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Irish symbols

Every country has its own symbols, things by which its known all over the world. And Ireland
is no exception. These are the most popular ones:
The shamrock: a member of the clover family, its the national .......... of Ireland and is worn
proudly by Irish people all over the world on St. Patricks Day, 17th of March.
Leprechauns: the name leprechaun is .......... from the old Irish word luchorpan which
means little body. A leprechaun is a fairy taking the appearance of a miniature old man.
Leprechauns are solitary creatures and ......... their time making shoes and brogues. If you hear
the sound of his hammer when he is at work you know you have found him. If caught, he can
be forced to reveal the .......... of his treasure, but the .......... must keep their eyes on him every
second. If the captors eyes leave the leprechaun just for a moment, he will .......... .
The Blarney Stone: it is a stone set in the wall of the Blarney castle tower in the Irish village
of Blarney. Kissing the stone is supposed to bring the kisser the ......... of persuasive eloquence
(blarney). The origins of the Blarney Stones magical properties arent clear, but one ..........
says that an old woman cast a .......... on the stone to reward a king who had saved her from
.......... . Kissing the stone while under the spell gave the king the .......... to speak sweetly and
convincingly.
Irish Green: most people think the Irish wear green on St. Patricks Day because Ireland is
called the .......... Isle for its green landscape. Hundreds of years ago in Ireland the people
.......... green leaves and boughs in the spring. Then they would spread the ......... over the
fields, believing this would make the land richer.

1. Complete the text with the words from the box.

whereabouts
emblem

gift

ashes

Emerald

legend

vanish

ability

drowning

spend

spell
burnt

derived
captor

2. Find synonyms for these words in the text.

1. lonely

..........

4. tiny

..........

7. famous

..........

2. convincing ..........

5. disclose

..........

8. island

..........

3. disappear

6. skill

..........

9. nation

..........

..........

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Answers

Exercise 1:
Emblem / derived / spend / whereabouts / captor / vanish / gift / legend / spell / drowning /
ability / Emerald / burnt / ashes.

Exercise 2:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

solitary
persuasive
vanish
little
reveal
ability
popular
isle
country

Los mejores recursos gratuitos para aprender y ensear ingls_The best free resources for learning and teaching English