Become vote win get be promote want
Every five years, British people over the age of 18 __ in a general election. People vote for the candidate they __ in their constituency (region). The candidate who __ __ the MP in the House of Commons, even if he or she __ only one vote more than the candidate who __ second. This is called “the-first-past-the-post” electoral system. This system __ the two most powerful parties at the expense of the smaller parties.
47. Read the text, choose one of the symbols described and be ready to speak about it in detail.
British Symbols
England enjoys many national symbols, which are used in political, social, cultural and even religious spheres, to represent this diverse land. These include:
The Flag
The British flag, known as the Union Jack, is a combination of three flags: English, Scottish and Irish. The flag of England is represented by a red cross on a white background. This is known as Saint George’s Cross and has its origins in the Crusades (12th and 13th centuries), when soldiers were identified by this red-coloured cross on their white tunics. St George was claimed to be the Patron Saint of England at the time, so the cross became associated with him. Saint Andrew’s cross, which shows a diagonal white cross on a blue field, is the Scottish flag. And Saint Patrick’s flag (a diagonal red cross on a white background) represents Ireland.
The National Floral Emblems
The Tudor Rose, also known as The Rose of England, was adopted as a symbol of peace and merges a white rose (representing the Yorkists) and a red rose (representing the Lancastrians). During the War of the Roses, these two sides fought over the control of the royal house.
Ireland is usually associated with a shamrock, Scotland – with a thistle and Wales – with a daffodil.
The Royal Banner of England
This banner is also known as the Banner of the Royal Arms, amongst its other names. It is the official English banner of arms and represents the sovereignty of the rulers of England (as opposed to loyalty to the country itself). It comprises three horizontally positioned gold lions, which face the observer. Each has a blue tongue and blue claws and is set against a deep red background.
48. Fill in the chart about the national symbols of the UK. Go to http://www.englandforever.org/national-symbols.php and find out about the other symbols.
| A Symbol | Its description |
| The British flag | |
| The Tudor Rose | |
| The Royal Banner of England | |
| … |
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49. Read the text and retell this story using verbs in italics in Past Simple.
About AD 790, the Vikings start to invade England. The Norsemen, who come from Norway, mainly settle in Scotland and Ireland. The north and east of England are settled by the Danes. The Vikings are excellent traders and navigators. They trade in silk and furs as far as Russia. In 1016 England becomes part of the Scandinavian Empire under King Cnut. In September, King Harold II marches north to defeat his half-brother, the king of Norway, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Just three weeks later, he himself is defeated and killed at Hastings by another invader of Viking origin, William Duke of Normandy, from northern France.
50. Read the text about the origin of the words naming British territories and make a list of verbs used in the Past. Make a summary of the text, using your list.
“Shire” Or “County”?
When Germans came to Britain in the 5th century AD they developed political and administrative institutions. The Saxons created institutions which made the English state strong for the next 500 years. One of these institutions was the King's Council, called the Witan. By the tenth century the Witan was a formal body, making laws and charters.
By 10th century Saxons divided land into administrative areas, shires (counties). The administrator of the shire was called the shire reeve, or sheriff. These shires, established by the end of the tenth century, have remained almost exactly the same for a thousand years. ‘Shire’ is the Saxon word which is now obsolete; it has been replaced with the Norman word county but still exists in the names of over 20 modern counties in England: Derbyshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, etc.
51. Read the extract about a picturesque area in Wales and fill in the gaps with the words given after the text.
Cornwall
The (1) _______ Cornish peninsula, on Britain’s southwestern tip, is one of the country’s most popular areas as far (2)_______ tourists are concerned.
Thousands of years ago, Cornwall was a centre of Celtic culture. The Romans tried without (3)______ to conquer the region, and it managed to keep its traditional (4)_____ of life and its own language. One of the area’s main tourist attractions is the now ruined (5)_______ of Tintagel, where the (6)______ King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table lived. Visitors can still see (7) ______ remains of the hall, which is (8) ______ intact.
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Cornwall is also (9)______ for its beaches on the English Channel, to the south-east, and its spectacular scenery on the Atlantic, or north-west side. The combination of a rich history and (10)______ beauty make this area worth visiting.
| largely outstanding way castle famous as legendary the success beautiful |
52. Read and fill in the gaps with the sentences A – F to make the text logical.
London
London, the capital of the UK, is one of the oldest and the most beautiful cities in the world. 1)..... They built a city a square mile in size, surrounded it with a wall and called it Londinium. This original site of London is now called the City of London and is Britain’s financial and business centre. The other parts of London are the West End (its shopping and entertainment centre), the East End (the industrial part), Westminster (the government centre) and Knightsbridge.
The City is only a very small part of London. After the Norman Conquest there was a long period of peace. In the eleventh century, London began to expand beyond the City walls when king Edward the Confessor built a huge abbey at Westminster. Even today, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, as well as all the shops, cafes, theatres and cinemas of the West End, are in the City of Westminster and not in the City of London. 2) ….. In 1665, during the terrible plague in London, many people left the city and escaped to the villages in the surrounding countryside. In 1666 The Great Fire of London ended the plague, but it also destroyed much of the city. 3) ….. There were not so many Londoners living in the city centre.
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The centre of London has many different areas. 4) ….. Covent Garden in London’s West End is crowded with cafes, clubs and clothes shops. Soho is also known for its clubs. Knightsbridge has a lot of exclusive and expensive shops, as well as many of the embassies. Fleet Street is the home of the Law Courts. One part of the West End has so many Chinese shops and restaurants that it is called Chinatown. Chelsea and Sloane Street are supposed to be the homes of trendy rich kids.
When you go outside the centre you find many areas which used to be small villages. 5) ….. Hampstead, the best-known of the villages, is located on one of the highest hills in London and is extremely expensive.
The saying “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life!” (Dr Johnson) is a cliché, but you can’t be bored in London. There are hundreds of historic buildings, galleries and museums. 6) ….. There are so many museums and galleries in London that even people who lived there for a long time don’t know them all. Some are traditional museums, but many are now making their exhibitions interactive, or hands-on, to encourage people to touch and understand what is on display.
A. This expanding continued for a very long time, especially to the west of the city, so that in a few centuries London covered a very large territory.
B. Each one has its own special character.
C. It began life two thousand years ago at a place where the invading Romans first crossed the River Thames.
D. The villages became part of the city when the city expanded, but they still managed to keep their village character.
E. There are parks and street markets, over 80 theatres and even more cinemas.
F. After the plague and the Great Fire, London was rebuilt and people returned to it.
53. There are lots of various cultural centres in London. Tate Gallery is one of them. Tate Modern is a branch of this well-known Gallery. Read the text and fill in the gaps with the derivatives of the given words.
Tate Modern Art Gallery
Tate Modern is London's museum of modern art and also houses a 1) _____of British art from the 1500s. It is the most visited art gallery in the world. The Gallery was created in 2000 from a disused power station in the heart of London. The buildings vast size 2) _____ apparent when you enter via the dramatic turbine hall which is 152 metres long.
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The collection of modern and contemporary art represents all the major movements from Fauvism. It includes important masterpieces by both Picasso and Matisse and surrealist works.
American Abstract Expressionism works include 3) _____ by Pollock as well as the nine Seagram Murals by Rothko. There is an in depth collection of the Russian pioneer of abstract art Naum Gabo, and an important group of sculpture and 4) _____ by Giacometti. Tate has significant collections of Pop art, including major works by Lichtenstein and Warhol, Minimal art and Conceptual art.
The pictures are 5) _____ in a way that focuses on pivotal moments of twentieth-century art, with further spaces allocated on levels 3 and 5 for shorter exhibitions.
The displays of the permanent collection are complemented by a 6) ______ programme of temporary exhibitions exploring broad themes of British art as well as the work of individual 7) _____ . The Turbine Hall, which once housed the electricity generators of the old power station, is five storeys tall with 3,400 square metres of floorspace and is now used to display large specially-commissioned works by contemporary artists, between October and March each year. This series was planned to last the gallery’s 8) _____ five years, but the popularity of the series has led to its extension until at least 2012.
Opening Times:
Sunday – Thursday, 10.00–18.00
Last admission to special exhibitions at 17.15
Friday – Saturday, 10.00–22.00
Last admission to special exhibitions at 21.15
We are open as normal on Bank Holidays.
Christmas closures
We are closed 24, 25 and 26 December
Closing at 18.00 on 31 December (open as normal on 1 January).
Closed 24, 25 and 26 December (open as normal on 1 January).
Ticket Prices:
Admission is free except for special exhibitions.
| 1) collect | 5) organise |
| 2) become | 6) continue |
| 3) that | 7) art |
| 4) paint | 8) one |
54. This extract is about one of the early English kings. Read it, and divide into parts, giving a proper heading to each.
Richard the Lionheart
Richard I (September 8, 1157 – April 6, 1199) was King of England from 1189 to 1199. He was often referred to as Richard the Lionheart. He was considered a hero in his day and has often been portrayed as one in works of literature. As well as being an educated man, able to compose poetry in French, Richard was also a magnificent physical specimen, his height is estimated at six feet four inches (1.93 m) tall. From an early age he appeared to have significant political and military abilities, became noted for his chivalry and courage, and soon was able to control the unruly nobles of his territory. As with all the true-born sons of Henry II, Richard had limited respect for his father and lacked foresight and a sense of responsibility. Young Henry's death left Richard as the eldest surviving son and the natural heir when the old King died. The Young King's death on June 11, 1183, ended the revolt, and Richard remained on his throne. Richard has been criticised for doing little for England, siphoning the kingdom's resources by appointing Jewish moneylenders to support his tirades away on Crusade in the Holy Land, indeed, he spent only six months of his ten year reign in England, claiming it was "cold and always raining." He spent most of his father's treasury, raised taxes, and even agreed to free King William I of Scotland from his oath of subservience to Richard in exchange for 10,000 marks. To raise even more money he sold official positions, rights, and lands to those interested in them. He finally succeeded in raising a huge army and navy. There is no doubt that Richard had many admirable qualities, as well as many bad ones. He was a military mastermind, and politically astute in many ways; yet incredibly foolish in others, and unwilling to give way to public opinion. He was capable of great humility as well as great arrogance. He loved his family, but behaved fiercely to his enemies. He was often careless of his own safety: the wound which killed him need not have been inflicted at all if he had been properly armoured.
(Материалы сайта http://www.themiddleages.net/people/richard_lionheart.html)
55. Match the words from the text given in italics with their synonyms.
1) far-seeing;
2) superb;
3) measure;
4) unconcerned;
5) anticipation;
6) empty;
7) picture;
8) declare;
9) increase;
10) disobedient;
11) important;
12) after all;
13) good arranger;
14) lordliness.
56. One of popular British ceremonies is held annually and is world famous. Read the extract about it and answer the questions.
Trooping the Colour
London celebrates The Queen's official birthday in June each year with Trooping the Colour, a fantastic military parade that has taken place in London since 1820.
Trooping the Colour is an annual event that takes place on Horse Guards Parade in London's St James's Park, marking The Queen's official birthday.
The ceremony of Trooping the Colour is full of military pomp and pageantry as The Queen carries out an inspection of the troops from the Household Division.
The Queen then leads the troops down the Mall to Buckingham Palace, one of London's most famous landmarks.
The Queen salutes and guns are fired in Green Park and at the Tower of London. Finally she joins other members of the Royal Family on the balcony to watch the RAF flypast.
After existing in various forms from around 1700, the Trooping the Colour ceremony was restored in 1820 on the accession of King George IV.
The main aspects of the parade have changed very little since then. Trooping the Colour has been held each year in London, apart from during the world wars and a national rail strike in 1955.
Although the official birthday is celebrated in June, Queen Elizabeth II's actual birthday is in April. Monarchs are traditionally given a second birthday if they were born in winter, in case the weather is unsuitable for an outdoor event!
(Материалы сайта http://dukeshotel.com/blog/the-queens-birthday-parade-a-right-royal-reason-to-stay-in-london/)
57. Answer the questions.
1. When and how does London celebrate the Queen’s official birthday?
2. Where does it take place?
3. What is it like?
4. What does the Queen do during the Parade?
5. Where are the guns fired?
6. What does the Queen do at the end of the ceremony?
7. What time does Trooping the Colour date back?
8. Who restored the Parade?
9. Did the main aspects of the Parade change a lot since its beginning?
10. When did the ceremony fail to be held?
11. Why is the Queen’s official birthday celebrated in June and when is her real one?
58. This extract is about one of well-known street in London. You are to follow it on the map and name the main sights that are in close location. For the whole map of London surf the Net and Google Maps.
The Mall (pronounced "mal") is the road that runs from Buckingham Palace to Admiralty Arch and on to Trafalgar Square. It starts at the Victoria Memorial which is situated on a roundabout in front of Buckingham Palace. Running off the Mall at its eastern end is the Horse Guards Parade. The Mall was created as a ceremonial route and during state visits the monarch and the visiting heads of state are escorted up the mall in a state carriage and the street is decorated with flags.
59. Look through the text and a piece of a map and say how you can get to:
- Buckingham Palace;
- Trafalgar Square;
- Victoria Memorial;
- Charing Cross;
- Her Majesty’s Theatre.
60. The word “Mall” has a lot more meanings today. Read the text and see what is“A Shopping Mall”. Give your opinion about shopping in the places alike. Insert parts of the sentences that match from the box below.
Shopping Malls
I think I may be allergic to shopping malls. I am not sure if my condition has ever been recorded officially by medical science (1).
(2) walk inside one of these awful places and within minutes the artificial “day light” from a thousand “soft” lights begins to give me a headache.
Then there is the piped music which tunes in and out. Walking endlessly from shop to shop, my brain slowly turns into a large vegetable.
Christmas is in July and Valentine’s day is in October in these unreal labyrinths. A Christmas gift (3).
And surely no one can believe signs that promise the biggest sale ever virtually every day of the year.
Shopping should be exciting in my opinion with fresh sites beautiful goods to buy. (4) to being in a strange parallel universe.
Worst still is trying to leave. I can never find my way out to fresh air and daylight. (5) some poor souls remain trapped down there for weeks on end.
| a)… paid for in August seems wrong to me. |
| b) All I have to do is … |
| c)… but I am sure there are others who suffer as I do. |
| d) Instead it feels much closer… |
| f) I wonder if… |
61. Every country has its customs. If a foreigner comes there he should know them to communicate successfully. Before you read the extract answer these questions:
Do you tip in your country?
In what kind of places do you give tips?
How much do you usually tip?
To Tip or not To Tip
Canadians and Americans usually tip in places like restaurants, airports, hotels and hair salons because people who work in these places get low salaries. A tip shows that the customer is pleased with the service.
At airports, porters usually get a dollar for each bag. Hotel bellhops usually get a dollar for carrying one or two suitcases. A hotel door attendant or parking valet also gets about a dollar for getting a taxi or for parking a car. Many people also tip hotel maids, especially when they stay in a hotel for several days. They usually leave a dollar a day.
The usual tip for other kind of service – for example, for taxi drivers, barbers, hairdressers, waiters and waitresses – is between 15 and 20 percent of the check. The size of the tip depends on how pleased the customer is. In most restaurants, the bill does not include the service charge. There is no tipping in cafeterias or fast food restaurants.
62. Now say how much should you tip someone who:
takes your bag at an airport?
parks your car at a hotel or restaurant?
serves you in a fast food restaurant?
What tip should you leave for the following?
a $27 haircut?
a $50 restaurant check?
a $14 taxi fare?
63. Read the extract about the USA and talk about its geographical position and the political system.
The United States of America
After its 200th birthday the United States of America still holds the leading position in the western world. A country that inspired many appellations – “Land of Opportunity”, “Melting Pot”, “God’s Country”, is still referred to us as a land of superlatives – “the richest”, “the greatest”, “the most”.
What makes the USA the leader of the western world is its economic, political and military dominance over the countries.
The United States lies in the central part of the North American Continent between two oceans: the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the West. Canada to the North and Mexico to the South are the only countries bordering it.
The USA consists of three separate parts. These are the Hawaiian Islands, situated in the central part of the Pacific Ocean, Alaska separated by Canada, and the rest of the USA. The states differ very much in size, population and economic development, Alaska is the biggest state.
There are many big cities in the USA: New York, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles are the biggest.
The United States of America is a parliamentary republic. The government is divided into three branches: legislative (the US Congress), executive (The President and his Administration) and judicial (the US Supreme Court).
There are two main political parties in the USA: the Democratic (symbolized by a “donkey”) and the Republican (its symbol is “an elephant”). The US President is both head of state and government. He is elected for a four-year term. The Presidency means not only a man: it means an institution – “the executive branch” of the government.
64. Answer the questions:
1. What does the USA consist of?
2. Where is it situated?
3. What oceans and seas is it washed by?
4. What are its biggest cities?
5. What does the American government consist of?
6. What are the two main political parties in the USA and their symbols?
65. Read the text and fill in the gaps with the sentences A-D to make the text logical.
The US National Flag
The US flag was raised in its first unified form on January 2, 1776 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1) ….. The original states were Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia. For that flag in 1777 Congress substituted a similarly striped flag with 13 white stars on a blue field in the left-hand corner.
2) ….. The new country began to grow. More states joined it. But there was no place on the flag for more stripes. So in 1818 the original 13 stripes were restored, to remain unchanged thereafter; for each new state admitted to the Union, however, a new star was added.
Today the USA flag has 13 horizontal (7 red and 6 white) stripes and 50 white stars on the blue background representing the 50 states. 3) ….. The white stripes symbolize liberty and the blue field stands for loyalty.
The US flag is known as “Old Glory”, the “Stars and Stripes” or the “Star-spangled Banner”. 4) ….
A. In 1794, with the admission of Vermont and Kentucky, Congress added two more stripes and two more stars.
B. The red stripes symbolize courage.
C. It is the symbol of the revolutionary struggle of the American people, of the American Revolution.
D. It consisted of 13 alternate red and white stripes, equal to the number of states.
66. Read the text and choose the best answer to the questions below.
Washington, D.C.
When the 13 colonies became states and decided to join in a Union, there was much discussion about the capital. The final decision was to separate a hundred square miles from the States of Maryland and Virginia, call it Federal territory, and build a model capital on that site. The capital was named after the General who had done so much for American Independence, and became its first President – Washington.
The hundred square miles are known as the District of Columbia. This area is not a state, it belongs neither to the north nor to the south, but to all the states. The District is named in honour of Columbus, the discoverer of America. The name of the capital goes with the abbreviation D.C. not to be mixed with another Washington, one of the 50 US states.
The capital owes a great deal to George Washington. The president took an active part in selecting the area of the federal district, and decided that the city should be built on the north bank of the Potomac River. The capital was founded in 1791. George Washington called upon a famous French engineer, Pierre L’Enfant, one of the keen and sympathetic French supporters of the new republic of America. L’Enfant designed a city with the orderly street plan that has been followed to this day.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the new capital was called “Wilderness City” and the “City of Streets Without Houses”. When the government moved there in 1800, President John Quincy Adams and his party literally couldn’t find the place, becoming lost in the woods.
The centre of the city is the Capitol Building. Four geographical sections, or quadrants, radiate out from the Capitol dividing the District of Columbia into North-East, North-West, South-East and South-West. The Capitol is also the point from which the streets of the city are numbered or lettered. Round the Capitol there are a number of circles and squares at various intervals, and diagonal avenues radiate from these.
All the diagonal avenues are named after the original thirteen American states, and the longest and the straightest of them is Massachusetts Avenue. The most famous is Pennsylvania Avenue which is used for all processions and parades in Washington.
Washington is not the largest city in the USA. In the political sense, however, it is the most important city in the country. Washington’s only big business has always been the business of Government. It is said that some three-quarters of the adult population in Washington, D. C. are wholly or indirectly involved in the administrative machine and the general process of government: they are either politicians, or civil servants, or suppliers of goods and services to such people. Washington is the greatest industrial city in the world, and its industry is politics.
1) The territory of Washington, D. C. belonged to…
a) the state of Washington;
b) the states of Maryland and Virginia;
c) none of the states.
2) District of Columbia is named after person who…
a) discovered America;
b) discovered the District;
c) lived in this District.
3) All the streets in Washington are …
a) named after original 13 states;
b) diagonal;
c) lettered or numbered.
4) Washington’s main business is…
a) economics;
b) politics;
c) industry.
67. This extract is about one of American Presidents. Read it, and divide into parts, giving a proper heading to each.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, was born on a farm in Kentucky, on February 12, 1809. Abraham’s father made his living by farming and by working, from time to time, as a carpenter. His mother died when he was only nine years old. Lincoln had no more than a year’s formal education, but in that time he managed to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. As a young man, Abraham had many jobs, some of them involved him in journeys down the Mississippi where he could see auctions of Negro slaves. Just at that time he became against the idea of slavery. On his return from one of these trips he became a storekeeper’s clerk in the village of New Salem. Having time hands, the young man began to study. His friends encouraged him to take up politics and he offered himself as a candidate for the State Legislature (Government of the State). He was defeated in 1832 but two years later his election campaign was successful and he was elected to the Illinois State Legislature. Between 1847 and 1849, Lincoln was a Congressman. Then in 1849, he was offered the governorship of Oregon which he accepted. It was in 1854 that he delivered the speech that made him famous. It was on the subject of slavery. He expressed his view clearly and firmly: slavery should be abolished. Thus Lincoln began to rise in the political world. In 1859 he was adopted as the Republican candidate for the presidency, and in 1860 he became the sixteenth President of the United States. Although he hated slavery, he did not want to shed blood for its abolition, preferring, if possible, to “educate” its supporters by explaining to them the wrong of it. But within a few days of his election in November South Carolina seceded from the Union. Other southern states followed its example and the Confederacy was formed. The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861. It was the War between the Confederate States in the South and the Federal Government in the North. The main cause of the war was the economic and political contradictions between the industrial states of the North and the slave-owning states of the South. Slavery stood in the way of the developing US capitalism, and it had to be abolished. At first the war went badly for the North. They had bigger population, the greater wealth, the more arms factories: but their soldiers were untrained, unready and unwarlike. The Southerners had greater skill in riding and shooting. But the North had Lincoln. For four years he shouldered an almost unbearable burden of defeats and disasters and of disloyalty in his Cabinet by those he thought were his friends. He never lost courage or faith in the righteousness of his cause. In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which, from January 1, 1863, set free “all persons held as slaves within any state”. It helped to make the slaves available for the Union (Federal) Army. So by the end of the war 186,000 coloured troops joined the Union Army. In November 1864, Lincoln was re-elected President and the following January Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. The American Civil War ended in May 1865, but the peace which followed was not a lasting triumph for President Lincoln. He did not see victory. On April 14, 1865, he was shot by John Booth, an actor who was an agent of the slave-owners and their allies in the Northern states. Lincoln was taken from the theatre to a house nearby but he lived only for several hours and died next morning. His death was a great loss to America.
68. Read the text and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1) Benjamin Franklin was the son of a famous printer, James Franklin.
2) Franklin read every book he could write.
3) He was the inventor of the lightning-rod.
4) In the middle of the 18th century Franklin was a representative of America in Britain.
5) Franklin started his literary activity in 1733 publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac which continued to be issued for 20 years.
6) Franklin’s Autobiography, which he completed in 1771, was an outstanding literary work.
7) The majority of Franklin’s works are moral or philosophical parables.
8) He wrote lots of satirical pamphlets offending the rights of all the men.
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