Form 8 Контроль аудіювання (тексти )

Text 1 “Christmas Traditions”

True/False

Christmas season is the most festive time of the year in Britain and the United States. Students at schools and colleges usually have 2 weeks' vacation, beginning before Christmas and ending soon after New Year. There are a lot of parties to celebrate the birth of Christ and the arrival of the New Year.

Although no one knows exactly when Jesus was born, Christians everywhere in the world celebrate his birthday on December 25. This day was a festival long before Christianity because ancient people believed this was the time when the sun god started his journey back to earth and it was a custom to give presents to each other.

Now children are told that Santa Claus or Father Christmas in a red suit, red hat and a long white beard puts presents for them into their stockings by the fireplace.

The winter traditions of decorating homes with evergreens began in ancient times too. Branches of fir were thought to bring good luck and guarantee the return of spring. The Germans were the first to use the Christmas tree in their celebrations.

In the 19th century the decorated fir tree became popular in Europe and the USA. Carol singers begin to go from house to house in groups singing traditional Christmas songs and asking for charity.

Today many people also send Christmas cards to each other.

The most popular wishes in these holiday cards are:

Merry Christmas. Peace on Earth.

 Text 2 Shopping in London

choose the correct variant 

      London has many large department stores, which sell everything: shoes, paper and perfume, fur courts and frying pans. The most expensive department store is Harrods in Knightsbridge. You can buy almost anything in Harrods, and you know you are getting the best. Twice a year, in January and July, Harrods has a “sale”. Some things are almost half-price, and there are thousands of bargains (скидки). But on the first days of the sale the shop is very crowded. Some people stand and wait all night so they can be first in the shop when it opens.

        The smartest and most expensive shops are in Knightsbridge, but more people come to Oxford Street, London’s most popular shopping centre. The street is more than a mile long. There are several big department stores in Oxford Street. The best known are Selfridges, John Lewis and D.H. Evans. Oxford Street has the most shops, but in some ways King’s Road in Chelsea is more fun. This is where fashionable young Londoners buy their clothes in many small “boutiques”.

       You can buy what you like in the big shops, but the small markets have a lot to offer too. There are several big street markets in London, and many small ones. Some markets are open only one day a week. Go to the Portobello on Saturday, or to Petticoat Lane on Sunday. Covent Garden market is open every day. Come here for antiques, old clothes, hand-made jewelry and many other things.

Text 3 George Washington

Put words 

      George Washington  was born on February  22, 1732. When he was born, America 9) _____ a country yet. It belonged to England, a country across the ocean.   People in America didn’t want to belong (принадлежать) to England so they fought a war to be 10) _______. George Washington was an American general in the war.  America won the war and picked a new name for 11)_____: the United States of America.  George Washington  12) ______ to be its first president.

       A legend 13) ______ about Washington as a boy. Young George had a new hatchet (топорик) and with it he cut down a small cherry tree. When his father saw the tree, he was angry. “George”, he said. “Did you do that?”  George was afraid to admit that he did.

        But the boy decided to tell the truth. “Yes, Father,” he said, “I cut down the cherry tree  14)_____ my hatchet. I cannot tell a lie.” George Washington’s father was proud of him because he was 15)_____.