TV OR NOT TV?

1. There are five very popular leisure activities in Britain. Read the text and place these activities in order from the most popular downwards.

Watching television is the most popular leisure activity in Britain — on average(всреднем), the British watch over 26 hours of televi­sion each week.

Nearly every household (family) has at least one television set. On an average day 80 per cent of the population tune into (watch) TV. At some time 94 per cent watch TV during the week.

TV watching is listed as the 1st most popular activity in British homes. Then comes visiting or entertaining friends and rel­atives, next comes listening to radio, after that — listening to records, compact discs and tapes. Reading is listed as the fifth most popular pastime in Britain.

First comes …

Then …

Next …

After that …

And last …

2. What do Russian people do in their leisure time? Compare British and Russian people regarding their leisure activities. Are they similar or different?

… (don’t) spend … in the same way (одинаково).

… and … too.

They also (также) …

But …

And in contrast with (вотличиеот) …

Besides(кроме того)….

3. They say Britons are very enthusiastic TV viewers. a) Read the text, look at the British TV audience share (количественноераспределениезрительскойаудитории) and guess what channels have the following audience share.

The BBC has two television channels: BBC 1 and BBC 2. BBC 2 offers more serious programmes than BBC 1 — documentaries and discussions, plays and serials, operas and concerts.

BBC 2programmesfeature lighter plays and series, comedy and sports, but they also broadcast some interesting documentaries.

ITV (Channel 3) and Channel 4 are inde­pendent commercial organisations which get most of their money from advertising.

ITV (Channel 3)consists of fourteen pro­gramme companies, each serving a different part of the country. Channel 4 serves the whole country. In Wales, this channel trans­mits programmes in the Welsh language (S4C).

Thanks to satellite, TV viewers in Britain can watch TV from many European coun­tries, including France, Germany, Italy and as far as Russia.

Some channels such as SKY One* and Superchannelprovide general entertainment, but most satellite channels are devoted to more specialisedtopics, such as sport, news, pop and rock music, children's programmes and feature films.

There are nowadays over two and a half million homes in Britain which can connect to cable TV. Cable systems can have between 30 and 45 TV channels. Cable TV viewers pay for the programmes they want to see.

b) Listen to the record and check your answers.

4. Match different kinds of TV programmes with their descriptions.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 2025