I. Read the text and answer the questions.
Buckingham Palace
As you probably know, there is where Queen Elizabeth 2 lives much of the time. In fact, she also spends a lot of time at Windsor Castle and three other places where she goes for the summer holiday, Christmas and Easter. When the Queen is in London, you can see the Union Jack above the palace.
Buckingham Palace is enormous. There are 600 rooms, 78 bathrooms, a cinema, a swimming pool and even a post office. There is also a beautiful park with a lake around the palace.
About 450 - 450 people work at the Palace. They are servants, cleaners, footmen, gardeners and security men. Two people look after the 300 clocks.
When the Queen is probably on holiday in the summer the Palace opens to the public. You can visit the Grand Hill, the State Dining Room, the Music Room and The Silk Tapestry room.
You can also visit the Throne Room. It is interesting but a bit disappointing. There isnt a huge gold throne in the middle of it, like you might expect!
There are just two chairs with the Queens initials (ER = Elizabeth Regina) and Prince Philips initial
(P) inscribed. You cant even sit on them.
Text Buckingham Palace (Speak Out Lets Go to London pp.10-11)
Vocabulary
Tapestry -
Initial
Inscribe , (, )
Questions:
1. What is the main idea of the text?
2. What is Buckingham Palace?
3. There are a lot of different places in the Palace, arent there?
4. When can you visit Buckingham Palace?
5. How many chairs are there in the throne Room?
II. Read the text and speak about the way Englishmen celebrate Christmas. Could you tell us about your countrys traditions?
Christmas has been celebrated in England for thousands of years. According to the legend, King Arthur started it in the city of York in 571. People nowadays start preparing for the holiday in the beginning of December. People buy lots of presents and send cards to their friends and relatives. It is mostly a family holiday. Englishmen decorate their houses with green leaves, paper decorations, Christmas Trees and colourful electric lights and glass toy s, balls and beds.
Holly and mistletoe are the plants symbolizing Christmas. Red and green are the traditional colours of Christmas. Green represents the continuance of life through the winter. Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus at his Crucifixion. But the main symbol of Christmas is the Christmas Tree.
The first Christmas Tree came to England in 1841. Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert brought it over from Germany.
Nowadays, in London, near the statue of Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, a giant Christmas Tree is set up and decorated each year. The Tree is a present from the people in Oslo, Norway.
2
I. Read the text and answer the questions.
What happened to Crane?
On one side of the Hudson river there was a little village where people told many terrible stories. The most terrible story was one about a headless horseman.
|
|
|
Many years ago, a school-teacher, Crane by name, lived in that village. In the same village lived Katrina Van Tassel. She was a beautiful young woman, and many young men wanted to marry her. Crane, too, loved her, and people thought she liked him. So all the other young men were against Crane, especially Brunt, a strong young man who was popular with the village people.
One afternoon Crane received a letter asking him to come to a party at Vans Tassels house. So Crane went to the party. There were many people there. They were all dancing and enjoying themselves. When the party was almost at the end, Crane, who was dancing with Katrina, suddenly left the ball-room with her. Nobody knows what the young people talked about. But the conversation was not pleasant because the school teacher did not look happy when they came back to the ball room.
It was late at night when Crane got on his horse and started back home. It was very dark in the forest, and he began remembering all terrible stories he heard about the headless horseman. Suddenly his horse stopped. Crane looked up. Near the river stood a horseman on a black horse. Then Cranes horse started off again at gallop. The black horse did the same. He couldnt believe his eyes because the horseman was holding his head in his hand. Then he disappeared. He threw his head at Crane. It hit Crane on the head throw ing him off his horse. Then the headless horseman disappeard.
The next morning people found Cranes horse but nobody saw the school teacher himself. On the ground near the river they found only his hat and a large pumpkin.
Soon Brunt married Katrina. People still talked about the headless horseman. But when the story of Crane was told, the listeners saw that Brunts eyes became bright. So they thought that they knew more about it all than he wanted to tell.
Vocabulary
1. started off- 2. disappeard - 3. throw (threw)-
Questions:
1. What is the main idea of the text?
2. Crane and Katrina Van Tassel were a married couple, arent they?
3. Why did Crane go to the party at Vans Tassels house?
4. Whom did he see near the river?
5. What do you think? Who was the headless horseman?
II. Read and retell the story. Are there any successful writers in your country?
I really dont believe in magic. JK Rolling
She is the author of the Harry Potter series. Shes internationally famous. And her books have sold over 377 million copies worldwide. JK Rolling is one of the worlds most successful writers.
Success. In February 2004, Forbes magazine estimated Rollings fortune to be 576 million pounds; and in 2006, Forbes named her the second richest female entertainer in the world? After talk show host Opra Winfrey. So, how did she get there?
Rolling was born bear Bristol, England. As a child, she enjoyed writing stories, which she often read to her sister. At school, Rowling was good at languages, but didnt like sports or maths.
After studying French and Classics at the University of Exeter (with a year of study in Paris), she moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. One day, while she was on a tour-hour delayed-train trip between Manchester and London, she developed the idea for a story of a young boy who goes to a school of wizardry. As soon as she got home, she began writing.
|
|
|
In 1995, Rolling completed her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher stone on an old typewriter. (Cool English # 34 2007) p.16
Vocabulary
Amnesty International Typewriter
3
