How to Keep Fit (Vitamins Vital for You?)

Do you know howvitamins work, whatthey actually do foryou, if you are really getting enough?

Yes, you know you should eat lots of fruit and vegetables to stay healthy and you know they are crammed with vitamins. Some vitamins are responsible for chemical reactions such as releasing energy or breaking down fat molecules, others protect us against the damage that leads to diseases like cancer and heart problems. Others counteract the unhealthy effects of environmental toxins such as cigarette smoke and exhaust fumes.

Scientists reckon that one of the most important combinations is the A, С and E or 'ACE' vitamines. The ACE vitamins occur in clusters in fruit and vegetables and are needed for a healthy immune system to help us resist diseases.

Vitamins on their own are not enough to maintain good health. The minerals selenium, magnesium and zinc are more easily absorbed when a vitamin is present, and vice versa. For example, vitamin С helps iron to be more easily absorbed. В vitamins are not much good without magnesium or zinc. Zinc is needed to make the protein that carries vitamin A to the skin.

(from " Working Woman" July, 1991.

Day Out A Visit to an Exhibition

Last week I went to an exhibition. I am not really a great art lover but I had read a lot of good reviews of the exhibition in the newspapers which made me very keen to see it. I arrived some time before it wasdue to open but there were already plenty of people waiting outside for the doors to open. Most of the people waiting were youngish, and in fact there didn't seem to be any middle-aged people there at all. All of them were waiting patiently and I joined them in the queue. In the end we were allowed in to see the paintings. Now, I must be honest and admit that most of them were disappointing to me. Although I'd bought a catalogue and spent a lot of time looking carefully at each picture I had difficulty in understanding what the artist was getting at. Finally, as I was looking rather stupidly at one of the paintings and trying to decide if it was the right way up or not, an old gentleman came up behind me and started to explain the whole thing to me. He kindly answered all of my questions and we talked for over an hour. Then he said he had an appointment and had to go, so we shook hands and said good-bye. 1 went round the gallery once more and I found that I now understood everything much better and some of the paintings seemed really beautiful. It was only as I was leaving the gallery that I found out who was the man I had been talking to: his self-portrait was on one of the posters advertising the exhibition!

(from " Progress Towards First Certificate" by Leo Jones)

When the sky is blue and the sun is shining, British people like to get out into the open air. In particular, they like to go to the seaside for their ideal day out. Walks and drives in the country are favourite alternatives for adults. Children, however, prefer going to sport events, seeing friends or going on a trip to London.

A third of the children like the idea of a country walk or going to a zoo, but only one in ten put it as their favourite activity.

What makes a day out enjoyable for many children and adults too is ice-cream. This is especially true of children, for over half of them prefer ice-cream to soft drinks, fish and chips, sweets and chocolates.

Nearly three out of ten family outings in summer involve journeys of more than 50 miles. On a day out most families set off before 11 a.m. but some get started before 9 a.m. The majority, return home after 6 p.m.

(from " BuildingStrategies" by B. Abbs and I. Freebairn)

Shopping

Last Saturday at 9 o'clock in the morning I left home to go to the shops. There wasn't much on my shopping list: I just needed some new batteries to my radio, a birthday card for my mother and some groceries at the supermarket. I decided to drive to town myself because I find it's much quicker to do your shopping on your own and you don't have to spend any time doing what someone else wants to do. While I was in town this time I decided to have a look round the bookshop. The shop was open so I went inside and there must have been thousands and thousands of books on every subject under the sun. The shopkeeper was awfully nice and he started asking me about the kinds of books I liked and he showed me some really interesting titles so I bought a couple for myself. Then, just as I was about to leave, I spotted a shelf full of old guide books and travel books. I was looking through them absent-mindedly and I found one all about our town and what it was like a hundred years ago. I couldn't resist buying it. After that I tried a few shops to see if they had any batteries in stock, but they didn't have the size I wanted. I had more luck with the birthday card but I was so fed up with shopping by this time that I forgot to get several of the things I needed for dinner. By the time I got home. I was so worn out that I had to spend the afternoon in an armchair.

(from " Progress Towards First Certificate " by Leo Jones)

Last week my mum and I went shopping and bought a pair of winter boots for me. They looked very smart and fitted me perfectly.

I had been wearing them for a couple of days when I noticed that the heel of the left boot was coming off and the sole of the right one was coming unstuck.

My mother said it wasdisgraceful, because the boots were expensive, and the assistant had persuaded us they would wear very well. My mother was very upset and disappointed and said she would have to take them back to the shop. She hoped they would replace them.

(from an interview with a native speaker)

Famous People Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy was a famous Russian writer of the nineteenth century. He lived between 1828 and 1910. He wrote many novels. Two of his most famous works are " War and Peace" and " Anna Karenina". Tolstoy was born in a wealthy family. However, he was not happy that others were poor. He did not like living the rich life when others did not have food or money. In fact, Tolstoy often dressed like a peasant. He wanted the simple life.

In his novels, Tolstoy wrote about many things, but one of his most important themes was nonviolence. His ideas about nonviolenceinfluenced two other famous leaders: Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. In fact, Tolstoy and Gandhi wrote letters to each other when Gandhi was in South Africa. Tolstoy's ideas helped Gandhi to use nonviolence.

Martin Luther King, the American civil rights leader, also believed in nonviolence. In his demonstrations during the 1960s, he always avoided violence. He helped to win more rights for Blacks.

Thus, Tolstoy, the great Russian writer of the nineteenth century, greatly influenced two other Great leaders of the peace movement.

(from " Academic Challenge in Russian " by H. Taylor Abdulaziz and A. D. Stover)

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