[b][color=#008080][size=3]R1. [/size][/color]Read [color=#008080][i]The western alphabet[/i][/color] and check the [color=#008080]TRUE [/color]statements.[/b]







[table][tr][td]The western alphabet, which is used in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Australia and New Zealand as well as in other countries, originated in the middle east. The people who gave the world this alphabet were the Phoneacians, a people who established colonies all over the Mediterranean, including Carthage in Africa and Gades in Spain. In their alphabet, the letters were represented by little pictures which represented sounds.The Phoneacian A was aelph, which means "bull". and it was made from a little picture of a bull's head. The letter B was beth which meant "house", and showed the round-roofed buildings which you can still see today in Syria.



The Phoneacians had contact with another nation of sailors, the Greeks, with whom they fought and traded. The Greeks also started to use the Phoneacian alphabet. They changed the names so aelph and beth became alpha and beta. The shapes of the letters are the same but they have been turned sideways. If you know any Greek, you can try turning the letters around again, and see how they look. You will see that the curve on the right of the Greek A becomes the horns of a little bull.



Of course, the first two letters of the alphabet give it its name. Over the years there have been changes. Latin developed an alphabet with some different letters to the Greeks, and other letters have been added since. But really westerners are using the same system of writing which has served them so well for thousands of years.[/td][/tr][/table]

[b][color=#008080][size=3]R2.[/size][/color] Read [i][color=#008080]Down the rabbit's hole[/color][/i] and check the TRUE statements.[/b]







[table][tr][td]

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the river bank, and of having nothing to do. Once or twice she looked into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it. "What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?", thought Alice.



So she was considering (as well as she could, because the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies. Suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. There was nothing so very remarkable in that, nor did Alice think it very much out of the way to hear the rabbit say to itself " Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late! "(When she thought about it afterward, it occurred to her she ought to have wondered about this, but at that the time it all seemed quite natural). But when the rabbit actually took a watch out of its pocket, and looked at it, Alice realised she had never before seen a rabbit with either pocket, or a watch to take out of it.



She ran across the field after the rabbit, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit hole under the hedge. In another moment, down went Alice; never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.[/td][/tr][/table]

[b][color=#008080][size=3]R3.[/size][/color] Read the [i][color=#008080]Weather Report[/color][/i] and complete it with the words from the box.[/b]

[b][size=1]NUMBER YOUR ANSWERS 1-8[/size][/b]







[table][tr][td]warm - sunny - rain - hot - cloudy - cool - sun - temperatures[/td][/tr][/table]





[table][tr][td]Today will be a [b][color=#008080][sup][size=1](1)[/size][/sup] .... [/color][/b]and [b][color=#008080][sup][size=1](2)[/size][/sup] ....[/color][/b] morning, with [b][color=#008080][size=1][sup](3)[/sup] [/size].... [/color][/b]rising to 35°C.

This afternoon the weather will change. It will become [b][color=#008080][sup][size=1](4)[/size][/sup] ....[/color][/b] with a [b][color=#008080][sup][size=1](5)[/size][/sup] ....[/color][/b] wind from the east.

Tomorrow morning it will [b][color=#008080][sup][size=1](6)[/size][/sup] .... [/color][/b]but in the afternoon the [b][color=#008080][sup][size=1](7)[/size][/sup] ....[/color][/b] will come out again.

It will be a [b][color=#008080][sup][size=1](8)[/size][/sup] .... [/color][/b]day.[/td][/tr][/table]