Äðóãîå : Òîïèêè äëÿ ñäà÷è ýêçàìåíà ïî àíãëèéñêîìó ÿçûêó â 11-îì êëàññå (Øïàðãàëêà)
Òîïèêè äëÿ ñäà÷è ýêçàìåíà ïî àíãëèéñêîìó ÿçûêó â 11-îì êëàññå (Øïàðãàëêà)
RUSSIAN FEDERATION (RUSSIA)
Russia is one of the
largest countries in the world. It occupies about one-seventh part of dry land.
It is situated in Europe and Asia. Its total area is over 17 million square
kilometers.
The country is washed by seas and oceans.
There are different types of climate on the territory of the country. It
is very cold in the North even in summer. The central part of the country has
mild climate: winters are cold, springs and autumns are warm or cool, summers
are hot and warm. In the South the temperature is usually above zero all year
round, even in winter. Summer is really hot, the climate is very favourable.
The climate of Siberia
is continental: summers are hot and dry, winters are very cold.
Some parts of our country are covered with
mountains and hills.
There are many rivers in Russia, the
longest rivers are the Volga in Europe and the Yenisei and the Ob in Asia. The
deepest lakes are the Baikal and the Ladoga.
The Russian Federation is very rich in
mineral resources, such as oil, natural gas, coal, iron, gold and others.
Russia borders on many countries. Among
them are Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Poland, China, Mongolia, Korea.
Moscow is the capital of our country. It
was founded in 1147. It is a wonderful city. There are many sights in Moscow.
You can see many museums, art galleries, theatres, churches and monuments in
our capital. People of our country are proud of the Moscow Kremlin. There are
also many big beautiful cities in Russia.
The population of Russia is about 150 million people. 83 per
cent of the population are Russians. 70 per cent of the population live in
cities.
MOSCOW
Moscow is the
capital of Russia. It is one of the biggest and most beautiful cities in the
world. Moscow is a modern city now. The population of the city is about 9.8
million people. Moscow is a political centre, where the government of our
country works. Moscow was founded in 1147 by Yuri Dolgoruky. The total area of
Moscow is about nine hundred square kilometres.
We say that Moscow is a port of five seas, as the
Moscow—Volga Canal links Moscow with the Baltic, White, Caspian and Black seas
and the Sea of Azov.
Moscow is an industrial centre too. There are many factories and plants
in it. One of the best-known plants produces many lorries, and the other one
produces cars.
The Bolshoi Theatre is one of the famous
theatres all over the world. If you are fond of painting you can go to the
Tretyakov Art Gallery or to the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum and see a lot of interesting
portraits and landscapes there. We say that the Tretyakov Art Gallery is a
treasure-house of Russian art. Young people like to visit the Central Military
Museum. There are many tanks, guns and war documents there.
One can see the Kremlin and Red Square in
the city. There are many fine buildings, wide streets, green parks, large
squares, churches and monuments in Moscow.
It is necessary to mention such famous
monuments as monuments to the great Russian writer Alexander Pushkin and to the
first Russian printer Ivan Fedorov.
Visiting the capital a lot of foreigners
from all over the world come to see these monuments.
One of the highest buildings in Moscow is
the State Moscow University. It was founded in 1755 by the great scientist
Mikhail Lomonosov.
Transport. Moscow is a very big city, and
its transport must be comfortable and fast.
One can see a lot of cars, buses,
trolley-buses, trams in the streets of our city. The Moscow metro began its
work on the 15th of May, 1935. There were 13 stations at that time. Now it has
190 stations. Our metro is a beautiful and convenient one.
There are nine railway stations in Moscow
and five airports around the city.
There are many stadiums in Moscow. The
Central Stadium is in Luzhniki. Many competitions and football matches are held
there.
The Olympic village was built for the 22nd
Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. It is a big complex for sport games.
I live in Moscow and I am proud of this
city.
THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
NORTHERN IRELAND
The United Kingdom is situated in the
north-west coast of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean on the north-west and the
North Sea on the east.
The U. K. includes Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. I
Great Britain, the largest island in
Europe, contains England, Scotland and Wales.
The United Kingdom has an area of
244,000 square kilometres (94,249 square miles). The capital of the
country is London. English is the official language.
The population of the U. K. is nearly 60 million people. The population
lives mostly in towns and cities and their suburbs. Four out of every five
people live in towns. Over 46 million people live in England. Over 3 million —
in Wales. A little over 5 million — in Scotland. About 1.5 million— in
Northern Ireland. London's population is over 7 million people. The British
nation consists of the English, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish. There are
many people of all colours and races in the United Kingdom.
The climate of Great Britain is mild. It is
not too hot in summer or too cold in winter. It often rains in England. Rain
falls in summer and in winter, in autumn and in spring. Snow falls only in the
north and west of the country. The surface of England and Ireland is flat, but
Scotland and Wales are mountainous. Many parts of the country have beautiful
villages. There are many rivers in Great Britain. The main river is the Thames.
Many ships and barges go up and down the river. The longest river is Severn. It
is 350 kilometres long.
There are many universities, colleges libraries, museums and theatres in
the country. The most famous universities are Cambridge University, Oxford
University, Glasgow University.
The U. K. is a parliamentary monarchy. The
British Parliament consists of two Houses: the House of Lords and the House of
Commons. The Prime Minister is the head of the government.
The United Kingdom has some mineral resources. Coal and oil
are the most important of them. The United Kingdom i one of the world's most
industrialize» countries. The main industrial centres are Sheffield, Birmingham
and Manchester. The largest cities of the country are London, Birmingham,
Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin.
Agriculture takes an important sector in economy of the
country. The British people grow wheat, fruit, vegetables oats.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The USA is one of
the largest countries in the world. It is situated in the central part of the
North American continent. The area of the USA is over nine million square
kilometres. It is washed by the Pacific Ocean and by the Atlantic Ocean. The
most northern part of the USA is Alaska,, the largest state, separated from the
rest of the country by Canada.
The population of the United States is
nearly 250 million people, most of the people live in towns. People of different
nationalities live in the USA.
The official language of the country is
English. The capital of the country is Washington. It was named in honour of
the first President, George Washington.
As the USA is a large country, the climate
is different in different regions. Foi example, the Pacific coast is a region
of mild winters and warm, dry summers, but the eastern continental region is
watered with rainfall. The region arounc the Great Lakes has changeable
weather.
There are many mountains in the USA For
example, the highest peaks of the Cordilliers in the USA are 6,193 and 4,418
metres.
The main river of the country is the
Mississippi. But there are many other great rivers in the USA: the Colorado in
the south and the Columbia in the northwest. There are five Great Lakes
between the USA and Canada.
The USA produces more than 52 per cent of
the world's corn, wheat, cotton, tobacco.
There are many big cities in the coun try.
They are Washington (the capital
of the country). New York (the city of contrasts, financial and business
centre of the USA), Boston (there are many colleges and universities in it),
Chicago (one of the biggest industrial cities in the USA), San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit (one of the biggest centres of the automobile
industry).
The USA has an Academy of Sciences. There are many scientific
institutions, museums, libraries, theatres and other interesting places in the
country.
The USA is a highly developed industrial country. The USA is rich in
mineral resources, such as aluminium, salt, zinc, coppers, and others. The
country is rich in coal, natural gas, gold and silver, too. It holds one of the
first places in the world for the production of coal, iron, oil, natural gas.
Such industries as machine-building, ship-building are highly developed
in the country.
American agriculture produces a lot of food products: grain, fruit,
vegetables.
The USA is a federal republic, consisting of fifty states. Each of
these states has its own government. Congress is the American Parliament which
consists of two Chambers.
The president is the head of the state and
the government. He is elected for four years.
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand is a very interesting country. It has got total area of
269,000 square kilometers. It is situated to south-east of Australia in the
Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (North Island and South Island)
and some smaller ones. Nearly 3.5 million people live in the country. The
capital of New Zealand is Wellington. It is a financial centre too. The city
was founded in 1840 and has been the capital since 1865. The official language
Is English.
The climate of New Zealand is moist. New
Zealand is rich in minerals. There are some main industries in the country, for
example, iron and steel industry. The country has gas and petroleum. There are
many mountains in New Zealand. The highest is Mount Cook (3,764 metres or
12,349 feet).
There are many rivers and lakes in the
country. The chief rivers are the Waikato and the Wairu. You have heard about
the native animals in the country. One of them is the kiwi. This interesting
bird lives in the wet parts of the thick bushes. In the day-time the bird does
not go out. It comes out only at night to find food. Kiwis cannot fly. Many
years ago kiwis were hunted for food. Now the government does not permit the
hunting the kiwis. The kiwi is now the symbol of New Zealand people. Small
children are often called kiwis.
New Zealand is independent state, but formerly it is a part of the
British
Empire. The head of the state is the Queen. New Zealand is
self-governing state. The Parliament consists of one House only, the House of
Representatives. The Prime Minister is the head of the government.
New Zealand has got heavy industry. There are many plants in the
country. Paper and rubber industries are developed too. New Zealand exports
wool, meat, butter.
There are some big cities such as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch,
Dune-din, Nelson. Auckland and Wellington are the main ports of the country.
There are some educational and cultural institutions in Wellington.
They are the University of New Zealand, Victoria University College and others.
Victoria University was established in 1897.
New Zealand is a very interesting and beautiful country.
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal state. It has got six states:
New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania
and two internal territories. The official language is English.
Australia is situated in the south-west of
the Pacific Ocean.
The area of this country has got 7,687,000
square kilometers. Australia is the largest island in the world and it is the
smallest continent. The Dutch were the first Europeans to visit Australia. In
1770 the English captain James Cook discovered the east coast of Australia.
Nearly 20 million people live in Australia.
Australia's climate is dry and warm. Australia is situated in the
southern hemisphere and that's why there is summer, when we have winter and
there is winter, when we have summer. It is interesting to know that January
is the hottest month in Australia.
Australia is separated from many countries.
The animals in Australia have a lot of original, and they are interesting, for
example, dingoes (wild dogs), koala bears, kangaroos.
The kangaroo and koala have got the pouch
in which they carry their cubs. There are many birds in the country, too. One
can see parrots and cockatoos. The emu is the most interesting bird in Australia.
It is big and can't fly.
There are many rivers and lakes in the
country.
Australia is an industrial country. It has
coal, nickel, zinc, gold. Several factories and plants work in the country.
Australia is one of the most important producers of metals and minerals. It
exports wool production, meat, fruit, sugar.
The capital of the country is Canberra. The
city became the capital in 1927. Federal Government works in Canberra in the
government buildings. It is interest
ing to know that there are no industrial plants in Canberra.
The population of Canberra is about 300,000 people.
There are many sights in the city. They are the Building of the
Australian Academy of Sciences, the Australian National University and others.
There are two big industrial cities in Australia: Sydney and Melbourne.
The habited part of the country is situated near ocean. Melbourne,
Sydney, Brisbane and others are the ports of the country.
Australia is a part of the British Empire. Formerly the head of the
state is the Queen, but in fact Australia is independent, self-governing
state. The Parliament consists of two Houses.
There are many universities, theatres and museums in Australia.
YOUTH PROBLEMS
All people have
problems. Some of them have many problems, the others have one or two problems
only.
Young people have as many problems as the
grown-ups. It is possible to solve some problems but sometimes we can not solve
this or that problem. The first problem is to choose a good friend. I know the
proverb "A friend in need is a friend indeed." I agree with it,
that's why I try to make friends with gay and true persons.
I want to have a friend who understands
me. It will be simple and interesting to speak to him or her.
I think that young people have problems with their parents. What are
they? Sometimes we have different tastes. I like the proverb "There is no
accounting for tastes." For example, I go to the shops with my mother. She
likes this dress but I like that one. My mother wants me to buy this dress. But
I am sure, that dress is much to my taste.
My parents want me to be a teacher as they
are skilled teachers but I have a taste for music, and my dream is to be a composer.
Where can we go? What can we do if we have
free time? My friend Nastya lives in the village. Her village is far from Moscow.
It takes her three hours to go to Moscow. She says that there is nowhere to go
and there is nothing to do in her village. There are no clubs, museums,
cinemas, parks there. If she wants to go to Moscow it'll take her a lot of
money. She can't afford it.
It is a problem to get a good education.
It is necessary to pay for a good education.
I think it is difficult to learn English, for example, without additional
classes.
I can't enter the Institute without good
knowledge. To get it it is necessary to pay for it and have heavy expenses.
Many good teachers leave schools because they haven't got enough money.
Persons without special experience can't teach the pupils well.
I am sure that all teenagers want to have a lot of money to dress well,
to go to the theatres, to visit foreign countries, ito eat what they want, to
buy books-How can they solve all these problems?
They have to earn money. I think it is possible to do it. Some boys wash
cars, the others sell newspapers, some of my friends help old persons. Many of
my friends have load of care.
We have some problems but we are sure that we solve them in a proper
way.
I think that the young people in other countries have many problems too.
I have a pen-friend in Italy. He usually writes that his parents make him to do
a lot of house-work. It is stange for us, but my friend Jack from London has
his biggest problem — his freckles.
INTRODUCING
YOURSELF
My name is
Kostya. My surname is Laznev. I was born in Moscow on the 23rd of June in 1981.
I am a tall thin boy. My hair is dark and short. My face is oval, my nose is
straight. My eyes are large and brown. My friends say that I am a good-looking
boy. I like to dress well. I usually wear black trousers, light shirts, clean
boots.
I have a dream to enter the Institute.
I worked hard at school. We studied many
subjects such as History, Russian, Physics, Geography and others. I was fond of
English and Physics. And I was good at them.
I think that I am honest, serious and
polite.
I want to get a good education and find an interesting and useful work.
I have a hobby. I like to sing songs. My father likes to sing songs too. He
knows many good songs and we usually sing songs together.
Nowadays young people don't like classical music. They prefer pop
music. My parents invite me to some very good concerts of classical music. It
is great. I am very grateful to my parents because now I begin to understand
how wrong I was going only to pop concerts.
I am proud of my mother and father. They are musicians. We like to spend
our free time together. We often go to the museums, to the Concert Halls, to
the theatres.
I want to say that I respect my parents.
I HAVE A DREAM TO BE A DOCTOR
There are many
interesting and noble professions. I want to become a doctor.
I like this profession and I am eager to
get a medical education and work at a hospital.
It is a good tradition in our family. My
mother is a doctor, my grandfather is a doctor and I want to be a doctor, too.
When I was a little boy my grandfather worked
at a hospital and I spent some time at the hospital with him. He is a surgeon
and works in a surgical department.
Day by day he takes care of his hospital
patients, he treats them well. He is very attentive. Every day he comes into
wards asking patients, "What do you complain of?"
He wants all people to be able-bodied and he tries to treat his
in-patients in a proper way.
To operate on persons is his main task. He is a kind and skilled
surgeon.
Every day he comes into an operating-room and operates on his
in-patients. After each operation he takes care of his in-patients. Day by day
he helps them to recover and he is glad when he can say, "My in-patient is
quite recovered."
Sometimes he advises his in-patients to go to sanatoriums after leaving
the hospital. He instructs them in detail what they can do and eat after their
operations.
My grandfather tells me a lot of true stories about doctors, their
profession, their aid for people.
I respect my grandfather. I like his profession and I have a dream to be
a doctor too.
SPORT AND A HEALTHY MODE OF LIFE
Sport is very important in our life. It is
popular among young and old people.
Many people do morning exercises, jog in the morning, train themselves
in clubs, in different sections and take part in sport competitions.
Other people like sports too, but they only watch sports games, listen
to sports news. They prefer reading interesting stories about sportsmen. But
they don't go in for sports.
Physical training is an important subject at school. Pupils have got
physical training lessons twice a week. Boys and girls play volley-ball and
basket-ball at the lessons. There is a sportsground near our school and
school-children go in foi sports in the open air.
A lot of different competitions are held at schools, a great
number of pupils take part in them. All participants try to get good results
and become winners. Sport helps people to keep in good health. If you go in for
sports, you have good health and don't catch cold.
Children and grown-ups must take care of their health and do morning
exercises regularly.
There are some popular kinds of sports in our country: football,
volley-ball, hockey, gymnastics, skiing, skating. Athletics is one of the most
popular kinds of sports. It includes such kinds of sports as running, jumping
and others. Everybody may choose the sport he (or she) is interested in.
There are summer and winter sports.
My favourite sport is swimming. I go to the swimming-pool twice a week.
But I prefer to rest by the lake or the river and swim there.
My friend Kostya goes in for boxing. He is a good boxer and he is a
brave and courageous boy. His hobby helps him in his everyday life.
Sports in Great Britain
National sports in Great Britain... It is a
very interesting question, because many kinds of sport have taken the origin in
England.
The Englishmen love sports, they are called sports-lovers in spite of
the fact that some of them neither play games nor even watch them. They only
like to speak about sports.
Some kinds of sport are professional in England.
Many traditional sporting contests take place in England, for example,
cricket. It is played from May till September. This game is associated with England.
There are many cricket clubs in this country. English people like to play
cricket. They think that summer without cricket isn't summer. Cricket is the English
national sport in summer. If you want to play cricket you must wear white
boots, a white shirt and white long trousers.
There are two teams. Each team has eleven players. Cricket is popular in
boys' schools. Girls play cricket too.
Football. It has got
a long history. Football was played by the whole village teams in the middle
ages in England.
Now football is the
most popular game in Britain. It is a team game. There are some amateur teams
but most of the teams are professional ones in England. Professional football
is a big business. Football is played at schools too.
Rugby football. You
can see a ball in this game, but it is not round. It is oval. This is a team
game. There are fifteen players in each team. It is a popular game in England.
There are many amateur rug-by football teams in this country.
If we speak about football we can
mention an American football too. It is a game that is played between two teams
of players using an oval ball that can be handled or kicked. The captain of the
team must be the oldest or best player.
Table tennis or
ping-pong. Englishmen heard about table tennis in 1880. Then the International
Table Tennis Association was formed and the international rules were worked
out.
Many people like to
play table tennis. This game is played by men and women.
There are some tennis clubs in England, but
if you play there it is necessary to pay money for it.
Englishmen like playing tennis but many of
them prefer to watch this game.
Wimbledon. It is the centre of lawn tennis.
Some years ago Wimbledon was a village, now it is a part of London. The most
important tennis competition takes place there every summer.
Englishmen pay much attention to swimming,
rowing and walking. Usually the Oxford—Cambridge Boat Race takes place at the
end of March or at the beginning of April. It is an interesting contest
between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It is usually held on the Thames
River. The first such race was held in 1820. There were a lot of people
watching this race.
There are some racing competitions in
England. They are motor-car racing, dog-racing, donkey-racing, boat-racing,
horse-racing. All kinds of racings are popular in England. It is interesting to
see the egg-and-spoon race. The runner, who takes part in this competition,
must carry an egg in a spoon. It is not allowed to drop the egg.
We must speak about the Highland Games in
Scotland. All competitors wear Highland dress. There are such competitions as
putting the weight, tossing the caber and others. The English are great lovers
of sports.
LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES
It is necessary to learn foreign languages. That's why pupils have got
such subject as a foreign language at school. Everybody knows his own language,
but it is useful to know foreign languages.
I learn English, because I understand that
I can use it. For example, if I go to England I'll be able to speak English
there. If I go to the USA, I'll speak English too. English is used not only in
England, but also in other parts of the world.
I learn English because I want to read foreign literature in the
original. I know and like such English and American writers as Charles
Dickens, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll and others. I understand that I must learn
English. If I know English well, I'll be able to go to the library and take
books by English and American writers in the original.
I like to travel. But it is difficult to
visit countries, when you don't know the language of these countries. If I
know the language of the country, where I am going to, it will be easy to
travel there. If I want to ask something, I can do it in English.
I like to read books. And I like to read
newspapers, too. If I know, for example, English I'll be able to read English
newspapers and magazines. Knowledge of foreign languages helps young people
of different countries to understand each other, to develop friendship among
them. For example, we have a foreign exhibition in Moscow. If I know a foreign
language, it is easy for me to visit this exhibition.
You can see a lot of advertisements,
signboards, names in the streets. They are in foreign languages. Very often
they are in English. If you know English, you can read and understand them.
Now we buy many clothes from other countries If you know English well,
you can read something about the size of this or that thing. It is clear for
you what it is made of.
There are a lot of films in foreign languages. If you know foreign
languages, you can understand films without any help.
There are international friendship camps in the world. If you can speak
foreign languages, it will be easy for you to visit such camps and speak with
the boys, girls, men even they don't know Russian.
In short, I understand that I have to learn English in a proper way and
I try to do it.
I LIKE TO TRAVEL
I like to travel. First of all, the members
of our family usually have long walks in the country. Such walks are called
hikes. If we want to see the countryside, we have to spend a part of our
summer holidays on hikes. It is useful for all members of our family. We take
our rucksacks, we don't think about tickets, we don't hurry up and we walk a
lot. During such hikes we see a lot of interesting places, sometimes we meet.
interesting people.
I like to travel by car. It is
interesting too, because you can see many things in a short time. When we go by
car, we don't take tickets too, we put all things we need in a car. We don't
carry them.
THE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Our country. Our environment. There are many big and small rivers, green
forests, high mountains, lakes and seas in Russia.
Our Earth is our home. I think people must
take care of our Motherland.
There are some laws and decisions on this
important subject. We have state organizations which pay attention to this
problem.
The international conventions pay much
attention to the control of pollution too.
There are a lot of industrial enterprises in our country, that's why we
can't ignore the problem of the protection of our environment. Our main aim is
the protection. Our environment must be clean. What V must we do for it? We
have to control atmospheric and water pollution, to study the man's influence
on the climate. The pollution of the environment influences the life of
animals, plants and our human life. If we don't use chemicals in a proper way
we'll pollute our environment.
Our plants and factories put their waste
materials into water and atmosphere and pollute the environment.
There are many kinds of transport in our
big cities, that's why we must pay attention to the protection of our nature
and the health of the people.
Radiation. Now it has become one of the
main problems. It is not good for J health of people. Many people
died from radiation some years ago in Chernobyl. It ' was a tragedy. Another
problem is earthquake. We know some terrible earthquakes in the world. Our
scientists try to forecast earthquakes, then we can protect ourselves from
them.
The people all over the world do
everything to protect their nature, to make their country richer, to make
their life happier.
CHRISTMAS DAY
Every country has
its own customs and traditions. English people are proud of their traditions
and they keep them up.
It is difficult to speak about England
without speaking about its holidays. Christmas Day is among them.
All English people celebrate Christmas (or
X-mas) on the 25th of December.
Christmas! What kind of holiday is it? It is
the yearly celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It falls on December 25 by
the Catholic Church and on the 7th of January by the Orthodox Church. This
holiday means the beginning of the new year and the new life. English people
celebrate this holiday with the evergreen tree — Christmas tree. Children rut
along sock, called a Christmas stocking at the end of their beds and
Santa Claus conies down the chimney to bring them presents.
Christmas Day is the greatest holiday in
England. It is interesting to visit the shops before this holiday. There are a
lot of nice Christmas cards and presents there. English people like this
holiday very much and prepare for it beforehand. They buy presents for each
other, try to send Christmas cards for their relatives and friends.
It is interesting to visit London during
this holiday. There is a Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square. We can see many
lights, toys and sweets all over this tree. Everywhere you can see slogans
"A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year".
The traditional English dinner on Christmas
is turkey and pudding.
NEW YEAR'S DAY
There are many
holidays in our country. They are: New Year's Day, Christmas, Women's Day,
Victory Day, May Day and others.
I like New Year's Day, it is my favourite
holiday. The 1st of January is a winter holiday and now it is the first day of
the New Year.
Peter the First changed the Russian
calendar in 1699. He made the 31st of December, 1699 the last day of the year.
The first of January 1700 became New Year's Day.
The 1st of January is in the middle of winter. The weather is usually
fine and there is a lot of snow everywhere. As the 1st of January is a holiday
I don't go to school and my parents don't go to work.
We usually have got a very interesting New
Year's party at school. We have got it on the 28th or 29th of December.
Our family prepares for this holiday beforehand.
My father buys and brings home a beautiful New Year's tree at the end of
December. Our family has a tradition to buy it. I like to decorate the New
Year's tree with toys, little coloured lights, sweets and a beautiful star on
the top.
My mother and grandmother prepare our
holiday supper and lay the table. I make a cake.
All the members of our family clean the
flat before this nice holiday and then each of us try to dress well. We like to
see the New Year in at home with our relatives. They come to see us at 11
o'clock in the evening.
At 12 o'clock we are sitting at the table
and we are glad to see the New Year in. We say, "Best wishes for the New
Year!"
I hope that next year will be better than
the last one.
The New Year's Day is always connected
with our new hopes and dreams.
It is a pleasant moment to get presents on the New Year's Eve.
I usually get many nice useful things from my parents and relatives.
My parents put their presents under the New Year's tree.
We don't go to bed till morning, we watch TV, dance, eat tasty things
and make jokes.
I enjoy this holiday very much.
YURI GAGARIN
(1934-68)
Yuri Gagarin was the
first cosmonaut in the world. Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin was born on the 9th of
March, 1934. He was born in the village of Klushino in the Smolensk region.
Yura was an active, brave and curious boy.
His father was jack of all trades and he helped his son when Yura made toy
planes by hand. But the war began. Yuri Gagarin and his mother, father, brother
and sister left their house and had to live in a dug-out.
After the war Gagarin's family moved to
Gzhatsk. Now it is Gagarin. It was named after the first cosmonaut.
In 1951 Gagarin graduated from a vocational
school in Lyubertsy near Moscow.
Yuri Gagarin attended an aeroclub and began
to fly when he was a student of a technical secondary school in Saratov.
In 1955 he entered a school for
pilots. Then he became a pilot and joined the first group of cosmonauts.
In 1960 Gagarin began to prepare for the
flight into space.
On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin flew into
space and spent 108 minutes there. Jt was the first time in history that the
Russian spaceship "Vostok" with the man on board was in space. After
his flight he visited many countries and saw millions of people. Gagarin became
a Hero of our country.
He died in 1968, but people always remember
the first Russian cosmonaut.
THE MASS MEDIA
Newspapers
There are many kinds of newspapers in our
country. It is possible to buy them almost everywhere. But we can't read all
the newspapers. We know that it is necessary to read newspapers. Reading them
we can learn a lot of interesting and useful things. I think that everyone
must read newspapers every day. I read many newspapers and magazines.
Everyone has its favourite newspapers. I like "Vechernaya
Moskva" best of all. This newspaper was published on the 6th of December,
1923 for the first time. It usually has 8 pages. You can read some news on the
1st page. You can't know a lot about these events, you read only some facts,
which are usually short, but
interesting. If you turn the second page, you can read about our life.
You can read out events abroad and about your favourite artists and singers,
too. You ë see some advertisements on each page the newspaper and use
them. You can learn about the weather from the pages of is newspaper.
If you are fond of football, basket-ball tennis, you read articles about
sport events in our country and about our famous sportsmen. If you want to buy
something you have to read the last page. There are some humorous stories in
this newspaper.
Magazines
It is interesting to
look through some magazines or read them. It is possible to subscribe to some
of them or buy them. We usually subscribe to the magazine "At the
wheel". As we have a car it is useful for us to read it. My mother prefer
to read the magazine "Liza". She says that it even helps her in some
cases.
Television
and radio
I think that they are very popular means of information.
They are popular among young people in our country. We can know a lot of news
watching TV or listening to the radio set. All members of our family watch TV
very regularly. We like such programme as "My family". I prefer to
discuss some problems with my parents after it. I have many favourite TV
programmes but I haven't enough time to watch all of them.
MY HOBBY
What is a hobby? It is what you can and
like to do, when you have free time. We choose a hobby according to our
character and taste. When we have a hobby our life becomes more interesting.
Very often our hobby helps us to choose our future profession because we
learn a lot of new things.
Many people are interested in music. They collect records. Others like
to read and collect books. People living in cities and towns like to be closer
to nature and they spend their free time in the country.
Some of us go on hikes, some like to work in their gardens,
take photographs or knit.
For example, gardening and growing roses is the most common hobby among
Englishmen.
Both grown-ups and children are fond of playing different computer
games. It has become one of the numerous hobbies.
I have got a hobby too.
My name is Nastya. Sometimes I have got some free time. As my hobby is
cooking I like to make cakes and pies. My cakes are very tasty, but I like
pies best of all. I'll tell you how I make pies with cabbage.
First of all I take a head of cabbage, cut and put it into a frying-pan.
Then I take carrot and peel it. By the way I have a very comfortable grater at
home. I like to use it when I make my pies. I usually grate carrot, onion using
my favourite grater. I put grated carrot into the frying-pan, then I salt
cabbage and carrot to my taste, mix them and add some water. Then I stew these
vegetables in the frying-pan. I usually buy some paste for my pies.
I cut up paste, roll it and make small pies. Then I put pies with stewed
cabbage into the oven. It takes twenty minutes
to bake them. My parents and friends like to eat my pies. I advise you
to make such pies and I hope that you'll like them too.
MY
SCHOOL
At the age of 6 or 7
all boys and girls go to school. I go to school too. The number of my school is
338. Our school is large and light. It is neither old nor new. There is a
schoolyard around it. It is a pity, but there are no flowers near the school.
You can see a sportsground behind the school. Sometimes we have physical
training lessons there.
Our school has got three floors. There is a workshop on the ground
floor. It is big. There are all kinds of tools and machines there. The boys of
our school have a wood-work room too. They learn to make things of wood in this
room. There is a room for manual work for girls. It is not on the ground floor,
it is on the second floor.
There are some computer classes, and pupils like such school subjects as
Computing.
If you enter the school and go to the left you see a dining-room. Here
pupils and teachers have their breakfast and dinner.
The dining-room is a clean one. There are many nice pictures on the
walls.
There is a gymnasium near the dining-room. All pupils like to go there,
because they like physical training lessons.
Our school has got a library. It is on the ground floor too. There are a
lot of interesting new and old books in it. But our library has no
reading-room.
Our school has got many classrooms. We have got two English classrooms.
History, Geography and Physics classrooms and others. They are big and light
and each of them has got two large windows with green curtains, flowers on the
window-sills, a bookcase near the door, the blackboard on the wall.
The teacher's table with many books on it is situated not far from the
blackboard.
There are twenty desks and some comfortable chairs in the classrooms.
There is a TV set in each classroom. Sometimes it is used during the
lessons.
There is a school hall on the second floor where meetings and
conferences take place.
We organize concerts, parties when we celebrate our holidays. Pupils of
our school sing songs and dance modern and folk dances and perform some plays
there. The last bell is organized at our school in a proper way. It is a very
remarkable day in the life of all the pupils. The pupils of the first form and
the pupils of the eleventh one are preparing for this day with great pleasure.
The teachers' room is on the second floor.
There are tables and chairs for teachers, a TV set and a telephone there. It is
a comfortable and cosy room and the teachers like to spend their free time in
it. I like my school. I go there and get knowledge.
THE CINEMA
The Lumiere brothers made their first film
in 1895. This film was demonstrated in one famous cafe in Paris.
The first films were silent and short, but they were popular
among people.
The USA was the leader in the production of films. The first sound film
appeared in 1927. Soon coloured films appeared.
Cinematography has a long history in our country too.
Pioneers of the Russian cinema were Protozanov, Gardin, later Pudovkin
and Dovzhenko. At that time films were silent and black-and-white.
Later films became sound and colourful.
Some years ago it was popular to go to the cinemas in Moscow. It was
difficult to buy a ticket for a good film and we had to stand in a queue for
hours.
But now we prefer to stay at home and watch TV and video films.
In England the cinema is usually called "the pictures". The
prices of cinema seats in London are high. In the past cinemas were more
popular than they are now. It is interesting that in some towns in Britain the
cinemas are closed on Sundays.
I like to see documentary films best of all. Some of them are rather
interesting, because they tell us the truth about the history of our country.
I like to see films about school life. As I study at school, such films
are connected with me. It is interesting to see films bout school life in
England, France, Spain and in the USA. It is interesting to know about foreign
education and to see their schools.
My favourite Russian film is "Moscow doesn't believe in
tears". It is the true story about the girl. She leaves her village for
Moscow. This film tells us about her difficulties, about her wish to live in
the capital, about her friends. I am sure that it is a kind and a clever film.
THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY
There are many
interesting galleries in our country. The Tretyakov Gallery is one
of the famous and well-known picture
galleries in our country and all over the world.
The State Tretyakov
Gallery is situated in a Russian-looking building in the centre of Moscow.
This gallery is named after its founder Peter Tretyakov. He began to collect
Russian paintings in 1856. He wanted these paintings to be seen by people.
This gallery and collections of paintings
were nationalized in 1918.
The first works in Tretyakov's
collection were the paintings of the "Pere-dvizhniki". The collector
bought paintings "Morning in a Pine Wood" by Shish-kin and
"Ivan Tsarevich on the Grey Wolf "by Vasnetsov.
The gallery has got many halls. There are
halls devoted to the great Russian painters of the 18th and 19th centuries. We
can see pictures by such painters as Serov, Repin, Ivanov, Levitan and others.
You can see the landscapes "After Rain" and "Golden
Autumn". These paintings by Levitan are beautiful. I like to see his paintings
because he is one of my favourite artists. I compare his painting "Golden
Autumn" with the poem "Autumn" by Pushkin.
There are some paintings by Repin in the
Tretyakov Gallery. His paintings are connected with the history of our country.
For example, his painting "Ivan Grozny Murders His Son Ivan". There
are some portraits of Lev Tolstoy and a self-portrait of Repin in this hall.
I like the painting "Trinity" by
Andrei Rublyov. This work reflects the life and soul of the Russian people.
This gallery has many new exhibits now. You
can see works of the painters of the end of the 19th and the beginning of the
20th century there. I like works by Gerasimov. I think that he is a very talented
painter.
BOOKS IN OUR LIFE
Books... I think that we can't live without
them.
I consider that books are with us during all our life. When I was a
child my parents read them to me. I was pleased to listen to the stories and
tales. I learned a lot of interesting things from books. I remember, I liked
thick books.
Later I could read myself. I like to read books about animals, nature
and children.
I like to get presents on my birthday. I am happy if it is a book. It
doesn't matter what kind of book it is. I like to read almost all books. If I
have got time I like to spend it with my favourite book. When I was fifteen I
was fond of reading too.
But I preferred to read books about travels. I travelled with the
heroes of the stories. I saw many interesting places and learned a lot of
important facts about other countries and people.
Now I like to read books on science. You
can learn many things from books. I am sure that books play a very important
role in my life.
Our family has got many books. All the
members of our family buy books and read them. My mother says that books help
us in self-education.
In ancient times books were written by
hand. It was difficult to write a book with a pen. Then printing came into our
life. Printing played an important role in the development of literature and
culture.
Now there are a lot of books in the shops,
there are many books in our flats. But it is difficult to buy all books which
we want to read. That's why we get books in public libraries.
There are some problems in our life and sometimes it is
difficult to solve them. I think that books can help us. Last year I read a
very interesting book "An American Tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser.
This novel was published at the beginning of the 20th century. The novel
describes the tragic fate of a boy and a girl, Clyde and Roberta by name. It is
a sad story. This novel was written many years ago, but it is popular nowadays.
Books must be our friends during all our life.
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