Summarize Spoken Text : Exercise 1

Why and to what extent should parents control their children’s TV watching? There is certainly nothing inherently wrong with TV. The problem is how much television a child watches and what effect it has on his life. Research has shown that as the amount of time spent watching TV goes up, the amount of time devoted not only to homework and study but other important aspects of life such as social development and physical activities decreases.
Television is bound to have it tremendous impact on a child, both in terms of how many hours a week he watches TV and of what he sees. When a parent is concerned about the effects of watching television, he should consider a number of things: what TV offers the child in terms of information and knowledge, how many hours a week a youngster his age should watch television, the impact of violence and sex, and the influence of commercials.
What about the family as a whole? Is the TV set a central piece of furniture in your home! Is it flicked on the moment someone enters the empty house? Is it on during the daytime? Is it part of the background noise of your family life? Do you demonstrate by your own viewing that television should be watched selectively? Since television is clearly here to stay. it is important that parents manage their children’s TV viewing so that it can be a plus rather than a minus in the family situation.

Watching too much television has negative effects on important aspects of children’s life and it is not the television but the way that parents manage their children’s TV watching, including the time they spend on, the programs they watch and even how the family deal with the TV, that matters.

There are basically two types of auctions: ascending-bid auctions and descending-bid auctions. Ascending-bid auctions start out with a low bid for an object. The price of the object is gradually raised until only one bidder remains. By contrast, descending-bid auctions start out with a high bid and the price is progressively lowered until a customer expresses a willingness to purchase the object. Both procedures have a number of variants. For example, in some types of auctions a professional auctioneer declares the suggested bids. In other types of auctions, however, the customers make their own bids. Another variant, used at places such as eBay or Yahoo Auction, is called a “buyout option”. A high price for an item is declared. Anyone willing to pay that price is guaranteed a purchase. This variant seems to appeal consumers who dislike uncertainty: for a fixed price they are guaranteed an object. “Buyout options” are most commonly used if the seller has a stock of several copies of the same item.

Both ascending-bid and descending-bid auctions can be conducted in either open or closed formats. In open formats, all participants know what exactly how much an object is going for. For example, at many Japanese fish markets, wholesalers gather around the fish to be purchased and raise their hands as the auctioneer names progressively higher prices. In closed auctions, participants are unaware of how much other participants are willing to pay for an object.

The issue of weight loss is a tricky one. A lot of people are unhappy with their present weight, but most are not sure how to change it. You may want to look like the models or actors in magazines and on television but those goals might not be healthy or realistic for you.

Weight management is about long-term success. People who lose weight quickly by crash dieting or other extreme measures usually gain back all, if not more, of the pounds they lost because they have not permanently changed their habits. Therefore, the best weight management strategies are those that you can maintain for a lifetime.

This means that if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you have to change much more than just what you eat. You have to change how and when you eat. Equally important, you have to start exercising or exercise more often. Most people who lose weight and keep it off do three things. First, they find out why they are overweight. Second, they follow a healthy eating plan. Third, they exercise regularly.