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A legend

When the bravest hero Khara-Batyr was still a little boy, his aul was attacked by raiders who caught him and made him tend their ships. He was wearing rugs and fed upon the sheep milk only.

Once, when boy was sitting alone in his sadness, the crow came to him. He addressed the crow saying:

Dear crow, my dear beard,

You who feed upon the blood,

I will give you this amulet of my neck,

Take it and fly to my aul, to my home,

Where my father lives sad and alone,

You give him this amulet back.

The crow only croaked and flied away. After some time the magpie came. The boy addressed to magpie that time:

Dear magpie, my dear beard,

You, who live with carrion alone,

I will give you this amulet,

Fly and bring it to my sweet home!

The magpie only chattered for a little and she left as well. Then the cranes came and landed nearby. The boy began to ask them:

Dear cranes, my sweet lords,

Each of you, who are known for long neck,

Take this amulet to my home

For my father to have it back.

The cranes clanged and they too left the boy alone. After some time he saw another birds, this time they were geese. So he talked to the gees:

Dear geese, my dear friends,

Now I ask and you’re my last hope,

I will give you this amulet,

Fly and bring it to my sweet home!

But the geese left him as well. After then came the swans. Boy had nothing to do, but to ask the swans this time:

Dear swans, you are lords of the lakes,

The most beautiful of the birds,

I will give you this amulet,

Fly and bring it to my sweet home!

The swans turned their heads to him, hesitated for a little, but finally they also abandoned little boy. After some time he saw the little swallow. He decided to try for the last time and talked to the swallow:

Dear swallow, sweet little bird,

I’m enslaved by my evil foes,

I will give you this amulet,

Fly and bring it to my sweet home!

The swallow firs took up, flight for some time in the air, but then it felt sorry for the boy, so the swallow came back and sit on the tree branch nearby.

“Even if my father gets this amulet”, the boy thought, “he still will not know among what people I do live”. So he took his knife, pierced his hand with it and drew Turkmen tamga in the reverse side of amulet. After that he tied it to swallow’s neck, told the bird where to find his parents and set it fly.

The swallow followed the direction boy showed her.

Through the chains of high mountains

And the depths of the lakes,

Over the wastelands and deserts,

To the very edge of the world,

She was flying with all strength she had,

With the sweat rolling down her feathers.

If it saw some danger from the high, it landed and hid beyond some little hill.

Swallow passed over numerous lands,

Many shires had it left behind,

But when sun did its thirtieth rise,

It was near that very aul,

Little boy had asked it to find.

When it had reached aul, little swallow made a flight among the yurts, it sat on the top of one yurt, then on the top of the other. It looked at the people there with great attention, but still couldn’t find any resemblance with boy’s parents.

As it was very tired after the journey, the bird finally fell asleep. And then, through its sleep, it heard the lamentations of old woman. The swallow waked up and listened. The old woman was singing:

My dear boy, my sweet little colt,

The last wisp of the grey hair of mine,

The young bulrush beside the lake,

The only and dear son of mine!

Where shall I go to find your tracks?

Was this evil foe who took you?

Or the dog who had torn your flesh?

Or the stream in the mountain river?

If the death is what destiny wants,

Then my death for me would be dearer!

The year has passed, and here’s passing another,

What a grief for a poor old mother!

“Come on, don’t you cry”, an old men tried to set her down, however, soon he began to cry as well:

“You were growing like pile in the steppe,

My one and the only son,

I have crossed for almost whole world,

But my son nowhere was found!

I’ve become as lean as old camel,

My old bones, that were harder than rock,

Are now being crashed by the fever.

And on whom can I now lean upon?

Who had haunted my dear little eagle?

Now it’s only one thing I want,

To see my son before I am gone.

Then the young girl came, she asked the man and woman to be quit and began her own sad song:

You was thin like a newly forged sword,

Dear brother, who was born with me,

I thought my life will be vivid and light,

But now there’s no gladness I see.

I am dressed in all silks alone,

I have herds of fast horses for me,

But this all can not bring me delight,

Nor my friends always running around,

Always singing their fairy songs,

My soul is still tired and stoned

Now that my dear brother is gone.

All my best days I’m spending in grief.

Dear mother and father of mine,

Do not drop all those numerous tears,

For this night I have had a dream,

Might it be it is lucky for us?

Tell me now what this dream could mean!

There was falcon I had lost for once,

Who had suddenly come back to me,

And the horse that I love most of all,

Had also returned back home,

My dear brother I’ve seen in my dream,

He was entering our home for once more!

Kudai will repay our sorrow,

Only dead men can not be seen,

I do swear with Baba-Tukty,

And I swear with Azis-Shashty

I have seen also little swallow,

Who is very good news to bring.

When the swallow heard those words, it left her branch and landed before man and woman. They both cried and untied the amulet from swallow’s neck. Then they recognized Turkmen tamga and knew that Kara-Batyr is now in Turkmen land. So they gathered people, took their best horses and went to search for their son. When they found him, they gave Turkmen people lot of presents and finally took the boy home, to their aul.

Reading skills.

Read the text and choose the correct option

Yes, they’ve been angry with me lots of times.

Read the story, understand it and, answer according to the instructions.

for young learners

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Ask the experts about some of the biggest problems of our time. Reading

reading time 2021

Ukraine war: Satellite images show how hundreds of North Korean troops were likely transported to a secluded Russian port

A.

CNN —  Hundreds of North Korean troops were likely transported by sea to Russia to fight in its war against Ukraine, satellite images have revealed, according to a new analysis from a US-based think tank shared exclusively with CNN.

B.

At least two Russian naval ships are believed to have moved North Korean soldiers to a Russian military port in Dunai, in the far east, in October and November, according to researchers at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, in California.

The ship transfers were first identified by the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS), which said in a press release last year that some soldiers were transported via the North Korean port areas of Chongjin, Hamhung and Musudan. But the South Korean agency only offered a grainy radar image at the time.

C.

“I don’t think that the Russians or the North Koreans want these transfers caught on camera,” Sam Lair, a research associate at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told CNN. “The secrecy element is quite remarkable.”

Now, researchers have verified that during the same time period of the troop transfers reported by South Korea intelligence, the Russian vessels identified by the spy agency docked at Dunai port in a remote, eastern part of Russia.

D.

In North Korea, soldiers likely boarded these ships at night, making it difficult to capture evidence of the transfers, researchers said. But satellite images have revealed activities at Dunai, “where it appears the Russians have been less careful.”

For example, in one satellite image from Planet Labs, a crane can be seen extending to one of Russia’s naval landing ships, which researchers believe is the Nikolay Vilkov, at the port on October 17, and a covered cargo truck is on the dock next to it. By October 20, the crane is retracted, and it appears a transfer of soldiers is complete.

E.

Researchers could identify the Russian “Ropucha-class” and “Alligator-class” ships in the satellite images because they match with photos captured by the Japanese Defense Ministry in March 2022, when the vessels passed through Japanese waters.

Each landing ship is believed to have capacity to hold several hundred soldiers, possibly as many as 400, according to the researchers.

F.

Lair explained that Dunai is a secure military facility, making it much more conducive to under-the-radar transfers than the large, nearby port of Vladivostok, which is in an area where civilians live.

“This is an isolated place where they can do these exchanges, where people aren’t going to notice… (where) their own citizens, and folks in the intelligence community might not notice,” Lair said.

G.

An estimated 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia, according to Ukrainian officials and Western intelligence reports in January, which say around 4,000 of those troops have been killed or injured. Kyiv says it has captured at least two North Korean soldiers. Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have confirmed the existence of North Korean troops on the front lines.

CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.

H.

“The Russians seem to have been very careful to limit the exposure of the North Korean soldiers, moving them directly to military training facilities. The motive behind all the secrecy surrounding the North Koreans is uncertain, but moving some of them through Dunai would aid in that effort,” Lair wrote in his analysis.

Dunai port has previously been used to transport cargo between Russia and the North Korea since Pyongyang started aiding the invasion of Ukraine in 2023, according to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Match the headings to the tips

I'm a typical student, I suppose. I study hard during the week and go out with my friends at the weekend. I don't have much free time but I've got lots of hobbies. I play tennis occasionally, about once every two months, and I do judo every now and then when I'm at home with my family. I don't do any sport at university, though. I watch TV most days for about an hour, but I hardly ever read. No books, no magazines, nothing! I listen to music all the time - in the car, in my room, when I'm doing homework, when I'm going to sleep. I love it. My favourite group is Coldplay but I like lots of different types of music. I go to concerts quite often, usually three or four times a year, and I always enjoy them.

My other big hobby is my computer. I don't play games on it - I think they're boring - but I'm online nearly every day. I chat to my friends on Facebook and look at photos, and I download films and music. I love watching films. I watch a film on TV almost every day and I go to the cinema twice a month, more or less. I don't like horror films - they're scary! - but I like romantic films and action films. I never read books but I read the newspaper every day online. I'm not into politics but I like reading about famous people. I think it's interesting.

So that's me. I'm a very ordinary person, really. I'm not a sportsman but I like playing tennis and doing judo. I'm not a bookworm but I love watching films and reading newspapers. And I'm not a musician but I'm always listening to music.

Read the text and answer the questions. You can use the letters as many times as you need.

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The GIST task helps students learn to SKIM quickly to decide yes/no to dedicate more time. The DETAILED task helps students learn to SCAN read with moderate speed for content.

Have you ever been to the beach? Did you see a man with a headset pointing a long pole at the ground? If so you might have seen a person using a metal detector. People use these devices to find metal. Metal detectors make magnetic waves. These waves go through the ground. The waves change when they hit metal. Then the device beeps. This lets the person with the device know that metal is close. The first metal detectors were meant to help miners. They were big. They cost a lot of money. They used a lot of power. And worst of all, they didn't work well. People kept trying to make them better. Metal detectors got smaller. Now they are light and cheap. They also work better. That is why people bring them to the beach. They can look for rings in the water. They can look for phones in the sand. Metal detectors help them find these things. They usually just find junk though. Metal detectors also protect people. They help to keep guns out of some places. They are in airports. They are in courthouses. Some schools use them. They help guards look for weapons. Guards use special wands to find metal on a person.

These devices save lives in other ways too. During wars, people plant bombs in the ground. When the war ends, they don't clean up their messes. This is unsafe for the people who live in those places. Others use metal detectors to find bombs. They remove them and help the people. These devices also make clothes safer. It sounds funny, but it's true. Most clothes are made in big factories. There are lots of needles in these places. Needles break from time to time. They get stuck in the clothes. They would poke people trying them on. They don't though. That's because our clothes are scanned for metal. Isn't that nice? Let's hear it for metal detectors. They make the world a safer place

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