Talk about life events TIME FLIES 1.2
S skimming for key words
G past simple – regular and irregular verbs
V life events
Adaptive Practice
READING A SPEAK Work in pairs. Read the sentence and discuss the questions. When I was young, … a year was such a long time. Now I’m an adult, time passes so quickly. 1 Do you agree with this sentence? Why/Why not? 2 Can you think of an example when time passed quickly or slowly for you? When I was young, the school summer holidays were six weeks long – it felt like forever. A year was such a long time! Now I’m an adult, time passes so quickly. Why does time seem to fly as we get older? Psychologists have several theories about this. Here are the most popular ones: By Stefan Nyberg YEARS GET SHORTER? When did the Theory 1: The first theory is mathematical. When you were 5 years old, a year was 20 per cent of your life, so it seemed like a long time. When you are 50 years old, a year is only 2 per cent of your life, so it seems much shorter. Time can feel very different if you are a child or an adult. Theory 2: As children, we didn’t have much to worry about – we went to school, studied, came home and played with our friends. Adult life is fast, busy and stressful – it’s difficult to do everything we want to do. Many of us feel that there isn’t enough time in the day. Time seems to pass quickly because as adults we tend to rush to do something and then move on to the next job with no time to stop and think. Theory 3: As children, we knew exactly how many days it was until our next birthday or holiday. All that counting and waiting made the days seem to pass much more slowly. Some psychologists suggest adults don’t notice time passing because they are focused on ‘boring adult stuff’, like shopping or housework. The days, weeks and months pass quickly. Suddenly, another year is over and a new one is beginning. Theory 4: The routines of work and family life mean that, for many adults, the days all feel the same. This is different from our early lives, which were full of exciting first-time experiences. Back then, we started school and studied new things. Then we took exams, went on a first date and learnt to drive. When we look back on all these first-time experiences, we feel that the years were much longer because so many new things happened. All these theories have something in common: there is a clear difference between the way adults and children experience time. Perhaps we need to learn from children and slow down a bit more. The earth will keep spinning, but we are only here for a short time. Let’s enjoy it!
B 1.4 SKIM FOR KEY WORDS Read When did the years get shorter? and match the headings (a–e) with each theory in the text (1–4). There is one extra heading.
a The race against time b From spring to winter c New experiences slow down time
d It’s all about the numbers e Counting the days
Skimming for key words When you read an article for the first time, look for clues to help you understand the main idea of each paragraph. • Look for key words. These could be numbers or the same words repeated. • Look for words connected to the main topic. • Look at the first sentence of each paragraph to help you understand the topic. 1.4 READ FOR DETAIL Read again. Choose the correct options. 1 Time moved more quickly / slowly when the writer was a child. 2 As we grow old, every year becomes a smaller / larger percentage of our life. 3 Many adults feel they don’t have enough / have too much free time. 4 Time slows down / speeds up if we are looking forward to an event. 5 New experiences can help to slow down / speed up time. 6 All the theories agree that adults and children experience time the same / differently .
C
GLOSSARY
routine (n) your usual way of doing things stressful (adj) involving or causing a lot of pressure or worry theory (n) an idea that explains how or why something happens
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