RUDYARD KIPLING

RUDYARD KIPLING
The story-writer Rudyard Kipling was the son of an Englishman. Kipling was born on December 30th, 1865 in Bombay, India. When he was 5 years old his father sent him to England. There he went to school at the United Services College in Devon. He wrote about this school later in his life in his book called Stalky and Co. He finished school when he was 17 and returned to India. There, he worked as a reporter and wrote many books. His stories, especially those about soldiers, were very popular and he became very famous at the age of 25. He travelled to India, China, Japan and America and finally went to England. There, he worked on stories of India and wrote a book called Barrack Room Ballads.

In 1892 Kipling married an American - Caroline Balstier. For some time they lived in Vermont in the United States but later returned to Sussex, England. Kipling wrote books for readers of all ages. He also wrote children's stories. Some of them are The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895), and Just so Stories (1902). He received the 1907 Nobel Prize for literature.

A. Mark the statements as True (T) or False (F).
1. Rudyard Kipling lived in India between 1865 and 1870.
2. The United Services College is in the U.S.A.
3. Kipling worked as a reporter in Sussex, England.
4. Barrack Room Ballads is about Kipling's trips to India, China and Japan.
5. Kipling was in his twenties when he became famous.
B. Complete the sentences with the information in the text.
1. Kipling wrote about in his book called Stalky and Co.
2. His stories about made him a famous writer at a young age.
3. Caroline Balstier was Kipling's .
4. Kipling wrote The Jungle Book for .
5. Kipling received in 1907.

THE OSTRICH

The ostrich is the largest bird in the world. Africa and Arabia are the home of the ostrich, but we can see one in almost every zoo around the world. It has got wings but they are very small, so it cannot fly. Some male ostriches can be 2.5m in height and weigh from 90 to 135 kg. An ostrich has a small, flat head and a very long neck. Its legs are strong and thick. It is an excellent runner. It can run very fast - about 40 miles an hour. It is faster than a horse, but it is not the fastest animal. There are faster animals than the ostrich - for example, the antelope. The food of the ostrich is plants and some insects. Ostriches leave their eggs into holes in the sand. Sometimes there are 20 eggs in one hole. They are white and the largest eggs in the world. The female ostrich looks after the eggs in the daytime and the male ostrich at night.

Mark the statements as True (T) or False (F).
1. There are larger birds than the ostrich in the world.
2. Ostriches live in zoos only.
3. An ostrich can't fly.
4. An antelope is faster than a horse.
5. An ostrich can weigh 125 kg.
6. Ostriches like eating insects and large eggs of other birds.
7. The male and the female ostriches look after the eggs together at
night.

NOTTINGHAM - BANGOR

NOTTINGHAM

Nottingham is a busy industrial, commercial and university town with almost 300,000 inhabitants. Close to the centre of one of Britain's richest coalfields, it is important in the Midlands for its many kinds of industry. Nottingham is an industrial city, but it is not at all ugly or dirty. Nottingham lies on the side of a hill near the River Trent, only a short distance away from Sherwood Forest, the famous home of Robin Hood. The city's castle is also quite famous, and Nottingham has three theatres, several cinemas, a very large university and various museums and galleries to look after the cultural needs of the town. Nottingham also enjoys some of the best sport in the country, with two professional football clubs, a first-class cricket ground (Trent Bridge) and the National Water Sports Centre in its large country park.

BANGOR


Centred round its university on the hill and its cathedral below, Bangor is one of the most attractive towns in North Wales. It is a small town with a population of only 13,000 and with little or no heavy industry. Therefore, it is still clean and quiet.
Bangor is an important cultural centre. There is a theatre and a cinema and visitors should not miss the Museum of Welsh Antiquities or Bangor's famous public garden, Gardd yr Esgob. A little further away, there is Penrhyn Castle with its railway museum. For sports enthusiasts, Bangor has an 18-hole golf course and a large modern swimming-pool.

JOHN LENNON

A lot of people remember John Lennon for his music with the Beatles. He was serious and creative, and many young people of the 1960's and 1970's thought he spoke for them. Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England. When he was a child, he listened to the music of rock and roll singers like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. At 15, when he was in art school, Lennon started his first rock-group, the Quarrymen. The members of the group were Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best, who played the drums.
The Quarrymen later changed their name to the Silver Beatles and then the Beatles. When Pete Best left the group, Ringo Starr joined the Beatles as the drummer. Between 1958 and 1962 the group played in night clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany. Then the Beatles made a record called 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' and had their first big success in Britain. 'Please Please Me' came a short time after that and it became number one. Lennon was both a singer and a songwriter. He wrote many of the Beatles' songs and most of these songs became number one all over the world. They were romantic and intelligent, and today's musicians still play them. Lennon did not only make music and films with the Beatles. He also wrotetwo books, the first one in 1964 and the second one a year after that. In 1967 he acted in a film called How I Won The War. On December 8, 1980 John Lennon died in New York, shot dead outside his apartment building. Every year thousands of people come together in New York's Central Park to remember him. For many people in the world, he was someone very special.

AMY'S RESTAURANT

AMY'S RESTAURANT
Amy's Restaurant is an example of a good place to eat in Greenwich Village. It's a perfect place for students to eat lunch and dinner. It's clean, the service is fast and the prices are reasonable. Amy's has a different special every day. The special includes fish or meat, vegetables, a mixed salad, bread and butter, dessert and coffee or tea - all for $3.45. The special and the other items on Amy's menu are always excellent for the prices.

1. Where can you eat in Greenwich Village?
2. What can you say about Amy's restaurant?(Write only one sentence.)
3. How much is a special meal at Amy's?

GOING TO BRITAIN

Money
There are one hundred pence (lOOp) in a pound (£1). People sometimes say "p" instead of "pence", for example, "eighty p". Not all banks change foreign money, but you can usually find at least one bank in each town that will do it

Where
Hotels are very expensive in Britain. A cheaper solution is a bed and breakfast' in someone's home. Information centres or tourist offices can help you to find these. There are also youth hostels and campsites in many places.

Writing Home
Stamps can only be bought in post offices; but nearly every village (or part of a town) has a post office. Often it is inside a small shop.

Getting Around
Trains are quite good in Britain. If you are under 24 or over 65, or if you are travelling with a family, ask about 'railcards' for cheaper fares on the train. There are also coaches (long-distance buses) between some towns and cities; these are cheaper than trains. In towns and cities, there are usually buses, and in London there is also an underground. But the underground is not easy to use, so you should learn about it before you use it. You can get information about the system in all the stations in London.

Eating Out
Restaurants are often expensive, and you cannot be sure the food will be good. But Indian and Chinese restaurants serve good meals, which are cheap. Pubs sometimes serve good food but it is usually quite expensive. Fast food shops - fish and chip shops, hamburger shops - are cheap, but the food is not always very good.


1. Where can you ask about a cheap place to stay?
2. Who can get 'railcards'?
a) People
b) People over 65.
c) People
3. Where can you have a good and cheap meal?
4. In most villages, where is the post office?

ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in London on August 13, 1899. He went to school and university there and in 1920 he started to work with a British film company. In 1920 he also married Alma Revelle, his wife for the next sixty years. They had one daughter. From 1925 to 1939 he made several films in Britain, including The 39 Steps and The Man Who Knew Too Much. In 1939 he left Britain because he wanted to work in Hollywood. He lived in Los Angeles for the rest of his life and made many of his 53 films there. A lot of people in America and Europe saw his famous films Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963). Queen Elizabeth II made Hitchcock 'Sir Alfred' in 1980. Soon after that, in May 1980, he died in Los Angeles.

1. Where did Hitchcock go to school and university?

2. What happened in 1920?
3. How many children did he have?
4. What are the names of his famous films between the years 1925-1939?
5. Where did he make most of his films?
6. What are the names of his two famous films?
7.Who made him 'Sir Alfred'?