Listening V4

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

H4

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Reading exercises H4

Week 6 - Lessons two and three

Reading text 1: Work–life balance

Ronan

I work in a fairly traditional office environment doing a typical nine-to-five job. I like my job, but it’s annoying that my commute to work takes an hour and a half each way and most of my work could really be done online from home. But my boss doesn’t seem to trust that we will get any work done if left to our own devices, and everyone in the company has to clock in and

out every day. It’s frustrating that they feel the need to monitor what we do so closely instead of judging us based on our task performance, like most companies do these days.

Ronan would prefer it if he …

1. wasn’t left to his own devices.
2. could spend more time commuting and less time in the office.
3. could work from home and be judged based on task performance.
4. could trust his boss more.

Ronan’s boss thinks his employees will not be as productive if they work
from home.

1. True
2. False

Ronan thinks that the performance of employees should be judged according to how much time they spend in the office.

1. True
2. False

Text 2: Marcus

I work for a global IT company, but because their headquarters is in the States, I do all my work online from home. That means that I don’t waste time commuting or making idle chitchat with colleagues. I work on a project basis, and this flexibility is very valuable to me because it means that I can easily take some time off when my children need me to go to their school performances or if I need to schedule an appointment with the dentist. The downside is that without clear office hours, I tend to work well into the evening, sometimes skipping dinner to finish a task. It can also get quite lonely working on my own, and I sometimes miss sharing

ideas with colleagues. 

In Marcus’s opinion, which of these is a disadvantage of working from home?

1. You spend a lot of time in the house.
2. It’s easy to get distracted by your family.
3. You tend to work later
4. You end up eating more as you have access to the fridge all day.

Although Marcus sees the benefit in not having idle chit-chat, he misses
interacting with his colleagues.

1. True
2. False

Text 3: Lily

I’m a freelancer and work for myself. This is great because I am in control of what I do and how I spend my time. At first, I was working from home, but I found it really hard to concentrate. There were just too many distractions around: housework that needed doing, another cup of tea, my family members wanting my attention for various things. So I started to go to a nearby café to work, but the Wi-Fi connection wasn’t ideal and I found myself drinking too much coffee. In the end, I decided to rent a desk in a co-working space with five other freelancers like myself. I liked getting dressed to go to work in the morning and being able to focus in an office environment. The other freelancers do similar kinds of web-based work to

me and so it’s nice to have workmates to bounce ideas off as well.

Why did Lily not like working from home?

1. She found it lonely.
2. Her family didn’t like her working.
3. She didn’t have a good Wi-Fi connection.
4. There were a lot of distractions.

What solution did Lily find most suitable for her working needs?

1. Renting an office space to work from.
2. Working from a café.
3. Working for an employer.
4. Working for other freelancers.

Lily didn’t like working from the café because the coffee wasn’t very
good.

1. True
2. False

Text 4: Jo

I used to do a typical five-day week, but after I came out of my maternity leave, I decided that I wanted to spend more time with my children before they start school. After negotiating with my boss, we decided to cut my working week down to a three-day work week. This of course meant a significant cut in my pay too, as I’m paid on a pro rata basis. I’ve since noticed, though, that my workload hasn’t decreased in the slightest! 

I’m now doing five days’ worth of work in three days, but getting paid much less for it! I find myself having to take work home just so that I can meet the deadlines. It’s wearing me out trying to juggle work with looking after my children and my family, but I don’t dare to bring this up with my boss because I think he feels as if he’s made a huge concession letting me come in only three days a week.

Jo wanted to reduce her working hours because she …

1. thought she would be more efficient and productive when she was at the office.
2. wanted to bring her work home.
3. wanted to go on maternity leave.
4. wanted to spend time with her children

Jo is unhappy with her three-day work week because …

1. she didn’t realise how much the change would affect her economically.
2. she now hast to spend more time looking after her children and her family.
3. she has more deadlines to meet.
4. her workload has remained the same although she’s reduced her hours.

Jo is paid the same for a five-day work week as she is on a three-day
week.

1. True
2. False

Jo feels exhausted trying to manage both a five-day workload and
childcare.

1. True
2. False

Break

listening

1) Why are discounts not always a good way of saving money?

1. Because you buy more items from your shopping list
2. Because you might buy things which you don't need
3. Because the price per unit may be actually higher

2) Which saving tips related to food are mentioned in the video? 2 answers are correct.

1. Plan your meals ahead of time
2. Don't spend more on the items you care about
3. Eat out only once per week
4. Make a shopping list

3) What are the cheaper alternatives to owning a car?

How can we save money, according to the video?

Possibly, the potato may have contributed to creating our civilization as we know it.

1. True
2. False

It took 200 years for potato to become known Europe, but only the rich could afford it.

1. True
2. False

Potato crops were decimated (=severely damaged) by a disease, which resulted in widespread hunger in Ireland in 1852.

1. True
2. False

Potato cultivation didn't stop for good (=forever). After a while, farmers started growing it in large volumes again.

1. True
2. False

How easy/difficult were these exercises?

VERRRRRY DIFFICULT!

Pretty difficult

Fine

Fairly easy

Very easy