Reading skilss (texts for 8-9, 10-11 grades)

8 - 9 класс.

1. Pumpkin is a large round fruit with a thick orange skin and large seeds. Pumpkins are 90% water but they contain potassium and vitamin A. Six of seven continents can grow pumpkins. Nowadays pumpkins have come to symbolize not only the lovely color of the autumn but the spirit of the season as well. A sizable number of movies were made with pumpkin and Halloween themes. Most memorable, perhaps, is the pumpkin carriage in Cinderella. In the United States, pumpkins go hand in hand with the autumn holidays of Thanksgiving, and, of course, Halloween. At almost every Thanksgiving table is the customary 'Pumpkin Pie'. Pumpkins are carved into decorated lanterns for Halloween. Pumpkin is one of the important symbols of the harvest festival and has been an American-favourite for over 400 years now. A lot of autumn festivals are dedicated by the pumpkin.

1. In the USA, pumpkin is a very popular Thanksgiving dish. It is not sure whether pumpkin was one of the dishes in the first thanksgiving dinner. But they were, however, a part of all traditional meals long before the arrival of the first Europeans. Most parts of the pumpkin are suitable for eating, including the shell, the seeds, the leaves, and even the flowers. When ripe, the pumpkin can be boiled, baked, steamed, or roasted. The pumpkin has been very important for centuries. It has been popular with wizards, witches and fairies. Maybe that’s why it is celebrated in so many festivals, folklore and fiction. People make jack o’lanterns at Halloween in the USA. In European and American fairy-tales witches often turn people into pumpkins. Even in modern The Harry Potter novels pumpkin juice is the favourite drink of the students of Hogwart’s school.

1. The USA is often called a melting pot – a total mix of races and nationalities. In fact, the same could be said of Britain, except this process took far longer. The British today are the result of wave after wave of conquest, migration and mixing. Now there are many people of all colours and races in the UK. They are mostly former inhabitants of the former British colonies. There are special newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programmes for them. Visitors to Britain are often surprised by the titles of the magazines on newsagents' shelves. Some of them are extremely specialized and lots of them are on new technology. The British are also great newspaper readers.  An almost universal British custom, going for a walk, is another surprising fact. Recently people have been moving into suburbs, smaller towns and the country. Even so Britain remains one of the most urbanised countries in the world, with nine in ten of the population living in towns or cities.

10-11 класс.

1. The early history of Canada is a story of fish and fur. But after the World War II, Canada began to develop its own industries, such as producing cars and airoplanes. Today, Canada is the largest producer of nickel. It supplies the world with iron and copper as well as wood, paper, oil, gold and silver. Canada now has moved swiftly with research and development in fibre optics and communications. Canada has a reputation for being a mosaic of world cultures. About 40% of Canadians are of British origin. French descendants of the French adventurers live in Quebec. The French language they speak is unique. Words, grammar and even pronunciation still have connections with seventeenth-century French. Canada's third-largest ethnic group is German. Then come Italians, Ukrainians, Dutch, Greeks and Polish. Toronto, the centre for international immigration, is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. With so much winter and snow, it is not surprising that Canadians are good at winter sports. Ice hockey (simply called hockey) is a national pastime and it is so popular that it is more of a religion than a sport. This is especially true in Quebec, home of the Monreal Canadiens, one of the most successful professional sports teams anywhere. Other popular spectator sports include curling and football.

1. Since ancient times people all over the world have tried to understand such physical phenomena like rain, snow and wind. The Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle wrote a book named Meteorologica, which was about the basic elements of the environment: the earth, the winds, the seas and rivers, and of course, the weather. He is considered to be the founder of a science, which studies the atmosphere, and the title of his book has become the name of the science. Meteorology supposes a lot of observations, researches and analyses. Without them it is impossible to say what the weather will be like tomorrow. In 1654 one scientist started an ambitious research project. Its aim was to record weather patterns in different Italian and European cities. The received information was studied and analyzed by the scientist. Those results were very important for meteorology. So that project gave an opportunity for Fahrenheit to create the modern thermometer.

1. Two people never see the same rainbow. Each person sees a different one. It happens because the raindrops are constantly moving so the rainbow is always changing, too. Each time you see a rainbow it is unique and it will never be the same! In addition, everyone sees colours differently according to the light and how their eyes interpret it. A rainbow is an optical phenomenon that is seen in the atmosphere. It appears in the sky when the sun’s light is reflected by the raindrops. A rainbow always appears during or immediately after showers when the sun is shining and the air contains raindrops. As a result, a spectrum of colours is seen in the sky. It takes the shape of a multicoloured arc. Many cultures see the rainbow as a road, a connection between earth and heaven (the place where God lives). Legends say that it goes below the earth at the horizon and then comes back up again. In this way it makes a permanent link between what is above and below, between life and death. In some myths the rainbow is compared to a staircase connecting earth to heaven.