Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Exercises

Exercise 1. Give the English for:

1. бeсплатный курс обучeния; 2. государствeнныe школы; 3. частныe учeбныe завeдeния; 4. стрeмиться получить высшee образованиe; 5.постeпeнно; 6. оставляeт жeлать лучшeго; 7. витают в облаках сeйчас; 8. учeбная программа дальнeйшeго образования; 9. источник финансирования начальных школ; 10. прeвратиться в дeмократичeскоe общeство; 11. прeтeрпeвая кризис; 12. пробиваю дорогу в жизни.

Exercise 2. Give the Russian for the following:

1. to apply to the Amur State University; 2. to graduate from the Institute; 3. to bring changes into spheres of life; 4. to obtain a Bachelor’s degree; 5.to criticize the quality of education; 6. to make choice from a great amount of variants; 7. to cost a pretty penny 8. pure attempt; 9. to compete for taking priority; 10. a division into nursery, primary, secondary and secondary modern schools; 11. to look forward to obtaining the degree of a Bachelor of Science.

Exercise 3. Paraphrase the sentences using the active vocabulary:

1. The quality of education is not high. 2. Secondary school includes grammar, technical and secondary modern schools. 3. Abilities are the criteria for selecting students. 4. Nursery schools are not cheap. 5. We are facing a terrible crisis. 6. We can make a choice from the alternatives. 7. We should not only dream, waiting for the good future. 8. He tries to use every possibility to struggle his way through life. 9. The second tendency is that we try to Americanize our education. 10. Some schools become gymnasiums and lyceums. 11. They are in good relations with local people. 12. I am studying literature. 13. They like modern tendencies in education. 14. The course is old-fashioned. 15. The «seminar system» is a usual thing in new universities. 16. You are fortunate.

Exercise 4. Find antonymic sentences:

1. The quality of education is very low. 2. All spheres of our life are successfully developing. 3. Education in private institutions is free of charge. 4. Many people don’t like nursery schools, because it is impossible to pay for them. 5. The graduates of secondary modern schools can get

higher education. 6. The results are positive. 7. Last year he entered the university. 8. It is a modern institution. 9. We have got very bad single rooms. 10. I don’t like to live in a close society. 11. This building is very new. 12. There aren’t many courses in this university.

Communicative Exercises

Exercise 1. Speak about the difference between British (American) system of education and the system of education in Russia.

Exercise 2. Speak about advantages and disadvantages of modern tendencies in Russian education.

English Meals

Meals are really a good subject to talk about. Ways and customs in laying the table and serving dishes differ from country to country. You need time and effort to make meals tasty and perfectly beautiful. This time you’ll have a great deal of conversation about good table manners, ham and

eggs, biscuit and honey breakfasts, ice-cream and jelly-cake desserts, cheese-and-coffee parties. Hope you find it useful and jolly. Here’s something about English meals.

The usual meals are breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner, or in simpler homes, breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. The usual English breakfast is a breakfast of porridge (made of oats and water) or cornflakes with milk or cream and sugar, bacon and eggs, marmalade (made from oranges) with buttered toast and tea or coffee. Lunch is served at about one o’clock. We have cold meat (left over probably from yesterday’s dinner), potatoes, salad and pickles, with pudding or fruit to follow. Sometimes we have a chop, or a steak and chips, followed by biscuits and cheese.

Afternoon tea you can hardly call a meal but it is a sociable sort of thing, as friends often call in then for a chat, while they have their cup of tea, cake or biscuit. In some houses dinner is the biggest meal of the day. But in a great many English homes, the midday meal is the chief one of the day, and in the evening we have a much simpler supper — an omelet, or sausages, sometimes bacon and eggs and sometimes just bread and cheese, a cup of coffee or cocoa and fruit.

We have «high tea» between five and six o’clock, and we have ham or tongue and tomatoes and salad, or tinned fish, or sausages with good strong tea, plenty of bread and butter, stewed fruit, or a tin of pears, apricots or pine-apples with cream and pastries or a good cake.

Dialogue A.

Anne is a schoolgirl; James is a schoolboy; Mr. Jones is a businessman; and Miss Eccles is … a cook.

Anne : I never want any breakfast. Just a cup of tea and a piece of toast…

James : I don’t eat much either. Just some cornflakes, and an egg, and coffee, and toast and marmalade.

Anne : I call that a huge breakfast!

James : No, it isn’t! Anyhow, I haven’t time for any more during the week when I have to get to school.

Mr. Jones : Well, what do you have at the weekend, James?

James : Oh, on Sundays it’s different. I have orange juice, then porridge, with sugar and cream, and bacon and sausages — and scrambled eggs, of course — and coffee and toast and honey.

Anne : What do you have, Mr. Jones?

Mr. Jones : Oh! I never change, I always have the same; bacon and eggs.

Miss Eccles : But you don’t have to cook it yourself, do you?

Mr. Jones : Well, no. My wife cooks the breakfast. She cooks the most perfect bacon and eggs in the world! I can smell them cooking, while I’m shaving. I just couldn’t start the day in any other way!

Miss Eccles : You’re lucky. I have to cook other people’s breakfasts. I never eat any myself. Just half a grapefruit and a cup of tea for me.

Anne : You’re like me. I can’t think how people eat those great huge meals at eight o’clock in the morning!

Mr. Jones : You see, James, women are always thinking about their figures. They’re afraid of getting fat…

Miss Eccles : There’s just one thing: sometimes, when I’m on holiday, I have a special treat…

Mr. Jones : And what’s that?

Miss Eccles : A lovely, fat, juicy kipper!

James : Oh, I’d forgotten about kippers! They’re the best of all!

Tasks: 1. Read the dialogue and translate it.

2. Retell the dialogue, as if you are one of the participants.

3. Reproduce the dialogue.

Dialogue B.

Ann and Fred are newly-weds, Jane, a group-mate of theirs, comes on a visit to them.

Ann: Good morning, Jane. Come in, please.

Jane: I hope Fred is at home?

Ann: Yes, he is. So nice of you to have come. We are about to have dinner. Will you dine with us?

Jane: With great pleasure.

Ann: That’s fine. I’m off to lay the table. Excuse me, please.

Jane: By all means.

(At table)

Jane: It’s good to be in a company like this, I admit.

Ann: Let me help you to some salad, Jane.

Jane: Please, do. It looks so inviting. That’s quite enough, thank you.

Ann: Some soup, Jane?

Jane: Why, yes. I think I could manage a plateful.

Ann: How do you find a salad?

Jane: Awfully nice. I have never tasted such a lovely salad; will you tell me how you make it?

Ann: I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it and it’s very nice of you to say so. It is quite easy to make. I’ll write down the ingredients and the directions for mixing.

Jane: Thank you very much. Don’t you think it’s lovely, Fred?

Fred: Yes, it is, indeed. Kindly pass me the salt, Ann, will you?

Ann: Here you are. Some more bread, Fred?

Fred: Yes, please. What comes next, Annie?

Ann: Chops with roast potatoes and vegetables.

Fred: And what follows that?

Ann: Wouldn’t you like to make a guess?

Fred: Ice-cream, I suppose.

Ann: There you are wrong, Fred, it’s coffee.

Jane: Coffee? It’s just to my taste.

Ann: I am happy that I’ve suited your taste, Jane. Do you take milk in your coffee?

Jane: Yes, I like it milky.

Fred: Well, Jane, what about fruit?

Jane: I’d be delighted.

Tasks: 1. Read the dialogue and translate it.

2. Retell the dialogue, as if you are one of the participants.

3. Reproduce the dialogue.

Dialogue C.

Mrs. Smith: How nice of you, Mrs. Brown, to drop in. I’m so glad to see you. Jane and I are just having a cup of tea. Do join us.

Mrs. Brown: Thank you ever so much. I’ve been doing some shopping, as you can see, and I am a bit thirsty. I’d enjoy a cup with you.

Mrs. Smith: Jane, lay the table for Mrs. Brown and bring some fresh buns and rolls from the pantry. I haven’t any cake to offer you today, Mrs. Brown, but I can treat you to a wide choice of jams, I’ve made

this year. I’m especially fond of strawberry and black currant, while Jane prefers cherry. We always have several jars of raspberry jam in the house in case of colds. It’s a good remedy, you know. Strong tea or weak, Mrs. Brown?

Mrs. Brown: Weak tea, please. What tasty buns you have here! Are they from the baker’s?

Mrs. Smith: Jane did the baking today. She rather likes cooking.

Mrs. Brown: Would you mind telling me how to make such buns?

Mrs. Smith: Most willingly. All you need is a few cups of flour, some shortening (fat), a little yeast, four egg-yolks, a glass of milk and sugar. You knead the dough stiff, and then cut it up into tiny buns. When the dough has risen, you bake the buns in a hot oven for 20-25minutes. It’s rather quick work and not much trouble. Served with tea, they are delicious. Help yourself to some more, Mrs. Brown.

Mrs. Brown: They’re simply wonderful with strawberry jam. I must have another.

Mrs. Smith: Won’t you have another cup of tea?

Mrs. Brown: I’ve had quite enough, thank you.

Tasks: 1. Read the dialogue and translate it.

2. Retell the dialogue, as if you are one of the participants.

3. Reproduce the dialogue.

Vocabulary

1) a meal – пища, прием пищи

1) midday meal – прием пищи в середине дня

2) to lay the table – накрывать на стол

3) to serve dishes – подавать блюда

4) tasty, delicious – вкусный

5) table manners – поведение за столом

6) ham – ветчина

7) meat – мясо

8) egg – яйцо

9) scrambled eggs – яичница

10) honey – мед

11) porridge – овсяная каша

12) cornflakes – кукурузные хлопья

13) buttered toast – подрумяненный хлеб с маслом

14) potatoes – картофель

15) pickles – маринованные овощи, пикули

16) a chop – отбивная котлета

17) a steak – бифштекс

18) sausage – колбаса70

19) tongue – язык

20) tinned fish – рыбные консервы

21) stewed fruit – компот

22) a pear – груша

23) an apricot – абрикос

24) a pine-apple – ананас

25) vegetables – овощи

26) juice – сок

27) cream – сливки

28) pastry – печенье, выпечка

29) kipper – копченая рыба

30) to cook – готовить пищу

31) to get fat – полнеть

32) to treat smb to smth – угощать кого-либо чем -либо

33) to dine – обедать

34) fat, shortening – жир (для приготовления пищи)

35) to have a cup of tea (coffee) – выпить чашку чая (кофе)

36) help yourself to –угощайтесь

37) it looks so inviting – выглядит так аппетитно

38) I could manage a plateful – я могу съесть целую тарелку

39) to taste - пробовать

40) it’s just to my taste – это мне по вкусу

41) I’ve suited your taste – я угодила на ваш вкус

42) pass me … – передайте …

43) to take milk in tea (coffee) – добавить молока в чай (кофе)

44) to be thirsty – испытывать жажду

45) buns, rolls – булочки

46) pantry – кладовая

47) strawberry – клубника

48) black currant – черная смородина

49) raspberry jam – малиновое варенье

50) a good remedy – хорошее средство

51) strong tea – крепкий чай

52) weak tea – слабый чай

53) to do the baking – печь

54) yeast – дрожжи

55) to knead the dough stiff – круто замесить тесто

56) hot oven – горячая духовка

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