71 SKILLS READING guessing the meaning of words from context ■ referencing: this and that

7B Action man
1 A Who’s your favorite actor or action hero? Why?

B Look at the picture in the text on page 61. What job does the man on the left do? Read the
text quickly and check. What’s his name?

Skill guessing the meaning of words from context

You can sometimes guess what a word means by looking for clues in the word and in the sentence.
• Look at the sentence and identify what type of word it is (verb, noun, adjective, etc.).
• Identify any parts of the word that you already understand.
• Look at the immediate context of the word in the clause and sentence, and look at the wider context of
the word in the surrounding sentences.
• After guessing the meaning, read the sentences again to see if your guess makes sense in context.

2 A Read the Skill box. Look at the bold words 1–6 in the text. What types of word are they?

B Choose the correct definition for the bold words. Underline the parts of the text that
helped you guess the meaning from context.
1 a a dangerous car b a movie director c a dangerous action
2 a a camera b where a movie is shot c a screen
3 a body parts b damage to your body c responsibilities
4 a boring b crazy c fascinating
5 a amazing b climbing c jumping
6 a exciting b falling c dangerous

3 Read the text again and answer the questions.

1 Did the stunt in the first paragraph go well? Why was Vic worried?
2 Has Vic had a successful career? How do you know?
3 Who wrote a book about Vic?
4 How often does Vic get hurt in his job?
5 What do Vic’s wife and children do?
6 When they were young, what kind of games did Vic play with his children?
7 Which movies does Vic have great memories of? Why?
8 What comparison is made between special e ects and stunts?

4 Underline four other words in the text that you don’t know. Can you guess their meaning from
the surrounding context?

Text builder referencing: this and that

We can use this and that to refer back to ideas that have already appeared in the text. The ideas can be
nouns or whole phrases:
Vic has broken his legs, an arm, his ribs, and his nose. This is only the start of a long list of injuries.
Vic jumped from a running horse onto a moving tank. That even amazed director Steven Spielberg.

5 Read the Text builder. Look at the fourth paragraph of the text. Find one example of this and one
of that. Do they refer back to nouns or phrases?

6 Discuss the questions in pairs.

1 Which movies have amazing special e ects or stunts? Why are they amazing?
2 Would you like to be a stunt performer? Why/Why not?
3 What other jobs are there in the movie industry? Would you like to do any of them?

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132 EXTRA PRACTICE: Workbook page 39; photocopiable activity 7B Skills

 71 LANGUAGE modals of ability and possibility ■ TV and music

7C Got talent
1 Complete the TV guide below with the types of programs in the box.

talent show the news game show documentary

Tuesday What’s on …
18.30 Make a Fortune! The 1 where contestants win $1,000 for each correct answer.
19.00 Natural Focus This week’s nature 2 looks at the marine life in Antarctica.
20.00 3 at 8 The latest stories from our reporters around the world.
21.00 Sing! Sang! Sung! It’s the final of the popular 4 . Who will win the top prize?

Go to Vocabulary practice: TV and music, page 147

2 Answer the questions in pairs.
1 What types of shows do you like? What’s your favorite TV series?
2 Who is your favorite singer or band? Have you ever seen them live?

3 A Look at the title of the text and the pictures. What type of show is it?

B Read the text. What talent do these two people have? What’s unusual about their stories?

Got Talent has been shown in over 60 countries and is now the
most popular talent show in the world.
Here are two unusual stories from two different countries.

Shaheen Jafargholi Jennifer Grout

Shaheen was 12 years old when
he sang Who’s Lovin’ You by
Michael Jackson on Britain’s
Got Talent and amazed the
judges. He later received an
invitation from the singer to
perform during his “This Is It”
tour. Tragically, Jackson died
soon after, so Shaheen wasn’t
able to sing with his hero, but
his family asked Shaheen to sing
at Jackson’s memorial concert
in front of a TV audience of a
billion people! He can act, too,
having appeared in the soap
opera EastEnders, and he’d like
to be able to continue with his
acting career in the future.
The audience laughed when
23-year-old Jennifer Grout
couldn’t understand the
question, “What’s your name?”
the first time she appeared
on Arabs Got Talent. Jennifer
couldn’t speak Arabic, but
she was able to sing a perfect
version of Baeed Annak by the
Egyptian singer, Umm Kulthum.
One judge commented, “You
can’t speak a word of Arabic,
but you can sing better than
some Arab singers!” Jennifer
was one of the three finalists,
and she hopes that in the future,
she’ll be able to make an album
of traditional Moroccan music.

4 A Match the two parts to make complete sentences. Check your answers in the text.
1 Jackson died before the tour, so Shaheen wasn’t able to a continue with his acting career.
2 Shaheen can b act, too.
3 He’d like to be able to c sing with his hero.
4 The audience laughed when Jennifer couldn’t d sing a perfect version of Baeed Annak.
5 Jennifer couldn’t speak Arabic, but she was able to e understand the question, “What’s your name?”
6 She hopes that in the future, she’ll be able to f make an album of traditional Moroccan music.

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136 EXTRA PRACTICE: Workbook page 40; photocopiable activity 7C Vocabulary