VIP PLUS - ĐỀ SỐ 9

ALLERGY ALERT
To have an allergy means that a person is affected either by a substance in the atmosphere by some sort of food. These days a lot of people suffer from one kind of allergy or (26) _______. So, what can people do to fight allergies? If someone is allergic to chocolate, (27) _______, the simplest thing to do would be to avoid eating any chocolate. If, on the other hand, the allergic reaction is caused by something (28) _______ or difficult to avoid, then the only solution is prescribed medication.
The chances of someone having an allergy are bound to be great if allergies (29) _______ in the family. In other words, if one parent suffers from allergies, the child has a thirty percent chance of being allergic, too. If both parents are affected, the risk doubles. However, there is absolutely по logical reason to be terrified of that possibility. Those (30) _______ suffer can carry on with their lives and not let their allergies wear them out. They shouldn't feel different from everyone else.
(Adapted from Use of English B2 for All Exams by E. Moutsou)

The main reasons why electric cars are not more popular at present are their price and their relatively small range. Existing battery systems only allow electric cars to travel a distance of between 100 and 160 km. However, this distance may not be a problem for urban drivers. A recent Sydney study reported that 70 percent of journeys were 30 km or less, and recent data from the US suggests that 77 percent of trips taken there are 48 km or less.
An innovative company called Better Place is aiming to make electric cars an option for all drivers. It wants to see existing vehicles replaced by electric vehicles which, it says, offer a number of benefits. Firstly, they can be powered by renewable energy which produces zero emissions. What is more, electric motors are more efficient and can convert more than 90 percent of power into movement, whereas the efficiency of diesel or petrol engines is less than 20 percent. To achieve its aim, Better Place plans to use technology which is already available.
The plan is simple but revolutionary. It starts with the installation of a home charge point, and through this, the vehicle will be plugged into the electricity grid whenever it is in the garage, typically at night. In the morning, with a fully charged battery, the car is capable of as much as 160 km in urban motoring conditions. In addition to the home charge point, the battery can be topped up by charge points at work and at supermarkets.
The battery is linked to a control centre by smart technology inside the vehicle. Better Place can then ensure that the car is charged with electricity from renewable sources at the cheapest price. For longer trips, a navigation system directs the driver to the nearest switch station, where the depleted battery can be replaced with a charged one by a robot within a couple of minutes.
(Adapted from Complete IELTS by Guy Brook-Hart and Vanessa Jakeman.)

Most of us have treasured memories of the events that shaped our lives as a child. Or do we? Controversial new research claims that those recollections may be as real as fairytales. Leading psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, of the University of California, believes your memories are more likely to be dream-like reconstructions of stories told by your parents. When we think we are reminiscing, we are simply ‘rewriting’ our memory to suit ourselves. She adds: “Our biases, expectations and past knowledge are all used in the filling-in process, leading to distortions of what we remember.” She maintains there is no evidence that perfect memories are stored by individuals.

In one study, volunteers were asked to read about events that happened to them as children. One of these was made up - a shopping trip when they were five, in which they got lost and were rescued by an elderly person. Later, some participants recalled the event in detail, with self- assurance and emotion. You could argue that these people might have genuinely lost their mum in a shop at some point during childhood. But Loftus later carried out similar studies where the fake event was an attack by a vicious animal, or being responsible for knocking over a punch bowl at a family wedding and spilling it all over the bride. The results were the same.

Dr Jaime Quintanilla, professor of psychiatry at the Texas School of Medicine, agrees that our earliest recollections are far from accurate and often complete distortions or figments of our imagination. He says: “It’s a proven fact that young children take fragments of experience and build them into distorted memories. For example, one 40-year-old man distinctly remembers his parents once punished him by refusing to buy him shoes. In fact, when he was three, he cut his foot on a piece of glass and developed a nasty infection.

For two weeks, he was confined to the house in his socks so his wound would heal. When he wanted to go out, he was told he couldn’t, because he had no shoes.” These false suggestions about childhood events can profoundly change people’s attitudes and behaviour in adulthood.
(Adapted from English Unlimited by Adrian Duff and Ben Goldstein)