THE NEW WAY TO BURN FAT
People who want to lose weight are being offered a startling new way to burn fat. Wouldbe slimmers are flocking to a spa in Hong Kong (26) _______ promises to reduce their waistlines by smearing them with Chinese herbs, dousing them with alcohol (27) _______ then setting light to them, all for £78 a session. The spa claims that the intense heat of the fire penetrates deep tissue, increasing circulation and helping the body to absorb the herbal concoction which works to detoxify the body and break down fat. It boasts that the results are (28) _______, with customers recording losses of up to 15 centimetres of fat after the first session.
Karen Chu, owner of The Life of Life Healing Spa in Hong Kong's busy Causeway Bay district, says that about 100 customers have successfully undergone the treatment, and there have been no (29) _______. 'About half the customers come here for the Aqua-Fire treatment,' she said. 'It is perfectly safe. You are protected from the flame by wet towels. We have never had (30) _______ complaints or problems.'
(Adapted from Ready for Advanced by Roy Norris, Amanda French with Miles Hordern)

We all enjoy gossiping about people we know, although sometimes we might feel guilty about it afterward. However, new research shows that gossiping might be good for us. Professor McAndrew, a professor of psychology, believes that gossiping is in our genes, and we feel pleasure when we share interesting information. McAndrew says that gossiping is a social skill, and we need to learn to do it well. According to the professor, gossip can be a positive thing when people use it to build connections with other people in their social group. But it can be a negative thing when somebody gossips about another person only to make themselves feel more important in the group.
Professor McAndrew's research also showed that people were happy to pass on good news but only if it was about a friend. They also enjoyed passing on negative information about other people when it was about somebody they disliked.
Another thing that the new study showed was that men and women gossip differently. In general, the men in the study shared gossip with their wives or girlfriends, but not with their male friends. Women however, gossiped with both partners and friends.
(Adapted from American English File by Christina Latham-Koenig, Clive Oxeden and Paul Seligson)

The first Europeans, arriving in 1630, thought Madagascar was an earthly paradise, the Garden of God. That pretty much sums it up: God's Garden. For who else would have thought to snip a piece from Africa and haul it almost 300 miles into the safety of the Indian Ocean? Species have survived in Madagascar that have long been lost elsewhere, like 80 per cent of the island's flora, or the 50 varieties of lemur. There may be no lions or elephants, but half the world's chameleons live here. At the heart of the island is Antananarivo, a city chiselled into the flanks of 12 sheer hills that nose out of the rice fields. It contains an interesting mix of cultures, with baguettes, rickshaws. cockfighting car races, old French cobbled streets. Once, spotted a travelling beautician with a bucket full of make-up.
Travelling around is no mean feat. The island is almost three times the size of Britain, with a third of its population. Expect to see no one for days. The east coast is packed with rainforest, the west with baobab trees, and the south is tinder-dry. The only way to get around is by plane, or in a car that likes the dirt. But if a handful of tourists a day is too many, fly north to the Montagne d'Ambre. From the air, Madagascar is more implausible than ever, a diorama of tiny forts, moon rock, volcanic cones, Savannahs, and then the sea. There's only one airport up here, Diego Suarez. It's cooler up in the hills. Here, the indigenous tribesmen know every click and squeak of the forest, and every flash of feathers. There are more than 1.200 plant species in the mountains, of which more than half are medicinal. One tree looks as if it sprouts fresh hankies. Another has flame-red flowers.
No trip to Madagascar is complete without time on the coast, particularly in the north and west. For the west coast, you must go by plane. Loaded with tomatoes and building materials, it feels like a flight to the end of the world, or perhaps the beginning. Below, the coast looks like Earth in the moments before life, virgin islands, powder-white sand and the Erand, wild bush. Here, the only place to stay is Anjajavy. As resorts go it's hardly obtrusive: much of it is built from the forest, although finished in Parisian style. There are more resorts on the north coast, as it has been a favourite for centuries. The sea's the colour of swimming pools, pebbled by the Nosy Islands. Travel is by speedboat, with an escort of dolphins. Resorts are mostly French, and often the only visitors are fish eagles or turtles. It's hard to imagine more omamental isles, with tiny hills and streams. It's not surprising that in 1904, a passing Russian warship simply abandoned the war and defected to paradise.
(Adapted from Get Ahead in FCE by Andrew Betsis and Lawrence Mamas)