1. Read the text and choose the correct variant.

Isles or islands?

Britain is known as Great Britain, and consists 1)… England, Scotland and Wales. The official name of 2)… country, however, is the United Kingdom 3)… includes Northern Ireland too, but not the Republic of Ireland (Eire) which 4)… a separate country. Anyhow, both the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland are in 5)… British Isles. In 6)… words, the British Isles include Great Britain and Ireland, with all the islands that are 7)… their coast.

The British Isles 8)… a geographical but not a political unit. "Isle" is a word most commonly 9)… with names. Let us talk 10)… some of the isles. A large island lying in 11)… Irish Sea, Man, was once an 12)… Viking colony and retains many old traditions. The parliament, the House of Keys, is one of the 13)… in the world, with a history going back than a thousand years. Every year 14)… July 5^th, an ancient ceremony is 15)… on Tynwald Hill, when the Lieutenant-Governor reads a summary of all the Acts of Parliament 16)… in the preceding year. It was at Tynwald that the Norsemen 17)… their original seat of government, and it is true that the Lieutenant-Governor reads the law today both 18)… Manx and English.

Manx is 19)… of the varied languages 20)… in the British Isles. Unlike Welsh and Gaelic, it is not in common use today. About 50000 people live on the Isle of Man, but during the summer months, this number is multiplied by ten, for vast numbers of tourists cross by steamer and plane from the great English Midland cities. Douglas, capital of the Isle, is a big town with a spectacular promenade on which you will see horse trams still at work. But Douglas is the busiest cross-Channel harbour in the British Isles.

	A	В	С
1.	of	off	with
2.	а	the	an
3.	who	those	which
4.	am	are	is
5.	а	the	an
6.	other	another	others
7.	near	far	about
8.	be	are	is
9.	use	uses	used
10.	to	with	about
11.	the	а	an
12.	island's	island	islands
13.	old	oldest	older
14.	in	on	at
15.	holding	hold	held
16.	passes	passing	passed
17.	having	had	has
18.	in	on	at
19.	other	another	others
20.	speak	speaks	spoken