Lesson 5, страница 12 - гдз по английскому языку 5 класс книга для чтения Верещагина, Афанасьева

Special Days - страница 12.

Условие.

LESSON 5

Read the text and say what the difference is in celebrating New Year in Russia and any other country mentioned in the text.

Special Days

NEW WORDS
China ['tSainə] – Китай
Japan [dʒə'pæn] – Япония
noise [nɔiz] – шум
to bang [bæn] – стучать
a pot [pɔt] – кастрюля, котелок
a pan [pæn] – сковорода
a boat [bəʊt] – лодка, корабль
a bottom ['bɔtəm] – низ, днище
the Scottish ['skɔtɪʃ] people – шотландцы
Japanese ['dʒæpə'ni:z] – японский
rice [rais] – рис, рисовый
wine [wain] – вино
countless ['kaʊntlɪs] – несчётный
Chinese [,tʃaɪ'ni:z] – китайский

New Year's Day, Christmas and Easter are special days for many peoples living in different parts of the world, but they don't celebrate them in one and the same way. Let's see how New Year's Day is celebrated¹ in Scotland, the USA, China, Japan and some other countries.

The way we celebrate New Year depends on the country we live in. It also depends on the century in which people live. Today in the United States, for example, people ring bells at midnight to welcome New Year. They also have "watch night" services in churches.

Most people get together with their friends and family and have parties, usually with fireworks. Some people make a lot of noise by banging pots and pans. In Washington State they have fireworks at the seaside and watch a parade [pə'reɪd] of boats go by.

In New York a lot of people gather in Times Square and watch the "Big Apple" fall. The "Big Apple" isn't a real apple. It's a moving picture of an apple on the side of one of the big buildings in Times Square. Every New Year's Eve during the last few seconds before midnight it starts to "fall" down the building and when it gets to the bottom, it's the start of the new year.

In Scotland New Year is a national holiday. It is more important there than in England as the English celebrate Christmas which the Scots do not. The Scottish people call New Year's Eve "Hogmanay" ['hɔgməneɪ]. They visit their friends' houses just after midnight on New Year's night. The first person who comes to your house brings you luck.

The Scots begin to enjoy themselves on New Year's Day. People in Scotland invite their friends to their houses to "see the old year out and the New Year in". When the clock begins to strike 12, the head of the family goes to the entrance door, opens it wide and holds it until the last stroke. Then he shuts the door. He has let the old year out and let the New Year in.

In Japan housewives start cooking special food for New Year's Day, and on New Year's Eve all the members of the family do a big cleaning up. The idea is to get rid of the dirt¹ of the past year and welcome the new. When the house is clean, they all sit round and watch television or get ready for New Year's Day meal which is the first meal of the year. Then on the Japanese television or radio you can hear 108 bells. The 108th bell rings just a second before the midnight. The people say: "Happy New Year!" Some families put special kimonos [kɪ'mənəʊz] or special dresses on and eat the special New Year's Day food. They usually drink rice wine during the meal.

For countless ages all peoples in Europe have had special ceremonies ['serɪmənɪz] to mark their New Year.

In ancient Rome New Year's Day was sacred to Janus ['dʒeɪnəs]², the god with the two faces which looked before and after. In other words one face of the god looked into the future, the other back into the past.

New Year's Eve is still a time when we look ahead to the future but it is also a time to remember our past, our happy and unfortunate days.

New Year's Day is the first day of the year – that is the 1st of January for us, people living in Europe, in the USA. But for people living in China New Year's Day is not in January. It is usually in February. This is the famous Chinese Lion Dance.

Put the sentences in a logical order and use them as a plan to retell the text.

1) New Year's Eve is a time to look to the future and to remember the past.

2) New Year's Day in Japan.

3) New Year's Day in China.

4) Special days can be the same, but people celebrate them differently.

5) New Year's Day in Scotland.

6) New Year's celebrations in the USA.

Решение.