The irish celebrate st patrick s day егэ ответы

Last week people all over Ireland celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day in the traditional way. Dublin ___DECORATE____ with flags and bunting. Sprigs of shamrock ___SELL__ everywhere. In many countries of the world, the Irish held parades, pageants, sports and drama festivals. Saint Patrick, who ___BRING___ Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, is the country’s patron saint. For centuries, his day ____BE_____ a day of celebration in Ireland.

Olympic-size wedding dress

A Chinese man ordered a 2008-metre long wedding dress for his future wife because of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was important for ___HE____ to know that his future bride would wear a very special dress. The local factory which produced the dress says it was the ___ONE___ time that they had made such a dress. Unfortunately, during the ceremony the bridegroom ___NOT LET___anyone take pictures of the unusual garment.

The farewell symphony

What do you know about Franz Joseph Haydn? A German composer of the Classical period, he was one of the ___FAMOUS___ musicians of his time. Haydn ___SPEND___ much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterhazy family at their mansion. The result of this was that Haydn __ISOLATE___ from other composers and trends in music of the 18th century. When it was time for him to leave the Esterhazy family, he wrote his “Farewell Symphony”. This musical piece ___BE___ popular for centuries ever since it was first presented to the public.

Strange but true

Everybody knows Walt Disney, a person who invented many cartoon characters such as Donald Duck and Pluto. But it’s Mickey Mouse which ___LOVE______ by children all over the world. Millions of kids worldwide ____SEE______ this cartoon since it was made. However, few people know about the following fact. The funny thing is that Walt Disney, its creator, had a strong phobia – he was very much afraid of ___MOUSE____!

Not quite a musician

Albert Einstein, the famous scientist, liked to play the violin very much. Once he found himself in the company with Hans Eisler, a composer and a pianist. They met for the ____ONE_______ time. Everybody began asking _____THEY_____ to play together, so they agreed. Einstein tuned in his violin but every time Eisler started a musical piece, Einstein ____NOT CAN_______ get it right. After several attempts Eisler ___STAND____ up from the piano and said: “I don’t understand why the whole world thinks this is a great scientist! He isn’t able to count to three!”

The compass

What do you know about the invention of the compass? You might think that sailors ___USE___ the compass for centuries to navigate in the open sea. The truth is, there was no such thing as the compass in ancient times, and even after ___IT___ invention the compass wasn’t used all that much for marine navigation. No one knows where or when the first compass ___INVENT__. It may have been in China or in the Near East or in Italy.

A kind man

A truck driver was driving 100 penguins to the New York Zoo when his truck broke down on the freeway. The driver got out of the cab. He ____LOOK____ at the engine when another truck stopped in front of him. The second truck driver asked if his colleague ___NEED____ any help. The penguins’ driver explained that he was taking the penguins to the zoo and asked if the other man ____TAKE____ the penguins there. He agreed. Some hours later, the second truck driver drove past the first one, who was still waiting on the freeway for help to come. The penguins, however, ____BE____ still on the truck! “I thought I asked you to take those penguins to the zoo,” shouted the first driver. The second replied, “I did, but I had some money left, so we’re going to the cinema now.”

No man without a secret

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, enjoyed practical jokes. He is said to have once sent a telegram to twelve of ____HE____ friends, all people of great significance and power. The telegram said: “Flee at once, the secret ___DISCOVER___.” Within 24 hours all twelve ___LEAVE__ the country.

Elizabeth II becomes longest-reigning U.K. monarch

On September 9, 2015, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Her tenure of 63 years 7 months plus surpassed that of the famous Queen Victoria. In some respects Elizabeth ____MAKE____ the monarchy less formal and remote. She sent her ____CHILD____, 3 boys and a girl, to school, ending the practice of royal sons and daughters being educated at home by private tutors. She also allowed television cameras limited access to her palaces and, through them, provided to the general public glimpses of her daily life and leisure interests, the ___PROMINENT___ of which was horse racing.

Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle is one of the greatest sights in the UK. You won’t believe what the castle ____SEE____ over the last ten centuries of its existence. Still, it’s a very nice place with beautiful nature and lots of outdoor activities, so many tourists bring their ___CHILD____ here too. There’s always much for ____THEY_____ to see and do, including outdoor games in summer and a visit to the mysterious Ghost Tower in winter.

A funny mistake

Two policemen went on patrol. One of them was a beginner, but he considered himself to be much ___CLEVER___ than his partner. Some time later the policemen ____TELL____ on the radio that if they noticed a crowd, they should make these people go away. Very soon they ____FIND____ a small crowd of people standing in one place. The young policeman began ____SHOUT_____ at them very loudly so the people ran away quickly. The young policeman was very proud of himself on his first patrol. The old policeman sighed and said: “It was a very good job, my friend. The only problem is that it’s a bus stop”.

Questions and answers

Johnny was in the 4th grade when he had to take his first school exam. When Johnny came home that day, the mother asked him, “How was ___YOU____ exam? Were all the questions difficult?” Johnny answered, ___SMILE___ shyly, “No mom, the questions were simple. It was the answers which __GIVE____ me all the trouble!”

The compass in the sea

Many people think that to navigate in the sea sailors need the compass. Sailors in ancient times charted their course by the stars, and ___NOT USE____ the compass. We know very little about its invention. All we know is that the compass ___MENTION___ for the first time in the 12th century manuscript. ___THAT___ early compasses consisted of an iron needle attached to a piece of wood or cork that floated in a bowl of water. It wasn’t until the 19th century that a really dependable compass was invented. But the compass is no longer used on ships, it’s been replaced by a much ___GOOD___ device called the gyrocompass.

• St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 because that’s the day historians believed he died.
• The holiday wasn’t always the way we see it today. It was once a solemn time in Ireland where bars remained closed.
• Though credited with spreading Christianity in Ireland, St. Patrick didn’t really drive out the snakes from the island.

Who was Saint Patrick and why do we celebrate him? Saint Patrick is the protecting and guiding saint of Ireland. Ironically, he was not Irish. 

Saint Patrick went from being sold into slavery to being credited to bringing Christianity to Ireland, according to Elizabeth Stack, executive director for the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, New York.

«He had a dream that the Irish were crying for him that they needed him,» Stack said. «He returns to Ireland and brings Christianity with him. He is who made the Celts and the pagans into Christians.»

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17, the day he is assumed to have died. The holiday originally was tied to religious ideals but now is also a symbol of Irish pride. 

According to Stack, until around 40 years ago, it was a very traditional, religious and solemn time in Ireland. Bars even remained closed. 

But things have changed. Fun symbols such as wearing green, leprechauns and shamrocks have been popularized during this holiday. Yet, what are their actual meanings?

Reviewed:10 festive St. Patrick’s Day items from HSN to help you celebrate in style

Is corned beef really Irish?:Your St. Patrick’s Day meal is more American than you think

Who was St. Patrick?

Saint Patrick was born in Britain in 386.

At 16, he was captured by pirates and brought to Ireland where he was sold as a slave, according to Stack.

«He spent his days and his nights in the fields tending the sheep and praying, a steady routine of prayer and labor which reshaped the rest of his life,» Matthew Paul Grote, a Catholic priest with the Order of Preachers, said in a statement to USA TODAY. «It was after six years of this that he heard the voice of God in a dream, directing him to a boat which would take him home.»

Patrick escaped to France in 408 A.D, and eventually found his way to his family and to Ireland, according to Stack. 

He was ordained as a bishop in 432 A.D., and sent by Pope Celestine I to Ireland to spread Christianity and support the Christians already living there. To fight the resistance toward Christianity, he incorporated pagan rituals into church practices. 

«Patrick became inflamed with the desire to help alleviate the suffering of the Irish people who were burdened under the yoke of slavery, brutal tribal warfare and pagan idolatry. It was in the midst of this vocational experience that he understood his call to become a Catholic priest,» Grote said in an emailed statement.

According to Grote, Patrick was repeatedly attacked and captured by Irish clans. However, Patrick used non-violent approaches and would willingly surrender. He would then use this opportunity to teach the Catholic faith. 

Saint Patrick died in 461 A.D. presumably on March 17, the date he is now celebrated.

«Patrick is an icon of the Gospel message of love and forgiveness, and all the hard work and social effort that hard work takes in real life,» Grote said.

Why is Saint Patrick important?

St. Patrick is the one who brought Christianity to Ireland. He wrote two books, «Confessio,» a spiritual autobiography, and a «Letter to Coroticus,» where he urged the British to quit the mistreatment of Irish Christians.

There are legends surrounding St. Patrick, such as crediting him with eradicating snakes from Ireland and that he saved the high king of Ireland, Stack said.

«They said he drove the snakes out of Ireland, but actually there weren’t wouldn’t have been snakes in Ireland anyway because the climate is not good for snakes,» said Stack. «The snakes were a symbol for pagans, so he got rid of all the pagans.»

What is St. Patrick’s Day?

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated globally on March 17. The day also falls during the Christian holiday of Lent, a 40-day period filled with prayer and fasting.

Irish Christians attend church in the morning and then celebrate in the afternoon. The Catholic holiday has been celebrated since the 8th century in Ireland.

Surprisingly the earliest record of a St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in St. Augustine, Florida, not Ireland, in 1601. At the time, it was a Spanish Colony. The parade and a St. Patrick’s Day celebration a year earlier were organized by the Irish vicar Ricardo Artur, according to Stack.

How did it come to the United States?

The Irish immigrant population grew in America following the potato famine. The first parade was in New York in 1762, but became a yearly thing in 1851 when Irish Aid societies started to throw annual parades. Being especially big in New York, that parade is now considered the world‘s oldest civilian parade and the largest in the U.S., with over 150,000 participants, according to History.com.

Initially, the Irish faced rejection from the U.S. being categorized as heavy drinkers and uneducated in newspaper cartoons. However, as they grew in numbers, they started to have political power. They used St. Patrick’s Day as a holiday to celebrate their heritage. 

«The parade started with Irish American soldiers trying to demonstrate their loyalty to America,» said Stack. «The parade was a way to show they could be good American citizens.»

That tradition then got sported back to Ireland. The parades are now tools to encourage tourism, export Irish culture, heritage and music, Stack said.

«It is supposed to be a day to feel proud to be Irish, but growing up in Ireland, it was more about a day off school,» Marigold White told USA TODAY.

An Irish national who has lived in the U.S. but currently lives in Australia, White said, «As an adult and especially living overseas from Ireland, it has had cultural significance, though I do get embarrassed sometimes by the excuse for Irish people to use the day just to get drunk. There is so much more about Ireland to celebrate.»

What’s the deal with the shamrock? 

One of the legends surrounding St. Patrick is the way he used the shamrock to teach others about Christianity. Allegedly, he made an analogy to the Holy Trinity with the shamrock.

He explained how the shamrock has three leaves but it is still one flower. This parallels the Holy Trinity, where there is the God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, yet still one entity. The shamrock is now the official flower of Ireland and worn to commemorate St. Patrick’s Day, according to Stack.

OK, but what about the leprechaun?

The leprechaun came from the idea that the Celtics believed in fairies and other magical beings that use their powers to scare away evil. It is presumed that the association came from the popular 1959 Disney movie «Darby O’Gill & the Little People,» which features Irish leprechauns, says Stack.

Stack also attributes Lucky Charms as a way the leprechaun got popularized in the USA. 

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries in the United Kingdom, with England, Scotland and Wales. The number of people who live there is about 1.8 million, which is about 3% of the UK population. The capital city is Belfast. Another name for Northern Ireland is ‘Ulster’ or ‘The Six Counties’. The country was created in 1921 when Ireland was divided into Southern Ireland (later — the Republic of Ireland) and Northern Ireland.

In Northern Ireland you can find beautiful beaches, forests and mountains. You can visit the Giant’s Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. About ten thousand columns were formed after a volcanic eruption. Different popular films and TV series are filmed in Northern Ireland. The most famous TV series shot here is ‘A Game of Thrones’. Hundreds of tourists come to Northern Ireland just to see the places where some scenes took place.

Nearly everyone in Northern Ireland speaks English. A small number of people speak Irish Gaelic, an old Celtic language. The Irish language is the national and first official language in the Republic of Ireland. In some of the regions it is spoken by more than 70% of the population. Speaking about Northern Ireland this language is officially recognized as a minority language. The other regional language is Ulster Scots, a variation of English which is similar to Scots spoken in Scotland.

All types of music can be heard in Northern Ireland. These are traditional Irish music, jazz, rock or pop. In summer Belfast has music festivals like ‘Belsonic’ and ‘Tennents Vital’. Many musicians from Northern Ireland as well as international ones play at these festivals. There are some very popular singers and bands that come from Ireland. The most famous are U2 who have sold more than 170 million copies, Enya with her 80 million and the Cranberries with more than 50 thousand copies.

Northern Ireland is a popular place to go walking or do outdoor activities such as mountain biking, coasteering or zorbing. Such kinds of sport as football, rugby, cricket, Gaelic football and hurlingare are popular in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland join together in the same team for many international competitions. However, football is different and Northern Ireland has its own football league. Still, almost all the players from the Northern Ireland national football team play in the English Premier League.

The best known dish from Northern Ireland is the ‘Ulster Fry’, which is bacon, eggs, sausages and soda bread. Sometimes you can also find tomatoes, mushrooms or baked beans in this dish. It is also eaten with Irish potato bread. Irish stew is also a very popular dish among tourists. It is made with mutton with some vegetables such as potatoes, carrots and onions. Herbs play a very important role. The most frequent ones are thyme and parsley.

As for symbols, St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and Northern Ireland. On March 17th St. Patrick’s Day is a very important celebration in both countries with parades, concerts, music and dancing. Nowadays this holiday is observed in many other countries, not necessarily English-speaking: in Europe and even Russia. The main symbol of these countries is the shamrock (a green plant with three leaves). There are many other symbols such as the harp, Celtic cross, the Claddagh ring etc.

ВОПРОС 1: According to the author Northern Ireland used to be …
1) part of the UK.
2) part of Ireland.
3) part of the Republic of Ireland.
4) part of Southern Ireland.

ВОПРОС 2: Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the author?
1) The Giant’s Causeway is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland.
2) ‘A Game of Thrones’ was shot in The Giant’s Causeway.
3) The Giant’s Causeway is surrounded by beautiful beaches.
4) A volcano eruption created The Giant’s Causeway.

ВОПРОС 3: The author says that the Irish language …
1) is spoken by 70% of the population of Northern Ireland.
2) is the national language of Northern Ireland.
3) is a minority language in Northern Ireland.
4) is a variation of English.

ВОПРОС 4: According to the author at music festivals you can hear …
1) only traditional music.
2) many international singers.
3) only musicians from Northern Ireland.
4) many famous bands.

ВОПРОС 5: Which of the following statements is WRONG, according to the author?
1) Many players of the national football team of Northern Ireland play in England.
2) Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland join for some international competitions.
3) Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland joined football team.
4) Gaelic football is more popular than football and rugby.

ВОПРОС 6: The author says that the ‘Ulster Fry’ …
1) is made with mutton.
2) is cooked with many herbs.
3) is made with sausage.
4) is the most famous dish in Northern Ireland.

ВОПРОС 7: According to the author St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated
1) all the countries in the world.
2) all Europe.
3) all the English-speaking countries.
4) all Ireland.