Vocabulary

custom [ ] – обычай

to cling [ ] – цепляться, прилипать

tenacity [ ] – цепкость, упорство

to perform [ ] – выполнять, совершать

ancient [ ] – древний

consciousness [ ] – сознание

ancestor [ ] – предок

to maintain [ ] – поддерживать, сохранять

to create [ ] – творить, создавать

to provide [ ] – обеспечивать

to discard [ ] – отвергать

to supplant [ ] – вытеснять

competitive [ ] – конкурентоспособный

wedding [ ] – свадьба

superstition [ ] – суеверие

feast [ ] – праздник

bride [ ] – невеста

groom [ ] – жених

veil [ ] – вуаль

omen [ ] – знак

couple [ ] – пара

to load [ ] – обременять, грузить

chimney sweep [ ] – трубочист

fireplace [ ] – камин

inn [ ] – гостиница

to carve [ ] – вырезать

castle [ ] – замок

coal [ ] – уголь

Ex.1 Complete the sentences, using modal verbs or their equivalents in correct tense-forms:

1. Even the casual visitor to London … view without efforts many of the brilliant parades and spectacles.

2. The tradition that the bride’s parents … pay for the wedding dates back from two or three centuries ago.

3. The groom … see the bride in her wedding dress until she enters the church.

4. The bride … cut the wedding cake, which symbolizes a fruitfull marriage.

5. Wide fireplaces … still seen in old inns.

6. If a couple like one another the young man … offer an invitation to go to a cinema.

7. People … like to sit at the window on a summer day.

Ex.2 Open the brackets, using the correct form of the verb in Passive Voice:

1. Each house … (surround) by a great variety of flowers and shrubs.

2. After the ceremony the couple (shower) with confetti.

3. The Public dance-halls … (visit) by young unmarried people.

4. In many brilliant parades and spectacles the colour of medieval times … (preserv) for us.

5. In old fireplaces only wood … (burn) even large logs.

Ex.3 Insert prepositions where necessary:

1. The Briton has a sense … the continuity … history.

2. … many people in Britain gardening is the foundation … social and competitive relationships.

3. Flower-shows and vegetable-shows, … prizes … the best exhibits, are very popular.

4. May is traditionally unlucky … weddings.

5. It’s a lucky omen if the bride should see a chimney sweep … her way … church.

6. Dancing is so popular that the numerous … public halls are an important elements … the folklore procedures … the upper and middle classes.

Ex.4 Complete the sentences:

1. There is no other nation …

2. Queen Elizabeth the First provided …

3. Most English people love gardens, their own above all, …

4. In England the wedding preparations, ceremony and feast …

5. In English homes, the fireplace has always been …

6. The public dance-halls are strictly places for dancing, …

7. At the beginning of each dance a man chooses a girl from the mass, …

Ex.5 Answer the questions:

1. What nation has a sense of continuity of history?

2. Where can the visitors view brilliant parades and spectacles with the colour of medieval times?

3. What traditions do the British people maintain?

4. Why do most English people prefer to live in houses rather than in flats?

5. What is the peculiarity of English Wedding? What is a lucky omen for the bride?

6. Why has the fireplace always been the natural centre of interest in English homes?

7. What were the fireplaces make of in the middle ages?

8. Is dancing so popular in Britain? Why do the young people like to go to the public dance-halls? How do the dance-halls look like?

Ex.6 Make up a brief rendering of the text.