Students Book

2
Pac-Man
While children these days
spend hours playing the latest
sophisticated games on their
computers, consoles and TV sets,
it’s worth remembering the kind
of electronic games that were ‘in’
when their parents were young.
Back in the early 1980s, children
used to queue up in amusement
arcades eagerly waiting for their turn to put 10p in the video
machine and play a game of Pac-Man. Pac-Man was a yellow
circle with a cheese-shaped wedge missing and you had to steer
him around a maze of dots until you had eaten all the dots up.
All the time you were being chased by four ghosts (which even
had names!) and if they caught you, that was ‘game over’.
However, if you ate one of the four ‘power pills’ found in each of
the corners of the maze, then you could turn the tables for a while
and eat the ghosts for maximum point scoring.
Created by a Japanese video-game designer, Toru Iwatani, who
used to be a designer for the Namco software company, Pac-Man
became one of the most famous and addictive of the original
arcade video games. It is still loved today all over the world.
3
Yo-yos
There can’t be
many toys that
have been
around as long
as the yo-yo. Early examples have been
discovered in Greece and date from around
500BC. In the 16th century the yo-yo was
used as both a toy and a hunting weapon in
the Philippines and, by the 17th century, it
had caught on in many European countries.
In 1928, a Filipino-American called Pedro
Flores started the first yo-yo factory in the
USA, but it was an American businessman,
Donald Duncan, who saw the great potential
of the toy. He bought the factory from
Flores and, by 1962, he had sold 65 million
yo-yos in a country that had only 40 million
children.
Although the yo-yo had its heyday back in
the 1950s, it is a toy that regularly finds
itself back in fashion and each year various
yo-yo competitions are held all over the
world. Like the toy itself, the yo-yo fad is one
that keeps bouncing back.
3 Grammar
would and used to
a Complete the sentences from the text.
Habits and repeated actions
1 Men, women and children
spend hours staring into books.
2 Back in the early 1980s, children
queue up in amusement
arcades.
States
3 Toru Iwatani be a designer for
the Namco software company.
b Complete the rule with used to and
would.
RULE: When we talk about habits and
repeated actions in the past we can use
or .
If we talk about a permanent state
or situation (with verbs such as be /
think / love / have / want, etc.), we
can only use .
c Look at the
sentences. Cross
out would when
it is not possible
to use it.
1 I would / used to have an electronic pet
called a Tamagotchi.
2 I would / used to love it a lot.
3 I would / used to feed it every morning.
4 I would / used to sing it to sleep at night.
5 I would / used to think it was my best friend.
6 I would / used to take it everywhere I went.
7 I would / used to want nothing else.
8 I would / used to play with it for hours.
d Work with a partner. Talk about the toys
you played with when you were small. Use
would and used to.
I used to spend hours playing with …
When I was young, I would …
UNIT 4 33