Halloween

Halloween is a festival that takes place on October 31. In the United States children wear costumes and masks and go trick- or-treating. Many of them carve jack-o'-lanterns out of pumpkins. Fortunetelling and storytelling about ghosts and witches are popular activities.

Halloween developed from new year festivals and festivals of the dead. Christian church established a festival on November 1 called All Saints' Day so that people could continue to celebrate their festivals. The Mass said on All Saints' Day was called All Hallow mass. The day before All Saints' Day was known all hallows' Eve or All Halloween.

The main Halloween activity for children is trick-or-treat-ing. Children dress in costumes and masks and go from door to door saying «trick or treat». The neighbours give children such treats as candy, fruit and pennies so that children do not play tricks on them.

Jack-o'-lanterns are hallowed-out pumpkins with face carved into one side. Most jack-o'-lanterns contain a candle inside. An Irish legend says that jack-o'-lanterns are named after the man called Jack. He could not enter heaven because he was a miser, and he could not enter hell because he had played jokes on devil. As a result, Jack has to walk on the earth with his lantern until Judgment Day.

Fortunetelling is an important part of Halloween. For ex­ample, a coin, a ring, and a thimble were baked into a cake. It was believed that the person who found the coin would become wealthy. The one who found the ring would marry soon. And the person who found the thimble would never get married. Today people practice card reading or palmistry.

People once believed that there were many ghosts and witches on the Earth and that they met on October 31 to worship the devil. Today, people do not believe in ghosts and witches but they like to tell stories about them on Halloween.

Questions:

1.What are the most popular activities on Halloween?

2.What is the origin of Halloween?

3.What does the word «Halloween» mean?

4.What is trick-or-treating?

5.What is jack-o” lantern?

6.What methods of fortunetelling do you know?

Australia

The Land of Blue Mountains

The Great Barrier Reef on the coast of Queensland is a garden under the sea. There are 1,400 different kinds of fish, and more than 300 kinds of coral. Tropical fruit and flowers grow on the beautiful islands. It's not surprising that more holiday-makers come to Queensland every year.

Tasmania, the island south of Australia, is small. It is the same size as England. It is also very different from the other states. There are no deserts in Tasmania. It often rains, both in winter and summer. Only a half of million people live in Tasmania, and a large part of the island is still covered with wild, beautiful wild forests. These forests are full of wonderful flowers and interesting animals.

In the Northern Territory you will find the red heart of Australia. And it really is red, with red rocks, red sand, and red skies in the evening. Every year, thousands of tourists visit Ayers Rock and a strange group of huge red stones called "the Olgas". But these places are also holy to the Aboriginals. They believe that the land itself has life.

Sydney is the best known place in New South Wales. In fact, it's the best known place in Australia. But New South Wales has more than cities. There are, for example, the Blue Mountains. The are covered with forests of blue coloured eucalyptus trees. The air above the forest contains millions of microscopic drops eucalyptus oil. When the sun shines, the air of the Blue Mountain is a real, beautiful blue.

Less then a hundred years ago, there was nothing except sheep in Canberra. But then Australians decided to build a capital city. The Work began in 1913. Now, Canberra is an international city, full of diplomats and government offices. It's a beautiful place, with parks, lakes, big open streets and fine buildings.

Australia is sometimes called "the lucky country". One reason is the wonderful riches under the earth: gold, silver, iron, coal and many precious metals. The Bass Strait, of the coast of Victoria, has been one of the country's biggest oil fields for many years.

South Australia is the driest of all the states, but it does have Murray River. The river brings greenness and life to the south­east corner. In the early of Australian history, the Murray River was South Australia's main road. Before real roads and railways came, the river carried people and goods from the east up into the country. Some towns on the Murray still keep the old river boats, and visitors can ride on them.

There are two kinds of gold in Western Australia. First, there's real kind — the kind that comes out of the ground. Gold was found in Kalgoorlie in 1893, and the "Golden Mile" was for a time the most expensive piece of land in the world. Kalgorlie still exports some gold, but the new gold of Western Australia is wheat. Big farms grow millions of tons of wheat every year, and wheat has become Australia's second biggest export.

Questions:

1.How many kinds of fish are there on the coast of Queensland?

2.What grows on the beautiful islands?

3.Where will you find the red heart of Australia?

4.What is the best known place in New South Wales?

5.Why is the air above the forests blue?

6.Why is Australia sometimes called "the lucky country"?