Reward - Upper-Intermediate - Practice Book [antikvár]

lesson f Learning styles: the reluctant learner M y friend Tom is one of those Six-o'clock-In-The-Evening-Enthusiastic-Determined-And-Well-Intentioned-Studier-Until-Midnight types. At six o'clock he approaches his desk, and carefully organises everything in préparation for the study period to follow. Having everything in place he next carefully adjusts each item again, giving him time to complété the first excuse; he recalls that in the morning he did not have quite enough time to read ail the items of interest in the newspaper. He also realises that if he is going to study it is best to have such small items completely out of the way before settling down to the task at hand. He therefore leaves his desk, browses through the newspaper and notices that there are more articles of interest than he had originally thought. He also notices, as he leafs through the pages, the entertainment section. At this point it will seem like a good idea to plan for the evening's first break -perhaps an interesting programme between 8 and 8.30 pm. He finds the programme, and it inevitably starts at about 7 pm. At this point, he thinks 'Well, I've had a difficult day and it's not too long before the programme starts, and I need a rest anyway and the relaxation will help me to get down to studying ' He returns to his desk at 7.45 pm, because the beginning of the next programme was also a bit more interesting than he thought it would be. At this stage, he still hovers over his desk tapping his book reassuringly as he remembers that phone call to a friend which is best cleared out of the way before the serious studying begins. The phone call, of course, is much more interesting and longer than originally planned, but eventually the intrepid studier finds himself back at his desk at about 8.30 pm. At this point in the proceedings he actually sits down at his desk, opens the book with a display of physical détermination and starts to read (usually page one) as he experiences the first pangs of hunger and thirst. This is disastrous because he realises that the longer he waits to satisfy the pangs, the worse they will get, and the more interrupted his study concentration will be. The obvious and only solution is a light snack, but as more and more tasty items come to mind, the snack becomes a feast. Having removed this final object, the desk is returned to with the certain knowledge that this time there is nothing that could possibly interfere with the dedication. The first couple of sentences on page one are looked at again as the studier realises that his stomach is feeling decidedly heavy and a general drowsiness seems to have set in. Far better at this juncture to watch that other interesting half-hour programme at 10 o'clock, after which the digestion will be mostly completed and the rest will enable him really to get down to work. At 12 o'clock we find him asleep in front of the TV. Even at this point he will think that things have not gone too badly, for after all he had a good rest, a good meal, watched some interesting and relaxing programmes, fulfilled his social commitments to his friends, digested the day's information, and got everything completely out of the way so that tomorrow, at 6 o'clock