KEEP IN TOUCH: Задания для 9 класса

Задания для 9 класса

1.	Why did people start the postal service?
2.	What is snail mail?
3.	Where did the first delivery system appear?

4.	What are the advantages of e-mail?
5.	What was the first stamp like?
6.	How were the letters paid for?

A.	For as long as humans have existed there has been a need to keep in touch and to transfer important information between people in different places. Before the invention of writing, oral messages were carried from one person to another between towns. Writing made it much easier to send longer messages; however, it was still difficult to make sure that your message got to the right place.
B.	It was used by the Roman officials to transfer information throughout the Empire. Staging posts and a system with horses and carriages meant that messages could move quickly, by using many riders instead of one. It was very important for business and military reasons that good communication system existed. However, the Romans were not the first to realize this. The Chinese and Persian empires used systems of horses and riders more than 500 years before the Romans.
C.	Before the invention of the postage stamps, letters were “franked”. It was marked on the letter that delivery had been paid for. This could have been either written or stamped. A post-mark was also stamped on the letter. Invented in 1660 in England, this was a mark that showed where and when the letter had been posted. It was used to see how long it took to deliver the letter – to make sure the service was reliable.
D.	It is the humorous term used by e-mail users for the old-fashioned letters-in-envelopes postal system. It means that such letters travel very slowly, which actually is rather unfair. In Britain you can send letters first or second class; the first class ones normally get to their destination, anywhere in the country, the next morning. The postal service is called the Royal mail, and all the British stamps have the head of the Queen.
E.	They were invented in Great Britain. It was a British man called Rowland Hill who proposed a stamp to be stuck on the letter to identify that postage had been paid. The first stamp was issued in 1840. It was called the Penny Black and the profile of Queen Victoria’s head was depicted there. The stamp cost 1 pence and was darkly coloured. About 65 million Penny Blacks were issued, and nowadays it is not a very rare stamp.

058FFB

1.	Languages spoken in Britain
2.	The origin of English
3.	Modern language tendencies

4.	Regional varieties of English
5.	English in Australia
6.	Global English

A.	English is basically a Germanic language with a lot of Latin words in it. In simple terms, that means that the grammar and many of the most frequent words are Germanic, and the more formal or technical vocabulary is Latinate. The linguistic mixture is a result of historical events. But the simple historical facts appear not to explain everything about the development of the language. One interesting question is why the British did not learn Latin from the Romans.
B.	It came as a surprise to many people when a survey showed that 172 languages were spoken by children in London schools: Chinese, Turkish, Italian, Spanish, Punjabi and others. Some of these, like the West African language Ga, only have a couple of speakers. But others, like Punjabi, are quite significant linguistic community, with their own radio programmes and newspapers, and classes for children – to ensure that they don’t forget the language of their grandparents.
C.	A nasty shock awaits many visitors to Britain. Imagine you have learnt English for years, you can read newspapers and you have no problem following the television, but when you go into a shop in Newcastle you can’t understand a word they are saying. It is the accent, mostly the vowels, which gives the visitor a problem in the shop. Some accents are so strong that they present problems for British people, too. Intonation patterns also differ between regions.
D.	Billions of people speak English, two-thirds of the planet’s scientists write in English, and over 80% of the world’s electronic information is stored in English. But not all the British are really self-satisfied about the status of their language. But they are quite well aware that today it is out of their hands: the reasons for the popularity of English are either lost in history, or something to do with the superpower on the other side of the Atlantic.
E.	Let’s look at the speech of young people in Britain. Here we can find several interesting developments. One is a spread of a light London accent over much of the country. Another is an openness, through the media, to American and Australian influences. The Australian effect is quite recent, and the results from the huge popularity of Australian TV soap operas. It is the phrases, idioms and grammatical forms which are catching.

3D0FFD

1.	Name meaning
2.	Pumpkin brief facts
3.	Cooking with pumpkin

4.	Activities involving pumpkin
5.	Pumpkin’s recipes
6.	Pumpkin’s magical popularity

A.	Pumpkin is a large round fruit with a thick orange skin and large seeds. Pumpkins are 90% water but they contain potassium and vitamin A. Six of seven continents can grow pumpkins. Nowadays pumpkins have come to symbolize not only the lovely color of the autumn but the spirit of the season as well. A sizable number of movies were made with pumpkin and Halloween themes. Most memorable, perhaps, is the pumpkin carriage in Cinderella.
B.	Pumpkins are believed to have originated in North America. Native American Indians ate pumpkins centuries before the Europeans landed. Seeds from related plants have been found in Mexico dating back to 7000 to 5500 B.C. References to pumpkins date back many centuries. The word pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "large melon" which is "pepon." "Pepon" was changed by the French into "pompon." The English changed "pompon" to "Pumpion."
C.	In the United States, pumpkins go hand in hand with the autumn holidays of Thanksgiving, and, of course, Halloween. At almost every Thanksgiving table is the customary 'Pumpkin Pie'. Pumpkins are carved into decorated lanterns for Halloween. Pumpkin is one of the important symbols of the harvest festival and has been an American-favourite for over 400 years now. A lot of autumn festivals are dedicated to the pumpkin. Farmers from all over the US compete to determine who has grown the heaviest pumpkin.
D.	In the USA, pumpkin is a very popular Thanksgiving dish. It is not sure whether pumpkin was one of the dishes in the first thanksgiving dinner. But they were, however, a part of all traditional meals long before the arrival of the first Europeans. Most parts of the pumpkin are suitable for eating, including the shell, the seeds, the leaves, and even the flowers. When ripe, the pumpkin can be boiled, baked, steamed, or roasted.
E.	The pumpkin has been very important for centuries. It has been popular with wizards, witches and fairies. Maybe that’s why it is celebrated in so many festivals, folklore and fiction. People make jack o’lanterns at Halloween in the USA. In European and American fairy-tales witches often turn people into pumpkins. Even in modern The Harry Potter novels pumpkin juice is the favourite drink of the students of Hogwart’s school.

55582B

1.	School rules
2.	School subjects
3.	After school activities

4.	School Facilities
5.	School Punishment
6.	A typical English school

A.	Chiswick School is a secondary school in London. It has about 1.250 pupils between the ages of 11 and 19. Like in most British schools, all the pupils study the same subjects in the first three years. Then they work for their GCSE exams – usually taking about nine subjects. Everyone takes English, Maths and Science, but there is quite a wide choice of other subjects. After the exams, some pupils leave and get jobs; others go on to do their A levels at other schools or further education college; some stay on in school.
B.	There are six tennis courts, a gym, two squash courts and a large games field, where boys and girls play football and hockey. Pupils can also row on the nearby River Thames. There are also three main computer centres, and most subjects (such as Chemistry and Languages) have their own computers. All pupils study Information Technology. The school has a large library and a Learning Resources Centre with photocopying facilities, computer scanners and printers.
C.	When the classes are over, Chiswick students are busy too. There is judo, dance, cooking and chess provided by the school at lunch time and in the afternoon. There are music and photography clubs. There is a theatre group which puts on a play at the end of each year. The teachers and the parents encourage as many pupils as possible to take part in numerous clubs. In the holidays, the school organizes trips such as camping in Wales or skiing in Switzerland.
D.	There is one basic law in the school: to respect others and their property and behave in a normal, sensible way, with due consideration for the health and safety of all. In really serious cases, it is possible to exclude pupils for a period of time from school, or to expel them permanently. As in most schools in Britain, pupils have to wear a uniform. There is some resistance to wearing school uniform, but generally teachers and parents agree that the uniform is good for discipline.
E.	If, as a pupil, you misbehave there is a system known as WRO – Warning, Report, Out. First you get a warning from your teacher, you have to carry a form around with you and the teacher signs it after each lesson – to show that you were present and behave well. If you do anything wrong at this stage, you are out; you have to go to the hall to join any other pupils in trouble. In the hall, you all work in silence under the supervision of a teacher.

2F46D2

1.	What do weather people do?
2.	What does the name mean?
3.	What helps predict the weather?

4.	How was the thermometer invented?
5.	What is the most beautiful weather phenomenon?
6.	How does the thermometer work?

A.	Since ancient times people all over the world have tried to understand such physical phenomena like rain, snow and wind. The Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle wrote a book named Meteorologica, which was about the basic elements of the environment: the earth, the winds, the seas and rivers, and of course, the weather. He is considered to be the founder of a science, which studies the atmosphere, and the title of his book has become the name of the science.
B.	Meteorology supposes a lot of observations, researches and analyses. Without them it is impossible to say what the weather will be like tomorrow. In 1654 one scientist started an ambitious research project. Its aim was to record weather patterns in different Italian and European cities. The received information was studied and analyzed by the scientist. Those results were very important for meteorology. So that project gave an opportunity for G. Fahrenheit to create the modern thermometer.
C.	If you enjoy everything from watching clouds to reading about hurricanes and tornados, then maybe meteorology is the career for you. Meteorologists, can be found all over the world doing some very interesting things! They may study the ozone layer or air pollution or make weather observations in Antarctica. They might monitor rainfall and give river flood warnings or fly in aircraft investigating hurricanes. Weather is world-wide and so are people, who study the weather!
D.	Have you ever wondered how people are able to predict the weather ahead of time? Wouldn't it be great to know if there is a chance of rain for your football game this weekend? Weather forecasting, a prediction what weather will be like tomorrow or next week, takes into consideration many aspects, but one of the most crucial weather features is the wind. By learning how the wind affects the weather, we can learn a lot about how to predict it.
E.	When light and water meet in the sky on a summer day, a rainbow appears. Such a wonderful sight! The legends of many cultures see the rainbow as a kind of bridge between heaven and earth. But it's just sunlight and raindrops. When sunlight enters a drop of rain, a part of it does not pass directly through but is reflected from the inner surface and appears from the side from which it entered.

CAE0C9

1.	Where to find traditional British food
2.	Why fast food appeared
3.	Modern British food

4.	Traditional British drink
5.	What they used to eat
6.	What kind of tea they prefer

A.	If you go back to the time of Queen Elizabeth (1558–1603), people really knew how to eat and Chefs used to travel round Europe to get new ideas and ingredients. It was also the time when British explorers sailed all over the world. They brought home all sorts of exotic food: rice and tea from China, spices from India, coffee from Arabia. In the Americas they found tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, pineapples, sugar and vanilla.
B.	In the past, without cookbooks and TV programmes, women learnt from their mothers and spend hours every day in the kitchen. But then, around the end of the 18^th century, life in Britain changed dramatically. The industrial revolution took families from farms in the country to the crowded cities. Men and women worked long hours in the factories. So they had no longer time or energy to cook properly at home. There was already an interest in fast food.
C.	Every country seems to have a national cuisine and to be proud of it. So what is Britain famous for? The sad truth is that most of the British gave up cooking a long time ago and started buying ready-made meals from the shops. They love tins, tubes, packets and frozen food of all kinds. Of course, convenience food is an international phenomenon, but it started earlier and has gone further in Britain than in most countries.
D.	It’s more than just a tradition – it is a way of life. Many people have tea first with breakfast, then at mid-morning, with lunch, at tea-time (around 5 o’clock), with dinner, and finally just before bed. As a nation, they get through 185 million cups per day! Most British use tea bags these days, but serious tea lovers still go through an almost Japanese-style ceremony. The selection of tea is very personal.
E.	The country has some excellent food: lamb from Wales, shellfish and salmon from Northern Ireland, fresh fish from Scotland, cheeses from England and Wales. Unfortunately, good British food is difficult to find. Only 2% of restaurants in London serve British food. There are many more Italian, Chinese and Indian restaurants. You can have a good “British” meal without spending a lot of money by going to a pub (or public houses) that you can see everywhere in Britain.

326498

1.	Economy and industries
2.	Food and drinks
3.	Main cities

4.	Leisure time
5.	Population
6.	Pages of history

A.	Australia once had close ties with Great Britain. Until fifty years ago, almost all Australians were of British or Irish origin. But after World War II more than two million people arrived from Europe. New Australians, as they were known, were from Greece, Germany and Italy. Mass migration has changed Australia into a multicultural society. Today, people of Anglo-Irish origin are a minority. Many recent immigrants are from South East Asia, the Philippines and China .
B.	Australia's prosperity has been founded on its natural resources. It produces almost every mineral from gold to uranium. Traditionally, Australia was a farming country and its wealth was founded on wool, cattle and wheat. It is still a major exporter of food, making it the breadbasket of Asia. Agriculture and mining, however, employ comparatively few people. Tourism is now Australia's largest industry, employing 6% of the population. More than three million visitors come to the country each year.
C.	In spite of the importance of the bush to Australian folklore, 90% of Australians live in cities. Almost everyone lives within a few kilometres of the sea and of the ocean. The beaches are used in same way as parks: families have picnics, people of all ages jog, play volleyball, swim or just walk. There is great interest in water sports like water skiing, surfing, swimming and sailing. Every city has tennis courts, allowing half a million people play competitively.
D.	The Dutch were the first Europeans to see Australia, in the early seventeenth century, but they found no opportunities to settle or trade. English explorer James Cook landed near Sydney 160 years later and claimed it for Britain. But still no one could think what to do with it. The American Revolution provided a solution. America had been used Australia as a dumping ground for criminals, mostly the unfortunate poor from cities created during the industrial revolution.
E.	Australians used to live on a diet of lamb and potatoes. But with such a variety of climates and with so many ethic groups, the Australian diet has changed dramatically. Cities like Melbourne and Sydney are proud of their huge range of ethnic restaurants and multicultural cuisine, ranging from Italian to Tibetan. The barbecue is a national institution. It is an informal event for people and there is nothing more refreshing than a swim before eating fruit, fresh salads, and steaks.

A1E068

1.	Food and medicine
2.	A berry of beauty
3.	Name meaning

4.	Strawberry events
5.	Strawberry recipe
6.	Strawberry brief facts

A.	A strawberry is a small fleshy red fruit used in desserts or eaten on its own. It is usually sold in small baskets known as punnets. Strawberries contain no fat and are very low on calories. They are a rich source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and others. The United States is the top strawberry producing country in the world, followed by Spain. The typical modern strawberry is a hybrid from both North and South America.
B.	Strawberries taste great with just about anything and they make a great snack on their own. The berry was known from the late middle ages but was not very popular then. People say that the name of the fruit comes from the way it was sold. Popular legend is that long time ago in London strawberries were very cheap. Children from London and other towns picked the berry themselves and then tied onto pieces of straw to sell in the town markets yelling “straws of berries” to get attention.
C.	There are many strawberry festivals held around the world in celebration of strawberry season. Each strawberry festival is unique, but some of the common elements are often a youth show, carnival rides, a sell of homemade goods, musical performances, art contests, and baking competitions. You'll probably have the chance to buy fresh strawberries or strawberry pies. Most strawberry festivals charge a small entrance fee, but it is well worth it to experience strawberry related fun for an entire weekend.
D.	North American native people called strawberries as berry of the heart and ate strawberries as a favored dessert. White settlers who came into contact with native people liked the berry. Then one doctor prescribed a diet of only strawberries believing that rheumatic illness could be cured if strawberries were eaten every day. According to his observations the leaves of the strawberry could be used in tea and would help to lose weight as well.
E.	Whether you eat strawberries as juice, jam, or mix it with a cake, it has the same delicious taste. It is not just delicious, but also good for our health and appearance. The berries are widely used in cosmetics. During the late 20th century strawberry flavored beauty products have become very popular. There appeared many products such as facial cleansers, shampoos, soaps, and others.

3F4233

1.	Education
2.	Economy
3.	Population

4.	Sport
5.	Language
6.	Leisure Holiday

A.	The early history of Canada is a story of fish and fur. But after World War II, Canada began to develop its own industries, such as producing cars and airoplanes. Today, Canada is the largest producer of nickel. It supplies the world with iron and copper as well as wood, paper, oil, gold and silver. Canada now has moved swiftly with research and development in fibre optics and communications.
B.	Canada has a reputation for being a mosaic of world cultures. About 40% of Canadians are of British origin. French descendants of the French adventurers live in Quebec. The French language they speak is unique. Words, grammar and even pronunciation still have connections with seventeenth-century French. Canada's third-largest ethnic group is German. Then come Italians, Ukrainians, Dutch, Greeks and Polish. Toronto, the centre for international immigration, is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.
C.	With so much winter and snow, it is not surprising that Canadians are good at winter sports. Ice hockey (simply called hockey) is a national pastime and it is so popular that it is more of a religion than a sport. This is especially true in Quebec, home of the Montreal Canadians, one of the most successful professional sports teams anywhere. Other popular spectator sports include curling and football. The official national summer sport is lacrosse.
D.	Canada's two official languages are English and French. They are the mother tongues of 60% and 23% of the population respectively. You can notice the both languages on highway signs, maps, tourists' leaflets and all types of packaging. Canadian English contains elements of British English and American English in its vocabulary. The five most widely-spoken non-official languages are Chinese, Punjubi, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.
E.	The school summer vacations are from the end of June to the early September. On the first Monday of September the Canadians have Labour Day. Originally, it was an occasion to celebrate workers' rights. Nowadays this holiday is, first of all, an opportunity to spend time in the countryside, or have picnics or other outdoor activities with family and friends. For students, the Labour Day is the last chance to have a party before the new academic year.

0 коммент.:

Отправить комментарий

Подписаться на: Сообщения (Atom)