Reading

1. Read the article. Is Alexandra Kosteniuk …?

1. beautiful but not very good at chess.

2. not very beautiful but good at chess.

3. beautiful and good at chess.

The new face of chess.

17-year-old Alexandra Kosteniuk is sometimes called the Anna Kournikova of the chess world. The International Chess Federation have asked her to be the new face of the game, which traditionally has had an image of middle-aged men wearing glasses.

Alexandra started playing chess when she was five. She learnt to play from her father, and became a grandmaster when she was only 14. Experts say that her game is one of the most exciting they have seen for a long time.

“Chess is not as popular as it should be, and I think I could help it”, Kosteniuk said last week. “It’s an honour for me to be described as the face of the game.” She has her own website with pictures, poems, and the opportunity to play chess against her.

Nigel Short, the British grandmaster, says, “There are a lot of attractive women in chess, but Alexandra Kosteniuk has made a very big impression. She is obviously very talented. Any sport needs attractive personalities, and I have no problem with marketing the game through her.”

Vocabulary

exciting – захватывающий, увлекательный

honour - честь

attractive – привлекательный, симпатичный

obviously – очевидно, ясно

2. Mark the sentences True or False or Doesn’t say.

1. The International Chess Federation wants chess to have a more modern image.

2. Alexandra never wears glasses.

3. Alexandra’s father taught her to play chess.

4. She became a grandmaster after playing chess five years.

5. She thinks that chess should be more popular.

6. If you have Internet access, you can play chess with Alexandra.

7. Nigel Short has an attractive personality.

3. Please, point out the verbs in Perfect forms.

4. Give a short summary of the text in English.

Listening

1. Listen to the dialogue.

What do you do in your free time?

• Hi, Kevin, how are you?

• Fine, thanks. And you?

• Great. What are you doing?

• I’m putting my stamps in my new stamp album.

• Is stamp collecting your hobby?

• Yes, I like collecting stamps very much.

• How long have you had this hobby?

• I took up stamp collecting when I was five and I’m never going to give it up.

• Is it an expensive hobby?

• Sometimes, when I want to buy a really special stamp it may be expensive but usually it’s not.

• Why do you like it?

• I continue the tradition of my family – my grandfather collected stamps, my father collected stamps and now I do.

• How much time do you spend on your hobby?

• Every evening I spend two to three hours looking through my stamps. And do you have a hobby?

• I like photography very much but I’ve never thought about it as my hobby.

• How often do you take pictures?

• Once in a while, usually in summer when I visit some interesting countries. But maybe I should do it more often. I could take photos of ordinary people in the streets or some interesting places in our town.

• I think it’s a great idea. Why don’t you start it right now?

2. What was the dialogue about?

3. Read it and point out the forms of the verbs in Present Perfect tense.