to eat—until their mates return in about three months’ time.
Professor: So let’s move on to when the female returns. What happens then?
Student 3: Well, she immediately takes over the nurturing responsibilities—feeding and protecting the newly hatched chick—so that the male can get back to the sea and to some food. The thing is that by this time, he’s lost over half his body weight. So some males, especially the older ones, do not survive the journey.
Professor: That’s right, and this brings me to an interesting lesson the emperor penguins can teach us. I mean think of it, these birds undergo extreme hardships to successfully bring new life into the world. I mean, it’s off-the-charts adversity. And to witness this hardship, it brings your own life into perspective somehow. Your problems seem almost insignificant when you compare them to what the emperor penguins have to go through. I mean, they have to suffer the freezing cold…go without food for months on end…and travel hundreds of miles, for the most part on foot…all in order to produce and protect a single egg. So, the next time you catch yourself complaining about mid-terms and finals, think for a moment about the emperor penguin, and count yourself lucky.

Grammar Practice

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Grammar Practice:
       I.            Choose the correct answer
1)      I need ………………….. soon.
a.       going      b.  to go
2)      I promise………………you tomorrow.
a.       helping    b. to help
3)      My father made me ……….. early on Saturday.
a.       getting up   b. to get up  c. get up
4)      I hope ……………. this report soon.
a.       will finish   b. finishing  c. to finish
5)      I'm afraid I'm not hungry. I ………………….
a.       don't eat   b. have already eaten   c. didn't eat
6)      Just a moment. I ………….. of a good idea yet.
a.       don't think   b. didn't think   c. haven't thought
7)      If she misses the bus, I …………………. her to school by car.
a.       am going to take   b. will take   c. would take
8)      If I had known you were in town, I …………… you some flowers.
a.       would have bought    b. will buy   c. bought
9)      I would get a new job if, ………………….
a.       I was you   b. I am    c. I were you
10)  I like ……………… to music.
a.       to listening to   b. listen    c. listening
    II.            Language Use:
      Match the question with its response.      
1)      What would you like, sir?
2)      What time does the café close?
3)      What time do you want to eat?
4)      What can I do to help?
5)      What does she look like?
6)      How long will you be there?
7)      What's she like?
8)      When did you move here?

a)      When it's ready.
b)      She's fairly tall.
c)      She's friendly and quiet.
d)     I'd like a steak, please.
e)      Just stay out of the kitchen.
f)       A bout six months.
g)      I'm learning in June.
h)      It's open until at leas 1:00.
i)        When I was fourteen.
j)        She's cooking in the kitchen.
k)      I won't be late.

 1®
/2®
/3®
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/5®
/6®
/7®
/8®

 III.            Match the sentence halves
1)      You don't like meat, ……………………….?
2)      They've been travelling for hours, …………………………?
3)      Ben can play the piano,  …………………………?
4)      We have a free period before lunch today, ………………………….?
5)      She doesn't work at the leisure center any more, ………………………………?
6)      You aren't upset about what Timothy said, ………………………….?
 IV.            Complete the sentence
1)      I like ……………out
a.       go  b. going   c. to go
2)      I ……………..to introduce you to my friends
a.       like  b. love   c. I'd like
3)      Where ………….come from?
a.       are you   b. do you
4)      I'm ……………Italy.
a.       from   b. come from.
5)      A: Did you see Jame?
B: Oh! He's just …………………….
a)      go out   b. went out   c. gone out
6)      If you ……………this book, you would have known it a lot.
a.       you have read   b. read   c. had read
7)      I ………………take my shoes off  if, I were you.
a.       will   b. would   c. 'm going to
    V.            Vocabulary
1.      My wife has just been ………….Spain.
a.       in   b.to    c.at
2.      That's really typical …………Jonh. He says he'll come but he never turns up.
a.       of    b. to    c. at
3.      I'm afraid I'm not good ……….English.
a.       at     b. in     c. of
4.      I haven't seen John ………..he got married.
a.       while    b. when    c. since
5.      My son's really afraid ………….dogs.
a.       to   b. at    c. of
 VI.            Grammar
1.      Do you ………….here?
a.       work    b. working    c. worked
2.      We've ……………here for six months.
a.       lived     b. live   c. living
3.      How long have you …………………here?
a.       live    b. been live   c. been living
4.      Will you ……….working here?
a.       be    b. was   c. were
5.      You will ………….soon.
a.       go    b. gone   c. went
6.      This book …………………written in 1969.
a.       is    b. were    c. was
7.      Coffee is …………….in Columbia.
a.       grow     b. grown   c. grew
8.      The meeting won't ……
a.       cancelled   b. cancel   c. be cancelled

The Hazards of Industrial Agriculture

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The Hazards of Industrial Agriculture
1.      The growing international trend / in organic farming / is driven by consumer demand, / which is currently rising / at the rate of 20 percent per year. / countries with the highest growth rate / include Argentina, the US, and China, / in that order. / people the world over / are becoming increasingly conscious / of the adverse effects / of industrial agriculture and view organically grown food / as a healthier alternative. While the majority / tend to be sympathetic / to small-scale farmers / and especially appreciate / the benefits of locally grown food, / they lake exception to factory farms / controlled by multinational corporations. / In particular, / they object to / the corporate focus on maximizing profits / at the expense of health / and environmental concerns.
2.            Health risks include pesticide residues, antibiotics, and hormones as well as the unknown impact of biological engineering. First, recent studies indicate that many produce items are heavily coated with pesticides have been linked with cancer. Second, the antibiotics we ingest from both plant and animal sources lead to the development of super bugs, which are increasingly difficult to combat. Third, plant and animal growth hormones are known to disrupt the endocrine system* and have the potential to bring on premature  puberty in children. Fourth, the unregulated use of genetically modified organisms makes these items virtually invisible in today's grocery stores. People have no way of knowing whether a product has had its genetic code tampered with by artificial means. Furthermore, they have no ideas how this genetic manipulation could impact their health.
3.            The environmental hazards of industrial agriculture comprise air pollution, global warming, water contamination, oceanic dead zones, animal cruelty, decreased biodiversity, **, and unsustainable farmlands. Moreover, there is the vicious cycle of producers having to use more pesticides and fertilizer are the largest global source of nitrous oxide emission, which are 300 times more toxic than carbon dioxide gases. If these ate allowed to continue unchecked, they will not only affect air-pollution levels but also dangerously intensify our current global warming crisis.
4.          According to authorities, water pollution is one of the most rising from conventional farming methods. Animal waste, artificial fertilizers, and pesticides leach into the soil. Then they run off through natural irrigation to contaminate groundwater, which accounts for a large portion of our water supply. Studies consistently show that nitrates from waste and fertilizers, and chemicals from pesticides, are creating permanent damage to groundwater around the world. Furthermore, the preponderance of nitrogen in fertilizers, which helps crops grow ends up harming oceans. It generates algal overgrowth that depletes so much oxygen in the water that no plan for animal can survive. This is how the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and the Black Sea were created.
5.          Industrial mon-cropping ( in which one crop is repeatedly planted on a single field with synthetic fertilizers) kills the microorganisms needed to produce soil nutrients. Accordingly, the soil becomes less fertile over time, which leads to of the soil, farmers then have to use even more fertilizers to maintain productivity. This leads to a vicious cycle whereby greater environmental hazards are created, and the soil degrades even further. Likewise with pesticides, whereby only the fittest pests survive, farmers are forced to use greater amounts or more toxic forms to eradicate them.
6.           Organic farming, on the other hand, prohibits or strictly  limits the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and genetically modified organisms, thus avoiding or greatly reducing all of the issues involved in industrial agriculture. It infuses the soil with more essential nutrients as a result of holistic farming techniques such as crop rotation, whereby different crops are planted on the soil and ensures its sustainability and overall quality. Organic agriculture also takes the welfare of farm animals into grater consideration. Confining livestock in small indoor spaces is far less common, especially on small-scale organic farms, and pumping them with antibiotics is never done. On free-range farms, animals are allowed to roam freely, thereby reducing stress and their susceptibility to disease.


………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
*The endocrine system: This bodily system includes glands, such as the thyroid gland, that produce hormones. The system plays an important role in regulating metabolism, growth, puberty and overall mood.
**Biodiversity: A wide variety of plants and animals within an ecosystem.