Christmas Stockings (Reading)

-

CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS 

The Christmas stocking is one of the most popular Christmas symbols in the United States. A Christmas stocking can be a real stocking or sock, but it is often a specially made and decorated sock shape that would only fit on a giant’s foot. Each person in the family (or sometimes each child) has one Christmas stocking; they may use the same stockings every year. The stockings are hung up before Christmas, often by the fireplace. The stocking is then filled with many different treats and gifts, usually at night on Christmas Eve. It is enjoyed on Christmas Day. Some people say that Santa Claus fills the stocking. Different families have different traditions about what goes in the stocking, although coins, chocolate, and fruit—especially oranges—are common.

There are several different legends, or traditional stories, of how the Christmas stocking became part of our Christmas celebration. One of the most popular legends is of a nobleman whose wife had died, leaving him to raise their three daughters. He had lost all of his money, and so had nothing to give his daughters as a dowry, or money or property so that they could marry.

One night, the daughters hung their stockings on the fireplace to dry. The next morning, St. Nicholas had filled their stockings with gold.

Many people believe that Dutch people brought the tradition of the Christmas stocking to America. Children in Holland would leave their wooden clogs filled with straw for the reindeer on Christmas Eve. Santa would replace the straw with treats for the children to find on Christmas morning.


 Answer the following questions about the text:
1. Christmas stockings are ______.
 a. usually real socks
b. in pairs, like socks
c. often large and decorated
d. a tradition from ancient Rome

2. What is one possible origin of the tradition of Christmas stockings?
a. Girls who didn’t have dowries had their stockings filled.
b. Stockings were used to decorate houses in Germany.
c. Reindeer like to eat socks.
d. A giant stayed the night in the house over the holidays.

3. Which of the following is a similarity between the Dutch tradition and the modern-day Christmas stocking?
a. Both involve feeding reindeer.
 b. Both involve small gifts in footwear.
c. Both are only for children.
 d. Both involve stockings.

4. Which items are mentioned as being popular stocking stuffers?
a. coins, chocolate, and fruit
b. candles, toy cars, and CDs
c. pencils, calculators, and jewelry
d. books, cameras, and video games

5. Do you have a Christmas stocking? If so, what does it look like? If not, what sort of stocking do you think you might like?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alexander Graham Bell (Use of English)

-
Read the text below and choose word from each space. Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell 1.___ born in Scotland in 1847. His father, an expert on speech, 2.____  a way of teaching how words 3.___ be pronounced. He translated the 4.___ of words into straight or curvy lines. Alexander 5.___ to be a teacher and, when his mother went deaf, he started to be 6.___ in how deaf people communicate. In 1870, because his children were in poor health, Alexander and his family moved to the United States. He hoped that a warmer 7.___ would be better for the whole family. It was while he was teaching deaf children there 8.___ he invented a new machine. It was very 9.___ to the human ear itself, and Bell discover it could carry human speech 10.___ a wire from one place to another. It was not long before the telephone was a part of 11.___ our lives! 1. A.was   B.is   C.has   D.had 2. A.grew   B.built   C.developed   D.worked 3. A.ought   B.should   C.might   D.would
Read more

Computers (Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Simple)

-
Computers Since computers were first introduced to the public in the early 1980's, technology  has changed  a great deal. The first computers were  simple machines designed for basic tasks. They  did not have  much memory and they  weren't  very powerful. Early computers were often quite expensive and customers often  paid  thousands of dollars for machines which actually  did  very little. Most computers  were  separate, individual machines used mostly as expensive typewriters or for playing games.  Times  have changed . Computers have become  powerful machines with very practical applications. Programmers have created  a large selection of useful programs which do everything from teaching foreign languages to bookkeeping. We are still playing video games, but today's games  have become  faster, more exciting interactive adventures. Many computer users  have also got  on the Internet and have begun  communicating with other computer users around the world. We have start
Read more

How the recycling symbol was created (Reading)

-
Image
Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap. How the recycling symbol was created  Gary Anderson designed a symbol which we see everywhere nowadays I studied engineering at the University of Southern California at a time when there was a lot of emphasis in the United States on training young people to be engineers. That said, I eventually switched to architecture. I just couldn't get a grasp on electronics and archircture seemed more concrete to me. It was around that time that I saw a poster advertising a design competition being run by the Container Corporation of America. The idea was to create a symbol to represent recycled paper. One of my college requirements had been a graphic design course so I thhought I'd give it a go. It didn't take me long to come up with my design: only a day or two. 1.___. But I already had arrows and angles in my mind because on my course I'd done a present
Read more