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Part 4:
We have seen photographs of the whole earth taken from great distances in outer space. This is the first time, the (131) very first time, in man's long history that such pictures have been possible. (132) For many years most people have believed that the earth was ball-shaped. A few thought it was round and (133) flat, like a coin. Now we know, beyond doubt, that those few were (134) wrong/mistaken. The photographs show a ball-shaped (135) earth/planet, bright and beautiful. In colour photographs of the earth, the sky is as (136) black as coal. The (137) sea looks much bluer than it usually does to us. All our grey (138) clouds are a perfect white in colour; because, of course, the (139) sun is for ever shining on them. We are (140) lucky to live on the beautiful earth
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
1. One of the characteristics of the postal service before the 1840s was that
A. postmen were employed by various organisations.
B. letters were restricted to a certain length.
C. distance affected the price of postage.
D. the price of delivery kept going up.
2. Letter writers in the 1830s
A. were not responsible for the cost of delivery.
B. tried to fit more than one letter into an envelope.
C. could only send letters to people living in cities.
D. knew all letters were automatically read by postal staff.
3. What does the text say about Hill in the 1830s?
A. He was the first person to express concern about the postal system.
B. He considered it would be more efficient for mail to be delivered by rail.
C. He felt that postal service reform was necessary for commercial development.
D. His plan received support from all the important figures of the day.
The Penny Black
It might not have looked very impressive, but the Penny Black, now 170 years old, was the first stamp to be created and it launched the modem postal system in Britain.
Before 1840 and the arrival of the Penny Black, you had to be rich and patient to use the Royal Mail. Delivery was charged according to the miles travelled and the number of sheets of paper used; a 2-page letter sent from Edinburgh to London, for example, would have cost 2 shillings, or more than £7 in today’s money. And when the top-hatted letter carrier came to deliver it, it was the recipient who had to pay for the postage. Letter writers employed various ruses to reduce the cost, doing everything possible to cram more words onto a page. Nobody bothered with heavy envelopes; instead, letters would be folded and sealed with wax. You then had to find a post office - there were no pillar boxes - and hope your addressee didn't live in one of the several rural areas which were not served by the system. If you were lucky, your letter would arrive (it could take days) without being read or censored.
The state of mail had been causing concern throughout the 1830s, but it was Rowland Hill, an inventor, teacher and social reformer from Kidderminster, who proposed a workable plan for change. Worried that a dysfunctional, costly service would stifle communication just as Britain was in the swing of its second industrial revolution, he believed reform would ease the distribution of ideas and stimulate trade and business, delivering the same promise as the new railways.
Hill’s proposal for the penny post, which meant any letter weighing less than half an ounce (14 grams) could be sent anywhere in Britain for about 30p in today’s money, was so radical that the Postmaster General, Lord Lichfield, said, 'Of all the wild and visionary schemes which I ever heard of, it is the most extravagant.’ Lord Lichfield spoke for an establishment not convinced of the need for poor people to post anything. But merchants and reformers backed Hill. Soon the government told him to make his scheme work. And that meant inventing a new type of currency.
Hill quickly settled on 'a bit of paper covered at the back with a glutinous wash which the user might, by applying a little moisture, attach to the back of a letter’. Stamps would be printed in sheets of 240 that could be cut using scissors or a knife. Perforations would not arrive until 1854. The idea stuck, and in August 1839 the Treasury launched a design competition open to ‘all artists, men of science and the public in general’. The new stamp would need to be resistant to forgery, and so it was a submission by one Mr Cheverton that Hill used as the basis for one of the most striking designs in history. Cheverton, who worked as a sculptor and an engineer, determined that a portrait of Queen Victoria, engraved for a commemorative coin when she was a 15-year-old princess, was detailed enough to make copying difficult, and recognisable enough to make fakes easy to spot. The words ‘Postage’ and ‘One Penny’ were added alongside flourishes and ornamental stars. Nobody thought to add the word ‘Britain’, as it was assumed that the stamps would solely be put to domestic use.
With the introduction of the new postal system, the Penny Black was an instant hit, and printers struggled to meet demand. By the end of 1840, more than 160 million letters had been sent - more than double the previous year. It created more work for the post office, whose reform continued with the introduction of red letter boxes, new branches and more frequent deliveries, even to the remotest address, but its lasting impact on society was more remarkable.
Hill and his supporters rightly predicted that cheaper post would improve the ‘diffusion of knowledge’. Suddenly, someone in Scotland could be reached by someone in London within a day or two. And as literacy improved, sections of society that had been disenfranchised found a voice.
Tristram Hunt, an historian, values the ‘flourishing of correspondence’ that followed the arrival of stamps. ‘While I was writing my biography of Friedrich Engels I could read the letters he and Marx sent between Manchester and London,’ he says. ‘They wrote to each other three times a day, pinging ideas back and forth so that you can almost follow a real-time correspondence.’
The penny post also changed the nature of the letter. Weight-saving tricks such as cross-writing began to die out, while the arrival of envelopes built confidence among correspondents that mail would not be stolen or read. And so people wrote more private things - politically or commercially sensitive information or love letters. ‘In the early days of the penny post, there was still concern about theft,’ Hunt says. ‘Engels would still send Marx money by ripping up five-pound notes and sending the pieces in different letters.’ But the probity of the postal system became a great thing and it came to be expected that your mail would not be tampered with.
For all its brilliance, the Penny Black was technically a failure. At first, post offices used red ink to cancel stamps so that they could not be used again. But the ink could be removed. When in 1842, it was determined that black ink would be more robust, the colour of the Penny Black became a sort of browny red, but Hill’s brainchild had made its mark.
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
1. One of the characteristics of the postal service before the 1840s was that
A. postmen were employed by various organisations.
B. letters were restricted to a certain length.
C. distance affected the price of postage.
D. the price of delivery kept going up.
2. Letter writers in the 1830s
A. were not responsible for the cost of delivery.
B. tried to fit more than one letter into an envelope.
C. could only send letters to people living in cities.
D. knew all letters were automatically read by postal staff.
3. What does the text say about Hill in the 1830s?
A. He was the first person to express concern about the postal system.
B. He considered it would be more efficient for mail to be delivered by rail.
C. He felt that postal service reform was necessary for commercial development.
D. His plan received support from all the important figures of the day.
Read the following article about ice-skating. Choose the most suitable heading from the list A-I for each part (1-8) of the article.
A. Prepare yourself
B. The benefits of the sport
C. When things go wrong
D. Different skating techniques
E. A change in approach
F. The right attitude
G. Moving off
H. Holding your body correctly
I. How it all started
1...I...
Ice skating has a history of thousands of years. Archaelogists have discovered skates made from animal bone. It seems that bone skates were used until the introduction of iron into Scandinavia about the year 200 AD. Among the Scandinavian upper classes, skating was seen as an essential skill.
2....E...
In the early 20th century, skating was stylish and reserved, but at the 1924 Winter Olympics, 11-year-old Sonja Henie introduced a more athletic attitude which inspired a new wave of popularity. Nowadays art and athletics are combined and modern skating is both graceful and physically demanding.
3....H..
For the beginner, balance and control are still important and speed can only increase with proficiency. The position of your body plays a great part in the balance. Legs slightly bowed and the knees bent keep the body weight centred; in effect the body leans slightly forward in this position. For skating, probably more than any other sport or recreation, relaxation is vital.
4....G..
For the starting position, the heels shoould almost be touching and the feet should be turned outwards. While pushing forward with the back foot, you make a very small movement with the other foot. Fairly easy, isn't it? If you can keep this up for a while, you can then slowly increase the length of your movements as you gain experience.
5..C....
Knowing how to fall must be learned among the skater's first skills. Even the best of the professionals fall. In order to fall without injury, you should be as relaxed as possible. In this way the shock of hitting the ice is lessened. To get up, use your hands to get into a kneeling position, then stand.
6....D..
Once you have learned to move on the ice with confidence, there are various styles to be practised - figure skaing, free style, distance, speed, skating in pairs and so on - but the basis of them all, and by far the best approach, is first to learn figure skating and then elementary freestyle. With proper guidance available at most of the ice rinks troughout the country, the basic figures can soon be learned and the turns, jumps and spins of elementary free style will soon follow.
7...A...
If you look at any good or professional skater, you will see how relaxed they are and how easily they move. To achieve this an expertise programme should be regularly practised. It can be dangerous to skate with a stiff body and warm-up exercises should at least include those for the legs, back and shoulders, with special emphasis on the ankles and knees. After a long or intense session, the same exercises should be used afterwards to avoid stiffness.
8..B....
Skating improves balance, co-ordination, relaxation and movement. It improves heart and lung activity and generally strengthens the body. Combined with swimming or jogging, it provides a great programme for all-round health and fitness.
Reading:
Bún bò Huế or bún bò is a popular Vietnamese soup containing (bún) and beef (bò).Bún bò originated in , a former capital of Vietnam. is a city in central Vietnam with the cooking style of the former royal court. The dish is greatly admired for its balance of spicy, sour, salty and sweet flavors and the predominant flavor is that of . Compared to or , the noodles are thicker.
Bún bò is commonly served with lime, onions, chili sauce and raw vegetables. Fish sauce and shrimp sauce is added to the soup according to taste. Ingredients might be varied by regions due to their availability.
Choose the best answer:
1. According to the passage, what is the special flavors of bún bò Huế?
A. lemon B. lemongrass C. fish sauce D. sweet
2. What is the cooking style of Hue cuisine?
A. rural B. central C. royal D. urban
True or false?
3. Ingredients can be replaced depending on their availability. ____T____
4. The noodles of bún bò Huế are thinner than the noodles of phở. ____F____
5. In the past, Hue was the capital of Vietnam. ____T____
6. We never eat bún bò with fish sauce or shrimp sauce. ____F____
Word form:
1. It is made from minced pork, sliced pigskin and a______mixture______of seasoning and garlic. MIX
2. The students of The Imperial Academy were________brilliant________. BRILLIANCE
3. What are you doing after the________graduation_________? GRADUATE
4. The guitar is a popular_________musical_________instrument. MUSIC
5. Chu Van An was considered one of the greatest________educator________in Vietnamese history. EDUCATE
Verb tenses/ forms:
1. We__________haven't prepared_________(not prepare) for dinner yet. I think we___________should go___________(go) out for dinner.
2. ________________Does she usually work______________(she/ usually work) out? - Yes. She_______goes________(go) to the gym three times a week.
3. I__________didn't stay_________(not stay) at home last night.
4. It took me two hours_________to drive________(drive) from my house to your house.
5. I have decided________to give________(give) up this job. I am bored with.....working...... (work) with him.
6.This house...was constructed..(construct) in 2002
Complete sentences/Rewrite sentences/Put question:
1.The rice noodles/make/best variety of rice. ................=> The rice noodles are made from the best variety of rice...............
2 My weight is 30 kilograms.Your weight is 30 kilograms,too. SAME
=> .............My weight is the same as your...........
3.She think this movie is boring.> She finds...........this movie boring...........
4.It is a good idea that you take up photography. HAD BETTER
=> ....You had better take up photography....
5.Indonesia is hotter than Viet Nam. AS...AS...
=> ..........Viet Nam is not as hot as Indonesia..........
6.It takes me ten minutes to walk to school
=> ....How long does it take you to walk to school?....
7.We planted the tresson the sidewalks of te roads to have the shade in the summer
=> .......Why did you plant the trees on the sidewalks of the roads?.......
8They talked about the most attractive destinations in the world
=> .......What did they talk about?........
The Suez Canal is a 192 km artificial waterway 1).....that.....connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. It provides a shortcut for ships travelling 2) .....between..... European and American ports, as well as ports located 3).....in.....Asia, Africa and Oceania. Without it, traders from Europe 4) .....will..... have to sail around the entire continent of Africa to reach Asia, adding 9,656 km 5) .....to.....the journey.
The idea of 6) .....connecting.....the Mediterranean and Red Seas is an old one. Four thousand years 7) .....ago....., the pharaohs in Egypt made the first attempt to link the two seas. Today’s canal was built between 1859 and 1869 under the direction of a French engineer called Ferdinand de Lesseps. Constructing the canal 8) .....is.....a massive task. Several lakes made up 45 km of the distance, but the 9) .....rest.....of the 192 km had to be dug from the desert. One and a half million Egyptians worked 10).....on.... the canal. Tragically, 11) .....people..... estimated 120,000 died. Today, the canal transports about 14% of the total world trade, and about 8% of the world’s shipping traffic passes through 12).....it..... . The Suez Canal is often referred to 13) .....as..... “The crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa”, 14)......because....of its significance as a trade route between 15) .....the..... continents.