Unit 1 Culture 1 Find words in the text that mean: 1 keep apart from other people (paragraph B) 2 very important (paragraph B) 3 disconnected from the electricity supply (paragraph B) 4 a cable that carries telephone signals (paragraph C) 5 to gain control of something (paragraph D)

2 Answer the questions with the names Susan, Anni, Bill and Sussy.

Unplugged A

B

Who …

Susan Maushart’s three teenage children are relaxing at home in Perth, Australia. Fifteen-year-old Bill is playing his saxophone. Fourteen-year-old Sussy and eighteen-year-old Anni are playing a board game in the same room. Ask the three of them how they prefer to spend their free time, and they will tell you that it is by doing things together. However, it has not always been like that. Six months earlier, the family spent their time in a very different way. Sussy and Anni constantly updated their social networking pages and chatted online to classmates and acquaintances. Bill shut himself off in his bedroom with his video games. Susan also disappeared with her laptop to write ‘crucial’ emails. They lived in the same house but spent their free time with their online friends instead of talking to each other. Susan was not happy about the situation, so she took a very unpopular decision. All the media technology in the house would be unplugged – for six months!

C

At first, things didn’t go to plan. Sussy became addicted to the ‘old’ landline telephone to keep in contact with her friends. However, Bill soon adapted to the situation: he learnt how to play the saxophone and, eventually, sold his games computer. Anni sometimes needed to use a computer to do homework, so she used the computers at the local library. With time, the two sisters also began to appreciate the benefits of chatting with the family after meals and playing board games together. In addition, Sussy started doing much better at school.

D

After six months, the experiment was over. Susan says that it is not realistic for people who live in the modern world not to use media technology. However, all the family agree that they will not let it take over their lives again.

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1 … plays a musical instrument?  2 … used social networking sites?  and 3 … wanted to be alone when they used media technology? and 4 … continued to chat to her friends from home after the experiment started? 5 … spent more time in a public building after the experiment started?

3 Read the text again and choose the correct alternatives. 1 Susan’s family has / hasn’t always done things together. 2 Susan didn’t like her children’s online friends / the way the family used media technology. 3 Sussy and Anni reacted in the same / a different way to the experiment. 4 The experiment was a success from / wasn’t a success at the beginning. 5 Susan thinks we can / can’t live without media technology in the modern world.

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10/12/2012 18:12