Easter_Intermediate_worksheet.doc

–Eggs are an essential part of Easter. What do we do with them? What do they symbolize?

(a) The original site of the Easter Monday Egg Roll was the grounds of the US Capitol. The first egg rolls – held during the administration of President Andrew Johnson – were largely family affairs. Youngsters of the President's family dyed eggs on Sunday and rolled them on Monday morning, while the First Lady would watch from the White House. Although small groups of egg rollers were reported on the White House grounds under the presidency of General Ulysses S. Grant, the majority of egg rolling activity and all day picnics took place at the Capitol. The workers and tourists watched in fascination as the children rolled both their hard boiled eggs and themselves down the lush green hills.

(b) By the mid 1870s, the children had turned the Capitol grounds into their Easter Monday playground. The egg roll activity of 1876 took its toll on the grounds. This fact did not go unnoticed by members of Congress who passed a law forbidding the Capitol grounds to be used as a playground. The law was to be enforced in 1877. But the weather on that Easter Monday was rainy, which made the egg rollers play indoors.

(c) On Easter Saturday of 1878, a small announcement in the local press informed that the new law would be enforced. President Rutherford B. Hayes, taking his daily walk, was approached by a number of young egg rollers who inquired about the possibilities of egg rolling on the South Lawn of the White House. Unfamiliar with the activity, President Hayes returned to the White House to inquire about it. Having learnt some facts about egg rolling, the smiling President issued an official order that should any children arrive to egg roll on Easter Monday, they were to be allowed to do so. That Monday, as children were being turned away from the Capitol grounds, word quickly spread to go to the White House!

(d) President Hayes and his wife, Lucy, officially opened the White House grounds to children for egg rolling that Easter Monday. Successive Presidents continued the tradition, and the event has been held on the South Lawn ever since. The event has been cancelled on occasion only because of poor weather conditions and during World War I and World War II.

(e) Nowadays, the children attending the event take part in many newer activities, but rolling a hard-boiled egg across the lawn is still a highlight of the day. Presidents and First Ladies have personally greeted the egg rollers as have members of the Cabinet, athletes, musicians, celebrities from film, television, and theatre and the official White House Easter Bunny. At the end of the day as egg rollers say goodbye, each receives a special presidential wooden egg with the signatures of the President and the First Lady and departs with fond memories of this happy tradition at the White House.

(adapted from http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/glimpse/Easter/)

–Now read the text more carefully and decide which paragraph(s) mention(s):

Designed by Bartosz Michałowski for Pearson Longman              PHOTOCOPIABLE 2

Definitions from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

1.       major military conflicts              ………

2.      a habit of the US President              ………

3.      new legislation              ………              ………

4.      bad weather              ………              ………

5.      US President’s wife              ………              ………

6.      the media              ………

7.       a person who didn’t know anything about egg rolling              ………

8.      free gifts              ………

9.      making eggs colourful              ………