0 Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the
day. It gives us the energy we need to go out and work, learn and play. But how many of us take the time to make and eat a healthy breakfast every day?
1 In Scotland, porridge is a traditional breakfast
cereal. It is made by mixing oats with milk and is served hot with salt, sugar or honey. It is healthy and filling – you won’t feel hungry after eating a bowl of porridge.
2 In 2004, Scotsman Tony Stoats got an idea for a new
business – mobile porridge vans. Tony worked as a salesman and travelled a lot for his job. He noticed that most modern fast food was not very healthy and he often felt hungry soon after eating it.
3 In 2005, Tony and his business partner, Bob, bought a
van and started selling fresh porridge at music festivals across the UK. Stoats vans offered a healthy alternative to popular festival foods like burgers and chips. They served several different flavours of porridge including the traditional ‘Stoater’ porridge with salt, honey, whisky and white chocolate. The crowds loved it!
4 Tony always talked to his customers at festivals, to
find out what they wanted. They said that they would like oat bars – something delicious and healthy that they could eat with a cup of tea or coffee. Tony listened to his customers, and there are now eight different kinds of Stoats oat bars that you can buy in shops or online.
5 The business grew quickly and now Stoats sell porridge
oats, snack bars, food boxes and many other healthy products in over 1,000 shops across the UK. They still tour the music festivals every summer, and they have Porridge Bars at Edinburgh Farmers' Market every Saturday. Cara Hind buys Stoats porridge every weekend. ‘I don’t just buy the porridge because it’s healthy,’ she says, ‘it’s because I love the taste. It’s the best way to start the weekend!’
A The benefits of porridge
B The meal we need the most C Tony’s business at the moment D An idea for a new business E Taking the business to music festivals F Some new oat bars READING 2 KRZYSZTOF
I met Krzysztof when I was a student in Edinburgh. My
flatmate was at home in Ireland for the summer, so Krzysztof rented his room for a few weeks. My first impression of Krzysztof was that he was very young, but confident about travelling and 1 __________ new people. He was a guitarist in a band that was going to play at the Edinburgh Festival of music and arts. Before Krzysztof, I had never met anyone who was Polish. He taught me a lot about Poland and Polish culture and he 2 __________ had a funny story to tell! Now he’s very different – he runs his own successful media company. But he still tells great stories, plays great music and 3 __________ a good party!
HIROMI
Hiromi and I met in a lift. I worked on the seventh floor
of a large office building and one day we got into the lift at the same time. I was on my lunch break, and the lift always took a long time, so I asked her where she was 4 __________. She replied that she was from Japan, but that she was studying at the language school in my building. She said she was quite shy and she found it difficult to meet people and practise her English. I invited her to have lunch with me in the coffee shop downstairs and we had such a 5 __________ time chatting that we decided to meet again. Six years later, she lives here in Australia and she is my best friend
NICE LOVE BAD NEVER FROM MEETING EATS ALWAYS READING 3 MOUNTAIN GORILLAS
What would you do if you saw a mountain gorilla? Most
people would probably be very afraid and run away! That’s because gorillas have a very frightening 1 __ : they are huge. Male gorillas weigh twice as 2 __ as female gorillas. They can grow up to two metres tall and can weigh more than 200 kilogrammes. Gorillas can also make a lot of noise. They can roar, bang their chests and bare their teeth. In fact, these aggressive displays are very rare and male gorillas only do it when they are protecting 3 __ families.
The truth is that gorillas are incredibly intelligent,
gentle and social animals that stay together in small family groups. The leader is the largest male, called the ‘silverback’. That’s 4 __ of the beautiful silver fur on their backs. They spend almost all of their time on the forest floor, eating and sleeping. They are mainly vegetarian, although they eat some insects. Young gorillas often play together. They run about and 5 __ trees. At night, the animals make a nest to sleep in. The lighter gorillas nest in trees. The heavier gorillas make nests on the ground, and the babies sleep with their mothers. Gorillas 6 __ attack humans. They only fight when something or someone attacks them or their young. In that situation, they will fight to the death. Hunters looking for baby gorillas may have to kill a whole family to get what they want. Sadly, there are less than 650 mountain gorillas left in the wild, which means they are now an endangered species. These gorillas only live in the mountain jungles of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.