Q: Rome had the Forum . London has Speaker's Corner. Now always-on-the-go New Yorkers have Liz and Bill.

Liz and Bill, two college graduates in their early 20s, have spent a whole year trying to have thousands of people talk to them in subway stations and on busy street corners. And just talk.

Using a 2-foot-tall sign that says, " Talk to Me," they attract conversationalists, who one evening included a mental patient, and men in business suits.

They don't collect money. They don't push religion . So what's the point?

" To see what happens," said Liz. " We simply enjoy life with open talk."

Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, they decided to walk from New York City to Washington, a 270-mile trip. They found they loved talking to people along the way and wanted to continue talking with strangers after their return.

" It started as a crazy idea." Liz said. " We were so curious about all the strangers walking by with their life stories. People will talk to us about anything: their job, their clothes, their childhood experiences, anything."

Denise wanted to talk about an exam she was about to take. She had stopped by for the second time in two days, to let the two listeners know how it went.

Marcia had led her husband to a serious disease. "That was very heavy on my mind." Marcia said. " To be able to talk about it to total strangers was very good," she explained.

To celebrate a year of talking, the two held a get-together in a city park for all the people they had met over the past year. A few hundred people appeared, as well as some television cameramen and reporters.

They may plan more parties or try to attract more people to join their informal talks. Some publishers have expressed interest in a book, something the two say they'll consider before making a decision.

Answer the following questions:
1. How old are Liz and Bill?
2. What do they want people to do?
3. Why?
4. Do they like listening?
5. What city are they doing this in?
6. Have they ever done this anywhere else?
7. Where?
8. How did they get there?
9. How far is Washington from NYC?
10. Do they have a sign or anything?
11. How big is it?
12. What does it say?
13. Do any people return to talk again?
14. Did they mention anyone in particular?
15. What did she talk about?
16. Did Bill and Liz go to college?
17. Did they finish?
A: 1. early 20s
2. have people talk to them
3. To see what happens
4. yes
5. New York City
6. yes
7. Washington,
8. walked
9. a 270-mile trip
10. yes
11. 2-foot-tall
12. Talk to Me,
13. yes
14. Denise
15. an exam
16. yes
17. yes
Q: Jamaica () is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island, in area, lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola (the island containing the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Jamaica is the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean, by area.

Inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taino peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Many of the indigenous people died of disease, and the Spanish imported African slaves as labourers. Named "", the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, when England (later Great Britain) conquered it and renamed it Jamaica. Under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves forcibly transported from Africa. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many freedmen chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British imported Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations. The island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962.

With /1e6 round 1 million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas (after the United States and Canada), and the fourth-most populous country in the Caribbean. Kingston is the country's capital and largest city, with a population of 937,700. Jamaicans predominately have African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Indian, and mixed-race minorities. Due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, Jamaica has a large diaspora around the world, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Answer the following questions:
1. How many Anglophone countries in the Americas have more people than Jamaica?
2. Is Mexico one of those?
3. What countries then?
4. How many more populous countries exist in the Caribbean?
5. Is there over 500,000 people in Jamaica?
6. What's the biggest city?
7. What about its capital?
8. How many people live in the city?
9. What is their main ancestry?
10. Did a lot of people leave the country in the 1960s?
11. Why?
12. Are there many Jamaicans in the UK?
13. Where else?
14. Is it in the Mediterranean Sea?
15. Which sea?
16. What island is north of it?
17. Who arrived in the fifteenth century?
18. What are the native people called?
19. Who named it Jamaica?
20. What does it export?
A:
1. Two
2. no
3. United States and Canada
4. Three
5. yes
6. Kingston
7. Kingston
8. 937,700
9. African
10. yes
11. high rate of emigration for work
12. yes
13. Canada and the United States
14. no
15. Caribbean
16. Cuba
17. Christopher Columbus
18. Arawak and Taino peoples
19. England
20. sugar