Литература

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Литература

Содержание The fascination of reading. Newspapers in britain Why don’t british schoolchildren want to eat fruit and vegetables? Stone soup The giant panda Different english Thanksgiving day Endangered animals The musical glass. Shopping on the internet

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Questions:

1. What is this text about?
   
2. What did they do when the brothers were at home?
   
3. What did Danina remember of her mother?
   
4. Where did her father go to make the arrangements?
   
5. Do you like the story? Why?
   

2. Read the text and say if children started to read less and why. Are you keen on reading? Who are your favourite writers? Which of their books do you like best?
   

THE FASCINATION OF READING.

Crispin is 16. He likes sport and he’s good at school. He likes studying languages but… he’s never read a whole book.

Crispin is only one of the young people, who, according to surveys, have never managed to go through a book from beginning to end.

Crispin and his friends aren’t stupid or ignorant. They know how to read perfectly well and they’ve read a great number of short pieces: stories, fables, cartoons and teenage magazine articles… but the pleasure of reading has never motivated them to choose a book and to read the whole of it.

Crispin’s case worries a lot of adults: parents and teachers, children’s writers and editors. The number of young people who aren’t reading is increasing. Even though they’ve got interesting books at home suitable for their age group and school libraries full of possibilities.

Why do children today read so little? There are a lot of reasons. Some say television is to blame. For others it’s the fault of schools which don’t teach children to appreciate literature and its wonders. One children’s writer says:

“At the age of 7, I read a whole book alone for the first time. For me it was a great victory. I discovered that the words and signs on the pages became a real, exciting story in my head. For me it was as good as winning a hard basketball match.”

Perhaps Crispin and his friends read so little because they’ve never really tried hard to do it.


Билет № 11

1. Read the text and answer the questions.
   

NEWSPAPERS IN BRITAIN

If you get on a bus or catch a train in Britain, especially during the morning and evening "rush hour", you'll see a lot of people reading newspapers. The press tells us about various political views, interest and levels of education. Papers are usually divided into "quality" papers which are serious with long, informative articles and "popular" which have smaller size. They are less serious and contain more human interest stories than news.More daily newspapers, national and regional are sold in Great Britain than in most other developed countries. There are about 135 daily papers and Sunday papers, 2000 weekly papers and about 100 papers produced by members of ethnic groups. A lot of people buy a morning paper, an evening paper and a couple of Sunday papers. On an average day two out of three people over the age of 15 read a national morning paper, about three out of four read a Sunday paper. So it's not surprising to learn that national newspapers have a circulation of 15.8 million copies on weekdays and 19 million on Sunday Newspapers are almost always financially independent of any political party. However during general election campaigns many papers recommend their readers to vote for a particular political party. Ownership of the national London and regional daily newspapers is concentrated in the hands of large press publishing groups.


Answer the questions.

1. What does press tell us about?
   
2. What kinds of papers do you know?
   
3. What circulation do national newspapers have?
   
4. Who is the owner of newspapers in Britain?
   
5. Is information given by newspapers always reliable?
   

2. Read the text and say why British schoolchildren hate eating fruit and vegetables. What food do they prefer? What are your eating habits?
   

WHY DON’T BRITISH SCHOOLCHILDREN WANT TO EAT FRUIT AND VEGETABLES?

There’s nothing wrong with having a can of Coke every now and then but four cans a day is asking for trouble. Did you know that a can of Coke contain about eight teaspoons of sugar and artificial sweeteners? As a result, many modern kids suffer from such illnesses as diabetes, cancer and teeth decay. And, of course, there are more and more children who are extremely overweight or even obese.

Unfortunately school dinners play an important role in this sad situation. Often school dinners offer overcooked vegetables as the ‘healthy’ option against more appealing pizza, chips and burgers. ’My school mostly sells chips with everything you can think of – pizza and chips, chips and cheese, chips and gravy… it does of course sell some healthy things but the thing is they look extremely boring!‘ says 13-year-old Anna Smith.

In Britain, children can either choose to bring their own lunch or buy their lunch at school. Children from poor families can have free school dinners but many of them don’t take them for various reasons. Here are some of the common complaints: ’I hate my school dinners. The food is so disgusting.’

‘I never have school dinners because it’s the same food day in, day out.’ ‘Our dinners are always cold!’


Билет № 12

1. Read the text and answer the questions.
   

Running a business can be stressful at any age, but when you're just 15 and have to juggle it with going to school and doing your homework, it's even more remarkable. And that's exactly what young entrepreneur, Luisa Bundy, designer of a range of soft toys called Little Bundles, has done. It all started when Luisa's mother bought her some modelling clay for her 12^th birthday and she began experimenting with making small model figures based on her friends at school. The first batch went down a storm, and her friends encouraged her to make more. So she did, handing them out at Easter instead of eggs. As word spread around the school, Luisa introduced a form so she could take orders during the day and make the figures over the weekend. Her mother used to come to find piles of order forms spread out on the kitchen table. She thought Luisa was going to get into serious trouble for doing business in the playground. But teachers' names were on the order forms too.

Two years later, Luisa had made 13,000 Little Bundies. Prior to this, she had spent most weekends and holidays researching craft fairs across the south of England. At one fair she sold 250 figures in an hour at £2 a go. And she even researched the number of people that usually turned up to each fair, so she know exactly the number she needed to make for the customers there. When she noticed that the majority of customers were buying the toys as gifts she designed a range of gift cards to accompany them.

At this point, the volume of work was becoming overwhelming and she decided to seek advice from Sir Richard Branson, who had begun his Virgin empire as a teenager. On his advice she set up Bundy Creations Ltd, with her mother as director.

Last year they took on the cost of exhibiting at a craft fair in the north of England and it paid off. They were spotted by a major toy manufacturer, which quickly signed the figures to a three-year soft toy licensing deal. According to the manufacturer, they have already practically sold out.


Answer the questions.

1. How old was Luisa when she first started making clay models?
   
2. Did the first figures she made get a positive reaction at school?
   
3. How did she know how many people would come to the gift fairs?
   
4. Who did Luisa contact to ask for advice?
   
5. Who discovered Luisa's model figures at a gift fair last year?
   

Билет № 13

1. Read the text and answer the questions
   

STONE SOUP

One day an old man whose clothes were very old came to a woman’s house. He looked terrible. “Excuse me”, said the old man, “I’m thirsty and very hungry. Could you give me some food, please?” But the woman was very greedy.

“Go away”, she said, “I haven’t got any food”, “Oh”, said the old man. “That’s a pity. I’ve got a magic stone. I can make soup with it. But I need some water”. “Well, I’ve got a lot of water”, said the greedy woman. “A magic stone, oh?”

She brought a big pan of water. The old man put the stone into it. After a while he tasted the soup. “M-m-m-m. It’s very good,” he said, “it just needs some vegetables. It’s a pity you haven’t got any vegetables”.

“Oh, I can give you some vegetables”, said the woman. She ran away, and soon brought some potatoes, carrots and other vegetables. The old man put the vegetables into the pan. “Is it all right now?” asked the woman. “Yes, but it needs some meat”. “Oh, I have some”, said the woman and ran away. She came back with some meat, and the old man put it into the pan.

“Right”, said the man. “I can’t see the stone now. So the soup is ready. Bread is very good with stone soup. It’s a pity you haven’t got any bread”. “Oh, I’ve got some bread”, said the woman. She went away and soon came back with some bread in her hands. She put it on the table.

The woman tasted the soup. “M-m-m-m. This stone soup is very tasty, and you have made it with that magic stone”.

When they ate the soup, the old man said: “Here is the magic stone. You can keep it”.

“Oh, thank you”, said the woman. But remember”, said the old man, “for the best soup you need some meat, vegetables and some salt, too”.


Questions:

1. How did the old man look like?
   
2. Why did he ask for some food?
   
3. What kind of soup did he make?
   
4. Why did the old man decide to make a stone soup?
   
5. How can you characterize the old man?
   

2. Read the text and say if you accept Ramit’s life values. What are your life values?
   

LIFE AT THE TOP

Ramit is the son of an Indian mobile-phone millionaire. He’s extremely tall and still growing. He eats an enormous amount, and only buys designer clothes. Ramit is not a shy boy – he knows what he wants and he usually gets it. “My dad once said I couldn’t have a BMW motorcycle, but I usually try to ask him for things face to face and he gives them to me in the end.” Ramit doesn’t to worry how much he spends. “I don’t want to boast but I have money – it’s experience I’m looking for,” he says. He likes spend his time bungee-jumping in Australia and going to night clubs in London. He lives in Delhi where his life is just as exotic. He and his younger brother have their own apartment in the family mansion. He has an expensive stereo, an exercise area and the very latest computer. The phone rings constantly and he has several servants to take care of his every need.


Билет № 14

1. Read the text and answer the questions
   

THE GIANT PANDA

An endangered species, the giant panda can only be found in the mountain bamboo forests of Western China. There are only about 1,000 wild giant pandas left in the world. Giant pandas are members of the bear family, and they are mammals. Even though giant pandas look just like bears, they certainly do not behave like bears. Unlike their meat-eating relatives, giant pandas are vegetarians for the most part of their time. Their favourite food is bamboo. Giant pandas must eat a lot of bamboo everyday to get enough nourishment. In fact, they spend at least 12 hours everyday eating about 33 pounds of bamboo. However, if they are extremely hungry and bamboo is nowhere to be found, giant pandas may eat grass, fruits, or sometimes, small animals like chicken.

Giant pandas do not live in groups. They are loners! They only leave their territory from March to May to look for a mate. Female giant pandas usually give birth to twins. Baby giant pandas are very small, blind, pinkish, and weigh about 5 ounces at birth. Strangely, mother giant pandas tend to choose to raise just one baby and leave the other to die. Mother giant pandas feed their babies with milk. A baby giant panda opens its eyes at six to seven weeks. It starts to learn how to walk when it is about three or four months old. Mother giant pandas look after their babies for about 18 months. Once the young is strong enough, it bids farewell to its mother and moves out to live independently. (1201)


Questions:

1. Where do pandas live?
   
2. What class of animals do they belong to?
   
3. What is the main difference between giant pandas and bears?
   
4. Why do young giant pandas leave their mothers when they are about 18 months?
   
5. Are there any other endangered species in the world? What are they?
   

2. Read the text and say if English is a widely spread language. Why is it important to study English?
   

DIFFERENT ENGLISH

English is spoken as a first language by several countries including Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and the United States. While all of these countries share the same mother tongue, there are some differences in the way they speak and write.

The first difference is in the accent. Each country has its own accent. And within each country there are a variety of accents called regional accents.

Another difference is the spelling of some words, like ‘colour’ and ‘colour’, or ‘theater’ and ‘theatre’.

And a third difference is that some of the words are not the same at all. For example, Americans say restroom, Canadians say washroom, and the British say W.C. (water closet.) But all of these words have the same meaning (the room where the toilet is located.)

So which English is the best English to learn? Well, there is no best English. They are all equally good and correct. But two things may help you decide which one is best for you to study.

First of all, where do you live? If you are from South America, for example, you will probably have more exposure to North American English. If you live in Europe, most likely you will be more exposed to British English.

But no matter where you study English or whether it's British, American, Australian, or whatever, it's good to know a little about English in other countries.


Билет № 15

1. Read the text and answer the questions
   

THANKSGIVING DAY

The story of America’s Thanksgiving begins with the Pilgrims. Early in the 17-th century, the Pilgrims left England in search of religious freedom. In 1608, they sailed to Holland. Then, in 1620, they crossed the Atlantic by ship called the Mayflower.

After sailing for many weeks, the Pilgrims landed at a place now called Massachusetts. They planted the seeds they had brought from England. But the seeds didn’t grow well, and there was so little food for the Pilgrims that many of them starved to death.

Luckily for the Pilgrims, some nearby Indians came to rescue. They taught the Pilgrims to grow native food such as corn. Without this help, the Pilgrims would not have survived.

After the first harvest, the governor of Plymouth Colony - William Bradford - suggested that the Pilgrims hold a feast of thanksgiving. And to their thanksgiving feast the Pilgrims invited the Indians. The Pilgrims were grateful to the Indians for helping the Colony survive. In addition, they hoped that the celebration would strengthen their friendship with the Indians.

Nobody knows the date of the first Thanksgiving feast. But we do know that the Pilgrims and Indians enjoyed a huge feast of deer, goose, duck, oyster, eel, bread, fruit, and corn meal pudding.

In 1789 George Washington declared that Thanksgiving would be a national celebration. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. (1163)


Questions:

1. 
   When did the Pilgrims cross the Atlantic Ocean?
   
2. Who taught them to grow native food?
   
3. How did the Pilgrims thank the Indians?
   
4. Why did the Pilgrims leave England?
   
5. What other American holidays do you know?
   

2. Read the text and say if there are a lot of endangered animals. What can we do to save rare species? What environmental organizations and groups do you know? Would you like to become a member of such a group?
   

ENDANGERED ANIMALS

What do the following animals have in common: pandas, rhinoceros, loggerhead turtles, Californian condors, pink pigeons, small tooth sawfish, and Siberian sturgeons? They are all endangered animals! Animals become endangered for a variety of reasons. Sadly, humans are behind every one of them! Here are three reasons.

Hunting: for centuries, humans have hunted elephants for their impressive tusks, killed tigers for their beautiful furs, and scooped up sturgeons to make caviar. While we still have elephants, tigers, and sturgeons in the wild, we cannot say the same about many others that have simply disappeared!

Loss of habitats: humans and animals have always competed for land and other natural resources. We clear an area of a forest for farming. We cut down trees and build beautiful houses. At the same time that we are trying to make our life comfortable, we inadvertently destroy the habitats of wild animals.

Pollution: more than once we have seen on televisions that rescue workers are trying to save seabirds soaked in spilled oil. More than once we have heard about how carbon dioxide and other gases have raised the Earth temperature and caused global warming. Pollution has a long lasting, and usually irreversible, effect. If we choose to do nothing and continue to pollute our planet Earth, our next generations will have to bear the consequences of abnormal weather and polluted environment.


Билет 16

1. Read the text and answer the questions
   

THE MUSICAL GLASS.

Mary Elizabeth loved music. She was happy when she heard lovely sounds. She waited to hear the birds sing outside her window in the spring. She listened for the cricket's song when she swept the hearth in her mother's kitchen. The horses passing her papa's store made a "clip clop" sound. That was a song to Mary Elizabeth. These songs made her heart fill with joy.

Mary Elizabeth had only one wish. She wanted to make music on her own. She couldn't sing very well. Her brother, Matthew, had said, "You sound like the cat when Nana stepped on its tail." She loved music so much. Why couldn't she make music on her own?

Mary Elizabeth knew where to go when she was sad. Her Uncle Ben Franklin could always make her smile. Best of all, Uncle Ben loved music just like Mary Elizabeth. One morning, Mary Elizabeth stood outside Uncle Ben's workshop. She could hear him humming to himself. She knew something fun was going to happen. She opened the door and saw Uncle Ben at his work table. Oh, no! What had happened? Broken glasses were everywhere. There were big glasses, little glasses, and middle sized glasses spread out on his table. Wait a minute. Only the stems that held the glasses up were broken off. What was Uncle Ben doing? Uncle Ben saw the puzzled look on Mary Elizabeth's face. "Come, little songbird," he said. "I will show you how we can make beautiful music. We will use what is broken. We can turn it into something good."


Questions:

1. What sounds did Mary Elizabeth enjoy?
   
2. What was her only wish?
   
3. Who made her smile and laugh when she was upset?
   
4. What did Mary hear while she was standing outside her uncle’s workshop?
   
5. Why was Mary puzzled when she opened the door and look at his table?
   

2. Read the text and say why people use the Internet to shop. What do you need to do the shopping on line? Why do people have to be careful making a purchase via the Internet? Can you go window-shopping on the Internet? What are the pros and cons of using the Internet?
   

SHOPPING ON THE INTERNET

Shopping on the Internet, or shopping on-line is becoming more and more popular. More and more people are using the internet to buy things. Why do people use the Internet to shop? Some people say it is more convenient. They don't have to leave their homes to order something, and they can shop for anything they want at any time, day or night. Other people say they can find things for sale that they can't find in the stores near their homes. Still other people say they can find better prices on the Internet.

If you want to buy something on the Internet, you need a credit card. You have to type your credit card number and information on the website and send it to the store over the Internet. You have to be sure that the store will not use your information in the wrong way. You don't want someone to get your credit card number and charge something to your account. Of course, you always have to be careful with your credit card number, because people sometimes steal credit card numbers from stores and restaurants too.

For people who are too nervous to shop on-line, the Internet is a good place to go window-shopping. Window-shopping is when you go to a store and look at the things for sale, but don't plan to buy anything. Window-shopping is easy on the Internet. You can see what kinds of products are available and how much they cost. You can visit stores with branches near you, or you can visit stores that are only on the Internet.


Билет № 17

1. Read the text and answer the questions