Òåìû ïî àíãëèéñêîìó ÿçûêó (English topics)
Ðàáîòà èç ðàçäåëà: «
Èíîñòðàííûå ÿçûêè»
1. I was born in Russia and I’m proud of this.
I can say that I truly love my motherland. But nowadays a lot of people
leave our country and move to the other ones: America, United Kingdom,
Israel e.t.c.
I don’t think that they are right. I think that no matter how difficult
is the situation in our country at present, every citizen of Russia must
remember about the gloriuos history, wonderfull culture and traditions of
it.
A lot of the world-famous scientists – Lomonosov, Mendeleev, Timiryasev,
Sechenov etc. -were born in Russia. The first sputnik and space ship
started from Russia. A lot of discoveries and inventions in chemistry,
geography, physics, biology and medicine were made by russian scientists.
The greatest poets, writers and composers known all over the world were
also born in our country - Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoevski,
Griboedov, Tchaikovski, Rashmaninov and many others.
Russia won many biggest wars in History. Although we lost 29
millions people in Second World War, Russian soldiers conquered Berlin and
saved the world from Fascism.
We must know our history and remember our ancestors. I believe that Russia
will become the strongest and richest country in sprite of all the
problems.
2. I am going to tell you about Moscow.
Moscow, the capital of Russia, is one of the largest the most beautiful
cities in the world. The total area of the city is about 900 square
kilometers. About 10 million people live in the city. Moscow was founded in
1147 by prince Yuri Dolgoruky.
Nowadays it is a political, commercial and cultural center of our
country. It is also an industrial center with highly developed
engineering, electric, light and chemical industries.
The heart of Moscow, the central and one of the most beautiful places
is the Red Square. Here one can see the Cathedral of St. Basil, the
monument to Minin and Pozharsky, the Kremlin, the History museum and take a
walk in the Alexandrovsky garden.
Some skyscrapers decorate Moscow, including the Moscow State University,
the oldest university in Russia that was founded in 18th century by
Lomonosov. I can be said that Moscow is a city of students. There are over
80 higher educational institutes in it.
The are more then 80 museums in Moscow. The largest and the most famous
ones are the Pushkin museum of Fine Arts and the State Tretyakov art
Gallery.
Moscow is also famous for it’s theaters. The best-known of them is the
Bolshoi thetre, the Moscow drama thetre ( MHAT), Sovremennik and Lenkom.
There are many parks and gardens in Moscow, that’s why its citizen like to
spend their free time out home. The most beautiful and the lagest ones are
the Gorky Park and the Poklonnaya Gora.
Moscow is a scientific center of our country. The Academy of
scientists of Russia, the oldest university, many scientific institutes are
located in Moscow.
3. There is a a lot of english-speaking countries in the world, for
example: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United
States of America, 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 by people in many parts of
Asia and Africa.
But I would like to tell you about the USA.
The United States of America is located in the North
America continent. It is one of the largest countries in the world. The
population of the USA is about 250 million people. The administrative units
of the USA are called states. There are 50 of them and the largest of the
America’s states is Alaska. The capital of the country is Washington DC (
the District of Columbia). It was chosen as a permanent site for the
nation’s capital in December 1800 by George Washington. The largest and the
most imporatnt cities of the USA 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.
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 National parks and protected areas of wilderness in
America.
The USA is a highly developed country. It is rich in such natural resourses
as coal, oil, iron and natural gas. On the other hand, it exports a lot of
raw materials, industrials and agricultural products.
By constitutional regime 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 the State is the
president, who is elected for four years and whose powers are limited by
the Constitution. Now the President of the USA is George Bush Junior.
The flag of the country has 13 red and white stripes representing the
original 13 states and 50 stars - for each of the state at present.
4. I was born in Buryatia that is situated in the Eastern part of
Siberia and I can say that my native region is very beautiful.
There are a lot of large beautiful forests there, where one can see many
kinds of different plants and animals. Cedar, larch, firtree, birch, pine
and many other trees grow in our woods, as well as various kinds of
berries, like cranberry, great bilberry, raspberry and the most popular one
- foxberry. In august people begin to pick berries for selling and for
eating.
We have such kinds of animals like bear, dear, elk, fox, wolf, and, of
course, sable, that has very reach and beautiful fur, that’s why poachers
kill it. Nowadays poaching is encreasing and it is one of the biggest
problem for our region.
The most popular sight in Buryatia is lake Baikal, that attracts tourists
from all the parts of the world. Baikal is the biggest freshwater lake on
the planet and the deepest one. There are a lot of fish in the lake, the
most popular of which are pike, grayling, whitefish and sturgeon. Only in
Baikal one can see such kind of fish as omoul and such specie of animal
as nerpa.
Every year a lot of tourists from different foreign countries come to
Buryatia. People come to see all these reaches of nature and to enjoy this
perfect fresh air, but we don’t understand what treasures possess and
don^t spare them. Some people often leave rubbish in forests and on the
coast-line of Baikal in summer and throw empty bottles in its watter, and
make fires. If we don^t change our behaviour, very soon we can loose our
wonderful nature forever.
5. When I was a child I didn^t have much problems, and the ones that I
had were very lunimportant and stupid.
As I became more adult I understood that my life consists of different
kinds of problems – personal and global.
The first personal problem for me now is to choose the way of my
future life, that is, to realise what I want to be and what profession I
want to have. Thats why I should consider in what institute I will get my
education after graduating from the school. What my future life will be
depends on the answer to this question.
Sometimes I don^t have enough time and energy to do all my home work.
It is a big problem too, as it doesn^t let me study better.
Every time I hear from TV bad news about our country. It is getting on
my nerves. Altough it isn^t my personal problem, it’s very unpleasant to
hear such things about your home country that you love.
The biggest problem nowadays is drugs. There are very many teenagers
now, who sell it and buy it. They leave school and drop heir studies and
degrade and become thieves and bandits.
( Many times they told me to give them money. I was compelled to fight with
them. But they are weak and each time they loose the battle and run away.)
Drugs endanger the future of our country and our town. It is a very big
menace for all the people.
So, as every teenager I do have problems, but I don^t let myself give in /
surrender ( ñäàòüñÿ ) and always try to fight them.
6. Now I want to tell you a few words about my family. My family is not
very large, there are 5 members – my parents, my sister, grandmother and me
First of all I’d like to speak of my parents. My mother is a speech
therapist by profession, but now she helps my father in his work. My
father is a director of a restaurant and the brewery in our town.
My parents are hard-working people. My mother keeps house and takes care
of us. She is very good at cooking and she^s got golden hands. We try to
help her with the housework; for example we wash the dishes, go shopping
and tide our flat.
My grandmother is a very old woman. She is 79 years old. She doesn^t
live with us, but we come tosee her every day to take care of her. We
love our granny very much.
My sister Yana is 21. She studies in Moscow. This year she is
graduating from the University. She will be a lawyer but she can also
work as a translator from English and French languages because she knows
them quite well.
We all like to spend our time together. Sometimes we stay at home and
watch TV or just talk, and on weekends we go out of town to Baikal or to
visit our friends. We also like tom invite people to us and I can say that
every guest who comes to us, goes back smily and in a good mood, because
my parents are very hospitable and nice people.
7. When one finishes school one understands that its the time to choose
a future profession and the way his life will be. It’s not easy to make
a right choice of a job. It’s very important question for me - what I
want to be when I leave school . A few years ago it was to make up my mind
and choose one of the hundreds jobs. As a child I wanted to become an
inventor or a scientist to invent different things to make peoples life
better and more comfortable.
Then I decided to become an officer of FSS (ÔÑÁ in Russian) , then a
mariner.
But all of these ambitions are in the past now. I have considered this
question for a long time and decided that the profession that siuts me most
is a manager. It is very popular and demanded
( òðåáóåìàÿ ) nowadays, just like a profession of lawyer or economist. I
think that management coresponds my personal qualities because I like to
communicate with people and to be a leader if its necessary.
I also want to say that the profession should be chosen according to the
character and preferencies of a person. Children must choose their
profession themselves because they must love the things they do, believe
that people need them and their job brings them peasure, not just money.
8. People all over the world like doing sports because it makes them
healthier, keeps them fit and it is just a great passing of time.
Every sports makes the one who is doing it you stronger, harder improves
his reaction and qiuckness. What is more, some sports help to develope
special physical skills and train particular groups of muscles. For
example: skies, swimming and jogging helps to strengthen make legs and
hands and trains one^s breath. Peole going in for bodybuilding can lift
up large weights and their bodies become beautiful and relief. Team games
like football, basketball, volleyball and hockey make you well-
coordinated, quick and dexterious ( ïðîâîðíûé) and teach how to cooperate
wth the other players in order to win a game. Fighting sports, especially
Eastern ones, like carate, aikido, oushou, help to develope all aspects of
fitness – strength, quick reaction, dexterity, and spirit as well, because
each of them based on philosophy. To my mind, fighting arts are the best
sports.
For me sports is a hobby. I do some exercises every day, because it
keeps me in a good form and makes me stronger. When you begin to go in for
sports you can give up it after some weeks, because it is not easy to do
hard exercises every day. But you must make yourself doing it, or you will
not have any results. For example, if one wants to make his muscles grow
he must keep on working very hard and consistently (ïîñëåäîâàòåëüíî ),
from day to day to get some results.
As a child I went to many sport clubs and gave up it after half a
year, but I^ve always done something to keep fit. Since last summer I do
weight-lifting and push-up exercises to develope my muscles 5 times a
week. Sometimes I go jogging with my father. I like it because it makes me
strong and more active.
The ancient Greeks said there is a healthy spirit in a healthy body. I
think thats true and every man, who respects himself must go in for sports.
It is the way for healthy and long life.
9. More and more people realize that every educated person should know at
least one foreign language.
The most popular and wide-spread ( ðàñïðîñòðàíåííûé ) language in the world
now is English.
Spanish, French, German languages are also popular, but as much as English,
because it is more difficult to learn them – because of their grammar and
lexiks. They are spoken mostly in Europe and in the former colonies of
France and Spain in Latin America and Africa.
English is spoken by more than 350 million people .It’s the language of
aprogressive science and technology, trade and cultural relations, 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 all over the world. 75% of the world’s mail and 60% of the
world’s telephone calls are made in English. Half of the world’s scientific
literature is written in English too.
In Russia English is very popular : it is studied at schools, colleges,
universities, and sometimes even at nursery schools. All the qualified
specialists nowadays must know English.
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^ve studied English for about 2 years by now and I^m very glad to do this
because I have always been interested in foreign countries, their culture
and traditions.
10. Nowadays a lot of people in the world like to travel. The level of the
technical deveplopment allows to voyage practically to any country of
the world in the shortest time.
People travel by different means of conveyance, even on foot. But
everybody likes to go to different places and see various sites of
interest.
Some Russian tourists prefer to trip to foreign countries. I understand
them, because it’s always interesting to visit a place where you have
never been and to learn something new about the other nations, their
culture and traditions, to see architectural monuments and famous
masterpieces with your own eyes.
Every place on the Earth has its own sights, flaura and fauna and
climate, which makes visiting it yet more interesting. So one of the main
reasons for travaling is to get new experience and impressions.
To my mind, our country has a lot of places that are worth seeing.
Although the climate of Russia sometimes is not very favourable, our
forests are the largest in the world and there are lots of rare species
animals and plants there. The lakes, rivers and seas in our contry are
also very beautiful and picturesque ( æèâîïèñíûé ), for example our lake
Baikal, the deepest and the most pure lake in the world and the only place
on the planet where you can find such a fish as Omoul.
The territory of our country is big enough and our historical and
cltural heritage is rich enough to satisfy all the tastes and wishes of
travellers. That is why the majority of the Russian tourists prefer to
travel in our country. Some of them travel only for hunting and fishing,
the others change places simply to spend their free time.
As for me I like to travel throughout Russia, to learn more about
my motherland.
My favorite place for having rest are the surroundings ( îêðåñòíîñòè ) of
our freshwater lake Baikal, where the nature is so beautiful and calm and
the air is so fresh. I also like to travel to the Black Sea where the
climate is so warm and mild and where there is always plenty of fruits in
summer.
11. The word «Ecology» is very popular word today. But what does it mean?
Ecology is a science which studies relationships between all forms of life
on our planet and the environment. This word came from the Greek «oikos»
which means «home». This idea of home includes our whole planet and its
population, nature, animals, birds, fish, insects and all other living
beings, as well as the atmosphere around our planet.
Ecology has become such an imporatnt science because with the progress of
civilisation and technical develpment the environment on the Earth gets
more and more poluted and the natural resourses – like drinking water,
fossils ( ïîëåçíûå èñêîïàåìûå), forests etc. get exhausted ( èñòîùàþòñÿ).
For example, every year the atmosphere is polluted by 100 tons of
industrial dust and other harmful substances.
Big cities suffer from smog from large factories. Cars with their engines
have become the main source of pollution in industrial countries. The
forests Africa, South America and Asia are cut down for the needs of
industries in Europe and the USA. As a result some species of animals,
birds, fish and plants have disappeared and keep disappearing. Rivers and
lakes dry up. One of the most known examples is the Aral Sea, which has
become much smaller due to men’s activity.
The pollution of the air and of the world’s oceans and the thinning of the
ozone layer nowadays are the main problems arising from man’s careless
attitude to ecology.
In Russia and the former Soviet republics there are some areas where the
environment is in a poor state. The Aral Sea, Lake Baikal, the Kuzbass,
Semipalatinsk and Chernobyl are such problematic regions.
For decades nuclear weapons were tested near Semipalatinsk, and the ground
is contaminated with radiation there.
More than 20 years ago a pulp-and-paper factory was built on the shore of
Lake Baikal. As a result of the pollution, more than 50 % of the world’s
purest water has been ruined. The whole ecological system of the lake has
change greatly.
After the exploision (âçðûâ) on the atomic power station
( àòîìíàÿ ýëåêòðîñòàíöèÿ) all people who lived near that place were
evacuated due to a very high level of radiation. Some of them died and some
have become invalids. And even today the Chernobyl region remains deserted
(ïîêèíóòûé), as its very harmful to be there for any living creature.
Ecological catastrophes do a lot of harm to Nature, and, consequently
(ñëåäîâàòåëüíî), they threaten the future exhistence of mankind.
What everyone must do is to try to do his best in order not to pollute
atmosphere, water and soil (ïî÷âà) – not to leave rubbish in forests and on
the shores of lakes and rivers, not use pesticides (ïåñòèöèäû ) and the
others harmful soil fertilisers (óäîáðåíèÿ), prevent forest fires ...
12. Every country has its national holidays, but there are also holidays
that are common for many countries – for example, New Year’s Day that is
the first holiday of each new year. In Russia it is the most popular
holiday, but in the West people traditionally pay more attention to
Christmas.
The celebration of the New Year begins on New Year’s Eve, that is, on the
31st of December. This day people light colored lamps on their decorated
New Year’s Trees and have a late dinner that consists of various delicious
courses ( áëþäà) – salats, fried feesh and meet, cakes, and, of cause,
champagne. Some people prefer to stay at home just watch TV-programs and
concerts. The others like to go to their friends or to different parties
and restaurants. But when the clock strikes 12 at night (÷àñû áüþò),
everybody congratulate each other and gives and gets presents. Sometimes
they also go out for a late walk and to make and to watch fireworks..
In Russia we also have holidays commemorating some important events in our
history, for example, Victory Day ( on the 9th of May) , Constitution Day (
on the 12 of December) , the Day of the Sovereignty of the Russian
Federation ( on the 12th of June). There are also holidays like May Day and
Women’s Day ( on the 8th of March). The most important religious holidays
are Christmas and Easter. In Russia Christmas is celebrated on January 7,
and in Europe and in the USA, on December 25.
In Great Britain there are also many holidays. Banking Holidays happen
four times a year: Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August
and December 26th. Day. They are very interesting holydays for all the
banks and the other official establishments (ãîñóäàðñòâåííûå ó÷ðåæäåíèÿ)
are closed and people give to their employees (ñëóæàùèì) presents ( thats
why they re also called Boxing Days).
The other public holidays celebrated in the Western countries are:
Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday and May Day. On these days all
bank and all places of business are also closed and nearly everyone takes a
holyday.
But British traditional national holidays like Pancake Day, Guy Fawkes’
Night, St. Valentine’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Mother’s Day are ordinary
working days. ( ïîäðîáíåå ïðî àíãëèéñêèå ïðàçäíèêè)
There are also many holidays in the USA.
The main holiday in the USA is Independence Day, celebrated on the fourth
of July. On that day in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
Another traditional American holiday is Thanksgiving Day which falls on
the fourth Thursday of November. It has been celebrated since the 17th
century, when the English colonists decided to celebrate the end of their
first year in America and to give thanks to God.
There are the other holydays in the USA besides Christmas, New Year and
Easter, which are popular all over the world. For instance, Columbus Day
celebrated on October 12.
There are many special holydays, for example, Day of Martin Luther King,
Presidents Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and of cause Halloween, which
celebrated on October 31.
13. I know many American and English holidays but I want to tell you
about Russian ones.
There are plenty holidays in Russia, but my favorite one is New Year’s
Day. The celebration of the holiday begins at 12 o’clock AM on 31st of
December.
First of all, I like it because it is celebrated during winter vacations
and when I think of this holiday, I always remember all the things that
I^ve done during this time. I have a lot time to sleep and to walk with my
friends. There are a lot of interesting and funny programs, famous comedies
and concerts on TV on the New Year’s Eve.
We always begin to celebrate New Year’s Day in a very good mood. First of
all, we light colored lamps on our decorated New Year’s Tree and have a
late dinner that usially consists of very delicious courses like salats,
fried fish or meed, cakes, and, of cause, champagne.
Sometimes we just watch TV till the clock strikes 12, and then we go
out for a walk to visit our friends and relatives and to watch beatiful
fireworks in the centre of our town.
On New Year everybody gives and gets presents, and like this tradition very
much. People become very kind and friendly on this day, because it is a
great holiday. Everything outside seems very nice, every home, every shop
and building becomes beautiful because, people want to make their home and
place of work more bright. At home we all stay up until midnight and
much later.
On the next day after the celebraton of New Year people can sleep very
long, because they don^t need to go to work.
It is very important to celebrate New Year very well and funny because it
is believed that you will pass a new year in the same way as you have met
it.
14. I have studied a lot about different famous Americans and British, so
I would like to tell you about some of them.
A lot of famous writers and poets were born in America. For example, Jack
London, a writer well- known all over the world. He is best known for his
book « The Call of the Wild», the story about adventures of a dog in frozen
north.
Mark Twain was born in Missouri and he is famous forsuch his masterpieces
as «The Adventure of Tom Sawyer» and «The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn».
My favorite science-fiction writers are Ray Bradbury and Robert Shaklee.
Ray Bradbury wrote «the Marsian Chronicles». And Robert Shaklee is known
for his very interesting short stories about aliens and space adventures.
American animators and illustrators are aslo world-famous. For example,
Walt Disney who created such cartoon-heroes as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck
and Pluto. He is the founder of the Disney Park. Chuck Jones is also a
popular American animator famous for his Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote.
Many american inventors became famous all over the world for their
inventions. Wright brothers are known for their invention, building and
flying the first airplane. Henry Ford is known like father of automobile
powered by a gasoline engine. Alexander Bell created the first telephone.
I also know some famous architects who lived in America. For
example, Thomas Jefferson who is best known as the first president of the
USA and the author of Declaration of Independence. But he was also a self-
taught architect who designed the Virginia State Capitol Building.
As for actors, directors and singers, America and the Great Britain stand
on the first place. Elvis Presley, the king of rock’ n ’roll, was born
and lived in America, but the most popular group for all the times and
nations, the Beatles, began their career in Britain. Movie- Actors like Al
Pachino, Robert De Nero, Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzneger and many others
live in USA and play in Hollywood blockbasters. The most successful
Hollywood film-directors today are Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and
James Cameron. Their films are very popular all over the world and in our
country as well.
And of cause I can say something about famous politicians who lived in
English-speaking countries. Sir Winston Churchill was the prime minister of
the United Kingdom in a very difficult period – during the World War II,
but he managed to make England a strong country.
George Washington, who was the first president of the United States,
is probably the most famous man in America. There were also such great
presidnts as Abraham Lincoln, Teodor Roosewelt and Franclin Roosewelt
that did their best to make the USA a leading world-power ( âåäóùàÿ ìèðîâàÿ
äåðæàâà).
15. TV has good and bad sides. First of all it keeps people informed, we
can learn a lot of information watching TV. We can choose from a lot of
channels, and TV offers programs for all the interests and tastes.
Sometimes we can relax and entertain ourselves by watching TV when we are
tired. TV advertisement gives us information about different products and
it makes it easier to make a choice as to what things to buy. When we
watch TV we learn about the world, famous people and recent global or our
home-country news.
But watcing TV also has a lot of disadvantages.
First of all, it’s quite bad for our health, especially for eyes.
Violence on TV has become a vital problem. Some programs and films with
violence and murders make people cruel and affects their psych (ïñèõèêó).
Often there is too much advertisement on TV that encourage us to buy
things we don’t need at all.
Watching TV occupies all the leisure time of the majority of people. We
just watch it, not concentrate, and waste time.
So, to sum up, it can be said that it can be useful and interesting to
watch TV, but in reasonable limits.
16. When I don’t need to study at school I have a lot of free time.
Every time my opinion is different and I change my mind many times, before
I think up what to do and where can I go. It is quite difficult for me to
make a choice.
Sometimes I would like to seat at home and just watch TV or listen to
music. Then I don’t want to see anybody, I just want to be alone. Usually
it happens when the weather is not good or when I^m in a bad mood. When I
am tired, I like to read or to lay and watch something on TV. It is the
best time-passing for me, because my eyes and my brain can work, but my
body can rest.
The way I pass my time depends on what is the season: in winter I’m less
active but in all other seasons I don’t like to seat at home.
On autumn and spring vacations I go to the disco with my friends. There I
can relax and meet new people, but my parents don’t like when I go there,
because they worry when I come to home very late.
On summer I prefer to do sports every day. I think that summer is the
best time for sport, because the weather outside is worm and you don’t get
tired at school, so you have a lot of powers and you can do anything you
like.
Traveling is my favorite kind of spending free time. I like to go to
different places, especially if I havent been there before, to watch the
places of interests and to meet new people and make new friends.
I also like to collect different things. Now I collect corks
from beer-bottles, but my collection is not very big. I have only 160 kinds
of corks.
In my free time I like to sit in the Internet, because its always
interesting to find new infomation or to learn something you would like ot
know, or just to chat with people who are miles away.
17. Everybody knows that education helps to form personality and prepares
one for life. That’s why all countries consider the system of education as
a very important part of national politicy.
In Russia there is a nine-year compulsory education, but to
enter a university one has to study two years more. Russian children go to
School at the age of six. But most of them have learned letters in
kindergarden, which is now part of primary school. Primary and secondary
schools together comprise eleven years of study.
After finishing secondary school one can go to a lyceum or a gymnasium to
get a higher education. All the applicants must take competitive
examinations.
Americans also value education very much. Universal
access to a high quality education has been one of the nation’s historic
goals.
Children go to school at the time they reach six or seven years and study
there until they are sixteen or seventeen.
Elementary and Secondary schools consist of twelve year –studing, that
makes for about 10 months a year, five days a week and five hours a day.
Almost in every elementary school such subjects as English, Mathematics,
Science, Social Studies, Music, Art and Physical Education are being
taught.
After graduating from secondary schools a growing number of Americans go on
studing to get to a higher education in colleges or universities, the most
famous of which are the Harvard University, the Yiel and the Columbia
university
The British system of education has a very long history.
Children go to school at the age of 5 years and continue to study until
they are 16 years old. Boys and girls are taught together in the most
schools. Around half of 3- and 4- years-olds in Britain receive nursery
education and many children attend preschool play-groups. Compulsory
primary education begins at the age of 5. Children usually start their
school career in an infant school and move to a junior school or department
at 7.
At 7 and 11 years in the primary school (and at 14 and 16 in the secondary
school) teachers measure children’s progress in each subject against
attainment targets. For each target there are 10 levels of attainment. So
instead of 2, 3, 4and 5 marks in Russia puipls get A, B, C, D etc. scores.
The secondary level includes the children from 11 to 18. Here they enhance
( óêðåïëÿòü ) and specify the knowledge they have acquired at primary
school. At the age of 16 they can get the General Certificate of Secondary
Education qualifications on the basis of examinations and course work.
Puiples who got high examination scores hve chances to continue their
education in collges and universities without pay. There are 79
universities in the UK , Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest of them.
18. Nowadays the theatre is less popular than the cinema. Due to the
popularity of television and the since appearance of video, theatre has
lost a great deal of its attraction. Besides, theatre tickets are very
expensive, especially in good theatres. And one should always book (
áðîíèðîâàòü ) and buy the tickets for good plays where famous actors star
in advance. So we can say that a visit to a famous theatre has become a
luxury.
Still, the theatre is an inseparable part of the intellectual life of any
country. In every country theatre has its own history and traditions.
There are a lot of theatres in Russia and some of them are popular all over
the world. In Moscow theatre-goers try not to miss the first nights at the
Vachtangov, Sovremennik, or Khudozhestvenny theatres. St. Petersburg also
has a variety of theatres, which meet all the tastes. Those who are fond of
drama visit the Bolshoi Drama Theatre. Alexandrinsky Theatre, Open Theatre
and many others. People loving classic music never miss a chance to visit
the Philharmonic Society Hall.
I like the cinema too, even though it doesn’t create so festive
atmosphere as the thetre does. There is one cinema in our town and it’s
open very seldom. So every time when I have the opportunity to go to
Moscow, I like to go to the cinema there. There are very many movie-
theatres in Moscow, modern and old ones, where one can always see some new
film. Moscow movie-theatres are large, comfortable and well-decorated.
Before a film starts people can sit in a bar and drink something or eat
pop-corn. Before a movie you can see the announcements of new films.
Nowadays video becomes more and more popular. I think that its
popular depends on the comfort of viewing things on video. You can just
buy a video-tape with your favorite film and watch it whenever you want
and have time. So you can lay on a sofa when you are watching video, eat or
drink anything you like and even talk on the phone Video is very
comfortable and relatively unexpensive because you don’t need to pay money
every time, when you are going to watch it).
Maybe when the technology developes enough and everyone will be rich enough
to allow this, there will a «home movie-theatre» in every house and people
would not need to the cinema to enjoy this art.
19. 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,
nature and many others. 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.
Saint Petersburg is often called « the cultural capital of Russia». Many of
Russia’s finest museums are situated here. The Hermitage, for example, is
one of the world’s greatest and most famous museums. It houses over 2,5
million works of art. The best works of art from Russia and Europe are
situated in the five buildings and over 350 rooms that make up the
Hermitage. The main building of the Hermitage is the Winter Palace on
Palace Square with the main entrance facing the Neva.
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 collector of pictures. 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.
20. I know a lot of American, British and Russian writers, but some of
them I like to read most.
To my mind, the greatest Russian writers and poets are Pushkin and
Lermontov. My favorite Pushkin’s masterpiece is the novel «Evgeny
Onegin». I like it because it is written in a very beautiful language that
is not used nowadays. There are many popular expressions there, which
became famous in Russia, and what is most peculiar (îñîáåííîå) about this
novel, that Pushkin invented a special Onegin strophe in which the whole
world is written.
Lermontov is also a very talented poet.. He wrote a lot of
very popular poems and novels, for example, «The hero of our time» and
«Ìöûðè». I think that he stands at one place with Pushkin, though his style
of writing is not such light and optimistic as Poushkins. But all the
masterpieces of Lermontov are very profound ( ãëóáîêèé ) and intellectual.
I prefer to read American science-fiction and I have my favorite writers
there.
I think that the best writer of the genre is Ray Bradbury. I like him for
his very interesting and fascinating short stories. The most popular novels
of this author are «The Martian Chronicles» and «451 degrees on
Fahrenheit». His novel «Ice and flame» is the best, I think. The novel is
about surviving of the man in very hard conditions of the Mercury. His
short stories are also very interesting, they arise such everlasting
problems as war, love, bravery and honor. The novels and stories ob
Bradbury are unlike all the others, they all are not ordinary.
Another my favorite writer is Robert Shaklee. He wrote only three
novels, but they became very popular in the world of science-fiction.
There are: «Corporation Immortality», «Exchange of the minds» and «Variants
of a Choice». He also wrote more than 90 short stories, which are, too,
very interesting.
I think that literature helps one to develop his knowledge of life and
his personal intellect. And the books written by great talented people
remain up-to date even through centuries ( lets take the masterpieces of
Shakespear ), because they consider eternal problems. That’s why they are
called classics.
