GADGETS FOR THE FUTURE

This year's Future Product of the Year Award has attracted a number of unusual entries, including the
Inculpable Mousetrap and an alarm-clock duvet and pillow. Stuart Penny and Gianni Tozzi, both 29,
(0)________ the Inculpable Mousetrap as an 'exercise in morality' and accept it is unlikely to (1)________
commercial success. You (2)________ the trap, wander off to the pub and wait to see what happens. If a
mouse approaches the trap, a transmitter (3)________ to it sends a signal to your mobile phone. You are then
(4)________ to decide whether to activate the trap or not. You send back your answer as a text message and
the trap's metal bar slams down or (5)________ open accordingly.
Rachel Wingfield's alarm-clock duvet and pillow could (6)________ the end of alarm-clocks. They use pulsating
light beams to wake sleepers and can be used individually or together. The sleeper (7)________ programmes
the alarm-clock on their mobile phone, plugs it into a socket on the duvet or pillow and is woken at the correct
time -with light. The whole effect is (8)________ to replicate the break of (9)________. The duvet and pillow are
woven through with electro-luminescent cords. At the (10)________ time the mobile phone sends a tiny electric
current through them and they begin to glow. Rachel, 24, says: ' Alarm-clocks needlessly wake (11)________
households. I wanted to design something (12)________ at the individual sleeper.'

0 A projected B held C conceived D evaluated

1 A favour B enjoy C appreciate D support
2 A fix B put C set D shut
3 A enclosed B attached C collated D united
4 A offered B asked C urged D let
5 A stays B holds C rests D lasts
6 A say B speak C write D spell
7 A uniquely B simply C plainly D purely
8 A pretended B assumed C supposed D suggested
9 A light B sunrise C dawn D fast
10 A said B stated C announced D specified
11 A full B total C whole D high
12 A intended B targeted C planned D thought

A LACK OF COMMUNICATION

Recent research has (0)________ that a third of people in Britain have not met their (1)________ neighbours,
and those who know each other (2)________ speak. Neighbours gossiping over garden fences and in the street
was a common (3)________ in the 1950s, says Dr Carl Chinn, an expert on local communities. Now, however,
longer hours spent working at the office, together with the Internet and satellite television, are eroding
neighbourhood (4)________. 'Poor neighbourhoods once had strong kinship, but now prosperity buys privacy,'
said Chinn.
Professor John Lock, a social scientist at Cambridge University, has analysed a large (5)________ of surveys.
He found that in America and Britain the (6)________ time spent in social activity is decreasing. A third of
people said they never spoke to their neighbours at (7)________. Andrew Mayer, 25, a strategy consultant,
rents a large apartment in west London, with two flatmates, who work in e-commerce. 'We have a family of
teachers upstairs and lawyers below, but our only contact comes via letters (8)________ to the communal
facilities or complaints that we've not put our bin bags properly,' said Mayer.
The (9)________ of communities can have serious effects. Concerned at the rise in burglaries and
(10)________ of vandalism, the police have relaunched crime prevention schemes such as Neighbourhood
Watch, (11)________ on people who live in the same area to (12)________ an eye on each other's houses and
report anything they see which is unusual.

0 A exhibited B conducted C displayed D revealed

1 A side-on B next-door C close-up D nearside
2 A barely B roughly C nearly D virtually
3 A outlook B view C vision D sight
4 A ties B joints C strings D laces
5 A deal B amount C number D measure
6 A deal B amount C number D measure
7 A least B once C all D most
8 A concerning B regarding C applying D relating
9 A breakout B breakthrough C breakdown D breakaway
10 A acts B shows C counts D works
11 A asking B calling C inviting D trying
12 A put B keep C hold D give