Read the texts and match them to the sentences summarizing the main idea.
Oktoberfest (Bavaria)
Despite its name, this 16-day festival starts mid-September. Towns and villages in Bavaria celebrate the harvest (урожай) with processions and parades- It’s time to sing and dance, taste the new season’s beer and to eat sauerkraut, dumplings and white sausages.
Yam harvest (West Africa)
Muslims and Christians share this summer festival. The occasion is marked by dancing and feasting.
Moon cake festival (China)
This falls in September when people give thanks for the rice harvest and recall the successful rebellion against their Mongol rulers 1000 years ago. Families go to the nearest hill to light lanterns and watch the moon rise. When it appears, they eat moon cakes made of lotus and sesame and fruit.
Thanksgiving (USA)
When the Pilgrim Fathers and their families reached the New World in 1620 it was too late to plant crops for the next year and nearty half died of hunger during the first winter. The survivors celebrated their first successful harvest with a day of thanksgiving, which became a national festival. Today Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.
Rice festival (Japan)
Many myths and traditions grew up around the all- important autumn rice crop. It was thought unlucky to eat the newly gathered rice until a ceremony had been held to honour the spirits, which guarded it. Processions and banquets marked the occasion and the emperor of Japan presented a portion at the sacred altar (священный алтарь). Today Japan marks the harvest with a public holiday when people celebrate the success of Japanese industry.
This holiday unites people of different religions.
It was the harvest festival in the past, which became one of the most important national holidays in the country.
This holiday is celebrated in one of the European countries with lots of tasty food in the “wrong month”.
In the past this festival was so important that the leader of the country took part in it, nowadays people associate industrial success with it.
The festival has a historical importance as it marks the uprising against the invaders (захватчики).
^ Read the text and fill in the gaps with the verbs in brackets.
CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA
Most Australians (1) (dream) of a white
Christmas for centuries. But the traditional European Christmas (2) (not fit) with Australia's thirty-degree heat. Thank
fully things (3) (change) now.
Christmas in Australia (4) (happen) in summer. But not so long
a
s
go they (5) (try) their best to deny the reality of a summer Christmas.The only Christmas cards published (6) (portray) white winter Christ
m
ases.
All this was a bit ridiculous in a country where 80 percent of the
land (7) (never see) a snowflake, even in winter.
However, the last ten years (8) (witness) some big
changes in the Australian lifestyle. Many Australians now (9) (be
lieve) that the country should break its connections with Britain. So now Christmas
(get) an Australian identity. On Christmas day you
(find) a lot of kids on the beach playing with their new surfboards, building sandcastles rather than snowmen. Indeed one of the typical Australian Christmas presents that nearly every Australian (12) (receive) once in their life is a beach towel.
Christmas in Australia however hasn’t escaped the commercial aspect. Like most other countries, the religious meaning of Christmas (13)
(be lost) amongst gift giving, Christmas sales and special offers.
What is unique though is something that most Australians (14) (start) to cherish (лелеять). Tiat is a Christmas of
sunshine, surf and sand.
Although to many Europeans this may seem strange, to many Australians it is now the only Christmas worth dreaming of.
^3} Read the text and fill in the gaps with the words from the list.
DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL
The Dragon Boat Festival is a (1) Chinese tradition. It
(2) to 289 BC and (3) in May-June. It
with a poet and statesman who drowned himself to
injustice. According to the lecend people searched for his body but failed to find it.
Now Dragon Boat Races (6) on this day. They have become an
p
dates back parade • is associated long-standing are proud of essential protest against are held takes place
art of the festival. These long narrow boats with a dragon's
head at the prow (нос корабля) are brightly painted red and gold. In the evening when the race is over the boats (8) along the water, decorated with
brightly coloured lanterns.
Dragon Boat Festivals that celebrate Chinese culture have developed into events that people in many countries (9) Dragon Boat Races are the
fastest growing sport in the world and you can find race teams all around the globe — from Australia to Finland.
T
UNIT
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he root of all evil?