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I was at a restaurant the other day with couple of friends and one of them suggested we went Dutch. As none of us had much money we all agreed but it got me to thinking about why we use this expression. Of course what it means is that each person pays his share of the bill and nobody tries to foot the whole bill. We also say it is a “Dutch treat” when we “go Dutch”.

The origins go back to a time when the people of Holland and the people of the UK weren’t such good friends as they are today; in fact they were at war. During the seventeenth century the Dutch and the British were enemies fighting to control the spice trade and they fought three wars between 1652 and 1674. During wars the propaganda machines do their best to demonise the enemy and to make them seem as nasty as possible so everyone will hate them. The Dutch were depicted as mean and bad tempered and therefore unlikely to ever invite anyone to a meal.

There were quite a number of other expressions slandering the Dutch but another that has survived to this day is “Dutch courage.” This is bravery that is induced by alcohol. Perhaps you might see an attractive person you wanted to ask out for a date but you felt too shy to ask him or her. Your friend might say:

“Have a glass of wine to give yourself some Dutch courage and then go and ask”

I have a very good Dutch friend, who is, in fact, very generous and next time I have a drink with him I must ask him if Dutch people have similar expressions about the English. Most people don’t realize the origin of “Dutch treat” and “Dutch courage” and nobody really takes offence. However some expressions like these are offensive stereotyping and you should take care when using them.

Glossary

go Dutch (a Dutch treat) - each person pays his own way

foot the bill - pay the bill

demonise - to represent as evil

slander -  tell lies about

Dutch courage - the feeling of bravery after drinking alcohol

stereotyping - oversimplified generalising

Read

This reading test contains 7 questions. You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
To make it more authentic, download the test and do it with pen and paper.

Read the passage below and answer questions 1-7.

The Right and Left Brain

It is common today to identify, in some way, with one side of the brain.  You may think, for example, that you are more ‘right brain’ than ‘left’.  When we make such statements, we are referring to the fact that the two halves of the human brain deal with information from the senses, and hence the world, in different ways. In general, the left hemisphere is responsible for our processing of language and logic and the right deals with aspects of thought like emotions and spatial relationships.  The hemispheres also control our movements, though the left hemisphere controls the right side of our bodies, and vice versa. 

The fact that the two hemispheres of the brain work in different ways on different tasks is a relatively new discovery.  That discovery was made by a psychobiologist named Roger Sperry and it won him a Nobel Prize in 1981.  Sperry uncovered the inner workings of normal brains by studying the brain function of people who had a certain kind of brain damage.  In most brains, the two halves are connected by the corpus callosum, a bundle of millions of nerves, which serves as a ‘bridge’ of sorts between the two hemispheres, allowing them to communicate with each other.  The people Sperry studied had had their corpus callosa cut, and because of this, their left and right brains couldn’t exchange information. 

In a famous experiment, Sperry showed one such subject two pictures.  The subject saw a picture of a knife with his right eye (controlled by the left brain) and a picture of a spoon with his left eye (controlled by the right).  When asked to name what he saw, the subject said knife, because it is the left brain that deals with language and the naming of things.  However, when asked to reach over with his left hand to a nearby table on which was placed both a knife and a spoon, and choose, without looking, the object he saw, the subject chose the spoon.  This is because his left eye (controlled by the right brain) saw the spoon and his left hand (also controlled by the right brain) chose this rather than the knife.  The subject himself was not at all conscious of the fact that he was seeing and choosing two different objects. 

Until recently, it was thought that there was a strict division of labour.  Today, however, we are aware that, for example, while the left brain is responsible for most of the language functions, the right brain plays a role in some language functions like following a story and interpreting humour.  Tasks such as face recognition require both halves in different ways.  Unfamiliar faces are interpreted and processed by the right hemisphere while familiar faces are processed and recognized by the left.  Similarly, non-musicians will interpret a melody with their right brain, but musicians will process music with their left.

Questions

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write your answer in box 1-7 on your answer sheet.

1)    The right hemisphere of the human brain is responsible for

A. The right side of the body

B. Language

C. Emotions

D. Touch

2)    Roger Sperry studied

A. The corpus callosum

B. People with abnormal brains

C. People with normal brains

D. The connection between vision and touch

3)    The corpus callosum

A. Is only found in abnormal human brains

B. Is found between the two hemispheres

C. Is part of the left hemisphere

D. Is where memory is stored

4)    Roger Sperry’s experiment shows that

A. One half of the brain processes language and the other processes touch

B. People see differently with each eye

C. The two hemispheres of the brain function in different ways

D. People are not conscious of the left and right halves of their brain

5)    The subject of the knife / spoon experiment

A. Was not aware that he was seeing two images

B. Thought the spoon was a knife

C. Could not tell the difference between a spoon and a knife

D. Was unable to process visual information accurately

6)    The example in the last sentence about musicians demonstrates that

A. The left side of the brain deals with familiar material

B. The left side of the brain processes music more efficiently

C. Musicians are born with more developed left brains

D. Listening to music requires both halves of the brain

7)    Which of these statements is true?

A. We now know that the left and right brain function similarly

B. We now know that the left and right brain function completely separately

C. We now know that the left and right brain may both be involved in a task, though one side may be more involved than the other.

D. We now know that the left and right brain may both be structurally different.

Answers

1) C

2) B

3) B

4) C

5) A

6) A

7) C

Advice / Hints

Read the qustions first to have an idea of what you need to pay attention in the passage.

It is important to read each paragraph with care at first. Then scan the passage for your answers.

Downloads

To save these files to your computer simply right click on the title and select 'Save Target As...' from the menu.

The Right And Left Brain Test

Answer sheet

Questions

This is Writing Task 2 of Academic Writing.
To make it more authentic, download the test and do it with pen and paper.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people think that in countries with high unemployment, the retirement age should be lowered to allow more young people to get jobs.

What would be the advantages and disadvantages of doing this?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Answers

Advice / Hints

Writing Task 2 is an essay in which you have to present your arguments, express your opinions or show how to solve a problem. It carries more marks so spend more time on it. Study the question carefully and highlight the key topic words. Write a plan and decide your main points or topic sentences on your question paper. Introduce the topic, present your points of view and end your essay with a conclusion.

In this mock paper, be sure to present both the advantages and disadvantages.

Download

To save this file to your computer simply right click on the title and select 'Save Target As...' from the menu.

Retirement Age Test

Blog

I was watching TV the other day and I heard someone describe a new computer they had bought as Mickey Mouse.

“I bought this Mickey Mouse computer the other day – it only cost me a hundred pounds.”

I’m sure you know Mickey Mouse the Disney character, but what about Mickey Mouse the adjective?

The adjective sense actually developed during the Second World War, after a large quantity of low quality counterfeit Mickey Mouse watches flooded the UK and from then on anything that was seen to be cheap, of a low quality or unsophisticated was described as Mickey Mouse!

Glossary

Mickey Mouse (adj.) - cheap, low quality

counterfeit (adj.) - fake, an illegal copy

flooded the UK - not literally a flood, but watches appeared in large numbers all over the UK