English Olympiad

Read the text.

PEDAL POWER TV

TO UPROOT COUCH POTATO

A television set that will only work if children pedal an exercise bicycle to provide electricity has been invented by researchers examining weight problems at a New York hospital.

Experiments involving overweight children aged between eight and twelve showed that those who had to pedal when they wanted to watch their favourite programmes not only watched far less television, but also recorded impressive loss of fat.

The ’couch potato TV’ was developed by researchers at St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital as a result of growing concern over weight problems among an increasing number of American children. David Allison, who headed the research, said: ’I am not naïve enough to think we’re going to solve the world’s weight problems with TVs hooked to bicycles. But there are other things we could do that are only limited by our imagination’.

Mr. Allison once proposed that people should be charged to travel in lifts in an effort to encourage them to use the stairs. He said that only 13% of American children were considered seriously overweight, and that the number was growing. During the tests children who had the ’couch potato TV sets’ watched on average one hour of television a week, while children in a second ’control’ group watched more than twenty hours.

Decide if the following statements are true or false.

1. The new invention is a television set combined with a bicycle.

2. The aim of the experiment was to measure how much electricity we can generate through exercise.

3. Mr. Allison says watching television limits children’s imagination.

4. Mr. Allison tried to discourage people from using lifts. 

5. The invention has reduced the number of overweight children in the USA by 13%.

6. All the children in the experiment watched television for twenty hours.

Read the text below. For questions (1-10) choose the correct answers (a, b, c, d).

 EAT TO LIVE AND NOT LIVE TO EAT

An argument, a rainy Sunday afternoon that stretches on and on. It doesn't 1 _ much to get depressed. And when you do not 2 _ a hundred percent, you often cheer yourself up with a few salty or sweet delights.      

The familiar taste of your favorite candy, a handful of chips, a chocolate bar, or a 3 _ of coke are the simple pleasure you can 4 _ yourself by opening the treasure chest of the pantry or the fridge.   

By 5 _ your stomach, you momentarily chase away the feeling of emptiness and sadness that’s come 6 _ you. And by consuming sugar - the slow sugar in starches or the 7 __ sugar in candy – you give your brain the pick-me-up it craves when you're a little tired.

But beware! As Benjamin Franklin wrote in Poor Richard's Almanack, "Eat to live, and not live to eat!" If you snack too much, your brain can no longer 8 _ the difference between a genuine need to eat to “9 _ your batteries” and when you’re being plain greedy. You end up having the feeling that you're always a little hungry and 10 __ the ability to regulate your appetite. It's best beware of the extra calories.

1. a) take                        b) cost            c) mean           d) have

2. a) do                           b) make          c) sense          d) feel

3. a) jar                           b) pan            c) can              d) bowl

4. a) offer                        b) suggest     c) treat            d) afford

5. a) supplying                b) packing     c) filling         d) feeding

6. a) over                        b) above         c) onto           d) around

7. a) fast                          b) rapid         c) quick          d) swift

8. a) say                          b) tell             c) show          d) point

9. a) stuff                        b) switch       c) turn             d) charge

10. a) lose                       b) forget        c) fail              d) drop