King’s College London Pre-Sessional Programme
Understanding Numbers and Statistics: Supersize Me
TASK A
Whether you are studying humanities, social sciences or physical sciences, you will often work with
numbers and statistics.
Listen carefully for stressed syllables, since many numbers sound similar but have different stress
patterns (A). Also listen for number group markers such as hundred, thousand and million (B).
Finally note that the word and usually comes before tens units (C). For example:
(A) 13 – thirteen vs. 30 – thirty
(B) 34, 832 – thirty-four thousand, eight hundred and thirty-two
256, 375 – two hundred and fifty-six thousand, three hundred and
seventy-five
18, 035, 699 – eighteen million, thirty-five thousand, six hundred
and ninety-nine
(C) 263 – two hundred and sixty-three
Now listen to the EIGHT numbers that your tutor dictates. Use digits to record them.
1.
5.
2.
6.
3.
7.
4.
8.
TASK B
Note that dates (years) are said differently. This has become even more complicated since the
turn of the 21st century! For example:
1900
1901
1908
1910
1915
1999
2001
2005
2013
Nineteen hundred
Nineteen oh one
Nineteen oh eight
Nineteen ten (NO and)
Nineteen fifteen
Nineteen ninety-nine
Two thousand and one
Two thousand and five
Two thousand and thirteen
TASK B (cont’d)
Think of five important years in your life or for your country, e.g. the year you were born, the year
your country gained independence, etc. Explain the significance of each year to your partner.
Make a note of your partner’s years and their significance in the box below. Then check
that you have recorded the years correctly by reading them back to your partner.
TASK C
Now look at how decimals, fractions, powers and square roots are said.
Decimals
4.6 = four point six
0.04 = (nought) point nought four
Fractions
⅛ = an/one eight
¼ = a/one quarter
½ = a half
¾ = three quarters
2½ = two and a half
Powers
32 = three squared
123 = twelve cubed OR twelve to
the power of 3
95 = nine to power of 5
Square roots
√64 = the square root of 64
√10 = the square root of 10
Write:
a/one third _____
three eighths _____
3 and a quarter ______
You are going to listen to a watch a short video entitled ‘Supersize Me’1.
1. What do you anticipate the video clip will be about?
2. Do you eat healthily? What junk food do you eat?
TASK D
1
Link is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H156Z08Pck0
Now read the transcript of the recording and predict what kind of number (digit, percentage,
fraction, decimal, date etc.) is missing in each gap. Can you guess the actual value of each?
Everything's bigger in America, we've got the biggest cars, the biggest houses, the biggest companies, the
biggest food, and, finally, the biggest people. America has now become the fattest nation in the world.
Congratulations.
Nearly _________ Americans are today either overweight or obese. That's more than _________ of all
U.S. adults. Since _________, the total number of overweight and obese Americans has doubled, with
_________ as many overweight children and _________ times as many overweight adolescents. The
fattest state in America? Mississippi, where _________ people are obese. I grew up in west Virginia,
currently the _________ fattest state in America. When I was growing up, my mother cooked dinner every
single day. Almost all my memories of her are in the kitchen. And we never ate out, only on those few, rare
special occasions. Today, families do it all the time, and they're paying for it - not only with their wallets,
but with their waistlines.
Obesity is now _________ only to smoking as a major cause of preventable death in America, with more
than _________ deaths per year associated with related illnesses. In _________, a few Americans got fed
up with being overweight and did what we do best. They sued the bastards. Taking aim at the fast-food
companies and blaming them for their obesity and illnesses, a lawsuit was filed in New York on behalf of
two teenage girls, one who was _________ years old, 4'10", and _________ pounds, the other, _________
years old, 5'6", and _________ pounds. The unthinkable had suddenly become reality. People were suing
the golden arches for selling them food that most of us know isn't good for you to begin with yet each day,
_________ Americans visits a fast-food restaurant.
And this hunger for fast food isn't just in America. It's happening on a global basis. McDonald’s alone
operates more than _________ joints in over _________ countries on _________ continents and feeds
more than _________ people worldwide every day. That's more than the entire population of Spain. In the
United States alone, McDonald’s accounts for _________ of the total fast-food market. They're everywhere
-Wal-Mart's, airports, rest stops, gas stations, train stations, shopping malls, department stores, amusement
parts, even hospitals. That's right -- hospitals. At least you're close when the coronary kicks in.
Lawyers for McDonald's called the suits "frivolous", stating that the dangers of its food are universally
known and that these kids can't show that their weight problems and health woes were caused _________
by their McDiets. The judge states, however, that if lawyers for the teens can show that McDonald's intends
for people to eat its food for _________ of _________ and that doing so would be unreasonably
dangerous, they may be able to state a claim.
Are the food companies solely to blame for this epidemic? Where does personal responsibility stop and
corporate responsibility begin? Is fast food really that bad for you? I mean, what would happen if I ate
nothing but McDonald's for _________ days straight? Would I suddenly be on the fast track to becoming
an obese American? Would it be unreasonably dangerous? Let's find out. I’m ready. Super-size me.
TASK E
Now watch the video and complete the gaps with the correct number. Do any of the numbers
surprise you? Which ones? Why?