GRAMÁTICA: Tense review biography of Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg: Biography

Born on May 14, 1984, in New York. Since starting the social networking website Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg                       .                          (help) revolutionize the way people, and even businesses, interact and connect with each other online. He                      (come) from a comfortable, well-educated background. His father ran a dental practice at the family's home. His mother                       (work) a psychiatrist before the birth of the couple's four children but gave up work to look after the family.

Zuckerberg developed an interest in computers at an early age. While he                                   (study) at Harvard he                         (begin) work on his own social network, which later                     (become) known as Facebook. Before this, some of his fellow students                       (ask) him to work on a social networking site called Harvard Connection but Zuckerberg                            (drop) their project to work on Facebook instead. The creators of Harvard Connection                       (since claim) that Zuckerberg stole their idea, while Zuckerberg                      (always maintain) that they are two very different types of social networks. Although an initial settlement                              (reach) between the two parties in 2008, the legal dispute over this matter remains ongoing.

Facebook                       (co-found) by Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin. The group ran the site, first called thefacebook.com, out of a dorm room at Harvard. However, by August 2004 Zuckerberg                      .                          (drop) out of college to devote himself to Facebook full time, moving the company to California.

By December 2004, Facebook had 1 million users. By December 2005 Facebook had more than 5.5 million users. There are now more than 500 million users on Facebook. Zuckerberg                      (turn down) offers from Yahoo! and MTV Networks who want to buy the network site; instead he                          .   (focus) on growing the site, continuously adding more features to Facebook..

In 2010, the film The Social Network                      (release) which charts the creation of Facebook. It                       .                     (base on) the 2003 book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. Zuckerberg's life story                               .                              (tell) in an upcoming comic book by Bluewater Productions Inc.

According to Forbes magazine, Zuckerberg is worth approximately $6.9 billion, surpassing even Apple founder Steve Jobs.                                                                   Adapted from www.biography.com/articles/Mark-Zuckerberg

Discussion:

Are you addicted to Facebook? How often do you use it? How long do spend on the site?

How many of your Facebook friends have you met online? Do you ‘friend’ people you’ve never met?

What are the pro’s and con’s of using Facebook?

Answers

1.      has helped

2.     comes

3.     had been working

4.     was studying

5.     began

6.     became

7.     had asked

8.     had dropped

9.     have since claimed

10.   has always maintained

11.    was reached

12.   was co-founded

13.   had dropped

14.   has turned down

15.   has focussed

16.   was released

17.   is based on

18.   will be told

by Laura44

www.eslprintables.com

LEITURA: Dancing With The Stars reading comprehension

Baby's back... but Jennifer Grey's in tears as she breaks down over Patrick Swayze

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:43 PM on 21st September 2010

An emotional Jennifer Grey made her highly-anticipated debut on the season premiere of Dancing With The Stars last night.

The former Dirty Dancing actress, who starred with Patrick Swayze in the hit 1987 film, performed the Viennese waltz to Otis Redding's 'These Arms of Mine.'

But as the soul ballad, which appeared on the movie's soundtrack, was revealed to her in rehearsals, it all became too much.

In pre-recorded footage, Jennifer, 50, was seen breaking down in floods of tears over Swayze's death, who died a year ago of pancreatic cancer.

When she returned she told her dance partner Derek Hough: 'It took me back in a time capsule, and I was with Patrick. I just missed him.

'He was like you, young and gorgeous.'

For the live show Jennifer took to the stage in a flowing blue gown, wowing the judges and bagging the highest score of the night - 24 out of 30.

'Baby' is back where she belongs,' said judge Bruno Tonioli, referring to her character, adding: 'I know somebody up there is going to be very proud of you.'

Judge Carrie Ann Inaba was also very moved, saying something 'profound' happened, referring to the connection between the past and present.

At the other end of the scale, former  Baywatch actor David Hasselhoff and Jersey Shore  reality star Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino tied for the worst performance, both only scoring 15 points.

True/False statement:

1.      The premier of Dancing With The Stars was expected highly by Jennifer Grey.    .......

2.      She and her partner performed the Viennese waltz to Otis Redding's soul ballad.            .......

3.      ‘These Arms of Mine’ appeared first in the rehearsals.                                           .......

4.      The soundtrack made her burst into tears.                                                               .......

5.      She used to be in a time capsule with Patrick Swayze.                                           .......

6.      Derek Hough reminded her of her former dance partner.                                       .......

7.      The judges liked their performance and awarded them with the highest points.    .......

8.      Bruno Tonioli probably referred to Patrick saying

'I know somebody up there is going to be very proud of you.'                               ........

9.      Carrie Ann Inaba was touched by their dancing.                                                    ........

10.  David Hasselhoff and Jersey Shore had the same number of points.                     ........

key: F, T, F, T, F, T, T, T, T, T,

by saskat3 

www.eslprintables.com

LEITURA: SUSAN BOYLE

In August 2008, Boyle applied for an audition for the third series of Britain's Got Talent and was accepted after a preliminary audition. When Boyle first appeared on the show, she said that she aspired to become a professional singer "as successful as" Elaine Paige. Boyle sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables in the first round. This extraordinary performance was widely reported and tens of millions of people viewed the video on YouTube. Boyle is aware that the audience on Britain's Got Talent was initially hostile to her because of her appearance, but she has refused to change her image. Paige has expressed interest in singing a duet with Boyle, and has called her "a role model for everyone who has a dream". Cameron Mackintosh, the producer of the Les Misérables musical, also praised the performance, as "heart-touching, thrilling and uplifting". She was the clear favourite to win the final, but ended up in second place.

Boyle's first album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released on 23 November 2009. It became Amazon.com's best-selling album. In Britain, Susan's debut album was recognised as the fastest selling UK debut album of all time selling 411,820 copies. On 8 November 2010, Boyle released her second album, which was a Christmas album entitled The Gift. In November 2010, Boyle became only one of three to ever top both the UK and US album charts twice in the same year

She is a gift to reality television. Her story is highly inspirational, the buried talent uncovered. It is wonderful that her stunning voice is now recognised. Her dream has become reality. Susan is a reminder that it's time we all looked a little deeper. Susan has been forgiven her looks and been given respect because of her talent.

(Adapted from Wikipedia.org)

A. Find words in the paragraph 1 that mean the same as the following:

1.       a short performance by a singer that someone watches to judge     _______________

2.       very unusual or surprising     _______________

3.       one of the parts of a competition     _______________

4.       angry and deliberately unfriendly towards someone     _______________

5.       a piece of music for two singers     _______________

B. Determine whether each of the statements is true (T) or false (F).

1.       Elaine Paige is a very successful singer. 

2.       Susan Boyle changed her image in order to make herself more popular.

3.       Susan Boyle did not win Britain's Got Talent. She was the second runner-up.

4.       Susan Boyle’s dream has come true.

C. Answer the following questions based on information from the passage.

1.       Name all Susan Boyle’s albums to date.

__________________________________________________________________________

2.       Did Cameron Mackintosh like Susan’s rendition of ‘I dreamed a dream’? Explain.

__________________________________________________________________________

3.       What does it mean by the sentence ‘it’s time we all looked a little deeper’.

__________________________________________________________________________

D. Fill in the blanks with the following words.

adored      amazing      broken      charts      frenzy      level      Superwoman

Reportedly Susan's latest album, 'The Gift' reached the top of the (1)_______________ on either side of the Atlantic and made her the first solo artist ever to have reached that (2)_______________, beating great legends like Madonna and Elvis Presley too, in the process. This (3)_______________ woman has the most beautiful renditions thereby making her the darling of millions of fans in the UK and the US. It was around the same time around last year when her album 'I Dreamed A Dream' had achieved the same kind of success and created quite a (4)_______________ during the festive season. That was her first solo album. Susan Boyle is (5)_______________ by all her fans. Simon Cowell, one of the most adored judges amongst all reality show judges, calls her his (6)_______________! Susan Boyle has (7)_______________ records which only the likes of Beetles and the Monkees have been able to achieve in the recent past.

(Adapted from newkerala.com)

ANSWER KEY

A.

1.       audition

2.       extraordinary

3.       round

4.       hostile

5.       duet

B.

1.       T

2.       F

3.       F

4.       T

C.

1.       I dreamed a dream; The Gift

2.       Yes, he praised the performance, as "heart-touching, thrilling and uplifting.

3.       We should focus on inner beauty / talents rather than appearance.

D.

1.       charts

2.       level

3.       amazing

4.       frenzy

5.       adored

6.       Superman

7.       broken

By Lester
WWW.ESLPRINTABLES.COM