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2) A:
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3) A:
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shortage of
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1. Read the text, give it a name and make questions to which the sentence
after the text can be answers. Use a dictionary if necessary.
Itamp collecting, or philately, has been a
lions of people for about 100 years. Stamp collecting can
be a very educational hobby. Every picture on
selected for some particular reason. Each can give you some
information about the country from which it came.
ally they are connected with some events. For example, in cer-
The most valuable stamps, of course, are the rare ones. Usu-
tain United States post offices in 1847 there was a
five-cent stamps. The postmasters just cut ten-cent stamps in
hall, each part paying five cents postage. Today these halves
make the stamp even more valuable. In 1918, the first Unit-
Mistakes occur in printing stamps, and such mistakes
cents. In a certain post office the clerk sold them at the reg-
ed States airmail stamps went on sale. Each of them cost 24
ular price. What he did not notice was that on some of them
the airplane was printed upside down. Later, each of those
2. ...
It can give you information about the country from which it came.
Because in 1847 there was a shortage of five-cent stamps
cost several hundred dollars each.
stamps cost $2,000!
1. ... ? - It is also called philately.
? For about 100 years.
3. ?
? The rare ones.
5. ?
in certain US post offices.
6. ... ? — Mistakes in printing.
7. ... ? — Because the airplane on them was printed upside down.
1.
Ос
3
te
f
HONG KO​

Jack London became my favourite writer from his first books I'd read. First of all I got interested in Jack London as a personality. His life story struck me not less than his works. What a man! He was strong and talented. He lived a life of adventures and hardships, so he knew what he was writing about. In his novel Martin Iden he describes his biography. What a hard life he lived!

   Jack London was born in San Francisco in 1876. From his childhood he suffered greatly. He changed a lot of jobs: selling out newspapers, working at the factory. He hated that kind of job, which exhausted people and made them suffer physically and morally.

   Young Jack had no opportunity to go to school, so he studied privately reading much at night.

I think that a family is a very important thing for everybody. A family is the people that always love you, support you and help you. For me it is impossible to live without my family. My family is not large. I have got a mother, a father and a brother Dima. There are four of us in the family. We also have grandparents and a lot of relatives.

First of I’d like to say a few words about my parents. My mother is a good-looking woman with blond hair. She is forty-two but she looks much younger. She is a teacher of Russian. She works in a school. She likes her job very much. My mother keeps the house and takes care of my father and us. She is very good at cooking. She always cooks very delicious meals. Our mother is very kind, but sometimes he is strict to us. She always checks if our homework is done. Mother takes care of our free time, so that we are not able to waste our time.

My father is a lawyer. He is forty-five. He is a professional. My father does his work very well and gets good money. He is also handy with many things. He can fix almost everything. He also likes making models of planes. My parents have been married for 20 years already. They have much in common, but they have different views on music, books, and films. For example my father likes thrillers and my mother likes adventure films and fantasy. My father is fond of football and chess. My mother likes playing ping pong. My parents work a lot.

My younger brother, Dima, is a student of the same school. He wants to become a lawyer, like our father. Besides he is playing table tennis like our mother. He studies well. On the one hand, Dima loves constructing and can become an aircraft designer, on the other hand he is very good at languages and can become an interpreter. My grandmother and my grandfather are pensioners. They live not far from us. Sometimes our granny helps us to run the house. She is fond of knitting. My grandfather is a military man and he reads a lot! The library that we have at our flat is the tenth part of all the books that granddad has at his place.

As for me, I’d like to become a computer programmer. I have always loved computer science. I can make some computer programmes and I also can play the guitar very well. I like different kinds of music, but mostly I prefer rock.

We all get on with each other very well. Every one in our family is rather busy, but we are always very happy if we have a possibility to spend some time together. My family means a lot to me.