II. Complete the sentences with the words given below.

Equal, nursery, infant school, leave school, junior school, secondary, primary school

In Britain parents can send their children to a school between the ages of about three or five, but it is optional. The children spend a few hours at nursery school each day. Between five and eleven, children go to . Primary schools are usually divided into an (for children aged five to seven) and a (for children aged seven to eleven). When they are 11 years old, children go to school and take their GCSE exams at the age of 16. They can when they are 16, but if they want to stay in education, they study for a further two years. Many people in Britain are against private schools and they stand for opportunities for secondary school children.

III. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense. Add commas where necessary.

1. Simon … (to go) to London next week if he … (to get) a cheap flight. 2. If they … (not to study) harder they … (not to pass) the exam. 3. If you … (to send) this letter now she … (to receive) it tomorrow. 4. If Bill … (to do) lots of exercise he … (to be) fit and healthy. 5. Mike … (to be able) to go on holiday if he … (to save) enough money. 6. … you … (to give) me a call if you … (to have) time tomorrow?

Britten composed as a child and at the age of 12 began several years of study under the composer and teacher frank bridge. he later studied under john ireland and arthur benjamin at the royal college of music in london and, while there, composed the set of choral variations a boy was born (1933; revised, 1958). he then worked as a composer for the radio, theatre, and cinema, coming into close contact with the poet w.h. auden. in 1937 his variations on a theme of frank bridge, for string orchestra, won him international acclaim. from 1939 to 1942 he was in the united states, where his first work for the stage, the operetta paul bunyan (1941; libretto by auden), was performed. a commission by the koussevitzky foundation led to the composition of his opera peter grimes (1945; libretto by m. slater after george crabbe’s poem the borough), which placed britten in the forefront of 20th-century composers of opera. his later operas include the rape of lucretia (1946); the comic albert herring (1947); billy budd (1951; after herman melville); gloriana (1953; written for the coronation of queen elizabeth ii); the turn of the screw (1954; after henry james); a midsummer night’s dream (1960); owen wingrave (television, 1971); and death in venice (1973; after thomas mann). with the church parable curlew river (1964), his conception of musical theatre took a new direction, combining influences from the japanese noh theatre and english medieval religious drama. two other church parables, the burning fiery furnace (1966) and the prodigal son (1968), followed. an earlier church-pageant opera, noye’s fludde (1958), made use of one of the medieval chester mystery plays. the rape of lucretia marked the inception of the english opera group, with britten as artistic director, composer, and conductor