File Test 7 A

File Test 7

Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation A

GRAMMAR

VOCABULARY

PRONUNCIATION

Reading and Writing A

READING

All humans have a ‘body clock’ that says when we should wake up, work and sleep. In ancient times, people woke up at sunrise and went to bed when it was dark. But modern life, with its indoor living and artificial lighting, has broken our biological body clock. For teenagers, the problem is even worse. Their biological clock and their modern living clock are telling them to stay up late and sleep all morning. Their brains are at a key stage of development. This is why sleep scientists often use them in research. Teenagers actually need to go to bed late. Because the teenage brain prefers to be awake at midnight, teenagers find activities that they can do at midnight, like texting and playing video games. And this then makes them stay up even later. I believe there are four different ‘chronotypes’ or sleep personalities. I call them bear, wolf, lion and dolphin. Lions enjoy mornings but can’t work very well from the late afternoon onwards. Because of their brain biology, many teenagers have the ‘wolf’ personality. They tend to get up very late and work best in the afternoon or early evening. Our chronotype changes as we get older but we shouldn’t ignore it. Our chronotype affects our relationships, our chances of academic success and even our health. We should take teenage clocks very seriously. Veronica, student (16) I’m studying biology, chemistry and literature. My ideal job would be in science. I’d really like to develop new vegetarian foods or create plants that don’t get diseases, something like that. But I’d like to travel abroad for a year before I go to university. I enjoy my school subjects but I don’t like mornings at all. I think it’s great that we’ll start school at 11.30 a.m. when Mr Lincoln’s experiment begins. We’ll have one class before lunch and school won’t end until 6.30 p.m. So for the last three hours we’ll have the school to ourselves, without the younger children. Personally, if lessons were later — say, 1.30 to 7.30 — I’d be able to concentrate even more. Mr Lincoln, headteacher My school, Hamilton Secondary School, is not the first in this region of the UK to change its start time. In fact, Ashwell Grange, where the fees are around £10,000 per year, introduced a later start time for its sixth form three or four years ago. Although this isn’t a new idea, there has been some resistance from parents. A later start time will mean that teenagers often have to be left at home on their own for a few hours each day. Of course, I understand their concerns. However, this is an experiment for 6 months for 16 and 17 year olds only. If pupils’ school results don’t improve, we won’t continue with the new timetable.

Example: ___________ has broken our body clocks. A Modern furniture  B Spending time indoors   C Social media 

WRITING

Listening and Speaking A

LISTENING

SPEAKING

‘What you learn in life is more important than a formal education.’