Far to the East there lived in old days an Arab who had three sons, whom he dearly loved. He had seventeen beautiful horses whom he loved. One day the old man became very ill. Feeling that the end was near, he called his sons to give one - half of his horses, to the second son - one third, and to the youngest - one-ninth.
The sons met to divide the horses but they didn't know how to divide them.
"How can I take one half of seventeen horses?" said the eldest son. "1 can't divide a living horse in two. "And how can I," asked the second, "take one third of seventeen horses? But this is what my father wanted me to do".
"I also want to do what my father wanted us to. But what is one ninth of seventeen horses?"
At that time an old man came riding on a horse. "May be he can tell us", they said hopefully. They told their story to him.
The man began to think. Several minutes passed before he spoke. At last he said, "Take my horse and there will be eighteen".
They did so. The elder son took one half of the horses. Then the second son called the horses, which he loved best, and the six animals came running to him. And the youngest son took two horses. The sons said lo the man: "You divided the horses wonderfully. Say what you want us to give you for it".
"I shall take all the horses that are left", said the old man and he rode away with his own horse. 1) .
2) He had seventeen beautiful horses whom he loved greatly.
3) One day he called his youngest son to give him the horses.
4) The three young Arabs couldn't divide the horses because they didn't know
Arithmetic well enough.
5) The old man agreed to help the young Arabs because he wanted to get a few horses from them.
6) The old man came riding on a horse.
Task 2. Choose the right answer.
1. Who lived far from to the East?
a robber; b) an Arab; c) an old man
2. What did he have?
Houses; b) Hamsters; c)horses
3. How many horses did he have?
Sixteen; b) Seventeen; c) seventy
4. Why did he call his children?
he was angry; b) he was ill; c) he was happy
5. Why did they meet?
to divide the horses; b) to divide money; c) to help their father
6. How many horses did he give to his elder son?
one half; b) one third; c) one ninth; d) the horses that are left
Task 3. Make up 4 questions to the text (general, tag, alternative, special).
Task 4. Retell the text in 10-12 sentences using the reported speech.
(66) I am writing to you because I (67) don’t
know what to do. I’m twenty-six and a teacher at a
primary school in Norwich where (68) I’ve worked for the last five years. When I (69) had been there for a couple of years, one of the older members of staff (70) left and a new teacher (71) was appointed to work in the same department as me. We (72) worked together with the same classes
during her first year and had the (73) chance to build up a good professional relationship. Then,about eighteen months after she (74) has arrived in Norwich,
she decided to buy (75) her own house. She was tired of (76) living in
rented accommodation and wanted a place (77) of her own. At about the same time, I (78) was given notice by the landlord of the flat (79) I was living in and she asked me if I (80) would like to live with her. She (81) told me that by the time she (82) would have paid the mortgage and the bills (83) there wouldn’t be (84) a lot left to live on. She suggested (85) we should share the house and share the costs. It seemed like a good idea, so after (86) we’d agreed with all the details (87) that needed to be sorted out, we moved into the new house together. At the end of this month (88) we’ll have been living together for a year and a half. It’s the first time (89) I’ve lived with anybody before, but (90) I’d have guessed what would happen. I’ve fallen in love with her and now she’s been offered another job 200 miles away and is going to move. I don’t know what
to do. Please give me some advice.
Yours in shy desperation,
My Hobby
Everybody knows that a hobby is what we like doing in our free time. As for me, my hobby is motorcycles.
It all started two years ago, when my uncle bought a motorcycle. It wasn't a new one and it needed repairing, so Uncle Vlad spent hours in his garage and I was happy to help him. We met almost every weekend in his garage and while we were disassembling and reassembling the bike, Uncle Vlad told me a lot about motorcycles, different kinds of them, their engines and power, weight and seat heights... It was very interesting for me. Then one day my uncle agreed to teach me to ride his motorcycle. I was quick to learn and I think now I ride it quite well. So now I have a dream to have my own motorcycle.
Riding a motorcycle gives me the feeling of freedom and happiness. I love the feeling of being at one with this powerful two-wheeled machine.
___
Мое хобби
Всем известно, что хобби — это то, что мы любим делать в свободное время. Что касается меня, мое хобби — это мотоциклы.
Все началось два года назад, когда мой дядя купил мотоцикл. Это был не новый байк, и его надо было ремонтировать, поэтому дядя Влад проводил в своем гараже много времени, а я был рад ему. Мы встречались почти каждые выходные в его гараже, и пока мы разбирали и собирали байк, дядя Влад много рассказывал мне о мотоциклах, их типах, двигателях и мощности, весе и высоте сиденья... Мне было очень интересно. Затем однажды дядя согласился научить меня ездить на его мотоцикле. Я быстро научился, и теперь думаю, что вожу его довольно хорошо. Так что теперь у меня мечта — иметь свой собственный мотоцикл.
Езда на мотоцикле дает мне ощущение свободы и счастья. Мне нравится чувство единения с этой мощной двухколесной машиной.