The Mariinsky Ballet
The Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies. It was established in St Petersburg in 1740 to provide amusement for the Imperial court, (1-E) but soon became popular with a wider audience.
In the 19th century the company really began to make its mark on the world under the direction of the choreographer, Marius Petipa. He created some of the company's greatest full-length ballets, (2-B) which took the Russian public by storm. Many of these ballets, such as The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, are still popular today.
The 1917 revolution looked like the end of classical ballet in Russia (3-F) because it was seen as imperial entertainment. Also, some of the ballet's most famous stars left Russia to continue their careers abroad, (4-C) which made matters even worse. But it wasn't long before the Mariinsky company gained recognition in the Soviet era under the new name of The Kirov Ballet.
Agrippina Vaganova was one of the people (5-A) who helped to save the company. This renowned teacher trained many of the company's stars, including the two prima ballerina assolutas of the Soviet era, Maya Plisetskaya and Galina Ulanova. The ballet school of the Mariinsky company was named after Vaganova not long after her death in the 1950's.
Today, the Mariinsky/Kirov Ballet continues to delight ballet fans around the world with its spectacular productions. There are not many ballet companies with a history as long and illustrious as this one's. A visit to the Mariinsky is well worth it (6-D) if you ever get the chance. You won't regret it.

The Train Station
Lily put her bags down on the platform and looked at the station clock. There were only ten minutes until the train 1) departed. She told her boys, George and James, to guard the bags while she went for the tickets.
As she dashed to the ticket office she wondered if the boys 2) would behave while she was gone. On her way back to the platform, Lily was in such a hurry that she wasn't looking where she 3) was going and she tripped over someone's travel bag.
Lily sat on the floor holding her bruised knee.The gentleman whose bag she had fallen over came up to her and said," 4) Have you hurt (you) yourself? Are you alright?"
Lily 5) was astonished by how much her knee hurt but she smiled bravely at the man and told him she was fine as he helped her up.
She was relieved to see that the boys were still where she had left them, but they were angry that she had taken so long. "Where have you been?" asked James. "We 6) have been waiting for ages!" added George.
"I'm sorry," said Lily, "I 7) didn't mean to worry you. I had an accident, I'm afraid."

Supervolcano
The term Supervolcano was not invented by scientists. In fact, it was first used by the BBC in a 1) documentary it made in 2000 for the popular science programme Horizon.
A Supervolcano is a large scale volcanic 2) eruption which is much greater than any that have taken place in historic times. The last time such a massive volcano occurred was more than 25.000 years ago.
This type of event would be 3) disastrous for the planet, as it would cause long-lasting weather changes which could trigger another Ice Age and lead to the extinction of many species. One area that 4) geologists suspect may be the scene of the next Supervolcano is Yellowstone National Park in the United States.
The Yellowstone volcano is most famous for its spectacular Old Faithful geyser, which shoots a large column of water into the air every ninety minutes. But what has interested scientists is that 5) recently there has been an increased amount of activity within the volcano.
Many 6) explanations have been offered for the cause of this activity, including the possibility of another Supervolcano. But as these happen only every 600,000 to 800,000 years, most scientists think we are safe - for the time being.

Afternoon Tea
Harriet could not imagine a Saturday afternoon without her usual tea party. She would spend every Saturday morning shopping and preparing for the arrival of her guests 1) later that day. She looked forward to it every weekend and went to 2) great lengths to make it as special as possible. Today was no different.
Her first port of call was the bakers to buy fresh bread and cream cakes. Then she stopped by the local delicatessen to buy smoked salmon, cured meats and a good pate for the sandwiches. Finally, she 3) paid a visit to the excellent speciality tea shop on the village high street. She liked to 4) offer her guests a different type of tea each week. This time she chose a delicate Darjeeling.
Once she had picked up all her supplies, Harriet went into her kitchen to get everything ready. Not only did the meal have to taste good, it had to look good too. She carefully removed the crusts from all the sandwiches and cut them into neat triangles before arranging them on her best china plates. The cream cakes were placed artistically on the cake stand to make them look 5) even more delicious than they already were.
When she had finished in the kitchen, Harriet went to 6) set the table. The dining table was covered in beautiful white linen to show 7) off her rose-patterned china tea service and she placed two bowls of fresh flowers at either end of the table. As soon as everything was ready, Harriet cast an eye over her handiwork and sighed with satisfaction. Everything was just as it should be.