Lost...

and Found

Englishman &
Irishwoman

Reading I
Think
about
it!

track

Do you often lose things? Why? Which objects do you lose most frequently? What was
the last thing you lost and then found? Whats the most valuable thing youve ever lost?
How did it happen? How do you decide where to put things?

Lost... and Found

Answers
on
page

The results of a survey on the things we cant stop losing!

45

Pre-reading

Look at this list of objects. Which ones have

you lost? Which ones do you lose frequently?

Keys

Mobile
phone

Umbrella

Glasses
Sunglasses

Batteries
Gloves

Passport

Coat

ID card

Socks
Laptop /
e-reader /
tablet

Jewellery
2

Slippers

Reading I

Watch

Which objects from the Pre-reading task are

the most frequently lost? Think. Then, read
the article once to compare your ideas.
3

Reading II

Read the article again. Then, write T (true)

or F (false) next to each statement.
1. Organisers of the study spoke
to 3,000 people.
2. Coats and diaries were the most
frequently lost items.
3. Some people blamed work
colleagues for losing things.
4. Abbie Gale suggests always
putting things back where you
found them.
5. Some people in the survey said
they spent two hours a day
looking for things.

hen was the last time you lost something? What

was it? According to a recent survey, we spend
about ten minutes a day looking for lost things.
Over an average lifetime, this adds up to an incredible 3,680
hours (or 153 days). Is there anything we can do about it?
The study of 3,000 adults was carried out by home
insurance company esure. They found that mobile phones
and car keys were the most frequently lost items. Other
things on the list included:
house keys, bills, receipts, sunglasses, glasses, purses,
wallets, hairbrushes, gloves, umbrellas, bank cards, train or bus tickets, coats, diaries, personal
organisers, batteries, passports, ID cards, software installation CDs, caps, hats, laptops, watches,
socks, jewellery (particularly rings and earrings), shoes, slippers, tablets and e-readers.
So, whats going on? Most blame it on a hectic lifestyle, says Nikki Sellers, the head of esure.
Others say its the fault of spouses or children for not putting things back where they belong.
A few admitted to untidiness, absent-mindedness and a poor
GLOSSARY
add up to exp
memory, with more than half wishing they were more organised.
to total; to be the total
So, whats the solution? You need to assign a place for
something and always put it back there, said self-help
guru Abbie Gale. And you need to make sure
everyone else in the house knows where to put it
back too. You also need to keep your house tidy,
label boxes clearly and designate a place near the
front door for all the items that you need in the
morning. A good idea would be to have a shelf
there with a bowl for your keys, purse, wallet and
anything else, she added.

If youre still having trouble finding things,
dont worry things could be a lot worse:
fourteen people in the survey said they spent over an
hour every day looking for lost items. Surely you cant
be as bad as that!

Where
is it?

Other tips for not losing things include

the following:
Immediately file phone numbers or business cards.
Put bills and receipts away as soon as you get them.
Write down the number of the parking space when you park
your car in a busy car park.
Attach a paging device to your keychain.
Keep your mobile on ringtone (not vibration), so you can call
it to find it.
Keep like items together and create boxes for them, labelling
them clearly: a Christmas box, a cables box, a box for old batteries, etc.
Never put keys, mobile phones or wallets on the table in restaurants.
Before you leave a bus or train, etc., turn around and look back at your seat
to make sure you havent left anything behind.

6 I www.hotenglishgroup.com Check out the interactive PDF offer. Visit: www.hotenglishmagazine.com

a bill n
a piece of paper that tells you how
much you must pay for something
a receipt n
a piece of paper that has
information about something you
have bought
a purse n
an object women use to carry their
money
a wallet n
an object men use to carry their
money
a ring n
a round piece of jewellery you put
around a finger
an earring n
a piece of jewellery that people
wear in their ears
a hectic lifestyle n
if someone has a hectic lifestyle,
they do many things and have no
time to relax
a spouse n
your spouse is your wife/husband/
partner
to belong vb
the place where something
belongs is the place where it
normally goes
untidiness n
the state of not being tidy: not
putting things back in the place
where they normally go
absent-mindedness n
if someone is suffering from absentmindedness, they often forget
things or cant remember them
a self-help guru n
an expert on how to be successful /
happy / rich / organised, etc.
to label vb
if you label an object, you
put a piece of paper on it with
information about it
to designate vb
if you designate a place for an
object, you choose that place for
that object and say it must go there