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The Secrets of Happiness

Speaking - Part 01 – Interview
 Who are you most like in your family? (In what ways are you similar?)
 Do you go on holiday with your family? (Why? / Why not?)
 Have you done anything interesting with your friends recently? (What did you do with them?)
 Tell me about a really good friend of yours (Do you share the same interests?)

Speaking - Part 02 – Long Turn

PEOPLE ENJOYING DIFFERENT FOOTBALL GAMES
 What do you think the people are enjoying about these football games?
 Do you enjoy watching football games?

PEOPLE WHO ARE HAVING A SPECIAL DAY

 What might the people enjoy about their special day?
 Do you enjoy celebrating with friends?

Speaking - Part 03 – Collaborative Task

This part is called the ‘collaborative task’ because the two

candidates have to work together and have a discussion
about a number of options. The interlocutor will tell you
what you need to do, but there will also be written
prompts, in the form of questions, above the options you
will have to discuss. You should talk together about each
option and then come to a decision. You will not be
penalised for failing to reach an agreement on a decision so
long as you have discussed all of the options well.

Here are some things that many people think are important in their lives and a question for you to discuss. First you have some
time to look at the task. Now, talk to each other about why people think these things are important in their lives. (2 minutes, 3
minutes for groups of three)
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Why do people think these things are important in their lives?

Health and Exercise Close Friends Money Education A Good Job

Now you have one minute to decide which two things become more important as people get older.

Speaking – Part 04 - Discussion

 If you could change anything about your life, what would you change? Why?
 Many people say life’s too busy these days. Why do you think they say this?
 Many people seem to want to become famous nowadays. Why do you think this is?
 Is it important to enjoy a job or do you think it’s enough to be paid well? (Why?)
 How important is it to go on holiday every year? (Why / Why not?)
 Some people say we don’t spend enough time talking to each other these days. What do you think?

READING – Multiple Choice

THE SECRETS OF HAPPINESS
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has devoted his life to studying happiness. He believes he has found the key.
I’ve been fascinated by happiness most of my life. When I was a small boy, I noticed that though many of the
adults around me were wealthy and educated, they were not always happy and this sometimes led them to behave
in ways which I, as a child, thought strange. As a result of this, I decided to understand what happiness was and
how best to achieve it. It as not surprising, then, that I decided to study psychology.
On arrival at the University of Chicago fifty years ago, I was disappointed to find that academic psychologists were
trying to understand human behaviour by studying rats in a laboratory. I felt that there must be other more useful
ways of learning how we think and feel. Although my original aim had been to achieve happiness for myself, I
became more ambitious. I decided to build my career on trying to discover what made others happy also. I started
out by studying creative people such as musicians, artists and athletes because they were people who devoted their
lives to doing what they wanted to do, rather than things that just brought them financial rewards.
Later, I expanded the study by inventing a system called ‘the experience sampling method’. Ordinary people were
asked to keep an electronic pager for a week which gave out a beeping sound eight times a day. Every time it did
so, they wrote down where they were, what they were doing, how they felt and how much they were concentrating.
This system has now been used on more than 10,000 people and the answers are consistent: as with creative people,
ordinary people are happiest when concentrating hard. After carrying out thirsty years of research and writing
eighteen books, I believe I have proved that happiness is quite different from what most people imagine. It is not
something that can be bought or collected. People need more than just wealth and comfort in order to lead happy
lives. I discovered that people who earn less than €10,000 are not generally as happy as people whose incomes are
above that level. This suggests that there is a minimum amount of money we need to earn to make us happy. But
below and above that dividing line, people’s happiness has very little to do with how much poorer or richer they
are. Multi-millionaires turn out to be only slightly happier than other people who are not so rich. What is more,
people living in poverty are often quite happy. I found that the most obvious cause of happiness is intense
concentration. This must be the main reason why activities such as music, art, literature, sports and other forms of
leisure have survived. In order to concentrate, whether you’re reading a poem or building a sandcastle, what you
need is a challenge that matches your ability. The way to remain continually happy therefore, is to keep finding
new opportunities to improve your skills. This may mean learning to do your job better or faster, or doing other
more difficult jobs. As you grow older you have to find new challenges which are more appropriate to your age. I
have spent my life studying happiness and now, as I look back, I wonder if I have achieved it. Overall, I think I
have and my belief that I have found the keys to its secret has increased my happiness immeasurably.

1. What does ‘this’ in line 3 refer to?

A the writer’s decision to study psychology
B the writer’s interest in happiness
C the writer’s observations of adults
D the writer’s unhappy childhood

2. What did he consider was wrong with psychology 50 years ago?

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A Psychologists were trying to achieve the wrong objectives
B Psychologists were using the wrong scientific methods
C Psychologists were not making sufficient progress with their experiments
D Psychologists were carrying out experiments or animals

READING – Part 02 – Multiple Choice

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USE OF ENGLISH - Part 03 – Word Formation – Forming Opposites

USE OF ENGLISH - Part 02 – Open Cloze

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USE OF ENGLISH - Part 04 – Key Word Transformation

1. IN SPITE OF
Although / Eevn though (aunque) + (subj+ verb)
Although the weather was terrible we had a good time

Despite = in spite of (a pesar de) + ing / + noun phrase

We had a good time in spite of / despite the terrible weather

2. = 1

3. = 1

4. = 1

5. REPORTED SPEECH
When you want to tell something other people said before.

Statements
Subject + said that + subject + verb conjugated + complements

Questions
Subject + asked + (object) + IF + subject + verb conjugated + complements
Subject + asked + (object) + WH- QUESTION + verb conjugated + complements

Commands
Subject + TOLD + object + (not) + to + verb + complements

Changes
A) Verbs
PRESENT SIMPLE…………………………………………………..PAST SIMPLE
PRESENT CONIINUOS…………………………………………PAST CONTINUOS

PRESENT PERFECT
PAST PERFECT PAST PERFECT
PAST SIMPLE

PRESENT PERFECT CONT

PAST PERF. CONTINUOS
PAST CONTINUOS

B) Modal Verbs

WILL ......................................................................................... WOULD/ SHOULD

CAN .......................................................................................... COULD
MAY.......................................................................................... MIGHT
MUST ........................................................................................ HAD TO

C) Expressions of Time and Place

lº y 3ºp........................................................................3ºP
2º p .......................................................................... 1º or 3ºP
TODAY ................................................................... THE SAME DAY, THAT DAY
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YESTERDAY ......................................................... THE DAY BEFORE, THE PREVIOUS DAY
TOMORROW ......................................................... THE DAY AFTER, THE NEXT DAY
THIS,THESE .......................................................... THAT,THOSE
NOW ...................................................................... THEN, AT ONCE, AT THAT TIME
AGO ........................................................................ BEFORE
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW…… ................. IN TWO DAYS TIME
LAST WEEK .......................................................... THE WEEK BEFORE,THE PREVIOUS WEEK
NEXT WEEK.......................................................... THE WEEK AFTER, THE FOLLOWING WEEK
THIS WEEK ........................................................... THE SAME WEEK
HERE…..................................................................... THERE

Reporting Verbs in Free Indirect Speech

1st Group: Reporting verb + that + oración

Accept Claim Hope Propose (1,4) Suggest
Acknowledge Concede Imply Remark Swear
Add Confirm Insist Reply Threaten (1,2)
Admit (1,4) Deny (1,4) Maintain Request Volunteer
Agree Exclaim Observe Reveal Vow
Announce Explain Point out Say Inform
Believe Guarantee Promise State Declare

2nd Group: Reporting verb + to + verb

Accept (1,2) Expect Plan Volunteer

Agree (1,2) Intend Promise Want (2,3)
Claim (1,2) Long Refuse Prefer (2,3)
Demand Offer Threaten (1,2) Decide

3rd Group: Reporting verb + object + to

Advise Encourage (3,4) Order Urge Permit (3,4)
Ask Forbid (3,4) Persuade Warn
Beg Force Recommend Want (3,4)
Command Instruct (3,4 Expect (2,3)
Discourage Invite Remind Prefer (2,3)
Dissuade Oblige Tell Allow (3,4)

4th Group: Reporting verb + ing

Admit (1,4) Forbid (3,4)
Advise (3,4) Encourage (3,4)
Deny (1,4) Permit (3,4)
Propose (1,4) Apologize for
Recommend (3,4) Thank for
Suggest Justify
Allow (3,4)

6. = 5 8. = 5
7. = 5 9. = 5 11. = 5
10. = 5 12. = 5

1) Although it was dangerous, she went swimming.

THE
In spite…………………………………………………………………………. she went swimming

2) The theatre was full despite the high price of the tickets.
EXPENSIVE
Although…………………………………………………………………………the theatre was full.
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3) Although he felt ill, he went to work.
DESPITE
He went to work……………………………………………………………………………………well

4) She enjoys her job in spite of her low salary.

EVEN
She finds her job enjoyable………………………………………………………………………low.

5) ‘I’ve been asleep all afternoon’.

SPENT
Helen admitted that…………………………………………………………………………sleeping.

6) ‘I’ll phone when the concert finishes’

CALL
Martin said he ……………………………………………………………………. end of the concert.

7) ‘Last night I saw a fantastic film’, said Phil

BEFORE
Phil told me that the …………………………………………………………………. a fantastic film

8) ‘I’ll return quite late from the theatre tonight’, said Elena
BACK
Elena warned me that …………………………………………. quite late from the theatre that night.

9) ‘I won’t be late for the show’, said Lucy

ARRIVE
Lucy promised that she……………………………………………….……………time for the show.

10) ‘You can’t borrow my camera, Mike’, said his father

ALLOWED
Mike’s father told him he…………………………………………………………………his camera

11) ‘I know I got several answer wrong in this exercise’, Hannah said
MISTAKES
Hannah admitted that she…………………………………………………………….in the exercise.

12) ‘I really enjoyed the play’, Katie told George

FOUND
Katie told George that she ………………..………………………………………….very enjoyable.

WRITING
You see the following announcement in an English language magazine.

Dreams of fame?
Many people dream of being famous. Which would you prefer: to be famous, or to be successful but not so
well-known? The writer of the best article will be invited to appear on the TV programme: The Next
Millionaire

Write your article

ARTICLE - TIPS
a) How much: 140-190 words

b) Task: The article is usually written for an English-language magazine or newsletter. The reader is
assumed to have similar interests to the writer. The aim of an article is to talk about a topic that we
like or it is familiar to us. The purpose is to inform, interest, entertain and engage the reader, hence
there should be some opinion or comment.
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c) Language: The language is usually more informal and colloquial. The tone must be relaxed, you can
use contractions, phrasal verbs, idioms, colloquial expressions. It is recommended to use rhetorical
questions and exclamation marks in order to engage the reader. You can give examples and make
jokes where appropriate. You should also address the reader directly as ´´you, your´´

d) Structure: An article must have a title. It is advisable to choose a catchy, funny and witty title in
order to engage the reader. You should write:
 Title
 Introduction
 1 -2 paragraphs, addressing a single idea, adding to the introduction.
 2nd or 3rd paragraph to give a recommendation (IF IT IS POSSIBLE)
 Conclusion

Note: It is a good idea to finish your article with a rhetorical question to encourage the reader consider
his/her opinion about the topic.
e) Topics: Common topics about the environment, health and fitness, work and employment,
friendships and family, money, celebrities, holidays and traveling, music etc

f) Useful expressions:
 Involving the reader
Just imagine…
Have you ever...?
How would you feel if ...?
Are you one of those people who ...?
If the answer is ..., you should...
What would life be like if...

 Making the article lively and interesting

I was absolutely terrified when I realised...
More importantly, it was something I
Not surprisingly, it's a good way of raising money
The tent was worryingly small for three people!
It was the most amazing experience I have ever had.

 Developing your points

Let's start with …
Another advantage of …
On top of that, ...

 Giving your own opinion

I think that…
In my opinion …
It seems to me that …
If you ask me,…
To my mind...

Article- Model question

You see this announcement in an international magazine.
Articles wanted
Lucky winners
What would you do if you won a large sum of money. How would your life change?
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Write us an article answering these questions. Give reasons.
We will publish the best articles next month.
Write your article in 140-190 words in an appropriate style.

Model answer

Don't throw it all away!

Have you ever dreamt of becoming rich unexpectedly? Just imagine what your life would be like! However, some
people who get rich quickly are very careless with their money and end up being poorer than they were before.

That's why I'd be very careful. I wouldn't want a completely different kind of life, so I'd start by putting some of it
away, in case everything went wrong - set up a kind of "emergency fund". Then I would buy my hard-working
parents a new home. They deserve it because they have always provided me with everything I've always wanted,
even if it meant they had to go without. I would also give some money away to needy people who are struggling
in the world and have no food. It would not be right to just spend the money on myself. Then I think I would take
a year off from studying and travel round the world in great comfort. I've spent most of my live travelling on a
limited budget and sleeping in hostels.

After that, who knows? I'll see, but I certainly won't be buying any luxury cars! And you? What would you do?

LISTENING - Part 01 – Multiple Choice

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LISTENING – Part 03 – Multiple Matching

LISTENING – Gapped Sentences

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