Choose the correct response out of two. If both responses are acceptable, choose the one that sounds more natural.

1. New Year’s Day (January 1st) is the first day of the year in the Gregorian schedule / calendar.

2. New Year’s Eve (December 31) is a time for party / parties and celebrations. These celebrations culminate with the ringing / calling in of the New Year at midnight.

3. Many cities around the world have spectacular / spectacled fireworks displays at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Some of the best known are in Sydney, New York, and London.

4. In New York City, a lot of people gather / collect on Times Square to watch the traditional “ball-dropping” ceremony right / correct before midnight.

5. A New Year’s resolution / resolve is a decision one makes to change something in the New Year, for example – quitting smoking, losing weight, etc.

6. Many people don’t follow through / around on these resolutions / resolves.

7. It is quite common to test / toast the New Year with champagne.

8. New Year’s Day is an official holiday in many countries. People are most likely given the day off work to recover / review from the previous night's parties.

9. In the time before (and after) New Year’s Day, many radio and TV stations broadcast / publish various ‘best of the year’ lists. Numerous magazines and newspapers broadcast / publish the same types of lists.

 

4. Read the text. Use the word given in brackets changing its form as in the example.

April Fools’ Day is an unofficial (unofficially) holiday celebrated by many people around the world on April 1st. It’s a day where people revel in playing all kinds of tricks on friends or family. Another name for April Fools’ Day is All Fools’ Day.

No one really knows where or when the holiday began. It seems most _______ (like) that the holiday has _______ (slow) evolved into its present form over hundreds of years. Both the Romans and the Hindus had holidays around the vernal equinox (весняне рівнодення). In ages past, people often considered this as the New Year, because it marked a change in seasons.

________ (history) believe we have the French to thank for _______ (practice) jokes on April 1st. Although most of Europe already celebrated New Year’s in January, France was one of the first countries to ________ (official) declare January 1st as New Year’s Day. _______ (tradition) gifts, greetings, and visits to welcome the New Year also switched days. But quite a few people resisted the change, while others hadn’t heard of the ________ (declare). Both were ridiculed as fools, and people played pranks (жарти) on them. The _______ (traditional) continued, and eventually spread to the rest of ________ (European), and then the world.

Have you ever heard of these April Fools’ Day classics?

In 1965, the BBC TV announced the _________ (create) of “smellovision.” Aromas from the TV studio would be broadcast to TV sets across the nation.

In 1980, the BBC said that Big Ben would go ______ (digit). People ________ (angry) complained about changing the world-renown English landmark. The BBC service in Japanese even announced that the hands would be sold to the first four people to call the station.

Again, the BBC announced that an ________ (astronomy) event would precisely align Pluto and Jupiter. The result would lesson the Earth’s gravity. If anyone jumped in the air at _______ (exact) 9:47 a.m. on April 1st, they would feel a strange, floating feeling. The BBC received hundreds of phone calls. One woman even said that she and her eleven friends had floated around the room!

And last, in 1998, Burger King in America advertised a “left handed Whopper” hamburger. It had been designed for left-handed customers, and all the ingredients were rotated 180 degrees. Thousands of people rushed to the restaurant to try the new sandwich, and many more ordered the _______ (originally) “right-handed” version.

 

5. Translate the following sentences into English.

1. День Святого Валентина – свято романтичного кохання, день, коли закохані виражають свої почуття, обмінюючись подарунками.

2. Шоколад, квіти й прикраси – типові подарунки в цей день.

3. Найтрадиційніший подарунок у День Святого Валентина – листівка зі словами кохання.

4. Інші символи Дня закоханих – вироби у формі серця та фігурки Купідона, що символізують романтичні почуття.

5. Багато закоханих пар ходять на романтичні побачення в цей день.

6. Приклад такого побачення – вечеря при свічках у романтичному ресторані.

7. Коли хлопець дарує дівчині валентинку, він часто просто хоче показати, що дівчина йому подобається.

8. Існує багато теорій про походження цього свята, і кожна з цих теорій має героїчний та романтичний компоненти.

9. Хоча День Святого Валентина став доволі комерційним святом, він не втрачає важливого аспекту – це час, який ми приділяємо коханим людям.

 

BLOCK II

Read the dialogues.

Jeremy: Janet, are the eggs boiled yet?

Janet: Yes, and the dyes are ready, too. Look at the beautiful colors I mixed. Let’s get busy!

Jeremy: Tell the kids it’s time. They’ve been waiting so long.

Janet: After the eggs are dyed then we can hide them in the grass for tomorrow.

Jeremy: We’d better count them so we don’t lose any.

Janet: Did you find the Easter basket from last year? Each child will need one.

Jeremy: They are all waiting for the Easter Bunny to fill them with candies and eggs.

Janet: Tomorrow the children will be dressed in their best clothes so I hope the weather is nice and they won’t get dirty before church.

Jeremy: Well, you can be sure they will be into the chocolate eggs before church. It’s all fun for them, so a little dirt can’t hurt.

Janet: I’m going to be busy preparing dinner for the relatives, so it will be up to you, Dad, to entertain the children.

Jeremy: We might even take care of our garden before the spring season. That would be a great place to hide some of the eggs.

*****

Jerry: Look, Fei! I got a Christmas card from my sister.

Fei: It’s very beautiful. Why are the words “Happy Holidays” written on the card? Christmas is only one holiday. Shouldn’t it be “Happy Holiday”, without the “s”?

Jerry: We don’t just celebrate Christmas during this season. We also celebrate the coming of the New Year.

Fei: Oh, I never thought about that before. There’s more than one holiday at the end of the year.

Jerry: Now that I’m in China, I want to celebrate the holidays Chinese-style. What do you and your family do for Christmas?

Fei: Actually, we don’t do much at Christmas. It’s not really a big family holiday. Young people in China would rather spend Christmas Eve with their boyfriends or girlfriends.

Jerry: So is it something like a date night?

Fei: Yes, I guess you could say that. Christmas Eve is special, but we don’t usually have any special plans for Christmas Day.

Jerry: Don’t people give gifts to each other like they do in the U.S. and Europe?

Fei: Many parents do give gifts to their kids. But more important, boyfriends give wonderful, special, romantic gifts to their girlfriends!

Jerry: I see. How about the New Year in China? Is it a bigger holiday than Christmas?

Fei: Not really. The Spring Festival is much more important to us here in China.

Jerry: The Spring Festival is known around the world as “Chinese New Year”. It’s the beginning of the year according to the traditional lunar calendar, isn’t it?

Fei: That’s right. The Spring Festival is the biggest family holiday in China, so we don't celebrate the western New Year. How about in New York? Do people celebrate New Year’s Eve more or New Year’s Day?

Jerry: Single people, or couples without children, often go out late on New Year’s Eve. They drink and party after the clock strikes midnight. There are big parties all over, but the biggest is in Times Square in Manhattan.

Fei: I guess they won’t have much energy left over to do anything on New Year’s Day, then.

Jerry: Right. But there are families who don’t do anything special on New Year’s Eve. Instead, they celebrate with their families on New Year’s Day.

*****

Grandpa: I love parades. The Thanksgiving Day parade is always such a great fun. (Pointing to the TV screen.) Look at that Superman balloon just floating along high above Central Park West. Don’t you just love it? Oh, and the bands and the music... I love this music. Look at the decorations, Robbie. Look at those funny-looking clowns.

Robbie: It’s for kids.

Grandpa: Maybe so, but parades always make me feel like a kid. Remember when you and your dad and I went to the Thanksgiving Day parade? You were four or five years old, I think.