Unit 5 test vocabulary and grammar paper you have 10 minutes

Part 2 Listen to the radio interview and choose the correct answer, A, B or C.

5. 
   The Mabaan tribe's unusual ability to hear comes from the fact that they ...
   

A whisper a lot. B speak to each other at a distance. C live in a natural environment.

6. 
   Alan's advice to young people about listening to music is to ...
   

A use a low volume. B stop if possible. C listen on an MP3 player.

7. 
   Alan says that his exercise will show you how ...
   

A strong your hearing is. B much noise there is around us. C unusual sounds are. Part 3Listen to the radio interview and decide if each sentence is Correct (C) or Incorrect (I).
8 The senses of an old person are not as strong as those of a young person. C / I
9 Sight and hearing are the only senses affected by age. C / I
10 Eating salty and sugary foods improves your sense of taste. C / I
TASTE MATTERS!

Five basic tastes are recognised by the tongue's taste buds: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. The last taste - umami - was discovered by a Japanese scientist called Kikunae Ikeda. The Japanese word umami means something like the English word 'savoury' and it is a common taste in Japanese cooking, but it is also found in meat and tomatoes. It was only accepted as a basic taste by other scientists when, after many experiments, they found that umami could not be produced from any combination of the other four basic tastes.

Apparently, humans are born liking sweet-tasting foods and disliking those which are bitter. It seems that we dislike bitter-tasting foods in order to protect us from consuming foods which are bad for us. Poisons are bitter, so a message is sent to the brain by the taste buds to be cautious about eating bitter substances. On the other hand, we like sweet tastes because they mean the food contains sugar, which gives us energy. Salty tastes are also pleasant because they show that the food contains sodium, which is also important for our survival. Sour tastes mean that fruit is not ripe yet or that it contains a lot of acid (like lemons), so it would be best not to eat too much of it or it might result in stomach ache. Finally, savoury tastes show that the food contains the essential substance protein, which is used by the body in order to grow and build strength.

Nevertheless, taste isn't everything. Believe it or not, you can't guess the flavour of food using only your tongue. Think about the last time you had a cold and your nose was totally blocked − could you fully appreciate the flavour of the food you were eating? The answer is, of course, no. The tongue can recognise the basic taste (whether the food is sweet or salty, for example), but the flavour (whether the fruit you are eating is a strawberry or a pineapple) is decided by a combination of the senses of taste, smell, touch and sight. Even the temperature of a food, or whether or not a food causes a burning sensation − as hot chillies do, for example − affects our understanding of its flavour.