Episode 16

EPISODE 16
LEVEL A1.2/A2.

 

READING COMPREHENSION

 FOOD
When he was younger, John didn’t eat healthy food. He didn’t have much time to cook and he usually ate junk food (= fast food, cheap food). Now he tries to eat healthily, so he eats a lot of fruit (= e.g. bananas, apples, plums) and vegetables (= e.g. onions, tomatoes, potatoes). He doesn’t eat much meat (= e.g. chicken, pork). He sometimes eats beef (= meat from a cow), especially sirloin (= the most delicate meat). He is fond of sea food (= frutti di mare) and fish, too. His favorite fish is salmon (= big fish from Norway). John also likes dairy products (= e.g. milk, cheese, yoghurt) and crisp bread (= e.g. Vasa). His diet is very healthy.

 

More contexts for the new words:

• There are not many dairy shops nowadays.
  (= There are not many shops which sell only milk, yoghurt, cheese etc. nowadays)
• How can you read this junk ?
  (= How can you read these stupid things?)
• I don’t like beef, but I eat veal quite often.
  (= I eat meat from a young cow quite often)

 

EXERCISE 1

Decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F).

• Junk food is good for you.
• Salmon is a vegetable.
• Yoghurt is a dairy product.
• Beef is a fruit.
• Sirloin is delicate cow meat.

 

EXERCISE 2

Complete the questions and then answer them yourself.

 

1. How often do you eat j………………… food?
2. What are your favorite d………………… products?
3. Do you prefer c………………… bread or normal bread?

ENGLISH IN USE 

 

Look at this sentence from the text:

He didn’t have much time to cook and he usually ate junk food.

As you remember, when we want to make a sentence about the past, we must use the past simple form of the verb: EAT-ATE

He usually ate junk food.

When we want to make a negative sentence, we must put „didn’t (= did not)” before the verb and we use the verb in its basic (present) form.

He didn’t have much time to cook.

Now look at some more examples:

I didn’t go to work last year.
He didn’t have much money yesterday.
We didn’t read a book last week.

Remember, it is not correct to say „He didn’t went to work.”

 

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

A/ Will you manage to finish this project on your own?

B/ Sure, it’s A PIECE OF CAKE for me. 

 

If something is a piece of cake, it is very easy for you to do.

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

 

1. You TAKE TO something if you start liking it.

John took to vegetables when he realized how healthy they were.

His wife took to her new neighbors at once.

 

2. You GO OFF something if you stop liking it.

John went off junk food when he started having food problems.

I went off burgers after I got food poisoning from a take-away.

 

 

EXERCISE 3

Complete the sentences.

 

1. I …………………………….. off Peter when he said those dreadful things about Clare.
2. Sushi tastes strange at first, it takes time to take …………………………….. it.
3. The exam was a …………………………….. of cake.

 

 

NEWS

 

NO MOULD

An Internet user has recently published photos of a hamburger from MacDonald’s. She says she has kept the burger at home for a year, and there is absolutely no mould on it! She believes that the perfect shape of this very old burger is caused by the huge amount of artificial preservatives which the restaurant puts into their food. The MacDonald’s spokesperson, in turn, claims that the phenomenon is due to lack of moisture, and if the sandwich was left on open air, it would decay very quickly.

 

 

GLOSSARY

– mould – a soft green or grey growth which develops on old food

– artificial – not natural

– preservatives – chemicals used to stop food from decaying

– moisture – a liquid such as water in the form of very small drops

– to decay – to become damaged or worse

 

 

download lesson (pdf)