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 ( живописный ), 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 ( окрестности ) 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 ( полезные ископаемые), forests etc. get exhausted ( истощаются).

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 (взрыв) on the atomic power station

( атомная электростанция) 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

(покинутый), as its very harmful to be there for any living creature.

Ecological catastrophes do a lot of harm to Nature, and, consequently

(следовательно), 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 (почва) – not to leave rubbish in forests and on

the shores of lakes and rivers, not use pesticides (пестициды ) and the

others harmful soil fertilisers (удобрения), 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 ( блюда) – 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 (часы бьют),

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 (государственные учреждения)

are closed and people give to their employees (служащим) 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. ( подробнее про английские праздники)

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 ( ведущая мировая

держава).

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 (психику).

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

( укреплять ) 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 (

бронировать ) 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 (особенное) 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

«Мцыри». 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 ( глубокий ) 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.

Страницы: 1, 2