Potenziamento: Reading
1Read the text and match the names of the British regional foods (1–3) to the photos (a–c).
1 Uncle Joe's mint balls2 Cornish pasty3 Parmo
(See Venture Tests and Resource Book A2 p.40 for photos.)
What’s good to eat in…?Do you have a special local dish? Here are some of our readers’ choices.
Parmo
I live in Middlesbrough, in the north-east of England. It’s not well-known for many things, but it’s home to a dish called Parmo. That’s right, Parmo, short for ‘Escalope Parmesan’. It sounds Italian, but the first person to make it in Britain was an American chef. He came to Middlesbrough during World War II. He opened a restaurant and he put Parmo on the menu in 1958.
Parmo is a little like Parmigiana. To make the dish you cover pork or chicken with egg and breadcrumbs and fry it. Then you cover the meat with a béchamel sauce and cheese before you put it in the oven. You usually eat the dish with some chips and a bit of salad. It’s delicious, but it’s got lots of calories, so I don’t eat it very often.
Archie / Cornish pasty
Homemade Cornish pasties are my favourite lunch. Today, you can buy pasties all over the UK and they are very popular, but real Cornish pasties only come from Cornwall. Some people say the original recipe is over 700 years old. I live in Truro in Cornwall and my mum’s pasties are delicious.
The pasties are little D-shaped pastry parcels. They look a bit like little calzones, but they contain beef, and vegetables, like onions and potatoes. You cook them slowly. This helps them get their flavour.
In the past, people took them to work for lunch or dinner. I like them very fresh from the oven. They’re great to eat on a cold day.
Ava / Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls
What’s good to eat in Wigan? Well, Uncle Joe’s mint balls of course. They are old-fashioned sweets. The recipe for them is over 100 years old. We usually buy them in special cans, but you can get packets, too. I prefer them to chocolate. They are hard and it takes a long time to eat them.
Uncle Joe’s make other sweets, too. Some have got unusual flavours such as rosy apple, cloudy lemonade and English strawberries. You don’t find them all over the UK. It’s a pity because they are really good.
Jake
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Units 7–9 /Potenziamento: Reading
1For questions 1–5 choose the correct answer, A, B, C or D.
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Units 7–9 /Potenziamento: Reading
1What are the people doing in these texts?
Arecommending local food to readers
Bdescribing how to make their favourite foods
Cgiving the history of local foods
Ddescribing a favourite food
2All the dishes
Aare the inventions of local people.
Bare not found in other parts of the UK.
Chave got a connection to a town or region.
Dhave all got a very long history.
3Parmo is
Aa traditional Italian dish.
Ba recipe that the writer’s grandmother created.
Ca recipe from an American cook.
Da very old Middlesbrough recipe.
4Cornish pasties are
Apopular all over the UK.
Boriginally from Truro.
Cgreat for breakfast.
Da type of sandwich.
5Jake says
AUncle Joe’s mints are easy to eat.
Bthe mints have got an unusual flavour.
Che buys prefers mints in cans.
Dthe mints are a traditional type of sweet.
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Units 7–9 /Potenziamento: Reading
1Look at the title. What kind of programme do you think the article is about? Match it to one of the programme types, a, b, or c.
asoap operab current affairs programmec historical drama
Why is Hollyoaks so popular?
Hollyoaks is a popular soap opera for young people about the lives of characters in a fictional suburb of Chester, a real historic town in the north-west of England. The cast is large, with around 60 characters. The main characters are students at a Chester college and their families. A lot of the actors in the programme are young – between the ages of 16 and 35. This attracts a young audience; most Hollyoaks fans are under 25 years old.
In Hollyoaks, many of the stories are about normal problems that young people have, such as problems in relationships. But Hollyoaks also has some dramatic plots involving serious problems, like car accidents, illnesses and murder. In 2013, seven characters died in one week. The show has also got one or two ‘comedy’ characters. These characters stop the problems in the stories becoming too depressing.
With such gripping and difficult plots, the show needs to have good actors and actresses, and it does. Hollyoaks regularly wins awards for its actors and its stories. Lots of the actors in the show are also celebrities in the UK.
Hollyoaks is different from other soaps in two ways. Firstly, British soaps don’t usually use music in the programme, but Hollyoaks uses lots of modern music. Every day a list of the music from the last programme appears on the Hollyoaks website. You can click on the list and hear the music again. Secondly, the programmes aren’t always in chronological order. Sometimes you see events from the future or the past. The directors say this keeps people interested. They ask: how did that happen? And they want to watch the next episode to see the answer.
2Read the text. True or false? Write T or F. Correct the false sentences.
1There aren’t many actors in the programme.
2There aren’t any actors over 25 years old in the programme.
3A large part of the audience is the under 25 years old.
4Hollyoaks only has plots about typical teenage problems.
5Hollyoaks is never funny.
6The programme sometimes gets prizes for its plots.
7Not many UK soaps use modern music during the programme.
8Hollyoaks uses unusual techniques to attract its audience.
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