The universities

Oxford University is the oldest university in Britain and was founded in the early 12^th century, when scholars and their pupils congregated at Oxford to study. In 1209 the townspeople expelled the students because one of the murdered a townswoman. Some of the students secured support with the King and the Pope and remained in Oxford, while others left and went to Cambridge. That is how Cambridge University was founded. Expelled students were welcomed by several monasteries and slowly the new academic centre started attracting new students, including some from abroad. One major characteristic of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities is that they are divided into colleges, which are separate, self-administered entities, and only loosely controlled by the university.

WORDLIST

academic – университетский, академический

chronicle – хроника

to congregate – собираться

to expel – выгонять, исключать

monastery – монастырь

prominent – известный, выдающийся

scholar – учёный

to secure support – получить поддержку

record – отчёт

medieval – средневековый

separate – отдельный

the Pope – Папа Римский

townspeople – горожане

well-fortified – хорошо укреплённый

self-administered entity – объект с самоуправлением

loosely controlled by – ограниченно контролированный

Answer the questions.

1. What are Oxford and Cambridge famous for?

2. Which university is older?

3. Why were the students expelled from Oxford?

4. Where did some of them go?

5. What is the major characteristic of both universities?

Sum up what the text says about the city.

HONG KONG

Read and translate the text. Say which facts given in the text were known to you.

History

Hong Kong was a British colony for over 150 years until 1997 when the British government gave it back to China. There was a huge celebration to mark the occasion. The mix of Chinese and Western influences is very easy to see.

Over six million people live in Hong Kong. There are two official languages. English is the business language but most people speak Cantonese (кантонский язык) in everyday life.