Circuses have been around for a very long time. They probably began with the ancient Egyptians who loved to show exotic creatures 1 their people. The ancient Greeks held chariot races and 2 that the Romans developed the idea into a circus. They built huge stadiums where they held horse and chariot 3 and exhibited wild animals such as elephants and lions. They also had jugglers and acrobats. Travelling gypsies probably kept the circus skills alive and brought them to Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. We think that a Briton called Philip Astley started the first modern type of circus in 1768 when he 4 exciting tricks on horseback. 5 he introduced jugglers and acrobats into his show and the modern circus was born. By 1959 other circuses had started and the flying 6 act was part of most shows. Today many people do not like to see circuses using 7 in their shows and Cirque du Soleil is one example. Cirque du Soleil was started in Quebec in 1986 and its show is based on the 8 skills of its performers. They use fantastic costumes and interesting lighting to make the show as exciting as possible.
train at 3 o’clock. On the train my friend and I (talk)TALKED a little,
(read)READ some magazines and then SLEPT(sleep) for about an hour.
The train STOPPED(stop) only twice. It TOOK(take) us five hours to get to the
North capital. At about nine o’clock we CAME (come) to our hotel. The
next day we WENT(go) on a bus excursion about the city. Fortunately,
the weather WAS (be) fine. We STARTED(start) from the Nevsky Prospect and DROVE
(drive) along it to the Neva. Our guide KNEW (know) a lot of interesting
facts, stories and jokes which she TOLD (tell) us with great pleasure.
The driver STOPPED (stop) the bus from time to time, and we (go) WENT
out to admire the wonderful churches, palaces, museums and
the famous bridges. We LEARNT (learn) a lot of interesting things about
the city and its people. The bus BROUGHT (bring) us back to the Nevsky
Prospect at about four o’clock in the afternoon. It (be) WAD time for
dinner. We (be) WERE hungry and thirsty. We (enter) ENTERED one of the many
cafes, (find) FOUND a table and SAT (sit) down. We CHOSE (choose) from the menu
what we WANTED (want). The dinner DID not COST (cost) us much. It was in fact
twice as cheap as in Moscow. There WERE (be) a lot of people around
us. They WERE TALKING (talk), LAUGHING (laugh), DRINKING (drink) coffee. They WERE SPEAKING (speak) different
languages: English, Italian, German, Finnish. After dinner we DID
(do) some shopping. We BOUGH(buy) a few souvenirs and WENT(go) to the
hotel. We WERE (be) tired but very happy
Soon a teacher came and led us to someclassrooms. There we were put into fourseparate classes. This was when somechildren began to cry as the parents werenot allowed into the classrooms. I did notcry because I had been to kindergartenbefore. Actually my mother went homesoon after for she knew I would be allright.
It was an enjoyable time for me as I got toknow my new classmates. The teacher wasvery busy writing down our particulars sowe had plenty of time to ourselves.
Meantime some children continued to sobwhile their parents looked in anxiouslythrough the windows.
Soon recess came. Some of us headed forthe tuck-shop while the rest headed fortheir parents. I bought a drink with themoney my mother gave me. Getting toknow my new friends had made methirsty.
After recess we went back to outclassroom and my new friends and Imanaged to coax two boys to stop crying.In fact, soon we were laughing and playingtogether. Once in a while the teacher hadto tell us to keep quiet as we were makingtoo much noise.
Still some parents looked in anxiouslythrough the windows.
Finally the bell rang for us to go home.Some of us were very relieved to bereunited with our parents. I too was gladto see my mother waiting for me at theschool gate. I had made many friends. Ithad been a wonderful first day at school.
sob to cry noisily
tuck-shop A shop where candy and othersweets are sold
coax to persuade someone gently to dosomething