Housework not good exercise, says study

BEFORE READING 

CHORES: Rank me!!  Put the things you hate most and like most....

• washing the dishes   • vacuuming   • ironing   • food shopping

• hanging out the washing   • cooking   • cleaning windows   • doing the dusting

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

1.	suggests	a.	average
2	recommendations	b.	consumed
3.	acknowledges	c.	include
4.	moderate	d.	balance
5.	count	e.	advice
6.	participated	f.	linked
7.	burnt	g.	argues
8.	related	h.	done
9.	compensate for	i.	accepts
10.	undertaken	j.	took part

A new study suggests housework is not the quality form of exercise many people consider it to be. The report even went as far as saying that those who did the most housework were usually those most overweight. The study is called, "Does doing housework keep you healthy? The contribution of domestic physical activity to meeting current recommendations for health". It questions whether physical activities such as do-it-yourself, gardening and housework are such good exercise. It acknowledges that any activity is better than none, but says, "there is a danger that those undertaking domestic 'chores' may assume that this activity is moderate intensity" and wrongly count it as proper exercise.

A total of 4,563 adults participated in the survey, which was based on participants' weekly physical activity. The analysis from this research showed that people who included housework as part of their weekly exercise tended to be heavier. Research leader professor Marie Murphy said: "Housework is physical activity and any physical activity should theoretically increase the amount of calories [burnt]. But we found that housework was inversely related to leanness, which suggests that either people are overestimating the amount of moderate intensity physical activity they do through housework, or are eating too much to compensate for the amount of activity undertaken."

COMPREHENSION 

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

a.	People who do the most housework tend to be more overweight.	T / F
b.	The study on housework is called "Increasing health with housework".	T / F
c.	The study said gardening is great exercise.	T / F
d.	People perhaps wrongly think that housework is healthier than it is.	T / F
e.	Over 45,000 people participated in a survey on their weekly activities.	T / F
f.	A professor said physical activity does not always burn calories.	T / F
g.	The study found that housework did not make people slimmer.	T / F
h.	The professor said people eat too much after doing housework.	T / F

Investement

I’m totally _______________________ money. I’ve never really understood things like investments. I _______________________ interested in investments because I know I’ll get more money. I find everything _______________________. I never know what _______________________. Some of my friends invest in stocks and shares. I never did this. I’m happy because I didn’t _______________________ the financial crash. I think it would be interesting to invest in things like wine. I saw a TV programme once. Wine _______________________ up and up in price. You really can _______________________ of money. I think investing in property nowadays _______________________. I also know a lot of people who now _______________________ money on the house they bought because the prices crashed. Perhaps it’s better to keep my money _______________________.

Rubbish

Rubbish is ______________________. I’m fed up with it. Every time I walk down the street, I’m almost falling over it. I don’t know why people __________________ rubbish away properly. They __________________ no respect for others. They don’t seem to care about the __________________. It’s the same in every country. There’s ____________________, even though there are rubbish bins everywhere. Rivers are full of plastic bags and bottles. This makes a beautiful __________________. And the countryside is full of rubbish. People even throw their TVs and fridges into fields, or anywhere they think __________________ them. Where I live now, people throw rubbish in the street __________________. They think other people will pick it up.

Ocean

I really _________________ oceans. Not many people understand how important the oceans are. Every day we hear _________________ rainforests and the ice caps, but we rarely hear about the oceans. _________________ the Earth’s surface and most of the world’s _________________ them. They are responsible for weather patterns _________________ world’s foods. The problem is, they are becoming very polluted. Many fish species _________________ dying. The coral reefs in our oceans are also in danger. We really need to think more about our oceans. We have to protect the life in them, _________________. I love the ocean. I love the sound, the smell, the colour. I _________________ relaxed just looking at the ocean.

PARENTING

Being a parent is ______________________ we can have in our lives. It’s ______________________ it. You have to look after a tiny baby for years and years. It is ______________________ sure that little baby grows up into a wonderful, happy and responsible human being. Parenting means knowing ______________________. This is ______________________ parents. I didn’t have any parenting lessons. I suddenly had a baby to look after. But ______________________. In fact, parenting is life’s biggest joy. I can’t ______________________ wonderful it is to be a parent. My biggest worry is that society doesn’t focus on parenting. We really should have classes at school on being good parents. I’m sure we would ______________________ problems in society if we did this.

Let's talk 1

It really gets up my nose !!!
Teddy	It's been a pretty tight game so far, don't you think ?
Martin	Yes, neither side have looked like scoring a goal so far.
Teddy	Except that one time when our striker was almost through but was fouled by the fullback. The referee didn't see it.
Martin	Yes, it really gets up my nose when something like that happens.
Teddy	Well, let's hope that the ref will be looking right way if that fullback tries playing dirty again.
Martin	And then we'll get a penalty.

Explanation :

If you say that someone or something gets up your nose, you mean that they annoy you.

Example : He's just getting up my nose so much at the moment.

North Korea keeping over 500 South Koreans prisoner - including plane crew hijacked 35 years ago

A South Korean politician has said that the return of 516 citizens being held by North Korea for up to 60 years is 'the top priority' of the government in Seoul.

North Korea is still holding 516 South Koreans abducted since the end of the Korean War in 1953, including 11 from a Korean Air Lines passenger aircraft that was hijacked almost 35 years ago.

The names of the missing were provided by South Korea's Unification Ministry to Choung Byoung-gug, a politician from the ruling Saenuri Party.

Mr Choung said the return of the abductees is the government's top priority and a "critical humanitarian concern."

The plane was hijacked by a North Korean agent, Cho Chang-hui, who walked into the cockpit and forced the pilots to change direction until they entered North Korean airspace. They were met by North Korean fighter jets, with Pyongyang initially insisting that the pilots had defected to protest against their government.

North Korea released 39 of the passengers in February 1970 – but not before imprisoning them and subjecting them to hours of indoctrination into North Korean politics.

The remaining four crew members plus seven passengers have been held ever since – possibly because they were deemed wealthy and influential. The passengers included Yi Dong-gi, the manager of a printing company; Chae Heon-deok, a doctor; and two journalists for Munhwa Broadcasting Corp (MBC).

"Because the 11 kidnapped South Koreans were intelligent and belonged to the upper class at that time, abducting them could be used as a tool of propaganda for their government system by insisting that they had voluntarily defected to North Korea," said Song Young-in, the former head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, in 2008.

Pyongyang has refused to provide information on the fate of the 11 who were not permitted to leave, although a defector claimed in 1992 that Yu Byeong-ha, the pilot, and Choe Seok-man, the first officer, were working for the North Korean air force.

It was also reported that the two MBC journalists and the two flight attendants – Jeong Gyeong-suk and Seong Gyeong-hui – were forced to make propaganda broadcasts to the South.

In 2000, the mother of Ms Seong was allowed to visit her daughter as part of the family reunions arranged by the two governments. In the brief meeting, she told her mother that she was still friends with the other flight attendant and that they lived in the same town.

Hwang In-cheol, the son of one of the MBC journalists, set up a group in 2008 to pressure the South Korean government to seek a resolution to the issue.

Mr Hwang was angry at the attention paid to two American journalists seized by North Korea in 2009 but who were released after nearly five months, after the personal intervention of former US President Bill Clinton. Mr Hwang demanded the same response for his father, and subsequently submitted a request to the UN Human Rights Council to investigate the abductions and sued the North Korean who hijacked the aircraft in absentia.

The South Korean ministry report details the seizure of 3,835 South Koreans in the six decades since the end of the war. Of that total, 3,319 have been released or managed to escape from the North.

The majority of the abductees are fishermen, at 457 individuals, while a further 30 are South Korean soldiers or police officers.