Card № 16

I.Read the  article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY OPENS

 A new worldwide digital library has opened on the internet. The library website has taken four years to put together. It was officially launched at the headquarters of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in Paris, the capital of France, on 21st April. The digital library lets people see rare items from around the world, including some of the earliest written works. These include ancient books and maps. For example, you can see a digital image of a 1,000-year-old Japanese novel, believed to be the oldest in the world, and the very first European map to include America. The map was drawn in 1562.

 The library contains images of some of the earliest known Chinese writing, which is about 3,000 years old. Another item on display is called the Devil's Bible. It's the largest medieval book in the world. The book, which contains a copy of a collection of Jewish and Christian texts first put together by scholars 1,700 years ago, was handwritten in the 13th century. It gets its name because it also contains a large illustration of the Devil. It is now kept in a museum in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.

 The World Digital Library was the idea of James H Billington. He is the head librarian of the USA's Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. Mr Billington hopes the new digital library will be used by young students and teachers everywhere to discover more about the world's cultural history. The library contains about 1,200 items from 26 libraries in 19 countries. An explanation of each item is available in seven languages — Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.

 Visitors can search the library in different ways. They can enter historical dates to see what items were made in the world at that time. They can also sort their searches by similar topics or by country. You can visit the new World Digital Library at www.wdl.org

 2. The author tells us about the person who created the library and why he decided to do it. Find this extract and read it aloud.

 3. What ways are used to search the library?

 4. Why is it a good idea to create such a library?

 II. Listen to the interview with Roy Tomlinson, who invented the sign @ and email, and answer   the questions below.

1.  How do people call the sign @ in different countries?

2.  How did Roy Tomlinson invent email?

3.  Does it trouble him that he is not very famous?

III. Let’s talk about  customs and traditions  of an  English –speaking country.

Card № 17

I.Read the  article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

SPECIAL REQUEST TO EDUCATION MINISTER

 When the senior class of Gardane School heard that it might not get a new teacher for their elementary school, the pupils wrote to the Minister of Education. They live in or near a village in a mountainous district of Martonia where it is difficult to recruit doctors and teachers. Their request was published in a national paper and has become a common topic of conversation in a country where there is great concern about people leaving rural areas for the cities. This is the letter:

 Dear Minister,

 We are writing to ask for your help. We need a new teacher for the senior class in our school, and we are worried because our parents have been told that the Ministry cannot find one. Our school is very important to us and we like coming here to learn.

 Gardane is a small village. Every visitor from the city says our valley is very beautiful and that we are lucky to live here. So why isn't there a new teacher who wants to come here? We don't mind how old the new teacher is, or whether it's a man or a woman. They should like the country and outdoor life, and be healthy. We would like someone who is patient, happy and does not shout. The teacher should be clever and know how to help us understand things. We'd like our teacher to be properly dressed and to come on time. They should be kind, make us feel happy in the school, and help us make our classroom nice. We would like someone who thinks of exciting things to do, inside and outside school. For example, our last teacher got us to write down the history of the village which our grandparents knew — we didn't realise how much the village had changed; make a nature calendar so we learned more about farming and about the animals and plants in our valley; read all sorts of books and write a newspaper about our village.

 If the Ministry does not send us a teacher, we will have to leave our families and our valley to go to school.

 Please help us!

 Yours sincerely

 The pupils of Gardane school.

 The pupils have not had a reply yet, and so far the Ministry has refused to comment on the situation.

 2.The children mention some qualities that their future teacher should possess. Find this extract and read it aloud.

3. Why did children like their last teacher?

4. What will happen if the school doesn't get a new teacher?

II. Listen to a girl speaking to her parents and answer   the questions below.

1. Where does the girl want to go and why?

2. Who doesn't like the idea?

3. Who will pay for the trip?

III. Let’s talk about  modern means of communication.

Card №18

I.Read the  article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

THE MOST DIFFICULT LANGUAGE?

 People often ask which language is the most difficult to learn, and it is not easy to answer because there are many factors to take into consideration. A native speaker of Spanish, for example, will find Portuguese much easier to learn than a native speaker of Chinese because Portuguese is very similar to Spanish, while Chinese is very different. The greater the differences between the second language and our first one, the harder it will be for most people to learn. Many people answer that Chinese is the hardest language to learn possibly influenced by the thought of learning the Chinese writing system. The pronunciation of Chinese appears to be very difficult for many foreign learners, too. However, for Japanese speakers, who already use Chinese characters in their own language, learning this language will be less difficult than for speakers of languages using the Roman alphabet.

 Some people seem to learn languages readily, while others find it very difficult. Teachers and the circumstances in which the language is learned also play an important role, as well as each learner's motivation for learning. If people learn a language because they need to use it professionally, they often learn it faster than people studying a language that has no direct use in their day-to-day life. British diplomats and other embassy staff have found that the second hardest language is Japanese, which will probably come as no surprise to many. But the language that they have found to be the most problematic is Hungarian, which has 35 grammatical cases.

 Different cultures and individuals from those cultures will find different languages more difficult. In the case of Hungarian for British learners, it is not a question of the writing system, which uses a similar alphabet, but the grammatical complexity, though native speakers of related languages may find it easier.

 2. The author explains why people find Chinese a very difficult language to learn. Find this extract and read it aloud.

 3. What factors play an important role in learning a language?

4. Why do British diplomats find it difficult to learn Hungarian?

II. Listen to the boy speaking about a football match  and answer   the questions below.

1.    What sort of match did Tom play?

2. How did Tom's team play during the match?

3.    What was the result of the game?

III. Let’s talk about a healthy way of life.