A. Read the following article and select if each statement is True of False.

Are celebrities bad for you?

Celebrities are everywhere nowadays: on TV, in magazines, online. Is this preoccupation with
famous people harmless fun or is it bad for us? How many people are truly obsessed with
modern media idols? And on the other side of the coin, can fame be harmful to the
celebrities?
Studies suggest that the vast majority of teenagers do not really worship celebrities.
Researchers have identified three kinds of fans. About 15% of young people have an
‘entertainment-social’ interest. They love chatting about their favourite celebrities with
friends and this does not appear to do any harm.
Another 5% feel that they have an ‘intense-personal’ relationship with a
celebrity. Sometimes they see them as their soulmate and find that they are often thinking
about them, even when they don’t want to. These people are more at risk from depression
and anxiety. If girls in this group idolise a female star with a body they consider to be perfect,
they are more likely to be unhappy with their own bodies.
That leaves 2% of young people with a ‘borderline-pathological’ interest. They might say, for
example, they would spend several thousand pounds on a paper plate the celebrity had used,
or that they would do something illegal if the celebrity asked them to. These people are in
most danger of being seriously disturbed.
What about the celebrities themselves? A study in the USA tried to measure narcissism or
extreme self-centredness, when feelings of worthlessness and invisibility are compensated
for by turning into the opposite: excessive showing off. Researchers looked at 200 celebrities,
200 young adults with Masters in Business Administration (a group known for being
narcissistic) and a nationally representative sample using the same questionnaire. As was
expected, the celebrities were significantly more narcissistic than the MBAs and both groups
were a lot more narcissistic than the general population.
Four kinds of celebrity were included in the sample. The most narcissistic were the ones who
had become famous through reality TV shows – they scored highest on vanity and willingness
to exploit other people. Next came comedians, who scored highest on exhibitionism and
feelings of superiority. Then came actors, and the least narcissistic were musicians. One
interesting result was that there was no connection between narcissism and the length of
time the celebrity had been famous. This means that becoming famous probably did not
make the celebrities narcissistic – they already were beforehand.
So, what can we learn from this? People who are very successful or famous tend to be
narcissists and are liable to be ruthless, self-seeking workaholics. As we can see from
celebrity magazines, they are also often desperate and lonely. They make disastrous role
models.
Taken at https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/reading/b2-reading/are-celebrities-bad-you
Questions1.
1. The article is about whether celebrity culture is harmful, for either the public or the
celebrities themselves. ____________
2. 15% of teenagers have an interest in celebrities that probably isn't a cause for
concern. ________
3. Young people who feel they have an 'intense-personal' relationship with a celebrity
do not experience any negative consequences related to it. ___________
4. A study found that celebrities were more self-centred than business administration
masters students. ___________
5. Celebrities from reality TV were found to be the most vain and exploitative.
___________
6. Actors were the least self-obsessed group of celebrities. _____________
7. The research concluded that the experience of being a celebrity made people more
narcissistic than they were previously. __________
8. The author says that celebrities tend to exhibit negative qualities and are therefore
not good role _____________

Complete the story with the verbs in (brackets) in the past simple.
Last summer my family and I went to Italy for a holiday. We_________ (rent) a house in
Umbria, in central Italy, about 5km from a village called Gubbio. The weather _________(be)
fantastic, hot and sunny during the day, but cold at night. We_________ (do) different things
every day. Sometimes we_________ (go) to Perugia or Assisi and _________(visit) churches
and art galleries. On other days we _________(stay) in the house. It _________ (have) a
swimming pool in the garden, so the children _________ (be) happy. One afternoon an old
man _________ (arrive) at the door. ‘Good afternoon,’ he _________ (say). ‘I’m your
neighbor. Are your children at home?’ ‘Yes,’ I _________ (answer). ‘I think so. Why?’
‘Because about an hour ago I _________ (see) a small boy near the village. I think he was
your son.’ I _________ (look) out of the window. My daughter_________ (be) in the
swimming pool, but my son _________ (not be) there. ‘Where _________ you
_________(see) him?’ I _________ (ask). ‘_________ you _________ (talk) to him?’ ‘He was
on the road to the village, but I _________ (not speak) to him,’ the old man _________ (say).
‘Come on,’ I _________ (tell) my husband. ‘We need to go to the village.’ The old man
_________ (wait) at the house with my daughter and we _________ (go) to the village. My
son _________ (be) outside a cafe. He _________(have) a big ice cream in his hand. ‘Why
_________ you _________ (leave) the house?’ I asked him. ‘We _________ (be) really
worried.’ ‘I _________ (want) an ice cream,’ he said.
David Bowie
a. Read the following text and complete it using the verbs in the appropriate tense.

David Bowie: Early Years

Known as a musical chameleon for his ever-changing appearance and sound, David Bowie
______________ (be born) David Robert Jones in Brixton, South London, England, on January
8th , 1947. David ______________ (show) an interest in music from an early age and
______________ (begin) playing the saxophone at age 13. He ______________ (be) greatly
influenced by his half-brother Terry, who ______________ (be) nine years older and
______________ (expose) young David to the worlds of rock music and beat literature. But
Terry ______________ (have) his demons, and his mental illness, which ______________
(force) the family to commit him to an institution, ______________ (haunt) David for a good
deal of his life. Terry ______________ (commit) suicide in 1985, a tragedy that
______________ (become) the focal point of Bowie’s later song, “Jump They Say.” After
graduating from Bromley Technical High School at 16, David ______________ (start)
working as a commercial artist. He also ______________ (continue) to play music, hooking
up with a number of bands and leading a group himself called Davy Jones and the Lower
Third. Several singles ______________ (come out) of this period, but nothing that
______________ (give) the young performer the kind of commercial traction he
______________ (need). Out of fear of being confused with Davy Jones of The Monkees,
David ______________ (change) his last name to Bowie, a name that was ______________
(inspire) by the knife ______________ (develop) by the 19th century American pioneer Jim
Bowie. Eventually, Bowie ______________ (go out) on his own. But after recording an
unsuccessful solo album, Bowie ______________ (exit) the music world for a temporary
period. Like so much of his later life, these few years ______________ (prove) to be
incredibly experimental for the young artist. For several weeks in 1967 he lived at a Buddhist
monastery in Scotland. Bowie later ______________ (start) his own mime troupe
______________ (call) Feathers. Around this time he also ______________ (meet) the
American-born Angela Barnett. The two ______________ (marry) on March 20 th, 1970, and
______________ (have) one son together, whom they ______________ (nickname)
“Zowie,” in 1971, before divorcing in 1980. He is now known by his birth name Duncan Jones.
The man who sold the world
[Verse 1]
We passed upon the stair
We _________ of was and when
Although I wasn't there
He _________ I was his friend
Which came as some surprise
I spoke into his eyes, "I thought you _________ alone
A long long time ago"

[Chorus]
Oh no, not me
I never _________ control
You're face to face
With the man who sold the world
[Verse 2]
I _________ and shook his hand
And made my way back home
I _________ for form and land
For years and years, I roamed
I gazed a gazely stare
At all the millions here
We must have died _________
A long long time ago

[Chorusx2]
Who knows? Not me
We _________ lost control
You're face to face
With the man who sold the world