UNIT 2 “When is the Shortest Day



UNIT 2 “When is the Shortest Day?”

APPENDIX 1

Little Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky.

When the glorious sun is set,

When the grass with dew is wet,

Then you show your little light.

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night!

APPENDIX 2

Thirty days have September,

April, June and November.

All the rest have thirty one.

February has twenty eight

Except the leap year

It’s the time when

February has twenty nine.

APPENDIX 3

Signs of the Zodiac

For thousands of years men have believed that our characters are controlled by the stars. Astrologers tell us that our characters are formed at the moment of our birth according to which signs of the zodiac we are born under. If you read the popular magazines you will see that a lot of people must still believe it. Here are some extracts from “ FORETELLING YOUR OWN FUTURE” by Maurice Woodruff ( Pan Book 1970 )

1) ARIES – THE RAM ( March 21 to April 20 )

You always want to be at the head of whatever you set out to do for you are a ruler and a pioneer. As you are only really satisfied when things are going as you intend them to, you often fail as an employee. It’s much better for you to give orders and directions than to take them from others.

You are very enthusiastic and impulsive, sometimes self-willed to the point of annoyance. You are a friend to the people whom you like, for you can be extremely gentle.

People born under the sign of Aries:

a) take life as it comes?

b) don’t like to throw their weight about?

c) prefer to organize rather than be organized?

d) think carefully before they act?

2) Taurus – The Bull ( April 21 to May 20 )

Patience, reliability and honesty are your best qualities and because of these qualities you more often than not hold down important positions very capably. When annoyed you have a quick, sharp mind and tongue. You do not waste either your emotions or your energy. You hide your emotions well, on the whole, but if you are driven too far you really let fly and you resemble a maddened bull.

When things go wrong, a Taurus person

a) sometimes loses his temper?

b) never shows his feelings?

c) always keeps calm?

d) often runs away?

3) GEMINI – THE TWINS ( May 21 to June 20 )

You are usually very intelligent. You nearly always want to push ahead some new job before you have finished the one in hand. You like changes and you find it boring to stay in any one place for any length of time. This gives you the reputation of being rather unreliable, but you are not really.

Which of these qualities does the Gemini person lack?

a) ambition

b) energy

c) patience

d) dependability

4) CANCER -THE CRAB ( June 21 – July 21 )

You are an emotional person, very sensitive, imaginative and romantic, likely to be ratifying and very generous. On the other hand you are very conventional. Your greatest faults are indecision and hesitation. You can at time be very annoying until you have learnt to get over this weakness.

Which of these qualities does a Cancer person have?

a) He has a warm personality but often can’t make up his mind.

b) His sympathies are easily moved but he can’t always keep his temper.

c) He always does the correct thing but he can be impulsive.

D0 He has an unfeeling nature and always does his own thing.

5) LEO - THE LION ( July 22 to August 21 )

You are capable of feeling very deeply for others and are extremely sympathetic. This helps to make you a wonderful listener.

You can adapt yourself to whatever your condition may be, yet you are obstinate when your feelings are aroused and consequently can be both hasty and passionate.

You are very self-confident. You always attempt to be practical in your ideas. You are a steady worker and will go ahead and keep going until you get to the very top.

If a LEO gets excited he is likely to:

a) bolt up his emotions inside himself

b) lose patience with people and get violent

c) be stubborn and take rash decisions he may later.

d) hesitate and be unable to make up his mind.

6) VIRGO – The VIRGIN ( August 22 to September 21)

You are very realistic and believe in doing everything in the most practical manner possible. You are a good businessman/businesswoman. You are well-balanced and like to work in a peaceful fashion. For you there is no sentiment in business. If you become a salesman it is fairly certain that your employer will have little to worry about for his goods will sell well and become widely known.

Which of these metaphors describes the VIRGO type?

a) He’s got his head in the clouds

b) He’s got his back to the wall

c) He’s got his feet on the ground

7) LIBRA - The SCALES ( September 22 to Oct. 22 )

Gifted with a strong artistic ability, you are generous but not stupidly so. You are a friendly type of person whom people like to meet. Because of your desire for affection you at times seem to lack just that necessary amount of toughness when it is needed. You will work quite enthusiastically with the right encouragement.

A LIBRA person is rather too:

a) generous

b) keen

c) soft

d) artistic

8) SCORPIO – The SCORPION (Oct. 23 – Novem. 21 )

You are extremely discreet and cautious and you must know all there is to know before you take a decision about it. You are helped tremendously by your clever judgement of people and things. You can be bad tempered and are at times a little envious of others. You are also rather suspicious of other people.

A Scorpion person isn’t easily……..by other people.

a) taken in

b) put off

c) seen through

d) let down

9) SAGITTARIUS- the ARCHER (November 22 – December 20 )

You are a happy and optimistic type. You often possess an unusual amount of energy and are loyal and very understanding, when you want to be. You never find it difficult to express yourself, and where romance is concerned, you show your feelings more than those born under other signs.

You are not deceitful, indeed it would be difficult to find anyone more open and frank.

Tidiness is not one of your qualities; indeed it is something you don’t bother about.

Which of those metaphorical expressions best describe the Sagittarius person?

a) He hides his light under a bushel.

b) He makes mountains out of mole-hills.

c) He wears his heart upon his sleeve.

d) He never counts his chickens before they are hatched.

10) CAPRICORN – the GOAT ( December 21 –

January 19 )

You are a perfectionist in all you do. You are ambitious and idealistic. Saving is one of your strong points, so much so that quite often you may be accused of being miserly. Your thoughts and views are very deep. Your outward appearance of being modest and shy hides the fact that you are very determined. You prefer to mind your own business rather than meddle in the affairs of others.

Which of these sentences best describe a Capricorn person?

a) he takes too much interest in other people’s financial affairs;

b) he seems determined to make as much money as he can;

c) he seems strong on the outside but this covers up an inner weakness;

d) he’s not easily satisfied with his achievements.

11) AQUARIUS – the WATERBEARER ( January 20 –

February 18 )

You are interested in the arts, love music and are an enthusiastic theatre-goer. You can be selfish and more than a little unreliable. You can also be conceited and then you can be unbearable in your attitude but these occasions will be rare, for generally you are kind and sympathetic to those around you.

Which of these sentences best describe an Aquarius person?

a) He doesn’t ever bother about other people’s troubles.

b) Sometimes he’s got too good an opinion of himself.

c) He likes acting in plays.

d) One can always depend on an Aquarius person.

12) PISCES – the FISH ( February 19 – March 20 )

You are easily affected by other people’s ideas and reactions. When you are worried, no matter how unimportant the worry is you are likely to suffer from depressions. When you get depressed you grumble very little but remain quiet and suffer like a martyr.

Which of these sentences best describe a Pisces person?

a) He lets his troubles get him down.

b) He’s always complaining about something.

c) He takes no notice of what other people say.

d) He always faces his problems cheerfully.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

DISCUSSION POINTS

PROBLEM: What might they say?

Charles Ironbridge, a rich but unattractive man, has just proposed marriage to Lynne, a poor but beautiful girl: ‘I love you passionately’ he says. ‘Will you marry me? I cannot live without you’.

How will she answer? It depends on what kind of person she is.

If she is romantic and idealistic she might say: ‘I’m afraid I could never marry a man I don’t love’.

If she’s ambitious and materialistic she might say: “Yes, of course I will. When?”

How would you describe Lynne if she said :

a) Well, I..,,er, …er …you see. I mean…

b) What, me marry you! You must be joking!

c) Are you sure you really mean it?

d) Get out of my sight, you fool!

QUESTIONS:

1. Which of the Types do you think would be best suited to the following jobs? Why?

a) secretary

b) director of a company

c) actor

d) musician

e) teacher

f) social worker

g) athlete

2. Psychologists say there are two basic personality types – Introverts and Extroverts.

Which six signs do you think are Introvert types and which six signs are the

Extrovert types?

Note: an extrovert – a person interested mainly in the world external to himself;

An introvert – a person interested mainly in his own inner states and

processes.

3. Fire, Earth, Air and Water are the FOUR ELEMENTS. Each of the twelve signs belongs to one of them.

Work out which are the three Fire signs, which are the three Earth signs, which are the three Air signs and which are the three Water signs.

Note: FIRE is Impulse and Intuition,

EARTH is Common Sense and Practicality,

AIR is Mind and Intellect,

WATER is Emotions and Feelings.

UNIT 4 “LIZARDS LIE IN THE SUN”

APPENDIX 4

CHOOSING A PET

Tortoises

Tortoises eat greenstuff, tomatoes and sliced fruit. Favourite food – lettuce. Give it fresh water every day. Let it roam free in the garden, sinking a shallow dish in the ground so it can bathe in warm water.

You can keep your tortoise in a wooden pen in the garden and you can move the pen when the tortoise eats all the grass in one place, but remember that tortoises can climb up high wire fences and escape. Some animals, like the tortoises, hibernate throughout the winter months. In October the tortoise usually becomes very sleepy. Put him in a box on a bed of leaves or hay and cover him with the same thing. Cover the hay with wire or a wooden lid with holes to stop rats climbing in.

Place the box in a shed and leave it until March. In the spring the tortoise will begin to wake up slowly.

From ’Catch’ (abridged)

SAVE THE TORTOISES

Tortoises are gentle, sleepy animals. Children in Britain like to have them as pets. But they don’t like Britain. Our cold, damp climate doesn’t suit them. And nine out of every ten tortoises imported into the country die within a year.

The tortoise is much happier at home in the high river valleys of Yugoslavia. There he can live for at least fifty years. Many live to be a hundred. But Yugoslavia is the largest supplier of tortoises to Britain. Last year pet shops wanted to import 180,000.

Animal protection societies in Britain and Yugoslavia are trying to stop the trade in live tortoises. The British climate isn’t the only problem that these creatures face. When they are being transported from one country to another, they are tightly packed one on top of another in wooden cases for several weeks.

Many European countries ban export of tortoises. Let’s allow these peaceful animals to grow old gracefully in their own country.

Lucy McCullagh

Abridged from BBC “ Modern English”

LEATHERBACK TURTLES

Have you ever had a turtle as a pet? A little one that was two to five inches long? By comparison, leatherback turtles are huge. They are the biggest turtles in the world and often grow to eight feet in length – longer that a bed. Some weigh over 2,800 pounds – more that a large horse. Leatherback turtles spend their lives in the ocean. Their front legs have developed into flippers, and with these they propel themselves through the water. Often their flippers have a spread of ten feet. Leatherback turtles live in the warm water of the tropics and semitropics all around the world. Occasionally they are found on the coasts of our country, but only because they have been caught in a storm. These sea turtles are amazing, because they travel thousands of miles going from one small island to another. No one knows how they find their way.

Howard E. Smith

From: “Cricket: The Magazine for Children”

American English

APPENDIX 5

N1 CHOOSING A PET

Many of you probably own a pet. Often, people who already own a dog or a cat. dream

about owning a bigger or more unusual animal such as a horse or a monkey. If you don’t have a pet at all, may be you’d like to own a rabbit or a cat. But before you decide what to do, remember, a pet is a big responsibility and will take a lot of your time, effort and money. The pet will need your love and attention and it will depend on you for the whole of its life. A pet which is happy and secure will live for many years.

HOUSING HORSES

Horses take more space than most animals. Their stables must be large enough for them to lie down and the door must be high enough so that the horse doesn’t hit its head when it leaves the stable. There must be enough light and air, and a concrete, sloping floor is best. A horse likes to sleep on straw and you have to clean the stable every day and take away the dirty straw.

From “Catch”

N2 FANCY THAT!

After mini-cars and mini-skirts, it looks as if the latest craze is going to be mini-animals! For instance, have you ever heard of a mini-kangaroo?

Their bodies are only one inch in length, plus a three-inch tail, and they have fantastically long hind feet. They hop along just as fully-grown kangaroos do. Nobody knew they existed until several years ago, when they were discovered in Baluchistan. They are not true kangaroos, but dwarf jerboas. Looking at them, though, you’d imagine you were watching kangaroos through the wrong side of a telescope. Now six of them have been brought to Britain for the first time, and have taken up residence at the London Zoo.

From “June and School Friend”

N3 MINI PETS

Miniature animals are now a craze in the U.S. You can buy horses, goats and donkeys. Pet lovers think that they are fantastic.

The people who sell them are making a lot of money. A mini horse can cost $5,000. But their food is very cheap because they are so small! People can keep them in their gardens.

The height of the animal is very important. The maximum height for a real miniature horse is 85 cms. Horses under 76 cms high are very unusual – and very expensive. Americans will soon be able to buy other mini animals. Dealers are going to import 45 cm wallabies (like little kangaroos), small cows and possibly tiny pigs. The prices are high, but you can have a complete mini farm in your garden!

Diana Hendriks

Abridged from BBC “Modern English

N4 MENAGERIE

Would you like to keep rats? Sharon Tandy loves rats. She has twenty of them. There’s a National Rat Society in Britain. It has 100 members - about half of them are female. Who said girls are afraid of mice and rats? One of Sharon’s rats likes to drink red wine. “If he has too much to drink,” she says, “he gets bad-tempered and angry”. Sharon says,” Rats are clean, intelligent and friendly”. They are easy to breed and cheap to feed. They never smell and they sleep at night. A champion rat must be long and slim. Its tail must be as long as its body. Its eyes must be bold and bright. The ears mustn’t be too pointed. Sometimes a rat likes to climb inside your clothes. You mustn’t panic. You just have to pull him out gently so he doesn’t become frightened.

From “Catch”

N5 “ RADAR”

Did you know that bats use a kind of ‘radar’? They have poor eyesight, but send out notes, too high for humans to hear, which echo back from walls or anything in their line of flight. The bats’ sensitive ears pick up the echoes in time to take avoiding action.

From “June and School Friend”

N6 HARMING CHILDREN

On of the strangest villagers in the world is a collection of mud huts fifteen miles from Delhi, in India, known as Molar Bund. Its entire population is composed of snake-charmers and their families.

During the tourist season, the snake-charmers leave the village, and wander all over India, putting on performances for anyone who will pay them a small sum of money for doing so, but when business falls off, they go back to Molar Bunt to spend a little time with their families, and instruct their children in the art of snake-charming.

Even the tiniest toddlers have no fear at all of the most venomous snakes, and instead of playing with ordinary toys, you’ll find them playing with cobras, pythons and even scorpions! At night the snakes sleep in straw baskets at the foot of the babies’ beds!

From “June and School Friend”

N7 CATS

It isn’t an unusual sight to see a cat lover taking his or her cat out for a walk on a leash. Some cats don’t mind being on a leash. But when people in Sutton, Surrey, see one of their neighbours taking his cats for a walk, they generally give him a wide berth.

For his particular ‘cats’ are two pumas and two leopards! Every morning he takes them for a mile-long walk. He claims they are the tamest of their kind in the country, and they usually think he is their mother! He bought them when they were babies, and he had to bottle-feed them, although now they each eat about 6 to 7lb. of meat a day, which costs him about ₤15 a week.

He doesn’t mind, though, because his pets work for their living. He hires them out to film companies and advertising firms!

From “June and School Friend”

N8 RIDING A DOLPHIN

Looking for a new thrill? A girl from Florida has found one – dolphin riding! She’s a trainer at a Seaquarium in Miami, and she’s made a special pet of a dolphin who looks forward to taking her for a ride around his pool.

But it’s not easy to be a dolphin jockey, for you can’t put a saddle on his slippery back, and when dolphins swim “all out” they can go about twenty-five miles per hour! Now that a girl has shown the way, it’s only to be expected that lots of people will try to follow.

We already have “Donkey Derbys” and “Dog Derbys”. Will the day come when we have “Dolphin Derbys” as well?

N9 THE HISTORY OF THE DOG

Scientists think that dogs, wolves and bears must have evolved from a small animal called a Miachis, which lived 40 million years ago. And for at least 10,000 years, man and dog have been living together, sharing food, shelter, work and play.

There are very many different breeds (kinds) of dogs because men have wanted dogs for many different purposes – hunting (killing small animals; fetching dead birds for the hunter); working (with sheep or cattle; with police; pulling sleighs in the snow) and as small ornamental pets. Different breeds of dogs have got to have personalities which suit their work. Dogs, like wolves, used to live and travel in packs with other dogs. To a pet dog, the family is its pack and one person is the leader of the pack or family.

From “Catch”

N10 A COUNTRYMAN’S NOTES

A friend I met the other day walking his dog up the lane laughed about how he had come to be there. His dog, it seemed, had decided it was time they both had some exercise, for it had come to his master and sat with a cloth cap in his mouth. When my friend took the cap from the dog and placed it on his knee the disappointed animal had sat for a moment and then picked up the cap again. There had been nothing else for it but to go. Dogs always watch everything their masters do and come to associate particular things with particular events. Putting on a hat or picking up a walking stick means an outing, and many dogs encourage their masters in this way. I was equally amused by the behaviour of another dog owned by a friend, who told me that every week when her cleaning lady arrived the dog would trot to a broom cupboard, pat the door until it could be pushed back, and then drag out the cleaning lady’s mop which it could carry to the room where operations normally began.

It is too much to expect such behaviour of a cat perhaps, but Topsy does her best to tell me when she wants me to take her for a walk. When her dish is empty she will come through from the kitchen and make a great effort to get someone to follow her back again and will stand on her hind legs with her forefeet against the door of the refrigerator in which her food is kept. Susy, our cairn terrier, would bounce and bark. Her behaviour was rather like the bee dance. One had to be able to read it to know what she meant – food, a drink or a walk.

Jan Niall

From “Country Life”

N11 FISHING FOR SHARKS

The crew of a tiny boat fishing for sharks off the coast of Tasmania recently thought they were lucky when they hooked a shark weighing at least 1,000 lb.

Before long they wished they hadn’t!

For the shark was full of fight, and towed them out to sea for three days. When it finally gave up the struggle, the fishermen found themselves completely lost, with no idea which way to go to reach the nearest land.

Luckily for them, they were sighted by a motor-boat which took them – and the

shark – safely back to port.

From “June and her Friend”

N12 THE MYSTERIOUS SHARK

THE SHARK’S ENEMIES

Sharks have few enemies … and very few friends, for that matter. They can be attacked by killer whales, octopi, saltwater crocodiles, man and other sharks.

The tiny porcupine fish can kill a shark. If trapped inside a shark’s mouth, the fish can inflate itself and prevent the shark from breathing.

Sharks are afraid of dolphins (also called porpoises). These smarter animals can gang up on a shark and butt it with their noses. This damages the shark’s insides, and also slows it down so it can’t get enough oxygen to keep its body alive.

WHAT ARE SHARKS GOOD FOR?

Food – We don’t eat much of it in the U.S., but it is a favorite with the Japanese.

Soup- The Chinese make a shark-fin soup they think is very tasty.

Leather- Their skin can be treated and made into bags and other leather goods.

Sport – Many people enjoy fishing for sharks.

Sandpaper – A shark’s skin can be very rough.

Vitamin A – We used to get Vitamin A from shark’s livers until we found a man-made way of making it.

Garbage disposal – Sharks eat the stuff we throw overboard.

From “ The Daily Journal”

American English

N13 THE LETTERBOX

I have two pet spiders. They live on my porch. Their names are Charlotte and Charlie. They are both garden spiders and spin orb webs. Charlotte lives on our lamp and eats moths. When she catches a moth, she climbs down her web and wraps up the moth. Then she bites it and sucks its blood. When she is done, she bites the web threads that are holding the moth so it falls to the ground.

Caryn Conklin, age 9

Livingston, New Jersey

From “Cricket”

American English

APPENDIX 6

LIZARDS OF KOMODO

1. Read through the article and find the words for the left column while reading.

2. Read the article again and answer the questions from the right-hand column

while reading.

| | On the island of Komodo in Indonesia live some most remarkable animals – | |

| |The Komodo monitors. They are the world’s largest lizards. They weigh as much| |

| |as an American black bear – up to 365 pounds – and some of them are over ten |What is a Komodo Monitor? |

|They refers to..? |feet long. Most American lizards are so small that you can hold one in your | |

| |hand. | |

| |These giant lizards are often called Komodo Dragons. It is odd that animals | |

|Their weight is..? |looking so much like fairy tale monsters really exist. But they do, and they |Are they different from American |

| |are almost as fierce as real dragons would be. They are dangerous hunters |lizards? |

| |that attack and eat deer and even such tough animals as water buffaloes. | |

| |Water buffaloes can take on tigers, but a Komodo monitor can easily bring | |

| |down a water buffalo and eat it. People on the islands have to watch out for | |

| |these lizards. | |

|They are called..? |Komodo monitors are only found on the island of Komodo and a few smaller | |

| |islands near it. | |

|‘Fairy tale monsters’ |No one in Europe knew of these lizards until 1912, although the Dutch had |Why are they compared to dragons? |

|refers to..? |been in the region since the 16th century. It is surprising that such an | |

| |animal could have escaped the attention of explorers and naturalists for so | |

|Are they dangerous? |long. When it was found, it caused a sensation among scientists. | |

| | | |

| |Howard E. Smith |Why do people on the islands have to |

| |From “Cricket” The Magazine for Children |watch out? |

| |American English | |

|It refers to..? | | |

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| | |Where do they live? |

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| | |What caused a sensation? |

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