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Night Shift Work

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night shift workFor this exercise about night shift work, you read the text and choose the correct answer to each of the five questions. It provides practice for this reading section of the Cambridge English B1 Preliminary exam. 

About 5-10 minutes.Reading Skills.Expanding stage.
Enhanced Accessibility.
TextVocabulary
Read the text about night shift work and then answer the questions that follow.

Night Shift Work

Many people have jobs that are not very interesting, but a lot of people have to work at night, and this is very difficult. When everybody else is getting ready to go out, they have to go to work, and this puts a lot of psychological stress on them. It is also not very healthy because the human body is designed to be active in the day and to rest in the dark. If this cycle is reversed it can have a bad effect on a person's health. So, why do people do the night shift?

Nowadays many businesses have to offer a 24-hour service, like hotels, delivery companies, some supermarkets are open all night and all day, call centres and hospitals. It is true that some people only need a few hours of sleep at night but the majority need eight hours. Humans are most active in the middle of the day, and the time when they are least able to concentrate and be efficient is between 2 am and 4 am.

This is the worst time to drive or to do anything that needs concentration. The body finds it very difficult to adapt to the opposite cycle. Things are not likely to get better in the future because more and more businesses are working 24-hour cycles to keep in step with our 24-hour society.

1. What is the writer's main aim in writing the text?

Question 1 of 5

2. What does the writer say about night jobs?

Question 2 of 5

3. What would a reader learn about sleep from the text?

Question 3 of 5

4. What does the writer say about the future?

Question 4 of 5

5. Which of the following could also be a title for this text?

Question 5 of 5


 

Here are new words and phrases from this exercise for the B1 Preliminary Part 3 reading section of the test:

  • businesses
  • call centres
  • concentrate
  • delivery companies
  • efficient
  • healthy
  • hospitals
  • humans
  • in the dark
  • night shift work
  • opposite cycle
  • psychological stress
  • society
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Part 1 - Read five real-world notices, messages and other short texts for the main message.

Part 2 - Match five descriptions of people to eight short texts on a particular topic, showing detailed comprehension.

Part 3 - Read a longer text for detailed comprehension, gist, inference and global meaning, as well as writer’s attitude and opinion.

Part 4 - Read a longer text from which five sentences have been removed. Show understanding of how a coherent and well-structured text is formed.

Write about 100 words, answering the email and notes provided.

In addition, we add listening and speaking exercises in order to practise for this part of the A2 Key test.

Part 3 - Gap-Filled Exercise

The B1 Preliminary Speaking test has four parts and you take it together with another candidate. There are two examiners. One of the examiners talks to you and the other examiner listens.

The more words you encounter and understand, the broader your day-to-day vocabulary will become. Our word games and puzzles are an excellent way to help to reinforce spellings in your mind.
Especially helpful are exercises that are focussed on a theme or topic as these provide word retention practice so you can be confident to read, write, speak and listen successfully.

Cambridge English Examinations:

Cambridge English exams are designed for learners at all levels from the pre-intermediate level Cambridge English: Key (KET) to the very advanced level Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE). These exams give candidates proof of their ability to use English in a wide variety of contexts, relevant to work, study and leisure activities.

A2 Key | B1 Preliminary | B2 First

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