REASONS OF LOVE Level1: BeginnerWhen choosing a partner for life what do people usually think of?. In addition, timing is important, if the partner comes in time, marriage is more possib
Trang 11 REASONS OF LOVE( Level1: Beginner)
When choosing a partner for life what do people usually think of?
A recent study has shown that these following factors are the most important things that one takes into consideration when choosing his/her partner Firstly, beauty is an important factor
Although many people say that the partner’s appearance is not important, research has shown that beauty has great effect Secondly, money is also as important as appearance
Rich people are easier to attract the opposite sex than the poor Both men and women say that they think much on how much money their partners have before they decide to get married
In addition, timing is important, if the partner comes in time, marriage is more possible Do you see? If your partner comes when you are available or eager to love, he will be accepted easily
2 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Of all the presidents in the history of the United States, Abraham Lincoln may be the one that Americans remember most He was called “honest Abe”
Abraham Lincoln was a symbol of the American dream: a man who came from a poor family could become the president of the country
Trang 2Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky He lived there until he was 7 years old Then his family moved from farm to farm In 1816 the Lincolns decided to settle in Indiana They lived in the middle of a forest Abe was an intelligent boy Reading books was his hobby
This hobby was built up by his mother Sadly when he was 9 years old his mother died This saddened the whole family
In his life, Abraham Lincoln was only able to go to school for a total of 1 year However, with great effort, he built up his
knowledge and became the president of the U.S in 1860
3 YODA - THE CAT WITH FOUR EARS
In Chicago, Illinois, couple Valerie and Ted Rock took the cat in two years ago after they visited a local bar, where a group of
drinkers were handing the animal around and making fun of him Since being adopted by the Rocks and after getting his picture posted on the Internet, the two-year-old cat immediately became famous
The Rocks have received calls from Good Morning America, Fox News and The Tyra Banks Show
His pictures are shown in many magazines
Trang 3People are surprised at his extra pair of ears.
Despite his strange appearance, Yoda - named after the pointy-eared Star Wars character - is a perfectly normal and attractive cat
His extra ears are thought to be the result of a genetic mutation
He likes being taken for a walk with his owners
But Yoda's owners are keeping a close watch on their much-loved pet
They are concerned he could be catnapped because he is so
different
4 YOUNG CHILDREN PLAY SPORTS - ADVANTAGES
AND DISADVANTAGES (Level2: Intermediate)
Most kids love to play sports It’s important to them, but for the majority, it’s just one type of activity out of many that they do For a small number of kids, though, a sport becomes their whole life They spend almost all their time and energy practicing This has both advantages and disadvantages
Sports are good for young children in many ways Kids who enjoy sports are likely to have better health They develop good habits of daily exercise that will keep them healthy as adults, too
Trang 4Today, many children and adults are overweight, but those who love sports stay in shape Plus, by developing their physical abilities, they will learn how to work hard towards a goal
Their achievements in sports will make them feel good about themselves They’ll also make friends and learn teamwork Sports, whether a little or a lot, can have positive effects
We admire the talent and dedication of young athletes, but we also wonder if they’re losing something Their focus is very narrow
If they devote most of their time to sports, are they neglecting schoolwork? What about other interests? Children should try out many different activities In addition, many young athletes are pressured by parents or coaches to succeed
Kids whose drive comes from inside usually do okay, but others can be unhappy and have health and emotional problems So sports, like anything else in excess, can have negative effects too
5 BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS
The tradition of birthday parties started a long time ago People thought that there was a special danger from evil spirits on
birthdays so friends and family came together to bring good
thoughts and wishes and even presents
Trang 5In the past, only kings had a birthday party, but as time went by, the public began to have their own birthday parties There are some different traditions in different countries around the world
In China, everyone celebrates their birthday on New Year’s Day And on a child’s second birthday, family members put many
things on the floor around the child According to Chinese
tradition, the first thing the child picks up will tell us what job the child will choose later in life
In some countries, a 21st birthday cake often has a key on top or the cake itself is sometimes in a shape of a key The key means that the young person is now old enough to leave and enter the family home at any time they want to
For Japanese children, the third, fifth and seventh birthdays are particularly important There’s usually a special party on these
birthdays
6 MAYBE YOU DON'T KNOW
1 The Yellow river is the second longest river in China It carries millions of tons of yellow sand from the deserts of central China, which give the river a yellowish color The Black Sea lies between six countries, including Russia, Turkey and Ukraine – but it
certainly isn’t black!
Trang 6The name probably comes from the black clouds which can cause storms in the area And Greenland – the world’s largest island apart from Australia – is more white than green (85% of it is
permanently covered in snow and ice) One idea is that the first people who arrived there saw it in the spring
2 The Dead Sea is not really a sea, but a lake Water comes into in from the River Jordan, but because the Dead Sea is lower than the land around it, it cannot flow out
The hot desert sun evaporates the water as quickly as it flows in, leaving salt and other minerals behind As a result, the Dead Sea is seven times saltier than the sea and people can easily float in it
3 Can you name the country with the most extreme climate? Two
of the hottest and coldest temperatures ever recorded were in the same country – Argentina
A temperature of 49oC was recorded in the town of Rivadavia on 11th December 1905 and -33oC in Sarmiento (only 115 km away)
in June 1907 – that’s a difference of 82oC!
7 BEAUTY: YESTERDAY AND NOW
For many people, supermodel Claudia Schiffer is the perfect
beauty: tall and slim, blue-eyed, tanned with long, blond hair
People call her “the most beautiful woman in the world”
Trang 7But people have not always had the same ideas about beauty
Until the 1920s, suntanned people were considered as poor people Women liked staying out of the sun to keep them as pale as
possible
Five hundred years ago, in the times of Queen Elizabeth I of
England, fashionable women even painted their faces to make them whiter And people in the eighteenth century would certainly not have thought much of Claudia Schiffer’s hair
People in that time never went out without their wigs - which were
so enormous and dirty It was quite common to find a mouse
living in them
As for the perfect beauty painted by Rubens in the seventeenth century, if they wanted to be supermodels today they would have
to spend months on a diet!
8 BENEFITS OF PLAYING SPORTS
Firstly, playing sports can give you a healthy life and a fit body You will be more active and healthier by playing sports To
illustrate, you can have a lower chance of getting a serious illness such as a heart attack or high blood pressure
In other words, it increases your resistance to illness In leisure time, you can play sports with your friends or your relatives, this
Trang 8not only helps you but also motivates everyone around you to take part in sports and have good health
Furthermore, there are some sports which you can play easily such
as table tennis, tennis or football and after that, you feel
completely relaxed or even free from your stress
Moreover, you also need to allow and encourage children to play sports, especially some outside activities such as football,
basketball or volleyball to decrease the time that your children spend sitting in front of computers or watching television
These sports can help them have endurance, quickness and even teach them how to improve team spirit and work in groups These sports also teach them how to communicate with their teammates, and show them how active and creative they are
Take a look around the room How many people are wearing
Nike? Millions of items of Nike sportswear are sold every year, and the company is now the world’s biggest sportswear
manufacture
The company whose name is pronounced Nye_kee has come a long way from its small origins in the US state of Oregon The
Trang 9company was named after the Greek goddess of victory and made its first shoes back in the 1970s
Nowadays Nike is known for its clever advertising campaigns, using the world’s best known sportsmen and women
In the eighties and nineties, basketball legend Michael Jordan
made a series of adverts for the company and in 1997, golf star Tiger Woods was paid $40 million to star in another series of
adverts
A sign of the company’s fame is that the word doesn’t appear on the company’s products The famous Nike tick is recognized all over the world It was created by a designer who received just $35 for the idea!
10 THE PANAMA CANAL
Among the great peaceful achievements of mankind that have contributed significantly to progress in the world, the construction
of the Canal stands as an awe-inspiring achievement
The unparalled engineering triumph was made possible by an
international work force under the leadership of American
visionaries, who made the centuries-old dream of uniting the two great oceans a reality
Trang 10In 1534, Charles I of Spain ordered the first survey of a proposed canal route through the Isthmus of Panama More than three
centuries passed before the first construction was started The French labored 20 years, beginning in 1880, but disease and
financial problems defeated them
In 1903, Panama and the United States signed a treaty by which the United States undertook to construct an inter-oceanic shipping canal across the Isthmus of Panama The following year, the
United States purchased from the French Canal Company its
rights and properties for $40 million and began construction
The monumental project was completed in ten years at a cost of about $387 million Since 1903 the United States has invested about $3 billion in the Canal enterprise, approximately two-thirds
of which have been recovered
The building of the Panama Canal involved three main problems engineering, sanitation, and organization Its successful
completion was due principally to the engineering and
administrative skills of such men as John F Stevens and Col
George W Goethals, and Col William C Gorgas, who solved the health problems
The engineering problems involved digging through the
Continental Divide; constructing the largest earth dam ever built
Trang 11up to that time; and designing and building the most massive canal locks ever envisioned