Text 14. THE BEATLES

Text 13. CANNED FOOD

One of the first men to make a commercial success of food conservation was Henry John Heinz. He started by bottling horse-radish, and he was so successful that in 1869 he founded a company in Pittsburgh, USA. Like other Americans of his generation, Heinz made his name a household word throughout the western world. At last, man seems to have discovered how to preserve food without considerably altering its taste. The tins оf food (Heinz tins!) which Captain Scott abandoned in the Antarctic were opened 47 years after his death, and the contents were not only edible, but pleasant.

The main argument against conserved foods is not that the canning of food makes it taste different; rather, people complain that the recipes which the canning chefs dream up are tedious or tasteless. But any recipe is tedious or tasteless when it is eaten in great quantities. And a company like Heinz can only produce something if it is going to be eaten in great quantities. The tomato is very pleasant to eat when it is freshly picked. A regular diet of tomatoes alone could well prove tedious. The canning companies try to cook the tomato in as many ways as possible. The Heinz factories in Britain use millions and millions of tomatoes every year. They claim that if all the tomatoes were loaded on to 15-ton lorries, the line of lorries would stretch for 60 miles.

But there are many people who do not like to eat food out of season. They like their food to be fresh, and they like to cook it themselves in “the old-fashioned way”. But it is very difficult for modern man to realise what it is like to live without the advantage of pre-packaged and canned food. European society in its present form could not cope without modern methods of food processing. Imagine your local supermarket without all the cans of prepackaged foods. Тhere wouldn’t be much variety left, and what was left would have to be increased enormously in order to give the same amount of food. The supermarket would turn into a chaos of rotting vegetables, stale bread and unhealthy meat. The health problems would be insurmountable, unless we all went back into the country to support ourselves.

So next time you reject canned food as being tasteless or unimaginative, remember that you can only afford to eat fresh food because canned food exists.

I. Read the text and decide whether the arguments contained in the italicized sentences are for or against food canning.

II. Translate the text.

The Beatles became nationally famous in England in October 1962, when their first single record, “Love Me Do”, entered the Hit Parade at number 27. The famous four who recorded that song were, of course, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and drummer Ringo Starr. This was the original line-up of the band.

Three years before, when John Lennon was 19 and George Harrison approaching his seventeenth birthday, the group was offered its first “big job” - playing at the famous Star Club in Hamburg. In those days there were five Beatles: Pete Best on drums, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and the mysterious fifth Beatle, Stuart Sutcliffe.

The Beatles returned to England penniless and exhausted. Stuart Sutcliffe left the group and stayed in Germany, where he died a few months later. The Beatles began a series of lunchtime concerts at Liverpool’s Cavern Club. They were now playing better than ever.

The lunchtime concerts were a great success. The road outside the club was always crowded with girls who worked in nearby shops and offices. They came to see the Beatles during their lunch-break. Local shopkeepers often complained about the crowds and the noise. The man who ran the local record shop went to see what all the fuss was about. His name was Brian Epstein, the man who became the Beatles manager.

The first thing that Epstein did as manager was to sack Pete Best. There are many different stories about why this happened. Probably it was because there was a serious clash of personalities between Lennon and Best. Lennon said: “He goes, or I go.” In Best’s place came Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr), the drummer they met in Hamburg.

The job of producing the Beatles records went to George Martin, an extremely nice and remarkably old-fashioned man who worked at the EMI studios in Abbey Road, North London. George Martin became the brains behind the recording successes of the Beatles (although John Lennon never agreed with that).

Martin had some unusual and immensely successful ideas. He persuaded the group to have instruments on some of their songs that they didn’t want to begin with: the cello on “Yesterday”, the violins on “Eleanor Rigby”, the oboe on “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”.

During the sixties, it seemed that the Beatles were always in the news headlines. They made successful records and interesting films. Lennon caused anti-Beatle demonstrations in America by saying that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. Beatlemania was the word used to describe the reaction of fans all over the world.

When Epstein died in 1967, things began to go wrong for the Beatles' industry. The relationship between Lennon and McCartney became very difficult; they disagreed about music, they disliked each other's wife, and they disagreed about who should be the new manager of their affairs.

Eventually, an American called Allen Klein bought a controlling interest in the group. This was the beginning of the end, as McCartney couldn’t stand Klein.

During the seventies, the Beatles went off in their different directions, Lennon became a solo performer and then property speculator in New York, buying and selling expensive apartments. McCartney formed a middle-of-the-road pop group called “Wings” with his wife, Linda. George Harrison was rarely seen, but spent time raising money for charity. Ringo Starr began a surprisingly successful career as a film star. John Lennon was murdered in New York in December 1980.

In October 1982, 20 years after “Love Me Do” entered the British Hit Parade, a Beatles song was again in the Top Ten. The song was... “Love Me Do”.

Ken WILSON

From “Modern English International”

I. Read the text ‘The Beatles’. Find the key sentence in each paragraph of the text.

II. Suggest a headline to each paragraph.

III. Make up the plan of the text ‘The Beatles’. Retell the text according to your plan.

Text 15. ROCK’N’ROLL & BEATLEMANIA

All four Beatles were born during 1940’s and grew up in the seaport of Liverpool, the city on the banks of the River Mersey.

In the post-war years in Britain, many teenagers of the 1950’s were influenced by events taking place across the Atlantic, in America. Film stars and fashions were copied and the youngsters wanted something different from their parents, they sought out their own kinds of music and style - they discovered rock’n’roll! In 1957 the emergence of a young truck driver named Elvis Presley had its effect here in England with release of his record “Heartbreak Hotel”.

‘NEMS’ was one of the busiest record shops in the centre of Liverpool, owned by Brian Epstein. A very successful businessman, Brian always liked to please his customers and because of numerous requests about the Beatles he decided to find out for himself more about the band.

Brian visited the Cavern one lunch-time when the Beatles were playing and although he was only 27 years old he felt very out of place in his smart suit, shirt and tie.

However, he was struck by the charisma and music of the Beatles and asked them to visit him in his office.

Brian told the group he would like to become their manager, but he did point out that some things would have to change, especially their scruffy image - this they agreed to, provided they didn’t have to change their music.

‘The Beatles’ began playing together in 1959 appearing in German and English clubs until a string of hits in 1962/63 made them Britain’s top new band.

The music scene of the early 1960s was very different from the present day. With the music charts being dominated on both sides of the Atlantic mainly by American artists, it was quite unusual for a British star to enter the charts. But things were soon to change, word was spreading about four young men from Liverpool, who were taking England by storm. What followed is usually called ‘Beatlemania’. The group couldn't appear in public without police protection. They had conquered the world but not seen it, prisoners in hotel rooms.

One of their records had been promoted in the USA and the American DJs had been plugging this ‘new British sound’, so when the Beatles arrived at Kennedy Airport USA for the first time in February 1964 the welcome was beyond their wildest dreams; 5,000 screaming fans were heard above the screeching of jet engines.

They appeared on the Ed Sullivan show in front of 75,000,000 people, coast to coast. One of the songs they sang was “I want to Hold Your Hand”; this was their first American No.1 hit.

John, Paul, George and Ringo became more than just pop stars - they became the voice of a new generation. Managed by Brian Epstein and produced by George Martin, they had hit after hit on both sides of the Atlantic. They made interesting and original films, too - for example ‘Help’ and ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.

In April 1968 they formed 'The Apple Corporation'. They opened new offices in Savile Row the following June. Apple was going to have many divisions - films, music, electronics and even a clothes boutique. It was the dream of the Beatles to give others opportunities they themselves had been denied when starting in business in the very beginning.

By 1970 though, mixture of drugs, arguments and money problems brought the band’s career - and the ‘swinging sixties’- to an end.

I. Read the text ‘Rock’N’Roll & Beatlemania’ and say what facts are new and exciting.

II. Read the text again to find the answers to the questions below.

1. The idol of early 60’s was a young truck driver. What’s his name? What was he?

2. Why did he influence the youngsters of England?

3. What was ‘NEMS’?

4. Who was the first manager of the Beatles? How did they get acquainted?

5. What does ‘Beatlemania’ mean?

6. How did Americans welcome the Beatles in February, 1964? Why?

7. What other activities did the Beatles organize and take part in? Why did they do that?

8. What were the reasons for the band’s career end?

III. Compare the texts – ‘The Beatles’ and ‘Rock’n’Roll & Beatlemania’. Outline the similarities you can find between the two texts.

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