2 MAINSTREAM

Contemporary Topics Unit 9

Part A. Read the sentences to make sense of the words in bold. After each set of sentences, match each
word with its synonym/definition.
Set 1
1. There was an anxious moment when the plane suddenly dropped. People were worried that the plane was
about to crash.
2. Some institutions still have a strong bias against women. They usually pay higher salaries to men.
3. This massive storm obviously had a huge impact on air travelers. It was clear that many flights would be
cancelled.
4. Too few of the most sophisticated and complex machine tools in factories are designed and developed in this
country.
5. Many politicians and members of the public expressed outrage at the verdict. They were very angry that the
court had ruled to free the suspect.
6. His books are a pleasure to read because he writes with such clarity and precision.

Now match each word in the left column with its SYNONYM or DEFINITION in the right column.

1. expressed a. to show a feeling, opinion, or fact

2. precision b. the qualities of being careful and accurate
3. _anxious_ c. worried
4. obviously d. clearly
5. sophisticated e. clever and complicated in the way that it works or is presented
6. bias_____ f. a strong feeling in favour of or against one group of people

Set 2
1. Pollution is threatening the marine life in the bay. Many species have been endangered due to the waste being
dumped in the water.
2. There is considerable scientific agreement about COVID-19’s means of transmission. They believe that the virus
passes through air to other people.
3. The government has carried out numerous executions and arbitrary arrests. They haven’t given any reasons why
those individuals were detained.
4. The house has been in the family’s possession since the 1500s. They have owned this estate for more than five
hundred years.
5. Road development in the area has been severely affected by the conservation programs of the council. The
council have managed to halt the construction of new roads in the area in order to preserve that natural
beauties.
6. Police conducted a thorough search of the building.

Now match each word in the left column with its SYNONYM or DEFINITION in the right column.
 1. Arbitrary__ a. random or by chance or as an unreasonable act of will
2. _conducted_ b. to direct or take part in the operation or management of
3. threatening c. cause trouble, hurt somebody
4. conservation d. a careful preservation and protection of something
5. transmission__ e. passing something from one person, place or thing to another
6. possession f. something owned, occupied, or controlled

Part B. Fill in each blank with the most appropriate word from the box. Do not change the forms of the
words. There are more words than you need.

Transmission unsophisticated obviously anxiety expression bias precisely

Threatening precision possessed expressed conduct

Eating Disorders in Teens Have ‘Exploded’ in the Pandemic. According to the psychologist Erin Accurso, the clinical
director of the eating disorders program at the University of California, San Francisco, “our inpatient unit has exploded in
the past year,” taking in more than twice as many adolescent patients as it did before the pandemic. Dr. Accurso
explained that outpatient services are similarly overwhelmed: “Providers aren’t taking new clients, or have wait-lists up
to six months.” The demand for eating disorder treatment “is (1) conduct the capacity to address it,” said the
epidemiologist S. Bryn Austin, a professor at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and research scientist in the Division
of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. “my colleagues have (2) expressed -their concern
from all across the country.” Even hotlines are swamped. The National Eating Disorders Association helpline has had a
40 percent jump in overall call volume since March 2020. Among callers who shared their age over the last year, 35
percent were 13 to 17 years old, up from 30 percent in the year before the pandemic. What has changed in the
pandemic? (3) Obviously There are several possible explanations for this tsunami of eating concerns in teenagers.
Teenagers’ life was simple and (4) unsophisticated. When adolescents lost the familiar rhythm of the school day and
were distanced from the support of their friends, “many of the things that structured a teenager’s life evaporated in one
fell swoop,” said Dr. Walter Kaye, a psychiatrist and the founder and executive director of the eating disorders program
at the University of California, San Diego. “People who end up with eating disorders tend to be (5) expression and stress
sensitive — they don’t do well with uncertainty.” Further, eating disorders have long been linked with high achievement.
Driven adolescents who might have normally poured their energy into their academic, athletic or extracurricular pursuits
suddenly (6) possessed too much time on their hands. “Some kids turned their attention toward physical health or
appearance as a way to cope with anxiety or feel productive,” Dr. Accurso said. “Their goals around ‘healthy’ eating or
getting ‘in shape’ got out of hand” and quickly caused significant weight loss. For some, an increase in emotional eating
in the pandemic has been part of the problem. Attending school from a home where food is constantly available may
lead some young people to eat more than usual as a way to manage pandemic-related boredom or stress. “Being at
school presents a barrier to using food as a coping mechanism; at home, we don’t have that barrier,” noted Kelly
Bhatnagar, psychologist and co-founder of the Center for Emotional Wellness in Beachwood, Ohio, a practice
specializing in the treatment of eating disorders.