Choose an author as you choose a friend.

Wentworth Dillon, Lord Roscommon Essay on Translated Verse 1684

Contents
Unit Texts Grammar Skills

1 Language The power of double-speak Use/Used to Inferring meaning

page 6 page 7 Scanning
Student profile page Discussion
page 13 Writing

2 Local culture Traveller’s tales Although/ Activating knowledge

page 16 page 17 Despite/ Inferring meaning
Fairtrade not free However Scanning
page 23 Analyzing meaning
Discussion, Writing

Reviews Unit 1 and 2 pages 26 and 27

3 Food International travellers Present simple Activating knowledge

page 28 shouldn’t miss … and present Scanning
page 29 progressive Understanding attitude
Bad habits? and opinion
page 35 Discussion, Pronunciation

4 Film Foreign stars hit and miss Tenses Activating knowledge

page 38 in Hollywood Scanning
page 39 Understanding attitude and
The clichés you love to opinion
hate Discussion
page 45 Writing

Reviews Unit 3 and 4 pages 48 and 49

5 Fashion Next Top Model – Gerunds Activating knowledge

page 50 globalization for TV! Inferring, Scanning
page 51 Analyzing meaning
A thousand years of Recognizing key words and
foot binding main ideas
page 57 Discussion, Writing

6 Controversy! I love it! I hate it! Second Activating vocabulary

page 60 page 61 conditional Predicting, Scanning
Is it art? Discussion
page 67 Writing

Reviews Unit 5 and 6 pages 70 and 71

Unit Texts Grammar Skills

7 Skills for success How to get your Time versus Activating vocabulary
page 72 foot in the door tense Scanning
page 73 Analyzing meaning
Student profile Vocabulary extension
page 79 Discussion

8 The paranormal Fear and fakes Inversion after Analyzing meaning

page 82 page 83 negative Recognizing key words and main
Dracula adverbials ideas
page 89

Reviews Unit 7 and 8 pages 92 and 93

9 Body and spirit What if …? In case/If Inferring meaning

page 94 page 95 Scanning
Saving souls at Recognizing the purpose
at what cost? of the text
page 101 Recognizing key words and main
ideas
Discussion

10 Nature The tragedy of the The passive Activating vocabulary

page 104 tiger Skimming
page 105 Recognizing key words
How green are you? Understanding discourse features
page 111 Understanding attitude and opinion
Discussion, Pronunciation

Reviews Unit 9 and 10 pages 114 and 115

11 Technology Big Brother is Future forms Activating vocabulary

page 116 getting bigger Skimming
page 117 Understanding purpose, attitude
Techno tour of Europe and opinion
page 123 Vocabulary extension, Discussion

12 21st-century love Words of love? Verbs with Skimming and scanning

page 126 page 127 gerund or Understanding purpose, attitude
Too busy for love? infinitive and opinion
page 133 Understanding discourse features
Discussion

Reviews Unit 11 and 12 pages 136 and 137

Effective Vocabulary pages 138–145

The Dancing Men pages 146–160

 1 Language
Pre-Reading 1 Read the subtitle of the text and guess the meaning of
euphemism.
A euphemism is ...
a a word or phrase that means one thing and is used to refer to
another thing, in order to emphasize their similar qualities.
b a phrase or idea that is boring because people use it a lot and it is no
longer original.
c a word or expression that people use when they want to talk about
something unpleasant or embarrassing without mentioning the thing
itself.

The other two definitions are for cliché and metaphor. Decide
which is the correct definition for these words.

Pre-Reading 2 Which of the following words are usually connected to

language (L) and which are usually connected to war (W)?
Write L or W. Find the words in bold in the text to help you.
1 to dumb down □
2 to be inarticulate □
3 to translate □
4 a civilian □
5 a target □
6 a campaign □

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 1 Language

The power of double-speak

Euphemisms have been used since ancient times to avoid giving offensc, but
now politicians are using them to hide the realities of war.

Deferred success, person who is hearing-impaired – are these phrases in

any current dictionary? Where did they originate? Does anyone
5 actually use them? While our media are frequently charged with
dumbing down and our teenagers with being inarticulate,
and perhaps both accusations have merit, some of our leaders are
busy creating a whole new vocabulary. Listen to political speeches
these days and you’ll find yourself having to spontaneously
10 translate newly-combined words from your own language. It
could be the Minister for Education finding reasons why our
children are now leaving school without having mastered simple
arithmetic (they’re motivationally challenged), or someone from
the Department of Transportation explaining why the differently-
15 abled are still denied access to numerous subway lines. All
politicians seem to be semi-fluent in double-speak.

The ancient Greeks used euphemisms for certain religious words

so they did not offend the gods. Native English speakers in
previous centuries used euphemisms mainly to avoid giving
20 offence to each other. Better to say ‘I have to visit the rest room’
than directly announcing your intention to use the toilet. ‘He
passed away yesterday’ is a bit more sensitive than ‘Tom has just
died’. As we know, language evolves with time and trends. So
now we have the rather modern ‘She’s rather full figured’, which
25 is certainly kinder than ‘She’s fat’! Even more recently, ‘blended
family’ has been used to replace the much longer ‘Divorcees Jack
and Mary have got married and their kids from previous
relationships are now one big family’. But in the 21st century, the
use of euphemism or double-speak is also being exploited for far
30 more sinister purposes. If you don’t believe this, listen hard to
what our military leaders are really telling us and read between
the lines of the next ‘factual’ report on any country afflicted by
war.

Even if you deplore their policies, you have to agree that our
35 military leaders are clever. Once you dehumanize the enemy, it’s
far easier to drop your bombs and mask the horror of war. Your
own civilians reading the paper or listening to their leaders on
the evening news are less likely to protest or comprehend the
claim that ‘An attack on soft targets is the only way to destroy
40 the terrorists hiding among them’ than the admission that ‘We

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 1 Language

also had to kill innocent men, women, and children who lived in
the town.’ We are now so used to double-speak that we are in
danger of becoming truly desensitized. We hear about military
campaigns and the statistics of death, but the actual gruesome
45 details are quite remote. Our politicians and our generals know
that if we actually saw what is left after a bomb has dropped and
witnessed the grief of the survivors, we might demand an end to
the fighting.

The greatest hypocrisy, of course, is the use of language to glorify

50 or justify the actions of your army and then to denounce exactly
the same actions when they are carried out by the opposing army.
A military report that announces ‘Our soldiers were forced to
take cover’ is factually no different from the statement that ‘Their
soldiers ran away and disappeared,’ but the latter sounds far more
55 cowardly. And, of course, when the government supports the
actions of a rebel group that it believes could serve as a
potentially useful ally, the rebels are more likely to be called
‘freedom fighters’. This label instantly creates an image of bravery
and selflessness. As soon as the government decides that the
60 group might not be a useful ally after all, its members become
‘terrorists’; in other words, evil and inhumane. Whether you
realize it or not, your opinions are being made for you by the
words that someone else chooses to say or write.

When I was child, I used to believe that war was about good versus
65 evil, and it was easy to know whose side you should be on. Now
when I hear of another case of young soldiers being killed by
‘friendly fire’, I almost wish I was still that naïve.

Post reading Match the euphemisms to their meanings below. Look for
similarities in vocabulary.
euphemism
1 deferred success 2 hearing impaired 3 motivationally challenged
4 soft target 5 friendly fire

meaning
a shots fired at you accidentally by soldiers from your own army
b the bombing of an area where civilians live
c to be deaf
d to under-perform (at school)
e a failure

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 1 Language

Comprehension 1 Decide if the information about the text is True (T), False (F),
or Not Given (NG). Write T, F, or NG.
1 The quality of newspaper and TV reports is sub-standard. □
2 Politicians are borrowing words from other languages for
their speeches. □
3 Native English speakers are less polite than they used to be.  □
4 People often fail to understand the use of euphemism in
the media. □
5 The use of euphemism has made people indifferent to other
people’s suffering. □
6 Military leaders do not admit that their soldiers need to hide
from the enemy. □
Comprehension 2 Use the words and phrases in the box to re-write the
sentences from the text.

make genuine react evil criticize risk used

explain reality frequently good reasons wrongly
less real and important care hide moral beliefs

1 Euphemism is being exploited for far more sinister purposes.

Euphemism is being (a) __________ (b)__________ for much more
(c)__________ (d)__________.
2 Once you dehumanize the enemy, it’s far easier to drop your bombs
and mask the horror of war.
After you (a)__________ your enemies (b)__________, it is far easier
to drop bombs on them and (c)__________ the (d)__________ of war.
3 We are now so used to double-speak that we are in danger of
becoming truly desensitized.
Military leaders and politicians use double-speak so (a)__________
that there is a (b)__________ that people will no longer (c)__________
about or (d)__________ to the suffering of war victims.
4 The greatest hypocrisy ... is the use of language to … justify the
actions of your army and … to denounce exactly the same actions
when they are carried out by the opposing army.
Your (a)__________ are not (b)__________ if you use language to
(c)__________ why the actions of your army are (d)__________ and to
(e)__________ the same actions of the enemy army.
hypocrisy

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 1 Language

Vocabulary Complete the table with the words in the box.

Skills 1
with of at for lying the truth
tax increases murder cheap labour with

Verb Preposition Object

1 to charge s.o. with murder

2 to accuse s.o.

3 to exploit a place

4 to protest

5 to present s.o.

Vocabulary Use the verb, preposition, and noun combinations from

skills 2 Vocabulary skills 1 to complete the sentences. You may need
to change some pronouns or verb forms.
1 Everyone was shocked when the police arrested the old lady and
_______________________.
2 Emma’s face became red when her boss _______________________.
3 The textile company deny that they are _______________________
the region _______________________.
4 Many people surrounded the government building in order to
_______________________.
5 Steve wouldn’t listen to his friends’ warning about his girlfriend,
but when he saw her out with another guy, he was finally
_______________________.

Speaking Discuss the statements with a partner.

1 We don’t need gruesome photos of dead civilians in newspapers.
Photos of people dying in war zones are simply voyeuristic.
They don't make people feel more sympathetic, just curious.

2 Newspapers should not criticize the army of their own country.

Soldiers have to go wherever they are sent by their country and do
a good job. They need encouragement and praise, not criticism.

3 Most people don’t really care about events in foreign countries. They
feel so detached from these events that it is difficult to elicit their
sympathy, particularly if they are inhabitants of wealthier countries.

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 1 Language

Grammar Look at the functions of use/used to below.

Use/Used to a The term ‘blended family’ can be used to replace ‘Divorcees …’
b The use of euphemism is being exploited for far more sinister purposes.
c We are now so used to double-speak that we are in danger of becoming truly desensitized.
d I used to believe that war was about good versus evil.

Grammar 1 Read the box above and answer the questions.

1 Which sentence shows use in the noun form?
_______________________
2 Which sentence has a passive form of use?
_______________________
3 Which sentence refers to a habit or situation in the past which is
no longer true?
_______________________
4 Which sentence could be re-written with familiar with?
_______________________

Grammar 2 Which sentences are correct? Re-write the incorrect sentences.

1 Learning a language well requires the use of a good dictionary.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2 I regret that I never used to concentrating in my French classes.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3 You’ll have to get used to speak English all day if you work here.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4 Euphemisms can be used in both formal and informal situations.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5 When I studied in Australia, I couldn’t get used the accent.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6 I didn’t used to like conversing in English, but it’s got easier now.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

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 1

Effective Skills
Inferring You are going to read three interviews for an English
meaning language school magazine. Read the questions. Can you infer
the meaning of the words in bold?
a Do you think culture has any effect on language?
b Which aspect of the English language is most challenging for you?
c How does learning English in an Anglophone country compare to
learning English in your country?
d How important is the use of gesture as a means of supporting
spoken communication?
e What would you say are the main differences in grammar between
English and your native language?
f What do you do if an English speaker is talking too rapidly?
g Do you have any tips for learners of English from your country?
h What is your main motivation in learning English?
i Do people in your country think learning English is worthwhile?
j Can you tell me about a time when there was a misunderstanding
between you and another English speaker?

Scanning Read the interviews quickly. Match the interviewer’s

questions above to each student’s replies. (One question is
not used.)
1   h 
2 ____
3 ____
4 ____
5 ____
6 ____
7 ____
8 ____
9 ____

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 1 Effective Skills

Student page
This week we talk to Anastasia, Natalia, and Camilla to find out about
their experiences of learning English.

Interviewer: How long have you been learning English?

Anastasia: Since I was five. My mother did an interpreting course at
5 university and she started teaching me English from my young years.

Interviewer: (1)__________________________________________________?
Anastasia: Communication and reading. I love to read literature in the
author’s own language. This has always been very much fascinating
for me. And, also communication because I want to talk to people and
10 it doesn’t matter where I am there is always someone who can speak
English.

Interviewer: (2)__________________________________________________?
Anastasia: Grammar! Yes, It really fascinates me, because you have so
many tenses and basically I have studied all of them but I can’t always get
15 them right. And when I read the grammar or the vocabulary, I think ‘yes I
know that’, but when it comes in terms of speaking or writing I’m always
confused. Because I think ‘Well maybe this will do’ or ‘I’ve read something
like this before’ and sometimes I hit the bullseye and sometimes I can’t
believe I could get it so wrong.
20
Interviewer: What do you think Russian students should know about
studying here?
Anastasia: Don’t be afraid to talk. It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake,
they’ll explain. The way to teach is much more relaxed here.

Interviewer: (3)__________________________________________________?
25 Anastasia: Nothing. I just need a few minutes to adjust and I’m usually OK.

Anastasia is organizing a meal at a

Russian restaurant in Parnell this Saturday.
If you want to go, put your name on the list
in the Student Room.
30

Interviewer: (4)__________________________________________________?
Natalia: I think it’s really different, because, like, I’m in a home-stay family
so I’m living with people from other countries. I’m living with a Swiss girl
and a Russian girl so it helps a lot because I have to speak English with
35 them and also, with the family I’m always speaking English, so it’s really
challenging. In Brazil we speak Portuguese the whole time.

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 1 Effective Skills

Interviewer: Do English and Portuguese have anything in common?

Natalia: Sometimes the words are pretty much the same. So visually you
can do the relation between the English word and the Portuguese word. It
40 doesn’t always work though and sometimes you can get it wrong.

Interviewer: (5) ?
Natalia: Oh, well I think they have to incorporate English into their lives as
much as they can. Use songs, television, reading, anything. And try to go to
an English-speaking country.

45 Interviewer: (6) ?
Natalia: Definitely, I think that language is all the result of… Oh how can I
say it? Language is a way of representing what a country… who the people
are. That’s the way I see it. I think they are totally connected. In Brazil, we…
our sentences overlap, we often start talking before the other people has
50 finished. And here I’ve noticed other people do that a tiny bit but nowhere
near as much. So, sometimes conversations here seem to drag for me. I
don’t know.

Natalia has just finished the Teachers of

English as a Second Language course. She’s
now going to take a well-deserved break in Fiji.

55 Interviewer: Can you describe a typical English class in Sweden?

Camilla: The classes have about 20 students. All the four skills are
important, and we do a lot of vocabulary and grammar. The teacher always
stays in front of the class.

Interviewer: (7) ?
60 Camilla: Absolutely. You know, you can speak English in the whole world
and you can’t speak Swedish. So for most of us it’s vital.

Interviewer: (8) ?
Camilla: Oh that’s difficult. It’s a big difference. But maybe one is, for example,
the way we order our words in a sentence is quite different. In English, you can
65 say ‘I want to travel round the world’ but we say ‘round the world’ first, and then
‘I want to travel’ after, so adverbs can go in different places.

Interviewer: (9) ?
Camilla: Yes, one time when I called to the hotel to make a reservation,
they didn’t get what dates I wanted. When you speak face to face, it’s
70 easier. You can use gestures. But on the phone your pronunciation must be
crystal clear.

Camilla is also hoping to improve her French while

she’s here. If you speak French and want to learn
a little bit of Swedish, you can meet her in Room 5.

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 1 Effective Skills

Error The three students have a good level of English, but they
correction made a few mistakes. Look again at the parts of the
interviews in bold. Correct the mistakes using the following
prompts.
For example:

from when I was young.

1 been very 

2 it comes 

3 teaching  more relaxed here

4 make the 

5 people 

6 speak English all 

7 There are 

8 one time when I  to make a reservation

Discussion Interview a partner with some of the questions from

Inferring meaning on page 12.

Writing Write a reply to an email from an English-speaking friend

who is trying to learn your language before coming to work
in your country. First read part of the email.

... I’ve been studying by myself at home using a ‘Teach

Yourself’ book, but I’m not making much progress! There’s so
much to learn. Do you have any advice?

• Describe your experience of being a language learner.

• Suggest other ways that your friend could learn your language.
• Say what areas of your language your friend should focus on.

15 Effective Reading 4 Upper Intermediate