Unit9Game freaks

42 © Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE

9.1 Can you talk about recent news?

Game freaks

1 Unscramble these words and matchthem to the definitions.a emsesag ___________b trahc ___________c hsarc ___________d otslule ___________ e eioepsd ___________f crmneeoy ___________

1 When you can’t speak to someone, youleave them a ___________

2 When a car hits something, there is a__________________.

3 One part of a series of a TV programme__________________.

4 A formal event like a wedding is a type of__________________.

5 A list of pop songs that have sold the mostis a _______________.

6 When a film is very popular and all thetickets are sold, it is a ________________.

3 Expand the sentences in Activity 2.a _______________________________________b _______________________________________c _______________________________________d _______________________________________e _______________________________________f _______________________________________

GUY: What’s up? You look like you’ve just (a) ______ (see) a ghost!!

JO: It’s nothing serious, I’ve just (b) __________ (leave) the computerroom. Sue and I were playing the newTomb Raider game…

G: Cool! So have you just (c) ________ (win)?J: No, Lara Croft has just (d) ___________

(fight) against the Egyptians and we’ve(e) __________ (stop) the game.

G: I really want to buy it, but it has (f) _______________ (sell out) so I haveto wait until next week!

J: Well, we’ve (g) ___________ (decided) itis really tough!

G: No sweat!

5 Write about things you have or havenot done today.a I’ve finished my homework

b _______________________________________c _______________________________________d _______________________________________e _______________________________________f _______________________________________

2 Match these pictures with the wordsbelow.

a He / just / have / a shower. ____b He / just / meet / a famous singer. ____c They / just / see / a film. ____d She / just / buy / some flowers. ____e He / just / drop / a bottle of cola. ____f She / just / win / a race. ____

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4 Complete this conversation usingthese prompts.

1

2

3

4

5 6

message

message.

seen

He’s just had a shower.

1

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Unit99.2 Vocabulary

Game freaks

43© Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE

2 Fill in the first and last letters of thewords. Use the clues to help you.a __ell-ou__ when there are no more tickets

leftb __opula__ something/someone that most

people likec __trateg__ a plan to do something

normally in a war or campaignd __omplicate__ the opposite of simplee __ras__ when two or more cars hit

each otherf __lockbuste__ a best-selling filmg __ou__ the opposite of quiet

3 Use the words in Activity 2 tocomplete these sentences.a It was impossible to get tickets — the

show was a complete _________b Can you turn down the music please? It’s

too ___________.c My father had a car __________ last week,

but he wasn’t hurt.d The hockey coach explained her

__________ to her players.e This Maths equation is very ____________,

I’ll never understand it.f The world-famous singer Julian Church

was never very _____________ at school.g This summer’s ____________ is a romantic

comedy, starring Minnie Drover and JamesCairie.

4 Circle the correct answer.a Which of these would not have a rating?

1 a film2 a book3 a window

b The opposite of convincing is … .1 unconvincing2 inconvincing3 imconvincing

c The opposite of popular is … .1 unpopular2 impopular3 inpopular

d The opposite of complicated is … .1 difficult2 facile3 easy

e Which of these things cannot crash?1 a computer2 a train3 a pen

f The words top, chart and pop are allrelated to … .1 films2 music3 books

g Loud, popular and enjoyable are all … .1 nouns2 adjectives3 adverbs

1 Fill in the gaps using the followingwords.

Matt Demon was in town yesterday for theOscar (a) ________. His latest film, Angels in myDreams has been the biggest (b) ____________this year: 100 million dollars at the box-office!His song Angels in my Dreams has been at the (c) ______________ of the (d) ____________ forten months and shows no signs ofdisappearing. The (e) ________________ for theOscar for Best Film is between Angels and MyLife is a Video Game by Peter Alodove. Thefilm has been a complete (f) ________________ in all the cinemas across the country. Thecritics’ (g) _____________ is 10 star — onecritic called it ‘the (h) ______________ film evermade’. Recommendation: MUST SEE!

best blockbuster ceremony chartsrace rating sell-out top

ceremony

sell-out

s t

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Unit9Game freaks

44 © Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE

9.3 Can you compare things?

5 Complete these sentences with trueinformation.a In my opinion the best TV programme is

_______________. b My family has the most _______________.c My best friend is better at ______________

than I am.d The students in this class are the most

_______________ in the school.e I think that playing _____________ is more

enjoyable than playing ____________.f Our President is more _____________ than

the President of the USA.

2 Match the adjectives in Activity 1with their definitions.a The opposite of good is ______.b The opposite of bad is ___________.c Another word for noisy is ____________.d The opposite of interesting is ___________.e The opposite of simple or easy is __________.f When people like something a lot it is

____________.g When something gives you pleasure it is

____________.

4 Complete this conversation using theprompts.

3 Unscramble these sentences. a than / is / Shoot ‘em Up 3 / more /

Raider 2 / realistic / . _______________________________________ _______________________________________

b is / most / the / Raider 3 / complicated /game / ._______________________________________ _______________________________________

c sports games / simulations / than / more /popular / are / ._______________________________________ _______________________________________

d is / than / Timeshifter / Shapeshifter / faster / ._______________________________________ _______________________________________

e enjoyable / the / Warning 2 / most / game / is / ._______________________________________ _______________________________________

f the / Dirty Angel / all / games / better /than / is / other / ._______________________________________ _______________________________________

1 Write the superlatives of these adjectives.

superlative_____________ ______________________________________________________________________________

a badb complicatedc loudd populare goodf boringg enjoyable

Hey, Al, you’ve got

Predator 3. Is it

(a) _______ (good)

than Predator 2?

Well, it’s (b) _______(fast) than Predator 2,

but Predator 2 is

(c) ________________(realistic).

How about this

one? Look: The

(d) ______________(enjoyable) game you will

buy this year!

Red Planet Redux?

That’s rubbish! It’s

(e) the ______________(unconvincing) game I’ve

played!

OK, then, which one

should we get? This one

is (f) ______________(cheap) than that

one…

I think Planet

Manager 2 is the

(g) ________________(good). It’s complicated

but enjoyable!

the worst

bad

better

The Simpsons

Shoot ‘em Up 3 is more realistic than_____Raider 2.

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45© Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE

Unit99.4 Reading and writing

Game freaks

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1 Match these descriptions to the games and toys.

a ___ 4000 BC A board game, possibly an antecedent of chess, is played in Babylonia.b ___ 3000 BC A game resembling backgammon is played in Ancient Sumeria. (Games similar to

backgammon have probably been played in Egypt, Greece and Rome for thousands of years.) c ___ 3000 BC Stone marbles are first used in Egypt. Later, glass marbles become popular in the

USA in the 1800s.d ___ 1000 BC Kites first appear in China. e ___ 1000 BC Stone yo-yos are used in Greece.f ___ 969 AD Playing cards are used for the first time in Asia.g ___ 1759 AD Roller skates are invented.h ___ 1901 AD Joshua Lionel Cowen, 22, creates a battery-powered train as an ‘animated

advertisement’ for a display window. To his surprise, customers are more interested inpurchasing his toy train than the merchandise in the display. Toy trains are born.1896 AD A version of the Indian game Parcheesi is introduced in England with the nameLudo. Parcheesi is a type of ‘cross and circle’ game and was played in the Korean, Syrian, andAztec cultures.

i ___ 1949 AD Ole Christiansen from Denmark begins to manufacture a plastic brick that can belocked together to construct anything! The name Lego comes from the Danish leg godt, whichmeans ‘play well’. Just six bricks fit together in 102,981,500 different ways.1979 AD Two Canadian journalists invent Trivial Pursuit after having an argument while theywere drinking beer. It was originally called Six Thousand Questions.

j ___ 1983 AD A Japanese company, Nintendo, brings a home video game system to the UnitedStates. With fifty-two colours, realistic sound, and high-speed action, it is an immediate success.1989 AD Nintendo releases Game Boy, a battery-powered, hand-held video game system.

2 Write questions for these answers. Use the past tense.a ____________________________________________________________________ In 1989.b ____________________________________________________________________ In China.c ____________________________________________________________________ Glass marbles.d ____________________________________________________________________ In 969 AD.e ____________________________________________________________________ ‘Play well’.f ____________________________________________________________________ Joshua Lionel Cowen.g ____________________________________________________________________ For thousands of years.

1

When did Nintendo release Game Boy?

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Unit9Game freaks

46 © Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE

9.5 Culture

Nobody knows how cricket began, but one thing is certain — it is one of the oldest team games inthe world!

Most people think it began in England about 700 years ago, although others think it began in France.Perhaps shepherds used to play it when they were bored of looking after their sheep. One stood infront of a gate in a fence that kept the sheep in place, and another threw, or bowled, a stone orsomething at him. The first shepherd had to hit the stone with his curved stick, which was called acrook or a cricce. That’s possibly where the name comes from.

Over the years, the shape of the stick changed — it was like a hockey stick, and then became morelike a modern flat bat. A ball was used instead of a stone.

The gate became three sticks in the ground — that’s called the wicket. Originally there were two,and at one time, four. The size changed too — in the 17th century, it was up to two metres wide!On the top of the wicket are the bails — two more bits of wood. They’re important, because if theyfall off, it's all over. In fact, that’s the idea of the game. The person with the ball has to try to knockoff the bails with the ball or catch the ball when the person with the bat hits it. But if the person with the bat hits the ball well, he can score points by running up and down the grass.

It may sound a little strange, but it’s a very popular sport. There are millions of people who playcricket in England, Australia, India, the Caribbean and many more countries. And as we said at thebeginning, it’s been around for a very long time … so why don’t you try it?

2 Read the text. If you can’t understand the rules, don’t worry! Most people can’t!Invent a new game using a bat and a ball. Write the rules (no more than five)!

THE RULES OF CRICKET

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.

Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, andwhen he's out, he comes in and the next man goes inuntil he's out.

When they are all out, the side that's out comes inand the side that's been in goes out and tries to getthose coming in, out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When both sides have been in and out including thenot-outs, that's the end of the game.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

a the opposite of interested _____________________b finished (two words) _________________________c two important pieces of wood ________________d another word for started _____________________

1 Do you know what these people are playing? Do you know how to play it? Find words in the text that mean the same as the pictures or descriptions.

e ________ f ________ g ________ h ________

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