Read about It. Рахимбергенова М.Х. - 4 стр.

little of the spilled salt over their left shoulder. Throwing the spilled salt         1. Which words have the same meaning as the words in the
reverses the bad luck. When the Japanese bump heads, they immedi-                reading selection?
ately bump heads again. According to a Japanese superstition, the first                1. Superstitions about numbers are widespread.
bump means their parents will die, but the second bump «erases» the                    a. found in many places              b. believed only by children
first bump. To reverse bad luck in general, people turn around three                   2. The family took his advice.
times, turn their pockets inside out, or put their hats on backwards. In               a. did what he suggested             b. asked for more information
the United States, baseball players sometimes wear their caps back-                    3. There are superstitions that reverse bad luck.
wards when their team is losing. It looks silly, but the baseball players              a. change bad luck to good luck b. give the bad luck to some-
don’t mind if it helps them win the game.                                        one else
        Because there are so many superstitions, it is not surprising that             4. If you spill salt, immediately throw a little of the spilled salt
some of them are contradictory. In Germany, it is good luck when the             over your left shoulder.
left eye twitches and bad luck when the right eye twitches. In Malaysia,               a. use too much salt         b. pour out salt accidentally
it is exactly the opposite: a twitching right eye means good luck, and a               5. It looks silly, but the baseball players don’t mind if it helps
twitching left eye means bad luck. Accidentally putting on clothes in-           them win the game.
side out brings good luck in Pakistan but bad luck in Costa Rica. In                   a. that’s OK with the baseball players
Chile, unmarried people won’t take the last piece of food on the plate                 b. the baseball players don’t like to think about it
because it means they will never marry. In Thailand, unmarried people                  6. Some superstitions are contradictory. In Germany, it is good
take the last piece because it means they will marry someone good-               luck when the left eye twitches. In Malaysia, it is bad luck when the left
looking.                                                                         eye twitches.
        Some superstitions have been with us for so long that they have                a. are very old     b. mean the opposite
become customs. In many parts of the world it is polite to say «Health»                7. Putting clothes on inside out brings good luck in Pakistan.
or «God bless you» when someone sneezes. People used to think that                     a. in the house, rather than outside
the soul could escape from the body during a sneeze. They said «God                    b. with the inside parts on the outside
bless you» to protect people from losing their souls. Today we no                      8. People used to think that the soul could escape from the body
longer believe that people who sneeze are in danger of losing their              during a sneeze.
souls, but we say «God bless you» anyway. We say it not because we                     a. enter b. leave
are superstitious, but because we are polite.
        Even people who say they aren’t superstitious would probably                     2. What information is not in the story?
not intentionally walk under ladders and break mirrors. Almost every-                    1. There are over one million superstitions.
one is at least a little superstitious. One woman says that when she got                 2. Children are usually not superstitious.
married, her aunt gave her white bath towels. «Never buy purple tow-                     3. Many people are superstitious about numbers.
els,» her aunt said. «If you use purple towels, your marriage will end.»                 4. Numerologists make a living giving people advice about num-
Does the woman believe that superstition? «No, of course not,» she               bers.
says. «It’s silly.» Does she use purple towels? «Well, no,» she answers.                 5. It is always a good idea to take a numerologist’s advice.
«Why take chances?»                                                                      6. Some superstitions tell people how to reverse bad luck.
                                                                                         7. Some superstitions are contradictory.
                                                                                         8. Some superstitions have become customs.

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