UNIT 2 VITAMINS – ESSENCE OF HEALTH

This unit aims to help you:

 develop prediction skills
 get to know benefits of different vitamins towards human health

Discuss questions below with a partner. Share your ideas with the class.
1. How important are the vitamins A, B, C and D accordingly to our health?
2. What are possible dangers if we have low levels of these vitamins?
3. In what ways, do you think, we can get vitamin A, B, C and D?

Developing prediction skills

* Prediction is a valuable stage in developing your listening ability. It is an activity you often carry
out before listening to a text, where you predict the necessary kinds of answers to help you get more
focused on what you are going to hear.
* Regarding the dictation tasks, the prediction can be under the form of certain suitable parts of
speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc…) as well as the grammatical verb tenses required for
each filling gap.

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** Practice: Look at the below statements and make possible predictions on the given gaps. Use
ONE word in each gap.
a. Vitamin D helps bones and muscles grow (1) __________ and healthy. Low levels of vitamin D
can (2) ___________ problems such as rickets, a deformity mainly found in children.
(1) ………………………………………………………………………………………………….
(2) ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

b. The easiest way to get vitamin D is from (3) _____________. The sun’s UV rays reacts with skin
cells to produce Vitamin D.
(3) ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

c. Also, darker skinned people produce less vitamin D than (4) _________ skinned people.
(4) ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

DICTATION 1 – Vitamin D for ‘Does a lot’

03. First listening : Listen to the recording and choose the best answer for each of
the following questions. Discuss your answers.
1. Which one of the following isn’t true according to the passage?
A. Vitamin D enables strong bones and muscles.
B. Lighter skinned people produce less vitamin D than darker skinned people.
C. It might be poisonous if people take too much vitamin D.
2. Low levels of vitamin D may lead to the following diseases except …
A. osteoporosis
B. rickets
C. skin cancer

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 Second listening: Listen again and fill in the gaps. Write no more than THREE
words for each gap.

Vitamin D helps bones and muscles grow (1) __________________. Low levels of vitamin D can (2)
____________ problems such as rickets, a deformity mainly found in children. Osteoporosis, the
thinning of (3) __________, is a common problem as people, especially women, get (4) ________.

But more and more research is suggesting that vitamin D might also help prevent many (5)
__________.

The easiest way to get vitamin D is from (6) ___________. The sun's ultraviolet rays react with skin
cells to produce vitamin D. But many people worry about getting skin cancer and (7) _____________
from the sun. As a result they cover their skin or wear sun block or (8) _______________ the sun.

Also, darker skinned people produce less vitamin D than (9) __________ skinned people. Production
also decreases in older people and those living in (10) ___________ areas that get less sunlight.

Not many foods naturally contain vitamin D. Foods high in this vitamin include (11) _____________
such as salmon, tuna and mackerel, and fish liver oils.

Boston University researchers reported last year that farmed salmon had only about (12) __________
as much vitamin D as (13) ________ salmon.

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Small amounts of D are found in beef liver, cheese and egg (14) _________. And some people take
dietary supplements containing the vitamin. But most of the vitamin D in the American (15)
________ comes from foods with D added, like milk.

In 1997, the United States Institute of Medicine (16) ______________ levels for how much vitamin
D healthy people need. It set the daily amount at two hundred international units (I.U.s) from (17)
___________ through age 50. It set the level at 400 I.U.s through age 70, and 600 for age 71 and
older. But some groups say these amounts are not high enough. They are hoping that the new research
findings will lead to new recommendations.

Research in the last several years has shown that low levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of
heart attacks in men and (18) ____________ from some cancers. Other studies have shown that
people with rheumatic diseases often have low levels of vitamin D.

More doctors are now having their (19) ____________ tested for their vitamin D levels. But as
research continues, some experts worry that if people take too much vitamin D, it might act as a (20)
_____________. Also, skin doctors warn people to be careful with sun exposure because of the risk
of skin cancer.

And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I’m Steve Ember.

Comprehension check: Basing on the recording, decide if the following statements

are True or False. Correct the False one.
1. Osteoporosis is known as a common bone-related problem found mostly among men.
2. The best way to get vitamin D is from sunlight.
3. There is a high risk of skin cancer among people exposing too much to the sun.
4. The Southern people get less sunlight than the Northern ones.
5. Wild salmon contains a higher amount of vitamin D than farmed salmon.
6. Most of the vitamin D can be found in such foods as oily fish, milk and egg yolks.
7. People need less vitamin D as they get older.
8. A diet rich in vitamin D can help people prevent from rheumatic diseases.

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DICTATION 2 – Vitamins A, B and C

04. First listening : Listen to the recording and choose the best answer for each of
the following questions. Discuss your answers.
1. Vitamin A comes mainly from …..
A. butter and cheese
B. bread and milk
C. fish and liver
2. If we are short of …….., we will probably lose our appetite.
A. Vitamin A B. Vitamin B C. Vitamin C
3. We need about ……. of Vitamin C per day, and ……. of Vitamin B for the same period of
time.
A. 5 mg, 20 mg
B. 15 mg, 10 mg
C. 1 mg, 20 mg

Second listening: Listen again and fill in the gaps. Write no more than THREE
words for each gap.

As is known to all, vitamins are (1) ____________ to our health. Listed in the table are three
kinds of vitamins. They are Vitamins A, B and C.

Vitamin A comes mainly from milk, butter, cheese, (2) _______ and _____________. It is
very important for healthy (3) ________________ as well as for (4) _________________ of
the human body. Lack of it may (5) ___________ skin troubles and bad (6) _____________.
And our resistance to disease may be (7) ______________ accordingly.

Vitamin B is chiefly contained in bread, meat, milk, (8) ________ and _________. It can play
the role of a catalyst in (9) ______________ of food. If we are (10) ______________ it, we
will probably lose our (11) _____________ and our growth will be slowed.

Vitamin C generally exists in (12) __________, potatoes and green vegetables. It is necessary

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for the formation of teeth, (13) __________ and (14) ________________. Without enough of
it, our growth will also be (15) ____________.

The amount of different kinds of vitamins needed daily by humans (16) ___________
considerably. We need about (17) _______ of Vitamin C and (18) ________ of Vitamin B for
the (19) _____________ period of time.

It is true that we do not need too much vitamins, but it is also true that we cannot live (20)
______________ without them.

Comprehension check: Basing on the above recording, answer below questions.

Discuss with your partners.
P.S. Students are encouraged not to look back the passage and try to answer these
questions using their memory from what they have just listened.
1. Where does Vitamin A mainly come from? If being short of Vitamin A, what may happen?

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
2. Where can we get Vitamin B from? If there is a lack of Vitamin B, what may happen?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
3. Where does Vitamin C generally exist? What can be caused if there is not enough of Vitamin C?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Students REVIEW important words/phrases/idioms from what they have learnt in the lesson
and fill in the following table for more effective future use.

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 USEFUL LANGUAGES OF THE DAY

Words/phrases/idioms Equivalents/Meaning Putting into context

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