Vocabulary

priest – священник

concidence – совпадение

patron saint – святой покровитель

ridiculous – зд. смешной, забавный

trick – зд. проказа

flour – мука

to glitter – ярко светить

stocking – чулок

to be disappointed – быть разочарованным

jewels – драгоценные камни

beforehand – заранее

to lay out the table – накрывать на стол

to carry out – выполнять, зд. осуществлять

to follow – следовать

resurrection – воскрешение

Ex.1 Use the verbs in brackets in the correct form:

1. Every nation and every country (to celebrate) its own holiday.

2. There (to be) no limits to the variety of cards on sale.

3. Every family member (to wrap up) his or her gifts and (to leave) them at the bottom of the Christmas tree.

4. New Year’s Day (to mark) the start of a New Year.

5. There (to be) a lot of snow everywhere which (to shine) on the moon and (to look) like jewels.

Ex.2 Use the Present Indefinite Passive:

1. Holidays (to celebrate) by еvery nation of the world.

2. Аny person receiving a postcard must (to leave) to wonder whom it came from.

3. This holiday (to connect) with witches and ghosts.

4. Big turkey dinner (to follow) by Christmas pudding.

5. Usually New Year’s Trees (to decorate) with toys and coloured lights.

Ex.3 Answer the questions:

1. Are holidays popular in the UK?

2. Why do kids like holidays?

3. What is a) St.Valentine’s Day?

b) Hallowe’en?

c) Christmas?

d) New Year’s Day?

e) “Hogmanay”?

f) Easter?

Ex.4 Insert the prepositions:

1. Christmas is celebrated … the 25^th … December.

2. There’re always a lot of greeting postcards … sale.

3. Many families decorate their houses … brightly-coloured paper.

4. Children leave a long stocking … the end of their bed … Christmas Eve, hoping that Father Christmas will come … night and bring them small presents.

5. … Christmas Day, usually … afternoon people watch the Queen … television as she delivers her traditional Christmas message … the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Ex.5 Complete the sentences:

1. Every nation of the world … .

2. The most popular holidays in the UK are … .

3. On Hallowe’en children, dressed in white sheets knock on doors and ask if you would give them a “treat”, or if you wouldn’t they … .

4. At 12 o’clock the New Year comes and everyone hopes that it will be better than the last one and children believe that … .

5. Though Easter is not an official holiday, many companies however … .

Ex.6 Make up a brief rendering of the text “British Favourite Holidays”. What

holidays do you usually celebrate in your country in your family?

Traditions and Customs Learn the pronunciation:

tradition – [ ]

custom – [ ]

ceremony – [ ]

ancient – [ ]

consciousness – [ ]

castle – [ ]

procedure – [ ]

faith – [ ]

ancestor – [ ]

spectacle – [ ]

taboo – [ ]

superstition – [ ]

There is no other nation that clings to the past with the tenacity of the British.

The Briton has a sense of the continuity of history. He loves to go through his ancient ceremonies as he has always performed them, with the consciousness that he is keeping faith with his ancestors, that he is maintaining the community they created.

Queen Elizabeth the First provided one of these examples of discarding the old and supplanting it with the new.

Even the casual visitor to London can view without efforts many of the brilliant parades and spectacles in which the colour of medieval times has been preserved for ours.