English Tests for Reading

Reading

1. Languages spoken in Britain

2. The origin or English

3. Modern language tendencies

4. Regional varieties of English

5. English in Australia

6. Global English

1. English is basically a Germanic language with a lot of Latin words in it. In simple terms, that means that the grammar and many of the most frequent words are Germanic and the more formal or technical vocabulary is Latinate. The linguistic mixture is a result of historical events. But the simple historical facts appear not to explain everything about the development of the language. One interesting question is why the British did not learn Latin from the Romans.

2. It came as a surprise to many people when a survey showed that 172 languages were spoken by children in London schools: Chinese, Turkish, Italian, Spanish, Punjabi, and others. Some of these, like the West African language Ga, only have a couple of speakers. But others like Punjabi, are quite significant linguistic community, with their own radio programms and newspapers, and classes for children – to ensure that they don’t forget the language of their grandparents.

3. A nasty shock awaits many visitors to Britain. Imagine you have learnt English for years, you can read newspapers and you have no problems following the television, but when you go into a shop in Newcastle you can’t understand a word they are saying. It is the accent, mostly the vowels, which gives the visitors a problem in the shop. Some accents are so strong that they present problems for British people, too. Intonation patterns also differ between regions.

4. Billions of people speak English, two-thirds of the planet’s scientists write in English , and over 80% of the world’s electronic information is stored in English. But not all the British are really self-satisfied about the status of their language. But they are quite well aware that today it is out of their hands: the reasons for the popularity of English are either lost in history, or something to do with the superpower on the other side of the Atlantic.

5. Let’s look at the speech of young people in Britain. Here we can find several interesting developments. One is a spread of a light London accent over much of the country. Another is an openness, through the media, to American and Australian influences. The Australian effect is quite recent, and the results from the huge popularity of Australian TV soap operas. It is the phrases, idioms and grammatical forms which are catching.

Reading

1 Why did people start the postal service?

2. What is snail mail?

1. Where did the first delivery system appear?

2. What are the advantages of e-mail?

3. What was the first stamp like?

4. How were the letters paid for?

1. For as long as humans have existed there has been a need to keep in touch and to transfer important information between people in different places. Before the invention of writing, oral messages were carried from one person to another between towns. Writing made it much easier to send longer messages; however, it was still difficult to make sure that your message got to the right place.

2. It was used by the Romans officials to transfer information throughout the Empire. Staging posts and a system with horses and carriages meant that messages could move quickly, by using many riders instead of one. It was very important for business and military reasons that good communication system existed. However, the Romans were not the first to realize this. The Chinese and Persian empires used systems of horses and riders more than 500 years before the Romans.

3. Before the invention of the postage stamps, letters were “franked”. It was marked on the letter that delivery had been paid for. This could have been either written or stamped. A post-mark was also stamped on the letter. Invented in 1660 in England, this was a mark that showed where and when the letter had been posted. It was used to see how long it took to deliver the letter – to make sure the service was reliable.

4. It is humorous term used by e-mail users for the old-fashioned letters-in-envelopes postal system. It means that such letters travel very slowly, which actually is rather unfair. In Britain you can send letters first or second class ones normally get to their destination, anywhere in the country, the next morning. The postal service is called the Royal mail, and all the British stamps have the head of the Queen.

5. They invented in Great Britain. It was a British man called Rowland Hill who proposed a stamp to be stuck on the letter to identify that postage had been paid. The first stamp was issued in 1840. It was called the Penny Black and the profile of Queen Victoria’s head was depicted there. The stamp cost 1 pence and was darkly colored. About 65 million Penny Blacks were issued, and nowadays it is not a very rare stamp.

Reader

The Humanity impacts on the Earth. How do we lessen it?

1. The global community has to make a crucial choice.

2. Several ways people influence nature.

3. Will the scientist’s prediction come true?

4. People can help the Earth maintain its balance.

5. A biologist’s opinion.

6. A scientist’s prediction about the new nature of our planet.

7. Human creativity will help to lessen impact on the Earth

1. Nearly seventy years ago, a soviet geochemist made a surprising observation: through technology and a great human numbers, he wrote, people were becoming a geological force, shaping the planet’s future just as rivers and earthquakes had shaped its past. Eventually the scientist, Vladimir Vernardsky, wrote that global society, guided by science, would soften the human environmental impact, and the Earth would become a planet of the mind, ”life’s domain ruled by the reason”

2. Today, a broad range of scientists say that part of Vernadsky’s thinking has already been proved correct; people have significantly altered the atmosphere and are the dominant influence on ecosystems and natural selection. The question now is whether the rest of his vision will come true.

3. Humans have realized the environmental damage of the last century. With the aids of satellites and supercomputers, they now have a real chance to balance economic development with the environment beginning with sustaining the Earth’s ecological systems.

4. “We’ve come through a period of finally understanding the nature and effect of humanity’s transformation of the Earth said William Clark, a biologist at Harvard university. “Having realized it, can we become clever enough to be able to maintain the rates of progress?” he asked. “I think we can”.

5. Some scientists say people can’t understand the living planet well enough to know how to manage it. But this problem attracts world leaders and thousands of other participants to summits where they discuss ways of sustainable developments. Communities and countries face choices that are likely to determine the quality of human life and the environment well into the 22^nd century.

6. Human activity has such a great influence on the planet’s ecology that it is no longer possible to separate people from nature. Emissions of carbon dioxide, whether from Ohio power plant or a Bangkok taxicab, contribute to global warming. Shoppers in Tokyo seeking inexpensive picture frames send people deep into Indonesian forests.

7. Experts conclude that the same inventiveness that accelerated human development can be used to soften human impact.

Reader

The True Medal

1. Quotes the athlete’s actual words to support the journalist’s opinions

2. Makes a prediction about the athlete’s future life

3. Informs the reader of future actions

4. Gives the journalist’s opinion on the events

5. Explains what caused the actions that are going to be taken

1. The Russian Olympic Committee will award Alexei Nemov with 40 000 as the athlete demonstrated not only an outstanding performance, but also an extremely strong will at the Athens Olympics, ITAR-TASS reported. In addition the Russian Federation of Journalists

Covering Sports will submit a request to the Fair Play International Committee to grant Alexei Nemov an award from their organization.

1. The Russian athlete became the victim of some unfair judges who gave him unreasonably low marks for his performance at the horizontal bar. The public in the Olympic stadium became indignant with the judges’ decision. For 15 minutes, spectators expressed their protest by shouting and whistling. It was not only Russians but also the sports fans of their nationalities, including Greeks, Italians, Germans, Americans, Japanese, Spanish and Canadians, who participated in this protest. The public recognition was the true medal for the Russian athlete.

2. The Russian delegation submitted a note of protest to the International Olympic Committee, but to no avail. However we will always remember him as a great gymnast as well as a great man who finished his athletic career with much dignity.

3. “I finished my career with dignity, just as I had hoped. I am grateful to my fans, who gave me a tremendous amount of support. It is true happiness for an athlete when the public understands what is really going on,” said the famous gymnast.

4. Being of such sound character, Alexei Nemov is sure to gain much success in his life beyond his athletic career.

William Shakespeare (1564s – 1616)

William Shakespeare, the greatest English writer of drama, was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon. We do not know everything about Shakespeare’s early life. But we know that he studied at the Grammar School in Stratford, and that lie became interested in the theatre when lie was still a boy.

In 1586 Shakespeare went to London, where he worked in the theatre for some years before he began to write his own plays.

Shakespeare soon became well-known in London literary circles. Every play that he wrote was good news to the people of the capital. Queen Elizabeth liked Shakespeare's plays, and the actors were often invited to play before the Queen and later before King James - a great honor in those days. By the end of the 16th century, Shakespeare and his friends had enough money to build their own theatre - the famous Globe Theatre.

But we must not think that Shakespeare had no difficulties in his life. Less talented writers, whose plays were worse than his, often quarreled with Shakespeare and attacked him, the actors in his own theatre sometimes turned against him.

People in our Country love and honor Shakespeare. Many say that they love him for his wonderful optimism: in his light comedies and even in his tragedies lie seems to promise a better and brighter future for all mankind.

Read the text “William Shakespeare” and do the tasks below.

I. The text is about ...

1) Shakespeare's life.

2) The life of English people in Shakespeare's time.

3) The queen's and king's life.

4) The writers who lived in England in the 16th century.

II. Complete the sentence.

Shakespeare was especially good at...

1) novels 2) detective stories 3) mystery plays 4)dramas

III. Find the wrong statement.

1) In his childhood Shakespeare got interested in the theatre.

2) The King and the Queen of England liked his plays.

3) Shakespeare was widely known only for his Globe Theatre.

4) Shakespeare had difficulties in his life.

IV. Answer the question.

What kind of man was Shakespeare?

1) He was a man who liked to quarrel with people.

2) He was a man who was fond of saving money.

3) He was a man who tried to perform only in the king's palace.

4) He was a man who had wonderful optimism.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания.

Sometimes Britain is called a strange island because some customs and manners differ from those accepted in other countries. There are some tips to help you get on well with the English on your visit to their wonderful country. First of all don’t forget to repeat the phrase ”It’s a nice day today, isn’t it?” It helps you to break ice with strangers. When you are invited to someone’s house, you should either arrive on time or no later than fifteen minutes after the time arranged. In Britain they don’t take off their shoes entering home. Gifts are not supposed to be expensive. In Britain foreigners are usually expected to give typical objects from their country as gift. British people, as a rule, give chocolate or small presents to their relatives or friends, receiving gifts they usually open the box in your presence to express their admiration. 
As for queue, wait patiently when a group of people have queues for service. Never jump queue waiting for a bus. Keep your distance talking to a person. Stay at least an arm’s length away. The British are well- mannered people. They like everything to be done properly. So don’t lift a soup bowl to your mouth and eat noisily. It is a joke, of course. Try to avoid saying ‘’ no’’ directly. You may sound rude. 

1. Выберите заголовок.
A. British Customs and Manners.
B. British Gifts.
C. British Homes.
D. Jumping the Queue.
2. Какая из пословиц отражает основную идею текста.
A. As the tree, so the fruit.
B. All’s well that ends well. 
C. When in Rome do as the Romans do.
D. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
3. Выберите неверное утверждение.
A. British customs and manners are different from those in other countries.
B. Visiting Britain never repeat the phrase “It’s a nice day today, isn’t it?”
C. Always arrive in time if you are invited to someone’s house in Britain.
D. Gifts are not supposed to be expensive in Britain.
4. Уточните.
British people, as a rule, give …
a) very expensive gifts.
b) typical objects of their country.
c) chocolate and small presents.
d) strange gifts.
5. Расположите фразы по порядку в соответствии с текстом.
1. Never jump queue waiting for a bus.
2. The English like to speak about the weather.
3. In Britain foreigners are usually expected to give gifts from their country.
4. When you are invited to someone’s house, you should arrive on time.

A. 1432 B. 4132 C. 1423 D.

Выберите правильный ответ.

1. _______have you lived there ? – For two years.

A. How much B. How many C. How often D. How long

2. Jane didn’t like the film, ______?

A. did she B. didn’t she C. didn’t Jane D. did Jane 

3. Ann had to go to school, _____?

A. did she B. had she C. hadn’t she D. didn’t she

4. I’d like your friend _____ us.

A. join B. to join C. joining D. join to 

5.There _____ a lot of snow on the ground, let us go skiing.

A. is B. are C. has D. have
6. ____books belong to me. _______ book belongs to Kate.

A. This, That B. That, This C. These, That D. That, These

7. There is _____ milk in the refrigerator. 

A. any B. some C. nothing D. something

8. John works twice as ______ as you.

A. hard B. harder C. hardly D. the hardest 

9. Did you enjoy ______ tennis yesterday ?

A. to play B. play C. played D. playing 

10. I have ______ idea. Let’s go on _____ picnic on Saturday. 

A. an, a B. the, a C. an, the D. the, the

11. What time did he arrive______ the hotel ?

A. in B. at C. to D. for 

12. It ______ me two hours to drive there yesterday.

A. takes B. gave C. give D. took 
13. Terry _____ my car when he had the accident.

A. was driving B. drives C. is driving D. drove 

14. I _____ to go now. 

A. can B. must C. have D. may 

15. French ______ in Belgium. 

A. is speaking B. is spoken C. speaks D. spoke

16. Подберите синоним к выделенному слову.

The VIEWS of London are very exciting.

A. sights B. squares C. people D. streets 

17. Найдите антоним к слову “foreign’’

A. long B. favourite C. strange D. native

III. Подберите подходящую реплику.

1. - …, is there a church in the neighbourhood?

- Yes, there is.

A. Excuse B. Sorry to ask C. Attention D. Excuse me

2. - I’m afraid, I’ve broken your umbrella.

- … … … …

A. Don’t mention it. B. Not at all. C. It’ the same. D. Don’t worry about it.

3. – Have a nice weekend.

- … … …

A. Same to you. B. See you tomorrow. C. Yes, lovely thanks. D. I expect so.

IV.Соотнесите выражения из колонки А с выражениями из колонки Б.

А Б

1. Buckingham Palace is open to the public a) a crown and crown jewels.

2. At the state opening of Parliament the Queen wears b) what the government plans to do.

3. The Queen makes the speech from the Throne saying c) for two months a year. 

4. When I think of Britain I imagine d) Whitehall, Downing Street, Fleet Street. 

5. The best streets in London are e) the oldest Underground, The Beatles and 

6. It’s seems strange but the Queen has the Princess Diana 

f) two birthdays.

1. - 2. - 3. - 4. - 5. - 6. -

Name the birds:

1. It’s a small bird. People usually say that it can sing better than any other. It usually sings at night or in the early hours of the morning.

2. This bird lives in Africa, Australia, and South America. People often keep them as pets and teach them to talk.

3. This bird is larger than a sparrow but smaller than a crow. It can be blue-grey, grey, sometimes white or brown. Some time ago people used them to carry short letters.

4. This is a sea bird. It feeds mostly on fish and mostly follows ships.

5. This black-and-white bird lives in the woods and forests, but people often see it near their houses. The bird has a long tail and a loud cry.

6. A bird with a strong narrow beak. People sometimes call it the “doctor” of the trees.

7. A large water bird, usually white, sometimes black in color, it has a long neck and flies to the South in autumn.

8. A night bird with large round eyes, it hunts and eats small animals.

Write the names of the animals in three groups:

Wild animals domestic animals insects

Grasshopper, ant, cow, sheep, bear, elk, fly, reindeer, elephant, pig, hen, chimp, bee, snail, turtle, horse, squirrel, hedgehog, lion, butterfly, donkey, jackal, spider, wolf, camel, cock, bug, lizard, goat, monkey, dragonfly, snake, caterpillar, calf, beetle, tiger, moth, dog, hare, rhinoceros, chicken

Reader Thousands of years ago the people of Britain were pagans. In their religions, the sun, the moon, the winds, rain, animals and trees were all important, and they had festivals for them.
When Christianity came to Britain, the people wanted to keep some of their old festivals. Halloween, Christmas, Saint Valentine’s Day and Easter are all examples of this.
Today many people celebrate these festivals. Food family and flowers are the important part of most celebrations. Most people have a big family dinner at Christmas. People today often live far away from their families, so they send greeting cards at special times like Christmas. The cards say things like: ’’Thinking of you across the miles’’. Other people try to get back home. Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year. 
As Christmas comes nearer, everyone is buying Christmas presents for friends and relatives. At Christmas parents try to give their children everything they want. Children count the weeks, then the days, to Christmas. 
On Christmas Eve families and friends gather for the festivities. Housewives are busy preparing food, and children are sent to bed. They are told that if they don’t go to sleep, Father Christmas will not bring them any presents. There is a tradition that children should put a long sock called a Christmas stocking at the end of their bed or by the chimney or hang it by the fireplace so that Santa Claus will fill it with presents. Santa Claus is supposed to visit each house on Christmas Eve by climbing down the chimney. 

1. Выберите заголовок.
A. British Children.
B. Christmas Parties.
C. British Christmas.
D. British Homes. 
2. Какая из пословиц отражает основную идею текста.
A. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
B. As the tree, so the fruit.
C. A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody.
D. Custom is a second nature.
3. Выберите неверное утверждение.
A. Christmas is a family holiday.
B. On Christmas Eve children usually don’t go to sleep.
C. Presents are usually given at Christmas.
D. Children can find Christmas presents near their beds. 4. Уточните.
Santa Claus is supposed to visit each house by
a) climbing down the Christmas Tree.
b) entering the house.
c) climbing through the window.
d) climbing down the chimney. 
5. Расположите фразы по порядку в соответствии с текстом.
1. Everyone buys presents for friends and relatives.2. Santa Claus will fill a long sock with presents.
3. On Christmas Eve children are usually sent to bed.
4. Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year.
A. 1432 B. 4123 C. 4132 D. 1423

II.Выберите правильный ответ.

1. ______ do you play tennis? – About once a week.

A. How often B. How long C. How many D. How much

2. Bob has never seen her before, ______ ?

A. hasn’t Bob B. didn’t, Bob C. did he D. has he

3. John had to go to college, ______ ?

A. did he B. had he C. hadn’t he D. didn’t he

4. They expected him _____ at 7 o’clock.

A. coming B. come C. came D. to come

5. His money _____ in his pocket.

A. is B. are C. have been D. Were

6. We all have _____ own ideas about how to live _____ lives.

A. ours, ours B. our, our C. our, ours D. ours, our

7. ______ has broken my favourite vase.

A. Nothing B. Somebody C. Anybody D. Everybody

8. The skater was congratulated because he was ______ one.

A. better B. bad C. the best D. the worst

9. I’m not ______ in politics.

A. interesting B. an interest C. to interest D. interested

10.We went to _____ South of _____ Russia last year.

A. the, the B. a, the C. the, - D. - , - 

11. I’m going on holiday _______ next week. I’m flying on Monday morning.

A. on B. in C. at D. –

12. It usually _______ me fifteen minutes to get there.

A. takes B. gave C. give D. took

13. She ______ the film on TV before she read the book.

A. saw B. sees C. has seen D. had seen

14. I’m sorry I _______ see you yesterday.

A. can’t B. couldn’t C. mustn’t D. am not able to

15. Children _______ by special instructors how to swim.

A. have taught B. had taught C. are taught D. teach

16. Подберите синоним к слову “boring”.

A. interesting B. serious C. dull D. ugly

17. Найдите антоним к слову “cheap’’.

A. expensive B. difficult C. ordinary D. terrible 

III. Подберите подходящую реплику.

1. – I can’t remember the address.
- … … …

A. You are very stupid. B. Never mind. C. Where was it? D. It looked great.

2. – Here, let me help you.
- … … …

A. Not at all. B. You are welcome. C. What a pleasure. D. That’s nice of you.

3. – Guess what? I passed the test!
- … … …

A. Good luck. B. Cheers. C. All the best. D. Congratulations. 

IV.Соотнесите выражения из колонки А с выражениями из колонки Б.

А Б

1. The most popular holiday in England is … a) among the world’s most famous buildings

2. The Palace of Westminster is … b) some are ancient, others are modern.

3. There are numerals royal traditions in Britain c) celebrated on the December 25.

4. The BBC broadcasts the Queen’s Christmas speech d) give each other chocolate eggs.

5. Most people go to church services on Easter and e) to every Commonwealth country.

6. The most popular games in Britain are f) soccer, cricket, football, golf.
1. - 2. - 3. - 4. - 5. - 6. –

They are so much like us

Many people think that penguins live in the places where it is very cold. But we can find them not only along the Antarctic continent and islands. They also live in Peru, Brazil, New Zealand and in the South of Australia. The penguin is famous because it can stand up straight and walk. When they walk they look funny to us. they look like people wearing black coats and white shirts. Ages ago the penguins were about 2 metres tall and could fly as well as any other bird. But today their wings are very short and useless for flying. How did it happen? Many scientists say that it happened because penguins had very few enemies. They lived on the territories where there was practically nobody dangerous for them. So they could safely spend all the time on land or in the water. They stopped using their wings. In times those wings became very small, until today they are useless for flying. But penguins are fantastic swimmers. Penguins also developed a thick coat of fat to protect them from the icy cold of the territories where they live.

Talk about:

Where penguins live

If they live near the North or the South pole

In what penguins are different from other birds

What they look like

What they were like long ago

How it happened that they can’t fly

What can they do very well

Why penguins don’t feel cold

Reader

Our Close Relatives

Apes are the closest relatives of humans. For a long time people thought that monkeys and apes belonged to the same species of animals, but scientifically speaking it is not so. Monkeys are smaller that apes, they have long tails, which they often use as an extra “hand”. They easily use both their hands and feet it if they want to take something.

Monkeys and apes are primates. They live in the tropics, especially in the rainforests. Apes and monkeys are common in tropical Africa and Asia. Monkeys also live in South America.

Probably the most interesting of all are great apes. This group includes the chimpanzee, gorilla and orangutan. Apes are the only primates that are humanlike. They look like us, are tailless and have the same diseases as people.

All apes sleep at night. Some of them make platforms in the trees, others make nests on the ground. Apes mostly eat plants and sometimes kill small animals, like insects for food. Chimpanzees and gorillas spend more time on the ground than in the trees and walk on fours.

Apes have just one young, or from time to time twins. They travel in family groups of 30 or 40. Apes live 30 years or more. They carry their babies in one arm like human mothers or place them on their backs. Chimps are very curious and often friendly and peaceful. Gorillas become aggressive only when they defend their territory.

Apes are very clever animals, second only to humans. They can understand the vocabulary of up to several hundred words and symbols. Chimps often use branches, stones and boxes on which they stand to get their food. Some scientists believe that apes can count.

Say which of these facts are true, false or not stated

1. Monkeys and apes are not one species

2. Both monkeys and apes have tails

3. Monkeys can stand or sit up on two legs

4. Each group of primates has their own territory

5. Apes don’t live in South America

6. The gorilla is a monkey, not an ape

7. Apes build platforms in the trees from branches and leaves

8. Chimps prefer to stay in the trees and don’t often come down to the ground

9. Apes’ body like humans’ body

10. Gorillas are strong and aggressive animals

11. Apes are the only animals that use tools

Reader

Insects around us

1. Living on the ground and under it

2. Working hard to get little

3. Uncommon species

4. An insect with several lives

5. They are so many!

1. Insects live all over the world. There are more kinds of them than of all animal species. We know more than 850.000 different kinds of insects. In other words, eight out of ten of all the Earth’s animals are insects! Some of them are very small, others are as big as your hand. Some of them are useful and helpful. Others are dangerous. Many have interesting life stories. Here are some of them.

2. Bees are social insects – they live in big groups or colonies. Each colony has a queen bee and worker bees. A worker bee’s life is very short, usually about four weeks. Worker bees fly and collect nectar from flowers. A bee can see some colors. They are green, blue and ultraviolet which people cannot see. But red is no color to a bee. It sees red things as black. By the way a bee must visit about 4. 000 flowers to make a tablespoon of honey. Worker bees are very busy as a bee about someone who has a lot of work to do.

3. Ants are social insects too. They are colony makers and have been living on the Earth for about 100 million years. Their number is very large. You can find ants in forests and mountains, in plains and valleys, nearly in all the places of our planet. Some colonies are on the ground, others live deep in the ground. Most ants are wingless, but their queens usually have wings. Ant workers get food for the queens. Ants are very hard working insects.

4. Butterflies are flying insects. They live in most parts of the world, even as far north as the Arctic. Butterflies have many colors, they can be big and small. One of the smallest lives in South Africa. The largest is the Queen Alexandra that is as big as a bird. All butterflies begin their lives as caterpillars which appear from eggs. The caterpillars spend their lives eating plants. They change their skin several times as they grow. Then a caterpillar turns into a chrysalis (куколка), from which a butterfly comes out. Some butterflies fly from one part of the world to another during some seasons. One of the most famous is the monarch butterfly in North America. In the summer it lives all over the USA and Canada. In the autumn monarch butterflies fly south to Mexico, Florida and California for the winter. In spring they fly back again. Dragonflies, beetles, ladybirds and moths have their interesting and unusual stories.

Reader

1. Land without trees

2. Problem of big cities

3. Dangerous waters

4. Toxic food

5. Problems important for everyone

6. Animals in danger

1. The word “environment” means what is around us. People who live in big industrial centres, cities ant towns live in a town environment. For others their environment is countryside. Everybody who lives in towns or in the country breathes air, drinks water, uses soil which should be clean. But are they really clean?

1. The water in the oceans, seas and rivers has become polluted in many places. If people drink this water, they can get ill or even die. People use oceans and seas as big dumps and pour industrial and domestic wastes into them. And so fish become toxic. It is very dangerous for people to eat such fish. Water birds leave places with toxic water. A lot of trees on the coast die, too.

1. The things we eat are not always healthy as fruit and vegetables can grow on polluted soil and become dangerous too. The meat we get from sheep and cows can be bad for our health if these sheep and cows eat grass that grows on polluted land.

1. People cut down trees and many birds and animals can’t have homes in their usual places and they begin dying out. If the situation doesn’t change, soon we shall live in a very different world – a world without a number of species we know now.

1. Nowadays people feel that it is more difficult to breath: in big cities the air has become badly polluted. Most of the pollution comes from cars and buses. Old people and little children feel bad and get ill because of the polluted air.

Reader

Helen Beatrix Potter

1. Her greatest interests

2. Beginning of a writer

3. School friends

4. Early years

5. Story for a young friend

1. Helen Beatrix Potter was born on the 6^th of July 1866 in London. She was an only daughter of rather rich parents. She did not go to school but had classes at home.

2. Beatrix was fond of two things. They were animals and drawing. She had a lot of small pets at home: a family of snails, mice, a rabbit and a hedgehog. From a small child she did hundreds of drawings of plants and animals and learned to do it very well. She often illustrated her letters to child friends with little animal drawings and told them stories about these animals.

3. One day in 1893 she wrote to a little boy called Noel Moor. The boy was ill and she wanted to please him and make him laugh. The letter began with the words: ”I don’t know what to write to you so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter”. In this letter she told the story of Peter Rabbit and illustrated it with lovely little drawings.

4. Eight years later Beatrix Potter remembered the letter and the story and wrote her now famous children’s book “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”. The book was very successful and Beatrix Potter became a professional children’s writer. For many years now children in England and in other countries have been enjoying her stories about mice, kittens, ducks, squirrels, hedgehogs and rabbits. And her fantastic illustrations make her books even better.

Reader

1. Giants from the Black Continent

2. Clever Builders

3. Hide and attack

4. Not a racehorse

5. Furry skiers

6. People’s helpers

7. Unusual picture books

1. The seahorse doesn’t look like a fish but in fact it is a small fish. There is a certain kind of seahorse which is only 4 cm long. Seahorse is the slowest moving fish. It may take a seahorse about two days and a half to travel 1 km, even if it moves the fastest it can.

2. About 5,000 years ago the Sahara Desert had a lot of grass and trees. How do we know about it? From the paintings which people found in ancient caves. The paintings show giraffes, hippopotamuses and lions, people hunting and domestic animals grazing.

3. Some rabbits in North America get their name from unusually wide feet. Their feet are like snowshoes and help the animals to move in the deep snow. Long hair grows on the sides of the feet and between the toes. It keeps the rabbit’s feet warm too.

4. The African ostrich is the largest living bird. They can grow to be 2.7 meters tall. Ostriches have the largest eggs of any living birds too. The egg shell is so strong that a big man can stand on it and it won’t break!

5. Ugly stonefish look quite like rocks on the sea floor. So their enemies just don’t see them. But even if they do, stonefish are ready to fight with them. The fish has 13 spines on their backs which are very dangerous not only for other fish but also for human beings.

6. African weaver birds make some of the most fantastic nests of all. The bird makes the nest from leaves and grass. When it is ready, the nest looks like a ball hanging from a branch.

Reader

Read the text and choose a title for it:

1. A beautiful place to live

2. Ways to survive

3. Government laws

People have been polluting the planet for many years. Pollution started in a small way, but then it began growing and soon we all shall be in danger. The time has come to save our planet, to protect people , animals and plants from dying. First of all countries should have strong laws to control pollution ,to protect animals and plants. Governments should be responsible for protecting nature. Today the law in some countries says:” The polluter must pay. If a person damages trees or animals, he must also pay”. But such good laws don’t always work. Scientists often meet and talk about ways of helping nature, and politicians in many countries listen to them and are beginning to talk about this too. Countries can open national parks. These are homes for animals living freely and also for birds, trees and flowers. Visitors can go there but they can’t hunt there. Politicians can think of ways to stop hunting.

Governments should also find ways to recycle things we have used: paper bags and plastic bags, plastic bottles and metal things. They should build recycling factories. Governments must control and if necessary close dangerous plants and factories.

We all must work to keep our planet clean.

Reader Every little helps

Once Vicki was coming back from her small country school. It was one of the last terms of the term. The weather was so nice that the girl decided to take a longer way home, to the cottage where she lived. Her way lay through a small wood. Vicki was in shock to see that the wood looked terrible :there was rubbish everywhere – paper and plastic bags, boxes and bottles. Vicki ran all her way back home. She had to do something about it. Suddenly she had an idea. “ we must clean up the place,” she thought. At home she phoned four of her schoolfriends. They all agreed to help her. It was hard work but soon they put all the rubbish into bags and took it away. The little green wood looked beautiful again.

On the next day the girls came to the wood once more. They wanted to see the rubbish dumpers with their own eyes. In the wood there were some people finishing their picnic. There was a lot of rubbish on the ground around them. “ What are you going to do with this rubbish?” asked the girls. “ the place looks ugly. Don’t you think so?”

“the young lady is right ,”said a woman with a hat on, “ we can’t leave this rubbish here.” “ that’s right ,” said Vicki. “ here, take this bag.” “ thank you, girls,” they said. “you have helped us to understand that the country is a beautiful place and we must keep it clean.”

1. Every little helps means …

1. Little children can very well help grown-ups

2. Everybody should help to do important work

3. Even small things can give good results

1. Vicki lived ….

1. In a city

2. Outside a city

3. In the wood

1. When Vicki was going home she saw that the little wood looked …

1. Not the same as it usually did

2. The same as it usually did

3. Better than it usually did

1. Vicki cleaned up the wood ….

1. With the help of her girlfriends

2. With the help of picnickers

3. On her own

1. The picnickers ….

1. Understood the girls and decided to clean up the place

2. Understood the girls but were not ready to clean up the place

3. Didn’t understand what the girls wanted

Reader

Back to the Bike

Travelling to work or to school if it is far from your house gets more difficult every year. That’s why people have found a very useful kind of transport or rather they have remembered it and have taken it from the past. They are going back to the bike. In many European countries children often go to school by bike and students cycle to classes.

But nowadays more and more office managers, businessmen and people of other professions are going to work by bike. One of them is Dr. Williams. “Cycling is good for you,”he says. Every day Dr Williams cycles to his hospital in the centre of London and he sees that drivers and their passengers can sit in traffic Jams for a long time. People are afraid to be late for their work and they often breathe in polluted air. They are tired , they are not happy. That’s bad for their hearts and lungs. Then they can’t find a place for parking. And that doesn’t do them any good either. Many people who drive cars and work in offices easily become obese. “ people living in the twenty first century do not get enough exercise ,” says Dr Williams, “ so I tell all my patients to buy a bike. If you cycle to work, you save environment, you save money and you save your health. And you often save time too. In London, it’s sometimes quicker to travel by bike than by bus. Cycling is clean, quiet, cheap and healthy. And it can also be fun. Cycle to work, to college or to school all week and go for a cycle ride in the country at the weekend. Or go on a cycling holiday”.

1. Getting to school or to work ….

1. Has become very difficult in big cities

1. Is People …to travel to work faster.

1. Should stop using cars

2. Have discovered a new kind of transport

3. Have begun to use the old kind of transport

1. These days the number of people who use bikes as a kind of transport ….

1. Gets bigger

2. Gets smaller

3. Is the same as in the past

1. Dr. Williams ….

1. Always cycles to work

2. Is always afraid to be late for work

3. Cycles to all the places he goes

1. People who drive cars in London ….

1. Thinks that cycling is the cheapest kind of transport

2. Believes that cycling is the best thing to do to keep fit

3. Prescribes cycling to many of his patients

1. more difficult in London than in other cities

2. Has always been difficult

Reader

1. The right kind of food

2. Modern lifestyle and health

3. Environment and health

4. Lazy ways may be dangerous

1. It may sound strange or funny to you, but man needs protection as much as animals do. People must keep their habitats – houses, towns and cities - ecologically clean. In the places where people drink bad water, eat unhealthy food and breathe polluted air, they may have serious diseases and die early. Their children are often born weak. Doctors prescribe them medicines which can’t help them. This problem becomes more and more serious with every passing day.

2. The way people live nowadays also tells on their health. They try to do a number of things at the same time, have their finger in every pie. For a lot of people such a situation is stressful. It may result in heart attacks, headaches and other health problems. It is also hard for modern people to cope with all the information the get from the Internet, radio, television and newspapers. That is a big stress as well, and people will have to learn to live with the new way of life.

3. Also modern living often means little physical activity. We don’t get enough exercise because we use cars and other mechanisms to make our life easier. At the same time we often forget that we were born to move - run, jump and walk, but not to watch television for many hours or to sit in front of the computer monitor. Not having enough physical activity can easily turn us into weak legless human beings with lots of health problems.

Reader

Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Dmitri Hvorostovsky is one of the famous singers in the world. He often …(take) part in performances in different countries and always … (become) the centre of attraction. Some fans . …(call) him the “Elvis of opera”. When Hvorostovsky heard about this, he …(think) it was a huge compliment since to him, Elvis …(be) a kind of revolutionary.

Hvorostovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia – there he …(study) at school, and for some time …(be) the singerin a rock band where he …(play) heavy metal. After Hvorosyovsky …(win) several professional contests in Russia, Irina Archipova …(encourage) him to take part in the Cardiff Singer of the world competitionin 1989. He …(win) it and his world career …(launch).

His manner of singing is very lyrical and it …(call) sometimes “old school”. He …(work) with theatres and singers all around the world. Some years ago he …(record) an album with Olga Borodina. Now Hvorostovsky …(have) a house in London and …(speak) good English. He works a lot and tries to have a healthy way of life. He confessed that he …(give up) smoking and …(stop) drinking alcohol many years ago. He … (know) this would help him perform his best in his profession.

Reader

1. The perfect job

2. Never bored

3. Exhausting for all

4. A role reversal

5. Free evenings

1.Every family needs a home maker. Whether this is a mom or dad, or part time from both is irrelevant. In our family, we chose the traditional role for me to stay at home, but some families choose the reverse, especially if the woman has the better paid job. We have actually experienced both since I had to work full time when my husband was made redundant and stayed at home for a time. The days when the person staying at home to look after the house and the family was thought of as being “just a housewife” have long gone, especially now that there is a role reversal and it is sometimes the man who stays at home. Nowadays there is a lot of pride in being the homemaker. It is one of the most worthwhile careers and the rewards, although not financial, are great. The family benefits from quality time from one parent all the time.

1. So, after my first baby arrived, I felt for years that I have the perfect job. I was my own boss. I could work when I wanted and have a rest when I wanted. If I didn’t feel like cleaning or doing the shopping and wanted to have a day off, that was fine. Nobody else would have to be asked to cover for me, my work could wait until I was ready to do it. Oh, yes it was hard work taking care of our home and our children and the hours were long, but the work was varied and very rewarding. In fact, being a homemaker was the perfect job for me. I was absolutely happy being a housewife and mum. Watching my children thrive, witnessing their first steps, hearing their first words and all the other milestones were worth more than any amount of money.

2. I stayed at home until the youngest started school and then I went back to work part-time. The extra money was very helpful but I found it exhausting coping with the house and my job. What amazes me is how people cope working full-time, looking after a home and bringing up children. I am surrounded by people like this where I now live. They have big houses, new cars, fancy clothes, they refurnish every couple of years or so, take numerous holidays. But when are they actually at home to enjoy all this? From 6. 30 a. m the cars start leaving. Kids are woken up at some early hour, then driven through busy traffic to be dropped off at the child minder. The parent then has to travel to work. What happens if there is a blip in this tight schedule? What if the child has a tantrum or the car won’t start? Then in the evenings the process starts again in reverse. The kids are picked up from school where they are in an after school club, then put to bed almost as soon as they get home. Everyone is exhausted. Where is the benefit to all this?

3. “ I don’t know how you stay at home all day… I would be bored out of my mind”, was a comment I often heard when I stayed at home. Was I bored? Never! I mastered the housework so that I wasn’t a slave to it. Obviously, there was the cleaning to be done regularly but it was the sharing of the tidying up that made the difference. My family learnt to tidy up after themselves and if there was a bit of accumulated dust it would wait until the end of the week when a day was set aside for a thorough cleaning. I established a routine for the necessary chores that had to be done daily, but if they weren’t completed by lunchtime, they were left until the next day. That way I had time with the children as well.

Reader

Differences between village and the city

There are many health benefits to living outside of the city, or even in the suburbs: clean air and an abundance of foliage are enough …1. . but services such as municipal water and sewage disposal are often a rarity in very rural areas.

In city areas, it is fairly easy to access transportation with city bus systems and taxis. The opposite is the case in rural areas: 2… . With greater distances between houses, even getting groceries can be a difficulty. So if a person loses his/her driver’s license or vehicle for some reason, it is a real hardship in a rural area.

It has been said that village life encourages a greater sense of community and gives some perspective on what is important. When a family faces a hardship, 3… . If there is a death in the family, members of the community are right there with condolences. If someone falls ill, the community pulls together to raise money for the family.

The reactions to this kinds of situations are much different in urban areas. Many city-dwellers don’t know their neighbours beyond a “hello” as they pass each other in the hall. Some don’t even say that much. Perhaps they feel they don’t need their neighbours, 4… .

People in rural areas organize more events together than urbanites do. From church dinners to local fairs, to the community’s summer barbecue, most people have their fingers in the pie, in one way or another. It ia these type of events that 5… . In urban areas, special events are often competeing against each other, since there are often many happening at the same time. Many people who attend these urban events haven’t got any particular sense of pride for them, 6…. .

While one could argue that city life is more exciting and at times more convenient, it is not necessarily better than country life.

1. As they are just spectators of the event, not coordinators

2. Without your own transportation, it is difficult to get around

3. The way the people in rural areas have come to depend on theirs

4. To convince many city-dwellers that country living is for them

5. Help to bring the community together, because those who attend can claim ownership of the event

6. Often those in a rural community are quick to help wherever they can

Reader

Animals and Plants

As scientists say, an animal is any living thing (including people) that is not a plant. Nobody knows how many different species of wild plants and animals there are on our planet. People discover hundreds of new kinds every year. In what way are animals different from plants? This question is not always easy to answer. Animals and plants get their food differently: animals eat plants or other animals, while plants get their food from the air and soil with the help of their leaves and roots. But we know that some plants can catch and “eat” insects. Also animals can move about and hide while plants grow in the same place. But there are some plants that can travel and there some that never leave their place. As you see plants and animals have much in common.

There are more than 300.000 different species of plants on the Earth. Some plants grow very tall and live a very long life. Other plants are so small that you can see them only through a microscope. The same is true about animals. You can find plants and animals in the oceans and deserts, in mountains and in cold tundra plains. When people first learned to cultivate plants and domesticate animals, our civilization began. We can’t live without them. Plants are able to use sunlight to grow. They “breathe in” carbon dioxide gas and “breathe out” life-giving oxygen. They support life on the planet.

1. What do living things include?

2. Can we say that we know all the plants and animals that live on our planet?

3. In what way are plants and animals different?

4. Why is it not always true?

5. The text says that some plants are small and some are very big. Is that true about animals? Can you give examples?

6. Why can’t we live without plants and animals?

7. In what way do we use them?

8. Why is oxygen that plants “breathe out” so important for people?

Reader

What is Ecology?

No living thing or group of living things can live and grow in isolation. All organisms, plants and animals need energy to develop and all species of living things influence the lives of others. Ecology is a science. It studies how plants, animals and human beings live together and influence each other. It is also a science about our environment. People have always studied living things in their natural environment. In other words they have always studied the air, the water, the soil, and all other things that are around the person, animal or plant. The environment can influence the growth of living things and the way they develop. Ecologists also study what happens to different species, how they change. The scientists collect information about the number of living things in different areas, their size and behavior. Ecology is one of the most important sciences in the 21^st century. It teaches us how to survive in the modern world.

1. Why do people so often speak about ecology these days?

2. What makes ecology an important science?

3. When did people first start speaking about ecology?

4. The information of what sciences does ecology use?

5. What are some of the problems that ecologists are working on now?

6. How can the environment influence a living thing?

7. Can you give an example?

8. What is human ecology? What does it study?

9. What is your natural environment? Do you think it is healthy?

Reader

1. Do we really want so many

2. Great-grandfather languages. What are they?

3. Very helpful books

4. How it all started

1. We do not really know how languages began. Some believe that languages began when prehistoric people tried to imitate birds and animals. Some think that the first words were the natural sounds that people made when they felt happy or were in shock.

2. What we know about the history of languages is that many of them come from one ancient language. Linguists say that this and all the languages that come from it are a “family” of languages. English and Russian belong to the Indo-European family of languages. French, Italian, Norwegian, German also belong to it.

3. How many words must a language have? For example, there are more than 450.000 words in Webster’s New International Dictionary. Nobody knows all of them, but most people are able to understand about 35.000 and use from 10.000 to 12.000.

4. If you hear or read a new word and want to know what it means, you try to find this word in a dictionary. Modern dictionaries are very different from old ones. Most of them give words alphabetically. Together with the words they give information about how to use the word grammatically and gives examples. There are monolingual, bilingual and multilingual dictionaries. They give information about words in one (mono-) , two (bi-) or more than two (multi-) languages.

Reader

The New World

1. American traditions

2. The country of a new nation

3. The nicknames and what they mean

4. New home for lots of people

1. People often say that the USA is a country of “immigrants”. It is true. The first of them came to the New World from Europe at the beginning of the 17^th century, now in the 21^st century; America takes in more immigrants than any other country. They come from all over the world looking for a fresh start. That is why there are so many different cultural traditions in the USA.

2. But it won’t be correct to say that the USA is simply a collection of different immigrant groups. It is not true that there are more Irish, more Germans and more Italians living in New-York than there are in Dublin, Frankfurt or Rome. In fact, 94 percent of all Americans today were born in the USA.

3. You may hear that peoples describe America as a “melting pot” or a” salad bowl”. Maybe a better metaphor will be that of a “pizza”. It is the most popular food in America. Pizza has a lot of different ingredients in it which give the whole it very special taste. So all of them together turn the pizza into something larger and something different. This is also true about the country.

Reader

The Paralympic Games

1. Comes from the Greek

2. Red, blue and green

3. important international sport event

4. Winter Olympic Games

5. Are always colorful

6. Paralympic flag has

The Paralympic Games are an 1… , where athletes with a physical disability compete. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games. They follow the Summer and 2… .

The Paralympics began in 1948. They didn’t have this name then. That year the first sports event for disabled athletes took place. A small group of the British World War veterans competed with each other. In 1952 some Dutch veterans joined in the competitions. In 1960 in Rome 400 disabled athletes took part in the Summer Paralympic Games. In the year 2005 there were already 3,900 sportsmen from 146 countries. In the Paralympic Games in Sochi the number of athletes was 555 from 45 countries. The word Paralympic 3…. word “para” which means “similar”. The 4....

The Paralympic symbol on it. There are three colors 5…. . These are the colors we can find on the flags of different nations. The opening and the closing ceremonies 6….

Reader

William Shakespeare

1. Destroyed it again

2. Was an entertainment for both

3. 14-line love poems

4. There was no scenery

5. Winter’s night

6. Died in 1616 on April 23

7. Used 18,000 different words

8. Which destroyed it

Theatres in the 16^th century were not like they are today. They were round buildings open to the sky in the middle. There were no lights or lamps and they showed their plays in the afternoon. The actors (men and boys only) performed on the stage where 1… . Most of the audiences stood to watch a play for a penny. More expensive tickets could get you a seat in the gallery or in a box. In those days theatre 2… the rich and the poor.

In 1598 Shakespeare’s company of actors had a serious problem with renting the building. So one snowy 3… they took their belongings to the south bank of the Thames. Then they built the theatre in just 28 days and called it The Globe.

By that time Shakespeare already had a reputation of a poet and a dramatist, or playwright. Sadly, in 1613 during a performance the Globe caught a fire, 4… . they rebuilt it but soon the Puritans closed the theatre and 5…. .

Anyway, it happened after William Shakespeare had left London for Stratford where he lived out the last years of his life 6… , his birthday.

During his life he wrote 37 plays, several longer poems and 154 sonnets. His sonnets are 7… , wise and beautiful. Even nowadays people learn them by heart and remember lines from them. The great writer’s plays are no less popular. One of their secrets lies in the fact that he was so great at using words: he could (and still can) make audiences sad, happy, thrilled, excited. He 8 … (a lot more than most writers). We know for a fact that Shakespeare made up about 2,000 new words himself, some of his phrases have become so common that people use them every day. His works teach us to understand life and people and will always be internationally important.

Reader

The New Globe Theatre

1. Like they were 400 years ago

2. The theatre had stood once

3. They will give you a rain hat

4. As in Shakespeare’s time

5. Had died several years before

6. Decided to rebuild The Globe

In 1949, an American actor Sam Wanamaker came to London where he wanted to visit the famous Globe theatre in which William Shakespeare had staged his plays. What he found was the place where 1… . Wanamaker was in shock and 2… . It took many years to collect enough money and even longer to find out what the theatre had looked like in the old days.

In June 1997, Queen Elizabeth II opened the International Shakespeare Globe Centre, a replica of Shakespeare’s theatre. Sadly, Sam Wanamaker 3… the opening and wasn’t in the audience to see his dream finally come true.

Today, performances at the new Globe are very much 4… . There is no scenery and practically no equipment such as microphones. And 5…, the audience is free to shout to the actors and comment on the play and the acting.

Women now play on the stage of The Globe, but from time to time they give all-men performances in original costumes and without interval. If it rains, however, 6… for you not to get wet.

Reader

Read the parts of the text a-f and put them in logical order:

1. We parted at the school gates. `I joined my schoolmates and my father went off. Ours was just a small village school, with no rooms upstairs at all. There were about sixty boys and girls in our school, and their ages went from five to eleven. We had four classrooms and four teachers.

2. The next day was Thursday, and before we set out for the walk to my school that morning, I went around behind the house and picked two apples from our tree, one for my father and one for me.

3. A teacher called Captain Lancaster, taught the nine- and ten-year-olds and my year too. He was an awful man. (During the war against Hitler he was a captain in the army.) He told us to call him Captain Lancaster instead of just mister. My father said it was an idiotic thing to do. Millions of people wanted to forget those military titles. Captain Lancaster was a violent man, and we were afraid of him.

4. Miss Birdseye taught the five-year-olds and six-year-olds, and she was a really nice person. Mr. Corrado took the seven-year-olds. He was also a decent man. he was a very old teacher, probably sixty or more, but that didn’t stop him being in love with Miss Birdseye. We knew he was in love with her because he always gave her the bits of meat at lunch when it was his turn to do the serving. And when she smiled at him, he would smile back in the most romantic way you can imagine.

5. At eight o’clock we started walking down the road to my school in the pale autumn sunshine, eating our apples. I really loved those morning walks to school with my father. We talked practically the whole time. Mostly it was he who talked and I who listened, and just about everything he said was interesting. he was a true countryman and knew a lot about all the trees and the wild flowers and the different grasses that grew in the fields.

6. It is the most wonderful thing to be able to go out and get your own apples whenever you feel like it. You can do this only in the autumn, of course, when the fruit is ripe but all the same how many families are so lucky? Not one in a thousand , I guess.

Read the texts (1-4) and match them with the titles (a-e). There is one title you don’t have to use.

1. Fashion and climate

2. Useful advice

3. Not wanted

4. Angry and surprised

5. Positive changes

1. After lunch the class received the news about going to the Victoria and Albert Museum with enthusiasm. I told them we were going there the following Thursday together with their biology teacher. Some of the pupils wanted to know if Miss Jackson really had to come. I understood that this teacher wasn’t their favorite.

2. I soon understood that our classes with the new teacher were quite different from Mr. Florian’s lessons. Every day they were becoming more and more interesting. The lessons were very informal, we could ask any question and discussed lots of problems important for us. The new teacher gave us much more than the textbook information.

3. When I began my teaching career, Dad told me not to bring my pupils’ works home. “It shows your poor planning, son,” he said. “You’ll find soon that you are busy every night. Teaching is like having a bank account. You should have new funds or you are in difficulties. Every teacher should have a fund of ready information and that means new ideas, new meetings, new discoveries, moving around among people.”

4. One morning in our Geography lesson we discussed the type of dress people wore in different climatic zones: Eskimos of Alaska and their dress of animal skins, people living in the South and their thin cotton or silk clothes. Larry said that many people in the tropics put very little on and some of them just used a bit of paint here and there.

Read the texts 1-6 and match them with the titles:

1. People’s relatives

2. They are fairly different

3. Important part of the body

4. Origin of the name

5. The best-known species

6. Their habits

1. The word lemur comes from the Latin word meaning “a ghost”. Perhaps this is because they move about silently at night and have large mysterious eyes.

2. Lemurs have lived on the planet Earth for a very long time, but you can find them only in two places on the island Madagascar and nearby Comori Islands.

3. Some people think that lemurs belong to the family of squirrels or cats. But the truth is, they are more close to us, humans. They are primates.

4. Lemurs have big, bushy tails that wave in the air as a form of communication. These big tails also help them balance when they jump from tree to tree. But lemurs don’t hang from trees by their tails, as some monkeys do. Some species of the lemur have longer tails than their bodies.

5. There are many kinds of lemurs. They come in different colors and sizes. The smallest species weighs only 30 grams. The largest species weighs 10 kilograms. In the past there were also very large lemurs which weighed 240 kilograms, but they have all died out.

6. Lemurs live and move about in groups. They like to sleep during the day and are active during the night. They eat nuts, fruits and berries. Sometimes they also eat insects.

Read the texts 1-5 and match them with their titles:

1. The food from abroad

2. The first meal of the day

3. Fast food in Britain

4. Very popular British food

5. Typical food at different times of the day

6. Places to have meals

1. Some people like “to go to work on an egg” – they eat an egg for breakfast before going to work. But many more breakfast on cornflakes – while others have toast with butter and marmalade. And, whatever they eat, most people drink tea or coffee.

2. And where do people eat their food when they are at home? Breakfast is usually a quick meal, eaten in the kitchen. They may eat dinner in the kitchen, in the dining-room or the living-room, often in front of the television. The British often have lunch at school or work.

3. Some people have their biggest meal in the middle of the day, some have it in the evening. The traditional meal is meat and two vegetables. The most popular meats are chicken, beef, (from a cow), pork(from a pig) and lamb (from a young sheep). Vegetables grown in Britain, like potatoes, carrots, peas and cabbage are very popular, but today you can buy vegetables from many countries all through the year. Traditional British meals are sausages, beans, mashed potato, stew(meat cooked with lots of vegetables), and the Sunday roast.

4. Potatoes first came from South America. Farmers in Peru grew them from the 13^th century on, and then the Spanish brought them to Europe in the mid-16^th century. In the 17^th century potatoes appeared in Britain. Potatoes are one of the most important foods in the British diet and today the British grow six million tons of potatoes every year. Some potatoes have red skins, some white. Sometimes people eat them with the skin, sometimes without. There are many different ways of cooking them.

5. Ice-cream appeared in the country in the 1920s. People sold it from bicycles in the streets. Ice-cream sellers shouted, “stop me and buy one!” They rode around the streets playing music, people ran out and bought some ice-cream. Nowadays ice-cream has become very popular. People often eat it in cinemas and theatre in summer and in winter as a snack or as a dessert after the main dish, for example with a piece of hot apple pie.

Read the text and complete it with the following phrases:

1. Gas and electricity came into people’s houses

2. Harder to find and usually expensive

3. For example some sugars and fat

4. An island between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean

5. In Britain in the middle of the 20^th century

6. From the eleventh to the fifteenth century

7. Can buy everything under one roof

Britain is 1… . For those who live near the sea, fish and shellfish have always been important. Before people had fridges to keep food cold and fresh, they started to keep fish from going bad by salting, drying or smoking it. one thing which has changed is the way some people think about foods. For example, shellfish like oysters were fairly cheap and quite ordinary. They were popular with poor people because anyone could go to a beach and pick them up, for free. Today they are 2 … . They have become special. In older days those who lived away from the sea first ate wild animals, but then they began keeping sheep, cows and chickens on farms. Farmers grew fruit and vegetables. During the Middle Ages, 3 … , ships brought sugar, nuts and things from far away. When sailors went to foreign places, they brought back more kinds of food. At first only rich people could buy the things brought from overseas, but slowly they became cheaper and easier to find.

When 4 … , cooking became much easier. Thanks to fridges and freezers people could keep food much longer.

The diet of many British people is quite different to that of their parents. Today we eat bananas and oranges and can buy them all the year round but it was very difficult to find them 5 … .

Nowadays we have many more foods to choose from and new ways to cook them, like microwave ovens. But we have less time for shopping and cooking.

These days we drive to supermarkets where we 6 … . Some forty years ago people walked to their nearest shops almost every day. They went to the Baker’s for bread, to the Butcher’s for meat, to the Greengrocer’s for fruit and vegetables and so on. We also know more about health today. Children grow up learning that some foods are good for us, while others, 7 … are bad. Some people have tries to change their diet to eat healthier food and most shops sell lots of different natural foods.

Reader Uncle Tom’s Cabin

1. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, first appeared as the serial in the National Era, an antislavery newspaper in Washington D.C. When it was published as a book in 1852, it was an immediate success in the USA. Soon the novel was translated into several languages and became an international bestseller.

2. The book influenced public views and gave a new impulse to the liberation movement all over the world, including the liberation of Russian serfs. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was an attack upon the slave-owners in the south of the USA and upon the institution of slavery as such. According to Abraham Lincoln the book helped the North to win the civil war and abolish slavery in the country.

3. The novel has often been accused of being too sentimental because of its conventional characters and highly emotional scenes. The characters are largely stereotyped: some are real villains (the slave trader Hailey), others are suffering innocents (little Eva), and the main character is an all-forgiving slave. But beyond the conventional characters of sentimental fiction , the reader finds true to life insights into plantation life and the motivation of both slave-owners and slaves.

4. Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in 1811 into an orthodox Calvinist family: her father and five of her brothers were churchmen educated in Hartford, Connecticut, where she was born. She spent most of the life in the North. Stowe hardly had any direct experience with slavery. But she came from a family strongly opposed to this unjust system. When the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, she became outraged. Her morals and her sense of justice inspired her to write the classic novel that went down in history.

1. The strong and weak points of the book

2. A brief history of the novel

3. H.B. Stowe’s followers

4. The birth of the novel

5. The influence of the novel

Reader American culture is everywhere

1. The rich American culture has spread far and wide across the world. Disney now runs theme parks on three continents; McDonald’s restaurants can be found everywhere; the Marlboro man sells cigarettes throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia; American sports, music and movie stars are the most recognized people in the world; American TV shows such as “friends”, and “The Simpsons” are dubbed into dozens of languages.

2. Today American culture can be found in almost every country. But the question is: is the United States opening opportunities to people around the world, or destroying local cultures and customs? And what made American culture to be so dominant?

3. American culture has spread mostly as a result of trade. Companies like McDonald’s, Nike, and Coca-Cola export their products, and with them American culture, because they want to make more money.

4. This expansion in trade is largely the result of breaking trade barriers between countries. Once most governments tried to protect and isolate their country’s economy from the global marketplace, but now they rush to participate in global training.

5. This global trade has both advantages and disadvantages. Supporters of trade argue that it creates jobs, as the large global market needs more workers to produce more goods. Global trade also results in economic growth. For example, countries such as Hong Kong and Taiwan have dramatically increased their average incomes per person by trading globally. Opponents of globalization, in their turn, say that powerful multinational economy has a lot to offer, leaving poorer opportunities to national companies. They also speak against global uniformity for regional and cultural differences.

1. Global trading: pros and cons

2. Willing to be part of the market

3. The future of global training

4. New American expansion

5. Spreading about by means of trade

6. More harm than good?

Reader By the Lights of the Moon

1. Today most of us are pretty used to the moon. There it is in the sky – crescent or half or full… Years ago people lived by the changing phrases of the moon. They kept calendars and holidays by the moon. They planted seed in the spring’s new moon and harvested in the autumn’s full moon. And fishermen all over the world told the morrow’s weather by the moon.

2. For many people the moon long remained a mysterious heavenly body that could bring good fortune or ill. It could bring good luck if it was a new moon and you had silver coins in your pocket to jingle. A new moon was also the time to make a wish, take a trip, go a-courting, or cut your hair.

3. But the moon could bring bad luck, too. If you saw a woman combing her hair in the light of the full moon you planted seed during the full moon, you have bad luck. Almost everyone believed that if you slept with moonlight on your face, you’d go crazy. Indeed so many people believe this that we get the word lunatic from the Latin word for moon, luna.

4. Today, of course, we know that none to these things is true. You can sleep in the moonlight and wake up as normal as you were yesterday. You might harvest your crops in the full moon with poor results or harvest in a sickle moon and do well. You might start your vacation during the new moon and have a flat tire right away.

5. Nevertheless, there it is… the moon, hanging up there in the sky, seeming to change its shape before our very eyes. No wonder people continue to be fascinated by it. Since the beginning of time, they have tried to explain how it got there and why it behaves the way it does. The first people to try to explain the creation and behavior of the moon were tribal poets and storytellers. There are hundreds of folktales about the moon.

1. Attracted by the moon forever

2. A sickle moon a sign of good fortune

3. Life regulated by the moon

4. Supersticious beliefs

5. Lunatics and their behavior

6. Real life not dependent on the moon

Reader

1. What is Amish lifestyle like?

2. Are the Amish religious?

3. Why do the Amish choose to live the way they do?

4. Why don’t have the Amish have electricity?

5. Why do they leave school when they are so young?

6. Do the Amish like attracting tourists?

7. Which three languages do the Amish speak?

8. Do the Amish try to modernize themselves?

9. Aren’t young Amish curious about the world outside their community?

1. In 1972 the US Supreme Court allowed the Amish to stop school at 13. The Amish do not think their children need more school education after the age of 13 because they will either do farm work, carpentry or help with the family business.

2. The Amish look like they are from the eighteenth century. For the Amish, fashion is vanity. The women are not allowed to cut their hair, wear jewelry or make-up. They aren’t even allowed to wear clothes with buttons because buttons look too fussy, too modern. Men have to wear black suits and socks with a plain shirt. The Amish attitude to appearance is simplicity and modesty. They will never wear clothing in order to look good and they will not show much of their body. Unfortunately for them, their appearance is perfect for photo hungry tourists.

3. They don’t want to but most communities do now have one telephone box for emergencies and perhaps one tractor for very heavy work. Communities often have meetings to discuss whether to accept a particular aspect of the modern world and what effect it will have on them.

4. They are united by their beliefs. The Bible is a sacred text for the Amish and they follow it to the letter. The community was started in the 1720s in Europe as a separate group of Swiss Christians. They have additional unwritten rules concerning lifestyle too. There are currently about 30 000 Amish in North America. The biggest Amish community in the USA is in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In summer it is visited by millions of people.

5. The Amish choose to live in the past. They do without e-mails, CDs, computers and a whole lot of other things too. The Amish don’t have cars, they use horses. They don’t have televisions either. In fact, they don’t even have electricity. They don’t need it because they don’t have radios, dishwashers or anything electrical at all. Some people might feel sorry for them or think they are mad but this is the way that the Amish have chosen to live.

6. They don’t want to be a part of the modern world because it is too complicated and corrupt. They live independently in their own community. They even have their own schools which have only one or two classrooms. They learn reading, writing, Math’s and morals. The big difference from regular American school is that they learn nothing about the world outside their community and they do not continue their education beyond the eighth grade.

7. Yes, and many are allowed to find out more or try things that “other” kinds do (within reason). Some occasionally listen to music or even try roller-skating (using bicycle is forbidden because they travel too fast), but when they confirm their beliefs at age thirteen, they promise to accept Amish rules and rejact such things. Only one in five people leaves the Amish community. The Amish say this shows that people enjoy living the way that they do.

8. Yes and no. They sell things they have made by hand (they are famous for their quilts) but they don’t like people taking their photographs. They say photographs steal their souls and are a sign of vanity. But tourists are very insistent. One Amish teenager said he felt like an animal in a zoo. Some visitors shout things as “Why are you so backward?” they often tease the Amish about their clothes or knock their hats off as a joke. Demonstrating anger is against Amish beliefs so they do not protest verbally or physically.

Reader Television

Television is the electronic transmission of moving images with accompanying sound, sent from a central source or sources to home television screens.

From the 1950s, when television viewing first became community the mid 1970s the technology available to the television audience was rather simple and consisted essentially of a TV set. The 1980s, however witnessed an explosion of new devices for home entertainment. The entire field, including television itself, is known under the name of video.

Television images can be relayed from one point to another by several transmission systems. One of them uses electromagnetic radiation, or waves, that are sent over the air. Another is cable television using a community antenna or a receiving dish and distributing the signals by cable to subscribers. Yet another method of bringing television signals to the home is satellite transmission. Communications satellites receive signals from the Earth, change signal frequency, and transmit them back to the Earth.

Nowadays we can speak about two types of television: commercial and non-commercial. Commercial television gets money from advertising when non-commercial television is financed by other sources as well. Probably the best-known non-commercial television system is the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), created by royal charter in 1927. The BBC was formed to “educate and enlighten”, a philosophy diametrically opposed the US system, in which commercial broadcasters try to foresee and fulfill viewer preferences.

True or False

1. Television sends out electronic signals

2. The 1970s saw a revolution in TV technologies.

3. Nowadays the name of video is equivalent to the word television

4. There are at least three ways of sending out moving images

5. TV signals can’t travel in the air

6. Subscribers to cable television get signals not directly from the transmitter but from a powerful receiving device

7. Communications satellites are launched to receive and send information

8. Advertising raises money only for commercial television

9. The BBC was formed according to the monarch’s order

10. Both American commercial broadcasters and the BBC believe that their aim lies in educating and enlightening

EADING

Put the parts of the text in right order.

A) Then, in 1927, Warner Brothers in Hollywood made the first film in which an actor sang and spoke. The film was called Jazz Singer. It opened a new era in films - the era of the “talkies”. The film mostly told its story with titles, but it had three songs and a short dialogue. There were long lines of people in front of the Warner Theatre in New York. The silent film was dead within a year. The first one hundred percent sound film. Lights of New York, appeared in 1928.

B) Cinema is much younger than theatre. It was born at the end of the 19th century. The first people who showed the first movies to a paying public were the Lumiere Btothers of France. They did this on the 20th February 1896 at the Grand Cafe, Boulevard des Capucines, Paris. This was the first cinema show and it was quickly followed by many others in all parts of the world. All the 1996 we celebrated the hundredth anniversary of cinematography.

C) The first colour films were made in the 1930s, but the black-and-white films are made even today.

D) At first, films were shown anywhere: in music halls, clubs and shops. By 1908, special film theatres were being built to give regular programmes. At this time cinema rapidly developed in both the New and the Old World. Charlie Chaplin made his first film, Making a living, in 1914 in the USA. At that time the world was crazy about Charlie, that was created by Charlie Spencer Chaplin. His Charlie, small and clumsy yet kind-hearted, generous and brave, has attracted the hearts of simple people in different countries. Sometimes they would stand in long queues to see a film with their favourite actor. The first films in the West were mainly melodramas or comedies.

E) The first films showed moving people and transport or newsreels of processions and wars, and short comedies. In 1901 France was the first country to produce a dramatic film, The Story of a Crime, which was followed by The Great Train Robbery in the United States in 1903.

1 2 3 4 5

Прочитайте текст и заполните пропуски 1 — 6 частями предложений A — G. Одна из частей в списке А — G лишняя.

Boy breaks into M15 computer system

Max White is only ten years old, but he has the honour of being the youngest person 1) __________. Max, who is eleven next month, created disorder with M15's computer system and nearly caused a national emergency. Max just thought he was having fun.

Max was just six years old when his father bought him his first computer, which he used to play children's games on, but he quickly moved on to more exciting activities.

Max, 2) _________, had soon infiltrated all his father's confidential files. Max was too young to understand the seriousness of what he was doing.

Early in the morning he would creep into his father's office, closing the door gently behind him, and turn on the computer. He realized that different codes gave him access to certain files, and he soon discovered files 3) __________.

Keith Hamilton, 4) ________, monitored the progress of this unknown spy. He wondered what sort of super intelligence could break the codes 5) _______. But what he couldn't understand was why the spy made no attempts to close all the files behind him, thus making it obvious espionage was taking place.

The reason became apparent when they discover their so-called secret agent. Max didn't know how to close down the files, only how to open them. This incident has been an expensive lesson for M15, 6) _________.

Max doesn't really understand why everyone is making such a fuss, but he has promised to stick to Super Mario and Nintendo from now on.

A) whose father is the Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police

В) which they thought were completely in safety

С) that even his father was unaware of

D) playing a computer game

E) that has ever fooled the Security Services of M15

F) who is the Government Section Chief of M15

G) who have had to change their whole computer system

A) Just in time Reader

B) Just in case

C) Eventful life

D) A curious case

E) Reduced charity

F) “Royal” person

G) Royal ancestor

H) Double trouble

1) I am a mother of identical, mirror-image boys — David and John. Nobody but me can tell them apart. I am constantly amazed at how close they are. Once when they were babies David was ill, but it was John who began crying wildly. I tried to calm John first since nothing was wrong with him. But he only cried louder. Finally I gave some medicine to David — who really was unwell. As soon as John sensed his brother felt better, he immediately settled to sleep.

2) The 12 year old was playing near the Platte River in North Bend, Nebraska. The river was high and as the boy stepped in, the current pushed his legs away. He floated off, spinning in the powerful current. At the last possible moment before the rapids, his yells were heard by his dog. It jumped in, reached the boy and towed him ashore. Another second and the boy would have been swept away to certain death.

3) Armguard Karl Graves, referred to in press reports as “the Glasgow Spy”, was convicted in Scotland under the Official Secrets Act (1911) for spying on the British Navy. He spent years successfully creating an identity as an Australian doctor and in Scotland even conducted important clinical experiments. But he was eventually caught by a suspicious post office worker as he sent and received post under a variety of assumed names.

4) Zsa Zsa Gabor was born in Budapest on February 6th, 1917. Now in her 90s she has had a long and varied life. She was a beauty queen and singer before becoming a famous screen actress. She was married 8 times but only had one child with second husband, Conrad Hilton. Her last marriage to Frederic von Anhalt gave her the honorary title Prinzessin von Anhalt.

5) "Who do you think you are" is one of my favourite TV programs. Each episode researches the family history of a celebrity, back into the mists of time. In the UK there are good records of births, marriages and deaths going back hundreds of years. One of the best episodes was on Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. He was thrilled when he discovered he was directly related to King George II.

6) Paris Hilton is a famous socialite, media personality, actress, model and singer. In 2007 her grandfather Barron Hilton pledged 97% of his estate — a value of more than 2 billion US dollars — to a charitable foundation. Many now believe that Paris and the other grandchildren have had their potential inheritance sharply reduced. Others have commented that this news was unlikely to change her future lifestyle.

7) Andy always travels well equipped for any potential possibility. He has a sewing repair kit and a small medical kit with aspirin. These are, I suppose, perfectly sensible. But what about a ball of string, tape measure, masking tape, Swiss army penknife, disposable cutlery, disinfectant, dry bags and an inflatable back rest? Andy says you never know what might happen and it's always best to be prepared.