The main tree of the country

The legend of the Christmas tree

Technical progress

Popular Christmas dishes

An order to celebrate

Decorating from top to bottom

A.          

There are several stories which tell us why people decorate Christmas trees at home. One of them is about Martin Luther, the founder of the protestant faith. While he was walking through a forest on a Christmas Eve, he looked up and was impressed by the beauty of stars that were shining through the tree branches. He cut down a small tree and took it home. There, he decorated the tree with candles as a present for his family.

B.           

The tradition of decorating a Christmas tree comes from Germany. Until the 17th century, people followed strict rules when they decorated their Christmas tree. Firstly, a star was fixed on the top. Then people hung apples on lower branches of the tree. Finally, they placed biscuits, gingerbread and sweets underneath. The Christmas tree in the fairy tale Nutcracker was decorated in exactly this way.

C.           

Later, the order of decorations lost its importance. The first decorations were all hand-made and good to eat but rather dull. To make the tree look brighter people wrapped nuts and gingerbread in metal foil and also made painted wooden toys. To illuminate the tree small candles were stuck to the branches. To protect the tree from fire, the candles were placed inside glass stands.

D.          

The Christmas tree tradition came to Russia with Peter the Great in the 18th century. He enjoyed the celebration tradition in Germany and issued a law according to which all the families had to decorate their houses with pine tree branches. It was also announced that people should have fun on that day. Peter the Great also decided to move the New Year date from 1st September to 1st January.

E.           

The most popular Christmas decoration was invented by a German glass-blower who made a ball and decorated it with angel figures and snowflakes. He gave it as a gift to his daughter. The girl decided to put the ball on the Christmas tree. It was so beautiful that the glass-blower made many more decorated balls. It is believed that this man started the tradition of decorating the tree with coloured glass balls.

F.           

In the 18th century, people started decorating Christmas trees with candles. Later, with the discovery of electricity, electric lights were put on Christmas trees. It was Edward Johnson, an assistant of Thomas Edison, who first used electric lights for Christmas tree decoration. People liked his idea. However, it took several years before the electric lights became available to the general public.

G.          

Nowadays Christmas trees are found everywhere – in houses, on the streets and squares. Most of them are artificial trees. However, in the centre of Moscow, in the Kremlin, you can always see a natural Christmas tree. The tree is carefully chosen in the forest – it should be tall and beautiful. Professional designers decorate it to create an unforgettable fairytale tree for thousands of children and their parents.

Чтение 71.

Прочитайте тексты и установите соответствие между текстами и их заголовками: к каждому тексту, обозначенному буквами A–G, подберите соответствующий заголовок, обозначенный цифрами 1–8. Используйте каждую цифру только один раз. В задании есть один лишний заголовок.

 

A bright fountain

Who lives there

3. What would happen if …

Once upon a time it was green

A dry land

White on blue

The discovery of the continent

Environmentally friendly

A.          

Antarctica has no government and no country owns this continent. It is the only region on earth which is not ruled by any nation. There are no local people in Antarctica. However, in the summer season, more than four thousand scientists from different countries come to study the mysterious region while one thousand stay there in the winter season. The scientific bases are the only ‘settlements’ with residents who stay for several months or a year.

B.           

Antarctica is a huge desert, despite the fact that it holds 70 percent of the world's fresh water. Usually, no more than six centimeters of rain fall per year. Most of this falls in the eastern part of the continent. These figures are comparable to those of the Sahara desert. Some parts of Antarctica have had no rain or snow for the last 2 million years.

C.           

You will be surprised to know that Antarctica was found just 200 years ago. The ancient Greeks did not mark Antarctica on their maps. It was only in 1820, when travellers found this icy white continent by accident. The captain of the Imperial Russian Navy, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, was the first person who saw Antarctica from his ship. It was on 27th January 1820.

D.          

Antarctica contains about 90 percent of the world's ice. Antarctica has 8 times more ice than the Arctic. If all of the Antarctic ice melted, the sea level around the world would rise about 70 meters. But the average temperature in Antarctica is –37°C and the ice is in no danger of melting so far. In fact, in most parts of the continent it never gets above freezing.

E.           

Since Antarctica is not a country, it has neither a state emblem nor an official flag. However in 2002, a special flag was approved by the Antarctic Treaty Organization. The design of the flag was suggested by Graham Bartram who used the flag of the United Nations as its basic pattern. The white image of Antarctica on the blue background looks simple and elegant. Nowadays it is used as an informal flag of the continent.

F.           

Fifty million years ago Antarctica had a mild climate, evergreen forests and many more kinds of animals than it has today. Due to continental drift, Antarctica moved from the equator to the South Pole, where it is today. Nowadays, Antarctica is the coldest continent on the planet and almost completely covered with a layer of ice. However, its wildlife is quite diverse: from emperor penguins, southern elephant seals, humpback whales to small bugs in the coastal areas.

G.          

Antarctica is covered with thick snow. Everything around is white, but in the McMurdo Valley there is ‘a Bloody Waterfall’ or ‘Blood Fall’. This waterfall is actually glacier water which is red-colored like blood. Microbes, which can live there without light and oxygen, give it the red colour. They just eat the iron and sulfur in the water. When the water comes out from the surface of the ice, it looks like a small red waterfall.

Чтение 72.

 

Прочитайте тексты и установите соответствие между текстами и их заголовками: к каждому тексту, обозначенному буквами A–G, подберите соответствующий заголовок, обозначенный цифрами 1–8. Используйте каждую цифру только один раз. В задании есть один лишний заголовок.