1 Reading
a Look at the bar chart and read the article. Match paragraphs 1-5 with their functions a-e.
a Adds extra information not shown in the data.
b Interprets the data in more detail.
c States the main conclusion you can draw from the data.
d Outlines the issue that the data tries to answer.
e Explains what the bar chart is about.
1 School is a big part of teenagers’ lives, but there are many ways of spending the rest of their time. Are teenagers basically the same these days, or are their needs and interests changing?
2 The bar chart looks at five different activities, quantified in hours per week, which teenagers do outside school. One point to note is that they are very board categories; sport, for example, could include many activities.
3 As you can see, there are big differences in how teenagers spend their time. Sport and homework are comparable, but the other categories have changed considerably.
4 The most noticeable trend is from watching TV to using newer technologies, especially mobile phones. Mobiles were around in 2000, but they were much more primitive – you can watch films on your phone today.
5 It is important to remember that these are not the only ways teenagers spend their time, for example the chart doesn’t mention meeting friends face to face. Things have changed a lot over the last 15 years, so it will be interesting to see what the future brings.
b Look at the bar chart and read the article again. Tick (✓) the correct answers.
1 The chart includes thirteen-year-olds from Scotland.
a true b false c doesn’t say
2 Each category is quite specific.
a true b false c doesn’t say
3 Older teenagers are doing more homework.
a true b false c doesn’t say
4 There is no great change between the figures for sport.
a true b false c doesn’t say
5 There are no major patterns in the data.
a true b false c doesn’t say
6 Face-to-face communication is better.
a true b false c doesn’t say
7 The article ends with a reference to the future.
a true b false c doesn’t say
Answer
a a 4 b 3 c 5 d 1 e 2
b 2 b 3 c 4 a 5 b 6 c 7 a
2 Writing Skills – Describing data
Look at the bar chart below and complete the sentences with the numbers and words in the box. There are two extra ones you do not need.
|
5 22 34 50 decrease increase least most |
1 About ……22…… % of people today get their information from television.
2 In fact, nowadays ……………….. people follow sport on the Internet.
3 The ……………….. popular way of following sport is attending events.
4 There’s an obvious ……………….. in reading newspapers.
5 There’s about a ……………….. % drop in watching TV.
6 Only about ……………….. % of people now read about sport in newspapers.
Answer
2 most 3 least 4 decrease 5 50 6 5
3 Writing
Look at the bar chart in 2a again. Then write an article about how people follow sport today. Use the notes to help you.
– newspapers – not free, ‘old’ news, people prefer to read online
– attending events – difficult expensive
– TV – not so popular today, time may be inconvenient
– Internet – free instant news all the time
– radio – no pictures, best in car
Answer
Suggested answer
Sport is a very important part of life and apart from actively taking part, many people enjoy following sports championships and events throughout the year. However, they can choose how they prefer to do this.
The bar chart compares five ways of following sport today and fifteen years ago. The results in the graph show their relative popularity in percentages, not whether we are actually watching more sport.
You can see that there are obvious changes in the graph. In fact, the Internet seems to have completely changed our habits of following sport.
As you can see, the most noticeable increase is in the use of the Internet, while there’s a significant decrease in watching TV and reading newspapers. Perhaps this is because the Internet offers instant news all the time and it is more convenient and cheaper than the alternatives.
These results shouldn’t surprise anyone, as they are a reflection of the modern world where technology has changed so much of how we live. This trend may continue into the future or perhaps some new medium may appear.