CATEGORIES:
BiologyChemistryConstructionCultureEcologyEconomyElectronicsFinanceGeographyHistoryInformaticsLawMathematicsMechanicsMedicineOtherPedagogyPhilosophyPhysicsPolicyPsychologySociologySportTourism
HIPPIES AND SKINHEADSBRITISH TV Read the text and find out what channels are there on the British TV Watching television is one of the great British pastimes. Broadcasting in the United Kingdom is controlled by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The BBC receives its income from the government, but the private companies controlled by the IBA earn money from advertising. The BBC has two TV channels. BBC 2 has more serious programmes and news features. The IBA is responsible for looking after the regional independent TV companies who broadcast their own programmes and those they have bought from other regions. There is a break for advertisements about every 15-20 minutes. The most recent independent channel is called Channel 4 and it has more specialized programmes than the main channels. In general, people think the programmes offered on British television are of a very high standard. Some people, however, are becoming worried about the amount of violence on TV, and the effects this may have on young people. TV and Radio are also two of the main teaching channels used by the Open University. This "university of the air" allows many thousands of students to study at home for degrees they never would have obtained in the main educational system. They also have to do without sleep as most of their programmes are broadcast early in the morning or late at night. Exercise Find and read the answers to the following questions
2. COMIC BOOKS Read the text and find out why Japanese comic books are so popular. Comic books started out as collections of comic strips from newspapers. They were known as 'funny books', or 'funnies', because the comic strips were humorous. It wasn' t until the 1930s that the first adventure stories started to appear. The heroes of these stories were characters like Dick Tracy and the Phantom. But although they had some cool gadgets, these heroes were still just ordinary people. Then in June 1938 à new comic came out. It had à new kind of hero. His powers were far greater than any normal person. Íå could run faster than à train. Íå could jump over tall buildings. His name was Superman, and he wasn' t just à hero, he was à superhero. Since Superman made his debut there have been many comic book superheroes. Most worked alone, but sometimes they teamed up with other superheroes. The Justice Society of America (JSA for short) was à crime-fighting team of nine superheroes. They included the Flash, who was described as 'the fastest man alive'; and the Gãåån Lantern, who got his special powers from à magic ring. Today the most popular superhero team is the Õ-Ìån. Outside the US, comics have developed in different ways. Japanese comics (known as 'manga') include many more topics than American comics do. This is probably why so many Japanese read manga. In fact, manga account for 40 per cent of all book and magazine sales in Japan. Topics range from giant robots and time travel to cooking, sport, romance, and much mîãå. There is also à huge variety of artistic styles. Although manga are starting to become popular outside Japan, they still aren' t as well known as American comic books.
Exercise Circle the best answer, a, b, c or d, to each of the following questions. 1. Characters like Dick Tracy a. had special powers. b. appeared in funny comic strips in newspapers. c. didn't have any special powers. d. were the first superheroes.
2. The superheroes in the Justice Society of America a. always worked alone. b.sometimes worked together. c.fought against each other. d.got their special powers from a rnagic ring.
3.Manga are different from American comics because a.manga have more topics. b.manga have more fans. c.manga are more well known. d.manga don't have superheroes.
4.Peter Parker works as a.a major in the US Army. b.a photographer and a teacher. c.a doctor. d.the editor-in-chief of a newspaper.
5.Both Wonder Woman and Superman a.can fly. b.are super-strong and super-fast. c.have x-ray vision. d.cannot be injured by bullets.
6.Simon Good's mother wants him to a.protect people. b.stop crime. c.tidy his room. d.save people's lives.
DISNEYLAND PARK Read the leaflet and find out what tours are available in Disneyland Park. Disneyland Tickets and Passports.Purchase your One-, Two- or Three-Day Disneyland Passports and Child Passports (for ages 3 - 11) at any Main Entrance ticket booth. Visa, Master Card and American Express are accepted. Children of two and under are admitted free. Each passport provides unlimited use of all adventures and attractions (except Arcades). Guided tours.If it is your first time to Disneyland, or you have a limited amount of time, we'd like to recommend our three- and a half-hour guided tour. Discover little known facts about Walt Disney and his magic kingdom and experience several attractions with your Disneyland host or hostess. Foreign languages tours are offered. Disney Dollars.Use Disney Dollars for all your buying throughout Disneyland. Available in $ 1, $ 5 and $ 10 denominations at a one-for-one exchange rate with U. S. currency, Disney Dollars can be purchased at all ticket booths. Cash in on the fun! First Aid. First Aid is located at the east end of Main Street next to Plaza Inn. A registered nurse is on duty all the time. Lost and Found.Claim your lost items at Lost and Found, located on the east side of Main Street, around the corner from the Market House. Attractions.No matter what the season, the best time to see the most popular attractions is early in the day (before noon) and just before closing. Also, plan on eating your meals early or late, don't hold off until the end of the day. The shops are usually busiest at that time. Safety Considerations.Shoes and shirts must be worn all the time in Disneyland. We request that no food or beverages be brought into Disneyland. A picnic area is located west of the Main Entrance for your convenience. Disney Characters.Find Disney Characters throughout Disneyland at any given time. You can usually see Mickey Mouse and his friends in Town Square (except during parades). Just keep your eyes open and your camera ready. Exercise Correct the wrong statements: 1. Children of two and under should pay for the entrance. 2. Visa, Master Card and others are not accepted. 3. Only English language tours are offered. 4. Use Russian roubles for all your buying throughout Disneyland. 5. A registered nurse is on duty from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m. 6. If you have lost something in the park, it’s impossible to find it. 7. The best time to see the most popular attractions is in the evening. 8. Shoes and shirts must be taken off all the time in Disneyland. 9. We request that food and beverages be brought into Disneyland. 10. Photographing is not allowed in the park.
4. DO YOU LIKE MUSIC? Find in the text and read out what it means to be a real music listener Everybody likes music, some people prefer classical music, others are fond of light music. But are all of them good listeners? One of the most important things is to learn to be a good listener. Only then can one learn to understand music. You may say: "It's very easy! We hear lots of sounds around us," But hearing is not listening. Are we really listening to music on the radio while working, before leaving for school or after coming home? I think not, because our ears take in many other sounds besides music, such as: the noises from outside, some conversations, and a baby's crying. To be a good listener means to listen to music without doing anything else. And that's not very easy. It's necessary to practise it for rather a long time: to sit still and to concentrate on listening. At last it will become a habit. That's one thing. The other is to read about composers whose music we are interested in, about their works, about the conditions under which those people had to live and create. People often say: "I often go to concerts, as I like music very much." It means that they may go to a concert of chamber or light music, attend a symphony concert, a piano, a violin or a choir concert. It's all the same for them. Does it mean that they love music if they don't understand it? And what about you?
Exercise Match the beginnings and the ends of the sentences:
HORROR FILMS Read the text and find the titles of the films. Have you seen them? AAAAHHHHH! The audience screams. Up on the screen a horrible monster steps out of the coffin. Many of the people in the cinema cover their eyes, too afraid to look. But do any of them leave? No! They are screaming and they have goose bumps on their arms, but these people are having fun.It is a wild and stormy night. A bat flies across the sky and an owl hoots sadly. A flash of lightning lights up the graveyard. A strange sound comes from the earth. Suddenly the ground begins to open. There lies a coffin that has been buried for a hundred years. The lid of the coffin moves. Something inside the coffin is lifting the lid... Some of the earliest films were horror films. It didn't take the film industry long to realise that people enjoy being scared. The first horror films, like Nosferatu and The Phantom of the Opera, were made in the 1920s. Although they were silent films, they were still able to send a chill down people's spines. Then came the 'golden age of horror'- the 1930s. This is when classic films such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy and King Kong were made. It is often said that the monsters in these films 'had a heart'. Audiences could understand why they did terrible things. Modern horror films, however, are different. They are more violent than the old horror films. The villains are often people, not supernatural monsters like the Wolf Man or Frankenstein's monster. And the victims are often teenagers. Godzilla: a review Some French scientists on an island in the Pacific Ocean accidentally create a monster. This giant lizard destroys a few fishing boats. Then he goes to New York. Here he walks through the streets of the city. He knocks over buildings and kills people as he goes. Godzilla is looking for somewhere to lay his (or her?) eggs. Sounds like fun? Well, it isn't. The script is terrible and the story isn't very interesting. The first film about Godzilla was a 1954 Japanese film called Gojira. The monster in Gojira was just a man in a rubber lizard suit. But he had millions of fans. Although millions of dollars were spent on special effects for the new film, it's boring. It's not even scary. It's a shame Godzilla ever left Tokyo! HORROR QUIZ Test your knowledge of horror films.
(Answers: 1. Scream; 2. a great white shark; 3. Hannibal; 4. dinosaurs; 5. Freddy Krueger) Exercise Circle the best answer, a, b, c or d, to each of the following questions. 1. The first horror films were a. silent films. b. musicals. c. children's films, d. films for television. 2. Horror films these days are a. less violent than they used to be. b. just as violent as they used to be. c. more violent than they used to be. d. not violent at all. 3. At the cinema, teenagers like to be scared a. on their own. b. with friends. c. with their parents. d. with their teachers. 4. The review of Godzilla says that the film is a. fun. b. boring. c. interesting. d. sad. 5. The monster in Gojira was a. a teenager. b. a shark. c. a mass murderer. d. a man dressed up in a rubber lizard suit. 6. Anthony Hopkins played the main character in a. Jaws. b. Silence of the Lambs. c. Halloween. d. Jurassic Park. HIPPIES AND SKINHEADS Read some information about informal groups of young people and find the difference between them. 1. Towards the end of the 60s a new group appeared, whose ideas started in California, in the USA. The Hippiespreached a philosophy of peace and love, wore necklaces of coloured beads, and gave flowers to surprised strangers on the street. The name comes from the fad that drugtakers in Asia and the Far East used to lie on one hip while smoking opium. Hippies didn't use opium but they smoked marijuana, and took powerful drugs such as LSD. Music, especially under the influence of the Beatles, began to include strange sounds and images in an attempt to recreate the "psychedelic" or dream-like experience of drugs. Hippies wore simple clothes, blue jeans and open sandals, and grew their hair very long. They often lived together in large communities, sharing their possessions. This was their protest against the materialism of the 60s and also against the increasing military involvent of the United States in Vietnam. However, the dreams of peace and love disappeared in the early 70s as the mood of society changed. People's attention turned to life's more basic problems as the world price of oil increased, causing a fall in living standards and rising inflation. 2. Skinheads were racist, violent, and proud of the fact. The "uniform" worn by most of them consisted of trousers that were too short, enormous boots, and braces. As their name suggests, they wore their hair extremely short or even shaved it all off. As unemployment grew throughout the 70s, groups of skinheads began to take their revenge on immigrants, who were attacked on the streets and in their homes. Exercise What group is this information about?
ROCK MUSIC Read some information about the history of rock music. Find out what the first groups were. When the American rock-and-roll singer Chuck Berry first sang "Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikowsky the news!" in the 1950s, he was telling the world that the new music, Rock-'n'-Roll, was here to stay. Over the last forty years it has had an enormous effect on people's lives, and especially on the kind of clothes they wear. The first group to be seen in the newspapers in the late 50s were the Teddy Boys. Their clothes were supposed to be similar to those worn in Edwardian England: long jackets with velvet collars, drainpipe trousers (so tight they looked like drainpipes!) and brightly coloured socks. Their shoes had very thick rubber soles and their hair was swept up wards and backwards. Before the arrival of the Teddy Boys young people had usually worn what their parents wore. Now they wore what they liked. In the mid 60s the Mods, (so called because of their "modern" style of dressing) became the new leaders of teenage fashion. Short hair and smart suits were popular again. But perhaps the Mods' most important possessions were their scooters, usually decorated with large numbers of lights and mirrors. They wore long green anoracks, called parkas, to protect their clothes. Exercise Anwer the questions:
Date: 2015-12-24; view: 2337
|