Vocabulary and Comprehension Exercises

Exercise 1. (Text 1) Answer the questions:

1. What used to be the only form of transportation in the desert?

2. How many camels did traders use to put together in camel trains?

3. How fast did camel trains use to move?

4. How much weight did the camels use to carry?

5. What did people use to call the camels?

6. Explain why air travel used to be so dangerous.

7. Did pilots use to travel in bad weather?

8. Who used to travel on airplanes?

9. What did air travel use to cost?

10. Did people use to eat and sleep on planes?

Exercise 2. (Text 2) Answer the questions:

1. How many hotels are mentioned in the text? Why are they mentioned?

2. What do the following numbers refer to? 1363 1,788 257 1996 230,000 19 1981 10

3. Find three reasons why Brunei is so rich.

4. What is the Sultan like?

5. What are his wives like?

6. Read the following summary of the text. There are five mistakes in it. Find and correct them.

The Sultan of Brunei is descended from the oldest ruling family on earth and he is the richest man in the world. He owns lots of hotels in many different countries and some years ago, he built the biggest palace in East Asia. He is very sociable and outgoing and in 1996, he had a party, which lasted three days, to celebrate his fortieth birthday. In 1981, he divorced his first wife and married an air hostess. He has ten children and lives in the palace with his family. He also has houses in London.

Exercise 3. ( Dialogue) Answer the questions:

1. Why is Peter playing football on his birthday?

2. Who is coming in a few minutes?

3. What is Nancy making: tea or coffee?

4. Was it difficult for Harold to find the address?

5. Who showed the way?

6. Is Pussy good at catching mice?

Exercise 4. Dictation - translation.

A.	В пустыне на протяжении многих лет верблюды были единственным транспортным средством. До эры современных поездов караваны верблюдов обычно перевозили все товары для торговли между Центральной Африкой и Европой. Этот вид транспорта был настолько важен, что верблюдов называли «кораблями пустыни». Сейчас современные поезда пересекают пустыню за очень короткое время. Современные поезда используют специальные вагоны для своих грузов. Воздушные перевозки поменялись тоже. Раньше двигатели самолетов иногда глохли (останавливались) в середине полета. Люди раньше никогда не ели, не спали и не смотрели кино в самолетах. Сейчас это обычное дело при путешествиях по воздуху.
В.	1. Его Величество, Султан Брунея, – один из самых богатых людей в мире. Королевская линия восходит к 1363. Несколько лет назад в Брунее он построил самый большой дворец в мире. Бруней продает нефть и газ Японии и зарабатывает на этом 2 миллиарда долларов в год. Вопреки деньгам и могуществу, Султан очень застенчивый человек. Она более открытая по характеру, чем многие брунейские девушки, и Султан влюбился в нее.
С.	1. Поторапливайся! Харолд придет через несколько минут. Мне приготовить чай? В чем дело? Какой большой кот! Как насчет чашки чая? Пусси хорошо ловит мышей? А вот наконец и папа.

Grammar Exercises

Exercise 1. Rewrite these sentences with «used to».

1. Mr Green played football before he was married.

2. Mr West drove very fast before he had that bad accident.

3. Do you think people read more books twenty years ago than they do today?

4. Travel was slower but more enjoyable fifty years ago.

5. She was quite pretty in those days.

6. Didn’t he work in your office a few years ago?

7. You didn’t smoke so many cigarettes when you were young, did you?

Exercise 2.

Make the following sentences

negative, interrogative.

1. I used to eat a lot of sweets when I was a child.

2. They used to live in a small village.

3. Tom used to travel a lot.

4. She used to be my best friend.

5. The baby used to cry every night.

Exercise 3. Write sentences describing the differences in the life of Ellen Tutin.

She has left school and goes to university now.

e.g. She used to live with her parents, but now she lives in the university.

Two years ago		Now
Lived with parents. Played a lot of sport. Had a lot of money. Didn’t read many books. Had no friends.		Live in university. Don’t like sport. Don’t have much money. Read all the time. Have a lot of good friends.
Exercise 4.	Put questions to the following sentences.

1. They used to live in London.

2. When Laura was at college, she used to have a picture of Elvis Presley.

3. He used to paint pictures.

4. Mr Parker used to get up at 6, but he doesn’t any more.

5. They used to live in a small flat in the town.

Exercise 5.

Insert the correct form of either “be used” or “used” in these sentences.

1. I ____ to go to church when I was younger but I don’t now.

2. She ____ to going to bed very late at night.

3. I ____ to driving very fast because I’ve been a fireman for ten years.

4. They ____ to going on holiday with their parents, but I prefer going on my own.

5. We ____ to go to the swimming pool every day but it’s closed down now.

6. He ____ to sleep for ten hours every night but now he only sleeps for six.

7. We ____ to ice and snow in our country but in England they aren’t.

8. I ____ to go to school with Ben Kingsley, the famous actor.

9. We ____ to having electricity and gas in our houses but a hundred years ago people didn’t have either.

10. She ____ to hard work, she’s a nurse.

Exercise 6. Make noun compounds from the two underlined words in each sentence.

e.g.: This cup is used for drinking tea. – It is a tea cup.

This store sells books. That man delivers our milk. He’s a clerk in the bank. He wears those shoes when he plays tennis. This is a case used for carrying cigarettes. This is a bowl in which we keep sugar. This is a fork we use when eating salads. Mr White is a teacher of languages. These balls are used for playing golf. This juice comes from pineapples.		It is a ..... . He’s our ..... . He’s a ..... . They’re his ..... . It’s a ..... . It’s a ..... . It’s a ..... . He’s a ..... . It’s a ..... . It’s ..... .
Exercise 7.	Complete the sentences with the comparative form of the adjectives in brackets.
e.g.	It’s (cheap) by car than by train. It’s cheaper by car than by train.

1. The prices are (expensive) this year than last year.

2. Many people think that nurses work (hard) than doctors.

3. Which river is (long) – the Thames or the Seine?

4. Have this armchair. It’s (comfortable) than that one.

5. I think the Science Museum is (interesting) than the Natural History Museum.

6. My new job is (good) than my old one.

7. We’re moving to a (big) office next year.

Exercise 8.	Complete the sentences with the superlative form of the adjectives in brackets.
e.g.	1989 was the (hot) year on record. 1989 was the hottest year on record.

1. When is the (wet) month in your country?

2. New York is one of the (exciting) cities in the world!

3. The (tall) person in our family is my younger brother.

4. What’s the (long) river in China?

5. The Rhine is one of the (polluted) rivers in the world.

6. The (bad) part of the journey is between Singapore and Sydney.

7. Florida has some of the (beautiful) beaches in the USA.

8. She’s one of my (good) friends.

Exercise 9. Supply the appropriate form of the adjective in the sentences below.

1. Henry is (tall) ..... than John.

2. This is (bad) ..... car I have ever had.

3. I think John is (generous) ..... than his father.

4. The movie was (good) ..... than the book.

5. I think you are a little (short) ..... than I am.

6. The western part of the country is (dry) ..... than the eastern part.

7. Which is (long) ..... : the Mississippi River or the Amazon?

8. I think Dorothy is (young) ..... than she pretends to be.

Exercise 10. Choose the correct words to complete the sentences.

1. Your English is much better/best than mine.

2. The better/best whisky comes from Scotland.

3. We’ve had much more/most rain this year than last year.

4. The place that gets the more/most rain in the world is a mountain in Hawaii.

5. In a ‘slow bicycle race’, the winner is the person who goes the less/least distance in three minutes.

6. I don’t know much, but she knows even less/least than I do.

7. Which month has the fewer/fewest days?

8. ‘Are you any good at tennis?’ – ‘I’m the worse/worst tennis-player in the world.’

9. ‘How’s your headache?’ – ‘It’s getting worse/worst.’

10. I’ll get you an aspirin. That’ll make you feel better/best.

Exercise 11. Use «the» with comparatives to indicate proportionate change.

e.g.: (long) We waited. We became impatient.

The longer we waited, the more impatient we became.

1. (hard) It rained. He drove fast.

2. (slow) He walked. I became exasperated.

3. (soon) He comes. We can go home soon.

4. (early) The meeting ends. They can go home early.

5. (high) They climb. They can fall far.

6. (late) He worked. He became depressed.

7. (long) I listened to her story. I became sympathetic.

8. (fast) I wrote. My writing became illegible.

9. (hard) It snowed. The cars moved slowly.

10. (loud) I called. My voice got hoarse.

Exercise 12.		Write and read the following numbers:
A. Cardinal numbers:	19 32 78 90 13 458 888 6008 3800 5 000 000
B. Ordinal numbers:	1 3 5 8 9 12 20 30 22
C. Years:	1945 1805 1900 1066 1812 1147 1999 2005

Exercise 13.

Put in the correct preposition.

1. I usually go back home ____ bus. It’s much cheaper than going ____ train.

2. It gets so crowded in the rush hour that it’s quicker to go ___ foot than___ car.

3. We can take five people __ the car and the others will have to go ___ the train.

4. It takes about half an hour to get home ____ my bike.

5. I have often travelled ____ plane but I’ve never been ____ a jumbo jet.

6. When your bus arrives you get ____ it. If you want to leave it, you get ____ it.

7. Two men with guns got ____ the car and went into the shop.

Exercise 14.

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. В прошлом году я имел обыкновение рано вставать. 2. Я раньше всегда ходил в театр, когда бывал в Лондоне. 3. Ты сейчас много плаваешь? – Сейчас нет, но когда я жил у моря, я плавал много. 4. Нынешнее лето – самое сухое. 5. Мой отец – самый старший в семье, а сестра – самая младшая. 6. Наша гостиная – самая светлая комната в квартире. 7. Она такая же красивая, как и ее мать. 8. Моя поездка была более интересной, чем я ожидал. 9. Чем сильнее лил дождь, тем быстрее он ехал. 10. Какая самая длинная река в Китае? 11. Это самая плохая машина, которую я когда-либо имел. 12. Это была самая необычная вещь, которую я когда-либо видел.

SOME MORE PRACTICE

Task 1. Read the text and answer the questions:

1. Was John Sutter an American?

2. Who were “Forty-Niners”?

3. Why did Sutter’s empire collapse?

“John Sutter and the Gold Fever”

In 1848, when gold was discovered in California, John Sutter was already one of the wealthiest people in the state. By 1850 he was a ruined man. Sutter was a Swiss immigrant who came to California in 1839. He built a fort, and soon he had 12,000 head of cattle and hundreds of workers.

By the mid-1840, more and more Americans were trickling into California by wagon and ship. Sutter welcomed the newcomers: he saw them as subjects for his new kingdom. But he had no idea that the trickle would become a flood that would destroy his dream.

At the beginning of 1848, Sutter sent James Marshall and about twenty men to the American River to build a sawmill. It was nearly complete when a glint of something caught Marshall’s eye. It was a piece of gold in the water. Then he saw another.

By the end of the year, whispers of a gold strike had drifted eastward across the country – but few believed it until President James Polk made a statement to Congress on December 5^th 1848. Within days ‘gold fever’ became an epidemic.

The news was telegraphed to every village, to every town. Hundreds of thousands of men began to prepare for the epic journey west. They sold possessions, borrowed money, and banded together with others from their towns to form joint stock companies. They streamed west by horse, by ship and even on foot. They were called ‘Forty-Niners’ because they left home in 1849.

Night and night, a few more new towns appeared along the river. Some people brought tents to live in, while others built wooden huts. But only the lucky ones found gold – sometimes up to $ 2000 in one day.

By the end of 1850, Sutter’s grand empire had completely collapsed. Sutter did not have gold fever. He wanted an agricultural empire and refused to alter his vision. In the new California, he was simply in the way. The Forty-Niners trampled his crops and tore down his fort for building materials. Disillusioned, he left the state. The man who had had the best opportunity to capitalize on the discovery of gold never even tried.

Task 2. The comparison game

Using the following pairs of words, make a few sentences on:

1. How is X like Y?

2. How does X differ from Y?

X	Y	X	Y
Chair Pen Glass House Orange Car King Newspaper Arm Tennis Cigar Horse Café Soldier Butter Tea Watch Kettle	Table Pencil Cup Flat Apple Bus President Magazine Leg Football Cigarette Dog Restaurant Sailor Cheese Coffee Clock Teapot	Ice Boot Radio Dream Box Sock Salt Chair Road Cinema Fruit Tram Doctor Cat Ignorance Umbrella CD player	Snow Shoe Television Nightmare Tin Stocking Pepper Sofa Street Theatre Vegetable Train Dentist Dog Stupidity Sunshade Tape-recorder

T ask 3. A Joke

An American was visiting Australia.

''Don't you think that bridge is beautiful?'' asked the Australian host.

''Well, now, '' said the Yank,'' we've got bridges as big as that or bigger at home.''

''What about this park?'' asked the Aussie.'' Have you ever seen any like it before?''

''Why, sure '', said the Yank,'' we've got lots of parks bigger than that at home.''

They continued walking till they came to a field. Suddenly they saw a kangaroo hop by.

''Well'', said the American,'' one thing I will have to admit. Your grasshoppers are a little larger than ours at home. ''

UNIT 9

Grammar: Texts: Dialogue:

The Past Simple Tense and the Present Perfect Tense Prepositions «since / for / ago» 3. Adjectives and adverbs 4. The Imperative 1. «Life in the Past» «A Gap Year» 1. «Happy Birthday»

Text One

«Life in the Past»