English Through Reading. Учебно-методическое пособие

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3.What secret did the Dursleys have?

4.Why did they try to keep the Potters away?

5.What can you say about Dudley?

6.What were the signs of strange and mysterious things happening all over the country?

7.What did Mr Dursley think about the tabby cat and people dressed in cloaks?

8.Describe Mr Dursley‘s working day? What was peculiar about it?

9.What unusual facts did Mr Dursley find in the evening news?

10.Did this strange day influence Mr and Mrs Dursley? In what way?

Ex. 8. Reproduce the dialogue between Mr and Mrs Dursley that took place in the evening after that strange day.

Ex. 9. Retell the story:

a)in the third person

b)as if you were Mr. Dursley

c)as if you were Mrs. Dursley

TOPIC: HOBBIES AND PASTIMES

TEXT 1: HOBBIES

Hobbies differ like tastes. If you have chosen a hobby according to your character and taste you are lucky because your life becomes more interesting.

Hobbies are divided into four large classes: doing things, making things, collecting things, and learning things.

The most popular of all hobby groups is doing things. It includes a wide variety of activities, everything from gardening to travelling and from chess to volleyball.

Gardening is one of the oldest of man's hobbies. It's a well-known fact that the English are very fond of gardening and growing flowers, especially roses.

Both grown-ups and children are fond of playing different computer games. This is a relatively new hobby but it's becoming more and more popular.

Making things includes drawing, painting, making sculpture, designing costumes, handicrafts. Two of the most famous hobby painters were President Eisenhower and Sir Winston Churchill. Some hobbyists write music or play musical instruments.

Almost everyone collects something at some period in his life: stamps, coins, matchboxes, books, records, postcards, toys, watches. Some collections have no real value. Others become so large and so valuable that they are housed in museums

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and galleries. Many world-famous collections started in a small way with one or two items. People with a good deal of money often collect paintings, rare books and other art objects. Often such private collections are given to museums, libraries and public galleries so that others might take pleasure in seeing them.

No matter what kind of hobby a person has, he always has the opportunity of learning from it. By reading about the things he is interested in, he is adding to what he knows. Learning things can be the most exciting aspect of a hobby.

Vocabulary

character – характер taste – вкус

according to – согласно to include – включать variety – разнообразие activity – занятие gardening – садоводство

grown-up – взрослый (человек) relatively – относительно, сравнительно drawing – рисование

painting – живопись sculpture – скульптура

handicraft – ремесло, ручная работа hobbyist – человек, имеющий хобби coin – монета

matchbox – спичечный коробок value – ценность

valuable – ценный

to house – помещать, размещать

to take pleasure in – получать удовольствие от opportunity – возможность

to add - добавлять

exciting – увлекательный, захватывающий

Questions

1 . Tastes differ. Can you say the same about hobbies?

2.Have you chosen a hobby according to your character and taste?

3.Which hobby groups do you know?

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6.Do you like computer games?

7.Are you fond of making things?

8.Do you know any famous hobbyists?

9.Have you ever collected anything?

10.What can be collected?

11.Do you know of any private collections that were given to museums or art galleries?

12.Do you agree that learning can be the most exciting aspect of a hobby? Why?

TEXT 2: MY SUMMER HOLIDAYS

I always look forward to my summer holidays. In my opinion, there's nothing like the Russian countryside. We've got a small country house in a very picturesque place not far from Zagorsk. There's a river and a lake there. My friends and I often go swimming and boating there. I'm also fond of lying in the sun.

There's a lot of fish in the lake, so I sometimes go fishing. I like to sit in silence for a while waiting for a fish to get caught and listening to the birds singing in the trees. When I happen to catch a fish I set it free at once, because I do fishing just for pleasure.

When it's very hot I usually go to the forest. The air is cool there. I like to walk in the shade of the trees and pick mushrooms and berries. I've got a dog called Jack. He becomes so happy when I take him with me to the forest. Jack likes to run after butterflies or dragonflies. I sometimes play with him. I throw a stick and he brings it back to me.

But last summer my parents decided to go to some other place for a change. They made up their minds to go to the Crimea. I think it was the greatest mistake they had ever made. This, in a nutshell, is what happened.

To begin with, it was very difficult to find a place to stay. We rented a room in a house a long way from the sea. It was the only place we managed to get. It took us about half an hour to get to the beach. But it didn't matter, as it turned out a few days later. Suddenly our happy sunny days were over. It started to rain. It occasionally cleared up for a while but then the rain went on again. All we could do was to spend all our time in the cinema or in a cafe. It was impossible to leave because we had made reservations beforehand and we had to spend another week there.

I had never seen so many films in my life. By the end of the week I got very tired of the cinema and I could only lie on the bed reading books or staring at the ceiling.

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At last the happy day of our departure came. You can't imagine how astonished we were. The sun began to shine early in the morning. It seemed to me that it was laughing at us.

After that holiday we decided to spend every summer in the country.

Vocabulary

to look forward to – с нетерпением ждать чего-либо picturesque – живописный

to be fond of doing smth – увлекаться чем-либо to lie in the sun – загорать

to wait for a fish to get caught – ждать, когда рыба клюнет when I happen to – когда я, случается

to set free – отпустить, освободить

to do fishing – заниматься рыбной ловлей in the shade – в тени

for a change – для разнообразия

to make up one‘s mind – решить (что-либо сделать) in a nutshell – вкратце

to rent – снять (дом, квартиру)

to manage to do something – суметь что-либо сделать as it turned out – как оказалось

occasionally – от случая к случаю, иногда to clear up – проясниться (о погоде)

to go on – продолжать

to make reservations – забронировать, заказать заранее to stare at something – уставиться на что-либо

to be astonished – быть в изумлении

Questions

1.Where do you usually spend your summer holidays?

2.Do you always look forward to your summer holidays?

3.What do you usually do in summer?

4.Do you like to go swimming (boating)?

5.Are you fond of lying in the sun?

6.What do you usually do in hot weather?

7.Are you fond of fishing?

8.What do you enjoy doing in the evenings?

9.Have you ever been to the Crimea?

10.Where did you spend your last summer holidays?

11.What is your idea of an ideal holiday?

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12. Where would you like to spend your next summer holidays?

Vocabulary Exercises

I. Match the words and phrases in column A with proper definitions in column B and give their Russian equivalents.

II. Insert the necessary word or word combination

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1.The refugees were … in temporary accommodation.

2.I‘m really …our sea voyage. It‘s always been my lifetime dream.

3.The library is currently … in the British Museum.

4.Our tour party … several retired couples.

5.Customers are advised to … well in advance.

6.Stuart found the atmosphere of the college enormously … .

7.The sales tax … 15% to the price of the clothes.

8.That was a … painting, a masterpiece.

9.The man seemed … that anyone would want to buy the house.

10.I just couldn‘t … my mind, so in the end I bought both.

11.He … great pleasure in his grandchildren‘s achievements.

12.Before you know it, they‘ll be all … and leaving home.

13.We only see each other very … and so we miss each other very much.

14.Jenny … to pass her driving test on the fifth attempt.

15.All the holidays she spent lying …, reading a book.

III. Insert prepositions where necessary

1.The course begins … 7 January and ends … May.

2.We travelled overnight … Paris and arrived … 5 o‘clock … the morning.

3.He is coming back … a fortnight.

4.I began to feel bad … the journey.

5.Hurry up! We‘ve got to go … five minutes.

6.I‘ll phone you … Tuesday morning … about 10 o‘clock.

7.They arrived … village late … night.

8.He always lives … the country while … holiday.

9.… our travelling we saw a lot of sightseeings.

10.He made a voyage … last summer.

IV. Translate into English. Mind the prepositions.

В то же время; в полночь; в конце месяца; через полчаса; в понедельник утром; на выходных; с двух часов до пяти; на прошлой неделе; за десять секунд; к следующему сентябрю; в любое время; в полдень; в течение зимы; за две недели; к концу месяца; в будний день; через полтора часа; дождливым днем; с раннего утра до поздней ночи; этой весной.

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TOPIC: TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS. HOLIDAYS.

TEXT 1: HOLIDAYS IN GREAT BRITAIN

There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank Holiday. Public holidays in Britain are called bank holidays, because the banks as well as most of the offices and shops are closed.

The most popular holiday is Christmas. Every year the people of Norway give the city of London a present. It's a big Christmas tree and it stands in Trafalgar Square. Central streets are beautifully decorated.

Before Christmas, groups of singers go from house to house. They collect money for charity and sing carols, traditional Christmas songs. Many churches hold a carol service on the Sunday before Christmas.

The fun starts the night before, on the 24th of December. Traditionally this is the day when people decorate their trees. Children hang stockings at the end of their beds, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys and sweets.

Christmas is a family holiday. Relatives usually meet for the big Christmas dinner of turkey and Christmas pudding. And everyone gives and receives presents. The 26th of December, Boxing Day, is an extra holiday after Christmas Day. This is the time to visit friends and relatives or perhaps sit at home and watch football.

New Year's Day is less popular in Britain than Christmas. But in Scotland, Hogmanay is the biggest festival of the year.

Besides public holidays there are some special festivals in Great Britain. One of them takes place on the 5th of November. On that day, in 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I. He didn't succeed. The King's men found the bomb, took Guy Fawkes to the Tower and cut off his head.

Since that day the British celebrate the 5th of November. They burn a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, on a bonfire and let off fireworks. This dummy is called a "guy" (like Guy Fawkes) and children can often be seen in the streets before the 5th of November saying, "Penny for the guy." If they collect enough money they can buy some fireworks.

There are also smaller, local festivals in Britain.

Vocabulary

charity – благотворительность

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carol – рождественская песня service – служба (церковная)

to hang (hung) stockings – развешивать чулки chimney – печная труба

festival – праздник to blow up – взорвать

to succeed – достигнуть цели, добиться

to cut off smb‘s head – отрубить кому-либо голову to celebrate – праздновать, торжественно отмечать to burn – сжигать

dummy – кукла, чучело straw – солома

bonfire – костер

to let off fireworks – устроить фейерверк

Questions

1 . Are there many holidays in Great Britain? 2.What is a "bank holiday"?

3.What is the most popular holiday in Britain? 4.When is Christmas celebrated?

5.What are the traditional Christmas songs called in Britain? 6.What do children leave at the end of their beds and why? 7.What do the British do on Boxing Day?

8.What is the name of New Year's Eve in Scotland? 9.When is Guy Fawkes Night celebrated?

10. What do you know about Guy Fawkes?

TEXT 2: TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

There is no other nation that clings to the past with the tenacity of the British. The Briton has a sense of the continuity of history. He loves to go through his ancient ceremonies as he has always performed them, with the consciousness that he is keeping faith with his ancestors, that he is maintaining the community they created. He does not often change his manner of carrying out official acts, and if ever he does, the new method at once becomes the tradition.

Queen Elizabeth the First provided one of these examples of discarding the old and supplanting it with the new. She was knitting when the list of nominees for sheriff was brought to her. Tradition decreed that she should take up her quill and make a check in ink against the name of each person whom it was her

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pleasure to appoint. There was no pen handy. So Elizabeth the First, with one of her knitting needles, pricked a little hole in the parchment beside each favoured name. That is the reason why today Queen Elizabeth the Second appoints sheriffs of England by pricking holes in the listing of their names.

Even the casual visitor to London can view without effort many of the brilliant parades and spectacles in which the colour of medieval times has been preserved for ours. And if you wish you can also enter the visitors' gallery of the House of Commons as long as it existed. If a speaker steps across the line on the floor that marks the point at which he would be within sword's length of his advertisers on the opposite side of the Chamber, the session is automatically suspended. If a rebellious member should seize the great mace, the symbol of authority that rests on-the table before the Speaker's chair, and make off with it (this happened at least once), no legal business can be transacted until the mace has been restored to its position. You can also go into the House of Lords, where the glitter is more pronounced, the royal scarlet more in evidence, and where your own back will begin to ache sympathetically at the spectacle of the Lord Chancellor, so uncomfortably seated on the edge of the enormous woolsack.

TEXT 3: WEDDING SUPERSTITIONS

In England the wedding preparations, ceremony and feast have all become loaded with ritual practices to ward off evil and bless the marriage with fortune and fertility.

The choice of date is important. May is traditionally unlucky for weddings and many modern couples marry between Easter and late May, the practice much encouraged by tax rebates. The tradition that the bride's parents should pay for the wedding dates back from two or three centuries ago, when wealthy families would pay an eligible bachelor to take an unmarried daughter off their hands in exchange for a large dowry. At most formal weddings brides still get married in virginal white — many other colours are considered unlucky.

A bride will also ensure that her wedding outfit includes "something old, something new; something borrowed, something blue". "Old" maintains her link with the past; "new" symbolizes the future; "borrowed" gives her a link with the present; and "blue" symbolizes her purity.

Even a modern bride will observe the taboos about wearing her dress before the ceremony. The groom mustn't see her in it until she enters the church. The veil should be put on for the first time as she leaves for the church. It's a lucky omen if the bride should see a chimney sweep on her way to church. Sometimes a sweep is paid to attend the ceremony and kiss the bride — a relic of the old idea that soot and ashes are symbols of fertility.

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After the ceremony, the couple are showered with the confetti — to bless

.the marriage with fertility.

One old custom was for the bride and sometimes the groom to negotiate some obstacle as they left the church — guests would impede them with ropes of flowers, for example, or with sticks that had to be jumped over.

After that the bride is faced with the feast. The most important item is the wedding cake, whose richness symbolizes fertility, just as it has done since Roman times. Today, the first slice is cut by the bride to ensure a fruitful marriage.

Vocabulary Exercises

I. Match the words and phrases in column A with proper definitions in column B and give their Russian equivalents.

II.Insert the necessary word or word combinations

1.Halloween means ―…‖ and it takes place on … .

2.At Halloween children … at doors and ask ―…‖ or ―treat‖.

3.New Year‘s Eve is called Hogmanay in … .

4.When people celebrate Guy Fawkes‘ Night they … a dummy on a bonfire and let off … .

5.A first footer must be a …-haired man who brings … .

6.Most American holidays are … in nature and … .

7.… day is regarded as the birthday of the United States.

8.Eisteddfod is the holiday of …, and it takes place in … .

9.On May Day you may see men decorated with … . They perform a …

dance.

10.At Christmas you may see people in the streets, they sing … and collect money for … .