1 Eyesight is coming under strain as computer work, television viewing, night driving, and even sunshine are making exceptional demands on our eyes. Sunlight, especially in summer, is now regarded as one cause of cataracts.
2 “The thinning of the ozone layer means more short-wave ultraviolet rays are reaching the earth, and these are the biggest risk factor for clouding the lens of the eye,” says Jan Bergmanson, a Swedish optometrist.
3 Ultraviolet (UV) rays increase the risk of changes to the cornea - the outer shell of the eyeball - causing clouded vision and eventually cataracts, and can be shielded only by anti-UV lenses. Many fashion sunglasses do not provide sufficient protection.
4 “Poor night vision and eye fatigue are noticeably more common and there has been a big increase in minor eye complaints in the over-40s,” says optometrist Dr. Mireille Bonnet, who took part in recent research. She says that the six muscles controlling each eye move more than 100,000 times a day, and that everyone should learn to exercise eye muscles and allow them to rest.
5 It was traditionally thought that near- or farsightedness were inherited conditions and could not be influenced by environmental factors, but new research is challenging this assumption.
6 Recent research suggests that up to 80 percent of schoolchildren in the United States and western Europe are nearsighted. Years of focusing on close, two-dimensional work causes most children to become at least slightly nearsighted by the age of ten, say the researchers.
7 Problems with night vision, which affect around 25 percent of people, are also on the increase. Using computer screens means the eye operates in electro-magnetic fields that make it work harder, and infra-red from the screen adds to the strain. It is estimated that 25 to 30 percent of people have eye conditions resulting from staring at a screen.
Adapted from The European Magazine.
8 Concentrated visual work also slows down the rate of blinking, the process that washes the eyeball with tears and keeps it lubricated. At least 15 percent of people now suffer habitually from dry eyes, says Dr. Bonnet. Office workers are vulnerable because central heating and air conditioning dehydrate the tissues further, as does smoking. Keeping the eye moist has psychological benefits, as dry eyes can make you feel tired.
9 There are two simple remedies to eyestrain: Drink more and blink more. Juan Duran, head of ophthalmology at Cruces Hospital in Bilbao, Spain, recommends closing the eyes for a minute every hour to rest them and retain their humidity. “An increasing number of people come to me with what they call tired eyes or eyestrain, and they sometimes complain of allergies. But the cause is very often dry eyes.” Dryness also makes the eyes more susceptible to infection.
10 How to help your eyes:
• When doing close-up work, lift the eyes occasionally to focus on objects in the distance.
• When working on a computer, have a three- dimensional object on top and rest your eyes on it regularly.
• Close your eyes and rest them in the palms of your hands every hour or so.
• Do not stare at a screen or book: blink more.
• Relax! Stress and fatigue have an immediate effect on eyesight, especially in drying the eyes.
Using
previous
knowledge
How much do you know about eyesight? Mark each statement true (7) or false ( F ).
T 1. The sun can cause vision problems.
2. Near- and farsightedness are conditions you can inherit from your parents.
3. It is important to exercise your eye muscles.
4. Constantly looking at computer screens can cause sore eyes.
5. Central heating and air conditioning make your eyes dry.
Scanning
Scan the text to check your answers. Then read the whole text.
Understanding main ideas
Check (✓) the three main ideas in the text.
1. the effects of sunlight
2. eye problems that are increasing
3. reasons for more eye problems
4. problems of office workers
5. fashion sunglasses
6. best treatment for sore eyes
7. eye problems in children
8. the effects of computers
Recognizing similarity in meaning
Relating reading to personal experience
c 1. tired (par. 8)
2. protection (par. 3)
3. thought (par. 5)
.. 4. work (par. 7)
5. keeps (par. 8)
6. lubricated (par. 8)
7. vulnerable (par. 8)
a. regarded (par. 1)
b. shielded (par. 3)
c. fatigue (par. 4)
d. operates (par. 7)
e. moist (par. 8)
f. retain (par. 9)
g. susceptible (par. 9)
Answer these questions.
1. Have you experienced any of the problems described in the text?
If so, what did you do?
2. Which advice in the text is the most helpful? Which is the least helpful?
3. If you had problems with your eyes, would you give up any activities? If so, which ones?
1 You can see for kilometers from the mountains where Allahverdi Ibadov herds his small flock of sheep amid a sea of yellow, red, and purple wildflowers. The view from Amburdere in southern Azerbaijan towards the Iranian border is spectacular, but Mr. Ibadov barely gives it a second glance.
2 Why should he? He’s been coming here nearly every day for 100 years.
3 According to his carefully preserved passport, Mr. Ibadov, whose birth was not registered until he was a toddler, is at least 105 years old. His wife, who died two years ago, was even older. They are among the dozens of people in this beautiful, isolated region who live extraordinarily long lives.
4 Mr. Ibadov’s eldest son has just turned 70. He lost count long ago of how many grandchildren he has. “I’m an old man now. I look after the sheep and I prepare the wood for winter. I still have something to do.”
5 A lifetime of toil, it seems, takes very few people to an early grave in this region. Scientists admit there appears to be something in the Azeri mountains that gives local people a longer, healthier life than most.
6 Miri Ismailov’s family in the tiny village of Tatoni are convinced that they know what it is. Mr. Ismailov is 110, his great-great- grandson is four. They share one proud boast: Neither has been to a doctor. “There are hundreds of herbs on the mountain, and we used them all in our cooking and for medicines,” explained Mr. Ismailov’s daughter, Elmira. “We know exactly what they can do. We are our own doctors.”
7 There is one herb for high blood pressure, another for kidney stones, and a third for a hacking cough. They are carefully collected from the slopes surrounding the village. Experts from the Azerbaijan Academy of Science believe the herbs may be part of the answer. They have been studying longevity in this region for years. It began as a rare joint Soviet-American project in the 1980s, but most of the funds have long since dried up.
8 Azeri scientists have isolated a type of saffron unique to the southern mountains as one thing that seems to increase longevity. Another plant, made into a paste, dramatically increases the amount of milk that animals are able to produce. “Now we have to examine these plants clinically to find out which substances have this effect,” said Chingiz Gassimov, a scientist at the academy.
9 The theory that local people have also developed a genetic predisposition to long life has been strengthened by the study of a group of Russian emigres whose ancestors were exiled to the Caucasus 200 years ago. The Russians’ life span is much shorter than that of the indigenous mountain folk - though it is appreciably longer than that of their ancestors left behind in the Russian heartland.
10 “Over the decades I believe local conditions have begun to have a positive effect on the new arrivals,” Prof. Gassimov said. “It’s been slowly transferred down the generations.”
11 But Mr. Ismailov, gripping his stout wooden cane, has been around for too long to get overexcited. “There’s no secret,” he shrugged dismissively. “I look after the cattle and I eat well. Life goes on.”
Adapted from Guardian Weekly.
Predicting
Look at the title on the opposite page. Then check (✓) why you think these villagers
live such long lives.
1. hard work 3. fresh air - 5. sense of humor
2. good doctors - 4. herbal medicine - 6. healthy diet
Scanning
Scan the text to check your predictions. Then read the whole text.
Understanding
reference
words
What do these words refer to?
1. it (par. 1, line 7)
the view
2. here (par. 2, line 1)
3. They (par. 3, line 5)
4. he (par. 4, line 3)
5. they (par. 6, line 2)
6. They (par. 6, line 4)
7. They (par. 7, line 3)
8. that (par. 9, line 6)
Guessing meaning from context
B
<? 1. toddler (par. 3)
2. toil (par. 5)
3. early grave (par. 5)
4. slopes (par. 7)
5. substance (par. 8)
6. emigre (par. 9)
7. exiled (par. 9)
a. death at a young age
b. the sides of a hill or mountain
c. made to leave one’s own country
d. hard, physical work
e. a very young child
f. a type of material
g. someone who leaves his or her country
Understanding
details
C
region in the mountains of
F 1. Amburdere is a -dtydtr southern Azerbaijan.
2. Allahverdi Ibadov does not know exactly how old he is.
3. Mr. Ibadov can’t do any kind of work anymore.
4. Miri Ismailov has never been to a doctor but his great-great-grandson has. _ 5. Elmira Ismailov is a doctor who uses herbs as medicines.
6. Scientists think people’s genes might affect how long they live.
Relating reading to personal experience
Answer these questions.
1. Do you know anybody over 100 years old? How has this person lived so long?
2. Would you like to live to be 105 years old? Why or why not?
3. Do you prefer modern medicine or medicinal herbs? Why?
WRAP-UP
Vocabulary expansion
The abbreviations for these words are used in the dictionary entries below. Match the words with their abbreviations.
noun | a. v |
verb | b. [C] |
adjective | c. n |
countable noun | d. [I] |
countable and uncountable noun | e. (fig.) |
figurative | f. [C/U] |
intransitive | g. adj. |
diet /'dui-ot/ n [C/U] the food and drink usually taken by a person or group • a healthy diet includes fresh vegetables. [C] A diet is also the particular food and drink you are limited to when you cannot eat or drink whatever you want to: a low- salt diet • I’m going on a diet because I’ve got to lose some weight. [C] (fig.) Ml you get on TV is a steady diet of violence.
diet /'dai-ot/ v [I] to limit the food that you take, esp. in order to lose weight • He began dieting a month ago and says he has lost ten pounds already. diet /'dai-ot/ adj [not gradable] (of food or drink) containing much less sugar than usual and often sweetened artificially, or containing less fat than usual • He began dieting a month ago and says he has lost ten pounds already. dieter /’dai-ot-or/ n [C] • Studies show there may be as many as 30 million American dieters at any one moment.
B
1. Write definitions for the words in italics in the sentences below. Use your own words.
a. We have salad for the dieters. people who limit their food and drink to lose weight
b. Ellies always dieting.
c. I never eat diet ice cream
d. I’m on a diet. _ ; ______
2. Check (*/) the correct sentences. Then correct the incorrect sentences. / a. I need to go on a diet.
b. THeters-. and exercise are important for good health.
c. She has a special diet because she has health problems.
_d. They have been dieting it for several weeks.
e. Jesse has been dieting for several weeks.
Health and you
A. proverb is a short popular saying that gives advice about life. What advice do these proverbs give?
1. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
2. Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
3. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Work in pairs. Make a list of proverbs related to health. Then join another pair and share your proverbs.
PREVIEW
READING 1
three texts about talent. First, answer the questions in the boxes.
In this excerpt from a novel, the narrator recalls a time she was pushed by her mother to become a prodigy.
1. As a child, how did your parents encourage you in your schoolwork?
2. As a child, what dreams did your parents have for you?
3. How was your relationship with your parents when you were nine?
HU
You are going to read
Read this newspaper article to find out what life is like for a child who is also a very talented artist.
1. Are you artistic? If so, at what age did you realize you had talent?
2. What do you know about child prodigies?
3. What do you think the advantages of being a child prodigy are? The disadvantages?
Vocabulary
This newspaper article reveals why Dame Julie Andrews, the movie star with the beautiful voice, isn’t singing anymore.
1. Which actors also have beautiful singing voices?
2. Which Julie Andrews movie do you think is the most memorable?
3. What problems do you think professional singers face?
Find out the meanings of the words in italics. Then complete the sentences with names of people you know.
1. has remarkable athletic talent.
2__ is a gifted, writer.
3. is a musical genius.
4. might suffer from burnout in the future.
5. was probably a precocious child.
6. suffered a career setback recently.
Unit 3 • Talent
17
READING 1
1 Every night after dinner, my mother and I would sit at the Formica® kitchen table. She would present new tests, taking her examples from stories of amazing children she had read in Riplej's Believe It or Not, or Good Housekeeping,
Reader’s Digest, and a dozen other magazines she kept in a pile in our bathroom. My mother got these magazines from people whose houses she cleaned. And since she cleaned many houses each week, we had a great assortment. She would look through them all, searching for stories about remarkable children.
2 The first night she brought out a story about a three-year- old boy who knew the capitals of all the states and even most of the European countries. A teacher was quoted as saying the little boy could also pronounce the names of the foreign cities correctly.
3 “What’s the capital of Finland?" my mother asked me, looking at the magazine story.
4 All I knew was the capital of California, because Sacramento was the name of the street we lived on in Chinatown. “Nairobi!” I guessed, saying the most foreign word I could think of. She checked to see if that was possibly one way to pronounce “Helsinki ” before showing me the answer.
5 The tests got harder — multiplying numbers in my head, finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards, trying to stand on my head without using my hands, predicting the daily temperatures in Los Angeles, New York, and London.
One night I had to look at a page from the Bible for three minutes and then report everything I could remember. “Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance and . . . that’s all I remember, Ma,” I said.
7 And after seeing my mother’s disappointed face once again, something inside of me began to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations. Before going to bed that night, I looked in the mirror above the bathroom sink and when I saw only my face staring back - and that it would always be this ordinary face — I began to cry. Such a sad, ugly girl! I made high-pitched noises like a crazed animal, trying to scratch out the face in the mirror.
And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me — because I have never seen that face before. I looked at my reflection, blinking so I could see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. This girl and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with lots of won ts. I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not.
So now on nights when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly, my head propped on one arm. I pretended to be bored. And I was. I got so bored I started counting the bellows of the foghorns out on the bay while my mother drilled me in other areas. The sound was comforting and reminded me of the cow jumping over the moon. And the next day, I played a game with myself, seeing if my mother would give up on me before eight bellows. After a while I usually counted only one, maybe two bellows at most. At last she was beginning to give up hope.
From The Joy Luck Club.
Thinking about
personal
experience
Check (»/) the things you were tested on when you were a child.
. 1. naming the capitals of foreign countries
_ 2. multiplying numbers in your head
3. finding a specific card in a deck of cards
4. standing on your head without using your hands
5. predicting daily temperatures in different cities
6. memorizing poetry and plays
Scanning
Recognizing
sources
Guessing meaning from context
B
Scan the text to find out which skills the narrator was tested on when she was a child. Then read the whole text.
The text is from a book. What do you think it is about? Check (td) the correct answer.
1. the secrets of an old woman who thinks she is dying
2. relationships between Chinese mothers and their American-born daughters
3. an unhappy childhood during a time of war and poverty
e 1. scratch out (par. 7) a. loud, deep sounds
b. supported
c. without energy or interest
d. determined; stubborn
e. destroy
2. willful (par. 8)
3. listlessly (par. 9)
4. propped (par. 9)
5. bellows (par. 9)
Making
inferences
C
Check
1. The narrator’s mother spoke English well.
2. Sacramento is the capital of California.
3. The narrator felt bad because her mother was disappointed in her.
4. The narrator’s mother realized her daughter wasn’t going to be a prodigy.
5. The narrator always did her best on her mother’s tests.
Relating reading to personal experience
D
1. Do you think the narrator’s behavior towards her mother was appropriate? Was the mother right in pressuring her daughter? Why or why not?
2. What were you good at when you were a child? Are you still able to do it?
3. Should parents encourage their children to develop talents? Why or why not?
Unit 3 • Talent
