14 1 0 1 WAYS TO AVOID STUDYING

The Six-O ’clock-In-The - Evening-Enthu siastic- D eterm ined-And-W ell-

Intentioned-Studier-U ntil-M idnight is a person w ith whom you are
probably already familiar. At 6 o’clock he ap proaches his desk, and
carefully organizes everything in preparation for th e stu dy period to fol-
low. Having eveiything in place he next carefully a d ju sts each item
again, giving him self tim e to complete the first excuse: he recalls th a t
in th e m orning he did no t have quite enough time to read all item s of
in terest in the new spaper. He also realizes th a t if he is going to study it
is b est to have su ch sm all item s completely ou t of the way before set-
tling down to th e ta s k a t hand.
He therefore leaves h is desk, browses th roug h th e new spaper and
notices a s he brow ses th a t there are m ore articles of in terest th a n he
ha d originally thought. He also notices, as he leafs thro ugh the pages,
th e e n tertain m en t section. At th is point it will seem like a good idea to
plan for the evening’s first break - perhaps an interesting half-hour
program m e betw een 8 and 8.30 p.m.
He finds the program m e and it inevitably s ta rts a t ab ou t 7.00 p.m.
At th is point, he th ink s, “Well, IVe h ad a difficult day a n d it’s n ot too
long before the program m e starts, an d I need a re st anyway an d the
relaxation will really help m e to get down to studying ...” He re tu rn s to
his d esk a t 7.45, b ecau se the beginning of th e next program m e w as
also a bit m ore interesting th a n he thought it would be.
At th is stage, he still hovers over his desk tapping his book re a s s u r-
ingly a s he rem em bers th a t phone call to a friend which, like th e arti-
cles of in terest in the new spapers, is b est cleared o ut of th e way before
the serious studying begins.
The phone call, of course, is m uch more interesting an d longer th an
originally planned, b u t eventually the intrepid stu d e n t finds him self
back ạ t h is desk a t ab o u t 8.30 p.m.
At this point in the proceedings he actually sits down a t the desk,
opens the book w ith a display of physical determ ination a n d sta rts to
read (usually page one) a s he experiences the first pangs of hu n g er an d
th irst. This is d isastro u s because he realizes th a t the longer he w aits to
satisfy the pangs, the w orse they will get, and the m ore in terru pted his
study concentration will be.
The obvious an d only solution is a light snack. This, in its p re p a ra-
tion, grows a s m ore an d m ore tasty item s are piled onto the plate. The
sn ack becom es a feast.
Having removed th is final obstacle the desk is retu rn ed to w ith the
certain knowledge th a t th is time there is nothing th a t could possibly

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■interfere w ith .-the following •period of study. ;:The-' .£ÍFst còỊÌpĩè of sen -
ten ces' 0X1' page- onp are locked a t again: ... as- :the stu d e n t realizes th a t
his stom ach •isfeelin g decidedly, heavy ancLa gerieral::;'droWsiness seem s
to have' set in. ' F ar -.better 'at- th is ju n c tu re tơ' w atch 'th at .other in terest-
ing half-hour program m e a t 10 o clock after w hich th e digestion will be
m ostly com pleted and' th e re st will enable him to really get down to the
ta sk a t hand.
At 12 o ’clock we find him asleep in front of the TV. Even at this
point, w hen he h a s been w oken u p by whoever com es into th e room , he
will th ink th a t thing s have not gone too badly, for after all he h a s h a d a
good rest, a good m eal, w atched some interestin g an d relaxing pro-
gram m es, fulfilled h is social com m itm ents to h is friends, digested the
d ay ’s inform ation, an d got everything completely o u t of the way so th a t
tomorrow, at 6 o ’clock...

1. The stu d en t in fact reads the new spaper in. order t o _____
A. find ou t w hat is on TV.
B. avoid beginning work.
c . be able to w ork continuously w ithout a break later.
D. keep u p-to-date w ith world events.
2. The stu d en t s ta rts p lanning his first b re a k _____
A. w hen he sits down a t his desk a t 6 o ’clock.
B. after working for a very short period..
c . while he is reading the new spaper before startin g work.
D. a t 7 p.m.
3. After he w atches television, the stu d e n t’s study period is fu rth e r
delayed b e c a u s e ___ _
A. he h a s to m ake a n im portant phone call.
B. he phones a friend to avoid startin g work.
c . he realizes he w on’t be able to concentrate u n less he calls h is
friend first.
D. he finds w h at his friend says on th e phone very interesting.
4. W hat does “th is final obstacle” refer to?
A. the feast he h a s ju s t eaten
B. th e pangs of hu n g er and th irst he w as experiencing earlier
c . th e phone call he m ade earlier
D. feeling tired
5. The text suggests th a t the next day the p e r s o n _____
A. will be able to study m ore efficiently.
B. will not attem p t to study.
c . will do exactly the sam e thing.
D. will feel guilty ab o u t w asting a whole evening.
6 . W hich best describes the w riter’s attitu d e to the stu d en t he is d e-
scribing?
A. He is angry with him.
B. He is gently poking fun a t him.
c . He feels sorry for him.
D. He d o esn ’t care ab o u t him.
7. The w riter th in k s th a t the re a d e r _____
A. will have had some sim ilar experiences of avoiding studying.
B. will be am azed .by the behaviour of th is lazy stu dent,
c . will im mediately resolve to be a b etter student.
D. will feel guilty abo ut all the tim es they have allowed them selves
to be distracted.

GLOSSARY
- to adjust ñiều chỉnh, sửa Eại cho ngay
ngắn
- to browse through ñọc lướt qua
- to leaf through lật dở (các trang sách)
- break quãng tạm nghỉ
- to hover over (a place) ñứng làng
vàng bên cái gì
- to tap chạm tay vào cái gì
“ reassuringly (adv) với vẻ an tâm
- intrepid (adj) iiều lĩnh, bạt mạng
- proceedings íoạt sự kiện, chuỗi hành
ñộng
- pangs of hunger cảm giác ñói cồn cào
- snack món ăn dặm
- to pile chồng/.chất cao íên
- feast bữa ñại tiệc
- obstacle chướng ngại vật
- to interfere with xen vào, gây trở ngại
- decidedly (adv) rõ rệt
- drowsiness cơn' buồn ngủ
- to set in kéo ñến, ập ñến
- at this juncture vào lúc này
- digestion sự tiêu hóa
- commitments to sb nghĩa vụ/ bôn
phận ñối với ai
- to poke fun at sb ñùa cợt, chế nhạo ai
- to resolve to do sth quyết tâm làm gì

15 POLAR PURPOSE
In 1997, a group of tw enty B ritish women m ade history. Working in
five team s with four women in each team , they walked to the North
Pole. A part from one experienced female guide, the o th er women were
all ordinary people who had never done anything like th is in their lives
before. They m anaged to survive in an environm ent which h ad defeated
several very experienced m en during the sam e few spring m onths of
th a t year. Who were these women and how did they succeed where
others failed? .
In 1995 an advertisem ent about a selection for the expedition was
p u t in several B ritish new spapers. Nearly one h u nd red wom en took
part in the first selection weekend and then, after several training ex-
peditions designed to weed ou t u nsuitable applicants, twenty women

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