american holding taller #1

1) Read the text carefully and answer the questions: 

Crazy Mom’s Fashion

It started 20 years ago. One day, Jane Smith, a busy mom and a loving wife, went shopping for new clothes. After a few hours of searching, she came home exhausted and disappointed. In the mid-80s, few manufacturers made clothes for women over thirty. “Thousands of women in England have the same problem, and I will help them,” – thought Mrs. Smith.  With very little money, no connections in the fashion world and a husband who thought that her idea was crazy, the ambitious woman decided to start up her own business.

Jane designed her first collection of twenty clothing items, bought suitable material and sewing machines, and hired experienced tailors. The Smiths’ balcony turned into a workshop. When the collection was ready, Jane offered it to a famous chain of stores. To her surprise, they bought the whole collection at once. When they asked her about the name of her company, Jane looked at her husband, smiled and said: “Crazy Mom”. The collection was sold in a very short time – women liked Jane’s models. In a month, the manager of the chain ordered more clothes from “Crazy Mom” and Jane had to hire more people and find a bigger place for the workshop. The next step was opening her own shop at the central train station in Manchester.

Now “Crazy Mom” has 50 boutiques all over the world. Mr. Smith left his job as an engineer and became head of the company. Their four children also work in the company and, according to Jane, this is what makes the business so successful.  

1. Why didn’t Jane manage to buy any clothes?

2. What difficulties did Jane face when starting up her business?

3. What special trait helped Jane succeed in her new career?

4. What did Mrs. Smith do in order to start her business?

5. Where did Jane sew her first collection?

6. Why did Jane decide to call her collection “Crazy Mom”?

7. What did Jane do when the manager ordered more clothes?

8.  What fact proves that that “Crazy Mom” is a successful company? 2 ) Complete the sentences. Use the words in parentheses. Use SIMPLE PRESENT,       PRESENT CONTINUOUS, or SIMPLE PAST. I ……………………….. (get) up at eight o’clock yesterday morning. Mark …………………………….. (talk) to John on the phone last night. Mark …………………………….. (talk) to John on the phone right now. Mark …………………………….. (talk) to John on the phone every day. Jim and I ……………………. (eat) lunch at the cafeteria two hours ago. We ……………………………. (eat) lunch at the cafeteria every day. I …………………………. (go) to bed early last night. My roommate ………………………….. (study) Spanish last year. Sue ………………………….. (write) a letter to her parents yesterday. 3) Fill in the blanks using “AM, IS, ARE, AM NOT, ISN’T, AREN’T”: Germany, England, and Spain ………… cities. A lemon ……….. sweet. It …….. sour. Copper ……….. cheap. Diamonds ………… expensive. Airplanes …….. slow. They ………. fast. Ice cream and candy …….. sweet. Today ……… cloudy. It …….. bright. My brother ……… married. He …… single. I ……… from Turkey. I …….. from Canada. Maths ……… hard. It ……….. easy. Mariah … a beautiful girl. She ……… ugly. 4) Write a verb in each blank. Use the correct forms of the VERBS: 1.      Can you ………………………… a motorbike? 2.      Tim can ………………………… the guitar? 3.      Sam is ………………………….. milk at the moment? 4.      Please go to the supermarket and ……………………….. some cheese. 5.      He is …………………………. water now because he is thirsty. 6.      Every weekend they …………………………….. their thirsty. 7.      Listen! Jack is …………………………. a song. 8.      Can you ………………………. me, please? I can’t carry these bags.   Read the paragraphs and answer the questions:        5)  Hello! My name is Douglas Hunter. I’m a pilot for British Airlines. I fly planes. I am not working today. I am playing golf. It is my favorite sport. What is his name? What does he do? What is he doing now? What is his favorite sport?       6)  He is Gordon Lester. He is a champion jockey. He rides racehorses, but he isn’t riding a racehorse now. He is dancing with his wife. What is his name? What does he do? Is he a good jockey? Where is he now? What is he doing? Who is he with? 7) Write DON’T, DOESN’T, ISN’T, AREN’T or AM NOT in the blank space in each           sentence: a.       He isn’t listening to the radio right now. b.      He doesn’t listen to the radio every evening. c.       We …………………. watching a television program now. d.      We …………………. watch television every day. e.       They …………………. study their lessons after class. f.       They …………………. studying their lessons right now. g.      It ………………….. raining very hard right at the moment.