Kanamara Matsuri

                    FESTIVAL OF THE STEEL PHALLUS

                The Shinto Kanamara Matsuri , ("Festival of the Steel Phallus") is held each spring at the Kanayama Shrine  in Kawasaki, Japan. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April. The penis, as the central theme of the event, is reflected in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a mikoshi parade.

                 The Kanamara Matsuri is centred on a local penis-venerating shrine. The legend being that a sharp-toothed demon (vagina dentata) hid inside the vagina of a young woman and castrated two young men on their wedding nights. As a result, the young woman sought help from a blacksmith, who fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, which led to the enshrinement of the item.This legend in Ainu language was published as "The Island of Women" by Basil Hall Chamberlain.

                  The Kanayama Shrine was popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection from sexually transmitted infections.It is also said the shrine offers divine protections for business prosperity, and for the clan's prosperity; and for easy delivery, marriage, and married-couple harmony.

                  The festival started in 1977. It used to be a small festival, but it has become bigger and bigger.Today, the festival has become something of a tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV research.

                       T  E  X  T        C  O  M  P  R  E  H  E  N  S  I  O  N

01-Complete:

*_______________is the Festival of the Steel Phallus.

a)Kanamara Matsuri        b)Kawasaki        c)Mikoshi        d)Kanayama       e)Japan

02-The word “prostitutes” may be replaced by ___________________.

a)whores      b)dicks      c)beavers       d)cunts      e)snatches

03-The central theme of the event is (are) ___________________.

a)candies     b)vegetables     c)illustrations     d)decorations     e)the cock

04-In the last paragraph there are ___________regular verbs.

a)two     b)three     c)four     d)five      e)six

05-Check the correct sentence according to the text:

a)The festival is  a tourist attraction since 1997

b)Basil Hall Chamberlain is a blacksmith

c)In Kawasaki, every woman has a demon inside.

d)A blacksmith broke the demon’s teeth

e)A blacksmith assisted the young woman

06-A blacksmith came to the young woman’s ______________.

a)wedding     b)aid     c)delivery      d)festival      e)despair

Ben Carson

     Benjamin Solomon "Ben" Carson, Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American author and retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon. Carson was the first surgeon to successfully separate twins conjoined at the head. In 2008, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.
After delivering a widely publicized speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, he became a popular conservative figure in political media for his views on social and political issues.

Early life

      Carson was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Sonya and Robert Solomon Carson, a Seventh-day Adventist minister. Both his parents came from rural Georgia. His parents divorced when he was eight, and he and his ten-year-old brother Curtis were raised by their mother.

In his book Gifted Hands, Carson relates that in his youth, he had a violent temper. Once, while in the ninth grade, he nearly stabbed a friend during a fight over a radio station. After this incident, he began reading the Book of Proverbs, applying verses on anger and thereafter "never had another problem with temper".

Carson attended Southwestern High School in Southwest Detroit where he excelled in JROTC, a program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces. He quickly rose in rank and was offered an appointment to West Point.

      Carson graduated from Yale University, where he majored in psychology. He received his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School. He completed his residency in neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Medical career

     In 1987, Carson successfully separated conjoined twins, the Binder twins, who had been joined at the back of the head (craniopagus twins). The 70-member surgical team, led by Carson, worked for 22 hours. Both twins survived.
     Carson figured in the revival of the hemispherectomy, a drastic surgical procedure in which part or all of one hemisphere of the brain is removed to control severe pediatric epilepsy. He refined the procedure in the 1980s, encouraged by John M. Freeman, and performed it many times.
In March 2013, Carson announced he would retire as a surgeon, stating "I'd much rather quit when I'm at the top of my game". His retirement became official on July 1, 2013.

Personal life

     Carson and his wife, Lacena "Candy" Rustin, met in 1971 as students at Yale University. They married in 1975 and have three sons: Murray, Benjamin Jr., and Rhoeyce. They live in West Friendship, Maryland, and are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

                               T   E   X   T        C   O   M   P   R   E   H   E   N   S   I   O   N

01 Choose the correct sentence according to the text.

a)Ben Carson is a Seventh-day Adventist minister

b)Curtis had a violent temper

c)Ben Carson is sixty two years old

d)Ben Carson and his wife live in Maryland

e)Ben Carson nearly stabbed his brother Curtis

02 Sonya is ______________of Curtis.

a)cousin     b)sister     c)mom      d)grandma      e)daughter

03-Ben Carson was born in _______________.

a)Michigan     b)Maryland      c)Washington       d)Georgia       e)Connecticut

04-__________________helped Ben Carson overcome his temper.

a)The Navy     b)The US Armed Forces      c)his daddy     d)medicine

e)The Book of Proverbs

05 Ben Carson was the first surgeon to separate twins conjoined at the head in ______________________________.

a)two thousand eight      b)nineteen fifty one      c)nineteen seventy one

d)nineteen eighty       e)nineteen eighty seven

TIDY TOWNS

                       TIDY TOWNS

               The national TidyTowns initiative was launched by Bord Fáilte, the Irish Tourist Board (now Fáilte Ireland), in 1958 as part of the 'Tostal', a nationwide festival celebrating all things Irish.  A step-up from the original National Spring Clean Campaign which ran between 1953 and 1957, TidyTowns rapidly developed its own identity and has gone on to become Ireland's most well known and popular local environmental initiative.

           Right from the start, the primary focus of TidyTowns was to encourage communities to improve their local environment and make their area a better place to live, work and visit. The competition aspect was an important element in developing friendly rivalry that would help boost standards across the board. and the winner of the first competition held in 1958 was Glenties, Co Donegal. However, the emphasis was always on participating rather than winning as the very act of taking part brought benefits to the community. And with a focus on long-term results rather than quick returns, TidyTowns was soon seen as a unique and far-sighted initiative.
             Although just 52 towns entered in its first year, TidyTowns rapidly increased in popularity with an average of 700 entrants per year. Its success also spawned many other initiatives at national, county and local level, which further boosted its reputation and impact. It is impossible to accurately estimate the number of people who have had some involvement in TidyTowns, but it’s safe to say it has run into the hundreds of thousands, and its influence on the transformation of Ireland's landscape is undeniable.
               Following the restructuring of Bord Fáilte in 1995, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government assumed responsibility for TidyTowns and now organises the initiative with the support of national sponsor SuperValu and a number of other agencies. Its success continues, and while it has moved with the times, it still retains the same core principle of its founders - "make your place a better place."
                To access further information on the history of TidyTowns make sure to check out our extensive on-line archive under this section. This includes the full set of written reports on every participant since 1996, a complete photographic archive of winning towns for download through a short registration process, publications of special interest to TidyTowns over the years, video and audio links to TV and radio programmes featuring TidyTowns and the complete list of overall winners. This section will expand as we gather more and more items from TidyTowns rich past, so please make sure to visit from time to time.
              In 2015, The winner was Letterkenny. Its population is 19,588. Letterkenny is home to the only Hindu temple in the Republic of Ireland.
                        T  E  X  T         C  O  M  P  R  E  H  E  N   S  I  O  N

01-The competition is held ____________________.

a)daily      b)weekly      c)monthly       d)bimonthly       e)yearly

02-Check the correct sentence according to the text:

a)Tostal is the Irish Tourist Board

b)The National Spring Campaign is a current movement

c)TidyTowns ran from 1953 to 1957

d) SuperValu is an Irish town

e) Glenties was the 1958 winner

03-Complete:

·         TidyTowns was first held in nineteen fifty _________________.

a)three     b)six      c)seven        d)eight        e)nine

04-The success of TidyTowns is________________.

a)nationwide    b)worldwide      c)light      d)little      e)only locally

05-Choose the correct sentence according to the text:

a)”Tostal” is a local festival in Glenties

b)SuperValu is the only sponsor of the project

c)Fáilte Ireland is the Irish Tourist Board

d)The TidyTowns website has complete information on the competition throughout the times

e)Letterkenny was the winner in 2015 because it has the only Hindu temple in the Republic of Ireland