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14.1.2.8 Reading task type 8 (target level B2)

ER843 Teens and technology

You will read a magazine article about a teenage girl who tried to live withouttechnology for a day.Six sentences have been removed from the text below. Read the text and choose thesentence (A-G) which fits each gap. There is one extra sentence which you do notneed to use.

A day without technology

Computing Today Magazine asked 16-year-old Maya Ford to take a 24-hour breakfrom digital technology and to report back to us on her experiences.

up on the news and weather forecast. [ ...1... ] I managed it though and by 7.30am Iwas on the school bus. One of my friends was finishing his homework on his laptopand another was talking on her mobile phone, no doubt to a friend whom she wouldbe seeing shortly anyway. [ ...2... ] I spent the journey looking out of the window andwondering how my technology-free day would turn out.

My first failure of the day came during my technology skills class. [ ...3.. ] I have to it would have been a shame to miss a very interesting

lesson on graphics and digital photography.

During the lunch break, many students made use of the computer areas. Normally, Iwould have been one of them, checking my email or looking something up on theInternet. [ ...4... ] Many of them were rushing around frantically trying to finishassignments due next class. Luckily, I had remembered to print everything out athome, so I could relax and enjoy my lunch, not something that often happens!

At 3.30 pm school was finished. Normally, I would slip my earphones on and listen tosome music on my way home. [ ...5... ] I often listen to music between lessons aswell, and I was finding it a real struggle to get through a whole day without music.

At around 8.00 pm I sat down to do my homework. Without music playing in the This probably has quite a lot to do with the fact that I would normally get distracted byfriends who are online at the same time as me. Maybe some of our chat is a bitunnecessary.

I decided to go to bed quite a bit earlier than normal. I set my mobile phone in itsholder to be recharged overnight and dreamt of the next day, when I would once morebe connected to the digital world. A technology-free life is not for me!

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A. This helps me to relax after working hard all day.

B. It was a real challenge getting ready in total silence.C. I actually finished in far less time than it normally takes me.

D. elt like a bit of an outsider.

E. The younger ones all seemed to be playing on hand-held gaming devices.

F. This is compulsory for all students, and I was not allowed to skip itexperiment or no experiment.

G. Instead I took the chance to sit back and observe my friends' behaviour.

Key

1 B

2 E

3 F

4 G

5 A

6 C