Salvador Dali painting stolen from Manhattan gallery

Exercise 1. Adopt the news text for oral performance and read it aloud.

Bear in mind: Make necessary intonation marks, paying special attention to the falling, rising tone of different types of sentences, punctuation. Be ready to explain abbreviations.

A painting by Salvador Dali has been stolen from an art gallery in Manhattan, by a man who took it off the wall and carried it out in a bag.Valued at $150,000 (£96,027), the Cartel des Don Juan Tenorio, was taken from the Venus Over Manhattan art gallery. Police said a man posed as a gallery visitor before removing the painting and fleeing.

The theft was captured on CCTV.

The Venus Over Manhattan gallery, which only opened its doors for the first time in May, is owned by art collector Adam Lindemann. The Dali painting, created in 1949, was part of its first exhibition.

2) Euro 2012: 6,000 England football fans expected in Kiev

Police say about 6,000 England football fans are expected in Kiev for Sunday's Euro 2012 quarter-final against Italy. British Airways is using larger-than-normal aircraft for flights to Ukraine as more fans scramble to see England in the tournament's knock-out stage.

During the team's group games, the official England following was 3,000.

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Holt, the police liaison officer in Ukraine, said there had not been arrests of England fans during the tournament. Mr Holt, representing the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "We will have officers at the airport to meet and greet fans as they arrive at the airport, we have officers in uniform here in the centre of Kiev, out and about talking to fans, letting them see that there's a British police presence.

"But as the night moves on, we move into plain clothes and we're able to, if necessary, spot any problems that are occurring and advise our Ukrainian colleagues as to how perhaps they should best tackle any problems to stop them escalating." But he said so far there had been no sign of any misbehaviour from England fans.

3) George Washington's US constitution sold for $10m

George Washington's personal copy of the US constitution has sold for almost $10m, Christie's auction house says.

The book, with the first president's own annotations, was printed in 1789 - his first year in office. It had an estimated price of $2m (£1.3m) to $3m but bidding boosted the price of the 223-year-old book. Historians say Washington's notes are what make the book so valuable, as the president was keenly aware of the precedents he would set in office. The leather-bound book is described as in nearly pristine condition and is stamped with the Washington family crest. It also contains the first acts of Congress, which included legislation to establish state, judiciary, defence and treasury departments of government.

The book was fought over between two bidders who remained anonymous during the auction. The new owner is the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, which paid a final price of $9,826,500, Christie's later revealed. Washington's US constitution is printed, with hand-written notes "It's an exciting day. We are thrilled to be able to bring this extraordinary book back to Mount Vernon where it belongs," spokeswoman Ann Bookout told reporters.

The private, non-profit group, owns and maintains Mount Vernon, Washington's historic Virginia estate, and has said the book will become part of a new presidential library due to open in 2013. The book was bound especially for the president by Thomas Allen, a New York bookbinder. He also created similar copies for Thomas Jefferson, the first secretary of state, and Attorney General John Jay.

The book sold by Christie's on Friday had been in the library at Mount Vernon for many years after Washington's death. In 1876 it was sold at auction to a private collection, and was sold again in 1964 to Richard Dietrich, a notable collector of early Americana. George Washington acted as commander in chief of the Continental Army in the War of Independence and was later unanimously elected as the first president of the US. After serving two terms as president, he spent three years in retirement at Mount Vernon before he died in 1799.

Exercise 2. Read your group mate’s composition-speech as if it were yours.

Bear in mind: Make necessary intonation marks, paying special attention to the falling, rising tone of different types of sentences, punctuation.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-06