Joe Biggs was a butcher. His shop was in a village in one of the most beautiful parts of the south of England, and he worked in it for many years while his father was there. Then, when his father reached the age of 65, he stopped working in the shop, and Joe was alone in it, so he had to work harder.
Joe worked five and a half days a week. His shop shut at one o’clock on Thursdays, and it was shut the whole of Sunday. Saturdays were the busiest days.
Most of Joe’s meat came to his shop from the nearest town, but sometimes he got up earlier than usual in the morning and drove into the city to choose meat. It was cheaper there.
Joe had a big refrigerator in his shop, but he tried not to buy too much meat at a time, and to sell it before he bought more.
One Thursday a woman came into the shop at five minutes to one. “I’m sorry I’m late,” she said, “but some people have just telephoned to say that they are going to come to dinner tonight, and I need some more meat.”
Joe had only one piece of good meat in the shop. He had sold all the other earlier in the day. He took the piece out and said to the woman, “This is ₤6.50.”
“That piece is too small,” the woman answered.” Haven’t you got anything bigger?”
Joe went into the room behind his shop, opened the refrigerator, put the piece of meat into it, took it out again and shut the door of the refrigerator with a lot of noise. Then he brought the piece of meat back to the woman and said,” this piece is bigger and more expensive. It’s ₤8.75.”
“Good,” the woman answered with a smile. “Give me both of them, please.”
Answer the questions:
1. When did Joe have to begin to work alone in the shop?
2. How did he get most of his meat?
3. Why did the woman want meat at 12.55 on a Thursday?
4. Why did the woman not want the piece of meat Joe had brought her?
5. What did the woman want to buy then? What would you do if you were Joe?
II.Read the text and say if developing tourism is a blessing or a curse. Explain your opinion. Say why people like travelling, where and how they usually travel.
“DEVELOPING TOURISM- A BLESSING OR A CURSE?”
Today tourism is big business throughout the world and our expectations and life styles have greatly altered compared to 30 years ago.
There are those people, especially environmentalists, who see the growth of tourism as a disaster for the environment as well as local cultures. Tourism has often meant huge hotel complexes, swimming pools, pollution and overcrowding that have destroyed many local communities.
Yet the growth of tourism has opened up parts of the world and enabled travelers to go to places they could only have dreamed of thirty years ago. The meeting of different cultures in this way has led to a greater mingling of peoples and cultures and habits.
On a more serious level, tourism is often the developing countries' most important source of income. Foreign tourists bring in much needed foreign currency and this can help that country buy equipment and goods from abroad. In this way tourism is good for the country.
Билет 16.
I. Read the text and answer the questions.
Letters in the Mail
(After E. Caldwell)
Nobody in the whole town of Stillwater likes to get letters more than Ray Buffin. However Ray received fewer letters than anybody else. It had been like that almost all his life.
Once, many years before, he had written a letter to a young girl in town. He had written to tell her how beautiful and lovely she was and how much he loved her. He added the letter by asking her to marry him, but he had received no answer.
Two of the younger men in town, Guy Hodge and Ralph Barnhill, decided to play a joke on Ray. They would send him a letter signed by girl. When he received it, someone would ask him if it was a love letter, and someone else would take it from him and read it to everyone who wanted to listen. They asked Grace Brooks, the switch operator at the telephone company to write the letter. Grace was a pretty girl although not very young any more.
The men did not know that it was Grace who had received the love letter from Ray a long time ago. At that time she had no thoughts about marrying any man. That was why she had not answered Ray. In recent years she was sorry she hadn’t. “I’ll write the letter tonight. I think I know what to say”, said Grace. And she did.
What was the surprise of Ralph, Guy and other people who came to see Ray get the letter, when they saw that after reading it he ran to the telephone exchange. When Guy and Ralph followed him they found Ray and Grace together.
Questions:
1. What is the text about?
2. What did Ray write in his letter to a young girl?
3. What did Ralph and Guy decide to do?
4. Whom did they ask to help them?
5. Why were Ralph and Guy surprised when they ran into the telephone company?
