1 Do you drink alcohol? Do you think there is an alcohol problem among young people?
Look at this sentence from the article.
... by the time they reach, 14, most children have tried alcoholic drinks...
When a drink with dad turns kids into drunks
Another morning. another hangover. Sarah Watson does not enjoy the experience, fit's not very nice being drunk," she says. "You get full of yourself and then yon get a headache."
But Sarah U not an adult recovery from a heavy night in the pnb. She is 12 and one of a
ErJU number of youngchildren whokno* fte
taste - and the effects -of alcohol.
Sarah is one of the lucky ones. She says her expenence is relatively limits But by henrne they reach 14, most children have tned alcohohc
drinks, according to a nationwide survey on young people and drinking.
Seventy-three per cent of 13- to 14-year-o d children interviewed said they ta^ W « alcoholic drink. A, many as 55% of 10- «. B year-olds said they had tried alcohol, and 45% of seven to nine-year-olds.
Ex^rimentauon with alcohol begins at an eaify age, lypically m the form of a glass of wine shared with parents.
Drinklinc, the national helpline for people with donkprobl^s.said the dangers of alcohol were teing overlooked because of concerns about
drugs. .
Sarah Watson said: "Many people «* as though dg^^fcr^damage^dtey Retime
w,a!kabou.drugs,bu.nevcrabontalcoho When
adults do talk about it, they just say it's really bad,
and that's the end of the conversation.
■•I could live without alcohol," said Sharon
O-Dea, 15. "But if yon go to a party, it is better
than taking drugs." More English teenagers drink alcohol thanthen
contemporaries in France and Spam, according to
a report last month.
Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)? Sarah Watson doesn't like drink, but she Likes its effects. 26% of children aged 14 have never tried alcohol. Almost 50% of nine-yea^olds have had an alcoholic drink. | Young chiLdren usualLy gettheir first drink from their brothers or sisters.
According to Drinkline, everybody is now talking about alcohol problems.
Sharon thinks that drugs are worse than alcohol.
drunks people who get drunk often hangover headache and tiredness a few
hours after drinking too much full of yourself very self-cu undent recovering getting better after an illness heavy "heavy drinking" -drinking a lot alcohol a[L alcoholic drinks (eg. bccir
wine, vodka) helpline a telephone number far people
with problems overlooked missed, rot noticed concerns worries, important
considerations contemporaries pec-pteofthesameege
By * time phrase has the idea of already. It is used with the present perfect for general statements
and the past perfect for past facts.
Examples:
By the age of 18 most people have left school.
By 1997 Steffi Graf had won more than $20 million*
3   Here are some facts about the Life of Claudia, who is a brilliant mathematician. Use these phrases to complete the sentences.
• learn to speak quite well
* become a university professor 'finish school   ■ startwaLking
* get a university degree
• learn to read
a Bytheageof six months,
b By the age of one year,_.
c By the age of three,_.
d By the age of thirteen,__.
e By the age of fifteen, she had got a university degree.
f By the age of twenty-four,_.
4 Complete this sentence in three different ways, fly the age of seven, most children have_.
5 Look at this: chart. Do you have similar age limits in your country? Do you think the British limits are reasonabLe? Why/why not? Do a smoking/drinking survey of the students in your class.
6 Drinking alcohol is an accepted social practice in most world countries. But in Libya, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries, alcohol is illegal. (It was illegal in the USA from 1920 to 1933 - the Prohibition era.) Make a list of positive and negative points about alcohol.
7 You work for an advertising agency, and you have to create a campaign against Drinking and Driving (driving a car after you have drunk alcohol). In groups, prepare a poster - with a picture and a slogan. Compare your work with other groups and vote for the best campaign.
Now turn to page 104 for more practice!
LEGAL AGE LIMITS IN BRITAIN
5	drink aLcoholat home
16	drink soft drinks in pubs
	drink aLcohol with food in restaurants
18	buy alcohol
	drink alcohoLin pubs
no limit	smoke cigarettes
1   Before you Listen, think about heroin. It is derived from opium and is in the same family of drugs as morphine. What is the medical use of such drugs? Do you know anything about heroin addiction?
2 Now Listen to Mike talking about being a heroin addict, and answer these questions.
a   How does Miketakethe drug?
b   How did he use to take it?
c   How long has he been taking it?
3 Why did Mike start taking heroin? The words in brackets will help you.
a (sodat)
b {attitude to adults)
z (school/job)
d (feelings about himself)
4 Why is it hard for Mike to give up? a (physical)
b (social) c   (daily life)
Look at these sentences from the tape.
"We'd, you know, dropped out of school... " "I mean, that's what they did in the evening,.
In spoken English, people use quitea lot of "fillers" Like you know andJmeon. Both these phrases give the speaker time to think. You know sometimes shows doubt: it means "Am I using the right word here?"
5 In which of these sentences do the phrases have
their original meaning - and in which are they fiLlers?
3 I mean Washington state, not Washington, D.C..
b I mean, they've got, you know, strange ideas.
c Doyouknowmy sister?
d She's, you know, a paramedic or something.
e You know, it's a really good job.
f I mean, the money's not great, but she likes it.
6  Read out this text, adding same fiLlers. (Note: I mean usualLy goes at the beginning of a sentence. You know can go almost anywhere.) "I started smoking when I was about 13. Lots of kids at school were already smoking by that age. I used to have a puff of my mum's cigarettes. She didn'tmind. ThenI started buying my own. In the end I was spending all my pocket money on cigarettes. *
7 The chart below seems to show that cannabis is the biggest probLem, But people worry more about ecstasy, cocaine and heroin. Why?
Drugs, drugs... and 15-year-olds
Offered
8 "Addictive" means "very difficuLt to give up". Do you think nicotine (in cigarettes) is addictive? Why is tobacco legal, when most of the other drugs on the chart a re illegal? Would it be a good idea to make tobacco ilLegal?
9 Some people say that it wouLd be better to legalise all drugs. In that case, you could buy cannabis and other drugs from shops. What would be th e advantages and disadvantages of such a change?
AD"tch Poking campus
10 Desig n an a nti-smoki ng poster for schools or colleges. Sketch
a picture or use photos from a magazine; write a slogan and a couple of sentences to go with it.
11 A friend of yours has a probLem with alcohol or drugs. Write a letterto the problem page of a magazine, asking for advice. Start like this:
Pages 34 - 3y
Perfect tenses
Look at the text below.
In 1997. my life was a mess. I was an alcoholic, and 1 could not give up. I had seen five different doctors and none of them had been able to help me. By 1909,1 had lost my job and my wife and children. At the age of 26,1 nearly died and spent several weeks in hospital. Then I tried the Mind Method, and it worked. What a change! Now I don't drink and I haven't smoked a cigarette for three years! Today, life is great!
Perfect tenses have the idea of up to a moment in time. If we are talking about a time up to the present, we use the present perfect (have/has +■past participle).
I haven't smoked a cigarette for threeyeais. (three yean until today)
three years
past
If we are talki ng about a period of time up to a moment in the past, we use the past perfect [had + post participle). We use the preposition by to refer to that ti me.
By 1999,1 had tost my wife and children. (up to 1999)
To talk about something that happened at a specific time in the past we use the past simple tense-In 1997, my life yyg$ a mess.
1   Underline the correct verb form in the sentences below.
Example:    a Yesterday I had seen /saw the doctor,
b At the age of six I had started/started school.
c My dad was in the army, and by 1996, we had moved/moved seven timesl
d I can't give you a lift - I haven't had/didn't have a car for years!
e I've been married/was married for 10 years, before my wife left me last year.
f The letter had arrived/arrived by nine o'clock this morning.
g We haven't seen/didn't see them since Last week.
2 Work in pairs. Read each sentence and decide if it is correct or not. If it is not correct, circle the mistake and correct the sentence. fThe mistakes can be of use or form.)
Example: a
I've lived in this house ten years (by todays /V* lifee/ik Hit's faxsf tm years.
Hum and Dad had been married freight years before they had their first child.
I moved house in 1976 and I Lived there ever since.
By the end of the night George had spent nearly all his money.
By the time they are 20, most people in Britain have tried alcohol,
After a wonderful three week-holiday, we finally came home.
By dinner time, Lucy had already ate all her chocolates!