HOMEWORK
Homework is a part of every student's school life. Unfortunately, many of them (26) _______ of the amount of homework they are given, and find it particularly unfair when they have to study a lot before a test. This makes them feel anxious and (27) _______ even become physically sick when under pressure. Others sometimes find it impossible to complete their homework, (28) _______ makes teachers believe it's an act of disobedience.
On the other hand, teachers consider homework beneficial. They believe students should have a daily schedule to avoid getting (29) _______ and having to hand in incomplete homework. (30) _______, teachers think inadequate amounts of homework put students' future at risk.
(Adapted from Use of English for All Exams by E. Moutsou)

One morning in 1945, a crowd of 5,000 people jammed the entrance of Gimbels Department Store in New York. The day before, Gimbels had placed a full-page advertisement in the New York Times for a wonderful invention, the ballpoint pen. The advertisement described the pen as ‘fantastic’ and ‘miraculous’.
In fact, this ‘new’ pen was not new at all. In 1888, John Loud, a leather manufacturer, had invented a pen with a reservoir of ink and a rolling ball. However, his pen was never produced, and efforts by other people to produce a commercially successful one failed too. The main problem was with the ink. If it was too thin, the ink leaked out of the pen. If it was too thick, it didn't come out of the pen at all.
Almost fifty years later, in 1935, a newspaper editor in Hungary thought he spent too much time filling his pens with ink. He decided to invent a better kind of pen. With the help of his brother, who was a chemist, he produced a ballpoint pen that didn't leak when the pen wasn't being used. The editor was called Ladislas Biro, and it was his name that people would associate more than any other with the ballpoint pen. By chance, Biro met Augustine Justo, the Argentinian president. Justo was so impressed with Biro's invention that he invited him to set up a factory in Argentina. In 1943, the first Biro pens were produced.
Unfortunately, they were not popular, since the pen needed to be held in a vertical position for the ink to come out. Biro redesigned the pen with a better ball, and in 1944 the new product was on sale throughout Argentina. It was a North American, Milton Reynolds, who introduced the ballpoint pen to the USA. Copying Biro's design, he produced the version that sold so well at Gimbels. Another American, Patrick Frawley, improved the design and in 1950 began producing a pen he called the Papermate. It was an immediate success, and within a few years, Papermates were selling in their millions around the world.
(Adapted from Complete IELTS by Rawdon Wyatt)

Today's 14 and 15-year-olds are ambitious. They are optimistic about their prospects, but their career ideas are rather vague. Although 80% of them have no intention of following in their parents' footsteps, 69% still turn to their parents for advice. They look at their working future in a different way to their parents. A job for life is not in their vocabulary; neither is a dead-end but secure job that is boring but pays the bill. Almost half the boys surveyed expected that their hobbies would lead them into the right sort of job, while most girls seemed determined to avoid traditionally female careers such as nursing.
Certainly when I was 15, my guidance counsellors were horrified at my plans to become a writer. I'm glad I didn't change my plans to suit them. Even so, their faith in rigid career paths was well-founded. In those days, that was the way to get ahead. But the world has changed. The global economy is not kind to yesterday's diligent and dependable worker. The future belongs to quick-thinking people who are resourceful, ambitious and can take the initiative. Many young people are very aware of the pitfalls of the flexible workplace; they understand that redundancy, downsizing and freelancing are all part of modern working life, but no one is telling them how they might be able to turn the new rules of the employment game to their advantage. This is what they need to know if they are to make a life for themselves.
So what is to be done? A good first step would be to change the way in which schools prepare young people for adult life. The education system is becoming less flexible and more obsessed with traditional skills at just the time that the employment market is going in the opposite direction. Accurate, up-to-date information on new jobs and qualifications can help guidance counsellors to help their students. Young people need solid information on the sort of training they need to pursue the career of their dreams. Also, a little bit of encouragement can go a long way. If nothing else, a bit of optimism from an adult can serve as an antidote to the constant criticism of teenagers in the press.
What, then, can we as parents do to help them? The best thing is to forget all the advice that your parents gave you, and step into your teenager's shoes. Once you've done that, it's easier to see how important it is that they learn how to be independent, resourceful and resilient. Give them the courage to follow their dreams - however odd they might sound right now. In a world that offers economic security to almost no one, imagination is a terrible thing to waste.
(Adapted from Upstream by Virginia Evans and Bob Obee)