CZYTANIE 1 EN [#47]

Tekst 1

When Janet left college, she worked at a local airport. After a year, she went to work for EasyJet and then she joined Emirate Airlines as a flight attendant. Five years later, she got a promotion and became a manager there. Here is what she told us about her job for Emirates Airlines: 'My office is at Gatwick Airport, but I spend some time in the air, too. I train the airlines’ flight attendants how to look after passengers on the plane. Also, twice a year, I organize a training course for the ground personnel. They need to learn how to help passengers at the airport before take-off and after landing. When I am in the office, my working hours are usually from 8 am to 4 pm. First I check plane times on my computer and then I speak to the flight attendants. Sometimes I go on flights with them to check how they are working. After long flights I feel tired, but I like them. The only problem is my salary. I hope I will get a pay rise soon because now I earn too little money. Generally, I like working for Emirate Airlines. I plan to work there as long as I can.

1. In Emirate Airlines, Janet’s job is to ...

2. Janet doesn’t like ...

Tekst 2

Today there are police officers all over Britain, but in the 1700s, in London, the situation was different. Only a few old men protected the city streets at night. They were not professional policemen and they were paid little money for their work. About 300 years ago, London got bigger and life in it got difficult. The city centre was crowded, living conditions were bad and lots of people were poor. Crime was a big problem. There were many thieves who robbed people in streets and public places. In 1750, Henry Fielding, a writer and a magistrate, started to pay a group of men to stop thieves. They were called 'Bow Street Runners' because they worked near Bow Street in the centre of London. Fifty years later, there were 120 Bow Street Runners, but they were just civilian people who could not protect the city well. London needed professional policemen. That’s why in 1829, the first Metropolitan (or London) Police Force was started with 3,000 officers. Most of them worked on foot, and a few rode horses. Today, London police have 32,000 police officers. They are the biggest police force in the UK.

3. In the 1700s, in London ...

4. Bow Street Runners were ...

Tekst 3

Rebecca Stephens is the first British woman to climb Mount Everest. Before she went up the highest mountain in the world, she lived in a small flat in south London and was a journalist. Although she worked for a famous London newspaper, she was bored with her job. That’s why, in 1993, Rebecca gave up her job and went to Nepal, Asia. She was going to interview some climbers and later write a book about challenges of climbing Mount Everest. She did not want to climb the mountain herself. But after spending some time with the climbers, she decided to change her plans and she went up Everest.

Soon she found that climbing the mountain was hard. It was cold, the temperatures were low and the winds were strong. Rebecca said: “High on the mountain the air is very thin and there is less oxygen, so you get tired very quickly. Even worse, you must carry everything on your back, so you just take the most necessary things. For example, you only take water to drink, so washing is a problem. And for me that was the most difficult thing to cope with.”

Rebecca reached the top of Mount Everest on May 17, 1993. It was the best moment of her life. Suddenly, she became famous. People often asked her to talk about it, she was invited to different meetings and she gave interviews on the radio and TV. She also wrote a book about her climbing trip and she was offered a new job. She became the presenter of a popular science programme on television.

Today Rebecca is a celebrity, but she still lives in the same little flat in south London, among her pictures and books about mountains.

5. Rebecca Stephens went to Asia because she wanted to ...

6. During the climb, the biggest problem for Rebecca was ...

7. After climbing Mount Everest, Rebecca ...

Tekst 1

Hi, I’m Alison and this is what happened to me one warm spring afternoon. I was driving to visit my friend who had his birthday that day. I put a big birthday cake for him on the back seat. When I saw the traffic lights change from green to yellow, I started slowing down. There was another car in front of me and it was also going slowly. I kept a safe distance between us. The lights turned red. And then, suddenly I felt a strong bump in the back. In the mirror I saw a black SUV right behind my car. It drove into the back of my car at full speed and pushed it into the car in front of me. It all happened very quickly and ended in the collision of the three cars. Luckily, nobody got hurt, but the back and the front of my car were badly damaged. And, of course, the birthday cake fell down and was a mess.

Me and the other drivers had to wait for three hours for the police to come. It turned out that the man from the SUV was a young and inexperienced driver. Sadly, he wasn’t interested in the situation on the road. He was talking to his girlfriend who was sitting next to him. He didn’t notice the change of the traffic lights and had no time to brake. The police also discovered that he didn’t have a driving licence because he was too young to have it.

I looked at my car and was upset. “Just my luck! The car is badly damaged, I am late for the birthday party and have no cake for my friend,” I thought.

13. Alison slowed down when the traffic lights changed.

14. A black SUV pushed Alison’s car to the side of the road.

15. Three cars took part in the collision.

16. The young driver was talking to his girlfriend on the phone.

17. The SUV driver showed the police a fake driving licence.

Tekst 2

Eugene Stoner and L. James Sullivan designed the M16 automatic rifle, calibre 5.56 with a 20-round magazine in 1959. After many tests, Colt’s Manufacturing Company started the production of the rifle in November 1963. Up to now, about 8 million rifles have been produced. The M16 rifle was first officially used by the US military personnel in 1964. During the Vietnam War, US soldiers tested it in combat. The M16 was so useful and good that in 1969 it became the standard service rifle.

With time, the M16 changed a lot. Factories produced different versions of the rifle to suit different needs of the forces. But later the original M16 rifle became too heavy and too old-fashioned for combat units. That is why, in the mid 1990s, the US military decided to introduce a shorter and lighter version of the M16 called the M4 carbine. The US combat units use it, but in other units soldiers still use the older versions of the M16. However, there is a plan to change the weapons in the future. The US Army will start using the rifle XM7 instead of the M16/M4.

18. Colt’s Manufacturing Company produced the first M16 rifles.

19. American soldiers started using the M16 rifle in 1969.

20. Today soldiers from the US combat units use the M4 carbine.