U1.3: Great places to be - Reading 2: Note completion

Last updated 4 months ago
6 questions

Costa Rica - Wikipedia
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Work in small groups. You are going to read a passage about Costa Rica. Before you read, look at the photos of Costa Rica on the left. What do they tell you about the country?

The happiest country in the world

Children growing up in Costa Rica are surrounded by some of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes in the world. Preserving tropical rainforests isn’t Costa Rica’s only success, because the government also makes sure everyone has access to health-care and education. So when the New Economics Foundation released its second Happy Planet Index, Costa Rica came out number one. The index is a ranking of countries based on their impact on the environment and the health and happiness of their citizens.

According to Mariano Rojas, a Costa Rican economics professor, Costa Rica is a mid-income country where citizens have plenty of time for themselves and for their relationships with others. ‘A mid-income level allows most citizens to satisfy their basic needs. The government makes sure that all Costa Ricans have access to education, health and nutrition services.’ Costa Ricans, he believes, are not interested in status or spending money to show how successful they are.

Created in 2008, the Happy Planet Index examines happiness on a national level and ranks 143 countries according to three measurements: their citizens’ happiness, how long they live (which reflects their health), and how much of the planet’s resources each country consumes. According to researcher Sannah Abdallah, the Index also measures the outcomes that are most important, and those are happy, healthy lives for everyone.

adapted from Yes! Magazine
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Read the passage below quickly. Who are:
  • Mariano Rojas?
  • Sannah Abdallah?

Look at the notes below.

The Happy Planet Index

Year started: 1 _______
Number of countries it lists: 2 _______
Measures each country’s happiness according to:
  • its effect on the 3 _______ (i.e. the quantity of the Earth’s 4 _______ that it uses);
  • the 5 _______ of the population (i.e. how long people live);
  • how happy its 6 _______ are.
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What are the notes about? Find which sentences in the passage deal with this.

6

Find words in the passage which mean the same as the words in italics.

Draggable itemCorresponding Item
effect
created
lists
ranks
uses
impact
the quantity
how much
started
consumes
population
citizens

Exam advice - Note completion

  • Read the title of the notes first and find the right place(s) in the passage.
  • Carefully read the parts of the passage which deal with the key ideas in the questions - the answers may not come in passage order.  
6
Now complete the notes. Choose ONE WORD OR NUMBER from the passage for each gap.

The Happy Planet Index

Year started: 1 _______
Number of countries it lists: 2 _______
Measures each country’s happiness according to:
  • its effect on the 3 _______ (i.e. the quantity of the Earth’s 4 _______ that it uses);
  • the 5 _______ of the population (i.e. how long people live);
  • how happy its 6 _______ are.
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Work in small groups. Which of these things do you think are important in making people happy, and which are not so important? Why?
  • being healthy
  • earning a lot of money
  • having a good education
  • having good relationships
  • living in a beautiful place
What other things are important?