The U. S. Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of 100 senators elected for six years, one third being elected every two years. There are two senators for each state. The House of Representatives is composed of 435 representatives, elected for two years.
There is a group of teenage boys who are pages (helpers) for senators. The eighty pages run errands which means that they sharpen pencils, carry books, fetch glasses of water for members of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The pages are chosen by selected politicians from the country’s brightest 14 to 18-year-olds for periods from two months to four years. Few, however, serve longer than a year for being appointed a page is considered a great honor as they have a unique opportunity to witness America’s legislators at work.
Senators like to spread such favors around as many future voters as possible. Till 1971 the pages were only boys. That year Paulette Desell, a girl of 17, became the first female page to be appointed by the US Senate.
So that pages don’t fall behind with their studies a special page school exists in the Library of Congress which offers usual High School course at the most unusual hours: from 6 a. m. until 10 a. m., and then again in the evenings.
Before Congress assembles, usually at noon, the pages supply their politicians with necessary papers such as Congressional Records, bills and amendments. From noon until business is concluded which could be as early as 6 p. m. or it could be well into the night — they are at the beck and call of little buttons lighting up in the House or snapping fingers in the Senate.
1. elementary school;
2. usual high school;
3. special page school.
2. To be appointed a page a teenager must …
1. be clever;
2. run fast;
3. know bills and amendments.
3. Representatives call the pages by …
1. clapping their hands;
2. lighting up little buttons;
3. snapping fingers.
1. tiresome;
2. boring;
3. honorable.
5. The minimum period pages serve in the Congress is …
1. 2 years;
2. 2 months;
3. 4 years.
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Every tourist who goes to New York visits the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and the World Trade Center. But few people ever see one of New York’s most interesting sights, a small island located in the East River only 300 yards from Manhattan — Roosevelt Island. Although the island is only 750 yards wide and two and a half miles long, it has a rich history.
In 1637, the Dutch governor of New York bought the island from the Indians. It was used to raise hogs (pigs) and was called Hog Island. The name was after changed to Blackwell Island after it was sold to the Blackwell family, who used it as a farm until it was purchased by the city of New York in 1828.
When the city first owned the island, the city prison was located there and the name was changed to Welfare Island. It soon became the place where the city only sent its homeless people — the poor, orphans, drug addicts and lunatics. By 1934 conditions on the island had become so bad that the city decided to take action. From then on, things began to improve.
Today, Roosevelt Island, named after Franklin D. Roosevelt, is one of the most beautiful areas of the city. The old buildings are gone and so are the poor people who once lived there. A beautiful street named Main Street runs along the whole island. There are many beautiful buildings, offices and shops there.
The best time to visit the island is in the late afternoon. From the southern tip of the island, you can see the sun go down as the lights of Manhattan come up across the water. You get a magical feeling — the feeling of being so near the heart of the city, and yet so far way.
1. Roosevelt Island is especially picturesque at …
1. sunrise;
2. sunset;
3. midnight.
2. In the 17th century the island was used as a …
1. city prison;
2. place for raising pigs;
3. farm.
3. All-in-all the name of the island has been changed …
1. once;
2. twice;
3. thrice.
1. one of the 3 main tourist attractions in New York;
2. not very frequently visited by tourists;
3. a shelter for homeless people.
5. The city of New York bought the island from the.
1. Blackwell family;
2. Indians;
3. Dutch governor.
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After inventing dynamite, Swedish-born Alfred Nobel became a very rich man However, he foresaw its universally destructive powers too late. Nobel preferred not to be remembered as the inventor of dynamite, so in 1895, just two weeks before his death, he created a fund to be used for awarding prizes to people who had made worthwhile contributions to mankind. Originally there were five awards: literature, physics, chemistry, medicine, and peace. Economics was added in 1968, just sixty-seven years after the first awards ceremony.
Nobel’s original legacy of nine million dollars was invested, and the interest on the sum is used for the awards which vary from $30,000 to $125,000.
Every year on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death, the awards (gold medal, illuminated diploma, and money) are presented to the winners. Sometimes politics plays an important role in the judges’ decisions. Americans have won numerous science awards, but relatively few literature prizes. No awards were presented from 1940 to 1942 at the beginning of World War II. Some people have won two prizes, but this is rare; others have shared their prizes.
1. December 10 is the day when Nobel …
1. created a fund;
2. invented dynamite;
3. died.
2. The monetary value of the awards …
1. is constant;
2. varies from year to year;
3. is 9 million dollars.
3. Nobel created a fund because he …
1. was proud of being the inventor of dynamite;
2. didn’t want his name to be associated with destruction;
3. wanted to make contribution to mankind.
4. Americans have received the most awards in …
1. science;
2. peace;
3. literature.
5. The first award in medicine was bestowed in …
1. 1895;
2. 1901;
3. 1968.
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Mensa is the international society for highly intelligent people. The name of the society comes from the Latin word for a table. It was founded in 1946. People of all ages and types can be its members. To join, people do a series of timed tests at home. If they do well on these tests, they write to Mensa and take a supervised test. On the basis of the results, they are invited to join.
Mensa’s 100.000 members come from the top two percent of the population. Isaac Asimov, the scientist and science fiction writer, is one of Mensa’s most famous members. There is also a junior Mensa for five to eleven-year-olds.
The qualifying mark in the test is 148 points. Recently a twelveyear-old schoolboy, Oliver Jenkin, scored 177 points in the Mensa test. Although Oliver doesn’t consider himself to be a genius, his mother says he has only ever slept for four hours a night, spoke his first word (hello) when he was four months old and was singing nursery rhymes when he was eight months old. By the time he was four he was reading books on archaeology, but his teachers thought he was backward. He tried to do badly at school because he didn’t want to draw attention to himself. However, this achievement is nothing compared with twelve-year-old Adra — gon Eastwood Demello, an American boy who lives in California. He scored 225 points. He spoke at seven weeks, was a brilliant chess player at two and a half, learned Greek, physics and philosophy at four, geophysics at six and was building computer-controlled robots at the age of eight. His father wants him to win the Nobel Prize by the age of sixteen.
1. wants to win the Nobel Prize;
2. is a wonder-child;
3. learned Greek at ten.
2. To be invited to Mensa a person must …
1. be famous;
2. be a man of genius;
3. do well on a series of special tests.
1. the Latin word for a society;
2. the clever people’s club;
3. a society with limited membership.
4. Oliver didn’t get good marks at school because he …
1. wanted to draw attention to himself;
2. was keen on archaeology;
3. was shy.
5. The minimum number of points an applicant must score in tests is …
1. 148;
2. 177;
3. 225.
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Although modern football began in England in the nineteenth century, the English didn’t invent football: they simply gave it rules. Human beings have always liked kicking round objects. Two and a half thousand years ago the Chinese played a game called Tsu-Chu, which means ‘to kick a ball made of leather with the feet’.
A Roman stone carving from Yugoslavia, from about the year 200 AD, shows a man holding a type of football and the Greeks are known to have played a game called Episkyros. Although the details are unknown, it is certain that these games were all played by two teams.
There are records of football being played in the twelfth century on the streets of London. King Edward II banned it in 1314, saying, «There is a great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls». Later kings also banned the game without much success. By the sixteenth century it had become very rough (dangerous). Most games were played in villages with as many as 500 people in each team. They played from midday until sunset.
By the nineteenth century only rich private schools were playing football. Each had its own set of rules which made games between schools impossible. In 1862 a set of ten rules were written down — five of these are in use today. The first competition cup, the Football Association Cup, was started in 1872. League football began in 1888 and teams formed all over England, involving everyone, not just the rich. By 1900 English sailors had taken the game to other countries. In 1930 the first World Cup match was played: it was won by Uruguay. (England didn’t enter until 1950). Now the World Cup is the focus of football. The final match is watched on TV by almost half of the world’s population. Football is certainly the world’s most popular sport.
1. In the 18th century school teams couldn’t compete because …
1. the game was too dangerous;
2. there were too many people in each team;
3. each school had its own set of rules.
1. played Tsu-Chu;
2. took the football game to other countries;
3. invented football.
1. hated noise;
2. liked kicking round objects;
3. wrote down a set of football rules.
1. won the first World Cup match;
2. lost it;
3. didn’t take part in it.
1. a participant sport;
2. a team game;
3. a Greek handball.
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The city of San Francisco was itself a result of the Golden Rush. Forty-niners who went to California by ship passed through San Francisco. Many of them returned to San Francisco — with or without fortunes — to stay. In 1848 San Francisco was a settlement of 200 people. Eight years later it was a city of 50,000.
Several times San Francisco was hit by earthquakes. As a result of the 1906 quake three-fourth of the city were burned down.
San Francisco is surrounded on three sides by water. It is famous for its bridges, fogs and foghorns. San Francisco has 40 hills. The city has a reputation as an intellectual, liberal, and slightly crazy city — a city where new and different ideas can be explored.
In the mid-1960s, one of the districts of San Francisco gave rise to hippies. The focus was on rock music, drugs like marijuana and LSD, and love and peace.
The symbol of San Francisco is the Golden Gate Bridge. This beautiful orange suspension bridge, opened in 1937, goes between San Francisco and Marin County to its north.
California earns more from grapes than from any other crop. Many of the grapes grown are grapes for wine. The traditional and most important area for wine lies to the north of San Francisco.
Santa Clara Valley, south of San Francisco, was famous for its prunes. In 1936, two young engineers, Bill Hewlett and David Packard, went to work in a garage in the valley. They developed an oscillator, an electronic device. Today Santa Clara Valley is the most important centre of America’s computer and electronics industry, and Hewlett-Packard is one of its major firms.
1. The centre of new technological industries is …
1. to the north of San Francisco;
2. in San Francisco;
3. to the south of San Francisco.
2. The Golden Gate Bridge is …
1. made of gold;
2. a hanging bridge;
3. the oldest bridge in the USA.
3. More than once the city was destroyed by …
1. floods;
2. wars;
3. fires.
4. San Francisco is situated on …
1. an island;
2. a plain;
3. hills.
5. … promoted rapid growth of the city.
1. hippies;
2. gold diggers;
3. winegrowers.