Form 8.Reading. Variant 2. The Second Term.

Complete the dialogue with the replies from the box. (write letter)

— Well, Ann, do you like reading?

— Yes, very much.   (1)

— What kind of books do you prefer?

—   (2)

— Are you reading anything at the moment?

—   (3)

—   (4)

— The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham.

— And when was it written?

— As far as I remember it was written just at the beginning of the 20th century. So it’s quite classical.

—   (5)

— This is a story of the conflict between the artist and conventional society,

based on the life of the French painter Paul Gauguin.

— Ah! I think you’re really enjoying reading this book.

—   (6)

— That’s great.

Read the text and the statements to it. Write if the statements are true or false.

Most of Britain’s most popular newspapers are tabloids. These include

The Sun, The Mirror, The Express and The Daily Mail. Although some tabloids are serious newspapers and the broadsheets also have tabloid editions, many people talk about tabloid journalism or the tabloid press to refer to a type of a newspaper that contains many articles about music, sport and famous people, and less serious news, and is often insulting to women and people from other countries. The word «tabloid» is less widely used in the USA, where most of the important national newspapers are of a regular size. The best-known US tabloid, which uses short articles and large photographs, is the New York Daily News. Serious tabloids include the Chicago Sun-Times.

1) Tabloids are rather popular in Britain.       [false, true] 2) All the tabloids are serious newspapers.       [true, false] 3) Most people believe that there is very little serious news in tabloids.       [true, false] 4) Tabloids concentrate on such topics as political and economic events.       [true, false] 5) The New York Daily News is issued in the UK.       [true, false] 6) The Chicago Sun-Times is a serious tabloid.       [true, false]

Read the text and answer the questions.

As Samuel Johnson (an English critic famous for his smart sayings) once noticed, when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is about the weather, and this is still true. The weather is a safe, polite and impersonal topic of conversation. Most British people would agree that bright sunny weather, not too hot and with enough rain to water their gardens, is good. Bad weather usually means dull days with a lot of clouds and rain or, in winter, fog or snow. The British tend to expect the worst as far as the weather is concerned and it is part of national folklore that summer holidays on a bank will be wet. It may be pouring with rain, raining cats and dogs, bucketing, or even just drizzling or spitting, but it will be wet.

1) Why do English people like to discuss weather?

Read the text and answer the questions.

As Samuel Johnson (an English critic famous for his smart sayings) once noticed, when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is about the weather, and this is still true. The weather is a safe, polite and impersonal topic of conversation. Most British people would agree that bright sunny weather, not too hot and with enough rain to water their gardens, is good. Bad weather usually means dull days with a lot of clouds and rain or, in winter, fog or snow. The British tend to expect the worst as far as the weather is concerned and it is part of national folklore that summer holidays on a bank will be wet. It may be pouring with rain, raining cats and dogs, bucketing, or even just drizzling or spitting, but it will be wet.

2) What weather is considered to be bad?

Read the text and answer the questions.

As Samuel Johnson (an English critic famous for his smart sayings) once noticed, when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is about the weather, and this is still true. The weather is a safe, polite and impersonal topic of conversation. Most British people would agree that bright sunny weather, not too hot and with enough rain to water their gardens, is good. Bad weather usually means dull days with a lot of clouds and rain or, in winter, fog or snow. The British tend to expect the worst as far as the weather is concerned and it is part of national folklore that summer holidays on a bank will be wet. It may be pouring with rain, raining cats and dogs, bucketing, or even just drizzling or spitting, but it will be wet.

3) What are the words used for wet weather in the text?