Language Study. Mind the pronunciation of letter i:

PISA

Pronunciation

Mind the pronunciation of letter i:

[aɪ]	[ɪ]	[ə:]	[i:]	[aɪ]
time	rich	sir	religious	fire

Ex. 10. Put the following words into 4 columns, according to the type of pronunciation with the help of a dictionary. Listen and check.

island	tropical	sign	visitor	right
prestige	heritage	ticket	five	existence
private	site	city	outfit	increase
massive	inhabitant	facility	intact	entire

Ex. 11. Put the words into 4 columns according to the type of pronunciation with the help of a dictionary. Listen and check.

islands	Italy	sign	visitor	existance
prestige	heritage	appetite	five	increase
private	site	devide	origin	empire
massive	inhabitant	Venice	right	vital
rarity	habit	attitude	disposal	civilization
light	birth	political	live	first
souvenir	designate	destination	admire	considerable

Ex. 12. Listen to the text and mind the pronunciation of the letter i. Read the text aloud.

Only about ten k i lometers from the sea and four metres above its level, a vast alluv i al (= илистый) plain protected by Monte P i sano, rises the town of P i sa, d i v i ded in two by the Arno r i ver. Its or i g i n is uncertain, but already the h i stor i an L i v i o spoke about it as the town founded by the Ligur i ans. It became a flour i sh i ng colony of the Emp i re after having been an ally ['ælaɪ] (= союзник) of the Romans against the Carthag i n i ans dur i ng the second Pun i c War in the 1st century BC. In the 7th century AD Pisa passed under the Longobard rule and became an important port, for it was the only opening onto the sea. Having come under the Marqu i sate of Tuscany, though, at the beg i nn i ng of the 11th century, it managed to become a Free C i ty, therefore g i v i ng r i se to the per i od in wh i ch Pisa had its greatest development. During the follow i ng three centuries, it became one of the greatest mar i t i me powers of the Med i terranean. Pisa won almost all the naval battles aga i nst the fleets of the other Mar i t i me Republics (Genoa and Amalf i f i rst, Venice later), but in 1284 it lost the Battagl i a della Melor i a and so it started to fall.

In the 11th and 12th century, when Pisa took part in the f i rst Crusade, the bu i ld i ng of the monuments, which make it st i ll world-famous today was started. The arts flour i shed and thanks to the br i ll i antm i nd of Nicola P i sano, his son Giovann i and Arnolfo di Camb i o, the f i rst Schools started to be founded. They were the f i rst centre of Un i vers i ty, later further developed by Gal i leo Gal i le i who created a department for Mathemat i cs and Phys i cs, which is still today one of the most i mportant in the world. In the years between the 14th and the 19th century, the town was ruled by the Med i c i and the Lorena fam i l i es. In 1860, with a popular pleb i sc i te, Pisa entered the Kingdom of Italy. Today Pisa is the dest i nat i on of cons i derable numbers of tour i sts who come to adm i re the gorgeous P i azza dei M i racoli which gathers all the monuments that make it so famous.

(Gian Carlo Orlandi Tuscany)

Дата добавления: 2015-03-31