Invitations arrive for Royal wedding

The Royal wedding on April 29 will be a regal affair, with more than 50 members of the Royal Family and 40 members of foreign royal families in attendance. The guest list will include 60 leaders of countries such as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand and over 200 members of Government and Parliament.

Of the 1,900 people who will watch Prince William 28, and Miss Middleton, 29, exchange their marriage vows in the morning service at Westminster Abbey, the majority will be from the couple's circle of family and friends. The guest list for the Abbey will be whittled down to 600 for the lunch time reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen, and just 300 of the couple's closest family and friends will go on to attend the "intimate" dinner hosted by the Prince of Wales.

There will be two versions of the invitation sent to guests for day-time events - one inviting them to the ceremony at the Abbey only and other also including details of the Buckingham Palace reception. A separate invitation will be sent to the couple's close friends and family for the dinner.

Royal historian Hugo Vickers said that details of the guest list released suggested ordinary members of the public will not have a front line role. "It strikes me as an entirely sensible and predictable type of list, looking to balance the need to invite all the people who should be there -- because William will one day be king -- with inviting those who they want to be there."

Ordinary well-wishers will instead throng the capital's streets, watching Middleton arrive at Westminster Abbey by car, but leave with her new husband in a horse-drawn carriage to parade through the heart of London to Buckingham Palace.

Millions more will watch the ceremony and celebrations on live television -- crowded around screens in their homes, at street parties in towns and villages and at major landmarks.

Question 1 [2 points]
Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.
a) Many people from different monarchies will be at the wedding on April 29th.
b) There will be more people at dinner than at lunch.
c) Three different invitations have been sent out.
d) The bride will arrive and leave in the same form of transport.

Question 2 [2 points]
Answer the following questions in your own words.
a) Who will be at the wedding in Westminster Abbey?
b) Where will people who are not invited to the wedding watch it?

Question 3 [1.5 points]
Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a) event (paragraph 1)
b) reduce (paragraph 2)
c) pack, fill (paragraph 5)

Question 4Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a) Hugo Vickers said: It strikes me as an entirely sensible and predictable type of list because William will one day be king “
Hugo Vickers said that
b) The celebrations will be broadcast live by TV channels around the world and millions of people are expected to watch them.
TV channels …….............. and they ……................
c) There have been 14 royal weddings at Westminster Abbey since 1100, but there were none between 1382 and 1919.
Although

Question 5 Write a short essay (between120-150 words) on the following topic:
How important do you think it is to celebrate important occasions in our lives?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/technology-video/8376185/Google-Royal-Wedding-Route-3D-tour.html

Clothes that change colour

A new thread developed for the military will make it possible to change the colours of your clothes to suit yourself, whenever you please.

At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, professor Yoel Fink and his colleagues have developed an innovative process to combine extremely thin layers of two materials, a plastic and a glass. The result: a new fibre that can reflect all the light that hits it, from any direction. Within the next two years, the U.S. Army plans to weave Fink's new thread into uniforms, to make an optical bar code that will help our soldiers distinguish friend from foe on night patrol, or during the smoke and confusion of a fire fight.

But Fink's thread could also enjoy a major commercial future in fashion. You might leave home for work in a business-like gray or navy, and switch to a livelier purple or pink in time for your evening out. M.I.T. graduate student Shandon Hart, who collaborated with Fink on the new thread, envisions clothing made from the fibre and equipped with a tiny, lightweight battery pack. When you want to change your suit or dress from, say, black to red, you flick a switch on the pack to zap the fabric with an electric change. Like a radio antenna that lengthens or shortens to tune to a frequency, the thread changes thickness—and your outfit changes colour.

Timothy M. Gunn, chair of Parsons' design department, believes that "what professor Fink has done is incredibly revolutionary. Think what the club scene, celebrity dressing, MTV and the Oscars will look like." Gunn predicts that the fashion industry "might start by using the thread in accessories, to change the colour of a bag or a hat or a scarf. For men, I can see it used to make jackets and even possibly shoes. And imagine how easily you could transform a room—just by changing something simple like a table cloth."

Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text. a. The new fibre has been designed by the military.
b. The thread is already being used by the U.S. Army.
c. You’ll need batteries in order to change the colour of your clothes.
d. Colours change depending on how thick the thread becomes.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.
a. What benefits will the new fibre have for solddiers?
b. How might the fashion industry apply the new thread to its products?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a. to identify (par.2)
b. to imagine (par.3)
c. material (par. 3)

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning. a. Yoel Fink and his colleagues have developed an innovative process.
An innovative ..............................................
b. "What professor Fink has done is incredibly revolutionary.“
T. M. Gunn said ..........................................
c. I flicked a switch on the pack because I wanted to change the colour of my clothes. If I hadn´t ...................................................

Question 5 (3 points)Write a short essay (about 120-150 words) on the following topic:
Will fashion change much in the future? What will people be wearing in 2050?

Hundreds stage pillow fight in central London

Tom Nizio had come equipped for a fight – with starry pyjama trousers on his legs and a pillow in his rucksack.
"I love this kind of fun," said Mr Nizio, 29, from Acton, west London, surveying the gathering crowd in Trafalgar Square yesterday. "I heard about it on Facebook, and just thought, I've got to have some of this."
Organised – sort of – in cities around the world, International Pillow Fight Day is the brainchild of Kevin Bracken and Lori Kufner, who, while students at Toronto University in Canada, founded the art group Newmindspace in 2005.
Participants had come to Trafalgar Square in their hundreds, in fluffy slippers, dressing gowns, skintight jumpsuits, elephant outfits and other liberal interpretations of the pyjama dress code.
The klaxon sounded. Trafalgar Square filled with about 200 participants swinging pillows and innumerable flying feathers.
All this, in front of smiling Police officers – despite an apparent lack of any official permission.
And money from the £5 "whack n' keep" souvenir pillows was going to raise funds for aid to the tsunami-struck areas of Japan.
Similar scenes were being re-enacted yesterday in about 130 locations, from Adelaide, Australia, to Zurich, Switzerland - via Chisinau, Moldova; Caracas, Venezuela; and Seoul, South Korea.

Vocabulary
Match each of the words to the correct sentence.
pillow pyjamas slippers dressing gown quilt
blanket sheets outfit sleeping bag
1 This covers your bed and keeps you warm in winter. It has feathers inside.
2 These are usually made of cotton and most people use two of them and sleep between them.
3 You put your head on this when you lie in bed.
4 This is normally made of wool and is thinner than a quilt. Some people put it between their top sheet and the quilt.
5 If you are going camping, you might put one of these inside your rucksack and take it with you.
6 Lots of people wear these on their feet when they are at home.
7 A set of clothes that you wear on a particular occasion, for example, a wedding.
8 These are trousers and a shirt and you wear them in bed.
9 You wear this over your pyjamas when you are at home. It’s like a coat.

In your own words
In Part 2 of the PAU test, you have to express information from the text in your own ways. To practise for this, complete these sentences about the text:

1 Tom Nizio was wearing pyjama trousers with ………………. on them and inside his …………………………… was ……………………….…………. .
2 Tom Nizio ………………………. to go to Trafalgar Square after finding out about the ……………………….. on Facebook.
3 Kavin Bracken and Lorl Kufner had the ………….. for this event while …………………….. studying at Toronto University, Canada.
4 Newmindspace has existed ……………………….. .
5 Some people taking part in the event were dressed up as ………………………. whereas others ……………………… nightwear.
………………………………………………………… .
6 Around ………………………. hit each other with pillows.
7 Pillows were being sold for …………………… and profits from the sales will be used to …………………………… victims of the Japanese tsunami.
8 As well as London, other Pillow Fights had been organised in approximately …………………………………………… cities.

Key

Vocabulary
1 quilt
2 sheets
3 pillow
4 blanket
5 sleeping bag
6 slippers
7 outfit
8 pyjamas
9 dressing gown
In your own words
1 stars, rucksack/backpack, a pillow
2 decided, event/Pillow Fight
3 idea, they were
4 since 2005
5 elephants, were wearing/had put on
6 two hundred people
7 £5 , help
8 130

Rescued circus elephant settled

An elephant rescued from a circus after it was filmed being beaten by a worker, is settling in well at her new home. Undercover footage showed Anne the elephant being kicked and hit by a man working at Bobby Roberts Super Circus. Anne, who's thought to be 57 years old, has now moved to Longleat Safari Park - and she appears to love her new home.

The park's Jonathan Cracknell said: "She's an old girl but she was playing like a calf yesterday. It's an amazing thing to see." Moira Roberts, who runs the circus with her husband Bobby and their family, said they reacted with "shock and horror" when they saw the footage of Anne being abused. She said they knew nothing of what was going on, adding that the groom employed to care for the animal had left the circus overnight. "We wish we had been given the opportunity to prosecute him and hand him over to the police." The RSPCA is investigating the incident which was secretly filmed by an animal rights group.

Worries about circus animals

Animals like Anne and have been a popular part of circus entertainment for hundreds of years - they used to be much more common than they are now. But increasingly people have started to worry about how they were looked after.

There are already laws about how the animals need to be cared for - they must have regular food and water and enough space. And since Anne's mistreatment has come to light - the campaign to ban all animals from circuses is growing in strength and the government is seriously looking into banning it.

Try this quiz about elephants

Match the words below to their definitions

abused / calf / campaign / footage / groom / incident / opportunity / prosecute /undercover

working secretly, using a false appearance or identity.

piece of film, especially one showing an event. young cow, or the young of various other large mammals such as elephants and whales.

treated wrongly or badly.

person who takes care of and cleans horses or other large animals.

try to prove in court that a person accused of committing a crime is guilty.

event which is either unpleasant or unusual.

ongoing set of activities designed to achieve a particular goal.

occasion or situation which makes it possible to do something that you want to do.

True or false?

1. 57 is an old age for an elephant.

2. Bobby Roberts hit and kicked the elephant.

3. Jonathon Cracknell works at Longleat Safari Park.

4. Moira Roberts said that the elephant had left the circus overnight.

5. Moira Roberts said she did not know the elephant was being beaten.

6. The government does not support a ban on using animals in circuses.

7. There used to be more circus elephants than there are now.

8. Cracknell said the elephant was playing with her calf.

What is the missing word?

1. It was filmed being ____________by a worker.

2. She said they knew _____________________of what was going on.

3. They must have _________________food and water and enough space.

4. The campaign to ban all animals from circuses is growing in _______________.

KEY

undercover working secretly, using a false appearance or identity

footage piece of film, especially one showing an event

calf young cow, or the young of various other large mammals such as elephants and whales abused treated wrongly or badly

groom person who takes care of and cleans horses or other large animals

prosecute try to prove in court that a person accused of committing a crime is guilty

incident event which is either unpleasant or unusual

campaign ongoing set of activities designed to achieve a particular goal

opportunity occasion or situation which makes it possible to do something that you want to do.

True or false? 1. True 2. False 3. True 4. False 5. True 6. False 7. True 8. False

What is the missing word?

beaten

nothing

regular

strength

Fake bomb found on aeroplane

Police are investigating how a fake bomb was allowed on a cargo flight from London without being detected.

The device was hidden in a cake box and put in a parcel on a UPS plane like the one in the picture.

The pretend bomb had wires, a timer and a detonator but there were no explosives in it.

It travelled all the way to Turkey without being discovered and if it had been real it could have done a lot of damage.

A man's been arrested but police say they don't think he's a terrorist.

True or False?

1. The plane was going to London.
2. The bomb could not have exploded.
3. The plane did not carry passengers.
4. The bomb caused serious damage.
5. The man was a terrorist.
6. The bomb was disguised as a cake.
7. The bomb was not real.
8. The bomb was found before the plane took off.

Match the words below to their definitions

arrested / cargo / detonator / device / investigating / pretend

examining or looking into
goods carried by a ship, aircraft or other large vehicle
machine which has been invented to do something
something which makes a bomb explode
when police take you away to question you
behave as if something is true when you know that it is not

Which word or phrase means the same as the one in italics?

1. parcel
a) the same as carry
b) the same as package
c) the same as parsley

2. discovered
a) the same as unwrapped
b) the same as recovered
c) the same as found

3. allowed
a) the same as permitted
b) the same as lowered
c) the same as rejected

4. travelled
a) the same as unravelled
b) the same as distanced
c) the same as journeyed



KEY

False
True
True
False
False
True
True
False

Investigating
Cargo
Device
Detonator
Arrested
Pretend

Package
Found
Permitted
Journeyed

Invitations arrive for Royal wedding

Key
Question 1
a) True “The Royal wedding on April 29 will be a regal affair, with more than 50 members of the Royal Family and 40 members of foreign royal families in attendance.”
b) False “The guest list for the Abbey will be whittled down to 600 for the lunch time reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen, and just 300 of the couple's closest family and friends will go on to attend the "intimate" dinner”
c) True “There will be two versions of the invitation sent to guests for day-time events - one inviting them to the ceremony at the Abbey only and ther also including details of the Buckingham Palace reception. A separate invitation will be sent to the couple's close friends and family for the dinner.”
d) False “Middleton arrive at Westminster Abbey by car, but leave with her new husband in a horse-drawn carriage”

Question 2
a) Among the 1900 guests will be people from the Royal Families of Britain and abroad, leaders from other countries and British politicians. However, most guests will be relatives or friends of the bride and groom.
b) A lot of people will line the streets along the route in London whereas a huge number will follow the service and festivities via television, in their own living rooms or as part of the celebrations held in towns and villages and at important tourist sites.

Question 3
a) affair
b) whittle down/whittled down
c) throng

Question 4
a) ) Hugo Vickers said that it struck him as an entirely sensible and predictable type of list because William would one day be king “
b) TV channels around the world will broadcast the celebrations live and they expect (that) millions of people will watch them.
c) Although there have been 14 royal weddings at Westminster Abbey since 1100, there were none betw

Clothes that change colour

KEY
Question 1

a. False. “A new thread developed for the military..”
b. False. “Within the next two years, the U.S. Army plans to weave Fink's new thread into uniforms.”
c. True. “ …equipped with a tiny, lightweight battery pack. When you want to change your suit or dress from, say, black to red, you flick a switch on the pack to zap the fabric with an electric change.”
d. True. “ … the thread changes thickness—and your outfit changes colour.“

Question 2

a. The new fibre will be very convenient for soldiers since it will make it possible to tell a friend froma an enemy during the night or when it is not easy to see clearly.
b. The fashion industry will use the new thread in clothes so that people will be able to change the boring clours of work clothes into brighter ones for going out. It will also be used for accesories, shoes and even home linen.

Question 3

a.to distinguish
b. envisions / to envision
c. fabric

Question 4

a. An innovative process has been developed by Yoel Fink and his colleagues.
b. T. M. Gunn said that what professor Fink had done was incredibly revolutionary.
c. If I hadn’t wanted to change the colour of my clothes, I wouldn’t have switched a switch on the pack.