II. Choose the correct variant.

1. Culzean Castle...

a) ... was the place of the author's birth;

b) ... belongs to an Italian;
c)... was built in 1777;

d)... remains a real feudal castle until today;

e)... is none of the above,

2. General Eisenhower...

a) ... invited the author to spend a weekend in Culzean
Castle;

b) the reconstruction of the castle was dedicated to his
victories in the World War II;

c) ... was an often guest in Culzean Castle;

d) ... had once been given a suite there;

e) none of the above.

3. Culzean Castle is situated...

a)... by the River Clyde;

b)... by the Firth of Clyde;

c) ... on the cliff top;

d) ... on the Mull of Kintyre;

e) none of the above,

4. Main gardens were walled ...

a) ... to protect soil from erosion;

b)... not to let deer come into the gardens;

c).... for aesthetic reasons;

d)… not to let them be exposed to strangers;

c) none of the above,

5. Exotic palms and myrtles...

a)... appeared there by the fancy of the hosts;

b) it was strange to see them in such a place;

c) ... have never grown there;

d) ... grows there due to warm climate:

e) none of the above.

III. Answer the following questions:

1. Why did the author decide to stay at Culzean Castle? Who were the other quests? 3. How were they having rest there? 4. What is the history of this Castle? 5. Describe the food served there. 6. Try to draw a picture of the Castle or a planned map, 7. What reality stuck the visitors at the end? 8. How would you translate the title of the article?

IV. Retell the text using the following phrases:

to book into; the suite: to be given as a token of gratitude for; a couple on honeymoon; to be called away; dramatic setting; to pound the rocks; to be commissioned; plasterwork; armoury hall; to feature a landscape; to take a stroll, to be walled; to waft in the air; virtual strangers; to set smb up for a day; in the dappled sunlight; reminder; to make up for smth; to yearn

V.Make up a plan of the story, compare it with that of your group-mates.

VI. Fill in the gaps with the suitable elements given below:

a. There were calls for compulsory controls last month after a 17-year-old Oxfordshire girl died at a water-sports centre when her machine collided with a speed­boat,

b. This year one rider diced with death by jetting under the hull of a packed catamaran ferry in Mersey side.

c. So are jet skis really the biggest danger at the seaside or the most fun you can have in the water and basically risk-free if handled properly?

d. Some have strict controls and zoning patrolled by council boats,

e. It hasn't happened yet, but every parent taking children to the seaside fears that it could.

A careless show-off rider loses control of his powerful jet ski and ploughs into a group of children splashing in the waves at the shoreline ...

[1]

This summer there have been two fatal accidents involving jet skis, yet Britain still has no laws controlling their use.

One safety campaigner claims they are like motorbikes driven around a school playground. But enthusiasts say the controversial machines are safer, quieter and more popular than ever. And the sport's trade body has just launched its first nationwide safety-training scheme.

[ 2 ] We spoke to campaigners calling for them to be banned and jet skiers who say their sport is safer than horse riding.

They're noisy, overpowered and frivolous,' said one West Country marine official. 'People who ride them are, by and large, show-offs.'

'We're the victims of prejudice,' reply enthusiasts.

[3]

Two weeks later a 25-year-old nurse from Rochdale was killed when her jet ski had a head-on collision with another machine off the North Wales coast.

In recent years British holidaymakers have been kilted in jet ski accidents in Turkey, Florida and here.

[ 4 ]

Richard Tibenham, a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, says: 'People should be given tuition and then assessed for their competence and attitude before they can rent a jet ski.

But devotees claim that, considering there are now 17,000 machines in the UK, casualty figures are very low compared with sports like rugby, mountaineering and horse riding.

They are certainly becoming faster and quieter. Since their introduction about 20 years ago they have evolved from single person stand-up platforms to safer water 'bikes' seating two or three.

The main controls over jet skis at present are various restrictions imposed by individual local authorities.

Some have banned the machines, others issue licences to established operators. [5]But some take no action at all. Successive governments have been unwilling to get involved, preferring the industry to police itself.

VII.Read and retell the story:

Britain has had love affairs with many great ships. From Henry VIH's ill-fated Mary Rose to the inspirational Ark Royal, our history seems inextricably linked with the names of magnificent vessels. To summon up the elegance of transatlantic travel earlier this century, you need only think of the Cunard liners Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary.

Now another ship is about to join this legendary list: P&O's Canberra, which last Wednesday embarked on her final cruise around the Mediterranean. If this were the last voyage of a simple pleasure ship, it would rate little more than passing comment. But Canberra has played a major role in our history,

She carried Britons to Australia in the final wave of mass emigration. She braved Argentinean bombers when she carried soldiers into the battle for the Falklands. She led the flotilla of vessels celebrating the 50th Anniversary of D-Day,

Canberra also starred in the 1971 James Bond film “Diamonds Are Forever”, P&O has decreed that after Canberra completes her final voyage on September 30, she will never again sail as a cruise ship.

It seems likely she will be broken up - but better to end her days in honour than to live on as a shabby tourist attraction as the Queen Mary does in Long Beach, California.

VIII. Find information in the text about:

a) influence of the warming of climate on the island

b) landscape

c) history of Maldives

d) holidaymaking

e) feeding sharks

Kunfunadhoo, The atolls lie scattered over 500 miles of ocean, like a string of shattered pearls, just above and below the Equator at the foot of India.

It is an amazing sight. Most have no vegetation and indeed no beaches. They are just reef, perfect pools of green and blue in azure seas. They are, in fact, the tips of extinct volcanoes, literally mountains under the ocean.

There are no ships because the Maldives are off the shipping lanes. There are no jets. Lonely planet.

[ 1 ] In 2,000 years not much has happened here. The Portuguese arrived in the 16th Century and the British a bit later. They have been Buddhist and are now Islamic. They have the lowest murder rate in the world and the highest divorce rate. Being Muslim, Maldivian men can divorce their wives simply by saying: 'I divorce you.'

Eight years ago there was a small coup but not many noticed. It was all the fault of the RAF.

They brought prosperity to the southern atolls by building an airbase, before pulling out in the Sixties. By then, a strong UDI movement had developed. Guns were bought, an attack on the President's Ruritanian palace launched in the dead of night.

The radio station was stormed but the rebels didn't know how to work the equipment so no one got to hear. People mistook gunfire for fireworks. It was over in a day.

Very Baling Comedy, Nobody hanged or anything unpleasant.

[ 2 ] Before 1972, not a tourist had come here, Today there is a Club Med and 70 islands have hotels. More holidaymakers arrive every year now than there are islanders.

To accommodate them all, 14 more islands have just been put up for auction. At least half of the tourists come to dive. They say it is the best diving in the world and that if you don't dive it is like going to Rome and not seeing the Coliseum.

You can, if you wish and why anyone would want to I don't know, feed sharks from your hand. At 10 metres, the ocean is as clear as at one metre, the reefs are underwater gardens, the fish as thick as rush-hour traffic at Waterloo.

[ 3 ] Personally, I don't go with all that It's perfectly safe, there's never been a shark attack, you'll love it.

If God had meant us to have two air cylinders strapped to our backs, he'd have planned it that way. I'm with the Israelis who, when told by one guide that in 20 years there has never been an attack, said: 'Yes, but what happened 21 years ago? But snorkeling ... that's different, that's safe and fun.

All right, I know I'm cowardly custard. So what if I am? I promise you it's quite thrilling enough to get to the edge of the reef and the friendliness of the rainbow coloured fish in a few feet of water and suddenly be over a vertical underwater wall that will fall 200 fathoms in a sheer drop.

The dramatic change in depth brings an immediate chill. The water, a pale blue satin, becomes a dark blue ink. Look down into the gloom and you will catch a flash of silver as a big fish ... my God, is it a shark? ... Turns somewhere below you on its lonely cycle.

I didn't actually see a shark, well only baby ones. I didn't see a manta ray. They're the rays that are the size of V Bombers. It didn't matter. We felt like Hans and Lotte Haas (older readers will know who I'm talking about) and the great fun about the Maldives is that everyone at dinner has a wonderful fishy story to tell about what they saw that day.

[ 4 ] If you can bear to tear yourself away from the ocean, the land is almost as beautiful. Take away the shower, bed, air-conditioning, chilled Soave, baked baby kingfish marinated in tandoori spices ... I mean, imagine nobody is here, no luxury, no hotels ... and this is just how Roy Plomley imagined all his cast-aways would be marooned.

[ 5 ] Yet this paradise idyll hides a face of nature at its most cunning. At one hotel, the Banyan Tree on Vabbin-faru, I gradually became conscious of young Maldivians, toiling as we lazed, moving sand from one side of the tiny island to the other. If they didn't the island would literally change shape and our beachfront villa would be under water in a few years. Because of global warming, the sea will have risen by perhaps 15 inches within 40 years, and some islands are only a few feet high.

There is an irony that the Indian Ocean waters of the Maldives are their main tourist attraction, but may also threaten their very survival.

IX. Note the difference between the following synonyms:

Journey e.g. It's a long journey from Scotland to Land's End.

Collocations: to go on a journey; to make a journey; a journey on foot.

Journey is a general word. It suggests going by any means of transport (but usually by land) to some definite destination.

Voyage e.g. the ship set out on a voyage to Cape Town.

Collocations: a voyage of discovery; "Bon voyage!", "Not wanted on voyage" (i.e. luggage)

Voyage - usually a long journey by sea. Also used figuratively.

Trip e.g. Over the weekend we made a trip into the country.

Collocations: a pleasure trip; a business trip, a day trip; a trip (up) to town

Trip - any kind of journey of short duration or excur­sion

Travele.g: Travel enriches one's education

Collocations: to start on one’s travels; travel agents; traveler’s tales: a commercial traveler.

If used in singular = the act of traveling; in plural = journeys to distant places.

Toure.g.: During my tour of England I visited many places of interest.

Collocations: a round tour; a day's/week's tour. A series of successive journeys.

X. Complete the sentences inserting: journey, voyage, travel, trip, journeys, tour.

1. … broadens the mind, 2. "A ... to India" is a famous novel by E.M Forster. 3. Londoners often go on a day ... to Brighton. 4 The organisation of ... has become big business. 5. A boatman was persuading people to go for a pleasure, round the island. 6.He makes the same ... every day, from London to Brighton and back. 7. You can buy a book of tickets for twelve ... 8. Foreign ... is enjoyable, but rather expensive 9. All cases not wanted on the ... should be marked as such, 10. My companion suggested that we make a ... of the Holland. 11, How long does the ... lake by car? 12. They went on a sentimental, back to their honeymoon resort.

XI Comment on the following proverbs and sayings:

Men may meet, but mountains never.

That which was better to endure may be sweet to remember.

He might just as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb.

The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking of how things may be, to see them as they are. (S. Johnson).

Must be seen to be believed.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1925