Реферат: Темы по английскому языку (English topics)
1. I was born in Russia and I’mproud of this.
I cansay that I truly love my motherland. But nowadays a lot of people leave ourcountry and move to the other ones: America, United Kingdom, Israel e.t.c.
I don’t think that they are right. I thinkthat no matter how difficult is the situation in our country at present, everycitizen of Russia must remember about the gloriuoshistory, wonderfullculture and traditions of it.
A lot of the world-famous scientists – Lomonosov, Mendeleev, Timiryasev, Sechenov etc. -wereborn in Russia. The first sputnik and space ship started from Russia. A lot ofdiscoveries and inventions in chemistry, geography, physics, biology andmedicine were made by russian scientists.
The greatest poets, writers and composers knownall over the world were also born in our country — Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy,Gogol, Dostoevski, Griboedov, Tchaikovski, Rashmaninov and manyothers.
Russia won many biggest wars in History. Although we lost 29 millionspeople in Second World War, Russian soldiers conquered Berlin and saved theworld from Fascism.
We must know our history and rememberour ancestors. I believe that Russia will become the strongest and richestcountry in sprite of all the problems.
2. I am going to tellyou about Moscow.
Moscow, the capital of Russia, is one ofthe largest the most beautiful cities in the world. The total area of the cityis 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 ourcountry. It is also an industrial center with highly developedengineering, electric, light and chemical industries.
Theheart of Moscow, the central and one of the most beautiful places is theRed 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 Alexandrovskygarden.
Some skyscrapers decorate Moscow, including theMoscow 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.
Theare more then 80 museums in Moscow. The largest and the most famous ones arethe Pushkin museum of Fine Arts and the State Tretyakovart 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 mostbeautiful and the lagest ones are the Gorky Park and the PoklonnayaGora.
Moscow is a scientific center of our country. The Academy of scientistsof Russia, the oldest university, many scientific institutes are located inMoscow.
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 Statesof America, Australia and New Zealand. English is used as one of the officiallanguages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Irish Republic. It’salso 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 isabout 250 million people. The administrative units of the USA are called states. There are 50 of them and the largestof 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’scapital in December 1800 by George Washington. The largest and the most imporatnt cities ofthe USA are New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston. There aremany tall buildings in them that really scrape the sky, that’s why theyare called skyscrapers.
Among the most famous sites of interest are the Great Lakes, Niagarafalls, the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and other. There are manybeautiful National parks and protectedareas of wilderness in America.
The USA is a highly developed country. It isrich in such natural resourses as coal, oil, iron andnatural gas. On the other hand, it exports a lot of raw materials, industrialsand agricultural products.
By constitutional regime the United States ofAmerica is a federal republic. The American parliament ( called Congress ) has two chambers: theHouse of Representative and the Senate. The head of the State is the president,who is elected for four years and whosepowers are limited by the Constitution. Now the President of the USA is GeorgeBush Junior.
The flag of the country has 13 red and whitestripes representing the original 13 states and 50 stars — for each of thestate at present.
4. I was born in Buryatia that issituated in the Eastern part of Siberiaand 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 kindsof berries, like cranberry, greatbilberry, raspberry and the most popular one - foxberry. In august people begin to pickberries for selling and for eating.
Wehave 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. Nowadayspoaching is encreasing and it is one of the biggestproblem for our region.
The most popular sight in Buryatiais lake Baikal, that attracts tourists from all the parts of the world. Baikal is the biggest freshwater lake on the planet and thedeepest one. There are a lot of fish in the lake, the most popular of which arepike, grayling, whitefish and sturgeon. Only in Baikalone 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 natureand to enjoy this perfect fresh air, but we don’t understand what treasures possess and don^t spare them. Some people often leave rubbish inforests and on the coast-line of Baikal in summer andthrow empty bottles in its watter, and make fires. If we don^tchange our behaviour, very soon we can loose ourwonderful 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 mylife consists of different kinds of problems – personal and global.
Thefirst personal problem for me now is tochoose the way of my future life, that is, to realisewhat I want to be and what profession I want to have. Thatswhy I should consider in what institute I will get my education aftergraduating from the school. What myfuture life will be depends on the answer to this question.
Sometimes I don^t have enough time and energyto do all my home work. It is a big problem too, as it doesn^tlet me study better.
Everytime 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 thingsabout your home country that you love.
Thebiggest problem nowadays is drugs. There are very many teenagers now, who sellit and buy it. They leave school and drop heir studies and degrade and becomethieves and bandits.
( Many times they told me to give them money. Iwas compelled to fight with them. But they are weak and each time they loosethe battle and run away.)
Drugs endanger the future of our country andour town. It is a very big menace forall the people.
So, as every teenager I do have problems, but Idon^t let myself give in / surrender ( сдаться) and always try to fight them.
6. Now I want to tell you a fewwords about my family. My family is not very large, there are 5 members – my parents, my sister, grandmother andme
Firstof all I’d like to speak of my parents.My mother is a speech therapist by profession, but now she helps my father inhis work. My father is a director of a restaurant and the breweryin our town.
Myparents 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.
Mygrandmother is a very old woman. She is 79 years old. She doesn^tlive with us, but we come tosee her every day to take care of her. We love our granny verymuch.
Mysister 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 Englishand French languages because she knows them quite well.
Weall like to spend our time together.Sometimes we stay at home and watch TV or just talk, and on weekends we go outof town to Baikal or to visit our friends. We alsolike tom invite people to us and I can say that every guest who comes to us,goes back smilyand in a good mood, because my parents are very hospitable and nice people.
7. When one finishes school one understands that itsthe time to choose a future professionand the way his life will be. It’snot 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 thehundreds jobs. As a child I wanted to become an inventor or a scientist to invent different things to make peopleslife better and more comfortable.
ThenI decided to become an officer of FSS (ФСБinRussian), then a mariner.
But all of these ambitions are in the past now. I have considered thisquestion for a long time and decided that the profession that siuts me most is a manager. It is very popular and demanded
( требуемая) nowadays, just like aprofession of lawyer or economist. I think that management coresponds my personal qualities because I like to communicatewith people and to be a leader if its necessary.
Ialso want to say that the profession should be chosen according tothe character and preferencies of a person. Children must choose their profession themselves because theymust love the things they do, believe that people need them and their job brings them peasure, not just money.
8. People all over theworld like doing sports because it makesthem healthier, keeps them fit and it isjust 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 specialphysical skills and train particular groups of muscles. For example: skies, swimming and jogging helps to strengthen make legs and hands andtrains 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, volleyballand hockey make you well- coordinated, quick and dexterious( проворный) and teach how to cooperate wth the other players in order to win a game. Fightingsports, especially Eastern ones, like carate, aikido,oushou, helpto 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 mesports is a hobby. I do some exercises every day, because it keeps me in a goodform and makes me stronger. When you begin to go in for sports you can give upit after some weeks, because it is not easy to do hard exercises every day. Butyou 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 (последовательно), from day to day to get some results.
Asa child I went to many sport clubs and gave up it after halfa year, but I^vealways done something to keep fit. Since last summer I do weight-lifting andpush-up exercises to develope my muscles 5 times a week. Sometimes I go jogging with my father. I like it because itmakes me strong and more active.
The ancient Greeks said there is a healthy spirit in a healthybody. I think thatstrue and every man, who respects himself must go in for sports. It is the wayfor healthy and long life.
9. More and more people realize that every educatedperson should know at least one foreignlanguage.
The most popular and wide-spread ( распространенный) language in the world now is English.
Spanish,French, German languages are also popular, but as much as English, because itis more difficult to learn them – because of their grammar and lexiks. They are spoken mostly in Europe and in the formercolonies of France and Spain in Latin America and Africa.
Englishis spoken by more than 350 million people .It’sthe language of aprogressive science and technology,trade and cultural relations, commerce and business. It’s the universal languageof international aviation, shipping and sports. It is also the major language ofdiplomacy.
Hundreds and hundreds of books, magazines andnewspapers are printed in English and all over the world. 75% of the world’s mail and 60% of the world’stelephone calls are made in English. Half of the world’s scientific literatureis written in English too.
InRussia 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 easything. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot of time and patience. Butto know languages today is absolutely necessary for everyone.
I^vestudied English for about 2 years by now and I^m very glad to dothis because I have always beeninterested in foreign countries, their culture and traditions.
10. Nowadays a lot ofpeople in the world like to travel. The level of the technical deveplopment allows to voyage practically to any country of the world inthe shortest time.
People travel by different means of conveyance, even on foot. But everybody likes to go todifferent places and see various sites of interest.
Some Russian tourists prefer to trip to foreign countries. I understand them, becauseit’s always interesting to visit a placewhere you have never been and to learnsomething 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, flauraand fauna and climate, which makes visiting it yet more interesting. So one of the main reasonsfor travaling is to get new experience andimpressions.
To my mind, our country has a lot of placesthat are worth seeing. Although theclimate 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 ( живописный), for example our lake Baikal, the deepest and the most pure lake in the world andthe only place on the planet where youcan find such a fish as Omoul.
Theterritory of our country is big enough and our historical and cltural heritage is rich enough to satisfy all the tastesand wishes of travellers. That is why the majority of the Russian tourists prefer to travel inour country. Some of them travel onlyfor hunting and fishing, the others change places simply to spend their freetime.
As for me I like to travel throughout Russia, to learn more about mymotherland.
My favorite place for having restare the surroundings ( окрестности ) of our freshwater lake Baikal,where the nature is so beautiful and calm and the air is sofresh. I also like to travel to theBlack Sea where the climate is so warmand mild and where there is always plenty of fruits in summer.
11. The word «Ecology»is very popular word today. But whatdoes it mean?
Ecology is a science which studies relationships between all forms of life onour planet and the environment. This word came from the Greek «oikos» which means «home». This idea of home includes ourwhole planet and its population, nature, animals, birds, fish, insects and allother living beings, as well as theatmosphere around our planet.
Ecology has become such an imporatntscience because with the progress of civilisation andtechnical develpment the environment on the Earthgets more and more poluted and the natural resourses – like drinking water, fossils ( полезныеископаемые), forests etc. get exhausted ( истощаются).
For example, every year the atmosphere ispolluted by 100 tons of industrial dust and other harmful substances.
Big cities suffer from smog from largefactories. Cars with their engines have become the main source of pollution inindustrial countries. The forests Africa, South America and Asia are cut down for the needs of industries in Europe and the USA. As a result somespecies of animals, birds, fish and plants have disappeared and keepdisappearing. Rivers and lakes dry up.One of the most known examples is the Aral Sea, which has become much smallerdue to men’s activity.
The pollution of the air and of the world’soceans and the thinning of the ozone layer nowadays are the main problems arising from man’s careless attitudeto ecology.
In Russia and the former Soviet republics thereare 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 withradiation there.
More than 20 years ago a pulp-and-paper factorywas built on the shore of Lake Baikal. As a result ofthe pollution, more than 50 % of the world’s purest water has been ruined. Thewhole ecological system of the lake has change greatly.
After the exploision(взрыв) on the atomic power station
( атомнаяэлектростанция) all people who lived near that place were evacuated due to a very highlevel of radiation. Some of them died and some have become invalids. And eventoday the Chernobyl region remains deserted (покинутый),as its very harmful to be there for any living creature.
Ecological catastrophes do a lot of harm toNature, and, consequently (следовательно), they threaten the future exhistence of mankind.
What everyone must do is to try to do his bestin order not to pollute atmosphere, water and soil (почва) – not to leave rubbish in forests and on the shores of lakes andrivers, not use pesticides (пестициды) and the others harmful soil fertilisers (удобрения), prevent forestfires ...
12. Every country has itsnational holidays, but there are also holidays that are common for manycountries – for example, New Year’s Day that is the first holiday of each newyear. In Russia it is the most popular holiday, but in the West peopletraditionally pay more attention to Christmas.
The celebration of the New Year begins on NewYear’s Eve, that is, on the 31st of December. This day people lightcolored lamps on their decorated NewYear’s Trees and have a late dinner that consists of various delicious courses( блюда) – salats, fried feeshand meet, cakes, and, of cause, champagne. Some people prefer to stay at home just watch TV-programs andconcerts. The others like to go to their friends or to different parties andrestaurants. But when the clock strikes 12 at night (часыбьют),everybody congratulate each other and gives and gets presents. Sometimes they also go out for a late walk and to make andto watch fireworks..
In Russia we also have holidays commemoratingsome important events in our history, for example, Victory Day ( on the 9th ofMay), Constitution Day ( on the 12 of December), the Day of the Sovereigntyof the Russian Federation ( on the 12th of June). There are alsoholidays like May Day and Women’s Day ( on the 8th of March). Themost important religious holidays are Christmas and Easter. In Russia Christmasis celebrated on January 7, and in Europe and in the USA, on December 25.
In Great Britain there are also manyholidays. Banking Holidays happen four times a year: EasterMonday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August and December 26th.Day. They are very interesting holydays for all the banks and the otherofficial establishments (государственныеучреждения) are closed andpeople give to their employees (служащим) presents ( thats why they re also called Boxing Days).
The other public holidays celebrated in theWestern countries are: Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday and MayDay. On these days all bank and allplaces of business are also closed and nearly everyone takes a holyday.
ButBritish traditional national holidayslike Pancake Day, Guy Fawkes’ Night, St. Valentine’sDay, April Fool’s Day, Mother’s Day areordinary working days. ( подробнее про английскиепраздники)
There are also manyholidays in the USA.
The main holiday in the USA is IndependenceDay, celebrated on the fourth of July. On that day in 1776, the Declaration ofIndependence was adopted.
Another traditional American holiday is Thanksgiving Day which falls onthe fourth Thursday of November. It hasbeen celebrated since the 17th century, when the English colonistsdecided to celebrate the end of their first year in America and to give thanksto God.
Thereare the other holydays in the USA besides Christmas, New Year and Easter, whichare 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 Americanand English holidays but I want to tell you about Russian ones.
Thereare plenty holidays in Russia, but my favorite one is New Year’s Day. Thecelebration of the holiday begins at 12 o’clock AM on 31st ofDecember.
Firstof all, I like it because it is celebrated during winter vacations and when Ithink of this holiday, I always rememberall the things that I^ve done during this time. I have a lot time to sleep and to walk withmy friends. There are a lot of interesting and funny programs, famous comediesand concerts on TV on the New Year’sEve.
We always begin to celebrate New Year’sDay in a very good mood. First of all, we light colored lamps on our decoratedNew Year’s Tree and have a late dinner that usiallyconsists of very delicious courses like salats, friedfish 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 becomesbeautiful because, people want to make their home and place of work morebright. At home we all stay up untilmidnight and much later.
On thenext day after the celebraton of New Year people can sleep very long, because they don^t need to go towork.
It is very important to celebrate New Yearvery well and funny because it is believed that you will pass anew year in the same way as youhave met it.
14. Ihave studied a lot about different famous Americans and British, so I wouldlike to tell you about some of them.
A lot of famous writers and poets were born inAmerica. For example, Jack London, awriter well- known all over the world. He is best known for his book « The Callof the Wild», the story about adventures of a dog in frozen north.
Mark Twain was born in Missouri and he isfamous forsuch his masterpieces as «The Adventure of Tom Sawyer» and «The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn».
My favorite science-fiction writers are RayBradbury and Robert Shaklee. Ray Bradbury wrote «the MarsianChronicles». And Robert Shaklee is known for his very interesting short storiesabout aliens and space adventures.
American animators and illustrators are asloworld-famous. For example, Walt Disney who created such cartoon-heroesas Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Pluto.He is the founder of the Disney Park. Chuck Jones is also a popular Americananimator famous for his Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote.
Many american inventorsbecame famous all over the world for their inventions. Wright brothers areknown for their invention, building and flying the first airplane. Henry Fordis known like father of automobile powered by a gasoline engine. Alexander Bellcreated the first telephone.
I also know some famous architects who lived in America. For example,Thomas Jefferson who is best known asthe 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 CapitolBuilding.
As foractors, 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 andnations, the Beatles, began their career in Britain. Movie- Actors like Al Pachino,Robert De Nero, Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzneger andmany others live in USA and play in Hollywood blockbasters.The most successful Hollywood film-directors today are Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and JamesCameron. Their films are very popular all over the world and in our country aswell.
And ofcause I can say something about famous politicians who lived in English-speaking countries. SirWinston Churchill was the prime minister of the United Kingdom in a very difficult period – during the WorldWar II, but he managed to make England a strong country.
George Washington, who was the first presidentof the United States,
is probably the most famous man in America.There were also such great presidnts as AbrahamLincoln, Teodor Roosewelt and Franclin Roosewelt that did their best to make the USA a leadingworld-power ( ведущаямироваядержава).
15. TV has good and bad sides. First of all it keeps people informed, we canlearn 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 entertainourselves by watching TV when we are tired. TV advertisement gives us information about different productsand it makes it easier to make a choice as to what things to buy. When we watch TV we learnabout the world, famous people and recent global or our home-country news.
But watcingTV 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 violenceand murders make people cruel and affects their psych (психику).
Often there is too much advertisement on TVthat encourage us to buy things we don’tneed at all.
Watching TV occupies all the leisure time of the majority of people. We just watchit, not concentrate, and waste time.
So, to sum up, it can be said that it canbe 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 changemy mind many times, before I think up what to do and where can I go. It isquite difficult for me to make a choice.
Sometimes I would like to seat at home and justwatch TV or listen to music. Then I don’t want to see anybody, I just want tobe 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 thebest time-passing for me, because myeyes and my brain can work, but my bodycan rest.
The way I pass my time depends on what is the season: in winter I’m less active but inall other seasons I don’t like to seat at home.
On autumn and spring vacations I go to the disco with my friends. There Ican 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 sportsevery day. I think that summer is the best time for sport, because the weatheroutside is worm and you don’t get tiredat school, so you have a lot of powersand you can do anything you like.
Traveling is my favorite kind of spending freetime. I like to go to different places, especially if I haventbeen there before, to watch the places of interests and to meet new people andmake new friends.
I also like to collect different things. Now I collect corks from beer-bottles, but my collection is notvery 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 wouldlike ot know, or just to chat with people who aremiles away.
17. Everybody knows that education helps to form personality and preparesone for life. That’s why all countries consider the system of education asa very important part of national politicy.
In Russia there is a nine-year compulsory education, but to enter auniversity one has to study two years more. Russian children go to School atthe 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 toa lyceum or a gymnasium to get a highereducation. All the applicants must take competitive examinations.
Americans also value education very much. Universal access to ahigh quality education has been one of the nation’s historic goals.
Children go to school at the time they reachsix or seven years and study there untilthey are sixteen or seventeen.
Elementary and Secondary schools consist oftwelve year –studing, that makes for about 10 months a year, five days a weekand five hours a day. Almost in every elementary school such subjects asEnglish, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Music, Art and PhysicalEducation are being taught.
After graduating from secondary schools agrowing number of Americans go on studing to get to ahigher education in colleges or universities, the most famous of which are theHarvard University, the Yiel and the Columbiauniversity
TheBritish system of education has a very long history.
Children go to school at the age of 5 years and continue to study until they are16 years old. Boys and girls are taught together in the most schools. Around half of 3- and 4- years-olds inBritain receive nursery education and many children attend preschoolplay-groups. Compulsory primary education begins at the age of 5. Childrenusually start their school career in an infant school and move to a juniorschool or department at 7.
At 7 and 11 years in the primary school (andat 14 and 16 in the secondary school)teachers measure children’s progress in each subject against attainmenttargets. 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 from11 to 18. Here they enhance ( укреплять) and specify the knowledge they have acquiredat primary school. At the age of 16 they can get the General Certificate ofSecondary Education qualifications on the basis of examinations and coursework.
Puipleswho got high examinationscores hve chances to continue their education in collges and universities without pay. There are 79 universities in the UK, Oxfordand Cambridge are the oldest of them.
18. Nowadays the theatre is less popular than the cinema. Due to thepopularity of television and the since appearance of video, theatre has lost agreat deal of its attraction. Besides, theatre tickets are very expensive,especially in good theatres. And one should always book ( бронировать) and buy the tickets for good plays where famous actors star inadvance. So we can say that a visit to a famous theatre has become a luxury.
Still, the theatre is an inseparable part ofthe intellectual life of any country. In every country theatre has its ownhistory and traditions.
There are a lot of theatres in Russia and someof them are popular all over the world. In Moscow theatre-goers try not to missthe first nights at the Vachtangov, Sovremennik, or Khudozhestvennytheatres. St. Petersburg also has a variety of theatres, which meet all thetastes. Those who are fond of drama visit the BolshoiDrama Theatre. Alexandrinsky Theatre, Open Theatreand many others. People loving classic music never miss a chance to visit thePhilharmonic Society Hall.
I likethe cinema too, even though it doesn’tcreate so festive atmosphere as the thetre does.There is one cinema in our town and it’s open very seldom. So every time when Ihave the opportunity to go to Moscow, I like to go to the cinema there. Thereare very many movie-theatres in Moscow, modern and old ones, where one canalways 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 somethingor 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 populardepends on the comfort of viewingthings 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 asofa when you are watching video, eat or drink anything you like and even talkon the phone Video is very comfortableand relatively unexpensive because you don’t need to pay money everytime, when you are going to watch it).
Maybe when the technology developesenough and everyone will be rich enough to allow this, there will a «homemovie-theatre» in every house and people would not need to the cinema to enjoy this art.
19. Millions people al over the world spend theirholidays visiting museums and art galleries. They visit them to see new things,to know more about other countries, their traditions, about history and evenfuture of the mankind. There are different type of museums: historical,military, nature and many others. TheTower of London is a historical museum. It is the oldest palace, fortress andprison in Europe. It’s also one of the most popular museums nowadays.
Saint Petersburg is often called « the culturalcapital of Russia». Many of Russia’s finest museums are situated here. TheHermitage, 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 andEurope are situated in the five buildings and over 350 rooms that make up theHermitage. The main building of the Hermitage is the Winter Palace on PalaceSquare with the main entrance facing the Neva.
The state TretyakovGallery is one of the best-known picture galleries in the world. It takes itsname from its founder Pavel Tretyakov,a Moscow merchant and collector of pictures. Today the Tretyakovgallery 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 mymind, the greatest Russian writers and poets are Pushkin and Lermontov. Myfavorite Pushkin’smasterpiece is the novel «EvgenyOnegin». I like it because it is written in a very beautiful language that isnot used nowadays. There are many popular expressions there, which becamefamous in Russia, and what is most peculiar (особенное)about this novel, that Pushkin invented a special Onegin strophe in which thewhole world is written.
Lermontov is also a very talented poet… He wrote a lot of very popularpoems and novels, for example, «The hero of our time» and «Мцыри». I think that he stands at one place with Pushkin, though his style ofwriting is not such light and optimistic as Poushkins.But all the masterpieces of Lermontov are very profound ( глубокий) and intellectual.
I prefer to read American science-fiction and Ihave my favorite writers there.
I think that the best writer of the genre isRay Bradbury. I like him for his very interesting and fascinating shortstories. The most popular novels of this author are «The Martian Chronicles»and «451 degrees on Fahrenheit». His novel «Ice and flame» is the best, Ithink. The novel is about surviving of the man in very hard conditions of theMercury. His short stories are also veryinteresting, they arise such everlasting problems as war, love, bravery and honor. The novelsand 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 ofa Choice». He also wrote more than 90short stories, which are, too, veryinteresting.
I think that literature helps one to develophis 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 ), becausethey consider eternal problems. That’s why they are called classics.