More people think online dating is OK - 23rd October, 2013

BEFORE READING 

FIRST DATE:  Put the best places for a first date you like most and so on...

• Italian restaurant   • Movie theatre   • Disneyland   • A museum

• The beach   • Hiking   • A coffee shop   • City sightseeing

1. SYNONYM MATCH:Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	way	a.	cautioned
2	wrong	b.	weird
3.	figure	c.	cautious
4.	started	d.	reply
5.	options	e.	method
6.	careful	f.	choices
7.	creepy	g.	number
8.	respond	h.	description
9.	warned	i.	bad
10.	profile	j.	began

A new report says most Americans think online dating is a good way to meet people. Almost 60 per cent of Internet users said there is nothing wrong with trying to find a partner on the Internet. This has changed from ten years ago when the figure was 44 per cent. The report is from the Pew Research Center. It says around one in ten Americans has used online dating services. It also said 11 per cent of people who started a long-term relationship in the past decade met their partner online. However, some people think the Internet does not help with marriage. Around 32 per cent of people agreed that "online dating keeps people from settling down because they always have options for people to date".


Sociologist Dr Kevin Lewis of the University of California told the USA Today newspaper that women must be careful with online dates. He said: "For women, there are lots of guys who are just creepy or unattractive or undesirable." He also said men can have problems finding a date: "They can't get a woman to respond because [women get] so many messages." Dr Lewis also said that 38 per cent of online daters have read an online profile of someone they knew. The Pew Report warned people to be careful about those who tell lies about themselves online. About 54 per cent of online daters said they had a date with someone who was a lot different from their profile.

COMPREHENSION

1. TRUE / FALSE:Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Most Americans think online dating isn't a good way to meet people.	T / F
b.	Up to 60% of Internet users said it was OK to find a partner online.	T / F
c.	Around 10% of Americans have tried Internet dating services.	T / F
d.	About a third of Americans think online dating helps marriages.	T / F
e.	A sociologist advised women to be careful of creepy guys.	T / F
f.	Men find it difficult to find a date because women get many messages.	T / F
g.	Very few people read profiles and know the person behind the profile.	T / F
h.	Less than half of people said their date didn't match his/her profile.	T / F