English Exam Practice: Hearing Dogs and Ig Nobel Awards

Hearing Dogs: Benefits and Exercises

1. Hearing dogs help to improve speaking skills, as children are more likely to wear a hearing aid when they have one.

2. Because Kurt, his dog, sleeps in his bedroom, he feels accompanied and doesn't feel so isolated when he cannot hear.

3. He cannot communicate properly because he has a speech disability.

4. TRUE: (Line 4) "These specially... academic performance."

5. TRUE: (Lines 14-15) "Families usually... part of the family."

Vocabulary and Grammar Practice

• 6. Strength
• 7. Hearing
• 8. Connection
• 9. Answer

10. Hearing dogs, which help children to improve behavior, are trained to alert them. / Hearing dogs are trained to alert children whose behavior is helped to improve.

11. They didn't pay the plumber when he finished.

12. They have improved.

13. If they had more support, they would have a better life.

Bucket Lists: Consumerism and Social Media

1. Some people include many material items in their bucket lists that encourage consumerism. Sometimes, these bucket lists seem more like shopping lists.

2. In our society, there is a tendency to show ourselves and all our experiences through social networks. Today, it is important to have many experiences to share, and bucket list items are perfect for this.

3. Sometimes, people forget the present and try to live in the future. Consequently, they do not live the present moment properly; they only try to achieve difficult experiences without enjoying them correctly.

4. FALSE: (Lines 1-2) "Kick the bucket... this film."

5. TRUE: (Lines 7-8) "Bill Clinton... having a list."

Vocabulary and Sentence Structure

• 6. Specific
• 7. Goal
• 8. Worthwhile
• 9. Assume

10. How long have you been waiting for me?

11. I apologize.

12. His grandmother had her portrait painted by the best artist in the country.

13. What did Mr. Dean's secretary tell her?

The Ig Nobel Awards: Improbable Research

1. There is a certain connection, as the Ig Nobel prize is sometimes received by Nobel winners too. In fact, there is a scientist who has received both prizes.

2. It can be used to make houses more efficient by avoiding heat loss.

3. When he was at a conference, he saw many scientists carefully carrying mugs of hot coffee. He noticed the size of the mug and the movement of the scientists.

4. TRUE: It was the company Unilever that asked Goldstein to study the project.

5. TRUE: (Line 14) "He had no idea... would get."

Final Language Review

• 6. Challenge
• 7. Loser
• 8. Look
• 9. Genuine
• 10. Were

11. This is the place where Shakespeare was born.

12. Whose novel did she criticize?

13. I promised not to offend him.