! Youth Identifying relevant sections 1 Look at the photo and answer questions a-d. a What aspect of modern life does the photo suggest? b To what extent is there a real or an imagined gap between the capabilities of older and younger people? ¢ Do young people take on responsibilities at an earlier age than they did in the past? If so, is this a good development? Which age group - young adult, middle aged, elderly —woulld you associate the adjectives in the box below with? 2 skim the title of the reading passage on page 39. What can you predict about the topic of the reading passage from the title? 3° Read the summary, which is taken from a Summary task with a wordlist. Then answer questions a and b below. a Which words in the summary will help you scan for the beginning and the end of the relevant section of the text? b__ Skim the reading passage and decide where the summary begins and ends. According to a recent report, young people aged 8-18 are wasting if of time by multitasking. In fact, they are spending as much as 50 per cent longer than if they did the same tasks 2... . Some young people are juggling a larger and larger array of 3 as they study, while surfing the net, sending 4............., answering the phone, and listening to music simultaneously. Other studies have shown that this 5.. is affecting the way families operate, with young people too self-absorbed to talk to other family members or to eat at the family table. The electronic 6. is also apparently having a7 on young people's studies and work.Excessive demands on young people Being able to multitask is hailed by most people as a welcome skill, but not according to a recent study which claims that young people between the ages of eight and eighteen of the so-called ‘Generation M’ are spending a considerable amount of their time in fruitless efforts as they multitask. It argues that, in fact, these young people are frittering away as much as half of their time again as they would if they performed the very same tasks one after the other. Some young people are juggling an ever larger number of electronic devices as they study. At the same time that they are working, young adults are also surfing on the Internet, or sending out emails to their friends, and/or answering the telephone and listening to music on their iPods or on another computer. As some new device comes along it too is added to the list rather than replacing one of the existing devices. Other research has indicated that this multitasking is even affecting the way families themselves function as young people are too wrapped up in their own isolated worlds to interact with the other people around them. They can no longer greet family members when they enter the house nor can they eat at the family table. All this electronic wizardry is supposedly also seriously affecting young people's performance at university and in the workplace. When asked about their perception of the impact of modern gadgets on their performance of tasks, the overwhelming majority of young people gave a favourable response. The response from the academic and business worlds was not quite as positive. The former feel that multitasking with electronic gadgets by children affects later development of study skills, resulting in a decline in the quality of writing, for example, because of the lack of concentration on task completion. They feel that many undergraduates now urgently need remedial help with study skills. Similarly, employers feel that young people entering the workforce need to be taught all over again, as they have become deskilled. While all this may be true, it must be borne in mind that more and more is expected of young people nowadays; in fact, too much. Praise rather than criticism is due in respect of the way today’s youth are able to cope despite what the older generation throw at them.onmee Summaries with wordlists 4 Complete the summary in 3 as far as you can without looking at the passage again. To what extent is it possible to predict the meaning of the missing words in the summary without reading the passage? Complete the summary in 3 using items A-M from the wordlist below. Wordlist in sequence revolution beneficial effect much messages letters electronics moammoaw > negative impact electronic gizmos behaviour development significant amounts zone all together Using the following notes to help you, check the items you have selected from the wordlist for questions 1-7. something to do with quantity something to do with order something to do with electronic things something to do with things you send electronically something to do with the way of doing things something which has happened to do with electronics something to do with the effect of 5 and 6 NauRUNE Underline the words in the reading passage which are paraphrases of the answers 1-7 above. Selecting statements 8 statements A-G in 9 are taken from a Selecting statements task. Skim the statements and answer questions a-c. a Which part of the passage do you think the answers are in? b Which statements can you predict to be true? © Which words can you use to scan? Can you use electronic gadgets? Why? Why not?UNITS Youth BeBe eee 9 Using your predictions in 8 to help you, choose three statements to answer the Selecting statements task below. The list below gives some opinions about electronic gadgetry. Which THREE opinions are mentioned by the writer of the text? A. According to students, electronic gadgets are now an inevitable part of the university landscape. B__ Academics feel multitasking with electronic gadgets affects children’s subsequent acquisition of study skills. € Academics feel students are offered help with their writing and study skills. D__ Most young people see no problems related to using electronic gadgets. E Computer use at school fails to prepare students for academic life at university, according to academics. F Employers feel that the use of electronic gadgets among children affects capacity to perform in the work environment. G _ Employers think that overuse of computers, etc. definitely affects job prospects later in life. Global multiple-choice question 10 The question below is a Global multiple-choice question. Read the question and then answer questions a-c. Choose the correct letter A, B, Cor D. ‘The writer concludes that A. the use of electronic gadgets at school is affecting academic study. B__moreis required of young people today and they cope well in the circumstances. C the use of electronic gadgets at school needs to be controlled. D electronic gadgets should be totally banned as they harm young, people's job prospects. a Look at the stem of the multiple-choice question. What does it tell you about the location of the answer? b What does the title of the passage tell you about the writer’s opinion? © Which alternatives can you eliminate? 11. Using your answers in 10, answer the Global multiple-choice question. semen 4Reading passage 5 You should spend 20 minutes on questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 5. Young people - coping with an unpredictable future Young people here in Asia and indeed in every continent are facing new challenges at an unparalleled pace as they enter the global economy seeking work. But are the young in all parts of the globe fully equipped to deal with the unforeseen hazards of the twenty-first, century? With the globalization not just of commerce, but all knowledge itself, young graduates in India, Pakistan, or China are just as prepared for the future as their counterparts in any other nation. Except for one thing, that is. Young people wherever they are still lack something of paramount importance. There was a time when those companies or nations with the most knowledge had the edge on their competitors. That is now almost gone. In future, the success of all nations and companies, and indeed the success of young workers, will depend not on analytical thinking as. has been the case until now, but on creativity and flexible thinking. This will have huge implications on the way companies and people function. Knowledge has now become like the light from the light bulb. It is now available to all of us, East and West, North and South. We can now ‘switch it on’ in India, China, or Korea as easily as in, say, France or Australia. Knowledge is also packaged into systems that allow professionals of any kind and level to move around the world in the employ of multinational companies much more easily than in the past. So it matters less and less where people are from, where they are working, or where they move to. The same rules and systems apply to all. With this knowledge-based industry now firmly established, mainly as a result of the Internet, economies and people have to move on to another level of competition. What will make or break the economies of the future in Asia and the West is not workforces equipped with narrow life skills, but the more creative thinkers who can deal with the unknown. But the world is still churning out young workers to cater for knowledge rather than creativity-based economies. Edward de Bono has long championed lateral thinking and his work has found its way into many companies and conservative institutions.UNIT 5 Youth SEER More recently, Daniel Pink in A Whole New Mind (2005), a book about the mindset needed for the coming century, has predicted that success in the future will depend on creative thinking, not analytical thinking — more use of the right side of the brain as opposed to the left. Knowledge-based professions which control the world like banking, management, etc. Pink argues, will wane as more and more jobs are replaced by computers, a prospect governments must wake up to or they will have hordes of young people trained for a redundant world system. The analytical brain types that have dominated job interviews in recent years have had their day. Those who see the bigger picture at the same time, i.e. those who use the right side of their brain as well or more than the left or can switch between the two at will, are about to come into their own. The most prized individuals will be those who think outside the analytical boxes. If governments are sleep-walking into this situation, young people need not do so, but can prepare themselves for this dramatic evolution. Broadly speaking, young people are much more flexible and prepared to adapt to new situations than their older counterparts. Their very familiarity with ever-changing technology and the processes that go with it equips them to be proactive, and to develop their skills beyond the purely analytical. Take the gigantic leaps that have been made in the economies of South-East Asia in recent years. Advanced transport infrastructures and systems for knowledge transfer are more evolved than in many so-called advanced western countries which are lagging behind their eastern counterparts. Businesses, rather than universities, can provide opportunities that introduce elements of unpredictability and creativity into aspects of training or work experience to teach employees to cope with the shifting sands of the future. The young will be encouraged to do what they do best, breaking out of existing systems and restructuring the way things are done. Older people will need to side with them in their readiness to remould the world if they are to survive in the future workplace. We may be in for a bumpy ride, but whatever else it may be, the future does not look dull.i MWuneee Questions 1-7 Complete the summary below using the list of words, (A-K) from the box below. Young people everywhere are having to overcome new 1 s they look for work. The ubiquity of knowledge means that companies and youn; workers need something else to stay ahead of their 2. - Workers, n matter where they are from, can plug into systems. This has huge 3 With the end of knowledge-based industries, Daniel Pink has forecast that success in the future will depend on 4 _ not analytical. The power professions like banking, management, etc. will itis argued, take on a as more jobs are carried out by computers. Young people who use the right side of their brain as well as their left are about to assume a , $0 more work-based training involving the 7... of uncertainty is in order. A. spread goals B greater role H_ creative minds © obstacles I results D consequences J value E_ lesser role K rivals F management Questions 8-10 Choose three letters, A-F. ‘Which THREE of the following predictions are made by the writer of the text? > The role of creative thinkers will become more important. South-East Asia will develop more advanced systems for knowle transfer. The use of technology will reduce people’s creative abilities. Older people will find it hard to adapt to future workplace needs Businesses will spend increasing amounts of money on training. momoo Fewer people will enter knowledge-based professions.UNITS Youth SeEB eee eee Questions 11-13 ‘Choose the correct letter, A, B, Cor D. 11 According to the writer, some systems are more advanced in South-East Asia than in the West because A_ managers are more highly qualified. B__ the business environment is more developed, C the workforce is more prepared to adapt. D__ the government has more resources. 12. According to the writer, training for the developments that he describes will be provided by A governments. B universities. C schools. D_ businesses. 13 The writer concludes that A. older people will have to be more ready to change. B__ businesses will have to pay young people more, young people will not need work-based training. D university lecturers will not have to adapt their courses Improve your IELTS word skills 1 Which of the following suffixes are used to make nouns from verbs and which from adjectives? Add the suffixes in 1 to the following words to form nouns. Then think of ‘one more word for each suffix in 1. Add the suffixes -hood and -ship to the words below to form nouns. Add the correct suffix to the words below. Decide if the words become nouns or adjectives. ful less -al-ous