BIOGRAPHY

Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and business woman. She was born on April 17, 1974, in Essex, EnglanD. She became famous in the 1990’s with the pop group “The Spice Girl”and was known as Posh SpicE. In 1999, she married the Manchester United and England footballer, David Beckham. They have four children, three sons and a daughter.

After The Spice Girl split up, she pursued a solo singer career, but also started her own fashion range called dVb StylE. Since this initial foray into fashion Victoria Beckham has brought out her own range of sunglasses and fragrance, entitled “Intimately Beckham”and a range of handbags and jewelry.

In addition she had written two best-selling books: one her autobiography and the other, a fashion guide.

1. What did Victoria do before being a solo singer?

A. Married to David Beckham

B. Worked as fashion designer

C. Joined The Spice Girl

D. Created fashion style

E. Wrote many books

2. We found in the text that ….

A. Victoria named her fragrance by dVb style

B. Beckham is Victoria’s autobiography

C. Beckham is Victoria’s brand for her fragrance

D. Posh Spice is the title of her new album

E. Spice Girls is Victoria’s label for her wardrobe

3. Based on the text, what do we know about Victoria?

A. She is an ordinary woman

B. She is a multi-talented woman

C. She designed The Spice Girls

D. She married to an ordinary person

E. She arranged many songs for The Spice Girls

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and ornament manufacturer. He was the inventor of dynamitE. He also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannons and other ornaments. He held 355 different patents, dynamite being the most famous. In his last will, he used his enormous fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. The synthetic element nobelium was named after him. He was the third son of Immanuel Nobel and Andriette Ahlsell Nobel. Born in Stckholm on 21 October 1833, he went with my family to Saint Petersburg in 1842, where his father invented modern plywooD. He studied chemistry with Professor Nikolay Nickolaevich Zinin. When he was 18, he went to the United States to study chemistry for four years and worked for a short period under John Ericsson, who designed the American Civil War ironclad USS Monitor.

Returning to Sweden, with his father after bankruptcy of his family business, he then devoted himself to the study of explosives, and especially to the save manufacture and use of nitroglycerine (discovered in 1847 by Acanio Sobrero, one of his fellow students under Theophile-Jules Pelouze at the University of Turin). A big explosion occurred on 2 September 1864 at his factory in Heleneborg in Stockholm, killing five peoplE. Among them was his younger brother, Emil.

The foundations of the Nobel Prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth for its establishment. Since 1901, the prize has honoured men and women for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and for work in peace.

4. Where did Alfred Nobel work with John Ericsson?

A. In Sweden

B. In the USA

C. In Stockholm

D. In Heleneborg

E. In Saint Petersburg

5. What is the main idea of paragraph 2?

A. Alfred Nobel devoted himself to the study of chemistry

B. His success with explosive finally led to the 1864 tragedy

C. A big explosion in Heleneborg in Stockholm killed many people

D. A big explosion destroyed his factory in Heleneborg Stockholm

E. Alfred Nobel planned the safe manufacture and use of nitroglycerine