(Upper-intermediate level vocabulary exercise adapted from an article The Guardian newspaper.)

There are many keen cyclists in Europe. However, the gap between leisure riding and racing has been growing. To fill this gap, sportives have been developed to cater for cyclists who want serious   –  actions objections objectives developments  but who cannot train every day of the year. The sportive principle is simple: to set a course to be covered within a certain time for   –  some different these every  age groups.

Most of these events offer electronic timing, water and feeding stations, a well-marked route, and good facilities at the start and finish. Some routes also offer a cut-off   –  road day bicycle point  so that if some riders do not feel they can complete the course, they can easily return to the start. The   –  smallest fastest biggest smoothest  race of all for sportivists, and the very first sportive of all, is the Etape du Tour. This is run each year over a selected mountain stage of the Tour de France. Unlike other sportives, this race is   –  interesting unique ordinary open  in that it offers totally closed roads in the same way as the professional race. However, the Etape is now greatly over-subscribed and no longer easy to get into.

With that in mind, the organisers have developed a second Etape. This is run in the early autumn and also   –  covers corners catches centres  one of the ‘legendary’ stages of the Tour de France. The Etape is not to be taken lightly and regularly covers mountain routes. Like all serious sporting   –  occasions elements situations activates  , it requires very significant amounts of training and preparation. This is not for weekend riders but for committed cyclists with experience and the   –  appropriate associate accomplished assisting  lightweight equipment.

(Upper-Intermediate level vocabulary exercise.)

In the north-west of South America lies Peru. This is a land where the Incas built up their civilisation and their cities hundreds of years ago. The land they controlled stretched 2,500 miles from north to south along the coast.

Their civilization   –  happened lived flourished built  from about 1200 to 1532, when it was destroyed by soldiers from Spain. The Incas built many fine cities and the way in which they laid the huge stones for their walls and temples is still a mystery. They   –  established entered expected entertained  new ways of farming and transported the crops quickly along an excellent network of roads. Messages could be sent along these roads very   –  cleverly hastily smoothly quickly  using runners in relays.

They had no system of writing, which was perhaps surprising. However, they developed a method of keeping records using different kinds of knots for different kinds of things and this   –  programme system collection recording  worked very well.

In 1532, a Spaniard called Pizarro arrived in Cajamarca, the Inca’s summer capital, with about 180 soldiers, some horses and guns. The Incas had never seen horses before. Pizarro insisted on meeting the king, Atahualpa. Pizarro demanded that the king convert to Christianity and come under the control of Spain.

When the king   –  refused decided responded denied  , the soldiers started firing. The Incas were terrified by the horses and the guns and they fled. Hundreds were killed and the main army was destroyed. Atahualpa now tried to buy his freedom by   –  selling donating offering making  the Spaniards a treasure in gold and silver. Over the next few months, a fabulous collection of Incan treasure – eleven tons of gold objects alone – was delivered to Cajamarca from all   –  sides corners ends compass  of the empire. Atahualpa agreed to be baptized as a Christian but this did not   –  save rescue return enable  him. Once Pizarro had the Incas’ gold, he executed the Inca king.

(Upper intermediate level vocabulary exercise.)

Welcome to paradise, otherwise known as the Maldives, where Ibrahim Mohamed earns his   –  living life lifetime way  catching tuna in much the same way as his father and grandfather before him. At first glance, fishing from a small boat with a pole and line may seem a   –  hopelessly incredibly ridiculously interestingly  outdated way to catch tuna for a British supermarket. In fact, it’s bang up-to-date with the very   –  latest quickest sharpest longest  thinking from environmental groups and marine conservation experts. The yellowfin tuna, unlike the bluefin tuna, is a sustainable species. The incomehinking from environmental groups and marine conservation experts. The yellowfin tuna, unlike the bluefin tuna, is a sustainable species. The income   –  provides allows gives supports  dozens of small coastal fishing communities. Just as important, Ibrahim’s centuries-old way of fishing   –  provides gives encourages avoids  the killing of dolphins and other protected species. Our policy of selling only   –  sustain sustains sustaining sustainable  seafood started over 10 years ago. Since then, we’ve   –  started stopped encouraged begun  selling more than 20 species considered to be under threat. However, that still leaves plenty to choose from. We   –  recently immediately currently happily  sell 55 species of fresh fish, and all of them come from sustainable fishing areas.

(Adapted from an advert for Waitrose in the Guardian newspaper.)

(Intermediate level vocabulary exercise.)

In 1638, in the palace in Lima, Peru, a rich young woman lay very ill. She was the wife of the Viceroy, appointed by the King in Spain. The young woman had malaria and she drifted between hot dry fevers, shivering and shaking with cold, and then sweating heavily. The family and their doctor tried   –  all things variations everything anything  that they could but it seemed that there was nothing they could do. The woman became weaker and weaker and her family   –  intended agreed decided believed  that she would die.

Eventually, in desperation, a doctor suggested trying a   –  remedy method system delivery  that he had heard was used in the north of the country. It was made from the bark of a tree and it was called quinquina. The family was   –  trying willing attempting beginning  to try anything and they quickly sent someone to collect some. The bark of the tree was obtained as quickly as possible, and boiled to   –  extract remove take find  the quinquina.

To the surprise of her family, the young woman quickly recovered. In fact, the woman was the first European to be cured with quinine. Once she realised the   –  effectiveness suggestiveness inclusiveness attractiveness  of the medicine, she used it both in Peru and in Spain to help to cure her workers when they had malaria. Gradually, the effectiveness of the bark became   –  know known knowledge knowledgeable  by more people. They realised the value of the medicine they could get from the bark of the tree. It became more and more expensive and by 1840 it cost about £2 for one kilogramme in weight, which is   –  exact precise the same   to about £400 today.

British MP David Miliband talking about one of his constituents.

(Intermediate level vocabulary exercise)

I first met Kirstie in February. I’d come to South Shields for a constituency day and saw in my diary “5:15 Kirstie Hart. She wants to talk about the environment.” It was supposed to be a 15-minute appointment. She stayed quite a lot longer than that and I knew that it wasn’t going to be an ordinary   –  meeting conference get-together reunion  when she said ‘You look tired!’ I was in the middle of a bird ‘flu   –  critics crisis disaster concern  so I wasn’t surprised. Her opening gambit was “I’m very worried about the environment. I want to become a politician and do something to save the planet.” Then she told me that she was a single mum and worked for a printing company where she made them   –  recover replenish recycle redo  everything and only use environmentally   –  friend friendship friendliness friendly  chemicals and ink. She said, “I’ve been following the environmental   –  debate talk contest questioning  and it is absolutely clear to me that unless we get the Americans to change their   –  attitude mood feeling belief  we will never be able to   –  insist demand enable persuade  other nations to change.” The most important thing in politics is that you have to have passion and belief and an interest in making the world a better   –  place country position situation  and Kirstie has a lot of this. She doesn’t have a lot of qualifications but she has a probing intellect and a lot of energy.

(Adapted from an article in the Guardian newspaper.)

This is a lower intermediate level activity.

I was cycling to work on Monday when a car nearly   –  knocked pressed pulled kicked  me over. I nearly fell off my bicycle. I followed the car. It could not go   –  suddenly carefully quickly slowly  because there were many other cars. Then I was behind it. I banged on the roof. Suddenly, I saw the   –  letters word write title  Police on the side of the car. The passenger, a policeman, got out. ‘What are you doing?’ he said. ‘The driver   –  nearly slowly carefully quietly  knocked me over!’ I said. ‘You’re police officers. You   –  might should shall would  drive more carefully!’ The policeman took out his notebook. He   –  want wants wanted wanting  to take my name and address. He wanted me to go to the police station. Then the driver said, ‘Sorry. I didn’t see you. It was my   –  mistake mistakes mistaken mistaking  ‘ I thanked him and said, ‘May I   –  cycling went go ride  now?

By about 30,000 years ago, modern humans had spread to almost all parts of the world. They were almost exactly the same as people of today,   –  so with although since  a little shorter.

These people lived mainly by hunting. They caught antelope, rabbits, pigs, elephants, birds and   –  other another some all  animals.

Some of the animals they killed were   –  quite always anyway surprise  large. This shows that the people must have lived in large groups and worked   –  along anyway together fast  . The people in the groups probably had leaders.

The work of the men and the women was   –  little bit probably immediately some  very different. The men hunted and built places to live in. They made tools. The women prepared food and looked after the children. They made clay pots and used skins to make   –  cloth clothe clothes clothed  . Living in large groups helped their language to develop. People started to make paintings on the walls of caves at this   –  age  year life time  . Most of the paintings show animals and hunting scenes. They also made carved   –  object objects objections objectives  out of bone and stone.