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Dialogue

Ex. 1. Read the dialogue and say who the people talking to each other might be. Answer the question: What is the topic of their conversation?

Nick: Hello, George. How are you?

George: Hi, Nick. Frankly speaking, so-so.

Nick: Why? Has anything happened? You look rather tired.

George: Well, you see Nick. The thing is that I have to write a report about famous geographical discoveries. Yesterday I was sitting in the library all day long looking for necessary sources of information.

Nick: What are the results? Did you find anything useful?

George: Oh yes, quite a lot. You see the topic of my report is “The discovery of America”.

Nick: What was so difficult about that? Every child knows that America was discovered by Christopher Columbus.

George: Earlier I thought so too, Nick. But the true discovery of America belongs to the Vikings.

Nick: Vikings, you say? By the way where does this word come from?

George: It’s very interesting to know that the Vikings, meaning “men of the creek”, is the name given to the people of Scandinavia who raided the coasts of Great Britain and north-west Europe from AD 800 to 1100.

Nick: Did they? It can’t be very nice.

George: Don’t say so. They also travelled far from their homeland in search of new lands to trade with or settle. Their voyaging carried them half way around the world: west across the stormy Atlantic, south into the warm Mediterranean, and north into the freezing Arctic.

Nick: It sounds interesting!

George: Yes, no one knows for sure that the Vikings visited North America nearly 500 years before Columbus’ famous voyage in the 1490s. One of their expeditions reported an area of fertile land where there were vines of wild grapes growing. And because of this they named this land Vinland or Wine-land.

Nick: I see, probably, all of this suggests that the Vikings sailed a long way south, to the north-east states of America.

George: Thus, I’ve got some information about the true discovery of America.

Nick: Oh, George. I’m sure you will make a good report on this topic.

George: I am really pleased I’m doing it.

Ex. 2. Reproduce the dialogue: a) abridged; b) in the form of the monologue.

Listening Comprehension Text “Christopher Columbus”

Part A. Pre-listening activities

Task 1. Make sure that you know the following words and word phrases.

to weigh anchor – сниматься с якоря

provisions – провизия, запасы провианта

an oar – гребец

to give the order – давать приказ

fabulous gold – сказочное богатство

to persuade – уговорить, убедить

an astrolabe – астролябия

latitude – широта

longitude – долгота

Task 2. Before listening answer the following questions.

  1. How much do you know about Christopher Columbus?

  2. What instruments of navigation are used?

Part B. Listening activities.

Task 1. Look at these sentences and questions. Find the right answers.

  1. Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain to the New World

  1. on Sunday 2 August 1492

  2. on Friday 2 August 1482

  3. on Friday 2 August 1492

  4. on Friday 2 May 1482

  1. He persuaded Isabella, the Queen of Spain, to finance his voyage by promising

  1. slaves and gold

  2. spices and gold

  3. great riches

  4. to find a new route to China

  1. The sailors are less enthusiastic than their captain because

  1. they still believe that the Earth is square

  2. they fear that the heat at the Equator will cause fire

  3. they don’t trust their captain

  4. they believe that if they sail too far they will fall into space

  1. Which of the following will they not use?

  1. maps

  2. compass

  3. astrolabe

  4. hourglass

  1. Astrolabe allows them to calculate

  1. the speed of the boats

  2. longitude

  3. latitude

  4. distance

Task 2. Listen to the tape recording once more. Complete the microtext using what you remember from the recording.

The harbour was full of ... . Three sailing ships were preparing to ... . There were only ... in all on the three boats. ... were being brought on board. Christopher Columbus ... to sail. He hoped to find ... by sailing west. Columbus persuaded Isabella, the Queen of Spain to ... . He promised to bring back ... . There were no ... to show them where they were going. They were going to use ... .

Part C. After listening activities

Task 1. Work in pairs and discuss the following questions.

    1. What did Christopher Columbus hope to find?

    2. Why did the Queen of Spain agree to finance his voyage?

    3. Why were the sailors less enthusiastic then their captain?

    4. What navigation tools were used by Christopher Columbus?

Task 2. Summarize the information about Christopher Columbus’s voyage.