GE|Adults|Advanced|Revise and Check 4
Choose the correct option
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs given
Choose the correct synonym
Example: splendid
- very thin
- excellent
- likely to
Complete the sentences
Listen to five people talking about the disadvantages of various jobs. Match the speakers (1–5) to their feelings about money. There are three extra options you don’t need
Listen to an interview about time management and choose the correct option
Read the article and choose the correct option
A study of multitasking
Technology increasingly makes it possible for people to do more than one task at a time, for example moving between browsing the web and using other computer programs, talking on mobile phones while driving, or flying a jet and monitoring air traffic. Indeed, the word describing this – «multitasking» – has gone from being invented to being commonly used in everyday life in a remarkably short time. A recent study has looked at whether multitasking is purely beneficial or has a downside, especially when the tasks being done together are complicated ones.
The researchers concluded that when people are multitasking, they are using what they call «executive control» processes. These processes concern different parts of the brain and involve the brain allocating different mental resources to different tasks and deciding which tasks are more important than others. The brain’s executive control gives the appropriate resources to the different aspects of tasks, such as understanding what the task requires, thinking about what to do, and taking action.
The researchers conducted an experiment into how much time was lost when people repeatedly switched between two tasks. The tasks varied in terms of how complex they were and how familiar the subjects were with doing those tasks, and they included such things as solving mathematical problems and classifying geometric objects. The researchers measured how long it took the subjects to carry out the tasks and considered the speed in connection with whether the tasks were familiar or unfamiliar, and whether the rules for doing them were simple or complicated.
The results of the experiments were the same for every kind of task. In each case, the subjects lost time when they moved from one task to another, and the amount of time they lost increased when the tasks were complex or unfamiliar. When they were familiar with a task, they were able to adapt to changing to it and get on with it much more quickly. The researchers say that these results indicate that the brain’s executive control consists of two separate stages. They called the first stage «goal shifting», meaning a preference to do one of the tasks rather than the other at a particular moment. The second stage they named «rule activation», meaning moving from engaging with the rules associated with how to go about one task to engaging with the rules involved in doing the other task. The second stage, rule activation, takes a significant amount of time, and this delay multiplies when people keep switching between tasks. The result is that quite a lot of time is lost when multitasking, in comparison with the time that would be taken if each task was completed separately.
This has major implications for multitasking, suggesting that although people may think that it saves time without affecting efficiency, in reality it actually takes more time, and this may have an adverse effect on efficiency. In the case of someone using a phone while driving, multitasking could mean that they are not in full control of their vehicle during the short period when they are switching to using the phone.
The researchers feel that their research has important consequences for multitasking. Their conclusions regarding executive control and how it works may, they believe, help people to look for strategies that will enable them to operate in the most efficient way possible when they are multitasking. And an understanding of executive mental control could have an impact on the design of the technology involved in such areas as operating aircraft and air traffic control, as well as other activities where the interface between humans and computers is crucial to efficiency.
In addition, there are other possible applications of this research. Understanding how people function while multitasking could assist with recruitment, training, and assessment of personnel in the workplace. It could also have an influence on government and industrial regulations, assist in the diagnosis and treatment of brain-damaged patients, and increase our general understanding of how the brain works.
Read the instructions
You need to write an article for an English-language magazine.
1. Choose one of the areas:
- People’s work-life balance
- Family life
- How people spend their free time
2. Think about the ways this area has changed in your country in the last 20 years.
3. State whether you think the changes are positive or negative (pros and cons).
Plan your article in the box below.
Write an article for an English-language magazine. Use some of the phrases from the list below
Instructions
- Read the topic and the questions carefully.
- Plan what you are going to write about.
- Write the text according to your plan.
- Check your writing before sending it for evaluation.
- Learn the rules and see the sample 🔗here.
- Please use 🔗Grammarly to avoid spelling and some grammar mistakes.
«Changes in my country»
Read the task and make a 3-minute speech
Choose one of the topics and express your opinion on the given statement:
Topic 1. Material world
«These days people are encouraged to be too materialistic.»
Topic 2. Time management
«It is better to be very busy than not busy at all.»
Allow your browser the access to the microphone, press the button «Record» and record the speech you have prepared
If you open the lesson plan you will be able to assign separate pages as homework or all the homework pages at once.
- Grammar challenge
- Vocabulary chase
- Listen and choose
- Reading comprehension
- Can you write?
- Speak your mind
- Homework