By Ajarn Helen Jandamit
Photos courtesy of Bangkok Post
University Tips is here to help you prepare for the English exams and tests that are coming your way. It gives you practise answering questions similar to those you may have at school and also on the University Entrance Examination.
Read the following story by Melalin Mahavongtrakul from the Bangkok Post. Then, answer the questions that follow.
Some days before heading to school you have no time for breakfast, especially when you will need to spend an hour sitting in traffic. Microwaved food is not a healthy choice. But what if you could grab a healthy smoothie on the go?
FRESH DRINK
A smoothie can be a glass full of vitamins and fibres that fills your stomach, wakes you up and brightens your day. Tina Haupert’s recent book, Metabolism Boosting Smoothies and Juices, contains more than 75 recipes. They all describe how to make fresh, liquid food that you can enjoy on the go.
“Juices and smoothies are easy and tasty ways to get more healthy superfoods into your diet,” writes nutritionist Breea Johnson in the book’s introduction. “Find what you enjoy, and don’t be afraid to be a little creative and experimental.”
FAST MEAL
Little equipment is needed to cook up this nutritious diet, just a blender or juicer (or both), a knife and a cutting board. Then, you decide what fruits and vegetables you’d like. Simply mix them up and blend them all together.
You can drink it fresh or put it in the fridge overnight for a quick morning breakfast. Nothing can be simpler. You can take a covered container in your car and sip the smoothie as you crawl through rush-hour traffic. All you need to do is shake it before you drink.
TASTY TRICK
The recipes in the book are divided into sections, depending on their purposes. There are sections dedicated to breakfast smoothies for the early birds and workout smoothies for gym fanatics. Another section is filled with green recipes — lots of kale, spinach and other leafy vegetables. Or if you’re would like to please yourself and your family on a hot day, look up a recipe for sweet juices.
It’s true that we can also buy these drinks in supermarkets and malls. But supermarket smoothies are usually laden with sugar and are often overpriced. Buy some organic fruits instead and get creative. You can tailor-make your own drinks to get just what you need. Nothing beats home food.
Exercises
Section 1
Read the story and answer the following multiple-choice questions.
1. How many recipes are there in the Metabolism Boosting Smoothies and Juices book?
a. 75.
b. More than 75.
c. Fewer than 75.
2. Who wrote the book?
a. Melalin Mahavongtrakul.
b. Breea Johnson.
c. Tina Haupert.
3. Why might you look up a recipe for sweet juices?
a. Because you have to get up early in the morning.
b. Because you are a gym fanatic.
c. Because you would like to please yourself and your family on a hot day.
4. Which section would you look in to find a drink for gym fanatics?
a. Sweet juices.
b. Breakfast smoothies.
c. Workout smoothies.
5. According to the story, what are supermarket smoothies often like?
a. They contain a lot of sugar.
b. They are often overpriced.
c. Both a and b.
6. What kind of fruit does the author advise you to get to make your own smoothies?
a. Organic fruits.
b. Overpriced fruit.
c. Green fruit.
Section 2
Read the story and decide whether the following statements are true or false.
7. According to this article, microwaved food is a healthy choice.
………………………
8. Smoothies need to be cooked in an oven.
………………………
9. Supermarket smoothies are good value.
………………………
Section 3
Read each of the following sentences and underline the grammatically correct words in each from the choices given.
10. Then, you decide what kind of food you’d/you’ll/you’re like.
11. Little/Less/Few equipment is needed to cook up this delicious meal.
12. All you need to do is/am/are shake it before you drink.
13. Don’t be afraid to be a little imagination/imagine/imaginative and daring.
Section 4
Fill in the blanks in the following passage with the correct words from the choices given.
Please note that there’s added sugar …..14….. in pasta sauces and bran cereals. Fruit juices and smoothies are …..15….. dietary offenders, …..16….. they have very …..17….. amounts of sugar without the fibre benefits that come with eating the actual fruit. If you do enough exercise, you can eat …..18….. anything. But it’s very hard to avoid …..19….. amounts of sugar unless all you’re eating is fruits and vegetables.
14.
a. if
b. even
c. even if
15.
a. commonly
b. common
c. commoner
16.
a. therefore
b. but
c. because
17.
a. concentrated
b. concentrate
c. concentration
18.
a. most
b. mostly
c. almost
19.
a. largely
b. enlarge
c. large
Section 5
Specify whether each of the following words is used in the story as a noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun.
20. healthy ……………….
21. usually ……………….
22. nothing ……………….
23. organic ……………….
24. blender ……………….
Vocabulary
- experimental (adj): based on new ideas, forms or methods that are used to find out what effect they have
fanatic (n): a person who is extremely enthusiastic about something
overpriced (adj): too expensive
