Reading Text a. A Letter

1.Render in English

Newton Hotel, Manchester,

16^th March 2002

Dear Paul,

I was very pleased to receive your letter and to hear that Frederick is coming to England. As I have been here now for some months I can probably give him a few tips about hotels here. In the first place, I advice him to book his room beforehand and not wait as I did until I arrived, only to find when I tried some of the more modestlooking hotels that every room was engaged – the hotel was full up. I had a long and weary journey before managed to get a small and rather uncomfortable room on the fourth floor in a private hotel.

But I have learnt a lot since then. When you enter the hotel ask for the reception clerk, and he or she will tell you which is your room, what floor it is on, and will give you the key. You can then sign the registration book, stating your name, address, and nationality and give your luggage to the porter or “boots”, who will take it up in the lift to your room.

After washing and changing in my room, I like to explore the hotel, discover where the bathrooms, the lounge, the breakfast room, and the dining-room are. If I am staying some time at the hotel I have a word with the head waiter, and I then find I get very good attention. When I retire for the night I put my shoes outside the bedroom door so that the boot-boy can clean them.

I hope Frederick will find these few hints of use to him; I’ll write again later. Best wishes.

Yours sincerely,

Martin.

Text B. A Bad Way To Begin A Marrige

1.Read and translate the text

“I never thought it was going to be like this,” John said. He was talking about his honeymoon and he looked very disappointed. He and Ann, his bride, were walking along the beach. It was drizzling and a strong wind was blowing. Although it was the middle of summer, it seemed like late autumn.

Everything was wrong. First of all, Bascome, the town they had come to, was not at all like the description they had read in the holiday brochure. It was an ugly seaside town on the East Coast. The beach was full of litter. The cafes and pubs in the town itself were all in the worst sort of ‘modern’ style, with loud juke boxes and plastic flowers. Secondly, the weather had been dreadful all the five days they had been there. Thirdly, the hotel they were staying at was awful and in addition the food was disgusting. Their room was small, dark and cramped. Breakfast was a greasy fried egg and one thin slice of toast. Dinner was even worse; the meat was always tough and tasteless and the vegetables were overcooked and watery. Last but not least, the hotel was managed by a stout and terrifying lady with the voice and appearance of an army sergeant. Nobody ever dared complain to her. John and Anna had booked for two weeks.

On the sixth day they went for a long walk along the coast. At first, the sky was overcast as usual. But after a while it began to brighten up. The clouds cleared and suddenly the sun came out. About lunch time they got to a small very pleasant fishing village. There was a good old-fashioned pub on the quayside. It had a fine view of the harbour. They had some good beer and sandwiches there for lunch. They began to cheer up and started talking to the friendly landlord. Then they sat for a time outside the pub in the warm sunlight and watched the fishing boats sail past them. Suddenly Anna noticed a sign in the pub window. “Bed and breakfast. Reasonable Prices”. Then she said, “Why don’t we spend the second week here instead of that ghastly hotel in Bascome?”

John began to think of excuses he could use with the terrifying woman back at the hotel. What, he wondered, would she do if he told her they were leaving early?

2.Choose the one best answer:

1.Bascome was . . . like the description in the holiday brochure: a)nothing; b)exactly; c)only a bit; d)more or less.

2.John and Anna went to a fishing village and: a)found a room there; b)decided they could not stay; c)had to leave early; d)wanted to spend the second week there.

3.Find the words that mean:

a)newly-married wife; b)things thrown on the ground and left lying there; c)so bad that it makes you thick to look at it; d)covered with clouds; e)part of the harbour where ships are loaded and unloaded.