Reading

• What do you see in the picture?

• Which is the tourist destination mentioned in the brochure?

• What caught your attention about the place?

• Who is organising the tour?

• Where is the local travels and tours agents located?

To learn more about skimming and scanning visit the following website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/skillswise/skimming-and-scanning/zd39f4j

World champion Nikhat Zareen clinched the gold medal for India in the women’s 50kg light flyweight division at the 2022 Commonwealth Games by winning the final bout comprehensively, here on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Indian defeated Northern Ireland’s Carly McNaul, a silver medallist from Gold Coast 2018, by unanimous decision. Nikhat won three of her bouts at Birmingham 2022 5-0 and one via RSC (referee stops contest).

In a close-range contest, the two boxers traded blows early on but Zareen prevailed with her combinations early on. With a mix of left hooks and crosses, the Indian contained the 33-year-old Carly McNaul in the opening round.

Carly McNaul continued to fight at close range and resorted to a lot of clinching even as the Indian boxer countered McNaul’s attacks. However, the efforts in the first two rounds were enough for Nikhat who went into evasive mode in the final round and sealed the bout and her maiden CWG medal.

Reading Comprehension Questions

1. Who won gold medal for India in Commonwealth games 2022?

2. For which category did she won gold medal?

3. Where did she win three of her bouts?

4. Whom did the Indian contain?

5. Give a title for the passage

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(1) A large number of people testing positive for COVID-19 at home is one reason experts think the current case numbers may be big underestimations. This year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed the way it monitors COVID-19 risk in the US to include measures like hospitalization numbers, health care capacity and the level of virus in our wastewater. But knowing the case count in your community can still be an important tool when deciding whether it's safe to go to a movie theater or dine indoors...

(2) Even though it may not make it into the US COVID-19 case counts, the CDC encourages people who test positive to report that result to their health care provider (or public health department, if they don't have a primary care doctor), if only to gauge their individual risk of COVID-19 and see which treatments are available. Here's what to do if you test positive for COVID-19 at home, and a brush-up on isolation and quarantine guidance.

(3) If you take an at-home rapid test and it turns up positive, assume you have COVID-19. While it's true at-home rapid tests are less sensitive than the "gold standard" PCR tests (about 10% to 20% less sensitive, according to Hackensack Meridian Health), and more likely to give you a false negative result, positive results from self-tests are "highly reliable," according to the CDC.

(4) There are two important steps to take after a positive home test result. Follow the CDC guidance on isolation (or be even more cautious) Once you test positive, you should follow the CDC's guidance for isolating (staying away from others if you're sick or test positive for COVID-19). A big caveat, though, is that some experts think that the CDC is a little too relaxed in its guidance. Some say people should be advised to take a negative test before leaving isolation -- prior to day 10, for example. The CDC doesn't explicitly say this.

(5) The Washington Post reports that the CDC may even update its guidance, as rapid home tests are now more available than they were when the agency originally wrote its recommendations. New guidance would perhaps even help accommodate the nuanced cases like that of President Joe Biden, who tested negative, then positive again in a rebound case of COVID-19, then tested negative again.

(6) Regardless of your vaccination status, the CDC advises staying home for at least five days, with day zero being the day that you tested positive. You should also isolate from people in your home, or wear a well-fitting mask if you can't avoid others. You can end your isolation after five days, as long as your symptoms are gone or improving and you've been fever-free for at least 24 hours. However, you should still wear a mask and avoid travel for at least 10 days. Also, it's best to avoid contact with people at higher risk of severe COVID-19, like older adults.

(7) Report to your doctor or health department. If you test positive with an at-home COVID-19 test, call your primary care doctor, Althoff said. Not only will your doctor be able to direct you to treatments like Paxlovid if you're at high risk for severe COVID-19, but in some cases, your clinician will have a system at their disposal that allows them to funnel a self-reported test result into official COVID-19 counts.

(8) But it's a lot less likely your COVID-19 result will end up in your state's official count than if you were to test positive a second time at the doctor's office, or at a mass testing site or clinic, according to Althoff.

(9) Many states have mandated the reporting of COVID-19 test results, Althoff said, but those tests are typically done in clinical settings. The information coming from a laboratory that processes a PCR test, for example, then goes straight to the health department; these are "established systems," she says. Even if you report a test from home to your health department, it's often lacking necessary data needed for an official report per the CDC. "The data element itself and the data structure are different," Althoff said.

(10) Still, you should call your health department or doctor to report a positive at-home test result. (Here's a list of health departments in the US.) You can also check in directly with your county or city to see if it has a more direct way to report a test result. Some areas, like Washington state, have direct hotlines for reporting an at-home COVID-19 positive.

https://www.cnet.com/health/medical/test-positive-for-covid-at-home-heres-what-to-do/

Fill in the Blanks

1.This year, the __________________________________ changed the way it monitors COVID-19 risk in the US

2. the CDC encourages people who test positive to report that result to _________________________________

3. At-home rapid tests are less sensitive than the "gold standard" _____________________________

4. ______________________ and _______________________ are two important steps to take after a positive home test result.

5._____________________________ who tested negative, then positive again in a rebound case of COVID-19, then tested negative again.

6. Day zero being the day that________________________________

7. If you test positive with an at-home COVID-19 test, ______________________________, Althoff said

8. Many states have ______________________ the reporting of COVID-19 test results

9.Still, you should call your ____________________________to report a positive at-home test result.

10. Some areas, like________________________, have direct hotlines for reporting an at-home COVID-19 positive.

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(1)A million plastic bottles are purchased around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021, creating an environmental crisis. Some campaigners predict this will be as serious as climate change. The demand, equivalent to about 20,000 bottles being bought every second, is driven by an apparently insatiable desire for bottled water and the spread of a western, urbanised culture to China and the Asia Pacific region…

(2) Most plastic bottles, which are used for soft drinks and water, are made from Pet plastic, which is highly recyclable. But as their use grows rapidly across the globe, efforts to collect and recycle the bottles to keep them from polluting the oceans, are failing to keep up. For instance, fewer than half of the bottles bought in 2016 were collected for recycling and just 7% of those collected were turned into new bottles. Instead most plastic bottles produced end up in rubbish dumps or in the ocean.

(3) Whilst the production of single use plastics has grown dramatically over the last 20 years, the systems to contain, control, reuse and recycle them just haven’t kept pace. In the UK 38.5 million plastic bottles are used every day – only just over half make it to recycling, while more than 16 million are put into rubbish dumps, burnt or leak into the environment and oceans each day… Last month scientists found nearly 18 tonnes of plastic on one of the world’s most remote islands, an uninhabited place in the South Pacific.

(4) The majority of plastic bottles used across the globe are for drinking water, according to Rosemary Downey, head of packaging at Euromonitor and one of the world’s experts in plastic bottle production. China is responsible for most of the increase in demand. The Chinese public’s consumption of bottled water accounted for nearly a quarter of global demand… India and Southeast Asia are also witnessing strong growth, which is bound to cause problems in the future for the planet.

(5) Major drinks brands produce the greatest numbers of plastic bottles. Coca-Cola produces more than 100 billion single use plastic bottles every year – or 3,400 a second, according to analysis carried out by Greenpeace. The top six drinks companies in the world use a combined average of just 6.6% of recycled Pet in their products, according to Greenpeace. A third have no targets to increase their use of recycled plastic and none are aiming to use 100% across their global production.

(6) Plastic drinking bottles could be made out of 100% recycled plastic, known as RPet – and campaigners are pressing big drinks companies to radically increase the amount of recycled plastic in their bottles. But brands are hostile to using RPet for cosmetic reasons because they want their products in shiny, clear plastic. The industry is also resisting any taxes or charges to reduce demand for single-use plastic bottles – like the 5p charge on plastic bags that is credited with reducing plastic bag use by 80%.

(7) Coca Cola said it was still considering requests from Greenpeace to publish its global plastics usage… “We continue to increase the use of RPet in markets where it is feasible … 44 countries of the more than 200 we operate in.” Greenpeace said the big six drinks companies had to do more to increase the recycled content of their plastic bottles. “During Greenpeace’s recent exploration of plastic pollution on remote Scottish coast, we found plastic bottles nearly everywhere we went,” said Louisa Casson, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace. “It’s clear that the soft drinks industry needs to reduce its plastic waste.”

source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/28/a-million-a-minute-worlds-plastic-bottle-binge-as-dangerous-as-climate-change

Paragraph 1 Sample Notes taken

• A million plastic bottles bought worldwide in 1 minute

• This number will jump to 20% in 2021

• Campaigners predict this serious like climate change

• 20000 bottles bought every second

• Desire for bottled water remains

• Reason- spread of western urbanised culture to China & Asia Pacific

Take notes while reading the rest of the paragraphs

The Blue Umbrella- Ruskin Bond

NEELU! Neelu!” cried Binya.

She scrambled barefoot over the rocks, ran over the short summer grass, up and over the brow of the hill, all the time calling “Neelu, Neelu!” Neelu—Blue—was the name of the blue-grey cow. The other cow, which was white, was called Gori, meaning Fair One.

They were fond of wandering off on their own, down to the stream or into the pine forest, and sometimes they came back by themselves and sometimes they stayed away—almost deliberately, it seemed to Binya.

If the cows didn’t come home at the right time, Binya would be sent to fetch them.

sometimes her brother Bijju went with her, but these days he was busy preparing for his exams and didn’t have time to help with the cows.

Binya liked being on her own, and sometimes she allowed the cows to lead her into some distant valley, and then they would all be late coming home. The cows preferred having Binya with them, because she let them wander.

Bijju pulled them by their tails if they went too far. Binya belonged to the mountains, to this part of the Himalayas known as Garhwal.

Dark forests and lonely hilltops held no terrors for her. It was only when she was in the market-town, jostled by the crowds in the bazaar, that she felt rather nervous and lost. The town, five miles from the village, was also a pleasure resort for tourists from all over India.

BINYA seldom closed the blue umbrella. Even when she had it in the house, she left it lying open in a corner of the room. Sometimes Bijju snapped it shut, complaining that it got in the way. She would open it again a little later. It wasn’t beautiful when it was closed.

Whenever Binya went out-whether it was to graze the cows, or fetch water from the spring, or carry milk to the little tea shop on the Tehri road-she took the umbrella with her. That patch of skyblue silk could always be seen on the hillside.

Old Ram Bharosa (Ram the Trustworthy) kept the tea shop on the Tehri road. It was a dusty, unmetalled road. Once a day, the Tehri bus stopped near his shop and passengers got down to sip hot tea or drink a glass of curds.

He kept a few bottles of Coca-cola too; but as there was no ice, the bottles got hot in the sun and so were seldom opened. He also kept sweets and toffees, and when Binya or Bijju had a few coins to spare they would spend them at the shop. It was only a mile from the village.

Ram Bharosa was astonished to see Binya’s blue umbrella.

“What have you there, Binya?” he asked.

Binya gave the umbrella a twirl and smiled at Ram Bharosa.

THE rains set in, and the sun only made brief appearances. The hills turned a lush green. Ferns sprang up on walls and tree trunks.

Giant lilies reared up like leopards from the tall grass. A white mist coiled and uncoiled as it floated up from the valley. It was a beautiful season, except for the leeches.

Every day, Binya came home with a couple of leeches fastened to the flesh of her bare legs.

They fell off by themselves just as soon as they’d had their thimbleful of blood, but you didn’t know they were on you until they fell off; and then, later, the skin became very sore and itchy.

Some of the older people still believed that being bled by leeches was a remedy for various ailments. Whenever Ram Bharosa had a headache, he applied a leech to his throbbing temple.

Three days of incessant rain had flooded out a number of small animals who lived in holes in the ground. Binya’s mother suddenly found the roof full of field rats.

She had to drive them out; they ate too much of her stored up wheat flour and rice. Biju liked lifting up large rocks, to disturb the scorpions who were sleeping beneath. And snakes came out to bask in the sun.

Reading Comprehension Quiz

https://quizizz.com/admin/quiz/5f59bab181052f001cba46ee/the-blue-umbrella-quiz

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Roopna Ravindran