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тренажёр по английскому языку (9 класс) по теме

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April Fools' Day

April Fools’ Day, or All Fools’ Day, is an odd holiday which encourages us to play tricks and fool our family and friends. There is some uncertainty about when and where this bizarre tradition began. Popular belief says that April Fools’ Day started in the 16th century in France but there are not enough facts to confirm it.

Anyway, according to legends and a small number of facts, the story seems to be as follows. Before the 16th century, the New Year was celebrated in spring, around April 1st. In 1564 King Charles IX of France declared that the country would start using a new calendar, which changed New Year's Day to January 1st. In those days, with no communication technologies, news travelled slowly and new ideas were often mistrusted. Many people still celebrated the New Year the old way. These people were called 'fools' and became a target for jokers.

Playing jokes on April 1st became a custom and was later transported across the Atlantic to the American colonies. Nowadays, April Fools’ Day has developed into an international festival of fun.

Today in France, people who are fooled on April 1st are called Poisson d'Avril, which literally means the April Fish. Children stick paper fish to their friends’ backs. There are different fish souvenirs in the shops and chocolate fish of all shapes and sizes are sold in supermarkets. In England, if a trick is played on you, you are a noodle. Remember that in this country you should observe the time limit - tricks can be played only in the morning. People playing jokes after midday are April fools themselves.

April Fools’ jokes should not harm anyone. The best jokes are when everyone laughs, especially the people the joke was played on.

One of the great April Fools’ jokes happened on April 1st, 1957. BBC TV did a documentary on 'spaghetti farmers' growing 'spaghetti trees.' The report showed a family from Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. It showed women carefully pulling long thin pieces of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry.

The joke was an enormous success. A lot of people were fooled - the BBC began to receive hundreds of calls from puzzled viewers. “Did spaghetti really grow on trees?”, they wanted to know. Others were eager to learn how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC replied that they should "place a piece of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Another famous April joke was played by the Burger King Company in the USA in 1998. They ran an advertisement about launching a “twin brother” of their most famous sandwich Whopper. Along with the traditional Whopper they were going to sell a Left-Handed Whopper, which was specially designed for the company’s left-handed customers. According to the advertisement, they rotated all the ingredients 180 degrees. Amazingly, thousands of customers requested the new sandwich at their restaurants. 

10. Задание 10 

There is reliable written evidence about the date of the first April Fools’ Day.

 1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

11. Задание 11 

It was King Charles IX of France who named the holiday All Fools’ Day.

 1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

12. Задание 12 

People in America started to celebrate April Fools’ Day later than Europeans.

 1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

13. Задание 13 

In France the April Fish is a person who has fooled someone.

 1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

14. Задание 14 

On April Fools’ Day, English people play jokes from morning till night.

 1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

15. Задание 15 

There were people who believed the BBC joke about spaghetti.

 1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

16. Задание 16 

The BBC’s joke about spaghetti was repeated by national broadcasting companies in other countries.

 1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

17. Задание 17 

Left-Handed Whopper was the name of an American fast food restaurant.

 1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

18. Задание 18 

Прочитайте приведённый ниже текст. Преобразуйте слово, напечатанное заглавными буквами в скобках так, чтобы оно грамматически соответствовало содержанию текста. Заполните пропуск полученным словом.

It may sound strange but I started roller skating when I was relatively old. A friend of mine gave me a pair of roller skates for my __________________ (EIGHTEEN) birthday. He said that he __________________ (TEACH) me some basic skating skills the next Saturday but disappeared for weeks. At first, I wanted to give the skates to someone else but I __________________ (NOT/CAN) think of anybody who met both requirements – to be keen on roller skating and to have the same size feet as mine. So, I put the skates on the shelf in the pantry and __________________ (FORGET) about them. “What are these?” my mum asked. She saw the skates when she __________________ (TIDY) up the pantry, “Why do you never go skating?” “I __________________ (GO) skating if I could skate. But unfortunately I can’t,” I said. “And it’s better to learn to skate in childhood, isn’t it?” “Right,” Mum nodded, “But you have no choice. You’ll never be any __________________ (YOUNG) than you are now.” That sounded like a good reason to start something new. I put the skates in my rucksack and headed to the park. There__________________ (BE) lots of skaters in the park. Most of __________________ (THEY) moved gracefully and effortlessly. Some looked really clumsy.

27. Задание 27 

I'm absolutely sure that people's opinion of British food is based on ignorance. They say we eat potatoes with everything. But you __________________ (RARE) get a meal anywhere in Europe that does not come with chips. The __________________ (DIFFER) is that we do not boast about our cuisine. In my view, we are very __________________ (CREATE) when it comes to food. In Britain, you can enjoy a wonderful __________________ (COMBINE) of dishes from different cuisines. You can wake up in the morning and have an English breakfast, a slice of Italian pizza at lunchtime, Japanese sushi for dinner and a Turkish kebab on the way home from the club. What else could you ask for? And never tell me British food is __________________ (TASTE) and boring! That's just __________________, (FAIR) so come and try it for yourselves.

33. Задание 33 

You have 30 minutes to do this task. You have received a letter from your English–speaking pen friend Ben. 

 Write her a letter and answer her 3 questions. Write 100–120 words. Remember the rules of letter writing.

34. Задания Д C2 

Give a talk about foreign languages.

Remember to say:

 • why speaking foreign languages is so important nowadays;

• what the most effective way to learn a foreign language is, in your opinion;

• what your usual classroom activities in English are.