Pre-Reading Questions.

Look at the picture and answer these questions.

1. Where are they now?
Suggested answer :They are in the country.
2.Do they look good and healthy from the picture given?
Suggested answer :Yes, they do.
3. Why they look good and healthy in your opinion?
Suggested answer :Because they are always exercise in their
free times.
4.Do you like living in the country or in the middle of the
town yourself?
Suggested answer : In the country / In the middle of the
town.
5.Why do you like living in the country?
Suggested answer :Fresh air , more space .
6.Why do you like living in town center?
Suggested answer :Good food , good communication , easily
contact with the others.

Reading Passage
Now read the passage below. You can look up the meaning
of the words in bold in the Vocabulary Study Section that
follows.
 3.1 - A Countryside for Health and Wellbeing.
The Physical and Mental Health
Benefits of Green Exercise.
How does nature make us feel? Much, of course,
depends on what else is important in our lives. Is it a good or
a bad day? Irrespective of where we come from, it seems that
the presence of living things makes us feel good. They help
us when we feel stressed, and if there is green vegetation,
blue sky and water in the scene, then we like it even more.
This idea that the quality of nature affects our mental health
is not a new one, but it has not greatly affected the planning
of our urban and rural environments, nor the setting of public
health priorities.
In the UK, more than 80% of people live in urban areas
(Defra, 2004), though the greater growth is now in rural
areas. Urban settings by definition have less nature than rural
ones. And less green nature means reduced mental well-being,
or at least less opportunity to recover from mental stress. As
natural green environments have increasingly come under
pressure from economic development, so it seems our own
wellbeing has suffered as a consequence. Today, stress and
mental ill-health are becoming more common, and the
associated public health costs are growing.
The World Health Organisation estimates that depression
and depression-related illness will become the greatest source
of ill-health by 2020. This is partly because some other
behaviours, such as smoking, over-eating and high alcohol
consumption, are likely to be coping mechanisms for mental
ill-health and stress, and have their own serious consequences.
In addition, many urgent physical health challenges, including
obesity and coronary heart disease, are also connected to
sedentary lifestyles. Yet it is known that physically active
people have a lower risk of dying from coronary heart
disease, type II diabetes, hypertension and colon cancer. In
the UK, there is evidence for a dramatic fall in physical
activity over the past 50 years.

3.2 Bill Bryson Interview.

Bill Bryson Fact-file
Where’s he from?
Bill Bryson was born in Iowa, USA, in 1951.
Why is he over here then?
A backpacking expedition in 1973 brought him to England
where he met his wife and decided to stay and be a journalist
and writer. Having gone back to the United States in 1995 he
returned to live in Norfolk in 2003.
So what’s he done?
He is arguably most famous for writing autobiographical
travel books (Notes from a Small Island, Notes from a Big
Country) as well as books on language and science (The
Mother Tongue, A Short History of Nearly Everything) but
has spent much of his life as a journalist for The Times and
The Independent.
I see. So is he any good?
In 2006 he was awarded an OBE for his contribution to
literature adding to the numerous awards he has had for his
work. His writing is often funny and insightful as well as
being quite accessible.

Wow, that’s pretty good. So how come he likes litter then?

He doesn’t! Having always been fascinated by British heritage
and the beauty of its countryside he became President of the
Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) in May 2007,
establishing an antilittering campaign across the country. The
campaign is going from strength to
strength and he knows young people play a huge role in
reducing litter, so that’s why he interviewed with UK Youth
Parliament .

Bill Bryson is a world famous author and President of the

Campaign to Protect Rural England. Albert Simango (Deputy
MYP Kingston upon Thames) and Jack Mayorcas (UKYP
London PG Rep) met up with him to talk about his current
anti-litter campaign ...
“Walking in the countryside is so beautiful,
why would you want to make it ugly?”
How did you come to be President of the Campaign to
Protect Rural England and what made you want to get
involved in this campaign?
I just got really annoyed about litter. Walking in the
countryside is so beautiful, why would you want to make it
ugly? I didn’t know how to run a campaign so I approached
the Campaign to Protect Rural England and they invited me
to be their President. I am quite actively involved with the
organisation but being President is a ceremonial role like
being a symbol or a frontman.
There have been other antilitter campaigns before, what is
different about this one that you feel will be able to make a
clear difference?
I think the moment is right for this sort of campaign. There
are lots of people who feel the same way about litter and
want to do something about it. We are going to push hard
and get people to join the crusade and I believe there is a real
chance the message will get through. We want a clean, tidy
Britain.
Did you ever drop litter when you were young?
I can honestly say I have never littered through choice. There
are times when we are in a position where we are forced to
though - I recently got stopped at St Pancras when I tried to
take my coffee through security to get on the Eurostar. They
made me put my coffee cup on the floor! Where appropriate,
authorities have more of a duty to provide waste bins.
Research showed that one of the major reasons for young
people dropping litter was laziness, how can we tackle such
a problem?
We need to explain through intelligent advertising campaigns
that there is a consequence to dropping litter. Just as if you
are caught speeding and you get points drivers who drop litter
out of their car windows should get given 3 points on their
driver’s licence.
If somebody drops litter what does it say about them?
It says that they aren’t thinking. I can’t see why you
wouldn’t want to keep the countryside looking lovely. It
doesn’t make sense. People appreciate a clean environment.
You wouldn’t expect to check into a hotel room and be faced
with an unmade bed!
We as a nation are behind with schemes such as bottle
returns and charging for plastic bags, why do you think this
is?
I think British society can be conservative. Whilst that is
often a great thing and means that historical buildings and
traditions are really well preserved, it can sometimes mean
that as a nation things take time to change. It is the duty of
the younger generation to take it forward and make changes.
What do you think is the main problem facing young people
of our generation, besides littering and flytipping?
I think life used to be easier when I was your age. I think
education is a really big issue facing young people. You have
to be a lot more serious about it. It is also much harder to be
an immigrant these days. When I first got here it was easy!
 Vocabulary Study
health the general condition of your สุขภาพ

body and how healthy you are

well-being a feeling of being comfortable, การมีสุขภาพดี

healthy, and happy

physical related to someone's body เกี่ยวกับร่างกาย

rather than their mind or

emotions

mental relating to the health or state of เกี่ยวกับจิตใจ

someone's mind

benefit an advantage, improvement, or ผลประโยชน์ ส่วนดี

help that you get from

 something

depend on to need the support, help, or ขึ้นอย่่กบ

ั

existence of someone or
something in order to exist, be
healthy, be successful etc [=
rely on]

irrespective used when saying that a ไม่คำานึ งถึง ไม่สำาคัญ

particular fact has no effect on

a situation and is not
important:

recover to get better after an illness, เส้นกำาหนดจุด

accident, shock etc

consequenc something that happens as a ผลที่เกิดขึ้นภายหลัง

e result of a particular action or

set of conditions

consumptio the amount of energy, oil, การบริโภค

n electricity etc that is used

cope to succeed in dealing with a รับมือ ต่อส้่ ดิน

้ รน

difficult problem or situation

obesity when someone is very fat in a อ้วนมาก

way that is unhealthy

sedentary spending a lot of time sitting ในลักษณะการนั่ ง

down, and not moving or

exercising very much

diabetes a serious disease in which there โรคเบาหวาน

is too much sugar in your
blood

fact a piece of information that is ความจริง

known to be true:

expedition a long and carefully organized การสำารวจ

journey, especially to a
dangerous or unfamiliar place,
or the people that make this
journey

arguably used when giving your opinion แสดงความคิดเห็นที่

น่ าจะเป็ นจริง
to say that there are good
reasons why something might
be true

autobiogra one based on the author's own เกี่ยวกับ

phical experiences อัตชีวประวัติ

journalist someone who writes news นั กหนั งสือพิมพ์

reports for newspapers,

magazines, television, or radio

contributio something that you give or do การบริจาค อุดหนุน

n in order to help something be

successful

numerous many มากมาย

campaign a series of actions intended to ยุทธการ การรณรงค์

achieve a particular result

relating to politics or business,
or a social improvement:

litter waste paper, cans etc that ขยะ

people have thrown away and

left on the ground in a public
place

[= rubbish, trash, garbage]

appreciate to understand how serious or เห็นคุณค่า

important a situation or
 problem is or what someone's
feelings are [= realize]

Recalling Information
1.Is Bill Bryson born British?
Suggested answer : No.
2.Where was he born then?
Suggested answer : He was born in Iowa U.S.A.
3.When was he first came to England?
Suggested answer :He first came to England in 1973.
4.Where did he meet his wife?
Suggested answer : In England.
5.Where does he live now?
Suggested answer :He lives in Norfolk, England now.
6. Based from Bill Bryson’s opinion, the British society is
quite a very ………………. society.
Suggested answer : conservative
7. Does conservative means not liking changes or not very
modern in style, taste etc?
Suggested answer : Yes.
8.Who was the President of the Campaign to Protect Rural
England?
Suggested answer :Bill Bryson.
9.Did he work for American newspaper?
Suggested answer :No.
10. In UK more than how many percent of people live in
urban area?
Suggested answer :More than 80 %.