Reading. Notting Hill carnival

NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL

Notting Hill Carnival is held in London each August bank holiday, and is the largest and most colourful street event in Britain. The festival celebrates the traditions of the British black community, who emigrated to Great Britain from the West Indies in the 1950s. They brought with them the Caribbean idea of the carnival, with processions, colourful costumes, steel bands and street dancing. Preparations for the carnival begin many months beforehand. Costumes have to be made, and floats built, ready for the street procession. Steel bands practise traditional Caribbean music on instruments made from old oil drums. Shortly before the festival, the streets are decorated with red, green and yellow streamers, and amplifiers are set in place, to carry the rhythmic sounds over the roar of the London traffic. The carnival lasts for three days, and is full of music and colour. Processions of floats, steel and brass bands, and dancers in exotic costumes make their way through the narrow London streets, watched by thousands of people. The streets are lined with stalls selling tropical fruits, such as fresh pineapple, watermelons and mangoes. Everybody dances - black and white, young and old - and even the policemen on duty take part in the fun. For these three days in August, a little Caribbean magic touches the streets of London.

EXERCISE 1: Find words or phrases in the passage which mean the same as:

COLUMN A COLUMN B

a) public holiday during which the banks are

closed by law

b) customs and beliefs continued from past

generations

c) move from one's own country to live in another

d) group of musicians who play music on metal

drums-often West Indian

e) in advance

f) type of vehicle which is highly decorated, and

often carries people, especially for a carnival

procession

g) round, metal container for oil

h) long ribbon of paper

i) electrical equipment for making sound louder

j) loud, deep sound

k) group of musicians who play instruments such

as trumpets and trombones

I) colourful and unusual, often having to do with

distant countries

m) go; travel (phrase)

n) small shop - often just on a table - which is

outside

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EXERCISE 2: Choose the correct answer according to the passage.

1. Although Notting Hill Carnival is a celebration of the traditions of black people in

Britain

A) people from all over the world come to watch it

B) everybody seems to participate in it

C) Caribbean people also take part in it

D) it touches on native British traditions as well

E) it is gaining in popularity among the white in recent years

2. During the Carnival,

A) the police find it difficult to keep the participants under control

B) preparations begin early in the morning

C) the participants in the carnival decorate the streets with colourful streamers

D) traffic is banned from certain streets

E) music and colour fill the streets of London

3. The writer states that

A) thousands of people take part in the preparations for the carnival

B) this carnival has been held since the 1950s

C) dancers in the carnival wear special clothes

D) usually there are many injuries during the carnival because of the great crush of people

E) the dancers in the carnival are from the black community

EXERCISE 3: Complete the sentences by selecting words from Column B in EXERCISE 1.

1. They are planning to to Australia because they think there will be more

opportunities there.

2. When we went to the concert, we immediately to the front of the crowd

so that we could see better.

3. We bought the tickets so as not to be disappointed on the day.

4. When I have saved enough money, I intend to go on a long holiday to all the

places I have always dreamt about.

5. I hate market days because it is so difficult to walk round all the in the

street.

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