During the Olympic Games, people from all over the world come together in the peace and friendship. Some of these people complete for medals. Several million people attend the games, and millions of other people watch them on television.
Why do we have the Olympic Games? How did they begin? The first Olympic Games that we have records of were in Greece in 776 B.C. The games lasted one day. The only event in the first thirteen Olympic Games was a race. Men ran the length or the stadium (about 192 meters). Then, longer running races were added. Through the years, a few other kinds of events, like the long jump, were also added. During this time, the games were for men only, and women could not even watch them. In the year 393, a Roman emperor ended the Olympic Game because the quality of the games became very low. The Olympics did not take place again for 1500 years!
In 1984, Pierre de Coubertin of France helped from the International Olympic Committee, and the modern Olympic Games began. In1896, the games were held again in Athens, Greece. The Greeks built a new stadium for the competition. Three hundred and eleven athletes from thirteen countries competed in many events. The winners became national heroes.
After 1896, the games were held every four years during the summer in different cities around the world. In 1900, the Olympics were in Paris, France, and women competed for the first time. In 1908, in London, England, the first gold medals were given to winning athletes. Before that time, the winners received only silver and bronze medals. The Olympic flag was first introduced in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. The flag has five rings on it. The rings represent the continents of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South American. Each ring is a different color – blue, yellow, black, green, or red – because the flag of each of the countries that compete in the games has at least one of these colors in it.
The Olympic Winter games began in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Athletes competed in winter events such as skiing, ice skating, and ice hockey. Today, the Winter Games take places every four years. The Summer Games also take place every four years, but not in the same year as the winter events. Both the Summer Games and the Winter Games must have at least fifteen events, and they cannot last more than sixteen days.
Until recently, Olympic competitors could not be professional athletes. All of the athletes in the Olympic Games were amateurs. Today, however, many of the Olympic athletes are professional who play their sports for money during the year. Some people disagree with this idea. They believe that the Olympic game are for amateur athletes, not paid professionals. Other people think that any one can play in the Olympic Games. No matter who the athletes are, millions of people throughout the world enjoy watching the greatest athletic competitions, the Summer Game and the Winter Games of the Olympics.
Read The Olympic Games and write T if the sentence is true and F if it is false.
The first Olympic competitors ran the length of the stadium.
......
Pierre de Coubertin was an athlete in the first modern games.
......
Winners have always received gold medals.
......
The Olympic flag has six colored rings on it.
......
The summer and winter games take place in the same year.
Etiquette is the name we give to the rules for being polite in a social group. Business etiquette is important for people who often have to make new contacts and build relationships in their work. Politeness can also help to improve the working environment for people in the same office. Some cultures and situations are formal, which means that we have to follow rules; other cultures and situations are more informal.
Text 2 Office workers “admit being rude”
Most office workers say they are rude or bad-mannered at work. Two out of three workers regularly arrive late for meetings, most ignore emails and three out of four use bad language. In a survey of 1,000 workers, two-thirds say that pressure of work is the reason for bad manners.
Other common examples of bad office etiquette include ignoring colleagues and answering mobile phone calls during meetings. Using mobile phones in meetings is impolite and distracts others, research by the University of Surrey shows. If you respond to call when speaking to somebody, it means that the phone call is more important than the person, the survey said. If you answer a call during a meeting, it could mean that the meeting is not important.
Mr Jacobs, managing director of Office Angels, a recruitment firm say it is easy for people to forget their manners in the working environment, which is often very informal and very busy. Workers can forget proper etiquette such as introducing people at meetings, and this is often bad for working relationships.
Psychologist Dr Colin Gill believes that people are not as polite as they were twenty years ago. He said: ‘Courtesy is no longer something that is so much respected in our society.’ People think it is ‘stuffy to be polite or formal.’
Now some organisations are actually investing money in training their junior managers to be polite. Office Angels is encouraging people to arrive on time for meetings, turn off mobile phones and avoid bad manners at work is such a simple thing to do,’ Mr Jacobs says, ‘ and it can have a dramatic impact on improving your working environment and your relationships with others.’
The purpose of some organisations who invest money in training their junior managers to be polite is to ……………………………
A. help them more famous
B. spend all money they have
C. improve the working environment and relationships with others
Most office workers say they are rude or bad-mannered at work. Two out of three workers regularly arrive late for meetings, most ignore emails and three out of four use bad language. In a survey of 1,000 workers, two-thirds say that pressure of work is the reason for bad manners.
Other common examples of bad office etiquette include ignoring colleagues and answering mobile phone calls during meetings. Using mobile phones in meetings is impolite and distracts others, research by the University of Surrey shows. If you respond to call when speaking to somebody, it means that the phone call is more important than the person, the survey said. If you answer a call during a meeting, it could mean that the meeting is not important.
Mr Jacobs, managing director of Office Angels, a recruitment firm say it is easy for people to forget their manners in the working environment, which is often very informal and very busy. Workers can forget proper etiquette such as introducing people at meetings, and this is often bad for working relationships.
Psychologist Dr Colin Gill believes that people are not as polite as they were twenty years ago. He said: ‘Courtesy is no longer something that is so much respected in our society.’ People think it is ‘stuffy to be polite or formal.’
Now some organisations are actually investing money in training their junior managers to be polite. Office Angels is encouraging people to arrive on time for meetings, turn off mobile phones and avoid bad manners at work is such a simple thing to do,’ Mr Jacobs says, ‘ and it can have a dramatic impact on improving your working environment and your relationships with others.’
Summer is my favorite season. I enjoy summer sports like water skiing and baseball. The weather is usually sunny and hot, so I can go to the beach almost every day. Gardening is my hobby and I spend many summer days working in my garden. Unfortunately, the days pass too quickly in summer.
A. The weather is usually sunny and hot
B. Summer is my favorite season.
C. I enjoy summer sports like water skiing and baseball.
A recruitment firm gives this advice to new workers:
It is important to ...... time in your relationships with others at ....... Get to know the people who work near you: ...... yourself to them and tell them something about yourself. If people ask for your help, always ...... positively. Don’t ...... emails or phone calls just because you are busy. If you make a mistake, it is better to ...... it and then apologise. When things go wrong, stay calm and ...... shouting and using bad language. Remember good ...... help to ...... your working ......, and you will find you can enjoy your work more.
Complete the conversation with words from the box. Use each word only once.
A Did you read the article on Erik Weihenmayer? Isn’t he a fascinating person?
B Yes, he really is! Imagine being blind and ......a mountain!
A Even for people who can see, climbing a mountain is very difficult.
B You know, I was really surprised to learn that he is also a teacher and a ......athlete.
A People like Erik really ......people all around the world. Did you know that he is not the only person with a disability who has done amazing things?
B Yes! I read about Helen Keller in school. She was blind, deaf, and could not speak. Helen Keller became famous because of all the ......she had in her lifetime.
A Right! But people who have disabilities are not the only people who face ......We all have difficulties in our lives. We face challenges at home, at work, at school, and in relationships.
B I agree. Do you think challenges are good for us?
A Yes, I do. I think if a person is not ......and has ......then he or she can overcome most of life’s challenges. I believe that challenges make us stronger.
B You are right! I think that people like Erik Weihenmayer and Helen Keller really ......others to be brave and face life’s challenges and never give up.
Read the text and decide if the following statements are T (TRUE) or F (FALSE)
We’re Living Faster, But Are We Living Better?
Not long ago people believed that in the future we would work less, have more free time, and be more relaxed. But sadly this has not happened. Today we work harder, work longer hours, and are more stressed than ten years ago. We walk faster, talk faster, and sleep less than previous generations. And although we are obsessed with machines which save us time, we have less free time than our parents and grandparents had. But what is this doing to our health? An American journalist James Gleick in a new book, Faster: the acceleration of just about everything, says that people who live in cities are suffering from ‘hurry sickness’ – we are always trying to do more things in less time. As a result, our lives are more stressful. He says that if we don’t slow down, we won’t live as long as our parents. For most people, faster doesn’t mean better.
1. ...... The writer wrote the article to encourage us to work more and relax less.
2. ...... People today are having a less stressful life than they did in the past.
Prince William is a member of the British royal family. He’s the Queen’s grandson and the eldest son of Charles and Diana. His brother’s name is Harry. Diana, their mother, isn’t alive now, but they have a stepmother, Camilla.
William’s wife is Kate Middleton. She’s originally from an ordinary family- but of course, she’s now the Duchess of Cambridge and part of the royal family! Kate has a brother, James, and a sister, Pippa. Their parents, Michael and Carole, have an online business.
In some ways, Kate and William are a normal couple. They have friends from university and they have hobbies and interests too. For example, William loves football and Kate likes photography. In the winter, they go skiing together.
In other ways, their lives are very different from their friends’ lives. William is the future King of the United Kingdom – and fifteen other countries too, including Canada and Australia. Kate and William have a lot of official duties. They help charities in the UK and Africa, they visit other countries and they meet important visitors to the UK.
The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby, St James’s Palace has confirmed. All the Members of the Royal Family and the duchess’s family, the Middletons, are delighted: “The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry and members of both families are delighted with the news.”
The baby will be third in line to the throne, after Prince Charles and Prince William. A spokesman said the duchess has been admitted to KingEdwardVIIHospital in central London with acute morning sickness and is expected to stay for several days: “As the pregnancy is in its very early stages, Her Royal Highness is expected to stay in hospital for several days and will require a period of rest thereafter.”
6. Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, says he and his wife “could not be happier” after the duchess gave birth to a baby boy, at 16:30, 22nd July 2013 UK time at St Mary’s Hospital, west London. William was present at St Mary’s for the birth. The young parents spent time with their son before telling the news to their families and the world. The Queen’s gynecologist Marcus Setchell, who led the team that delivered the baby, described the new arrival as “wonderful baby, beautiful baby”. A bulletin signed by him was taken by a royal aide from St Mary’s to the palace under police escort. The news has been since displayed on an easel in the forecourt of BuckinghamPalace in line with tradition. A Palace spokesman said the names of the baby would be announced in due course. A BuckinghamPalace spokesman said: “The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are delighted at the news.”
Read the text 'The Royal Family' again. Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)?
......[F] Camilla is William’s mother.
......[T] William’s wife if the Duchess of Cambridge.
......[F] Kate is one of two children.
......[F] James is William’s cousin.
...... William is a football fan.
...... The King or Queen of England is also the King or Queen of Australia.
......[F] William and Kate’s son will be first in line to the throne, after Prince Charles and Prince William.
...... Kate gave birth to a baby boy, at 4:30pm, 22nd July 2013 UK time at St Mary’s Hospital.
......[F] William was absent from St Mary’s for the birth.
......[F] Few people in England knew about Kate giving birth to a baby boy.
The Thousand and one nights is probably one of the most famous books in the world. It is a collection of stories first told by travelers from Persia, Arabia, India and China between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. In later years professional storytellers also told the stories in coffee houses in Turkey, Egypt and many other countries. The Thousand and one nights contains well-known stories like Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, so people often think they are just for children – but they were originally for adults.
Shahrazad’s story
There was once an Indian King called Shahriyar. One day King Shahriyar found his wife with another man so he killed her and her lover. After that the King married a different woman everyday and killed her the next morning before she could stop loving him. This continued for three years.
Shahrazad was the clever and beautiful daughter of the King’s adviser. When her father told her what was happening, she decided to marry the King. Shahrazad’s father tried to stop her because he knew she was going to die. But Shahrazad had a plan to save herself and all the women in the kingdom. The King and Shahrazad got married a few days later.
After the wedding, while the King was drinking with his friends, Shahrazad went to find her sister. ‘I need your help,’ said Shahrazad. ‘Come to the palace this evening and ask me to tell you a story’.
So that night, Shahrazad was getting ready for bed when her sister came to visit her. She began telling her sister a story called The Fisherman and the Genie. While she was telling the story, the King came into the room. He started listening to her story too, and became more and more interested.
Shahrazad continued telling the story all night, but she stopped just before the end and said, ‘The morning’s here, husband. Am I going to die now?’. ‘No, no’, said the King. ‘Tell me the end of the story’. ‘I’ll tell you this evening, but not before’, said Shahrazad with a smile.
That night Shahrazad finished the story – and then immediately began another. This continued night after night. The King never heard the end of a story until the next evening. He couldn’t kill his wife because he always wanted to know how each story ended.
As time passed, the King fell in love with Shahrazad. He knew he could never kill her because he couldn’t live without her and her stories. To show Shahrazad he really loved her, the King married her again. The stories Shahrazad told the King became the stories of The Thousand and one nights.
Circle the best answer
How was her story?
A. interesting
B. bad
C. boring
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