What makes us human?

Tense review • Describing people

Reflexive pronouns • Idioms of extreme emotion
Overview of phrasal verbs • Reading: Robots versus humans

Tense review
Check your tenses
1 Complete each sentence with a correct form of the verb
above, simple or continuous, active or passive, positive
or negative.

think spend

1 What are you thinking about? You look depressed. 13 We the whole holiday looking out at this
rain. It’s miserable.
2 Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I it
would upset you so much. 14 How long deciding which dress to wear?
We have to leave in ten minutes.
3 Tom, I maybe we should move house.
What you? 15 Do you have any idea how much the government
so far on the new high-speed rail link?
4 He told me he couldn’t give me an answer now. He
said he about it. 16 I just wonder how much by the time it’s
finally finished?
see
find
5 Hi, Paula! How are you? I you for ages.
17 How you the film? Was it
6 I can’t make the meeting tomorrow - I as funny as the critics said?
the doctor for a check-up.
18 She told me that she it very difficult not
7 you that? That guy nearly to laugh in all the wrong places.
knocked that girl off her bike!
19 He to have lied time and time again to
8 The police said the suspect trying to the police.
board a plane at Birmingham airport.
20 I think you that it’s too hot for you in
Dubai in August.
feel

9 How you about going to say

live in Australia? Are you still excited about it?
21 Well, as I when I was so rudely
10 I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. I interrupted, I think you’re mistaken.
myself recently.
22 It that no one will ever know the truth
11 I’m sorry Mrs Jones, but it by the about what happened.
teachers that we have no option but to expel Tom.
23 I it again, just as I it many
12 Jack’s exam is about to start. I can just imagine how times before, you’re not going to an all-night party.
he.
24 There’s something for answering your
emails immediately.
6 Unit 1 • What makes us human?
Correcting mistakes Active or passive? Which sounds better?
2 There is one mistake in each of the sentences below.
The passive is used when:
Find it and correct it.
• the subject is unknown.
No one knows when music was invented.
My phone's been stolen!
• we want to focus on the object of the sentence rather than the
subject.
Calls and songs are used by birds to communicate.
Hamlet was written by Shakespeare between 1599 and 1601.
• we want to sound more impersonal and distance ourselves from
the facts.
500 workers will have to be made redundant.
(We'll have to make 500 workers redundant.)

3 Most of the sentences below (but not all) would sound

better in the passive. Decide which ones and rewrite them.

1 Someone built this bridge in 1897.

2 A secretary has invited my grandfather to a garden

party at Buckingham Palace.

3 The invention of fire gave humans the ability to cook.

4 Nobody must take reference books from the library.

1 Humans are unique among primates in that they are

walking upright. 5 Alexander Graham Bell was a scientist. He invented
2 It’s great to hear from you, Jill. What have you been the telephone in 1876.
doing since I’ve last seen you?

3 I hated school. Perhaps I’d have liked it if I was more 6 They say a Bulgarian scientist has discovered a drug
popular.
which prevents ageing.
4 Why haven’t you told me that you don’t like fruit cake?

5 I was going to go to the theatre last night, but then I 7 Someone wants you in reception immediately. They’ll
heard that the performance will be cancelled. ' tell you what it’s about.
6 The forecast said unsettled, so take your umbrella in
case it’s raining.
8 An avalanche buried eight people in Austria.
7 His mother was putting him to bed early because he
had been naughty.

8 I won’t make your party, I’m afraid - I’ll visit my 9 People know him to be a very good judge of character.
grandmother in Scotland.

9 If you’re seeing Jane at the weekend, are you inviting

10 The police have finally recaptured the violent robber
her to my party, please?
who has been on the run for a week.
10 He wasn’t thinking of celebrating his retirement, but
he’s now deciding it’s a good idea.

Unit 1 • What makes us human? 7

Reflexive pronouns
Reading
4 Complete the sentences with the correct
verb from the box and a reflexive pronoun. Robots versus humans
i om Read and listen to the article about the latest robot
apply behave busy content fancy
experiments. Choose the best summary of the text.
help kick dress
a Robots will one day be superior to humans.
b Humans have started to create robots that are more like humans.
c Robots are now developing human emotions.
d Robots are particularly good at competing with humans in
the arts.

2 Read the text again. Answer the questions.

1 According to the writer, why did humans invent robots?
2 Who or what is Emily Howell?
3 What does 'EMI' stand for? Why did it anger composers?
4 How does the software program ‘The Painting Fool’ choose
its mood?
5 Who is Simon Colton? What does he want?
6 Has Adam won the Nobel Prize? Who is Eve?
7 Why does the writer say we are fascinated by robots?

3 Read these statements. There is one for each paragraph. Replace the
words in italics with how they are expressed in the text.

1 Humans readily acknowledge that robots

function better in some areas than they do.
1 After the accident he couldn’t dress
himself for a while.
2 Emily Howell launched herself onto the music
2 Kids, you must__________________________ scene. Her onlyfailing was that she was a
when we go into the museum. computer.

3 If you’d like another sandwich, please just

3 Professor David Cope supplied unprocessed facts and figures to
the computer about composers in history.
4 She to the task
of reaching the top of the career ladder at 4 Emily Howell’s music is modern and causes
her firm. arguments because she is competing against
5 We thought we had a chance of winning humans.
that rowing race, but unfortunately we had
to with second 5 ‘The Painting Fool’ software program refuses to
place. paint if it is feeling fed up.

6 They in the
6 Computer creativity is not just limited to
kitchen with preparations for the party.
the arts. Scientists have worked together and
7 She as a world created Adam, the world’s first computer scientist.
famous film star and fashion icon, but she’s
not actually a very good actress. 7 What will happen if the robot experiment gets out of control
? Can scientists close down
8 I didn’t pluck up the courage to ask her out
these machines?
on a date. Silly me! I could
I

8 Unit 1 • What makes us human?

 What makes a robot human?
What are the traits of a robot? Robots It is not only in the world of music that computers are
are tireless, reliable, unemotional, making creative waves. Similarly, the art world is coming
and unquestioning. That to terms with a program called ‘The Painting Fool’ - a laptop
is, after all, how they are software program which has learned how different artistic styles
programmed. We invented and colours can represent moods
robots and computers to and emotions. Again, the program
be our faithful servants, absorbed many years of art history
to do the things that we and, like Emily Howell, came
couldn't or didn’t want to up with its own contemporary
do ourselves. In so many style. The computer first reads
areas robots perform the newspaper in order to set its
better than humans, ‘mood’ for the day. Then it chooses
and we accept this with an adjective to reflect that mood,
good grace because they and does a portrait of a real person
are only robots and we with that adjective in mind. After
are the superior ones. that, it looks at its own work to see
The one thing they can't if it has achieved the objectives it
do is be human. They set out for itself, and if it thinks the work isn’t good enough, it
can’t feel, emote, create, tries again. And sometimes, if it’s in a very bad mood, it won’t
or love. paint at all! Because the program operates in different ‘moods’
and has the ability to analyse its own abilities as a human might,

2 However, our notion of what it is to be a human versus

a robot is currently being challenged by the latest
co-creator Simon Colton wants it to be recognized as an artist in
its own right.
experiments in computer programming. Take, for instance, the
area of creativity. A little while ago, a new and exciting composer Computer creativity is not just confined to the arts,
called Emily Howell broke onto the music scene. Her music however. British
was original, beautiful, and contemporary and two albums were scientists have collaborated
released. Emily’s only flaw? She was someone’s computer. on a big project to come up
with a laboratory machine

3 The human responsible for Emily, American professor

David Cope, has worked on robot creativity for many
that can think for itself.
Adam is the world’s first
years. He had originally attempted to code a computer robot scientist. Adam acts in
program which wrote music. The results were predictably the same way as a human
terrible. So he gave up writing rules for the computer and scientist: he comes up with
instead just fed raw data into it for the computer to analyse a hypothesis, he devises
itself. Cope eventually produced a computer that could analyse experiments to test this
any composer in history and then write an entirely new work hypothesis, conducts his
that sounded just like how that composer would have written it experiments, analyses the findings, and then retests accordingly
himself. He called it EMI - Experiments in Musical Intelligence. - all without the need for human intervention. Although not yet
a Nobel Prize winner, Adam has already produced some original

4 Composers were outraged, and musicians refused to

perform EMI’s works. Undaunted, Cope tried a less
research into genetics. The same scientists are now developing
another robot called Eve, and she will be twice as clever!
controversial approach. He formed a new database of only
the new work that.EMI had created. This he fed into his new
computer program, Emily Howell, and from that point she began 7 So are these robots becoming like us? Part of our
fascination with robots is that it makes us actually question
working on her own musical style. What is interesting is that what it means to be human. And ultimately, we are their
her music is contemporary. Like other modern composers, she creators. If the whole experiment gets out of hand, we can just
has learned from the past to create music for our time. Emily is pull the plug on these machines, can’t we? Unless - as in scary
unfortunately even more controversial, as she is now competing science fiction movies - our robots decide that they no longer
with humans in their own creative field. need us ...

Unit 1 • What makes us human? 9

 Phrasal verbs
An overview of phrasal verbs 2 Complete the sentences with the words in brackets in the
correct order. In which of the sentences is more than one
A phrasal verb is a verb + particle (an adverb or a preposition). order possible?
They can be literal or idiomatic, separable or inseparable.
1 I like my sister, but I don’t
Type 1: Verb + adverb {my brother I on I get I with).
• There is no object (intransitive).
He walked in and sat down. 2 Don’t{out I that magazine I
What time did John finally turn up? throw) - I haven’t read it yet.
Type 2: Verb + adverb + object (transitive) 3 I’m going to{with I meet I up I
• The adverb can be separable, but not if the object is Gio) when I’m in Barbados.
a pronoun.
Please, hand out the books/hand the books out/hand them out. 4 Walking on two legs{humans
We put off the meeting/put the meeting off/put it off. , hands I up /freed) for using tools.
Type 3: Verb + preposition + object (transitive) 5 Why are you so critical? You’re always
• The preposition is inseparable. ________________ {me I at / getting)'
He ran after the dog/ran after it.
They took to their new teacher/took to her immediately. 6 Mike’s{his phone / off I switched)
Type 4: Verb + adverb + preposition + object (transitive) so I can’t{through / him / to / get).
• The adverb and preposition are inseparable. 7 You’re doing well -{up / the good
Henry went out with Kate for six years.
work / keep)'.
Kate broke up with him last week.
8 Did you{her address / down /
write)? I can’t remember it.
1 Read these sentences and decide if the phrasal verbs are
used correctly. Correct the mistakes. 9 We couldn’t think of a name for the new product, but
Marcus{up / a great idea / with /
1 My brother loves going to the gym. He every day
came).
works out.
10 It’s time to write my essay. I can’t
2 I really liked Sues sister. I took her to straightaway.
{it / off/ put) any longer.
3 We ended up putting his friends up for the whole
weekend.
4 I tried ringing several times yesterday, but I couldn’t
get to you through.
5 I don’t speak Spanish at all well. I thought I’d easily
pick up it living in Madrid, but I didn’t.
6 He was lucky to get away with just a fine for such
dangerous driving.
7 They’re not going on holiday. They fell through
their plans.
8 We contacted the company about the delay and they
are looking it into.
9 I think she has a weak immune system. She’s always
coming down with something or other.
10 Do you think they’ll ever stop travelling and settle
together down?

It's for panic attacks. Hand them

out to people you meet.

10 Unit 1 • What makes us human?

Vocabulary Word formation
3 Complete the table with the correct forms of
Describing people the words.
1 Choose the two adjectives that can best complete each sentence.
Adjective Noun
1 snobbish smug conceited
1 curious
He never shuts up about himself. He’s smug /conceited and
arrogant. 2 _____________ delight
3 sarcastic
2 supportive incompetent encouraging
4 _____________ indignation
My co-workers were really when I started my new
job. I was so grateful for their help. 5 modest
6 _____________ gratitude
3 bubbly determined energetic
She’s such a / an character and great company. She 7 furious
cheers me up. 8 _____________ offence

4 patronizing condescending indifferent 9 determined

He’s so- he always makes me feel silly and self- 10 affection

conscious. 11 relieved

5 outraged undaunted indignant 12 charm

Rose was about his comments on her work. She

found him unnecessarily rude.
4 Choose the correct form of the words.
6 offended distraught anxious 1 I’m full of grateful I gratitude for everything
I was really when Sarah said that. She’s forever you’ve done for me.
hurting my feelings.
2 Harriet was indignant I indignation at the
way Claude spoke to her.
Idioms of extreme emotion
3 Several of my neighbours expressed curious I
2 Replace the words in italics with an idiom from the box. curiosity about my new flatmate.
Change the form where necessary.
4 Be quiet! I’ve had enough of your sarcastic I
totally lose it be beside yourself sarcasm remarks.
be completely blown away be absolutely gutted 5 I love Jane’s modest I modesty - she never
be bored rigid be thrilled to bits boasts about her talents.
make such a fuss
6 You need to be more determined I
determination if you want to succeed.
1 I had flu and I couldn’t get to my best friend’s birthday party!
I was terribly disappointed . , 7 I’m afraid your charming I charm won’t
make me change my mind.
2 I was overwhelmed by his performance.
I never knew he could sing like that! 8 I’m sorry if I sounded rude - please don’t
take offended I offence.
3 They were distraught with grief when their
dog died.

4 I tried to watch the documentary about Ancient Greece, but I

wasn't remotely interested in it.

5 Guess what? Remember that job I applied for? I got it! I’m
absolutely delighted.

6 Look, you only spilt a little bit on your suit. And it’s only water.
Stop complaining - its nothing.

7 He was so late we missed the movie. And not for the first time!
I exploded with anger.

Unit 1 • What makes us human? 11