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We’re Living Faster, But Are We Living Better?

Read the text and do the activities that follow.

We’re Living Faster, But Are We Living Better?
Not long ago people believed that in the future we would work less, have more free time,
and be more relaxed. But sadly this has not happened. Today we work harder, work
longer hours, and are more stressed than ten years ago. We walk faster, talk faster, and
sleep less than previous generations. And although we are obsessed with machines which
save us time, we have less free time than our parents and grandparents had. But what is
this doing to our health? An American journalist James Gleick in a new book, Faster: the
acceleration of just about everything, says that people who live in cities are suffering
from ‘hurry sickness’ – we are always trying to do more things in less time. As a result,
our lives are more stressful. He says that if we don’t slow down, we won’t live as long as
our parents. For most people, faster doesn’t mean better.
1 No time for the news
Newspaper articles today are shorter and the headlines are bigger. Most people don’t
have enough time to read the articles, they only read the headlines! On TV and the radio,
newsreaders speak more quickly than ten years ago.
2 No time for stories
In the USA there is a book called One-Minute Bedtime Stories for children. These are
shorter versions of traditional stories, specially written for ‘busy parents’ who want to
save time!
3 No time to listen
Some answerphones now have ‘quick playback’ buttons so that we can re-play people’s
messages faster – we can’t waste time listening to people speaking at normal speed.
4 No time to relax
Even when we relax we do everything more quickly. Ten years ago when people went to
art galleries they spent ten seconds looking at each picture. Today they spend just three
seconds!
5 No time for slow sports
In the USA the national sport, baseball, is not as popular as before it is a slow game and
matches take a long time. Nowadays many people prefer faster and more dynamic sports
like basketball.

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6 ...but more time in our cars

The only thing that is slower than before is the way we drive. Our cars are faster but the
traffic is worse so we drive more slowly. We spend more time sitting in our cars, feeling
stressed because we are worried that we won’t arrive on time. Experts predict that in ten
years’ time the average speed on the road in cities will be 17 km/h.

Vocabulary Building
Exercise 1.1. Here are some time expressions from the Reading Text. Match each
expression to its meaning.

1. save time a. punctual

2. waste time b. don’t have the time you need

3. take a long time c. do something more quickly so that

you have more time

4. spend more time d. last too long

5. on time e. use time badly

6. don’t have enough time f. use more time

Vocabulary Skills Word Families

Word families are groups of words that are sufficiently closely related to each other to
form a 'family'. Words can be grouped into families in two main ways:
 They are similar in form
Family – familiar – unfamiliar - familiarity – familiarize
Use – usage – useful – useless – misuse – usable
 Their meanings are related
Dog – bitch
Sheep – ram – ewe

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Exercise 1.2.
A. Here are some words from the Reading Text. Use dictionaries to find more words
related to make ‘Word Families’.
Believe……………………………………………………………………………..
Obsessed……………………………………………………………………………
Specially……………………………………………………………………………
Relax……………………………………………………………………………….
Popular……………………………………………………………………………..
Collection…………………………………………………………………………..
Educational…………………………………………………………………………
National…………………………………………………………………………….
Properly…………………………………………………………………………….
Relaxed……………………………………………………………………………..
Health………………………………………………………………………………

B. Fill in the space in the sentence using the base word given in brackets.
1. The patient comes to the hospital in the..................that he will be cured. (BELIEVE)
2. She’s .....................over her weight. (OBSESS)
3. He........................in accounting at the university. (SPECIALLY)
4. ........................is necessary after hard work. (RELAX)
5. He took up that sport for its........................... (POPULAR)
6. The……………system in this country is rather complex. (EDUCATION)
7. NUS is the…………....university of Singapore. (NATION)
8. She’s stressed. She cannot sleep or eat ……………..(PROPER)
9. He has a big stamp……………..(COLLECT)
10. A……………..diet is one that helps maintain general health. (HEALTH)

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Reading for Main Ideas

Exercise 1.3. Read the text and decide if the following statements are TRUE or
FALSE.
1............The writer wrote the article to encourage us to work more and relax less.
2.............People today are having a less stressful life than they did in the past.
3.............People are too busy to read newspapers.
4.............Slow sports have become unpopular.
5.............More time is spent on stories.

Reading for Details

Exercise 1.4. Answer the following questions.
1. What do machines help people?
........................................................................................................................................
2. What is the name of the sickness that we are suffering from?
........................................................................................................................................
3. What should we do to live as long as our parents?
........................................................................................................................................
4. How do people read articles?
........................................................................................................................................
5. What is the name of the book for children in the USA?
........................................................................................................................................
6. What buttons do some answerphones now have?
........................................................................................................................................
7. How long did people spend looking at a picture in galleries 10 years ago?
........................................................................................................................................
8. Why do people spend more time sitting in their cars?
........................................................................................................................................

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Reading Skills Identifying the Main Ideas of a Paragraph

A paragraph is a group of sentences about one main idea. Paragraphs usually have two
types of sentences: a topic sentence and supporting sentences. The topic sentence
contains the main idea. You can often find it in the first or second sentence of a
paragraph.
Skiing is my favorite sport. I usually go skiing every weekend in the winter even
though it is expensive. I love the feeling of flying down a mountain. The views are
beautiful from the top of a mountain and along the trails. Even the danger of falling
and getting hurt can’t keep me away from the slopes on a winter day.
Skiing is my favorite sport is the topic sentence which contains the main idea of the
paragraph.
Rules for finding the main idea:
 The topic sentence is usually the first one in the paragraph.
 A topic sentence is usually more ‘general’ than the other ones.

Exercise 1.5. Read the following paragraphs and choose the best main idea.
1. _________________________________________ North Americans send cards for
many occasions. They send cards to family and friends on birthdays and holidays. They
also send thank-you cards, get well cards, graduation cards, and congratulation cards. It
is very common to buy cards in stores and send them through the mail, but turning on the
computer and sending cards over the Internet is also popular.
a. Sending cards is very popular in North America.
b. Birthday cards are the most popular kind of card.
c. It is important to send thank-you cards.
2. _________________________________________ First of all, we need money to
repair old roads and build new roads. We also need more to pay teachers’ salaries and to
pay for services such as trash collection. Finally, more tax money is needed to give
financial help to the poor citizens of the city. It is clear that the city will have serious
problems if taxes are not raised soon.
a. We should raise city taxes.
b. City taxes are too high.
c. City taxes pay for new roads.
3. _________________________________________ One thing you must consider is the
quality of the university’s educational program. You also need to think about the school’s
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size and location. Finally, you must be sure to consider the university’s tuition to make
sure you can afford to go to school there.
a. It is expensive to attend a university in the United States.
b. There are several factors to consider when you choose a university to attend.
c. You should consider getting a good education.
4. _________________________________________ . For example, a person can have
breakfast in New York, board an airplane, and have dinner in Paris. A businesswoman in
London can instantly place an order with a factory in Hong Kong by sending a fax.
Furthermore, a schoolboy in Tokyo can turn on a TV and watch a baseball game being
played in Los Angeles.
a. Airplanes have changed our lives.
b. Advances in technology have made the world seem smaller.
c. The fax machine was an important invention.

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