PolyU Motto
Centre for Independent Language Learning

CILL Home
A - Z Index
Dictionary
Exercises
Grammar
Help
Listening
Pronunciation
Reading
Search CILL
Sitemap
Speaking
Vocabulary
What's New
Writing
ELC Home

120% Font Size Sharper Font Color
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Rating Form

Identify the introductory paragraph, the concluding paragraph and the topic areas in this report. Then number the paragraphs in the correct order.

Sha Tin used to be a small village on the edge of a shallow inlet. Quarter of a century later the town is hardly recognizable, with high rise buildings, large shopping centres and a population of over ½ million people.

Today it is not only local people who enjoy the world class racing in Hong Kong. Tourists increasingly add a day’s racing to their holiday itineraries and overseas betting is on the increase. It would seem that from its humble beginnings on that mosquito-infested marshland, horse racing in Hong Kong has grown into a world-renowned pastime that we should all be proud of.

However, it took another 47 years before the first permanent stands were built. These were replaced in 1957 and extended in 1969 to form part of today’s stands which can hold over 55,000 race goers.

Mention Hong Kong to anyone around the world and they will immediately think of skyscrapers, shopping and horse racing.

Hong Kong’s second racecourse opened here in 1978. Today, up to 80,000 punters flock to the seven storey grandstands each time the course opens its gates.

In the early seventies, off course betting shops were opened and telephone betting started. Now you didn’t even have to attend race meetings to follow the horses, making racing available to many more people. Nevertheless, a new race course was needed and the Jockey Club was on a lookout for a place in the New Territories.

Racing started in Hong Kong in 1846, when the first race meeting was held in Happy Valley, a flat area on Hong Kong Island which had previously been a malarial marshland. Race meetings initially occurred only once a year, at Lunar New Year, but by 1884 the Jockey Club had been founded to organise racing activities on a more professional footing.

What order do the topics appear in the article? Underline the phrases that enabled you to order the paragraphs.
  • Select any text to underline it.
Your Answer Answer
  1. Sha Tin used to be a small village on the edge of a shallow inlet. Quarter of a century later the town is hardly recognizable, with high rise buildings, large shopping centres and a population of over ½ million people.
  1. Sha Tin used to be a small village on the edge of a shallow inlet. Quarter of a century later the town is hardly recognizable, with high rise buildings, large shopping centres and a population of over ½ million people.
Your Answer Answer
  1. Today it is not only local people who enjoy the world class racing in Hong Kong. Tourists increasingly add a day’s racing to their holiday itineraries and overseas betting is on the increase. It would seem that from its humble beginnings on that mosquito-infested marshland, horse racing in Hong Kong has grown into a world-renowned pastime that we should all be proud of.
  1. Today it is not only local people who enjoy the world class racing in Hong Kong. Tourists increasingly add a day’s racing to their holiday itineraries and overseas betting is on the increase. It would seem that from its humble beginnings on that mosquito-infested marshland, horse racing in Hong Kong has grown into a world-renowned pastime that we should all be proud of.
Your Answer Answer
  1. However, it took another 47 years before the first permanent stands were built. These were replaced in 1957 and extended in 1969 to form part of today’s stands which can hold over 55,000 race goers.
  1. However, it took another 47 years before the first permanent stands were built. These were replaced in 1957 and extended in 1969 to form part of today’s stands which can hold over 55,000 race goers.
Your Answer Answer
  1. Mention Hong Kong to anyone around the world and they will immediately think of skyscrapers, shopping and horse racing.
  1. Mention Hong Kong to anyone around the world and they will immediately think of skyscrapers, shopping and horse racing.
Your Answer Answer
  1. Hong Kong’s second racecourse opened here in 1978. Today, up to 80,000 punters flock to the seven storey grandstands each time the course opens its gates.
  1. Hong Kong’s second racecourse opened here in 1978. Today, up to 80,000 punters flock to the seven storey grandstands each time the course opens its gates.
Your Answer Answer
  1. In the early seventies, off course betting shops were opened and telephone betting started. Now you didn’t even have to attend race meetings to follow the horses, making racing available to many more people. Nevertheless, a new race course was needed and the Jockey Club was on a lookout for a place in the New Territories.
  1. In the early seventies, off course betting shops were opened and telephone betting started. Now you didn’t even have to attend race meetings to follow the horses, making racing available to many more people. Nevertheless, a new race course was needed and the Jockey Club was on a lookout for a place in the New Territories.
Your Answer Answer
  1. Racing started in Hong Kong in 1846, when the first race meeting was held in Happy Valley, a flat area on Hong Kong Island which had previously been a malarial marshland. Race meetings initially occurred only once a year, at Lunar New Year, but by 1884 the Jockey Club had been founded to organise racing activities on a more professional footing.
  1. Racing started in Hong Kong in 1846, when the first race meeting was held in Happy Valley, a flat area on Hong Kong Island which had previously been a malarial marshland. Race meetings initially occurred only once a year, at Lunar New Year, but by 1884 the Jockey Club had been founded to organise racing activities on a more professional footing.

Remember, an idiom is an expression that has a meaning other than the literal one. Here are a few idioms related to horses.

Horses appear in a number of idioms in English. Explain the meaning of the idioms used in the following sentences.

  1. Everyone agreed that the new boy, Fraser, was a bit of a dark horse.
    mysterious
  2. Whenever Anita is unhappy she eats like a horse, whereas when she’s happy she hardly touches a thing.
    Eats a great deal
  3. “Don’t get on your high horse, just because you don’t agree with me”, said Freddy.
    Don’t look down on me/ don’t get offended
  4. Jenny was certain the new information she had on the company was accurate, as she had got it straight from the horse’s mouth.
    From the original source
  5. I don’t know why you keep on trying to get that car to work, in my opinion you’re flogging a dead horse.
    It is useless, it will never work
Click the tabs to show contents.
Copyright© 2012-2013 UGC ICOSA Project, Hong Kong. All rights reserved.