In many countries, the first of May is May Day a day to welcome spring. People gather flowers and dance, often around a Maypole.
May Day came to the United States from England but it was brought to England by the ancient Romans. In Rome, there was a day in spring when the young men paraded through the city, carrying a pine tree. There was also a festival to honor Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers. When the Romans conquered England, the pine tree became a Maypole.
On May Day in England, the pole was set up on the village green and decorated with flowers and ribbons. A May Queen was picked and crowned with flowers. Villagers danced around the Maypole, holding the ends of ribbons that hung from the pole. As they danced, they wove the ribbons in and out.
In time, some people thought the merrymakers worshiped the Maypole. For a while, the Maypole was forbidden by law. Bui it reappeared later. To this day, children in parts of England and elsewhere still sing and dance around the Maypole on May Day.
CHEESE ROLLING
Of all Britain's famous customs and traditions, cheese rolling is probably the strangest and certainly the most spectacular.
Every year, large crowds of people gather at Coopers Hill in Gloucestershire to watch the Cheese Rolling Championship.
A group of brave (and crazy) people roll a large cheese down the hill, and then run down after it. In theory, competitors must catch the cheese, but as it can reach speeds up to 70 miles an hour, this rarely happens.
Cheese Rolling is one of the oldest customs in Great Britain. It's been going on for hundreds of years and nobody knows for sure when it first started.
The master of the ceremonies must wear a white coat, ribbons and a top hat. He starts the event with the traditional signal: 'One to be ready, two to be steady, three to prepare and FOUR to be off.'
In the past the cheese-rolling day also included a fair that took place at the top of the hill.
Four races are held on the day: three for men and one for women. There are also uphill races for children.
Cheese Rolling is a dangerous sport. There is usually an ambulance at the event to treat people with sprained ankles, black eyes and sometimes more serious injuries.
Oh, and what's the prize for winning in this 'extreme' sport? You get to keep the cheese!
BELARUS
"KALYADY" HAS COME
I. Pay attention to these words. Pick out sentences with these words from the text and read them out:
Kalyady ;
Christmas ;
Epiphany [i'pifsni] ;
Svyatki ;
Kalyadnaya Kuttzya ;
Bethlehem . (.);
Christ [kraist]
II. Read out these phrasal verbs and expressions several times till you remember them:
to get rid of -.;
to see the New Year in ;
treat to -.;
they say ;
to play the accordion ;
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to act out , .
III. Match the English words and their Russian equivalents:
eternity
fair
mysterious
vagrant
smart
to get rid of
forefathers
merry
immortality
to disguise
IV. Combine the words with the help of the preposition of:
groups a. everything bad
many countries b. Christ's birth place
the masks c. elite
a sort d. ''Kalyady"
a symbol e. Goats and Bears
eternity f. immortality
the name g. the world
holiday h. porridge
to get rid i. merry young boys and girls
V. Give the comparative and superlative of the following adjectives:
Long, old, late, young, ancient, delicious, bad.
VI. Give the three forms of the following verbs:
to come, to spoil, to begin, to call, to hold, can, to treat, to bear, to disguise.
VII. Give the plural of:
Calendar, amateur, carol, fair, story, masquerade, holiday.
VIII. Write the derivatives of the following words:
To fall, a mystery, to celebrate, a host, to congratulate, music, to perform, an origin.
IX. These words can be used both as verbs and nouns. Make up your own sentences to show the difference in their usage:
