Reading Task: Choose the best word to fill the gap. EARTHQUAKE HITS THE BRITAIN: THE BIGGEST TREMOR IN 25 YEARS. On 27th February 2008, something very unusual (1) _____ in the UK; there was a rather large earthquake. It was the (2) _____ earthquake in 25 years in the UK. (3) ____ was felt in a large area across the country too, both in the north of Scotland and in the south of England. The epicentre (4) ______ the earthquake was a small town in Lincolnshire, (5) _____ is an area about two and a half three hours north of London (6) ____ car. A magnitude of 5.2 (7) _____ on the Richter scale. There were (8) ____ of reports in the news from people who felt the earth move. One (9) ______ said, “We had loads of vibrating and wall shaking and stuff, noise coming off the roof. I came outside – the chimney’s on the floor! (10) _____ man who spoke to the BBC (11) _____ the moment the earthquake occurred, “Everything was shaking. As soon as it happened we all (12) _____ outside and saw everyone else down the street, coming out and just realised it was an earthquake”. (13) _____ British people would be surprised to learn that there (14) _____ 200-300 earthquake in Britain every year – but most of them are so small, they go unnoticed. 1. happened/happens/was happening/had happened 2. biggest/bigger/larger/big 3. it/they/their/its 4. of/by/in/to 5. which/what/where/whose 6. by/in/on/to 7. was registered/is registered/were registered/was registering 8. lots/many/lot/much 9. man/men/persons/people 10. another/other/others/else 11. described/describe/was describing/was described 12. went/were going/had gone/gone 13. most/more/much/little 14. are/is/was/were

Правильные ответы:

1. happened

2. biggest

3. it

4. of

5. which

6. by

7. was registered

8. lots

9. man

10. another

11. described

12. went

13. most

14. are

Полный текст:

On 27th February 2008, something very unusual happened in the UK; there was a rather large earthquake. It was the biggest earthquake in 25 years in the UK. It was felt in a large area across the country too, both in the north of Scotland and in the south of England. The epicentre of the earthquake was a small town in Lincolnshire, which is an area about two and a half to three hours north of London by car. A magnitude of 5.2 was registered on the Richter scale. There were lots of reports in the news from people who felt the earth move. One man said, “We had loads of vibrating and wall shaking and stuff, noise coming off the roof. I came outside – the chimney’s on the floor!” Another man who spoke to the BBC described the moment the earthquake occurred: “Everything was shaking. As soon as it happened we all went outside and saw everyone else down the street, coming out and just realised it was an earthquake”. Most British people would be surprised to learn that there are 200–300 earthquakes in Britain every year – but most of them are so small, they go unnoticed.

Краткое объяснение:

• happened, was registered, described, went употребляются в Past Simple, потому что речь идёт о событии 27 февраля 2008 года.

• biggest — превосходная степень: «самое большое землетрясение за 25 лет».

• it заменяет слово earthquake в единственном числе.

• the epicentre of the earthquake — устойчивое сочетание: «эпицентр землетрясения».

• which относится к Lincolnshire и вводит дополнительную информацию.

• by car означает «на машине».

• lots of reports — «много сообщений/сообщений в новостях». После lots обязательно используется of.

• one man, another man — «один мужчина», «другой мужчина».

• most British people — «большинство британцев». Здесь не нужен артикль the.

• there are 200–300 earthquakes: существительное earthquakes во множественном числе, поэтому используется are.