A team of social psychologists from California has spent six years studying the reactions of people in cities around the world to different situations. The results show that cities where people have less money generally have friendlier populations. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, which is often known for its crime, comes out top, Vientiane ranks second, and the capital of Malawi, Lilongwe, comes third.
But what makes one city friendlier than another? The psychologists from California State University say it has got more to do with environment than culture or nationality. They carried out a study into the way locals treated strangers in 23 cities around the world. The team conducted their research through a series of tests, where they dropped pens or pretended, they were blind and needed help crossing the street.
The study concludes that people are more helpful in cities with a more relaxed way of life such as Rio. While they were there, researchers received help in 93 percent of cases, and the percentage in Lilongwe was only a little lower. However, richer cities such as Amsterdam and New York are considered the least friendly. Inhabitants of Amsterdam helped the researchers in 53 percent of cases and in New York just 44 percent. The psychologists found that, in these cities, people tend to be short of time, so they hurry and often ignore strangers.
(Adapted from Complete IELTS by Guy Brook- Hart and Vanessa Jakeman)

THE SECRETS OF LONG LIFE
Marge Jetton is speeding down the motorway in her purple car. Marge, (39) recently turned 101, is late for one of several volunteer commitments she has today. Already this morning, she has eaten breakfast, walked 1.6 km, and lifted weights.
Like (40) other residents of Loma Linda, California, Marge is a member of a religious community that has always supported healthy living. It (41) smoking and drinking alcohol, and discourages the (42) of most meat, rich foods, and caffeinated drinks as well as most spices. Instead, they enjoy beans, nuts, whole wheat bread, soy milk, tomatoes, and other fruits as well as five glasses of water a day.
All of these lower the risk of developing certain diseases. (43) , they get together and socialize with each other to relieve stress every Saturday. A study has revealed that members of this community live four to ten years longer than other Californians.
(Adapted from Close up B1-Student’s book)

Learning to speak is automatic for almost all children, but learning to read requires elaborate instruction and conscious effort. Well aware of the difficulties, educators have given a great deal of thought to how they can best help children learn to read. No single method has triumphed. Indeed, heated arguments about the most appropriate form of reading instruction continue to polarize the teaching community.
Three general approaches have been tried. In one, called whole-word instruction, children learn by rote how to recognize at a glance a vocabulary of 50 to 100 words. Then they gradually acquire other words, often through seeing them used over and over again in the context of a story.
Speakers of most languages learn the relationship between letters and the sounds associated with them (phonemes). That is, children are taught how to use their knowledge of the alphabet to sound out words. This procedure constitutes a second approach to teaching reading – phonics.
Many schools have adopted a different approach: the whole-language method. The strategy here relies on the child’s experience with the language. For example, students are offered engaging books and are encouraged to guess the words that they do not know by considering the context of the sentence or by looking for clues in the storyline and illustrations, rather than trying to sound them out.
Many teachers adopted the whole-language approach because of its intuitive appeal. Making reading fun promises to keep children motivated, and learning to read depends more on what the student does than on what the teacher does. The presumed benefits of whole-language instruction – and the contrast to the perceived dullness of phonics – led to its growing acceptance across America during the 1990s and a movement away from phonics.
(Adapted from https://mini-ielts.com)