ĐỀ SỐ 8 - VŨ MAI PHƯƠNG

Taking part in games and sports teaches young people a lot of very useful skills, as well as helping them to (27) _________ fit and healthy. Firstly, games (28) _________ involve more than just a contest between two competitors teach people to have respect for rules, because no game will work unless everyone plays according to them.
The other thing you discover is that you cannot (29) _________ success by yourself in a team game. You
have to support each other, otherwise you can never win. Team games also teach you that losing is not the end of the world. You will always have (30) _________ opportunity and you may be more successful against your opponents next time. It is extremely important to learn how to be a good loser (31) _________ being able to handle defeat is an important lesson in life.
(Adapted from Compact PET for Schools)

It wasn't my usual holiday experience: standing on the beach, getting ready to release a baby sea turtle no bigger than my hand. But that was how I spent my final night in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. During my week there, I had seen other tourists releasing the turtles in the early evening, and as my stay came to an end, I decided to join in.
Oscar, the organiser, runs Sociedad Ecológica de Occidente - a conservation project that brings tourists and residents together to save the sea turtles of Puerta Vallarta. These turtles are under threat from poachers who want their meat and eggs. But Oscar and his volunteers collect the eggs and take them to protected areas where they are allowed to hatch in safety.
We listened to Oscar's instructions. He told us that the turtles were released as the sun goes down so the bright lights of the hotels and nightclubs don't stop them finding their way back to the sea. We stood a few metres from the sea's edge holding our one-day-old turtles carefully in both hands. At a signal from Oscar, we gently placed them on the sand, stepped back and watched as they crawled slowly into the sea.
Back home, I still think of the tiny baby turtle and wonder where it is now. Did it make it to the open sea? Is it safe? Oscar Aranda has dedicated his life to saving the sea turtles; I only gave a few minutes of my time, but those minutes will stay with me for a lifetime.
(Adapted from On Screen)

Los Angeles dancer, Brian Perez, was eating out with his friends one evening when suddenly everyone went quiet. To his horror, he saw that the reason for this was that people were checking their phones. Realising he had to do something to stop this, Brian made a rather daring suggestion. What if they all put their gadgets in a pile in the middle of the table until they had finished the meal? If anyone picked up their phone, that person would have to pay the whole bill. And so, it is said, the game of 'phone stacking' was born.
The necessity for action like this highlights a major problem in today's society: our inability to disconnect from technology. But while Brian's idea deals with the obsession in a social context, measures also need to be taken at home. Some people drop their smartphones into a box the moment they arrive home, which gives them the chance to interact with the people they live with.
A less drastic solution is to ban electronic devices at certain times of day when the whole family is likely to be together, for example at meal times. This can be hard for everyone. On a normal day, however, dinner takes less than an hour, and the benefits of exchanging opinions with the rest of the family certainly makes up for the time spent offline.

Taking a break from technology is one thing, but knowing when to turn off a device is another. This is where a digital curfew comes in handy, a set time when all devices must be put away.
And then it's time for bed. One of the best ways of ensuring you can sleep at night is to ban electronic devices altogether from the bedroom. With technology out of the room, a line has been drawn between daytime and sleep time, which enables us to switch off ourselves and drift off to sleep.
(Adapted from Solutions)