Text 6 Oxbridge

OXBRIDGE is a combination of two famous names — Oxford and Cambridge. They are the oldest universities in Great Britain. They have dominated British education for seven centuries.

OXFORD is the older university of the two. The first of its colleges was founded in 1249. The university now has 34 colleges and about 12 000 students, many of them from other countries. There were no women students at Oxford until 1878, when the first women's college, Lady Margaret Hall, opened. Now there are 5 women's colleges.

CAMBRIDGE was founded in 1284 when the first college, Peterhouse, was built. Now there are more than thirty colleges founded at different times, three of them are women's colleges. The first women's college was opened in 1869.

Oxford and Cambridge are famous for their first class education. The universities have societies and clubs for different interests. Sport is an important part of students' life.

Both of these university towns are very beautiful. They have some of the finest architecture in Britain. Some of their colleges, chapels and libraries are very old and full of valuable books and paintings. Both towns have many lovely gardens.

During term time the university towns are full of bicycles. Students ride along the streets on them, and there are rows and rows parked outside the colleges. In the towns of narrow streets, a bicycle is the best means of transport.

Vocabulary

chapel — часовня

row — ряд

valuable — ценный

Unit V Text 1 holidays in great britain

The most popular holidays in Great Britain are Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, St. Valentine's Day, Good Friday, Easter, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday, Late Summer Bank Holiday and Bonfire Night.

In Great Britain, as well as in the USA and Canada, Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December.

In Trafalgar Square in London there is a big Christmas tree. It is a present from the people of Norway to the city of London.

In most families they put up a Christmas tree and decorate it.

There is a good tradition to buy gifts for the family, children and friends. People also write Christmas cards.

Before Christmas they make Christmas puddings. The whole family stir the pudding and make a wish.

When the pudding is ready and still hot, they put different things into it - little silver things, like a horseshoe, a ring or a button, and 5-penny pieces.

The horseshoe brings luck, the ring means marriage, the button means that you are not going to get married. A 5-penny piece is a sign of wealth.

Boxing Day is a holiday when one gives presents to friends and relatives. They also give presents to servants, delivery men and postmen.

Long ago, when people went to church on the morning of the 26th of December, they put their donations for the poor into special boxes. So the name of the holiday originates from the word box

Later people began to give money or presents to the people they knew personally.

On Boxing Day one visits friends, goes for a drive or a walk. In cities and towns there is a tradition to go to the pantomime and entertain oneself.

New Year's Day is not as widely celebrated as Christmas. Some people ignore it and go to bed as usual. Others, however, celebrate it in one way or another.

They may organise a family party or a party for young people. Others celebrate the New Year going to a New Year's dance.

In London people like to gather in Piccadilly Circus or Trafalgar Square to welcome the New Year.

St. Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14. On this day thousands of people travel to a small village Gretna Green on the border with Scotland to get married.

The tradition began in 1754 when people could not get married under the age of 21 without parents' permission in England. In Scotland the permission was not required.

On St. Valentine's Day boys and girls, husbands and wives, friends and sweethearts exchange greetings of love and affection. They send each other Valentine's cards, flowers and chocolates.

Good Friday is a religious holiday. It is Friday before Easter, a holy day of the Christian Church. It is observed to commemorate Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.

Easter is a religious holiday. It is celebrated in spring. On Easter in Great Britain they give presents - Easter eggs, which are usually made of chocolate. Nowadays, Easter eggs are often artificial, made of wood or plastic.

Easter eggs are often hidden about the house for the children to find them.

In London on Easter Sunday there is Easter Parade in Battersea Park. It begins at 3 p. m.

May Day is celebrated on the 1st of May to commemorate the suppression of demonstrations for the eight-hour working day in the USA on May 1, 1886. Since then May Day has been celebrated in many countries, including Great Britain and the USA.

On Bank Holidays people, who live in town, go to the country and to the coast. If the weather is fine, people may arrange a picnic or tea and enjoy their meal in the open.

On Bank Holidays sports competitions and horse races are organised on stadiums.

Bonfire Night is celebrated on the 5th of November to commemorate the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. People make bonfires, fireworks and burn a guy.

Answer the questions.

Ответьте на вопросы.

1. What are the most popular holidays in Great Britain?

2. When is Christmas celebrated in Great Britain, the USA and Canada?

3. Where is there a big Christmas tree?

4. What do people do before Christmas?

5. What do they usually put into the Christmas pudding?

6. What is Boxing Day? What do you know about its history?

7. How is New Year's Day celebrated?

8. When is St. Valentine's Day celebrated?

9. What do people do on St. Valentine's Day?

10. What is Good Friday and when is it celebrated?

11. What is Easter? When is it celebrated?

12. What do people do on Easter in Great Britain?

13. Why and where is May Day celebrated?

14. What do people do on Bank Holidays?

15. When and why is Bonfire Night celebrated?

16. What do people do on Bonfire Night?