In the early 1990s, the psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues installed themselves at Berlin's elite Academy of Music. With the help of the academy's professors, they (34) the school's violinists into three groups. First were the students with the potential to become world-class soloists. Second were those judged to be merely 'good'. Third were the students unlikely ever to play professionally and who intended to be music teachers in schools. All were then asked how (35) hours they had practised since they first picked up a violin.
Everyone, from all three groups, had started playing at roughly the age of five and practised from two or three hours a week. (36) around the age of eight, differences started to emerge. The students (37) would end up as the best in their class began to practise more than everyone else, until by the age of 20 they were practising well over 30 hours a week. By then, the elite performers had all totaled 10000 hours of practice over the (38) of their lives, the merely good students 8000 hours and the future music teachers just over 4000 hours.
(Adapted from Ready for Advanced by Roy Norris, Amanda French with Miles Hordern)

Online social media have gained amazing worldwide growth and popularity. Although with time a generation has come to accept the changes social networking including Twitter, Facebook or Instagram has brought about, teenagers and young adults are the most frequent users of these sites. It has been reported that these sites are affecting the lives of the youth greatly. Social media sites have provided a platform whereby the youth can create groups and pages based on their common discipline and end up building connections and opportunities for their respective careers by updating various topics to discuss. Youth who have been interviewed say that social media has become their lifestyle and it makes their lives easier and efficient.
Social network sites seem to bring people together and connected, but may create social isolation. As the youth tend to spend many hours on these sites, they rarely have face-to-face interaction. According to various studies, scientists' evaluation determined that social isolation can lead to a host of emotional, psychological, physical and mental problems which include anxiety, depression and somatic complaints among many others. Other negative effects of social networking various people suggested included encouraging poor spelling and grammar, allowing spread of misinformation that is perceived as fact. decreasing productivity. The sites also provide a perfect platform for cyber bullying and increase risks of identity theft, whose personal information are asked to add. Social networking clearly portrays both positive and negative effects on the youth. It is decision of an individual to make whether to continue using the sites or not.
(Text adapted from http://www.speechprosody 2012.org/academic-essay sample-social)

Everyone knows that good sleep is vitally important for our health. Not everyone knows how important it is to sleep in the dark. A new report says that sleeping with the light on could be bad for our health.
Researchers say that turning off the light when we sleep helps to keep away diabetes and heart diseases. Sleeping with the light on could increase the risk of getting these diseases. The researchers said that around 40 percent of people sleep with some sort of artificial light. They said even the light from a television or alarm clock could affect our health. They added that the worst thing to sleep with is a main light. Sleeping in the dark is more difficult for people who live in cities where there is a lot of outdoor light at night.
The researchers are from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, USA. Dr Phyllis Zee, who is an expert in sleep medicine, is the lead researcher. She said that it is healthier for us to turn off all lights when we sleep. Her team conducted a study of the blood sugar levels of 20 people after nights of sleep. The people who slept with a light on had higher blood sugar levels the next morning compared to those who slept in total darkness. Dr. Zee said this is because light stimulates brain activity, which raises blood sugar levels. She said there are three things we can do to reduce the risk of illness. The first thing is we should turn off the lights. Moreover, we should never sleep with white or blue light. Finally, it is a good idea to use a blackout curtain or wear an eye mask.