Read the article and think about a suitable heading for it.

A man at a Las Vegas fast food restaurant nearly died after he ordered a “Triple Bypass Burger”. The man was dining at the aptly named Heart Attack Grill – a fast food restaurant that specialises in cholesterol packed food. He was eating a 6,000-calorie hamburger called a “Triple Bypass Burger” when he suffered cardiac arrest. The restaurant owner, Jon Basso, had to call an ambulance and the customer was taken to hospital. The burger contained over 3 kg of beef, 12 slices of bacon, cheese and a “unique special sauce” full of saturated fats. Mr Basso told Fox News how much distress his customer was in: “The gentleman could barely talk. He was sweating, suffering,” he said.

The Heart Attack Grill hit the headlines for its attitude to dining. Some of the high-fat meals on the menu contain as many as 10,000 calories. There is even a warning on the door that the food is bad for your health. Customers at the restaurant are called “patients” and the waiters and waitresses take “prescriptions” as orders. Patients who weigh more than 158 kg get to eat for free. Mr Basso had a special TV commercial promoting his restaurant. He tells people: “I personally guarantee a stable increase of body weight.” The ad warns of possible side-effects that include; “repeated increase of wardrobe size, back pain, male breast growth, loss of partners, tooth decay and…in some cases, death may occur”.

(http://busyteacher.org)

Post-reading tasks

Decide if these statements are true or false.

1. A man who ate a burger named after heart surgery had a heart attack.

2. The man cooked the burger himself at home.

3. The burger contained more than 3 kg of beef.

4. There was also a special sauce that went with the burger.

5. The Heart Attack Grill restaurant has meals with up to 10,000 calories.

6. The restaurant tells customers its food is not bad for their health.

7. The restaurant owner promises customers they won’t put on weight.

8. A warning with the food says customers may need bigger clothes.

2. Discuss the following questions with your partner:

1. Do you think the government should close such types of restaurants?

2. Which side-effect of eating too much food do you think is the worst?

3. Is there a problem of people being too overweight in your country? How serious is the problem? Should anything be done with it?

4. In your opinion who is to blame for obesity in different countries?

5. How easy is it to change your diet so that it becomes healthy?

6. What excuses do people make for not changing their diet?

Vocabulary

FOOD IDIOMS

 

Look at the sentences and match the expressions with their meanings. Make up 3-5 sentences using idioms from the exercise.

1. I thought I was just going to interview the secretary, but they let me talk to the big cheese himself.

2. Teaching at the university is my bread and butter.

3. Rick wants to be rich but he doesn’t want to work. He wants to have his cake and eat it too.

4. He had the ball, but he dropped it! What a butterfingers!

5. I thought I was afraid of flying, but I was cool as a cucumber all the way to England.

6. We invited the cream of the crop to entertain us at the Christmas party.

7. You're going to have to really use your noodle on this crossword puzzle. It's very difficult!

8. I'm nuts about classical music these days.

9. Your daughter is one smart cookie. She reads much higher than her grade level

10. Don’t worry! This test is piece of cake. I finished it in twenty minutes.

11. Fred will never ask Lucy for a date. He is a chicken.

12. I don't know beans about computers - I've never even used one.

13. He never phoned his mother. He was a bad egg.

14. She should get out more, she's turning into a real couch potato.

15. When Harry lost his job, he was really in the soup.

16. This contract is small potatoes, but it keeps us in business till we get into the real money.

17. He'll go bananas if she sees the room in this state.

 

a) a cowardly person

b) to earn money to live

c) easy, simple

d) a lazy individual, addicted to television-watching.

e) somebody who often drops things

f) an important influential person

g) а person who cannot be trusted

h) use your brain

i) something or someone insignificant

j) like a lot

k) to be in serious trouble

l) want more than you need

m) the best

n) to become very angry

o) to know nothing about something

p) very relaxed

q) a very intelligent person

(Adopted from http://busyteacher.org/)

Grammar Focus