1. WOMEN WRITERS' DAY

 Women Writers' Day · October

Maya Angelou
A Woman Who Kept Rising

poet · writer · activist (1928–2014)

📍 Born in St. Louis, USA 📖 7 autobiographies ✊ Civil rights activist 🌅 "And Still I Rise" (1978)

Read the text. Then click the right answer for each gap — the text fills in as you go!

Maya Angelou, whose real name was Marguerite Annie Johnson, (1) ______ born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1928. When she was three, her parents (2) ______, so she and her older brother were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Life in the South was hard for Black families, who faced racism and (3) ______ every day.

When Maya was a little girl, something terrible happened to her, and she stopped (4) ______ for almost five years. During that silent time, she taught (5) ______ to love words by reading every book she could find. A kind neighbour, Mrs Flowers, (6) ______ her to read poetry aloud, and slowly Maya found her voice again.

Her teenage years were not easy either. By the age of seventeen, she (7) ______ a mother. To support her son, she took many different jobs. In fact, she was the first Black woman (8) ______ worked as a streetcar conductor in San Francisco. Later, she worked as a dancer, singer, journalist and teacher, and lived in Egypt and Ghana. She was an incredibly (9) ______ woman.

In the 1960s, she fought for civil (10) ______ together with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. When her famous autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, came out in 1969, King (11) ______ only a year before. Many readers saw (12) ______ in her story, and the book became a bestseller.

In 1978 she published the poem "And Still I Rise". In it, the speaker talks directly to the people who have tried to hurt her, but she describes (13) ______ as proud, strong and full of hope. Like the woman in the poem, Maya never gave (14) ______, no matter how many times life pushed her down.

She died in 2014, but she is still remembered as one of the (15) ______ important voices in American literature.

Score: 0 / 15

1. ENVIRONMENT. VOCABULARY

 

Vocabulary · The Environment

Match the Words 🌍

16 words and expressions from our translation activity

How to play: click a word or expression, then click the definition that matches it. If it's correct, it stays green and you'll see an example sentence. If it's wrong, try again!

Matched: 0 / 16 · Mistakes: 0

1. A PLANET UNDER PRESSURE. TRANSLATION

Advanced · Translation practice

The Environment: Translate into English

Translate these sentences into English. Write your translation first, then click "Show answer" to check it. The target vocabulary appears in bold in the answers.

1. 1La tala ilegal es una de las principales causas de la deforestación en el Amazonas.

   Illegal logging is one of the main causes of deforestation in the Amazon.Present simple

2. 2Los líderes mundiales se reunieron en una cumbre del clima el año pasado.

   World leaders met at a climate summit last year.Past simple · meet – met – met

3. 3Las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero han aumentado mucho desde 1990.

   Greenhouse gas emissions have risen a lot since 1990.Present perfect · rise – rose – risen

4. 4Si seguimos quemando combustibles fósiles, el calentamiento global empeorará.

   If we keep burning fossil fuels, global warming will get worse.First conditional · present simple after "if"

5. 5Cuando llegaron los bomberos, el incendio forestal ya había destruido gran parte del bosque.

   When the firefighters arrived, the wildfire had already destroyed a large part of the woodland.Past perfect

6. 6Los humedales son esenciales para proteger la biodiversidad.

   Wetlands are essential to protect biodiversity.Present simple

7. 7El pueblo construyó un dique para protegerse de la subida del nivel del mar.

   The village built a sea wall to protect itself from rising sea levels.Past simple · build – built – built · reflexive pronoun: itself (not "it")

8. 8La contaminación por plásticos ha crecido tanto que muchos países han prohibido los plásticos de un solo uso.

   Plastic pollution has grown so much that many countries have banned single-use plastics.Present perfect · grow – grew – grown

9. 9Mis padres reducen su huella de carbono usando el transporte público.

   My parents reduce their carbon footprint by using public transport.Present simple · "usando" = "by + -ing"

10. 10Antes de 2020, nunca habíamos separado nuestros residuos en casa.

    Before 2020, we had never separated our waste at home.Past perfect with "never"

1. A PLANET UNDER PRESSURE. MULTIPLE CHOICE

B1 · Reading & Use of English

A Planet Under Pressure

Read the text about the environment, then choose the correct option for each gap. The target vocabulary is in bold.

For decades, scientists have warned that human activity is pushing the planet towards its limits. Every year, the Earth (1) ______ millions of hectares of forest, largely because of logging and the expansion of agriculture, a process known as deforestation.

When the first major international climate summit took place in 1992, many countries (2) ______ already ______ the consequences of rising temperatures. Since then, global emissions of greenhouse gases (3) ______ steadily, despite countless promises from world leaders. The burning of (4) ______ fuels such as coal, oil and gas remains the main cause of global warming.

The effects are already visible. Last summer, wildfires (5) ______ through southern Europe, destroying thousands of homes and hectares of woodland. Experts insist that protecting (6) ______, the variety of plant and animal life on Earth, is just as urgent as cutting emissions. Many coastal communities now have to protect (7) ______ from rising sea levels by building sea walls and restoring wetlands.

Plastic pollution is another major concern. Before the government finally banned single-use plastics, tonnes of waste (8) ______ into the ocean for years.

However, change is possible. Each of us can reduce our carbon (9) ______ by using public transport, eating less meat and avoiding unnecessary flights. If everyone (10) ______ small changes in their daily life, the overall impact will be enormous. In the end, nobody will save the planet for us: we have to do it ourselves.

Choose the correct option

Click an answer. Correct answers turn green and fill the gap in the text. Wrong answers turn red, so you can try again.

0 / 10 correct · 0 mistakes

INTRODUCTION. FEELING A BIT UNDER THE WEATHER? HEALTH IDIOMS

    TWO PHRASAL VERBS related to health: 

1. to come down with an illness
a)   to recover from an illness
b)   to become sick with an illness
c)   to imagine that you are sick

2. to pull through
a)   to visit the hospital
b)   to recover from an illness
c)   to become very sick 

 

 
EXPRESSIONS AND IDIOMS RELATED TO HEALTH  

 

0.30 QUESTIONS

 

0. ASK A QUESTIONS FOR THE UNDERLINED WORDS:

1.-I bought a newspaper this morning.

2.-Joe is tall and good looking. 

3.-Steve didn't do the final exam.

4.-Pam wrote a letter to one of her friends.

5.-A noise disturbed me when I was working.

6.-Peter rang me at 3am last night.

7.-My husband gave me a watch for my birthday

8.-The new student  has broken the window.

9.-I visited my grandmother on Sunday.

10.-The baby was crying because he was tired.

11.-They were waiting at the restaurant.

12.-Mark ate a chocolate cake.

13.-Yes, I have visited Dublin twice.

14.-I’ve lived in Cáceres for five years.

15.-Joe is a bit shy. 

16.-The weather is pleasant today.

17. 15 million people have seen UFO`s.

18. Obesity affects millions of people.

19. Some paper companies are now cutting trees in Russia.

20. I was only 12 when Neil Amstrong walked on the moon.

21. He wants to go to Harvard next year.

22. I grew up in Tennessee.

23. Three quarters of the world’s mail is written in English.

24. Most products are manufactured in China.

25. He has to draw a map for the Geography lesson.

26. Margaret Thatcher slept three hours a day.

27. It took six months to find her disease.

28. Susan used to do her shopping in New York.2

29. The teacher borrowed Jannet's book. 

30. She's arriving by train tonight.

0.KEY. 30 SENTENCES WITH MISTAKES

 

1. Wrong: He has the hair black. → Right: He has black hair.
2. Wrong: My father is doctor. → Right: My father is a doctor.
3. Wrong: There isn’t some pencils on the table. → Right: There aren’t any pencils on the table.
4. Wrong: A lot of people is invite to the party. → Right: A lot of people are invited to the party.
5. Wrong: Mark has 13 years. → Right: Mark is 13 years old.
6. Wrong: My sister study French at school. → Right: My sister studies French at school.
7. Wrong: I reading a book. → Right: I am reading a book.
8. Wrong: I am go to the cinema. → Right: I am going to the cinema.
9. Wrong: They not play tennis. → Right: They do not play tennis.
10. Wrong: She not study German. → Right: She does not study German.
11. Wrong: The teacher gived back the exams. → Right: The teacher gave back the exams.
12. Wrong: Mary not went to the party. → Right: Mary did not go to the party.
13. Wrong: Peter is more tall that John. → Right: Peter is taller than John.
14. Wrong: Mary is intelligenter than Sue. → Right: Mary is more intelligent than Sue.
15. Wrong: The blue team is gooder than the red one. → Right: The blue team is better than the red one.
16. Wrong: Peter is the boy more tall of my class. → Right: Peter is the tallest boy in my class.
17. Wrong: I must to call him immediately. → Right: I must call him immediately.
18. Wrong: She can to drive. → Right: She can drive.
19. Wrong: You should not to smoke. → Right: You should not smoke.
20. Wrong: I study English from 2018. → Right: I have been studying English since 2018.
21. Wrong: They live here since August. → Right: They have lived here since August.
22. Wrong: I don’t play tennis for two weeks. → Right: I haven’t played tennis for two weeks.
23. Wrong: Peter is my best friend. I really like he. → Right: Peter is my best friend. I really like him.
24. Wrong: Sarah lives in London and his brother lives in Paris. → Right: Sarah lives in London and her brother lives in Paris.
25. Wrong: Why not went she? → Right: Why didn’t she go?
26. Wrong: Have climbed you a mountain any time? → Right: Have you climbed a mountain at any time?
27. Wrong: I look forward to meet you. → Right: I look forward to meeting you.
28. Wrong: My car was steal yesterday. → Right: My car was stolen yesterday.
29. Wrong: I went to the supermarket for to buy some fruit. → Right: I went to the supermarket to buy some fruit.
30. Wrong: This is the woman which won the competition. → Right: This is the woman who won the competition.