Lesson 4

Vocabulary

1. Match the two parts of the sentences to make complete sentences.

1. Baby elephants depend c. on their mothers until they are about five.
2. Most buildings in the city of New York are e. built on a bigger scale than those in European cities.
3. We all love to see elephants, but a. on the other hand, more and more are killed every year.
4. I think that young people today are b. on the whole healthier than they were 20 years ago.
5. The boys and girls did well in the exams, but d. on balance, the girls got higher marks.

Reading

2. Put the paragraphs of this essay in the correct order.

a. 3 On the other hand, new technology is very bad for the environment. We all want to buy the latest phone, television or computer game, but that often means throwing away the old ones. You can recycle some parts of old equipment, but a lot of it is never used again. Who wants an old phone that does not connect to the internet?

b. 2 On the one hand, this makes things easier for all of us. It is not very expensive to buy televisions that are almost as good as cinema screens. Mobile phones mean that you can be connected to the internet anywhere, so you can always find out information or know where you are. Planes and cars are safer and businesses work better.

c. 4 On the whole, it is good that technology changes. We all want to have things that can improve our everyday lives. On balance, however, I think that we have to a way to use new technology on old equipment. It is terrible that we have to throw away good equipment just because it does not use the latest technology. If we could build phones, TVs and computers that could last for decades, we could have a cleaner, greener world.

d. 1 Technology is always changing. Every few years, you can buy televisions that have larger screens or better pictures. Mobile phones can do more and more things. On a bigger scale, computers in businesses, at airports and in almost every organisation become more and more powerful. We now depend on everything becoming better, bigger and faster.