The Russian Federation.
The
Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It occupies
about one-seventh of the earth’s surface. It’s total area
is about 17 million square kilometers. The country is washed by 12
seas of 3 oceans : the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Arctic. Russia
borders with many country. They are : Korea, China, Mongolia,
Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Norway, Finland, the Baltic states,
Belorussia and the Ukraine. It also has a sea border with the USA.
The population of the Russian Federation is nearly 250 million
people. The capital of the country is Moscow. It’s its largest
political, scientific, cultural and economical center. Russia
is very rich in mineral resources. There is gold, platinum, diamonds,
coal, peat, oil, gas and wood. There are over two million rivers in
Russia. The Europe’s biggest river , the Volga , flows into the
Caspian sea. Others main rivers are : the Ob, the Yenisei, the Lena
and the Amur. Russia is also rich in beautiful lakes. The world
biggest lake - the Caspian sea and the world deepest lake - Lake
Baikal are in it. Russia has one-six of the world’s forests.
They are concentrated in the European north of the country, in
Siberia and in Far East. On the vast territory of the country there
are different types of climate, from arctic in the north to
subtropical in the south. In the middle of the country the climate is
continental. Russia has four beautiful seasons : winter , spring ,
summer and autumn. They are very different. The
Russian Federation is a parliamentary republic. The Head of State is
the President. He is elected for 4 years and his powers are limited
by the Duma. At present Russia has some political and economical
problems. (The price are rising, the rate of inflation is very high,
people are losing their jobs and many factories are stopped). But
I believe that in the future the young generation of your country
will sold all these problems and they shall make “Great”
Russia as strong and powerful as it used to be.
RUSSIA.
Russia occupy a large
territory. It strech almost 10 000 (ten thousend) kilometres from
east to west and nearly 5 000 (five thousend) kilometres from north
to south. It's population is 150 000 000 (one handred and fifty)
million people.
From spring till autmn the
sun never sets over Russia: in Kaliningrad peole see it sitting in
the Baltic, while in Kamchatka it rises out of the Pasific Ocean at
the some time. People in our country see the New Year in eleven times
in one night.
If you begin to trevell in
the Far East by air and fly 8 000 (eight thousend)kilometres towards
the west, you will land in Moscow on thr same hour same day that you
left the Far East.
It is a wonderful sight yo
see our country from the plane. One can hardly imagine a country more
interesting to trevellers whan Russia.
Siberia covers millions of
square kilometres. You fly over mountain, endless forests, large and
small rivers, railways, motorways. You leave behind the lights of
young and small towns, plants and factories. Siberia is a rigeon of
untold riches.
Father West are the Ural
Mountains the border between Asia and europe. The Urals are riche in
different minerals.
The country's European part
covers the territory from Urals to the Baltic Sea. The largest cities
of the Russia are situated between theBlack Sea in the south and the
Black Sea in the north. Such an our country from East to West. There
is no over countrys in which the climet differs so much from one part
to another. When it is still winter in the northen regions of our
country the first warm days arrive in the south. In the central
regions show storms and cold are still in power, while in the south
people begin to think of spring crops. In the same season nature
looks different in different parts of our country.
Russia is
rich in oil, coul, iron, gold, silver and other minerals.
MUSICIANS.
I will tell
you about not a very popular and famous musician.
His songs sound wonderful,
and be has an interesting way of making his melodies.
Ed Alleyne-Johnson is a composer and violinist.
Ed leant to play the violin at school.
He
played in the school orchestra,
but he did not really enjoy playing classical music.
It was
too rigid.
He did not go to the music college.
He studied painting at the school of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford.
But he carried on playing the violin in rock bands and folk bands.
He tried to make career as a painter,
but it was too difficult so he went back to music.
He started playing on the streets in England,
and then he traveled around the Europe and the States.
He met a lot of different musicians in different countries and leant
some of the styles.
He does not imitate them.
Not many people play electric violin on the street,
so people are usually interested. His violin is also a special one.
Normal violins have four strings.
Ed is violin has got five.
He painted it purple as his first violin which he inherited from his
grandfather.
It became a sort of trade mark.
When he is playing it,
it sound like more than one instrument.
It has
a device that records music he has Just played,
and repeats it again and again.
It is
a sort of high-tech,
one-man band.
He has also made a CD.
It is called «The Purple Electric Violin Concerto».
At the moment he is recording a new CD.
He is going to go back to Europe and give free concerts on the
streets and in record stores. His music was inspired by the streets,
and he would tike to take it back to the people who helped him to
write it.And
here is another man who has been in the music business for about
twenty years .His name is Paul
Keгак.
He never had another job.
He started playing when he was just a kid,
he taught himself to play. He tried few instruments
,
First there drums-it was when he was only five. After that it was
there piano and then later the keyboards.
He plays guitar also. He started playing professionally when he was
still at school.
He left school at sixteen.
He was
playing in a band, working on Sunday evening in pubs and clubs. When
he left school his only ambitions was to be in a pop group. He was
played with «Roxy Music» and »THE Smiths»
. And
he made records with «Pretendness» and «Madness».
It is very important to him because he made a first hit record with
them. That was in
1974 .
The song was called «How Long» and it was a big bit all
over the world. Since
1985
he is with «Mike and the Mechanics». He is the singer
-vocalist and Mike plays the guitar.
He always wanted to work in America.
He was pleased when his records were successful there.
And last summer he made an own record.
It came out in the October and it is called «Groove Approval»
. It
is doing quite well,
especially in America. His records are often played on radio there
and there are more people that have heard of him then in Britain.
He is not a superstar of course.
But people know his name and buy his albums.
MUSIC.
Music - it art, reflecting
validity in sound art images, one of the forms of public ideology.
Having by powerful force direct emotional
effect, music
during of all history of man-kind plays a huge social,cultural and
educational role.
Lieading composers are
connected to progressive public movements,
life, interests and aspirations
people. Each nations differs by peculiar national features. Folk
music, being improved by creative efforts of many generations of the
people, reaches a high degree of art maturity. On the basis of riches
of national music professional musical creativity of composers is
developed. Rejection of music from advanced ideas epoch of national
culture, national roots of art leads to it's to decline and
degeneration.
Idia emotional catchword of
music is passed through sound art images, implemented in musical
sounds. The basic of music is the tune. according to the way of
performance music is divided into 2 main branches:instrumental and
vocal.
There are a lot of
different styles of music. Such as: Jazz, Pop, Rock, Classic; and new
musical directions.Such as: Rave, Hard Core, Jungle, Break Beat and
many other. I like to listen to rave music and Happy Hard Core.
As for me i like these styles
because they are very rythmic and dancing. The beginning of techno
music was put very known singer Fredde Mercuri was the first to
compose music in the style techno. In those years very few people
evaluated new style of music. But with the years a new style has
grown up to such global sizes. Now this music is listened to by large
part of youth. I think it's very good that such musical direction as
raiv has appeared. Because in raiv there are a lot of musical
directions. Young people that are fond of music can easily choose
just that style which appeals to them.
Famous actors : Paul Newman, Elizabeth Tailor
Newman,
actor, director, and racing driver, was born so good looking that
people said it was а shame to waste such beauty on, boy. He
was born in Cleveland, 0hio, in 1925, and did some acting in high
school and college, but never seriously considered making it his
future career. However, after graduating, he immediately started
working in the theater. He met his first wife, Jackie Witte, while
they were acting together, and they got married in 1949. They had
three children, a boy and two girls He found work in the theater and
on several TV shows in New York. When he was thirty, he went to Los
Angeles and made his first film. It was what Newman called an
'uncomfortable' start in the movies, in the role of a Greek slave.
The experience was so bad that he went back to the theater and didn't
accept another film role for two years. The film he chose was his
big break. He played the boxer, Rocky Graziano, in the film Someone
up There Likes Me. Newman is a method actor who believes in living
the part before beginning the film He spent days - from morning till
night - with Graziano. He studied the fighter's speech and watched
him box, and they talked endlessly about Graziano's childhood. The
picture brought Newman stardom overnight. He was living in Los
Angeles away from his family when he met Joanne Woodward, an actress
who he had first met in New York. They worked together in The Long
Hot Summer. His wife, Jackie, and Paul recognized that their marriage
wasn't working, and got divorced. Newman and Miss Woodward were
married in Las Vegas in 1958. Newman went on to make films such as
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid, The Sting and Towering Inferno. He has made over forty-five
films, and has won many awards, but he has never won an Oscar. His
marriage to Woodward is one of the longest and strongest in
Hollywood. They have three daughters, and they have co-starred in six
films. Ever since the film Winning, Newman has been passionately
interested in car racing, and in 1979 he came second in the
twenty-four hour Le Mans race. But the end of the 1970s was not all
good news for him. In 1978 his only son, Scott, died of a drug
overdose, and as a result Newman created the Scott Newman Foundation
to inform young people on drug abuse. He has a strong social
conscience, and has supported causes such as the anti-nuclear
movement, the environment, and driver education. All the money from
'Newman's Own' salad dressing, popcorn, and spaghetti sauce, now a
multi-million dollar business, goes to charity. He is more than just
a movie star. would like to be remembered as a man who has tried to
help people to communicate with each other,' says Newman, 'and who
has tried to do something good with his life. You have to keep
trying. Thafs the most important thing.'
TV
in my life.
TV
is very important thing in our life. We can say that TV is our eyes
because TV helps us to know more about the world, about the others
counties, about the events that happened in the world. TV even helps
you to know more about yourself. I like to watch TV very much. I can
do that all day, that’s why sometimes my mother makes me turn
off TV. I have about 12 Russian TV channels, they are : NTV, MTV,
ORT, RTR, and others. I also have few KOSMOS TV’s channels, for
example: Cartoon network, Discovery channel, TVE, and BBC. I like
some of them and hate others. So here are some words about the
channels that I like. So, my favorite channel is MTV . MTV is a music
channel. 24 hours a day of music, can you believe it ? I like to
listen music very much , and sometimes I even make myself the music,
that is why I enjoy to watch MTV. I also like NTV. This channel has
very interesting films, for example “ER” - my favorite
film and a lot of sport programs. I like sport, especially football.
NTV usually shows us two football match a week ( one Champion’s
League match and one Russian national championship’s match ). I
also like several foreigner channels, especially Eurosport. And you
know why ! Cartoon network is not bad, but I think that it’s
better for children - not for me. That’s all about me. I also
want to tell you about my parent’s favorite channels. My father
likes different channels with action films. His favorite actor is
Sylvester Stalonne. My mother likes talk-shows, for example “
Я сама ”
on TV6, and information programs, like “Сегодня”
on NTV,
“Время”
on ORT, and
“Вести”
on RTR. She also likes BBC channels, which is one of the best
information’s channels in the whole world. The Bush house is a
headquarters of the BBC World Service. Form this building the BBC
broadcasts radio programmers to the hole world. the World Service
used to be called “ The Empire Service ”. It started in
1932, broadcast only in English. At the first the announcers used
formal English and used to speak very slowly and clearly. In the
1930s the BBC started broadcasting to the Middle East. And in the
1938 it started broadcasting in Arabic. Very soon the BBC was
broadcasting to all countries occupied by the Nazis. The BBC got a
reputation for honesty and accuracy. After the Second World War the
BBC continued its foreign languages broadcasts, and to this day
broadcasts the news in thirty-nine languages. In the Newsroom a
hundred and twenty journalists work day and night , writing two
hundred news bulletins every 24 hours. All news in the BBC are
checked at least twice before it is broadcasting. That’s why
the World Service is not always popular with governments. The bb is
the world’s largest international broadcaster. Every week, one
hundred and thirty million people listen to BBC World Service radio.
In 1992 the World Service started broadcasting TV programs and today
people in countries all over the world can see as well as hear the
news from the BBC. Cause of our different tastes, sometimes my family
has a problem with choosing channels. Somebody thinks that TV is bad,
but I don’t think so. I believe that in the future TV will be
better and everyone will like it.
RADIO
AND TELEVISION.
Of
all the discoveries ever made by man, radio or wireless, is one of
the most wonderfull. By means of wireless, you can speak to a man
on the other side of the world. Seated confortably in your own home,
you can hear music or talks, broadcast thousand of miles away from
your- talks on national and international affairs, on science,
history and other educational subject.
I
listen to the wireless almost every evening, mine is are eght-valve
set an arial which gives splended results. I t has medium, long and
short wave-lenghts and it quit simple to manipulate. All I have to do
it's to tune into the station I require.
I
use my set a good deal for keeping up my forhn lanuges.
Mass
media.
Mass
media ( that is the press, the radio and television ) play an
important role in the life of society. They inform, educate and
entertain people. They also influence the way people look at the
world and make them change their views. Mass media mould public
opinion.Millions of people in their spare time watch TV and read
newspapers.
Everybody
can find there something interesting for him. On the radio
one
can hear music, plays, news and various discussions or commentaries
of current events. Lot’s radio or TV games and films attract a
large audience. Newspapers uses in different ways,but basically they
are read.
There
is a lot of advertisment on mass media. Some of the TV and radio
stations and newspapers are owned by different corporations. The
owners can advertise whatever they choose.
But
it is hardly fair to say that mass media do not try to raise cultural
level of the people or to develop their artistic taste. Mass media
brings to millions of homes not only entertaiment and news but also
cultural and educational programs.
There
are more then six TV channels and lot’s of radio stations and
newspapers now in the Russian Federation.
Museums
and art galleries.
Millions people al over the world spend
their holidays visiting museums and art galleries. They visit them to
see new things, to know more about other countries, their traditions,
about history and even future of the mankind. There are different
type of museums : historical, military The Tower of
London is a historical museum. It is the oldest palace, fortress and
prison in Europe. It’s also one of the most popular museums
nowadays. The great central tower, the White tower was built around
1090 by William the Conqueror on the site of a Roman fort built there
more than 1000 years earlier. Massive defensive walls and other
towers were added later. Through the centuries, the Tower of London
has been a citadel, a palace, a prison for offenders against the
State, the home of the Mint, the treasury for the Crown Jewels, a
menagerie, and the first Royal observatory. Three queens of England
have been beheaded within its walls. The Tower’s guardians are
the Yeomen Warders who wear splendid scarlet and gold uniforms dating
back to Henry VII’s time. Sir Hans Sloane was a
great collector. He filled his house with rare books and pictures,
precious stones, stuffed animals, birds and butterflies, and ancient
remains from all over the world. There had never been a collection
quite like it , and visitors were amazed by what they saw. When Sir
Hans Sloane died in 1753, his wife let the King buy the whole
collection for just 20 000 pounds so that it could belong to the
nation for ever. This was the start of the British Museums. It took
thirty years and thousands of tons of stone to complete the building
and the forty-four massive columns which decorated the front. The
building of the British Museums was finished in 1948. The
state Tretyakov Gallery is one of the best-known picture galleries in
the world. It takes its name from its founder Pavel Tretyakov, a
Moscow merchant and art connoisseur. In the mid-19th
century, Tretyakov began to collect Russian paintings. He visited all
the exhibitions and art studios and bought the best pictures of
contemporary artists. Little by little Tretyakov extended his range
of interest and began to collect earlier Russian paintings. More than
once he had to add wings to his house, because his collection grew
larger and larger. In 1881 Pavel Tretyakov opened his collection to
the public. 11 years later he donated it to the city of Moscow. Since
then the gallery has received hundreds of pictures from other museums
and private collection. Today the Tretyakov gallery is not only
Russia’s biggest and most important museums of Russian art, it
is also a research, cultural and educational center.
Japan
school .
We all know that education is
important in every country , but in Japan it’s more important
for lots of reasons. The main reason is because the Japanese
attitude to jobs. A good job is important to most people, but in
Russia for example many people expect to, and perhaps want to, try
more then one job in their lives. In Japan is different. People
usually stay with the same company from the time they leave school or
university until they retire. So the children must do well at school
to get a good job then they leave. The hard work starts at 12 then
they leave primary school and move to junior high school. There is
less relaxed and more competitive. They are about 40 pupils in each
class and discipline is quite strict. The pupils sit in rows, and
before each lesson they stand up and bow to the teacher. Politeness
and respect are very important in Japan. The pupils don’t ask
questions. It’s considered rude to question a teacher. And
another difference is that they go to school on Saturday. So they
have 6 days of school a week. They also go to special extra schools
in the evening, so they are busy most of the time. They have 3 or 4
hours of homework every night. The Japanese teenagers go back to
school because that is when they have club activities – sports
clubs, art clubs, English clubs and others. And children like their
schools ‘cause they have no time to be bored. I
think Russian schools could learn something from Japan.
Educating
children at home.
Now educating children
at home is something that apparently twice the number of parents are
talking on than used to be the case. It is estimated that about 6000
children are being taught at home without going to school. “
Education Otherwise ” is the name of one organization of
parents who have taken this step, and Bruce Cox is one of their
number. Bruce thinks that it is not against the law to take the
children out of school or not to put them in school. Children must be
educated, according to the 1944 Act, but whether you educate them in
school or otherwise, is a matter for parents to choose - he thinks.
For some of children it is better to be educated at home or in
alternative school than in government’s school. People don’t
sent their children to school in the first place for a variety of
reasons. They aren’t particularly hostile to school in some
respects, that they could do just as good a job. And they very much
enjoy having their family all together at home. They have done a
certain amount of more organized maths, but most of the things they
do arise out of the ordinary business of day-to-day life and
responding to their interests and questions. They also thinks that
children, who were educated at home, are perfectly OK as far as
reading and writing are concerned, though they’ve been much
more happy to leave the direct teaching of it to a later point in
their lives than perhaps would happen at school. Parents don’t
have to be a qualified teacher to their children at home. Most of
them [ parents ] went to school and were quite successful, quite
enjoyed it. They did think that it was very dependent on the ‘
carrot and stick ’ motivation. It means that they don’t
hate the school, they just want better for their children. Maybe it
is right, maybe not, but we should to try to understand and help
them.
Hobbies.
Hobbies differ like tastes. If you have chosen a hobby according
to your character and taste - you are lucky because your life becomes
more interesting. Hobbies are divided into four large classes :
doing things, making things, collecting things, and learning things.
The most popular of all hobby groups is doing things. It includes a
wide variety of activities, everything from gardening to traveling
and from chess to volleyball. Gardening is one of the oldest man’s
hobbies. It is well-know fact that the English are very found of
gardening and growing flowers, especially roses. Both grown-ups and
children are found of playing different computer games. This is a
relatively new hobby but it is becoming more and more popular. Making
thing includes drawing, painting, making sculpture, designing
costumes, handicrafts and others. Two of the most famous hobby
painters were President Eisenhower and Sir Winston Churchill. Some
hobbyists write music or play musical instruments. President Bill
Clinton, for example, plays on the saxophone. Almost everyone
collects something at some period in his life : stamps, coins,
matchboxes, books, records, postcards, toys, watches and other
things. Some collection have not real value. Others become so large
and so valuable that they are housed in museums and art galleries.
Many world famous collections started in a small way with one or two
items . People with a good deal of money often collect paintings,
rare books and other art object. Often such private collections are
given to museums, libraries and public galleries so that others might
take pleasure in seeing them. No matter what kind of hobby a person
has, he always has the opportunity of learning from it. By reading
about the things he is interested in, he is adding to what he knows.
Learning thing can be the most exciting aspect of a hobby. So I think
that everyone should have a hobby, it is liked the target of your
life.
LEISURE
TIME AND HOBBY
Many
man,many minds. All people are different and so they
prefer
spending their free time in different ways. Some of them
go
the parks, forests,to the country and enjoy the beauty of
nature.
Others like to stay at home watching TV or reading
books.
There are people who are fond of cinema and theatres, so
they
try to go there as often as pos- sible. As for me I prefer
to
spend my free time in different ways. I like to go in for
sports,
to play football, basketball or volleyball with my
friends.
I like to watch TV, to listen a tape recorder and play
computer
games. Also I like to go for a walk in the country and
enjoy
the beauty of nature.And my way of spending free time is
connected
with my hobby. And my hobby is reading books...
I"d
like to say that it"s hard to imagine our life without
books.Books
play such a great role in the development of
personality.
They help as to forget our daily problems and to
pretend
we travel to the past, future and to many different,
wonderfull
places that we can"t visit in reality. I am also
sure
that books are our good friends and teachers. From them we
get
to know the life around as better, they teatch as how to
tell
right from wrong, to love our Motherland, to understand
friendship,
people"s feelings. So, they teach us how to live.
As
for me I like to read different kinds of books: ......
LIESURE TIME.
Everybody sometimes
has a free time. Somebody prefer only to sleep in their liesure
time, but the largest part of us prefer to do a great amount of
things which are pleasant and interesting for us. It may be reading,
a various types of sport game, watching TV, listening music and
others. If we have a few day or a week we prefer to go to the
attractive places. Many peoples thing that pupils and studients have
too much liesure ,but in my opinion, they are wrong. We are very
busy. Many pupils have six or se-ven lessons a day and go to
school live or six day a week. Even during the holiday we learn our
lessons after school. And we just no time to go some-there. Oldest of
us are working after school or institutes. IТam
not spend my time at school and ofter I have a free time. The large
part of my free time devote to reading. I like to read books about
another coun-tries, another times and another worlds. Also I read
books about history of our country. Besides reading I like to do
physical exercises. I and my school friends often gather after school
and play basketball, fooftball or other active games. But my favorite
hobby is travelling. Usually I travel in summer and ofter it is a
trip to the south, to the warm sea. thing all peoples must have
other occupation besides their basic work, ba-csuse it extand the
bounduries of the familar world and teach us something new about
people and thing.
Traveling.
Here is a story of a man who had an
terrible holiday: The first thing that went wrong was that the
country we were going to decided to have a war a few days before we
were going there. So that was the end of that. But the plane we were
going on was stopping off at Rome. So rather than not having a
holiday at all, we thought we'd go to Italy. Very nice. See the
sights. Go to the beaches and get fat with pasta. We were at the
airport waiting for the plane and a friend of mine who lived near the
airport had come to see us off. So we were having a few drinks in the
bar and joking with this friend of mine, Peter, saying 'Poor old you
in cold rainy England. This time tomorrow we'll be in Italy on the
beach.' And I went down to see if the flight had been called and
discovered it had gone. It was a terribly stupid mistake.
We hadn't checked the
time of departure. I was sure it was going 9 something but it was
going at 19 something which of course is 7 o'clock. So we were
actually there in the bar when it went without us. We were
determined to have our holiday. The irony was that Peter was now
going back to his comfortable home and we were stuck in the cold and
the rain at 10 o'clock at night. You see, it was a charter flight so
we couldn't book another one. We lost our money and all the other
flights were booked up. Well, we got a train to the South Coast and
caught the midnight boat across the Channel, froze to death all
night, it was a terrible crossing with people being sick everywhere.
And eventually we got to I think it was Dieppe and then a train to
Paris. We got to Paris very early in the morning and I thought we'd
be all right. You see, we now had to hitch hike because a lot of our
money had gone on the boat and the train, but I thought 'Well, it's
very early in the morning, we'll get a good place to start hitching
and we'll soon be well on our way.' We got to the start of the
motorway and I just couldn't believe it. I've never seen so many
people trying to hitch a lift in all my life. Well, it was then it
suddenly dawned on me. It was August the first wasn't it? and on
August the first in France the whole population goes on holiday and
there were hundreds of people, stopping the traffic, banging on
drivers' windows trying to persuade them to stop and give them a
lift. It was chaos, disastrous. Well, we got moving eventually. A
lorry driver gave us a lift. And then things started to get better,
as we got further south and it got warmer, you know, and we thought
'At last, the holiday's beginning.' Well, we camped that night and we
then set off again the next day. We got some lifts, and met a great
chap who owned a vineyard. He took us back to his farm and we tasted
all this wine -Burgundy, my favorite - and we had a great time. Now
the holiday really was starting. Well, he took us back to the
motorway, and there we were by the side of the road, the sun was
shining, we were a bit merry, sang a few songs - you know, life was
great. And we got another lift from ... well he was a maniac,
complete maniac. He seemed nice enough, but within a few minutes he
was driving at about a hundred miles an hour, overtaking on the
inside on the motorway, with his stereo at full volume, one hand on
the wheel and well the other hand on various parts of Susan's body.
What! So what did you do? I don't know why I'm laughing I've never
been so frightened in all my life. We were absolutely -helpless.
Susan tried to say that she had to go to the toilet, but he wouldn't
stop then she pretended to be sick in his car, and he stopped in
seconds. He had this really flash expensive car, and as soon as he
stopped we just jumped out and ran. The worst thing was this
tremendous drop from feeling so good to thinking that we were going
to get killed. We eventually got down to the south of France and
began to have a good time, and then down to Italy. We ran out of
money, of course, but apart from that, it was good. I've never had
such a tiring holiday. When we got back, I was exhausted. At the end
of the holiday, I needed a holiday! And this is a story of an old
woman. She has traveled all over the world in her tiny van. It's a
nice way of having holiday. Now at this moment, somewhere on the
other side of the Atlantic, Olive Gibbs is probably chugging along
the road, in the early morning in her tiny camping van. The travel
bug came to Mrs. Gibbs rather late in life. About 14 years ago, to
help her get over the death of her husband she went on an overland
bus trip to Katmandu. This fired her with the enthusiasm to travel
more, but as she couldn't afford to go on extensive organized tours,
she bought a camper and took to the road alone. Now at the age of 72,
she's clocked up about 75,000 miles on trips that have taken her to
America, Australia and South Africa. Ann Catchpole met her at her
home on the Sussex coast just before she was setting out on her
current venture another wander around America, Canada and Mexico,
that'll take about a year, and she'd been very busy that afternoon
packing up the van, mainly, as she told Ann, with stocks of food.
Of all the meals that I
have during the day, my breakfast is the one that I like. It's not
that I have a large breakfast but I do like my toast and marmalade.
I've got quite a few pounds of marmalade in my van at the moment, I
should think I have about 10 pounds, and when that run out and if I'm
down in California by then I shall make some marmalade. I take
English things like Marmite which not many other countries of the
world seem to appreciate. I'm also taking crisp breads to the United
States because I don't care for their bread very much. And I take
biscuits because I don't care for their biscuits very much. But
otherwise I can buy everything I need in the United States. But I
don't like wasting my time shopping, so I carry as much as I can and
visit a supermarket only when I'm forced to. Well, I know vaguely
which way I'm going to go, but I do change my direction if there's
something I hear about which I think I would like to see, or I don't
like the road I'll go a completely different way. And at the
beginning of the day I don't know quite where I'm going to sleep at
night. I wait until I feel tired or I wait until I see somewhere that
attracts me and then I stop. The first thing I do, and I do this
deliberately, I make myself a cup of tea, and I sit outside my van
because I think it, it pleases the Americans to see an English lady
having afternoon tea. But as soon as I really ... as soon as I
arrive, especially in the United States or Canada, the men all want
to talk to me about places they've been to when they were in the army
during the war over here. Other people want to know and tell me about
where their ancestors came from, and nearly always I have been to the
places, or at least know something about them, because I do travel
quite a bit in my own country as well as going abroad. In fact when
I'm trying to unpack at the end of a day's journey and get a meal in
the evening, life becomes very difficult because people gather round
and want to know all about me and it's almost dark before I can get
on with my unpacking and getting a meal ready. But I do try to get my
cup of tea in first. In Zimbabwe, at that time called Rhodesia, and I
was actually camping in Zimbabwe by the Zimbabwe ruins. And during
the night someone went by with a torch. It woke me up, and I just
thought it was somebody going to a toilet, and I took no notice. But
when I woke up in the morning I found that a lot of my papers had
been taken, and the wallet in which I kept them. And of course I
didn't realize at the time what was going on. It must have been the
noise of the door closing which woke me up. I suppose I'm very
foolish but often I don't lock myself in my van at night. Sometimes I
do if I feel at all nervous or if I'm in a camp site on my own, then
I do lock myself in. Each country has something special about it. But
I think the beauty of South Africa is something that I shall never
forget. I used to stand sometimes when I was there and say to myself,
'Just look and look as much as you can in case you don't come this
way again.
National holidays
There are many national holidays
in the world, when people all over the country do not work and have
special celebrations. For example in Russia the major holidays are:
New Year's Day, Victory Day. The first holiday of the year is New
Year's Day. People see the new year in at midnight on the 31st of
December. They greet the new year with champagne and listen to the
Kremlin chimes beating 12 o'clock. There are lots of New Year
traditions in Russia. In every home there is a New Year tree
glittering with colored lights and decorations. Children always wait
for Father Frost to come and give them a present. Many people
consider New Year's Day to be a family holiday. But the young prefer
to have New Year parties of their own. The greatest national holiday
in our country is Victory Day. On the 9lh of May, 1945, the Soviet
Army and its allies completely defeated the German fascists and the
Second World War ended. A lot of guests from different countries of
the world came to Moscow to participate in the celebrations. There
are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European
countries. They are: Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Easter Monday,
Spring Bank Holiday. Public holidays in Britain arc called bank
holidays, because the banks as well as most of the offices and shops
are closed. The most popular holiday is Christmas. Every year the
people of Norway give the city of London a present. It's a big
Christmas tree and it stands in Trafalgar Square. Central streets are
beautifully decorated. The fun starts the night before, on the 24th
of December. Traditionally this is the day when people decorate their
trees. Children hang stockings at the end of their beds, hoping that
Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill
them with toys and sweets. New Year's Day is less popular in Britain
than Christmas. But in Scotland, Hogmanay is the biggest festival of
the year. Besides public holidays there are some special festivals in
Great Britain. There are also smaller, local festivals in Britain.
Now
a few words about holidays in Brazil. The most important event in
brazil - this a festival in Rio-de-Janeiro, which passes each year at
the end of February the beginning of March. The festival lasts 4 days
and 4 night. In Rio there are special schools, which train the people
to dance Samba and Lambada. Each of these schools exposes on a
holiday about 4000 dancers and 300 drummers. Other important event in
Brazil in the year is ancient religious holiday MACUMBA, which is
celebrated by Brazilian in the new year eve. During this holiday on
sand of a beach KOPACABANA people place drinks and meal and light
candles thirsted in sand. People in the midnight throw in the water
their gifts and if ocean takes them, the year will be successful, but
if it throws out on a coast, the year will not present. In the
different countries according to their traditions and history, there
is a set of various national holidays. But there is one thing, which
unites all of them: a holiday is always fun and pleasure.
Sport
and healthy way of life : run your way to health
When
I started running seven years ago, I could manage only about a
quarter of a mile before I had to stop. Breathless and aching, I
walked the next quarter of a mile, then I jogged the next quarter of
a mile, alternating these two activities for a couple of miles.
Within a few weeks I could jog half way round Hampstead Heath without
stop-ping. Soon I started to run up the quarter-mile slope to the top
of Parliament Hill, although I had to stop at the top to get my
breath back. Eventually I found that I could even manage to get up
the hill comfortably. I started to run because I felt desperately
unfit. But the biggest pay-off for me was—and still is—
the deep relaxation that I achieve by taking exercise. It tires me
out but I find that it does calm me down. In those early days I saw
few other runners. Now there are many more—and not just the
macho sports freaks. Men and women of all ages have now taken up
running. Some 25,000 runners aged five to 85 are attracted each year
to the Sunday Times Fun Run in Hyde Park. In the last two years the
London Marathon has become the biggest British sporting event—
overtaking the boat race and the Derby in the number of spectators it
attracts. When I started to jog I never dreamt of running in a
marathon, but in 1982 I realized that if I trained for it, it was
within my reach, and after a slow, six-month build-up I man-aged the
26.2 miles in just under four hours. A creditable performance for a
first-timer and a far cry from those days when I had to stop for
breath after a quarter of a mile. What
about heart attacks?My
story shows that an unfit 39-year-old, as I was when I started
running, who had taken no serious exercise for 20 years, can do the
marathon—and that this is a sport in which women can beat men.
But is it crazy to do it? Does it make sense to run in the
expectation of becoming healthier? What about the chances of injuring
yourself or dying of a heart attack? I was personally convinced of
the health benefits of running because I felt unfit, and I wasn't
worried about the risk of a heart attack, because I was not a smoker
and I was sticking to a fairly low animal-fat diet. But one person I
knew well did die immediately after a jog and plenty of people told
me I was mad to start running. Reassuring evidence now comes from
doctors in Seattle, showing that vigorous exercise actually reduces
the chances of heart attack. They found that people who had a sudden
heart attack when they appeared to be completely fit had taken less
exercise than those of similar age. According to their findings,
published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (volume
248, p 3113) it is necessary to take 20 minutes of vigorous exercise
at least two or three days a week to obtain some protection from
heart attack. Apart from jogging, the exercise might be swimming,
singles tennis or squash, digging or chopping wood. Whatever it is,
the exercise should leave you out of breath. There is a small risk of
unaccustomed stress causing a heart attack when a person is very
unfit, but this can be reduced if exercise is always increased in
easy stages. My advice is: if you are under 40, are healthy and feel
well, you can begin as I did by jogging gently until you are out of
breath, then walking, and alternating the two for about two miles.
Build up the jogging in stages until you can do the whole distance
comfortably. At first, two or three times a week will probably be
enough. People over 40 who are in any doubt about their health should
see their doctor before starting an exercise program. Over-40s should
begin by making a vigorous walk of at least two miles part of the
daily routine. When you can do this comfortably you can start the
mixed jogging and walking routine and progress from there. You will
have to expect soreness of muscles and joints to begin with. If
soreness changes to pain, or if you find that you suffer from deep
tiredness which you cannot shake off, then stop jogging for a while
and just walk.
SPORTS IN GREAT
BRITAN.
The English are
great lovers of sport; and they are neither playing nor waching
games, they like to talk about them. However, there is important
thing about sport in Britain which we must know. Today, an big sports
is professional and famous players can make a lot of money.
Lat's take
Football for example. It is the most popular team game in Britain. It
is played in most of the schools, and there are thousands of amatur
teams for young man in all parts of the country. But for most of the
public, football is a professionals games which is watched on
saturday afternoons at the stadiym.
Professional
football is big business. Every larg town has one or more
professional clubs.
Ragby football is
played with an oval ball which may be carried. The players in the
other team try to stop the man running with the ball by frowin him to
the ground. There are fifteen players in each team.
Sports competition
get big crowds in Great Britan. All people in Great britan are fond
of sport and Englishman know is they train hard Sport will make them
srong and helthy.
Moscow.
I am going to tell you about Moscow.
Moscow, the capital of Russia, is one of the largest cities in the
world. The total area of the city is about 900 square kilometers. It
is political, commercial and cultural center of the country. About 10
million people live in the city. Moscow was founded in 1147 by prince
Yuri Dolgoruky. Moscow stands on the bank of the Moskva river. Moscow
is also one of the most beautiful city in the world. The heart of
Moscow is Red Square, the central and most beautiful place in Moscow.
Here one can see the Cathedral of St. Basil, the monument to Minin
and Pozharsky, the Kremlin, the History museums and other interesting
things. Some skyscrapers decorate Moscow including Moscow State
University, the oldest university in Russia. It was founded in 18th
century by Lomonosov. Moscow is a city of students. There are over 82
higher educational institutes in it. The are more then 80 museums in
Moscow. The largest one is Pushkin museums. The world famous art
gallery, the State Tretyakov art Gallery, is in Moscow too. Moscow is
famous for it’s theaters. The best-known of them is the Bolsoi
Opera House. Drama theaters and studios are very popular too. There
are many parks and gardens in Moscow, that’s why its citizen
like to spend their free time out home. The most beautiful one is
Park of Culture. Moscow is also the seat of the Russian Federation
Parliament ( the Duma ) and the Official Resident of the Russian
President. I live in Moscow and I think that it’s beautiful
and worth seeing and in the future it will be better ‘cause we
love it very much.
Children in sport.
I Hello,
and welcome to today's 'You
&
Yours'. On today's program we look at children who are trying to be
champions in the world of sport, and the pressures they can be under
to win. Now I spoke to Allan Baker, the former British Athletics
coach, and he had this to say.
AB
Well the problem is that you want to find these children at quite a
young age,
to train them and motivate them as early as "possible. At that
age they don't have social problems, you know they don't have
boyfriends or girlfriends, so they give their sport the whole of
their life. But they're so young that they can lose their childhood,
and they're adults before they're
16.
But of course they're not adults at all. Physically they can be quite
developed, but emotionally they're still children. Everybody's
looking for the new young star of the future, because there's a lot
of money to be earned.
I Tennis
is one of the sports where youngsters can play against their elders
with more than a chance of success. In America there are tennis
schools which accept children from as young as
9. So
from the age of 9
a boy or girl is playing tennis for four or five hours every day, and
doing ordinary school work around that. I spoke to the team manager
of the English Lawn Tennis Association, Pam de Grouchy.
PG
You see, we've already seen two 14-year-old American girls, that's
Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger, playing at Wimbledon, and now, both
at 18,
they are now already showing the pressures on their bodies and their
minds, and people are beginning to question whether this is a good
thing for children. A 14-year-old just can't cope with the pressures
of Wimbledon, the tournament, the Wimbledon crowds, and the press
reporters. Well, I say to my girls, 'Stay at home, stay at school, do
the things that teenagers like doing. If you like swimming, well
swim; if you like going to dances, just go!' And if when they're
older they'd really like to be a professional tennis player, well,
they'll be a little older than the Americans, but they'll be better
people for it, of that I'm perfectly sure.
I
Pam de Grouchy thinks that young players shouldn't be allowed to
become professionals until the age of
17 or
18 at
least. I asked her what was responsible for the pressures on the
young players -
was it the money that can be earned, the parents, or perhaps the
children themselves?
PG
Oh no, it's the parents, without a shadow of a doubt. They want to
push their children. I get letters from parents saying, 'My little
Johnny enjoys playing tennis all day, and he'd like to learn only
that and be trained by a professional coach', and quite frankly I
just don't believe it.
I
But what about the youngsters themselves? Robert, a 100-metre and
200-metre runner gave me an idea of his training program, and his own
very simple way of avoiding trouble.
R
Well I train under a coach for three days a week, and then decide how
much running to do. If I've trained hard, well then maybe I run five
miles, you know, if not so much, then eight miles. Well, of course,
I'd like to go to the next Olympics and represent Great Britain, and
of course I'd like to win a gold but there are lots of other things I
like doing with my life too. I play in a rock group and I'm also a
keen photographer. Well, I suppose for me the most important thing is
enjoyment. If, if you win, you're happy, and if you lose, it's the
same. I mean if you start getting upset every time you lose, I think
it's time to stop.
I The sports stars of tomorrow,
and good luck to them.
Young
problems.
When
you leave school you understand that the time of your independence
life and the beginning of a far more serious examination of your
abilities and character has come. You also understand that from now
you’ll have to do everything yourself, and to “fight”
with everybody around you for better life. The
first problem that young people meet is to choose their future
profession, it means that they have to choose the future of their
life. It’s not an easy task to make the right choice of a job.
You know children have a lot of dreams about their future : to become
a superman or a policeman or a doctor … It’s very easy
they think, but when they become older and see real world they
understand that in all professions need to know perfectly about what
you do, you must be well-educated and well-informed. That’s
why I think it’s very important to have a good education at
school. And if you work hard everything will be OK.
Another problem
of young people is drugs.
This is a relatively new problem but it is becoming more and more
dangerous. Million
young people today are using drugs, and most of them will die.
Usually they want just to try it , then again and again … and
after year may be two years they will die . It is true. Because there
are no medicine to help you. That’s why never do it, if you do
- it goes bad, very bad.
I think that
police must work hard to protect young people from drugs. Because
drugs will kill our young generation and our future will be very bad.
PROBLEMS
OF UNEMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE.
People
of almost every age are susceptible to this pernitious disease but it
hits the youth the hardest. It's name is unemployment. The
persent-age of unemployed youth in the total number of the jobless is
high. In many developing countries the situation is more serious.
Many young people to commit suside. Unless the economic situation in
the world changes, youth unemployment will mount. This prodictions
refer to all catigories of workers-with high and low skills in town
and country. For all there possible distinctious,these young people
over outside the production structure of society. The are deprived
the possebility of creting there are "surplus" from time
to time some may get a hit of luck, but the lot of the majority is to
feel their unlessles to lose their ideals and become disillusioned.
Unemployment greatly intemcilicselle tendency among the youth
towards, drug education , frastretion and crime. This is a time bomb
and is a heavy acusation of any social economic system.
THE
PROBLEMS OF TEEN-AGES.
There
are many young people in our country. Each of them has one's own view
point on their life and their future. There are many problems which
are common for all young people.For Example: how to spend their free
time, what to do after school, choosing a profession, how to deal
with girl and boy-friends and so on.
The
problem number one of most of the young people is the problem of
fathers and sons. All young people want to be independent, they want
their parents to listen to their opinion, not to interfere in their
private life. Some parents neglect their children, because they cant
find a common language with each other.
Many
problems were hushed up, but now we can speak openly about them. I
think that the most difficult and sirious problem of modern teen-ages
is drug-habit. Some young man use drugs, because they think that will
be cool guys. But they don't understand, that it's wrong. Some of
them can't stop that, and they become dependent on drugs. And they
commit different serious, because they need some money to buy drugs.
There are also many other problems: alchoholism, smokin and so on.
There are many youth organisations in our country, wich unite young
men on different principles. Members of every organisation has ons
own world out looks. Each of them has their own morral qualities.
There are some informal organisations, for example: skinheads,
hippies, panks and so on. Now there exists the problem of
missundrstanding beetwen different youth groups.
We
also face the problem how to spend our free time. We can do it in
different ways. Some of teen-ages spend their free time in different
night clubs. Other young people spend their free time in the strets.
As
for me, i spend my free time at home or in the night clubs. I also
have some problems with my parents. But every time then i have them i
try to slove them without quorrel.
Now
we are young people and we are the future of our country. Teen-aegs
play an important role in the modern society. Grown up's must
remember that we are the future of our country and in present moment
our character is formed and that's why our parents must not assert
pressure on us.
David Attenborough
David Attenborough
is very gloomy about much of what he's seen. What's depressed him
most has been the huge speed and scale of change that human beings
are inflicting on the world. People destroy everything around them.
For example they cut down forests just because they need firewood to
keep warm. And they don’t think about the future. When they cut
down forests, the good soil have no umbrellas to protect them from
the heavy rains. Water washes all good soil and in the future we will
have no soil, no forests. Every year people destroy about 29,000
square miles. That is an area the size of the whole Scotland
disappearing every year. Forty per cent of our drugs, our medicines,
are derived from plants and most of those come from the tropical rain
forests, and most of those come from the Amazon. But if nothing will
be doing Amazonian jungle will disappear in just few years. Trees
are a vital part of the water cycle, and of course they give us the
oxygen. That means that we’ll have nothing to drink, to eat and
no oxygen to breathe. Cutting down forests also causes floods. But we
can’t say to these people that they mustn’t cut down that
tree in order to cook their food. And it is an important problem of
mankind – thinks David. But there are also other environmental
problems today. Some of these problems are : the ozone holes, global
warming ( or green-house effect ), acid rain … And the tragedy
is that the people who suffer first are the deprived people, the
people who are living on the edge of prosperity. And if they think
that they are insulated from that, they are wrong. I think now a lot
of people are beginning to realize that environmental problems are
not somebody else’s. They make different organization, whose
aim is conservation. For example “ GREEN PEACE ” , “
FRIEND OF THE EARTH ” and others. Everyday millions people from
all over the world do everything to protect our environment , and
they need for our help. I think we ought to
help them , just to make our future better.
Environmental
protection.
Our earth
is our home, so if we want to protect our home we should protect our
environment from harmful effects of human activity. Some of these
activities cause pollution. Pollution now is a very important
problem. Some of these problem are : the ozone holes, global warming
( or green-house effect), acid rain … The ozone layer is a
layer of gases which stop harmful radiation from the sun protecting
the earth. Recent research shows that there is a hole in part of the
ozone layer which is caused by smoke from factories, car exhaust
fumes, aerosol cans ‘cause they contain CFC. Global warming is
an increase in world temperature caused by an increase in carbon
dioxide. Acid rain is rain that contains dangerous chemicals, this is
caused by smoke from factories. Another problem is poisons in food.
Farmer soften spray chemicals in crops to safe them from pests. These
chemicals are called pesticides. Scientists have found that
pesticides often end up in our food and they can cause health
problems - especially for kids. The seas are in danger. They are
filled with poison : industrial, chemical, nuclear waste. Every ten
minutes one kind of animal, plant or insect dies out for ever. And if
nothing is done our earth will die in about 30 years from now. So
what can we do to protect our environment ? I think that we should
recycle our used things, we should plant more trees, we should not
waste resources but try save them, we also must make smoke from
factories and car’s fumes more clean, we must not dump
industrial waste to seas and rivers …Now people are beginning
to realize that environmental problems are not somebody else’s.
They make different organization, whose aim is conservation. For
example “ GREEN PEACE ” , “ FRIEND OF THE EARTH ”
and others. Everyday millions people from all over the world do
everything to protect our environment , and they need for our help. I
think we ought to help them , just to make our future better.
My
future profession.
When
you leave school you understand that the time to choose your future
profession, your future life has become. It’s not an easy to
make the right choice of a job. I have known for long time that
leaving school is the beginning of my independent life, the beginning
of a far more serious examination of my abilities and character.
What do I want to be when I leave school ? It’s very
important question for me. A few years ago it was difficult for me to
give a definite answer. As the years passed I changed my mind a lot
of times about what science or field of industry to specialize in.
It’s difficult to make up my mind and choose one of the
hundreds jobs to which I might be better suited. A coupe of years ago
I wanted to become a doctor, you know I wanted to help people who had
problems with health. Then I wanted to become a policeman, then a
spaceman, I even wanted to become a professional football player. But
all of them now are in the past, they were like children’s
dreams and nothing more. Now I have already decided what to do. I’d
like to be an aviator. I know that it’s very difficult. I
should know perfectly everything about the planes, airports, weather
and other things. You know that the weather is very important thing
for the flights too. I must be well-educated and well-informed. So
that’s why at first I am going to go to the Aviation University
in Moscow, then when I finish studding I’ll go to my country to
try to get a job in the air companies. You know may be something will
be not OK, because I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but
I know that I’ll do everything to realize my plane and my
dreams. I also want to say that the profession should be
chosen according to the character and hobbies of the person. That’s
why parents mustn’t make their children choose the thing they
like ( parents like ). Children must do it themselves. Because they
must love the thing they do, believe that people need them and their
job will bring them more pleasure.
MY
FUTURE PROFESSION
What
I would like to become? This question pasels me
greatly.
Every job has its elements of difficulties and interest.
I
think that nearly all the professions are very important in
life.
But to choose the right occupation is very difficult,
because
we must take in to consideration many factors. We must
consider
our personal taste and our kind of mind. At the same
time
we must satisfy the requirements of our society and peoples
needs
in one profession or another.
The
end of school is the beginning of an independent life,
the
beginning of a more serious examination. In order to pass
that
very serious exam we must choose the road in life which will
help
us best to live and work. Each boy and girl has every
opportunity
to develop mind and use knowledge and education
received
at school. Some may prefer to work in factories or
works,
others want to go into construction: to take part in
building
power stations and new towns. Many opportunities to work
and
to satisfy at the same time the requirements of the society
and
your own personal interest are offered in the sfere of the
services
transport, communications and many others.
I
have a specially liking for to became a programmist. I
like
this profession because it very interest.
Learning
foreigner language.
More and more people realize that every educated person
should know a foreigner language. The most popular language now is
English. English is a world language. It’s the language of
progressive science and technology, trade and cultural relation,
commerce and business. It’s the universal language of
international aviation, shipping and sports. It is also the major
language of diplomacy. Hundreds and hundreds of books, magazines and
newspapers are printed in English and real all over the world. 75% of
the world’s mail and 60% of the world’s telephone calls
are in English. Half of the world’s scientific literature is
written in English too. English is spoken by more than 350 million
people . It is the official language of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland of the United States of America, of
Australia and New Zealand. English is used as one of the official
languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Irish
Republic. It’s also spoken as a second language speakers in
many parts of Asia and Africa. The number of second language speakers
may soon exceed the number of native speakers. In Russia English is
very popular : it is studied at schools, colleges, universities, and
sometimes even at nurse schools. There are also other languages that
are popular in the world. For example Chinese, the first language in
the number of people who speak it, is used by over 1000 million
people, it means that out one of every five people in whole world
speaks Chinese. Another popular language is Arabic, which is the
official language of several Asia’s countries ( Iran, Iraq,
Syria, United Arab Emirates and others). Learning a foreign language
is not an easy thing. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot
of time and patience. But to know languages today is absolutely
necessary for everyone. I want to know foreign language because I
have always been interested in foreign countries and their cultures.
You know I think that who doesn’t know a foreign language ,
doesn’t know his own language.
Learning languages.
The problem of learning languages is very important today. Foreign
languages are socially demanded especially at the present time when
the progress in science and technology has led to an explosion of
knowledge and has contributed to an overflow of information. The
total knowledge of mankind is known to double every seven years.
Foreign languages are needed as the main and most efficient means of
information exchange of the people of our planet.
Today English
is the language of the world. Over 350 million people speak it as a
mother tongue. The native speakers of English live in Great Britain,
the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand. English is
one of the official languages in the Irish Republic, Canada, the
South African Republic. As a second language it is used in the former
British and US colonies.
It is the major international language
for communication in such areas as science, technology, business and
mass entertainment. English is one of the official languages of the
United Nations Organization and other political organization. It is
the language of the literature, education, modern music,
international tourism.
Russia is integrating into the world
community and the problem of learning English for the purpose of
communication is espicially urgent today. Learning a foreing language
is not as easy thing. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot
of time and patience. But to know English is absolutely necessary for
every educated person, for every good specialist.
It is well
known that reading books in the original , listening to the BBC news,
communicating with the English speaking people will help a lot. When
learning a foreign language you learn the culture and history of the
native speakers. One must work hard to learn any foreign language.
ALEC ISSIGONIS
ALEC ISSIGONIS
was born in 1906 in Izmir, Turkey. His mother was German and his
father was Greek with British citizenship. Issigonis didn’t go
to school. He was taught by a private teacher at home. After the
First World War, the family moved to Britain, and Issigonis studied
engineering. He was already a good designer but he couldn’t do
math’s. He failed his math’s exam three times at
technical college! He worked for a number of car manufacturers before
joining Morris in 1936. After the Second World War he design the
Morris Minor, the first British car to sell over a million. In 1956
he joined the British Motor Corporation. In that year the Suez Crisis
caused petrol shortages in Europe, so everyone wanted cars that did
not use much petrol. Issigonis was asked to design a small economical
car that could take four passengers. The result was the Mini.
Issigonis had complete control over the design of the Mini. He was an
arrogant man who did not like to listen to other people. For example,
he was told that all modern cars should have radios and seat belts.
But he did not listen to the radio himself or wear seat belts, so he
refused to put them in the first Minis. Later he changed his mind and
seat belts and radios were added. He saw himself as an artist rather
than a scientist. He once said, ‘Mathematics is the enemy of
every truly creative man.’ Issigonis always followed his
instincts. Luckily, they were usually right!About
MINI. First of all he
decided that the Mini should be three meters long, half a meter
shorter than most small cars. Next, the wheels were made much
smaller, with independent suspension. And they were put right at the
four corners of the car. Then, the engine was turned sideways, and
the gearbox was put underneath. Most space was saved by having
front-wheel drive. And there was still room for four passengers. In
1959 this design was revolutionary. Today nearly every small car is
based on the design of Mini. Henry
Ford (1863-1947) Henry
Ford was born in 1863. He was a man who transformed the world. The
car he built changed the lives of people everywhere. In 1896, Ford
succeeded in building an automobile powered by a gasoline engine. He
built this engine in his kitchen sink. In 1903, Henry Ford
established the Ford Motor Company and introduced the Model T Ford.
Henry Ford wanted to make a car that everyone would be able to
afford. He was able to lower the price of the Model T from $850 to
$360 by introducing mass production assembly line techniques. On an
assembly line each person has one specific job and can do it faster
and more efficiently.
The United States of America.
The United States of America is located in North
America. It is one of the largest countries in the world. The
population of the USA is about 250 million people. The USA has 50
states. The largest of America’s states is Alaska. It’s
nearly 400 times the size of Rhode Island, which is the smallest
state. But Alaska has half the population of Rhode Island. The
capital of the country is Washington DC ( the District of Colombia ).
It was chosen as permanent site for the nation’s capital on
December 1800 by George Washington. It’s main cities are New
York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston. There are many
tall buildings in them that really scrape the sky, that’s why
they are called skyscrapers. It’s highly developed country. It
is rich in coal, oil, iron and natural gas. It exports a lot of raw
materials, industrials and agricultural products. The United States
of America is a federal republic. The American parliament ( called
Congress ) has two chambers : the House of Representative and the
Senate. The head of State is the president. He is elected for four
years and his powers are limited by the Constitution. Now the
President of the USA is Bill Clinton. The flag of the country has 13
red and white stripes representing the original 13 states and 50
stars - for each of the state of it. Each state has its own national
motto, bird and flower as its symbol. America as any other country
has its own customs, traditions and holidays. The United States is
called “ melting pot ” because people from all over the
world have mixed together to create modern America society. The
earliest immigrants came from every countries of the world. People
enjoy the wonder of nature practically in every state. The
Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains, forest, plains, parties and
even deserts, wonderful lakes, water falls and rivers cover the
American territory that equals about 9.4 million square kilometers.
Together with Hawaii and Alaska it is the 4th largest
nation in the world in area behind Russia, Canada and China. Among
the most famous sites of interest are the Great Lakes, Niagara falls,
the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and other. There are many
beautiful Nation park and protected areas of wilderness in America.
I think that the USA is very beautiful country and if you visit it
you will never forget it.
China.
China is the one of the largest
countries in the world. The total area of the country is over
million square kilometers. As to population China is the first
country in the world. Over one thousand million peoples live in it.
It means that one out of every five people in the whole world is
Chinese. China is a great country, so only it has the man-made object
which is visible from outer space - The Great Wall. China
has a recorded history of nearly four thousand years. It was a
monarchy till 1949 when Mao Tse Tung became a head of the state.
Since that year China has been a Socialist Republic. In 1976 China
started the Cultural Revolution, and it finished in 1976 when Mao
dead. And now China is in the hands of Deng Xiaping, who has given
the country a little free enterprise. Doors are now open to the rest
of the world. And you can even come to China to study there. Some
words about China’s education system. At the first all
foreigners students will have to share a room with one Chinese
student, which is very common. Days start very early, so they’ll
have to get up at about six o’clock. There are morning exercise
in the open air, and they will be invited to join it. The breakfast
is at about six thirty. And all meals are communal. Their classes
will probably be in English and Chinese, they’ll begin at seven
thirty. Lunch is at twelve, and then more classes until six. After
school day students usually go to the cinema. In fact it’s very
difficult to get tickets. People also like to go for walks, to play
cards or just to sit outside talking. The air in the streets is not
pollute, because there are few cars but literally millions of
bicycles. Chinese food is legendary that’s why
you can find it in most cities in the world, and people like it very
much. If you want to visit China you’ll have to
get a visa. There are in fact many cities that you can visit with
just the ordinary visa, and others that you need to get a visa from
the local police station to go to. Now there is a very good train
service and also an internal air service, but I think that it’ll
be better if you travel by trains because you’ll see so much
more of the country. And I also think that China is worth seeing. And
you’ll never forget it if you visit it.
"The
British Parliament"
The
British Parliament is the oldest in the world. It originated
in
th 12th century as Witenagemot, the body of wise councellers
whom
the King needed to consult pursuing his policy. The British
Parliament
consists of the House of Lords and the House of
Commons
and the Queen as its head. The House of Commons plays the
major
role in law-making. It consists of Members of Parliament
(called
MPs for short). Each of them represents an area in
England,
Scotland, Wales and Ireland. MPs are elected either at a
general
election or at a by-election following the death or
retirement.
Parliamentary elections are held every 5 years and it
is
the Prime Minister who decides on the exact day of the
election.
The minimum voting age is 18. And the voting is taken
by
secret ballot. The election campaign lasts about 3 weeks, The
British
parliamentary system depends on politicals parties. The
party
which wins the majority of seats forms the goverment and
its
leader usually becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister
chooses
about 20 MPs from his party to become the cabinet of
ministers.
Each minister is responsible for a particular area in
the
goverment. The second largest party becomes the official
opposition
with its own leader and "shadow cabinet". The leader
of
the opposition is a recognized post in the House of Commons.
The
parliament and the monarch have different roles in the
goverment
and they only meet together on symbolic occasions, such
as
coronation of a new monarch or the opening of the parliament.
In
reality, the House of Commons is the one of three which has
true
power. The House of Commons is made up of six hundred and
fifty
elected members, it is presided over by the speaker, a
member
acceptable to the whole house. MPs sit on two sides of the
hall,
one side for the governing party and the other for the
opposition.
The first 2 rows of seats are occupied by the leading
members
of both parties (called "front benches") The back benches
belong
to the rank-and-life MPs. Each session of the House of
Commons
lasts for 160-175 days. Parliament has intervals during
his
work. MPs are paid for their parliamentary work and have to
attend
the sittings. As mention above, the House of Commons plays
the
major role in law making. The procedure is the following: a
proposed
law ("a bill") has to go through three stages in order
to
become an act of parliament, these are called "readings".
The
first
reading is a formality and is simply the publication of the
proposal.
The second reading involves debate on the principles of
the
bill, it is examination by parliamentary committy. And the
third
reading is a report stage, when the work of the committy is
reported
on to the house. This is usually the most important
stage
in the process. When the bill passes through the House of
Commons,
it is sent to the House of Lords for discussion, when
the
Lords agree it, the bill is taken to the Queen for royal
assent,
when the Queen sings the bill, it becomes act of the
Parliament
and the Law of the Land. The House of Lords has more
than
1000 members, although only about 250 take an active part in
the
work in the house. Members of this Upper House are not
elected,
they sit there because of their rank, the chairman of
the
House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor. And he sits on a
special
seat, called "WoolSack" The members of the House of Lords
debate
the bill after it has been passed by the House of Commons.
Some
changes may be recommended and the agreement between the two
houses
is reached by negotiations.
Great
Britain.
The United Kingdom and Northern
Ireland is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consist
of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five
thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244 000 square
kilometers. The United Kingdom is made up of four countries:
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are
London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast respectively. Great Britain
consists of England, Scotland and Wales and does not include Northern
Ireland. But in everyday speech Great Britain is used to mean the
United Kingdom. The capital of UK is London.
London is political, economic,
culture and commercial center of the country. It’s one of the
largest cities in the world and the largest one in Europe. The
population of the city is over 8 million. London is also one of the
oldest and most interesting cities in the world. The British isles
are separated from the European continent by the North Sea and the
English channel. The western coast of Great Britain is washed by the
Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea. The surface of the British Isles is
varies very much. The north of Scotland is mountainous and is called
Highlands, while the south, which has beautiful valleys and plains,
is called Lowlands. The north and west of England are mountainous,
but all the rest - east, center and southeast - is a vast plain.
Mountains are not very high. There are a lot of rivers in GB, but
they are not very long. The Severn is the longest river, while the
Thames is the deepest and most important one. The UK is one of the
world’s smaller countries. The population of the country is
over 57 million and about 80% of it is urban. The UK is highly
developed industrial country. It’s known as one of world’s
largest producers and exporters of machinery, electronics, textile,
aircraft and navigation equipment. The UK is constitutional monarchy.
In law, the Head of State is the Queen, but in practice, the Queen
reigns, does not rule. The country is ruled by the elected government
with the Primer Minister at the head. The British Parliament consists
of two chambers : the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Now
the Primer Minister of the United Kingdom is Tony Blair.
GREAT
BRITAN.
1.
The United Kindom of Great Britan and Nothen Island is situated on
the British Iles not far from Europe. It consists of the island of
Great Britan, the north-easten part of Irland and a great number of
small islands. Such as: the Orkney, the Hebrides, the Isle of White
and many others.
2.
If you look at the map of europe you will see that Great Britan is
not large. It takes 6 hours to trevel in a fast train, from London,
the capital of England, to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. And
the June from London to Plemouth takes a little over 4 hours by
train.
3.
There are 4 part of Great Britain England, the capital is London,
Scotland the capital is Edinburg, Walles the capital is Cardif and
Northen Island the capital is Belfast. Griat Britan lies not far from
continent. It is siparated from europe by the North Sea and England
Channel. The channel in it's narrowest part The Strate of Dover is
only 32 kilometres.
4.
Great Britan has a very good geographical position, as it lies on
the crossways of the sea routes from Europe to other parts of the
World.
The
sea connects Britain with most European countrys such as:Belgium,
Holland,
Denmark, Norway, Russia and some other countrys. The main sea route
from Europe to America also passed throught the channel.
5.
British climet is miled and damp. It often rains frogs are quit
requent espeacially in the West and south-west. The Gulf Stream a
warm ocean current warms to seas around the British coast moderating
the climet, giving it cold Summers milds winters. The tempirature in
winter seldom folls below zero and the field and meadow are green all
year round.
"US
Congress"
The
United States of America is a federal republic consisting of
50
states. Each of which has its own goverment ("state
goverment").
In some ways the United States is like 50 small
countries.
Each state has its own governor, its own police and
its
own laws. The present constitution was proclaimed in 1787 in
Philadelphia,
the President is the head of the whole country and
the
goverment and "commandering chief" of the armed forces.
He
makes
the most important decisions and chooses the ministers, the
members
of his cabinet. But the President cannot do just what he
wants.
The Congress must agree first. Americans choose a new
president
every four years. The residence of the President is the
White
House in Washington, the Capital city. The goverment of the
whole
country (the Federal goverment) works from Washington, this
is
where the Congress is based. The Capitol is the seat of the US
Congress.
Congress is the American parliament which consists of 2
chambers.
The Senate and the House of Representatives. The first
Congress
met in 1789 in New York city. The membership then
consisted
of 22 senators and 59 representatives. Today the House
of
Representatives has 435 members. Elections to the house take
place
every 2 years. There are 100 senators (2 from each state),
they
are elected to serve for a period of six years, but every
two
years elections to the senate took place when one/third of
its
members must be changed or re-elected. Election day is always
in
the month of November, on the first Tuesday, after the first
Monday.
Americans who aren't yet 25 years old have no right to be
elected
to the House of Representatives. Whose, who are under 30
can't
be elected in the Senate. The main political parties in the
United
States of America are the Democratic Party and the
Republlican
Party.
"Business
Trips"
Never
before in the history of the world have businessmen traveled
so
much as they do today. It is not surprising because we are
living
in a world of growing international trade and expanding
economic
and technical cooperation. Fascinating though it is for
tourist
travelling, however, has become the most tiring of all
the
occupations for many businessmen and experts. Choosing a
comfortable
hotel to stay at is, therefore, a matter of some
importance.
There are plently of good hotels, motels, and guest
houses,
in the world, conviently located for major business
centers.
Many developing countries, such as India, Egypt,
Nigeria,
Lybia, etc have excellent hotels. Their numerous
facilities
include both: large and small cocktail barber's shops
and
conference halls, equipped with simultaneous, multilingual
translation
systems. There are parking areas which can accomodate
a
lot of cars. It might be useful for travelling businessmen and
tourists
to know that tailor shops, shoe repair shops and
laundry,
dry cleaning services are available for guests. People
in
the office help guests to book train or steamer tickets and
rent
a car. They are also ready to give all necessary information.
Nowadays
people who go on business mostly travel by air as it is
the
fastest means of travelling. Passengers are requested to
arrive
at the airport 2 hours before departure time on
international
flights and an hour on domestic flights as there
must
be enough time to complete the necessary airport
formalities.
Passengers must register their tickets, weigh in and
register
the luggage. Most airlines have at least 2 classes of
travel:
first class and economy class which is cheaper. Each
passenger
of more than 2 years of age has a free luggage
allowance.
Generally this limit is 20kg for economic class
passenger
and 30kg for first class passenger. Excess luggage must
be
paid for except for some articles that can be carried free of
charge.
Each passenger is given a boarding pass to be shown at
geparture
gate and again to the stewardess when boarding the
plane.
Watch the electric sign flashes when you are on board,
when
the "Fasten Seat Belts" sign goes on do it promptly and
also
obey
the "No Smoking" signal. Do not forget your personal
effects
when
leaving the plane.
"Customs
and Traditions"
There
are many customs and traditions in England. And I would
like
to tell you some of them. First tradition is called "Wrong
side
of the bed" When people are bad tempered we say that they
must
have got out of bed on the wrong side. Originally, it was
meant
quiet literally. People belive that the way they rose in
the
morning affected their behaivor throughout the day. The wrong
side
of the bed was the left side. The left always having been
linked
with evil. Second custom is called "Blowing out the
candles"
The custom of having candles on birthday cakes goes back
to
the ancient Greeks. Worshippers of Artemis, godess of the moon
and
hunting, used to place honey cakes on the altars of her
temples
on her birthday. The cakes were round like the full moon
and
lit with tapers. This custom was next recorded in the middle
ages
when German peasants lit tapers on birthday cakes, the
number
lit indicating the person's age, plus an extra one to
represent
the light of life. From earliest days burning tapers
had
been endoued with mystical significance and it was belived
that
when blown out they had the power to grant a secret wish and
ensure
a happy year ahead. And the last tradition I would like to
tell
you is called "The 5th of November" On the 5th of
November
in
almost every otwn and village in England you will see fire
burning,
fireworks, cracking and lighting up the sky. You will
see
too small groups of children pulling round in a home made
cart,
a figure that looks something like a man but consists of an
old
suit of clothes, stuffed with straw. The children will sing:"
Remember,
remember the 5th of November; Gun powder, treason and
plot".
And they will ask passers-by for "a penny for the Guy" But
the
children with "the Guy" are not likely to know who or
what
day
they are celebrating. They have done this more or less every
5th
of November since 1605. At that time James the First was on
the
throne. He was hated with many people especialy the Roman
catholics
against whom many sever laws had been passed. A number
of
catholics chief of whom was Robert Catesby determined to kill
the
King and his ministers by blowing up the house of Parliament
with
gunpowder. To help them in this they got Guy Fawker, a
soldier
of fortune, who would do the actual work. The day fixed
for
attempt was the 5th of November, the day on which the
Parliament
was to open. But one of the consperators had several
friends
in the parliament and he didn't want them to die. So he
wrote
a letter to Lord Monteagle begging him to make some excuse
to
be absent from parliament if he valued his life. Lord
Monteagle
took the letter hurrily to the King. Guards were sent
at
once to examine the cellars of the house of Parliament. And
there
they found Guy Fawker about to fire a trail of gunpowder.
He
was tortured and hanged, Catesby was killed, resisting arrest
in
his own house. In memory of that day bonfires are still
lighted,
fireworks shoot across the November sky and figures of
Guy
Fawker are burnt in the streets.
Customs and traditions of english speaking countries.
Every country and every nation
has it's own traditions and customs.It's very important to know
traditions and customs of different people. It will help you to know
more about the history and life of different nations and
countries.One cannot speak about England without speaking about it's
traditions and customs .They are very important in the life of
English people.Englishman are proud of their traditions and carefully
keep them up. There are six public holidays a year in G.B.. Cristmas
day is one of their favorite holidays.It's celebrated on the 25-th of
december. There are some traditions connected with it.One of them is
to give presents to each other.It is not only children and members of
family.It's a tradition to give cristmas presents to the people you
work with.Another tradition is to send cristmas cards.All these cards
are brightly and coloured.Most of big cities of G.B.,especially
London, are decorated with coloured lights and cristmas trees. On
Trafalgar Square, in the center of London stands a big cristmas
tree.It is a gift from the people of Oslo.It is over 50 feet high.
Many families celebrate cristmas day in the open air near the
cristmas tree in order to catch the spirit of cristmas.Children find
cristmas presents in their stockings.The traditional english dinner
on cristmas is turkey and pudding.Other great holidays are:FatherТs
day,MotherТs day,Helloween and other.
"Thomas
Jefferson (1743-1826)"
Thomas
Jefferson one of the American President of the past was
born
in Virginia in 1743. When he was 14 years old, his father
died
and the young boy was left to choose for himself what to do.
Jefferson
studied literature and languages. He also studied to be
a
lawyer, and later he wrote many of the Virginia laws. One of
the
laws for which he worked very much was a law to allow many
child
to go to school free. Schools in America were only for the
children
whose parents were rich. When Jefferson was still a
young
man he was one of those who wanted freedom from England.
His
most outstanding archivment was as chief author of the
Declaration
of Independence, a statement of human rights and
liberties.
It was read to the happy people on the 4th of July,
1776.
Jefferson also drew up the constitution for his state,
Virginia,
and served as its governor. He was sent to France as
the
foreign minister of the United States of America and
afterwards
was President's Washington secretary of state. A few
years
later he became the country's third president, serving in
this
position for 2 terms. The author of the Declaration of
Independence
did another important thing for the American people.
He
worked out a plan for a university where the students and
teachers
could live and work together in a village build for
them.
It was one of the first schools to teach science. Today, it
is
the university of Virginia. This well known man was also a
self-tought
architect. He introduced the simple classical design
to
America when he designed the Virginia State Capital Building.
He
also designed his own home, he remained the most influencial
architect
of his time. Thomas Jefferson did many useful things
during
his life time and he always thought of how to help
ordinary
people. He was a practical and theoretical scientist
too.
Jefferson's best traditions have been kept up by American
prograssive
people in their struggle for peace and democracy.
"Pets"
The
English people like animals very much. Pet: dogs, cats,
horses,
ducks, canaries, chickens and other friends of men have a
much
better life in Britain, than anywhere else. In Britain they
have
special dog shops, selling food, clothes and other things
for
dogs. There are dog hair-dressing saloons and dog cemetries.
The
English arrange dogs' shows and organize dogs' supper parties
for
winners of dogs' competitions. They do all they can to make
animals
feel well in their home and outside their homes too.
There
were photographs in English newspapres of a mother duck and
her
young family, crossing slowly the road from Hyde Park to
Kensington
Garden. All traffic around was stopped to let Mamma
Duck
and her little ones walked quitly from one park to another.
In
recent years the English began to show love for more exotic
animals
such as crocodiles, elephants, tigers, cobras, camels.
You
won't be surprised, we think, when we tell you that London
Airport
has a special "animal hotel". Every year thousands of
animals
arrive at London Airport, some stay the night there;
others
stay several weeks. In one month, for example, "the hotel"
looked
after 47000 creatures: birds, insects, fish, elephants,
mpnkey
and other animals. There are about 4000000 dogs, 6000000
cats,
8000000 caged birds and lots of other animals in Britain.
The
English people belive that they are the only nation on the
Earth
that is really kind to its animals.
"Washington,
DC"
The
city of Washington, the capital of the United States of
America
is located in the District of Columbia (DC for short)
Many
people consider Washington DC to be one of the most beatiful
cities
in the world. It is filled with many parks, wide streets
and
impressive buildings. In the centre of the city, in Capitol
Park,
visitors' eyes focus on the Capitol, where Congress
convence
to inect laws. Many visitors come to Washington DC to
see
the White House. It is the greatest attraction for many of
them.
The White House, the official residence of the President,
is
situated at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. The largest room in
this
building of over the hundreds room is the East Room, scene
of
many state receptions, balls and musicals. Other famous rooms
are:
the Green Room, the Blue Room, the Red Room, which are used
for
afternoon teas and for receptions held before state dinners.
The
Blue Room, the most formal of these "colors" room is
an
oval-shaped
room connecting the Green and the Red Rooms. On the
second
floor, the floor with the family quarters and quests
rooms,
is the Lincoln Room, which one served as an office for
president
Lincoln but today serves as an honor guest room. In
this
room Lincoln signed the emansipation proclamation of 1863.
Other
landmarks in Washington DC include memorials to three
Presidents:
The Washington Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial and The
Jefferson
Memorial; The Library of Congress, The National Gallary
of
Art, The John F. Kennedy center for the Perfoming Arts. The
Capitol
is in the very center of Washington. It is located on the
Capitol
Hill, the highest point in the city. The Capitol is the
highest
building in Washington. There is a law in Washington not
to
build buildings higher than the Capitol. The conrer stone of
the
Capitol was laid by George Washington on Sep 18th, 1793. The
Capitol
is the seat of the goverment of the United States of
America.
BRITISH THEATRES
Until
reccently the history of the english theatre has been build
around actors rather then companies. It has been hard to find
any London theatre that even had a consistent policy. There are
no permanent staff in British theatres. Apply is rehearsed for
a few weeks by a company of actors working together mostly for
the first time and it is allowed to run as long as it draws the
odious and pays it's way. Another peculiarity of the
theatres in Great Britain is an follows:
there are two kinds of seats, which can be booked an advanced
(bookable), and unbookable once have no numbers and the spectators
occupy them on the principal: first come - first served.
And ancient times plays were acted inside churches and later
on the market places. The
first theatre in England "The Blackfries" build in 1576, and
"The Globe" build in 1599, which is closely connected
with William
Shakespeare. Speaking about our times we should first of all
mention "The English National theatre","The Royal
Shakespeare company"
and "Covent Garden". "Covent Garden" used to
be a fashionable promenade - it was, before
then, a convent garden - but when it became overrun with flower-sellers,
orange-vendors and vegetable-growers, the people moved
to more exclusive surroundings farther west, such as "St. Jame's
Square". The
first "Covent Garden theatre" was build in 1732. It was burnt
down in 1808 and rebuild exactly a year after. It opened in September
1809, with Shakespeare's "Macbeth". Since the middle of the
last century "Covent Garden" became exclusively devoted
to opera. Now
"Covent Garden" in busier than ever, it is one of the few
well-known opera houses open for 11 months of the year and it employs
over 600 people both of the Opera company and the Royal Ballet. THE NATIONAL THEATRE It
took over the hundred years to establish a national theatre
company. It's first director from 1962 was Lawrence Olivier.
This is the first state theatre Britain has ever had. A special
building for it was opened in 1976. It has three theatres in
one: "The Oliver theatre", the biggest is for the
main classical
repertoire; "The Lyttilton", a bit smaller is for new writing
and for visiting foreigh countries and "The Cottesloe theatre",
the smallest is used for experimental writing and productions.
"The Royal Shakespeare company" are devided between the
country and the capital and it's produces plays mainly by Shakespeare
and his contempraries when it performs is "Stratford -on-Avon",
and modern plays in it's two auditoria in the Cities, Barbican
centre.
AUSTRALIA.
1. The Commonweaith of
Austrelia is a self govering federal state. It is situated in the
south-west of the Pasific ocean, ocuping the continent of Australia
and a great number of islands of which Tasmania is the most
important. Australia is a continent-island washed by the Indian and
the Pasific Oceans.
2. The country consists
of 6 (six) states and 2 (two) territories. 16 million people live in
Australia. The capital is Canberra. The offical language is English.
3. Australia has a
Parlament has two chambers, the house of Representatives and the
Senate. the governmant of the country is headed by the Prime
Minister.
4. Australia is not
only far from the rest of the world, it has a bad climet, too. The
climet is better in the east and south-east, where most big cities
have grown-up. But the northen coast has too much rain, and the
westen coast is too dry.
5. The highest part of
Australia, and almost all the mountains are near the coast. The whole
central part of the country is dry; it never rains, there are no
large rivers and no water there. So there is no very rich plant life
in Australia, except in the east and south-east.
6. Australia is an
important producer and exporter of primary products: wool, meat,
sugar, fruit, black, coal, iron, copper, lead, gold and so on.
7. Most of the
factories are situated near big cities. There are 5 (five) big cities
in Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and bris bane. These
cities are also the country's main ports.
8. Canberra was
specially planned as a capital. It is a quriet city. All the gover-
ment buildings are
situated there. There no industrial plants in the city. About 300000
people live in Canberra.
9. Sydney is the oldest
and largest city in Australia. It was founded in 1788. Sydney
is a big industrial
centre. About 3 million people now live in the city.
THE
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF GREAT BRITAIN.
The
educational system of G.B. is extreamely complex and bewilder- ing.It
is very difficult to generalise about particular types of schools as
schools differ from one to the other. The departament of education
and science is responsible for national educational policy,but it
doesnOt employe teacher or prescribe corricular or text books. Each
school has itOs own board of governers consisting of teachers,
parents, local politicians, members of local community, businessmen
and sometimes pupils. According to the law only one subject is
compulsary. Such as religious instruction. Schooling for children is
compulsary from 5 to 16, though some provision is made for children
under 5 and some pupils remain at school after 16 to prepare for
higher education. The state school system is usually devided into 2
stages (secondary and primary). The majority of primary schools are
mixed.They are subdevided into infant schools(ages 5 to 7),and junior
schools(ages 7 to11). In junior schools pupils were often placed in
A,B,C or D-streams, according to their abilities. Under the pressue
of progressive parents and teachers the 11+ examination has now been
abolished in most parts of the country. There are some types of
schools in G.B.Grammar schools provided an academical cause for
selected pupils from the age of 11 to 18. Only those children who
have the best results are admitted to these schools. They give pupils
a high level of academic education wich can lead to the university.
Technical Schools offer a general education with a techni- cal bias
and serve those pupils who are more mecanically minded. The
corricular includes more science and mathematics. Secondary modern
schools were formed to provide a non-academic education for children
of lesser attainment. The corricular includes more practical
subjects. The comprehensive schools brings about a general
improvement in the system of secondary education.
BRITISH
EDUCATION
British
education emas us to develop fully the abilities of
individuals,
for their own benefit and of society as a whole.
Compulsory
schooling takes place between the agers of 5 and
16,
but some pupils remain at shool for 2 years more, to prepare
for
further higher education. Post shool education is organized
flaxebly,
to provide a wide range of opportunities for academic
and
vacational education and to continue studying through out
life.
Administration
of state schools is decentralised. The
department
of education and science is responsible for national
education
policy, but it doesn't run any schools, if doesn't
employ
teachers, or prescribe corricular or textbooks. All shools
are
given a considerable amount of freedom. According to the law
only
one subject is compulsary. That is religious instruction.
Children
recieve preschool education under the age of 5 in
nursery
schools or in infant's classes in primary schools.
Most
pupils receive free education finenst from public fonds
and
the small proportions attend schools wholy independent. Most
independent
schools are single-sex, but the number of mixing
schools
is growing.
Education
within the mantained schools system usually
comprises
two stages: primary and secondary education. Primary
schools
are subdevided into infant schools (ages 5 - 7), and
junior
schools (ages 7 - 11). Infant schools are informal and
children
are encouraged to read, write and make use of numbers
and
develop the creative abilities. Primary children do all their
work
with the same class teacher exept for PT and music. The work
is
beist upon the pupils interests as far as possible.
The
junior stage extence over four years. Children have set
pirits
of arithmetic, reading, composition, history, geography
nature
study and others. At this stage of schooling pupils were
often
placed in A, B, C and в streams according their abilities.
The
most able children were put in the A stream, the list able in
the
D stream. Till reccantly most junior shool children had to
seat
for the eleven-plus examination. It usually consisted of an
arithmetic
paper and an entelligent test.
According
to the results of the exam children are sent to
Grammar,
Technical or Secondary modern schools.
So
called comprehansive schools began to appear after World
War
2. They are muchly mixed schools which can provide education
for
over 1000 pupils. Ideally they provide all the courses given
in
Grammar, Technical and Secondary modern schools.
By
the law all children must receive full-time education
between
the ages of 5 and 16. Formally each child can remain a
school
for a further 2 or 3 years and continue his studies in the
sixth
form up to the age of 18 or 19. The course is usually
subdevided
into the lower 6 and the upper 6. The corricular is
narrowed
to 5 subjects of which a pupil can choose 2 or 3.
The
main examinations for secondary school pupils are
general
certeficate of education (the GCE) exam and certificate
of
secondary education (the CSE) exam. The GSE exam is held at
two
levels: ordinary level (0 level) and advanced level (A
level).
Candidats
set for 0 level papers at 15 - 16 years away. GCE
level
is usually taken at the end on the sixth form. The CSE
level
exam is taken after 5 years of secondary education by the
pupils
who are of everage abilities of their age.
Exploration
Christopher Columbus
300-400 years ago a great deal of the world was
undiscoveried. But now there seems little more to explore, the wild
north was conquered, the jungle was conquered too. And it seems that
all the pages of the great book called “The Earth” has
been filled in, but exploration still goes on.
In the 15th century people knew only 3 continents:
Europe, Asia and Africa. They knew nothing about America. The man who
was thought to be the discoverier of America was born in 1451 in
Italy. His name was Cristopher Columbus.
Knowing that the earth was round he desided to reach
India by sailing to the west. It was very difficult for him to
organize an expedition as nobody wanted to help him. At last the
Spanish government gave him some money. In the 1492 he sailed with 3
small ships in to the Atlantic ocean. They had been sailing for more
than 2 months and at last they saw land. Columbus was certain that
the lands he discoveried were part of India and he called these
islands “The West Indias”. He made 3 voyagers to America.
His last voyage was made in 1502-1504. After that, seriously ill, he
remained in Spain until his death. He died believing that Cuba was
part of Asia. Colum-buse’s voyagers gave Europe first important
knowledge of the new world. Many places have been named in his
honour. America however was named after another explorer Amerigo
Vespucci.
Americus Vespucius (or Amerigo Vespucci, as the name
is spelled in Italian) was born in Florence, Italy, in 1454. He was
in Spain at the time of Columbus' first and second voyages. In a
letter, written in 1504 and printed in 1505, he claimed to have made
four voyages, on the first of which, in 1497, he explored the South
American coast. This would make him the first European to land on the
American continent, for at that time Columbus had only reached the
outlying islands. Most scholars reject Vespucius' version of this
voyage. Vespucius perhaps did accompany a Spanish expedition that of
Alonzo de Ojeda to South America in 1499, and in 1501 and 1503 he
probably went with Portuguese expeditions. Probably he never
commanded an expedition himself and, of course, was not the first
person to set foot on the continents to which his name is given.
Vespucius died in Seville, Spain, in 1512.
Historic cities :
Durham, York, Oxford
York. York is one of Europe’s
historic cities. It began as an important roman city. In medieval
times a stone wall was built around it, and wall is still there
today. There is the river Omse near Lendal bridge. And from here you
can walk around the city on the wall, it takes about two hours. In
the south wall is Micklegate bar, where kings and queens entered the
city. There is also Monk bar and Booth bar. Inside the city there is
a cathedral. It was begun in 1220 and finished two centuries later.
If you compare this English cathedral with a catholic cathedral, you
will see that they are different. Cathedral in Protestant England
don’t have colorful paintings on the wall, the color is in the
windows. In the center of window of this cathedral is white rose-
the symbol of York. There are also different interesting museums in
York. One of them is the National Railway Museum. There are a lot of
trains in it, for example the first public train in the world, built
in 1825 and the fastest steam train in the world are here.. West
Yorkshire. The West Yorkshire moors, where
two great writers, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, lived. Their books are
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heinghts. They lived in the 1800s in the
village of Haworth with four brothers and sisters. Their father was
the minister at the village church. All the children died by the age
of thirty, except Charlotte. She lived on alone with her father in
this house. Then at thirty-eight she married. But only nine month
later she died too and was buried in the church by her old father.
OXFORD. Oxford is one
of oldest and most famous cities in the world. it is famous for it’s
university, the Oxford university. It also called a city of students,
because over 12000 students are living and studding here in thirty
five colleges. Oxford is a place of young people and old traditions,
for example teachers are called dons and still wear black grows.
Student here are taught one-to-one in the Socratic tradition. At the
libraries you can still see notices written in Latin - the ancient
language of scholars. Students here are surrounded by old stone
building. One of them is Hertford College, one of smallest colleges
in the university. About two hundred students live and work here. But
Oxford is not all work, there are a lot of clubs and other
interesting places for students and dons to visit. For example the
Sheldonian theater, which is used for concerts and university’s
ceremonies. Opposite the theater is book shop, where people buy
books. It is one of the word biggest book shops, with seven
kilometers of selves. There are also a lot of pubs and cafes in the
city, where you can buy cheap food and drink a cup of coffee with
friends. There are two rivers in Oxford. People usually travel in the
rivers by boats called punts. Oxford is also famous for it’s
gardens, which has a maze.
LEISURE TIME AND
HOBBY
Many
man,many minds. All people are different and so they prefer
spending their free time in different ways. Some of them go
the parks, forests,to the country and enjoy the beauty of nature.
Others like to stay at home watching TV or reading books.
There are people who are fond of cinema and theatres, so they
try to go there as often as pos- sible. As for me I prefer to
spend my free time in different ways. I like to go in for sports,
to play football, basketball or volleyball with my friends.
I like to watch TV, to listen a tape recorder and play computer
games. Also I like to go for a walk in the country and enjoy
the beauty of nature.And my way of spending free time is connected with my hobby. And my
hobby is reading books... I"d
like to say that it"s hard to imagine our life without books.Books play such a great
role in the development of personality. They help as to
forget our daily problems and to pretend
we travel to the past, future and to many different, wonderfull places that we
can"t visit in reality. I am also sure
that books are our good friends and teachers. From them we get
to know the life around as better, they teatch as how to tell
right from wrong, to love our Motherland, to understand friendship, people"s
feelings. So, they teach us how to live. As
for me I like to read different kinds of books: ......
Learning
languages.
The problem of learning languages is very important today. Foreign
languages are socially demanded especially at the present time when
the progress in science and technology has led to an explosion of
knowledge and has contributed to an overflow of information. The
total knowledge of mankind is known to double every seven years.
Foreign languages are needed as the main and most efficient means of
information exchange of the people of our planet.
Today English
is the language of the world. Over 350 million people speak it as a
mother tongue. The native speakers of English live in Great Britain,
the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand. English is
one of the official languages in the Irish Republic, Canada, the
South African Republic. As a second language it is used in the former
British and US colonies.
It is the major international language
for communication in such areas as science, technology, business and
mass entertainment. English is one of the official languages of the
United Nations Organization and other political organization. It is
the language of the literature, education, modern music,
international tourism.
Russia is integrating into the world
community and the problem of learning English for the purpose of
communication is espicially urgent today. Learning a foreing language
is not as easy thing. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot
of time and patience. But to know English is absolutely necessary for
every educated person, for every good specialist.
It is well
known that reading books in the original , listening to the BBC news,
communicating with the English speaking people will help a lot. When
learning a foreign language you learn the culture and history of the
native speakers. One must work hard to learn any foreign language.
ART
GALLEREYS OF LONDON
Speaking
about art gallereys of London we should first of all
mention
The national gallery, The national portret galerey and
The
tate gallery. I would like to tell you about National portret
gallery
and about Tate gallery.
The
national gallery houses one of the richest and most
extensive
collections of painting in the world. It stands to the
north
of the Trafalgar Square. the gallerey was desighned by
William
Wilkins and build in 1834-37. The collection covers all
schools
and periods of painting, but is a specially famous for
it's
examples of Rembrant and Rubents. The british schools is
only
moderately represented as the national collections are
shared
with the Tate gallerey. The National gallerey was founded
in
1824 when the government bought the collection of John
Angerstein
which included 38 paintings.
The
Tate gallery houses the national collection of british
painting
from the 16-th century to the present day. It is also
the
national gallerey for modern art, including painting and
sculpture
made in Britain, Europe, America and other countries.
It
was opened in 1897 as the national gallerey of british art. It
owes
it's establishment to Suie Henritate who built the gallerey
and
gave his own collection of 65 painting.
MOSCOW THEATRES
For
decades Moscow has had a reputation as a city of theatres.
The birth plays of the historic "Bolshoy", "Maly"
and "Moscow
Art" theatres the city has been and steel is a centre for the
development exploretary modern ideas in the dramatic art and is
famous for it's great number of highlygifted, interesting directors,
actors, playwrigts and artists. Every
evening the doors of Moscow theatres open to streams of
theatre-gowers. The best Moscow theatres devoded themselves to developing
the principals of directing and acting laid down by Stanislavsky,
Meerhold, Nemerovich-Danchenko, Vachtangov and others.
The discoveries and successes of Moscow theatres today exists
due to experience and triumphs of preceding generations. I'd
like to tell you about the Bolshoy Theatre. The magestic building
of the Bolshoy Theatre stands in Theatre Square in Moscow's
central quater, not far from Kremlin. This is the leading
Russian opera house with the best vocalists and choreographers
in it's company. The
Bolshoi traces it's history to 1776 when a standing opera
company was organized in Moscow. The first opera shown in Bolshoi
theatre was opera "life of tsar" (now "Ivan
Susanin").At later
times operas by Dargomyzhsky, Serov, Tcaikovsky, Borodin, Moussorgsky,
Rimsky-Korsakov and Rubinstein were produced here. At
the same time the Bolshoi company staged the best operas and
ballets by West European composers-Mozart, Rossini, Weber, Verdi
and others. The
bolshoi ballet company enjoys well-deserved fame as the world's
finest. This is equally true of it's brilliant realistic style
of perfomance and repertoire.
MY
FAVORITE PAINTER
One
of my favorite artists is Rembrant is the greatest Dutch
master,
one of the supreme geneuses in the history of art. To
this
day the art of Rembrant remains one of the most profound
witness
of the progress of the soul in it's earthly pilgrimage
towards
the realisation of higher destiny. The son of the
prosperous
miller, Rembrant was born in Leiden in 1608. He
studied
at Leiden University, but his real vocation was painting.
His
rapid sugsess promoted him to move to the Amsterdam in 1631.
In
1632 Rembrant bought a splendid house, started a collection
of
paintings and rarities. The universal artist dealt with many
world
subjects. Rembrant created a number of portraits and some
group
portraits which were traditional to the Dutch art. The best
of
them are "Anatomy lesson of Dr. Tulp" and "The night
watch".
In
1655 Rembrant found himself in the midst of several
financial
troubles. At that period he painted "The Polish Rider",
which
is an allegory of the man's earthly journey.
Probably
in 1669, the year of his own death, Rembrant
painted
his famous "Return of the Prological son", which stands
at
the ultimate peak of Cristian spirituality, illuminating the
relationship
of the self to the eternity.
The
biblical theme was very important to Rembrant. He painted
"Artakserks,
Oman and Eshpir", "The Saint Family".
Rembrant
was not understood when he was alive. He died in
poverty.
But it is the spirituality of his art that distinguishes
Rembrant
from his Dutch contemporaries making him the greatest
artist
of the world
THEATRES,
MUSIC HALLS AND CINEMAS
Theatres
are very much the same in London as anywhere else; the
chief theatres ,music halls and cinemas are in the West End. If
you are staying in London for a few days, you'll have no difficulty
whatever in finding somewhere to spend an enjoyable evening.
You'll find opera, balley, comedy, drama, revue, musical comedy
and variety. Films are shown in the cinemas during the greatest
part of the day. The
best seats at theatres are those in the stalls, the circle
and the upper circle. Then comes the pit, and the last of all
the gallery where the seats are cheapest. Boxes, of course, are
the most expensive. Most theatres and music halls have good orchestras
with popular conductors. You
ought to make a point of going to the opera at least once
during the season if you can. There you can get the best of everything
- an exellent orchestras, famous conductors, celebated singers
and well dressed audience. But, of course, if you are not fond
of music and singing, won't interest you. At
the West End theatres you can see most of the famous English
actors and actresses. As a rule, the plays are magnificently
staged - costumes, dresses, scenery, everything being
done of the most lavish scale. Choose a good play, and you'll
enjoy yourself thoroughly from the moment the curtain goes up
to the end of the last act. Get your seats beforehand, either at
the box-office of theatre itself or at one of the agencies. When
you go to a theatre, you'll probably want to seat as near to the
stage as possible. But if you are at the cinema, you may prefer
to seat some distance from the screen. In fact, I would say,
the further away the better.
ART
IN MOSCOW
Speaking
about art gallereys of Moscow we must mention the most
famous gallereys. The
State Tretyakov gallery is one of the best known picture gallereys
in Russia. It takes it's name from it's founder Pavel Tretyakov,
a Moscow mercant. In the 19'th century Tretyakov began to
collect russian paintings. He visitet all the exibitions and art
studios and bought the best pictures. Little by little Tretyakov
extended his interests and began to collect earlier Russian
paintings. In 1881 Tretyakov opened in St. Peterburg to the
public, 11 years later he donated it to the city of Moscow. Since
then the gallerey has received hundred paintings from oter museums
and private collections. The Tretyakov gallerey reflects the
whole history of Russian paintings from 11'th century to the present
day. Also
I'd like to tell you about state pushkin museum of fine art.
The building was built in Greek stile by Roman Klein in 1898 -
1912 to house a museum of fine art, founded of initiative of professor
Ivan Cvetayev. Since 1937 it has be known as The Puskin museum
of fine art. It has one of the worlds largest ancient collections
of european art. Now the picture gallerey has over 2 thousands
works of various schools of painting which enaibous us to
understand and appreciate the variaty of staills over the centuries. The
Pushkin museum pereodically hald's exibition of the art of
various countries and of individual outstanding artist of past and
present.
Computers
When
Charles Babbage, a professor of Mathematics at Cambridge university,
invented the first calculating machine in 1812 he couldn’t
imagine the situation we find ourselves in today. Nearly everything
we do in the world is helped, or even controlled by computers, the
complicated descedants of his simple machine. Computers are used more
and more often in the world today, for the simple reason that they
are far more efficent than human beings. They have much better
memories and they can store much information. No man alive can do
500000 sums in one second, but a computer can. In fact, computers can
do many of the things we do, but faster and better. They can predict
weather, and ever play chess, write poetry or compose music.
The
use of computers
Just
as television has extended human sight across the barriers of time
and distance, so the computers extend the power of the human mind
across the existing barriers.
Computers
in medicine
Computers
are one of great importance in modern hospital. The chief use of
computers is the storing and sorting the medical knowledge which has
been equired in the last 50 years. No doctor can possible keep up
with all discoveries. The only solution of the problem is store
medical knowledge in a computer. Today there are medical computer
centers were all existing knowledge of simpthoms of various dessieses
and of their treatment is stored. Doctors feed data on simpthoms in
the computer and get the nessesary information on correct diagnostics
and treatment.
Computers
that can be learn
Ordinary
computer can remember only the data stored in the hard disk. Now
scientists have desighned machines, that are capable of learning
from experience and remembering what they have learned. Such a
machine is capable of recognising objects without human help or
control. Of course, they made many mistakes.
There
is another similar machine which can look at letter alphabet a simple
words and they “say” thought a loudes speaker what it has
seen. The machine has as certain learning power.
Computers
at the school
Information
science with the ideas and message of processing and storing
informations is of great importance today. That’s why computer
technology must be told in secondary school. The new subject “basic
information science”, and “computing machine” was
intreduste for the siner forms at schools. The pupils teach
computers to anlestigate school problems. Contact with the machine
increases the interest in learning, makes them more serious about
studing new subject. School computers are used not only for studing
information science, but also examinations purposes. Young people who
finish the school must be trained to operate computers.
Fedor Dostoevsky
(1821-1881)
The Russian writer Dostoevski is regarded as one of the
world's great novelists. In Russia he was surpassed only by Leo
Tolstoi.
Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevski was born on Nov. 11,
1821, in a Moscow hospital where his father was a physician. At 13
Fedor was sent to a Moscow boarding school, then to a military
engineering school in St. Petersburg. Shortly after graduating he
resigned his commission in order to devote his time to writing.
Dostoevski had published two novels and several
sketches and short stories when he was arrested along with a group of
about 20 others with whom he had been studying French socialist
theories. After the 1848 revolutions in Western Europe, Russia's Czar
Nicholas I decided to round up all of that country's revolutionaries,
and in April 1849 Dostoevski's group was imprisoned. Dostoevski and
several others were sentenced to be shot, but at the last minute
their sentence was changed to four years of hard labor in a prison in
Omsk, Siberia. There, Dostoevski said, they were "packed in like
herrings in a barrel" with murderers and other criminals. He
read and reread the New Testament, the only book he had, and built a
mystical creed, identifying Christ with the common people of Russia.
He had great sympathy for the criminals.
As a child Dostoevski suffered from mild epilepsy,
and it grew worse in prison. After four years in prison, he was sent
as a private to a military station in Siberia. There in 1857 he met
and married a widow named Marie Isaeva.
In 1860 Dostoevski was back in St. Petersburg. The
next year he began to publish a literary journal that was soon
suppressed, though he had by now lost interest in socialism. In 1862
he visited Western Europe and hated the industrialism he saw there.
Dostoevski had been separated from his wife but visited her in Moscow
before her death in 1864. In 1867 he married his young stenographer,
Anna Snitkina. He died on Feb. 9, 1881, in St. Petersburg.
Education in Russia
An educated person is one who knows a lot about many
things.I think it is very important that everyone should be
educated.Each pupils ought todo his best to become a useful member of
our society. Education is very important in our life. Going on
educational excursions gives us opportunities to acquire some
scientific knowledge.
In the Russian Federation the school education is
compulsary. Pupils begin to go to school at the age of six. When they
complete high grades they can either continue to study at school for
more 2 years, or go to a professional school where they study not
only main subjects , but are able to learn some profession. When
school pupils leave school they can try to continue their educaton in
institutes or universities.
There are many school types of schools in Russia:
specialized, politecnical, musical art and others. Nowdays appeared
some new types of schools: gimnasiums and colledges.
Bath
Bath is an unusual city because it was
built for leisure and health. Most of the houses were built in the
eighteenth century when Bath became a fashionable place. The houses
were built with the pale golden-coloured stone from the nearby
hills. Some of the terraces in Bath were built in crescent or
circular shape. Some of the streets in Bath are closed to cars, so
walking around, relaxation and pleasant conversation are as popular
as they were in the eighteenth century. In those days the favourite
meeting place was the social center of Bath, a building called “The
Pump Room”. Here you can drink tea in the elegant atmosphere of
the eighteenth century. The Pump Room was built over a spring, where
natural hot water comes up from the underground. This water contains
minerals which are good for you. The English were not the first to
enjoy this warm, healthy water. The Romans built hot baths, swimming
pools, and a temple here nearly two thousand years ago. The Roman
Bath was fonded in 1878 and now ut’s stil work there. Near Bath
you can visit beautiful gardens and classical country houses. Devon.
Around the world there are about forty Plymouths-all named by people
who sailed from this town in sixteenth and seventeenth century. In
the early seventeenth century men and woman left from here to build a
new life in America. The English Plymouth of today is Devons largest
city. Its an interesting city to visit and many of the houses
overlooking the sea are hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfast. A
bed and breakfast is a private house which offers a room and a
breakfast. Guest houses are like hotels but usually smaller and
cheaper. The countryside of Devon has narrow country roads with high
banks on both sides, which protect you from the wind. Devon is a
green hilly county with many rivers and estuaries. Salcombe is a
popular holiday town on the Kingsbridge Estuary. Here you can hire a
boat and explore. Its one of the most popular places in Britain for
sailing. One reason for its popularity is climate. This area is the
most southernmost part of Britain, so its little warmer than
elsewhere. Another good thing is absence of big modern hotels. They
are not allowed in this protected area of natural beauty. The local
drink in Devon is a strong cider called scrumpy. Its made of apples,
using a traditional process. When the apples have been cut up, the
pieces are scooped up with a wooden shovel and carried to a press.
The lid of the press is placed on top, making a giant sandwich. The
cogwheels begin to turn and the juice is squeezed out, quickly at
first. A few month from now this apple juice will be a good scrumpy.
Exploration
Christopher Columbus
300-400 years ago a great deal of the world was
undiscoveried. But now there seems little more to explore, the wild
north was conquered, the jungle was conquered too. And it seems that
all the pages of the great book called “The Earth” has
been filled in, but exploration still goes on.
In the 15th century people knew only 3 continents:
Europe, Asia and Africa. They knew nothing about America. The man who
was thought to be the discoverier of America was born in 1451 in
Italy. His name was Cristopher Columbus.
Knowing that the earth was round he desided to reach
India by sailing to the west. It was very difficult for him to
organize an expedition as nobody wanted to help him. At last the
Spanish government gave him some money. In the 1492 he sailed with 3
small ships in to the Atlantic ocean. They had been sailing for more
than 2 months and at last they saw land. Columbus was certain that
the lands he discoveried were part of India and he called these
islands “The West Indias”. He made 3 voyagers to America.
His last voyage was made in 1502-1504. After that, seriously ill, he
remained in Spain until his death. He died believing that Cuba was
part of Asia. Colum-buse’s voyagers gave Europe first important
knowledge of the new world. Many places have been named in his
honour. America however was named after another explorer Amerigo
Vespucci.
Americus Vespucius (or Amerigo Vespucci, as the name
is spelled in Italian) was born in Florence, Italy, in 1454. He was
in Spain at the time of Columbus' first and second voyages. In a
letter, written in 1504 and printed in 1505, he claimed to have made
four voyages, on the first of which, in 1497, he explored the South
American coast. This would make him the first European to land on the
American continent, for at that time Columbus had only reached the
outlying islands. Most scholars reject Vespucius' version of this
voyage. Vespucius perhaps did accompany a Spanish expedition that of
Alonzo de Ojeda to South America in 1499, and in 1501 and 1503 he
probably went with Portuguese expeditions. Probably he never
commanded an expedition himself and, of course, was not the first
person to set foot on the continents to which his name is given.
Vespucius died in Seville, Spain, in 1512.
Scotland.
Scotland is one of
four part of the GB. In area Scotland is more than half as big as
England. The principal cities of the country are : its capital
Edinburgh and the main industrial center Glasgow. Scottish towns look
very different from English towns. Some words about Edinburgh .
Edinburgh,
capital of Scotland, is one of Britain’s most attractive
cities. It’s a city for people who like to walk. You are never
far from green parks, gardens and hills - even in the main shopping
streets. It’s a busy modern city, but the history is
everywhere. At the top of the highest hill in Edinburgh is Edinburgh
Castle. It was the home of Scotland’s royal family until 1603
when King James the 6th
of Scotland became king of England and moved to London. The road
which begins at the castle and goes eastwards is called Royal Mile.
At the other end of the Royal Mile is the Palace of Hollyroodhouse.
It was built by a Scottish king before Scotland and England were
united to make Great Britain. Now it is a second home for the Queen
or her children, who usually visit Edinburgh in the summer. When the
royal family is not there you can visit the palace and see a lot of
interesting things. There are nine hills in Edinburgh. They are
long-dead volcanoes. From the tops of them you can see two bridges :
the modern road bridges an the old rail bridges which has carried
trains to the Highlands for more than a hundred years. The highlands
of Scotland is mountainous and wild. In the winter it’s white
with snow but in the summer it’s purple. Highlands are famous
for the Scottish Olympics or the Highland games ( it’s real
name ). These games are not only sporting competitions : music and
different traditional games are very important too. While athletes
throw the hammer at the one end of the arena, you can watch a dancing
competition at the other end. there is also a game for the strongest
athletes - tossing the caber, which weights 60 kilos and is six
metres long. These games are very popular in Highlands. Usually
between the mountains are rivers and lakes. Scottish people like
fishing very much, that’s why they say that Scottish rivers are
good for two : fishing is one, the other is Scotch whisky. Whisky is
made from water and barley. The method hasn’t changed for
hundreds years. Scotch whisky is the best one. Scotland is also
famous for it’s kilt, the most important part of national dress
and bagpipes - the national instrument.
I thing Scotland is very beautiful
country and if you visit it you shall never forget it.
Wales.
Wales is a
country of lakes and mountains. Its about the half the size of
Switzerland, and it has a population of two and three quarter
million. On the north of Wales is some of the most beautiful scenery
in the British islands, the Snowdon mountain. Snowdon is Britain’s
second highest mountain.
Wales
is an not independent nation. In 1292, the English king, Edward
,
invaded Wales and built fourteen huge castles to control the Welsh
people. His son, Edward, became the first prince of Wales, since then
all the kings and queens of England have given their eldest sons the
title, Prince of Wales. Prince Charles became the twenty-first Prince
of Wales. Although the English have ruled Wales for many centuries,
Wales still has its own flag, culture, and, above all, its own
language. In the towns and villages of North Wales, many people speak
English only as a second language. Their first language is Welsh. In
Llanberis, a small town at the foot of Snowdon, eighty-six per cent
people speak Welsh as their first language. At the local primary
school children have nearly all their lessons in Welsh. The children
should be bilingual by the time that they are eleven years old. It is
not a problem for children to learn two languages at the same time.
Children have insight into two cultures, so have all the folk tales
of two languages. Children like Welsh because in Welsh you spell
things just how you say them, in English there are more silent
letters.
Welsh is
one of the oldest languages in Europe. Its a Celtic language, like
Breton in France, Gaelic in Ireland, or Gaelic in Scotland. Two and a
half thousand years before these languages were spoken in many parts
of Europe. They died out when the Romans invaded these areas, but
some of them survived in the north-west corner of Europe. But over
the last hundred years the number of Welsh-speaker has fallen very
quickly. Now only twenty per cent of Welsh people speak Welsh. Here
are some of the reasons for the decline.
In the
nineteenth century people thought that Welsh an uncivilized language.
If you wanted to be successful in life you had to learn English, the
language of the British Empire. So in many schools children were
forbidden to speak Welsh.
At the
beginning of the twentieth century many English and Irish people
moved to South Wales to work in the coal mines and steel works. They
did not learn Welsh.
People,
especially young people, moved away from the Welsh-speaking villages
and farms of north and west Wales to look for work in the big towns
and cities, so the Welsh-speaking communities became much smaller.
In the
1960s and 1970s many English people bought holiday cottages in
villages in Wales. Most of them did not learn Welsh. This also pushed
up the price of houses so that local Welsh-speaking people cold not
afford them.
English
comes into every Welsh home trough the television, the radio,
newspapers, books, etc. There are Welsh-language TV and radio
stations, but far fever than English ones. And now there is cable and
satellite TV, too-in English, of course!
The
decline has now stopped, because a lot has been done. Road signs,
bilingual documentation, and there is a Welsh language act. The
future of Welsh is uncertain. The problem is that Welsh has to
survive next door to English, and, as we all know, English is a very
successful language.
0.
William Shakespeare.
1. Renaissance.
2. William Shakespeare.
3. Shakespeare’s works and
Hamlet’s soliloguy.
4. Enlightment.
5. Daniel
Defoe.
6. “Robinson Crusoe”.
7. Jonathan
Swift.
8. “Gulliver’s Travels”.
9.
Robert Burns.
William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare is the most famous British
playwright in history. People know his name in almost every country
in the world. But who exactly was William Shakespeare? That is the
question! Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on 23 April,
1564. Families were big in those days. William had seven brothers and
sisters. But his parent’s weren’t poor; his father, John
Shakespeare, was a successful businessman who bought and sold leather
and wool. His mother was the daughter of a rich farmer. When
Shakespeare left school, he went to work for his father. But soon
after, he met and fell in love with Ann Hathaway, the daughter of a
farmer who lived in Stratford. They got married in December 1582, and
just five months late, their first daughter, Susanna, was born.
William was 18. Ann was 25. What did Shakespeare do for the next ten
years? We don’t know exactly. We don’t know why he gave
up a good job in his father’s business and moved to London. We
don’t know exactly when or why he became an actor and
playwright. All we know is that in 1592 he wrote his first play.
After that, his plays became popular very quickly, and he made a lot
of money. Four hundred years ago, Shakespeare built a theatre –
The Globe – here in the center of London. It was one of
London’s first theatres. It was round and had no roof over the
center – like the theatres of ancient Rome. OK in Rome –
not such a good idea in cold, rainy London! The people of London
loves going to the theatre. The globe could hold three thousand
people. Some people sat to watch the plays; other stood in the
middle, in front of the stage. The audience were usually noisy, often
clapping and cheering, and shouting to the actors – and there
were only actors, no actresses. Young boys played the parts of women.
It often rained in London then, too. And everyone got very wet. In
1610, after about twenty-five years in London, Shakespeare came back
here to Stratford. He was rich, and he had a big house where he
enjoyed life with his family and friends. But he didn’t stop
writing plays. What kind of plays did William Shakespeare write?
Well, he wrote thirty-nine plays. Some of them are comedies, for
example, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream and
Comedy of Errors.
They have happy endings. Others are stories from English history, for
example, stories about the kings of England. They are very patriotic.
Queen Elizabeth 1 often went to see them. And the others are
tragedies, such as Hamlet
and MacBeth
– these are sad, dark stories of murder and revenge.
Shakespeare died on his fifty-second birthday in 1616. He is buried
in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. But the characters in his plays
are still with us today.
1.The
Renaissance.
The
Renaissance or the revival of learning was the period then european
culture was at it’s high. It lasted from the 14’th
centure till 17’th centure, and was coursed by complex economic
situation and social conditions. The feudal system was been shuttled
by the bourgeoisie, thich was getting stronger and stronger. It was
more profitable to unite under a single rouler. Absolute monacy came
into being. This lead to the forming of nations and the true sense
of the world. New social and economic conditions called for the new
ideology, because the catholic dogmas didn’t correspond to the
new trend of life. For this reason in many european countries the
protestant religion sprend up and national churches were established.
Instead
of the blind face ordered by the catholic then appeared a new outlook
which was called humanism. The time demanded positive recional
knowledge and this demand was supplied: in astronomy by Copernicus,
in philosophy by Tomas More, in geography by Columbus, Vaska de Gama
and others. Leonardo de Vinci was force a new feory of art: “It
was the greatest progressive revolution that mankind have so far
experience, a time, thich called for “Giants” and
produced Giants in power and thought, passion and character in
universality and language.”
An
example of a typical men of the Renaissance period was: the famous
Englishmen sir Walter Raleigh, he was a soldier, sailor, explorer,
pirate, coloniser, historian, thilosother and a poet. He was much
interested in science and literature. He wrote works of geography and
lead expedition to South America. He was an outstanding poet. His
poems are full of profound wisdom, written with great elegance and
salacity of style. He organised of “academy”. Christother
Marlowe the greatest dramatist (before Shakespear). But the most
important of most this writer and one of the greatest men of this
period was sir Thomas More.
Thomas
More.
He
came into great favour and made a repid carrier as a statesmen, at
the same time writing works of a political, philosophical and
historical character. His most famous book is “Utopie”.
“Utopie” - means “no place, no there”. The
work is writing in latin and devided into two books. Thomas More was
the first writer in Europe to formulate communist principals as a
bases of society.
The Renaisense in England.
The
prideses of Shakespeare.
The
most brilliant period of English literature was in the second half of
the 16’th and begining of 17’th centure.Sometimes it’s
called “Elizabethen age” after quen Elizabeth 5. England
had become a geat world power. It had established wide commercial
contact with countries And rich trading company had been organaized.
The english people were now a great nation and the english language
inriched was now not unlike the language of Chaucer. Many famous
poetical and prose works appeared. Among those who inriched the
literary haritage of this period ere sir Philip Sydney, Adnond
Spenser and Christother Marlowe. There were fine works of poetry and
prose in the Elizabethen age but the greatest hight’s of
literature of this period were riached in drama.
2. Life
of Shakespeare.
The
great poet and dramatist William Shakespeare is often called by his
people “Our National Bard”, “The Immortal. Poet of
nature” and “The Great Unknown”. More than two
hundred contemporary references to Shakespeare have been located
amoung church records, legal records, documents in the Public Record
Office, and miscellaneous repositories. When these owe assembled, we
have at least the sceleton out line of his life, begining with his
baptist on April 26, 1564, in Trinity Churche, Stratford-on-Avon, and
ending with his burial there on April 25, 1616. Shakespeare native
place was Sratford-on-Avon, a little town in Warwickshive, which is
generally described as beign in the middle of England.
Shakespeare’s
father, John, was a prosperious glove maker of Stratford who, after
holding minor municipal offices, was elected high bailiff of
Stratford. Shakespeare’s mother Mary Arden, came from an
affluent family of landowners.
Shakespeare probably
recieved his early education at the exellent Stratford Grammar
School, supervised by an Oxford graduate, where he would have learned
Latin smattering of Greek.
In
1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who lived in a neighboring
hamlet. The first child born to Ann and William was their daughter
Susanna. In about two years Ann bore him twins a boy and a girl,
Hamlet and Jidith.
Then
life in Stratford became intolerable for William Shakespeare and he
dicided to go to London and began a theatrical career. Shakespeare
major activity lay in the field of drama. He became a full
shaveholder in his acting company, he was partowner of “the
Globe” theatre and later of “the Blackfriars”
theatre, and in 1597 he purchased property in Strarford. Including
new place, one of the largest houses in the town. He probably refired
there about 1610, travelling of London when necessary to take cave of
his theatrical business. In all, 154 sonnets seguence. The sonnets
were probably written in the 1590 but were first published in 1609.
3. Shakespeare’s works.
Shakespeare’s
literary work is usually divided into three periods. The first period
of his creative work falls between 1590 and 1600. Shakespeare’s
comedies belong to the first period of his creativ work. They all are
written in his playfull manner and and in the brilliant poetry that
conveys the spectator to Italy. Some of the first plays of the first
period are: “Richard 3” (1592), “The comedy of
errors” (1592), “Romeo and Juliet” (1594), “Julius
Caesar” (1599), “As you like it” (1599), 1600 -
“Twelth night”. Shakespe-are’s poems are also
attributed to the first period, “Venus and Adonis” and
“Lucrece”, and 154 sonnets. “Venus and Adonis”
was the first of Shakespeare’s works that came off the press.
The second period of Shakespeare’s creative work during from
1600 to 1608. His famous tragedies appeared at this time. In the
plays of this period the dramatist reaches his full maturity. He
presents great humans problems. His tragedies and historical plays
made Shakespeare the greatest humanist of the English Renaissanse.
Some plays of the second period: 1601 - “Hamlet”, 1604 -
“Othello”.
Shakespeare’s plays of the third
period are called the “Romantic dramas”. There is no
tragic tension in these plays. This period lasted from 1609 till
1612.
1609 - “Cymbeline”, 1610 - “The
Winters Tale”, 1612 - “Henry 8”.
Hamlet’s
soliloguy.
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether tis
nobler in the mind to sufler.
The slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of
troubles,
And by opposing and then. To die, to sleep -
No more, and by a sleep to say we end
The heart - ache, and
the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is hear to; ‘tis
a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep -
To sleep! Perchance to dream! Ay, there’s the rub
For in that sleep of death what dreams may comes,
When we
have shuflled off this mortal coil
Must give pause - there’s
the respect
That makes calimity of so long life.
4. The Enlightment.
The history of
England and second part of the 17’th centure, and during the
18’th centure was marked by British colonial, expression and
struggle for the leading role in cowers. The writters and
philosofists of this age protested against the sovivals of feodalizm
in thich they saw the main evil of this time. Man they thought was
vertains by nature and wise was duty ignorence to they started a
pubic movement for enlighting the people. This movement was called
“the enlightment”. The enlighters belived in the power of
reason and the period was also called “the age of reason”.
This period saw a remarkable rise in literature. English literature
of this period may be characterise by the following features: 1.The
rise of the political pamphlets and issue. The novell became the
leading genre. 2. The prose style became clever gracefull and
polished. 3. The hero of the novell was no longer a prince but a
representative of the middle class. 4. Literature became very
instructive.
The
literature of this age may be divided into 3 periods:
The
1’st period
is caracterised by classisizm in poetry. The greatest follower of the
classical style was Alexander Pope. There appeared the first
realistic novels written by Defoe and Swift.
The
2’nd peiod
saw the development of the realistic social novel, represen-tive by
Richardson, Fielding and others.
The
3’rd period
is marked by the appiriense of a new trends: sentimenta-lizm. Typefed
by the works of Goldsmith and Stern. This period also saw the rise of
the realistic drama (R. Sheridan).
5. Daniel Defoe.
DD was the founder of the
realistic novel. He was also a brilliant journa-list and in many ways
the father of modern English periodicals. He founded and paved the
way for many magazines ( “The Revue”, “The
Spectator”).
DD was born in London, his father a butcher,
was wealthy enough to give his sone a good education. в was to become
a prist, but it was his cheariched desire to become wealthy. His
wished was never fullfield. в was banckrote several times. He was
always in deep debt. The inly branch of business in which he proved
succesful was journalism and literature. When в was about 23 he
started writting pamphlets on question of the hour. He started
writting pamphlets prassing King William 3, who was supported by the
whig party. в wrote a setire in woth. No matter in whose defends his
brilliant pamphlets were written they are irony was so subtle, that
the enemy didn’t understand it at first. But as soon as his
enemy realised the real character of the pamphlets в was sentensed to
7 years inprisonment. It was a cruel punishment, and when the came
for him to be set free people carried him on their shoulders.. This
was the climax of his political career and the end of it. In 1719, he
tried his hand at another kind of literature - fiction, and wrote the
novel he is now best known: “Robison Crusoe”. After the
book was published, в became famous and rich and was able to pay his
creditors in full. Other novels which в were also very much talked
about during his lifetime, but we do not hear much about them now.
For example “Captain Singleton”(1720), “Moll
Flanders”(1722).
6.
Robinson Crusoe.
Books about voyages and new discoveries were
very popular in the first quater of the 18’th centure and many
stories of this then had been written but while Defoe was busy with
politics he didn’t think of also trying his hand at it. However
one story in in Steel magasine attracted his attention.
It was
about Scotish sailor, who lived quite alone 4 years and 4 month on a
desert island. Defoe’s hero, R.C., however spend 26 years on a
desert island. The novel was a prase tohuman labour and the triumph
the men over the nature. Labour and fortitude help Robinson to endure
hardships. They save him from dispair. The very process of hardwork
gives his satisfaction. R’s most characteristic tract is his
optimism. His guiding prencipal in life was: “never said die”
and “in trouble to be troubles is to have your trouble double.”
7. Jonathan Swift.
(1667-1745)
JS was the
greatest of English satiriste. His better satire at the
contempro-rary social order in jeneral and an the policy of English
government towards in particular. That’s why the Irish people
considered Swift the champion in the struggle for the wealthy and
freedom of their country.
JS was born in Dublin, but he came
from English family. His father died at the age of 25, liaving his
wife and daughter penuiless. His son was born seven month later after
his death. The boy knew little of his mother chearch. He hardly ever
saw her, during his childhood. J was supported by his uncle Godwin.
At the age of 6 he was send to school, which he left at 14. When he
entered a college in Dublin and got his bacheloris degree in 1686.
8. Gulliver’s Travels.
In
1726 Swift’s masterpiece “Gulliver’s Travels”
appeared. This work made a great sensation in Ireland as well as in
England, it equally strirred the interests of those in politics as
well as the readers of novels.
In this work Swift intended to
satirise the evils of the existing society in the form of fictions
travels. It tells of the adventures of ship surgeon, as related by
himself and divided into four parts of four voyages:
1. A voyage
to Liliput.
2. A voyage to Brobdignag.
3. A voyage to
Laputa.
4. A voyage to the country of Houyhnhnms.
1.
The first voyage was to a strange country Lilliput. As the result of
a shipwreck Gulliver finds himself in a country, inhabited by a race
of people about six inches high. Everything else in this country is
on a correspondent scale. Swift meant this small country with it’s
shallow interest, corrupted laws and evil customs to symbolize the
England of the 18’th centure, the court with it’s
atmosphere of hostility, hypocrizy and flattery where the author felt
as lonely as his hero when among the liliputians.
2. Before
long Gulliver undertakes another voyage. The ship anchors near the
land of the giants to take in a supply of water. While on shore
Gulliver is captured by the giants. They are good-natured creatures
and treat Gulliver kindly, though they are amused by his small size
and look upon him as a plaything.
Brobdingnag is an expression
of Swift’s desire to find the ideal and escape from the
disgusting world of the Liliputians. The author idealizes an
agricultural country ruled by ideal monarch. Swift creates such a
monarch in the king of Brobdingnag. He is clever, honest and kind to
his people. He hates wars and wants to make his people happy.
3. The third voyage is to Laputa, a flying island Laputa. Swift’s
imagination the bitterness of his satire reach their climax in the
third part where he shows the academy of sciences in Laputa (the
author touches upon all the existing sciences). It is easy enough to
understand that in ridiculing the academy of Laputa. Swift ridicults
the scientists of the 18’th century. The scientists are shut in
their chambers isolated from all the world.
3. In the 4’th
part Swift describes Gulliver’s adventures at the Heuyhnhnms -
a ideal land where were is neither sickness, dishonesty, non any of
the frivo-lities of human scociety. The human race ocupies a position
of servility there and a noble race of horces rules the country by
reason and justice.
“Gulliver’s travels was one of
the greatest works of the period of the Enlightment in world
literature. Swift’s democratic ideas expressed in the book had
a great influence on the English writers who came after Swift.
9. Robert Burns.
RB is
the national poet of Scotland. Every year on his bithday scotsmen all
over the world gather together for a traditional celebration in which
his memory is glorified,his poems are recited and his song are sung.
Burns poetry is loved and enjoied by all his countrymen. They love
Burns for the generosity and kindness of his nature, for his
patriotism and truthfulness. In his poems he sang the pride and
dignity of the Scotish peasantry.
Burns sang the beauty and the
glory of his native land. He gloryfield true love and friendship.
Burns was born in Alloway, near Ayr, on the 25 of January, 1759.
His father was a hard-working man and he took great trouble to give
his family all the education he could.
When Robert was 6, he
was send to a school at Alloway Miln. Robert were given a good
knowledge of English.
For some years Burns worked on the family
farm. They lived very poor.
Burns wrote his first poem at the age
of 14. And from then till his death his poems and songs came out,
giving delight and joy to the himself, his countrymen and all the
world around. Burns worked with his father and brothers. The death of
his father in 1784 left Burns free to chose his own kind of life, but
it also gave him new resposobilities as head of the family. As a
farmer he was unsuccessful and moved to other place - Burns published
his poems in Kilmarnock in 1786. The success was great.
Burns
wrote many poems and songs. After a short illness he died on 21’st
July, 1796. Millions of people all over the world highly esteem and
love Burns poems.
S. Marshak, a great soviet poet, brought
Burns to russian people throught his fine translate.
My Heart’s in the Highlands.
My
heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart’s in the Highkands, a chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe -
My
heart in the Highlands wherever I go.
Farewell to the
Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birthplace of
valour, the country of worth:
Wherever I wander, wherever
I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
Farewell to the mountains high cover’d with snow;
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-handing woods;
Farewell to the torrents and loud pouring floods.
My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart’s in the Highkands, a chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe -
My
heart in the Highlands wherever I go.
Famous
writers.
There are many famous English writers. Among them are
William Shakespeare, Keepling and many others. I will tell you about
the life and work of Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Fleming, because I
like their books most of all. Ian Fleming is the author of
internationally famous James Bond spy novels. And in his life he was
like the hero of his books James bond. Ian Fleming was born on may
the 28th , 1908 in England. His family were rich. His
grandfather was a millionaire banker and his father was a member of
parliament. He was killed in the First World War when Ian was only
nine. He had three brothers and he was quite close to them, but he
was different from them. They all went to Eton. His brothers liked
it. He hated it. He hated the army too. He didn’t want to be a
soldier. He was good at languages, so he went to study in Geneva in
1930. Then the next year he wanted to join the Foreign office but did
not pass the exams. He went back home and he was living with his
mother again, feeling very bored, when he got a job as a journalist.
He worked in London, Berlin and Moscow. Then he worked as a
stockbroker and he was doing this when the Second World War started.
That’s when he started working in the world of spies. He joined
the Naval Intelligence and had a lot of contact with MI5 and the
Secret Service. He went on secret missions to North Africa, Lisbon
and America. He was a good-looking man. He loved money and had
expensive way of life. He always dressed very carefully. He had a lot
of girlfriends. He didn’t marry until he was forty-three. He
drank a lot of gin, martini, vodka and smoked 60 cigarettes a day.
Probably as a result of this he had a bad heart from quite a young
age. He started writing after the war. He went to Jamaica in 1952,
loved it and decided to buy some land by the sea and built a house.
He called it Goldeneye. And in Jamaica in 1952 three very important
things happened: he got married, he got a son and started writing
about James Bond. His first book was “Casino Royale”,
then his second book was “Live and Let Dye” in 1954.
After that there were more twelve James Bond books. His last book was
“ The Man with the Golden Gun”. He helped choose Sean
Connery for “Dr.No”, but he died while they were making
the Second Bond film, “From Russia with LOVE”. His books
were successful. Forty millions were sold by the time oh his
death.All over the world, detective stories are the most popular kind
of fiction. My favorite detective is Sherlock Holmes. Although he is
a fictional character, Sherlock Holmes had a real address-221b Baker
street. Today this is the Sherlock Holmes museum. The author of the
Sherlock Holmes stories was Arthur Conan Doyle. He was born in
Scotland, in 1859. He was a doctor, and he wrote detective stories to
spare time. He wrote twenty-six Sherlock Holmes stories between 1887
and 1895. Then, he decided to kill of his hero. At the end of the
story called “The Final Problem” Holmes and Moriarty fall
into the Reichenbach falls in Switzerland. The readers were very
upset. Public pressure was too great and he had to bring Holmes back
to life, although he did not like him. He thought that Sherlock
Holmes books were not serious. He wanted to write historical novels.
Conan Doyle continued writing about his hero for another twenty-five
years. Conan Doyle books are still famous and popular.
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Topics.
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quntity
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1.Russia.
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2
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2.Moscow .
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1
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3.GB + London.
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2
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4.Historic cities :
Durham, York, Oxford.
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1
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5.Lake district and lake
poets : Cornwall, Bath, Brighton.
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1
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6.Scotland
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1
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7.Wales
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1
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8.
Renaissance, Shakespeare, Daniel Defoe,
Jonathan Swift, Robert Burns.
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10
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9.Conan Doil, Ian
Fleming.
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1
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10.Art music : purple
violin, Paul Kerak .
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2
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11.Famous actors : Paul
Newman, Elizabeth Tailor.
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1
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12.Mass media : TV in my
life and BBC.
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3
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13.Museums and art
galleries : Hartfield House.
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1
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14.School in Russia,
Japan, England.
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1
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15.School : other ways
of getting education .
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1
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16.Past time, hobby.
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3
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17.Traveling : the best
way to see the world ( Ann Gibson, disastrous holidays).
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1
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18.Holidays in Brazil,
Switzerland, Egypt, Russia , other countries.
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1
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19.Sport and healthy way
of life : run your way to health.
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2
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20.Sport : children in
sport.
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1
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21.Youth problems : job,
drugs.
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3
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22.Environmental
problems : David Attenborough and
his programs life on Earth.
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1
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23.Environmental
problems.
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1
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24.My future profession.
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2
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25.The importance of
learning foreign languages
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2
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26.Famous scientist :
Alec Issigonis
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1
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27.English speaking
countries ( USA )
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1
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28.China
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1
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29. The British
Parliament
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1
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30. US Congress
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1
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31. Business Trips
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1
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32. Customs and
traditions in England
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2
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33. Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826)
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1
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34. Pets
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1
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35. Washington, DC
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1
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36. BRITISH THEATRES
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1
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37.
AUSTRALIA
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1
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38.
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF GREAT BRITAIN
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2
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39.
Exploration (Christopher Columbus)
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1
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40. LEISURE TIME AND
HOBBY
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1
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41.
Learning languages
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1
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42.Art galeries of
London
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1
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43.Moscow theatres
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1
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44.My favorite painter
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1
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45.
THEATRES, MUSIC HALLS AND CINEMAS
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1
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46. ART IN
MOSCOW
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1
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47.
Computers
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1
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48. Fedor
Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
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1
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49.
Education in Russia
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1
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