Dialogues

Oxford

Bristol

Manchester

Birmingham

In the heart of England about 112 miles north-west of London is Birmingham. Birmingham is a city with the population of over one million. It is the centre of the iron industry. The district around Birmingham is known as the Black Country. It is the land of factories and mines. Steam-engines, motor-cars, railway carriages, bicycles and agricultural implements are manufactured in the factories of the Black Country.

Great Britain lives by manufacture and trade. Its agriculture provides only half the food it needs, the other half of its food has to be imported.

Britain is one of the most highly industrialized countries in the world: for every person employed in agriculture, eleven are employed in mining, manufacturing and building. The industrial centres of Great Britain are London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and others.

Manchester is the centre of the cotton industry. With its large suburb Salford Manchester has a population of nearly one million. Manchester has few ancient buildings but few English cities have better parks of which there are over fifty. The largest of them is Heaton Park. Manchester is rich in libraries and schools. The University of Manchester founded in 1880 is famous for its studies.

Bristol is not a very large port. It is smaller than Plymouth, Liverpool, Portsmouth and Dover but it is very beautiful.

Bristol is divided into two parts. One of them is the port on the Avon with narrow streets, old churches and half timber houses. It has a wooden eighteenth century theatre untouched since those days.

This was the port from which many ships sailed in Elizabeth’s reign. The eighteenth century stone houses climb up the hills past the beautiful and little known cathedral to the second part of Bristol. This part is more modern and it has many fine houses built of pink stone and many wonderful monuments and churches. Bristol has a college named College Green, the University, the art gallery and some museums. The University building has a very high tower from the top of which you can see College Green, many churches and Park Street.

Oxford is one of the finest and most ancient cities. Oxford has had its University since the twelfth century. It contains twenty-eight colleges. Among the most beautiful of the colleges are Magdalen with its lovely chapel tower and Christ Church. Most of the colleges have big and well-ordered gardens.

Many years ago there was a city wall, built in the thirteenth century. Now it is ruined but you can see a portion of this wall running through the garden of a new college.

Oxford University is well known all over the world as one of the oldest universities.

IX. Speak about Great Britain:

a) its geographical position;

b) its political system;

c) its industries.

I. Read the dialogues in pairs and reproduce them.

I

A. Is England the only name for that country?

B. No it isn’t. It’s also called Great Britain, or simply Britain.

A. So it has two names?

B. There is also a third name – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or just the United Kingdom.

A. But it sounds more official, doesn’t it?

B. Yes, it’s the official name for the country.

II

A. Is England a monarchy or a parliamentary republic?

B. Britain is a parliamentary monarchy.

A. How’s that?

B. It’s simple: there’s a King, or a Queen and there’s a parliament enjoying the right to pass laws and elect the government.

III

A. The seats in Parliament are hereditary, aren’t they?

B. Not exactly. The seats are hereditary in the House of Lords, but as to the members of the House of Commons, they are elected every 5 years.

A. Which chamber is more important and how many members are there in each of them?

B. The House of Commons is surely considered more important. As far as I remember there are 635 MPs in the House of Commons. But the number of peers is considerably greater.

II. At a sitting of the university English-speaking club you discuss:

a) Britain’s economy today;

b) its international role in the modern world;

c) the life and activities of a prominent public figure in Britain.

JUST FOR FUN

I. Read and answer.

“If” – problem

If two cats are before a cat,

and two cats are behind a cat,

and a cat is in the middle,

how many cats are there in all?

II. Learn the following proverbs and sayings. Choose the one you like most and use it in a natural context.

1. If ifs and ans were pots and pans.

2. If the sky falls, we shall catch larks.

3. If we can’t as we would, we must do as we can.

4. If wishes were horses, beggars might ride.

5. If you run after two hares, you’ll catch neither.

6. If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.

III. Learn the following by heart.

Had we never loved so kindly,

Had we never loved so blindly,

Never met and never parted,

We’d never been broken – hearted.

IV. Solve the puzzle. Within the grid, find the capitals of the countries listed below:

U.K.	SPAIN	INDONESIA
AUSTRALIA	JAPAN	MEXICO
GREECE	PERU	BANGLADESH
EGYPT	SUDAN	IRAQ
MALAYSIA	NICARAGUA	NORWAY
ITALY	KENYA	CANADA
VENEZUELA	BELGIUM	PHILIPPINES
IRAN	TURKEY	IRELAND
MALTA	ARGENTINA	TOGO
	SOUTH KOREA	JORDAN

PUZZLE

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V. Add one or more letters before the word one to get the word defined.

1.? + one = something that holds ice cream;

2.? + one = part of a skeleton;

3.? + one = no longer here.

4.? + one = accomplished; finished;

5.? + one = without anyone else present;

6.? + one = a musical sound;

7.? + one = a rock;

8.? + one = a geographical region or area;

9.? + one = a chair for a king or queen;

10.? + one = a windstorm; tornado;

11.? + one = an instrument for talking to someone far away;

12.? + one = nobody;

13.? + one = not any;

14.? + one = two.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-31