Sporting events
Means of transport
Pages from history
The location of the city
Education
Population
Influence of New York City is seen throughout the world although is not the capital of the United States. Its nickname, `Big Apple`, was given to it by early immigrants because the city seemed so huge and full of promise. It is located at the mouth of the Hudson River and lies on the same territory as the European cities of Naples and Madrid.
The Dutch founded the city in 1614, calling it New Amsterdam. However, in 1664 it was captured by the British and renamed New York. The city grew in importance and was the US capital until 1790. During the 19th century it was transformed by immigration and from the early 20th century became a world centre for industry, commerce and communication. With the economic boom came the construction of its skyline of skyscrapers, two of which, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, were destroyed in the attacks of September 11th 2001, when nearly 3,000 people died.
New York is the most densely populated and cosmopolitan city in the US with 8, 214, 246 inhabitants speaking 170 languages. 36 % of the city`s population is foreign born. Five of the largest ethnic groups are: Puerto Ricans, Italians, West Indians, Chinese and Irish.
One in the three New Yorkers uses public transport to get to work, whereas in the rest of the US 90% of people go by car. The New York City Subway, which is open 24/7, is used by 1,4 billion passengers a year. New York is also home to the famous Grand Central Station, three major airports, and 12,000 distinctive, yellow taxi cabs.
The New York Marathon held annually on the first Sunday of November, is the largest marathon of the world. It attracts 37,000 runners. However, many New Yorkers prefer a less energetic jog round Central Park. New Yorkers are also keen baseball fans. The two most popular teams are The New York Yankees and The New York Mets.
About 40 million tourists visit New York City each year. Major attractions include the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Times Square, Central Park and, of course, the luxury shops along the Fifth Avenue. If you are fond of theatres, you can find a lot of them on Broad Way.
Tourist are also attracted by the incredible variety of places to eat, from diners with their burgers, bagels and pizza, to many of the finest haute cuisine restaurants in the US, and forgetting the Grand Central Oyster Bar, and the streaming hotdogs sold on every street corner. It is often called `The city that never sleeps` because there is so much to do and see.
Тексты
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
D
|
E
|
F
|
G
|
Заголовки
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Задание 5
В3
Прочитайте тексты и установите соответствие между заголовками 1-8 и текстами
A-G. Запишите свои ответы в таблицу. В задании есть один лишний заголовок.
|
Flying dragons
Asian dragons
European legends
The origin of the name
Dragons in the 20th century
Dragons in cartography
Dragons’ appearance
Greek mythology
Animals with a body like a huge lizard or a snake with two pairs of lizard-type legs emitting fire from their mouths are known as dragons in modern times. The European dragon has bat-type wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with no front legs is known as a wyvern. Following discovery of how pterosaurs walked on the ground, some dragons have been portrayed without front legs and using the wings as front legs pterosaur-fashion when on the ground. They are sometimes portrayed as having especially large eyes or watching treasure very diligently, a feature that is the origin of the word dragon (Greek drakein meaning “to see clearly”).
The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon, which in turn comes from Latin draconem (nominative draco) meaning “huge serpent, dragon” from the Greek word бракwv, drakon (genitive drakontos,) “serpent, giant seafish”, which is believed to have come from an earlier stem drak -, a stem of derkesthai, “to see clearly,” from Proto-Indo-European derk – “to see” or “the one with the (deadly) glance.” The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological, and this usage was also current in English up to the 18th century.
The earliest depiction of the oriental dragon was the Chinese dragon with examples dating back to the 16th century BC. Archaeologist Zhou Chong –Fa believes that the Chinese word for dragon is an imitation of the sound thunder makes. The Chinese name for dragon is pronounced “long” in Mandarin Chinese or “luhng” in the Cantonese. Sometime after the 9th century AD, Japan adopted the Chinese dragon through the spread of Buddhism.
In Ancient Greece the first mention of a “dragon” is derived from the Iliad where Agamemnon is described as having a blue dragon motif on his sword belt and a three-headed dragon emblem on his breast plate. However, the Greek word used could also mean “snake”. In 217 A.D., Flavius Philostratus discussed dragons in India in The Life of Apollonius of Tyana. The Loeb Classical Library translation mentions that “In most respects the tusks resemble the largest swine’s, but they are slighter in build and twisted, and have a point as unabraded as sharks’ teeth.”
European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Dragons are generally depicted as living in rivers or having an underground lair or cave. They are commonly described as having hard or armoured hide, and are rarely described as flying, despite often depicted with wings. Dragons are usually depicted as malevolent though there are exceptions (such as Y DdraigGoch, the Red Dragon of Wales).
In the early 20th century sculpture of the Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland, inspired by Medieval art, dragons are a frequent theme – as symbols of sin but also as a nature force, fighting against man. There are numerous examples of dragons in modern media, especially the fantasy genre. In the 1937 fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, later in the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling depict dragons.
There is a widespread belief that earlier cartographers used the Latin phrase hic suntdracones, i.e., “the dragons are here”, or “here be dragons”, to denote dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of the infrequent medieval practice of putting sea serpents and other mythological creatures in blank areas of maps. However, the only known use of this phrase is in the Latin form “HC SVNT DRACONES” on the Lenox Globe.
Тексты
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
D
|
E
|
F
|
G
|
Заголовки
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Задание 6
В3
Прочитайте тексты и установите соответствие между заголовками 1-8 и текстами A-G. Занесите свои ответы в таблицу. Используйте каждую букву только один раз. В задании есть один лишний заголовок.
|
1. Worldlanguage
2. Media and communication
3. City lifestyle
4. English in schools
5. Diverse population
6. Leisure and pastime
7. Environmental issues
8. Countryside
A. Speaking English gives people many privileges in society. It is possible to communicate
successfully with those who don’t know your mother tongue. In order to possess these
privileges school teachers introduce six hours of learning English a week for all Russian
schools. Learning English should become more intensive to make Russian citizens more
communicative.
B.The USA is often called a melting pot – a total mix of races and nationalities. In fact, the
same could be said of Britain, except this process took far longer. The British today are
the result of wave after wave of conquest, migration and mixing. Now there are people
of all colours and races in the UK. They are mostly former inhabitants of the former British colonies.
C.Lately, people have been moving into suburbs, smaller tows and the country. Villages,
farms and cottages, which used to be full of agricultural workers, are now the homes of people who drive to their offices in cities. So Britain remains one of the most urbanized countries in the world, with nine in ten of the population living in towns or cities.
D. The poet William Blake wrote 200 years ago of “ England’s green and pleasant land.”
In spite of their mainly urban lives, this image is still strong in British people imagination. They love their countryside and watch hours of wildlife programmes on TV every week. Some of the first environmental organisations in the world started in Britain. The British managed to defeat the London smog: replacing coal by oil and gas. And they are rather proud of this achievement.
E. English is very popular nowadays. It’s the language of computers, science, business and
politics. English is an amazing language, the language of great literature. Half of the world’s scientific literature is published in English. Nearly half of the world’s business deals in Europe are conducted in English. It’s the language of sports and glamour, being the official language of the Olympic Games. English is the official voice of the air and the sea.
F .Visitors to Britain are often surprised by the titles of the magazines. Some of them are
extremely specialized and lots of them are of new technology. The British are also great newspaper readers. An almost universal British custom, going for a walk, is another surprising fact. This means healthy exercise in the open air with lots of natural life to study on the way. In the city walkers will look for any little bit of park or canal bank.
G.TheCotwolds are green hills in agricultural country to the west of England. A mixture of small fields separated by old – dry stone walls and lines of trees makes this a perfect example of raditional rural area. Farming is balanced with cattle and sheep and small spots of woods. Many farms, houses and churches, like the walls dividing the fields are built of local honey – coloured stone. Villages with climbing roses around the doors of the cottages are small and beautifully kept.
Тексты
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
D
|
E
|
F
|
G
|
Заголовки
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Задание 7
В3
Прочитайте тексты и установите соответствие между заголовками 1-8 и текстами
A-G. Запишите свои ответы в таблицу. В задании есть один лишний заголовок.
|
Water sports
Sightseeing of islands
Tourist living conditions
Possible changes in the future
Religion and culture
A new tourist attraction
Flora of islands
Geography
The Maldives has more than 1,000 islands, which are about 400 miles west of Sri Lanka and whose southern islands cross the equator. Indian traders, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans and Arabs all became a part of the Maldives` history as their ships made their way through the dangerous waters and coral reefs. The majority of those who settled was shipwrecked there and must have grown to love the great beauty and peace of the place.
Today only 200 of the islands are inhabited, most of them divided between tourists and local people, whose life is based on fishing and coconut trees has remained unchanged for centuries. On some you may see Buddhist temples or Hindu shrines that were built before the 12th century, when the islanders became Muslims. As a result of the Islamic culture, there are beautiful Arabic carvings that you can find in unexpected corners of old villages.
The Maldives are now one of the West`s most popular tourist destinations but, depending on the island you choose, it can still be easy to get away from the crowd. Professional divers come to these clear waters for the 320 different kinds of coral, many of which exist nowhere else in the world. But if you have never been scuba-diving or snorkeling before, you will be more astonished by the 3,200 different species of fish, some of them swim up to you and nibble your hands.
On land huge trees somehow manage to survive in this thin soil that has grown up over hundreds of years from broken coral. In the midday sun coconut trees throw shade over white sand, and as evening falls, you can hear only the sounds of gentle waves. You also can see amazing flowers everywhere on the different islands.
Most of the hotels have been built on islands that were uninhabited for years. However, the guest bungalows, restaurants provide Westerners with high level of comfort and luxury. The accommodation is also very different from the other places, but anyway you can relax there the best.
But for an outsider to get a taste of the Maldives beyond their natural beauty, they should visit the island of Gun, only recently opened to tourists. Here a short bicycle ride takes you through areas where whole families are at work collecting coconuts. The people living here are not pure – the shops are full of goods, and every house has electricity.
Go to the Maldives before mass tourism changes them too much; and go before global warming causes sea levels to rise and causes these 1000 islands to sink beneath the Indian Ocean and once again become a part of the coral reefs they came from when volcanoes erupted under the sea millions of years ago.
Тексты
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
D
|
E
|
F
|
G
|
Заголовки
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
