IELTS VINH HONG TEACHER: NGO BLA

SUMMARY WITH BOX

Task 1
Task 1
 Excessive demands on young people

Being able to multi-task is hailed by most people as a welcome skill, but not according to a recent study which claims that young people
between the ages of eight and eighteen of the so-called 'Generation M' are spending a considerable amount of their time on fruitless efforts as they
multi-task. It argues that, in fact, these young people are frittering away as much as half of their time again as they would if they performed the very
same tasks one after the other.
Some young people are juggling an ever larger number of electronic devices as they study. At the same time as they are working, young adults
are also surfing the Internet, or sending out emails to their friends, and/or answering the telephone and listening to music on their iPods or on another
computer. As some new device comes along, it too is added to the list rather than replacing one of the existing devices.
Other research has indicated that this multi-tasking is even affecting the way families themselves function as young people are too wrapped up in their
own isolated worlds to interact with the other people around them. They can no longer greet family members when they enter the house, nor can they
eat at the family table.
All this electronic wizardry is supposedly also seriously affecting young people's performance at university and in the workplace. When asked
about their perception of the impact of modern gadgets on their performance of tasks, the overwhelming majority of young people gave a favorable
response. The response from the academic and business worlds was not quite as positive. The former feel that multi-tasking with electronic gadgets by
children affects later development of study skills, resulting in a decline in the quality of writing, for example, because of the lack of concentration on
task completion. They feel that many undergraduates now urgently need remedial help with study skills. Similarly, employers feel that young people
entering the workforce need to be taught all over again, as they have become deskilled.
While all this may be true, it must be borne in mind that more and more is expected of young people nowadays; in fact, too much. Praise rather
than criticism is due in respect of the way today's youth are able to cope, despite what the older generation throw at them.
SUMMARY WITH BOX
According to a recent report, young people aged 8-18 are wasting 1……….of time by multitasking. In fact, they are spending as much as 50 per cent
longer than if they did the same tasks 2…………….Some young people are juggling a larger and larger array of 3……….as they study, while surfing
the net, sending 4…………., answering the phone, and listening to music simultaneously. Other studies have shown that this 5……….is affecting the
way families operate, with young people too self-absorbed to talk to other family members or to eat at the family table. The electronic 6………is also
apparently having 7……….on young people’s studies and work.

A. In sequence F. Letters K. Development

B. Revolution G. Electronics L. Significant amounts
C. Beneficial effect H. Negative impacts M. All together
D. Much I. Electronic gizmos
E. Messages J. Behavior
Young people here in Asia and indeed in every continent are facing new challenges at an Questions 1-7
unparalleled pace as they enter the global economy seeking work. Young people everywhere are having to
overcome new 1 .................. as they look for
With the globalization not just of commerce, but all knowledge itself, young graduates in India,
Pakistan, or China are just as prepared for the future as their counterparts in any other nation. Except work. The ubiquity of knowledge means that
for one thing, that is: Young people wherever they are still lack something of paramount importance.
companies and young workers need something
There was a time when those companies or nations with the most knowledge had the edge on their
competitors. That is now almost gone. else to stay ahead of their 2 ................. Workers,
In future, the success of all nations and companies, and indeed the success of young workers, will
no matter where they are from, can plug into
depend not on analytical thinking as has been the case until now, but on creativity and flexible
thinking. This will have huge implications on the way companies and people function. systems. This has huge 3 .................. With the
Knowledge has now become like the light from the light bulb. It is now available to all of us, East and
end of knowledge-based industries, Daniel Pink
West, North and South. We can now 'switch it on' in India, China, or Korea as easily as in, say,
France or Australia. Knowledge is also packaged into systems that allow professionals of any kind has forecast that success in the future will
and level to move around the world in the employ of multinational companies much more easily than
depend on 4 ................... not analytical. The
in the past. So it matters less and less where people are from, where they are working, or where they
move to. The same rules and systems apply to all. power professions like banking, management,
With this knowledge-based industry now firmly established, mainly as a result of the Internet,
etc. will, it is argued, take on a 5 ............... as
economies and people have to move on to another level of competition. What will make or break the
economies of the future in Asia and the West is not workforces equipped with narrow life skills, but more jobs are carried out by computers. Young
the more creative thinkers who can deal with the unknown. But the world is still churning out young
people who use the right side of their brain as
workers to cater for knowledge rather than creativity-based economies.
Edward de Bono has long championed lateral thinking and his work has found its way into many well as their left are about to assume
companies and conservative institutions.
a 6 .................., so more work-based training
More recently, Daniel Pink in A Whole New Mind (2005), a book about the mindset needed for the
coming century, has predicted that success in the future will depend on creative thinking, not involving the 7 ..................... of uncertainty is in
analytical thinking - more use of the right side of the brain as opposed to the left.
order.
Knowledge-based professions which control the world like banking, management, etc. Pink argues,
will wane as more and more jobs are replaced by computers, a prospect government must wake up A. spread
to or they will have hordes of young people trained for a redundant world system. The analytical brain
B. greater role
types that have dominated job interviews in recent years have had their day. Those who see the
bigger picture at the same time, i.e. those who use the right side of their brain as well or more than C. obstacles
the left or can switch between the two at will, are about to come into their own.
D. consequences
The most prized individuals will be those who think outside the analytical boxes. If governments are
sleep-walking into this situation, young people need not do so, but can prepare themselves for this E. lesser role
dramatic evolution. Broadly speaking, young people are much more flexible and prepared to adapt to
F. management
new situations than their older counterparts. Their very familiarity with ever-changing technology and
the processes that go with it equips them to be proactive, and to develop their skills beyond the G.goals
purely analytical. Take the gigantic leaps that have been made in the economies of South-East Asia
H. creative minds
in recent years. Advanced transport infrastructures and systems for knowledge transfer are more
evolved than in many so-called advanced western countries which are lagging behind their eastern I. results
counterparts. J. value
Businesses, rather than universities, can provide opportunities that introduce elements of
K. rivals
unpredictability and creativity into aspects of training or work experience to teach employees to cope
with the shifting sands of the future. The young will be encouraged to do what they do best, breaking
out of existing systems and restructuring the way things are done. Older people will need to side with
them in their readiness to remould the world if they are to survive in the future workplace. We may be
in for a bumpy ride, but whatever else it may be, the future does not look dull.

Task 4
They smoke too much, feel under massive work pressures and don’t even really like each The results of the WHO survey show that the health
other- British children are mong the unhealthiest and unhappiest in the world, according to a of adolescents in Britain is not as good as that of
report published today. children from other Western European countries and
1………………….the health of children from Central
A.WHO study of more than 150,000 young people in 35 countries found that the physical and Europe. Less than 2……………….of girls from
mental health of children in the UK is more like that of adolescents in former communist Spain, Italy and Switzerland said their helath was
nations than that of their western European neighbors. Teenagers in England, in particular, average or poor, while one in three British children
but also their counteparts in Scotland and Wales have some of the highest rates of drinking, said the same. One in seven children from the
smoking and drug use- and the lowest levels of life satisfaction, fruit consumpton and 3………………group and as many as
feelings of physical well-being. 4……………..of 15 year olds report that they are not
B.The WHO survey on Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) is conducted every happy. According to a national charity, sources of
four years and interviews 11, 13 and 15 year olds from the United States, Canada and nearly stress include their 5………………and their
all eastern and western European countries. It is the largest intenational study of adolescent 6…………………. More than 7………………of their
attitudes and provides an intriguing and worrying snapshot into the lives of British teenagers English teenagers interviewed reported that they
compared with their peers across the world. worry about the latter, despite spending
8…………………time than average working on this
C. English 13 year-olds are the least likely in the world to believe their peers are “kind and out of school hours. According to Marc Danzon, we
helpful”, while only Russian 11 year olds and Czech 15 year-olds had a lower opinion of their need to 9……………ways to help young people
generation than the same age groups in England. Less than half of all the English because habits which 10……………….health are
adolescents saw each other as kind and helpful, compare with the study’s average of 60 per formed when we are young.
cent. A third of English, Scottish and Welsh girls rated their health as only fair or poor with
only their peers in Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia feeling worse off. Fewer than one in five girls Wordlist
in Spain, Italy and Switzerland feel the same way.
Health Middle Peers
D. When the children were asked about quality of life, England was in the bottom half of the
A quarter Affect Parents
league, while Dutch, Swedish and Greek young people were the happiest. Engish children
struggle with a wide range of factors which reduce their quality of life. One in seven 11 year Appearance Study Studies
olds, one in five 13 year olds and one in four 15 year olds are unhappy with their lives. A
spokewoman for the national children’s charity Childline said “We counselled more than Better than Half More
120,000 children last year and the main reason for this was bullying. I think there ismore than A fifth Find Three-
could be done to protect young people. Things like exam stress are also a big problem- quarters
children need to know that exams are not the only measure of success.” Improve Worse
than Youngest
E. While English youngsters have below average hours of homework, with only a quarter of Oldest
15 year olds spending more than three hours a day on after-school assignments, they feel less Comparable
under greater stress. Six out of ten boys and seven out of ten girls aged 15 in England say to
they feel pressured by schoolwork, with only Lithuannian and Welsh peers reporting greater
grow
stress.

F. Campaigners said the failture to tackle public health problems affecting young people was
causing a self-perpetuating cycle of abuse. One in five girls and one in seven boys aged 15
in England smoke every day. The average 15 year old picked up the habit at the age of 12. A
spokeswoman for the pressure group Action on smoking and Health said “We are puzzled by
the Government’s reluctance in introduce a smoking ban in public places because it would
help reduce tobacco use among young people. It would also help to have a ban on the
portrayal of smoking in films the image of a Hollywood role model smoking on the big screen
has a big impact on teenagers”
G. Throughout the survey, English children rated alongside children in Central Europe rather
than with nations such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain. One in three children from all
the age groups in England watches more than four hours of television per weekday,
compared with the WHO average of one in five. A third of 11 y ear old children from this
country go without breakfast on school days, while 90 per cent of their Portuguese peers
start every day with a morning meal. Only children from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and
Finaldn eat less fruit than English and Welsh youngsters. More than half of teenage boys and
a third of teenage girls in England admitted that they had been involved in a fight in the past
12 months- double the rate of German children.
H. Health experts said the study should help countries to develop long-term policies to
improve the health of young people. Marc Danzon, the WHO regional director, said “Looking
after the health of young people is of vital importance. We know that attitudes, behavior and
lifestyle patterns strongly influence well-being and are shaped at an early age. It is
important to know what factors determine these life-long patterns.”

To be of vital importance = very important

To be of great importance
Well-being = health
According to Marc Danzon, we need to 9……………ways to help young people because habits which 10……………….health are formed when we are
young.  influence = affect