Ho ho ho! / Хо-хо-хо!

   Spare a thought for this man from Rovaniemi in Finland.
   While many are on their Christmas holidays, Santa Claus and his team will be working overtime.
   In the main post office, the year's most hectic period is underway. They receive around half a million letters from children all over the world.
   They have to be answered and the team wants to avoid a backlog.
   And if you've been good this year, he might just be heading your way.

Ключевые слова (определение на английском языке)

spare a thought – remember someone sympathetically
overtime – longer than an ordinary shift
hectic – busy, chaotic
backlog – work accumulated
heading your way – going where you are

Упражнение

Вставьте слова в нужном месте (в правильной форме):

a) spare a thought
b) overtime
c) hectic
d) backlog
e) heading your way

   1. There have been numerous studies indicating that people are becoming increasingly forgetful as a result of modern __ lifestyles. Researchers have labelled the condition "busy lifestyle syndrome", with stress being the possible culprit behind day-to-day memory lapses.
   2. As Africa's economic fortunes rise and the continent continues to be charmed by superpowers, ___ for the millions of Africans in faraway lands.
   3. Hundreds of thousands of workers may be sitting idly by during the ongoing government shutdown, but comedians are working ___ to find the humour amidst the partisan political turmoil.
   4. "We have no safety concerns, however, advice to members of the public is that if smoke is ___, closing your windows would be a good common sense measure."
   5. Tom McPhail, the firm's head of pensions research, said it was "extremely sorry for the delays", but was making "significant progress in clearing the ___" and hoped to have all systems running normally again soon.

Ответы

1) c
2) a
3) b
4) e
5) d