Всероссийский конкурс по английскому языку
“Excellent English ”
7 formers
Reading
Read the text and write your answers in the answer sheet
The long hiccup.
by medical reporter Mary Lawson
It all started with an Indian curry, but it ended in hospital.
For many people the subject of hiccups is a joke, but for Harry Mendis, a fifteenyear-old schoolboy from Birmingham, it was something quite different.
His hiccups began one Sunday lunchtime and continued day and night for two
weeks. After the first week, Harry was desperate and his parents took him to hospital,
but it took another week for the doctors to cure his attack.
Harry, who is now back at school, described what happened to him.
“I began to hiccup after eating a curry from my local takeaway. I drank a glass of water
but that didn’t do any good. That evening I had hiccups every four seconds. We tried
everything to stop them. I held my breath and cold drinks. My father even tried to give
me a shock but it didn’t work either.”
After a week of sleepless nights, he went to hospital. The doctors took an X-ray
of his chest but they couldn’t find anything wrong.
“They gave me some tablets and my hiccups slowed down, but it was another
week before the tablets worked completely and my hiccups stopped.”
Harry was very lucky. The world record holder is the unfortunate American
farmer Charles Osborne, who hiccupped constantly for sixty-eight years. He eventually
stopped in 1990, but nobody knows why.
Task 1. Read the text and choose the right items in the sentences after it.
1. Harry’s hiccups lasted…..a) a week, b)fourteen days, c) twenty-eight days
2. His hiccups started after he….a)drank a glass of water, b) ate an Indian meal, c)
went to hospital
3. His parents decided to take him to hospital when he…a)hiccupped for four
seconds, b)hiccupped at night, c) couldn’t stop hiccupping
4. His hiccups stopped after the doctors….a)gave him some tablets, b)took an X-ray
of his chest, c) gave him a shock
5. Harry………the world hiccupping record. a)has beaten, b) is close to beating, c) is
nowhere near beating
Task 2. Find the synonyms to the following words in the text.
1)to go on
a)
2)to frighten
b)
3)pills
c)
4)decrease
d)
5)unlucky
e)
Tasks 3. Answer the questions.
1. Do you think hiccup is an illness or something unpleasant?
2. Why the doctors decided to take an X-ray of Harry’s chest?
3. How can you stop hiccupping at home?
Всероссийский конкурс по английскому языку
“Excellent English ”
7 formers
Reading
Answer sheet:
Name
Surname
School
Task 1
1
2
3
4
5
Task 2
1)to go on
a)
2)to frighten
b)
3)pills
c)
4)decrease
d)
5)unlucky
e)
Tasks 3.
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2/_____________________________________________________________________
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3/_____________________________________________________________________
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