Unit 9

Success and Failure. Student’s Day

1. Put the following words and word combinations in the correct column according to the pronunciation of the underlined letter. Listen and check. Comment on the sound phenomena under study.


  • accomplish
  • obligation
  • swotting
  • allocate
  • improve
  • bonus
  • oral
  • to progress
  • to make progress
  • postpone
  • compensation
  • continuous
  • overwhelmed
  • procrastinate
  • complicated
[ə] [P] [H] [əV] [A]

2. Transcribe the following words. Listen and check.

failure nervousness desperately
achievable ambition mathematics
urgent distracted enthusiasm
efficiently falter fulfillment
target breathlessness adrenaline
imaginative entrance capacity

3. Mark the stressed syllable/syllables in these words. Then listen and check.


re a li ze (realize)
re ta ke (retake)
pre fe rab le (preferable)
mis fi re (misfire)
dead line (deadline)
par rot fash ion (parrot fashion)
ac cess (access)
part i ci pa te (participate)
id le aw ay (idle away)
sti mu lant (stimulant)
suc ceed ( succeed)
ex tra cur ri cu lar (extracurricular)

4. Unjumble the underlined words. Then listen to the recording and check.
A choslo in England will soon use a 1.30 to 7pm mibaetelt so students can sleep in the mornings. The school will be the only one in Britain to do this. The reatehachde said the new hours should help students get higher dagres. He said serahrec shows that student productivity cisnrease if they can sleep in the mornings. He added: “We want to get students into an metenvinron where they can get tauliqy sleep and their bodies are functioning well.”
Oxford University researcher Dr Paul Kelley said an armal clock doesn’t help people kwor better. He said: “You can’t nitra your system to get up at a practical miet.” He said people become ill if they try and change their body’s tarnula, biological thmyrh because they have no oltoncr over things like their heartbeat. A student at the hoscol liked the idea. He said students are redit all day, “but as soon as 10 o'clock hits, that's when we...do all our rowk ”.

5. Charlotte and Viktor are waiting for their exam results. Listen to the interview and write down the journalist’s questions.

Listen again and fill in the missing words.

J = Journalist, Ch = Charlotte, V = Viktor


a) J: What ?
Ch: , , maths and .
J: Do you think ?
Ch: I’m sure , but I’m worried about what I’ll .
J: Why?
Ch: Because I want to at – at Cambridge, and they won’t give me a place unless I get three and .
J: Do you think ?
Ch: I don’t know. I think I , but I’m a bit worried .
J: When ?
Ch: Tomorrow, . I’m – and so are my parents. As soon as comes, I’ll take the and it.
J: And how
Ch: I don’t want to plan , until I .
J: And what
Ch: I don’t want to think about it. If I don’t , my parents . No, I’m joking. I suppose I at school and again.
J: Well, good luck!
Ch: Thanks.

b) J: What
V: FCE. .
J: Do you think
V: I think so. I’m quite . I think I quite .
J: When
V: Tomorrow morning. I and when I tomorrow the will be on the . My name will be the first because begins with A.
J: How
V: I’ll go and have a drink with the other people . Well, with the people who .
J: And what ? Will you
V: Yes, I’d like to next year.
J: And if you
V: I’ll in June.

Listen to the second part of the interview. Did Charlotte and Viktor get the marks they had expected? How they and their friends and families feel about the exam results?