B1 Health Part 9: Health
Lesson 79 of 10 in this unit.
📖 Reading Passage
In a small library room every Thursday, volunteers fix broken things for free. Retired electricians mend lamps, students patch laptop screens, and a tailor sews torn jackets. Visitors bring kettles, toys, and bicycles, then watch and learn while the repair happens. The founder, a former engineer, says the goal is to fight waste: half of discarded appliances need only a fuse or a loose wire. Last year the café saved over two tonnes of rubbish. Regulars say the best part is not the free repair but the coffee, conversation, and the skill they take home. The volunteers keep a ledger of every repair. It records the object, the fault, and the fix, so newcomers can look up a similar problem before opening a kettle. Many faults turn out to be the same handful of causes: a blown fuse, a worn cable, a blocked filter, a loose screw. Visitors who watch a repair once often return with tools and a plan to try the next one themselves. Schools now send design students to learn how products are built and why they fail. The organisers insist the cafe is not an anti-technology protest. Machines, they say, are worth keeping, and a society that can mend its possessions wastes less money and fewer materials.
📘 Vocabulary
20 words from this lesson
- psychology
- The study of the human mind.
- “They discussed psychology during the lesson.”
- relation
- The manner in which two things may be associated.
- “We hope to establish a closer relationship between us.”
- rocket
- A projectile.
- “They discussed rocket during the lesson.”
- ruin
- The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.
- “They discussed ruin during the lesson.”
- sec
- Second, of a minute.
- “They discussed sec during the lesson.”
- slave
- A person who is held in servitude as the property of another person, and whose labor (and often also whose body and life) is subject to the owner's volition and control.
- “They discussed slave during the lesson.”
- stability
- The condition of being stable or in equilibrium, and thus resistant to change.
- “They discussed stability during the lesson.”
- steady
- Firm in standing or position; not tottering or shaking; fixed; firm.
- “They discussed steady during the lesson.”
- stones
- Testicles; balls.
- “They discussed stones during the lesson.”
- symbol
- A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.
- “They discussed symbol during the lesson.”
- terminal
- A building in an airport where passengers transfer from ground transportation to the facilities that allow them to board airplanes.
- “They discussed terminal during the lesson.”
- toilet
- A room, enclosed area or single-purpose building containing a fixture or fixtures used for urination and defecation; a bathroom or water closet.
- “They discussed toilet during the lesson.”
- treaty
- A formal binding agreement concluded by subjects of international law, namely, states and international organizations; a convention, a pact.
- “They discussed treaty during the lesson.”
- triple
- Made up of three related elements, often matching
- “They discussed triple during the lesson.”
- unlikely
- Not likely; improbable; not to be reasonably expected.
- “They discussed unlikely during the lesson.”
- viewed
- Having been viewed; having been seen, watched or witnessed.
- “They discussed viewed during the lesson.”
- affair
- Something which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public.
- “They discussed affair during the lesson.”
- agenda
- A temporally organized plan for matters to be attended to.
- “They discussed agenda during the lesson.”
- bat
- Any flying mammal of the order , usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
- “They discussed bat during the lesson.”
- bow
- A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
- “They discussed bow during the lesson.”
📐 Grammar Notes
Modal verbs give advice with graded force: should for recommendation, must for obligation, should not for warning. Use present perfect for symptoms over time: I have coughed for three days. Conditionals frame habits: if you sleep late, you feel tired. Practice by labeling each sentence in the reading: underline the main verb, circle the time marker, and check that every they and it points to a named noun. Rewrite any three sentences in your own words while keeping tense and meaning intact. Theme: health. Reading: The Repair Café. As a final check, read the passage once more and label every verb for tense, every noun for countability, and every connector for function. Keep a short error log of your own recurring mistakes and review it before writing. This routine turns isolated rules into durable habits across all five hundred lessons.
Practice Exercises
Work through each exercise to complete this lesson.
What does 'psychology' mean?
What does 'relation' mean?
What does 'rocket' mean?
What does 'ruin' mean?
What does 'sec' mean?
What does 'slave' mean?
What does 'stability' mean?
What does 'steady' mean?
Write a sentence using 'psychology'.
Summarize the passage in two sentences.
More in this unit
Discussion (0)
No comments yet. Ask a question or share what helped you.