Установите соответствие между заголовками А – Н и текстами 1 -7. Используйте каждую букву только один раз. В задании один заголовок лишний.
A) Useful Invention E) Verbal Misunderstanding
B) US Younger Generation F) Britain, the World Empire
C) Modern Branch of Industry G) All in One
D) Historical Separation H) Old Enough
1. For 150 years America was a British colony. At that time British and American English were almost exactly the same. When America won the War of Independence in 1776, it became a free country. The USA was quickly growing richer, and millions of Europeans came to settle here. They brought new words and expressions to the language. As a result, English in America began to develop in its own way and today, there are certain differences in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and spelling between American and British English.
2. Typical American teenagers are in fact very ordinary. They think their teachers make them work too hard, they love their parents but are sure they don’t understand anything, and their friendships are the most important things in their lives. Some of them do have a lot of money, but usually they have earned it themselves. Most young people take jobs while they are in school. They work at movie theatres, fast –food restaurants, gas stations, and stores to pay for their clothes and entertainment. Maybe this is what makes them so independent from their parents at such a young age?
3. Is it possible to have one device with the functions of a TV –set, a PC and the Internet? With the advent of Internet TV it has become a reality. Imagine watching a film on TV and getting information on the actors in the film at the same time! To enter web –addresses and write e – mail you use a remote control and an on –screen keyboard or an optional wireless keyboard. By clicking a button, you can also read adverts, ‘chat’ with a friend, plan your holiday and play your favourite video games. And in the future you’ll be able to change the plot of the film you are watching!
4. When do you stop being a child and become an adult? There are lots of laws about the age when you can start doing things. In Britain, for example, you can get married at 16, but you cannot get a tattoo until you are 18. In most American states you can have a driving licence at 17, but you cannot drink until you are 21.In Russia you can be put to prison when you are 16, but you cannot vote until you are 18. In fact, most European countries and the US have the same age for voting: 18. Many people, however, think that this is unfair. They would like to vote at an earlier age.
5. Blue jeans were a by-product of the Gold Rush. The man who invented jeans, Levi Strauss, emigrated from Germany to San Francisco in 1850. Levi was 20 years old, and he decided to sell clothes to the miners who were in California in search of gold. When he was told that durable trousers were the most needed item of clothing, Levi began making jeans of heavy tent canvas. Levi’s jeans were an immediate success. Soon he switched from canvas to a cotton fabric which came from Nimes, a city in France. The miners called it “denim” and bought a lot of trousers from Strauss.
6. Some fifty years ago people hadn’t even heard of computers, and today we cannot imagine our life without them. Computer technology is now the fastest –growing industry in the world. The first computer was the size of a minibus and weighed a ton. Today, its job can be done by a chip the size of a pinhead. And the revolution is still going on. Very soon we’ll have computers that we’ll wear on our wrists or even in our glasses and ear –rings. Such wearable computers are now being developed in the USA.
7. Some American words are simply unknown on the other side of the Atlantic, and vice versa. But a lot of words exist in both variants, and these can cause trouble. British visitors to America are often surprised at the different meanings that similar words have acquired there. If an Englishman asks in an American store for a vest, he will be offered a waistcoat. If he wants to buy a handbag for his wife, he should ask for a purse, and if she wants to buy a pair of tights, she should ask for pantyhose: tights in America are what ballet dancers wear.

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