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Olymp. Sport in GB London GrBr. . Famous and in GB My Fav writer. Holidays in GB and in Rus Environmental.
Why Am I Proud of My Country?
I live in Russian Federation and I am very proud of my country. First of all Russian Federation is the biggest country in the world. It occupies about one seventh of earth surface. Its total area about 17 million square kilometers.
Lots of famous people were born in Russia: writers, painters, musicians, scientists sportsmen. Our writers are known all over the world. For example Pushkin. His 200-year anniversary is celebrated all over the world. Lev Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”
Became the favorite book for lots of people. In lots of Museums in the world there are collections of paintings of our painters: Vasnetsov, Levitan, Perov, Aivazovsky.
We have good traditions in music. Our composers Tchaikovky, Glinka, Prokofiev are very popular. And our modern rock groups are giving concerts abroad. E.G. Mumiy Troll is giving concerts in London and New York. Our famous pop singer Philip Kirkorov has been awarded at big festival.
Our country is very powerful one. Our armies won lots of war. And we won the greatest war.
Nowdays Russia is in crisis. In economical and political ones. But i believe that it will finish soon and Russia will rise again.
Books in my life.
A book is one of the greatest wonders of world. Why are so many people fond of reading? The world of books is full of wonders. Together with the characters of books you can find yourself in different and countries, have a lot of adventures. The book is a faithful friend. They form our values and characters. We try to look like the characters of your favourite books: to be brave, honest, not to be silly and greedy, to be real friends. We enjoyed the beauty and wisdom of fairy-tales and fables when we were babies and Granny read them. They taught us to be kind, clever, hardworking, to understand other people and help them. They teach us to understand the beauty of nature, take care of it, to love our motherland.
Books have been with us since childhood. Who hasn’t read «Alice in the wonderland», «Mowgli»? Who hasn’t travelled with Marry Poppins to her imaginary world? Who hasn’t imagined himself to be Robinson Crusoe on the deserted island?
I have read a lot of interesting books, but my favourite book is «The adventures of Tom Sawyer» by Mark Twain. This well-known book is popular with the children all over the world.
The main character of the book is Tom Sawyer, who lived in a small town on the Mississippi River. He was a boy with a wild imagination. He and his friends often dreamed of different adventures. Tom was naughty, kind and brave. Besides he was noble. I like this boy because he teaches us to be true friends.
If you are not fond of reading, take a book to your liking or borrow it from the library and read it. Books are worth reading. They are our good friends.
Sports in my life.
I you want to feel fit you’d better go in for one kind of sport or another. I should admit that everyone must do all he can to be healthy. Good health is better than the best medicine. «You have a sound mind in a sound body» as the old Latin saying goes. The English proverb «Sickness in the body brings sickness to the mind» expresses a similar idea but from different point of view. All kinds of physical exercises are very useful to make our bodies strong and to keep ourselves fit and healthy. To tell the truth I don’t do sports regularly and it is not an essential part of my daily life. In the morning I don't do any exercises. In summer I go swimming as there is a beautiful river with pure water where my Granny lives. In winter, it’s rather long at our place, I should say, I prefer toboganning (There is nothing like the sight of a winter forest - a real fairy-tale). I like to ride the bike and toboganning in winter. Mum says that I’m to old to do it, why not after all? I shouldn’t call myself a sports fan. Of course , I like to watch sports competitions on TV . Fortunately , they show different ones - football , basketball . I like tennis tournaments very much . I think , it’s a very intelligent kind of sport for clever thinking people . Also I like skiing championships , biathlon , swimming . But what I like most is football . The best games are showed on TV. I like basketball too. I came to know that modern basketball appeared in 1891 in the USA. The originator, John Naismith was a coach at the college. He invented the baskets and the rules of the game. Since then basketball has be become very popular and is spread all over the world. It is the sport of strong tall men, the sport of giants.
Doing sports a man become strong and healthy. He begins to take care of his health.
«Good health is better than wealth», you know. It’s true, I should say. In our school we have a nice gym. Sports and games are popular among pupils. A lot of children train at special sport schools.
Why do I learn English Language?
The great German poet Goethe once said: «He who know no foreign language does not know his own one. Learning foreign languages is specially important nowadays. Some people learn foreign languages because they need them in their work, others travel abroad, for the third studying languages is a hobby.
Every year thousands of people from Russia go to different countries as tourists or to work. They can not go without knowing the language of the country they are going to. A modern engineer or even a worker can not work with an imported instrument or a machine if he is not able to read the instruction how to do it. Ordinary people need language to translation the instruction or the manual to the washing-machine or a vacuum-cleaner, medicine or even food-products.
Some people are as a rule polyglots. Historians diplomats need some languages for their work. If you want to be a classified specialist you must learn English, the language of international communication.
English is one of the world languages. It is the language of progressive science and technology, trade and cultural relations, commerce and business. It is the universal language of international aviation, shipping and sports. It is also the major language of diplomacy. Hundreds and hundreds of books, magazines and newspapers are printed in English, most of the world’s mail and telephone calls are in English. Half of the world’s scientific literature is written in English. English is spoken by more than 350 million people. Geographically, it is the most widespread language on earth, second after Chinese. It is the official language of the UK, the USA , of Australia and New Zealand, it is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the South Africa. Millions of people study and use English as a foreign language. In our country English is very popular. It is studied at schools, colleges and universities.
Learning English is not an easy thing. It is a long process and takes a lot of time and patience. But to know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person. I want to know English because it’s interesting for me to know foreign countries, their cultures and tradition. English will be of great use in my future profession connected with computers.
Moscow
Moscow is the capital of Russia, its political, economic, commercial and cultural centre. It was founded 8 centurys ago by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in 1147. Gradually the city became more and more powerfull. In the 13th century Moscow was the centre of the struggle of Russian lands for the liberation from the tartar yoke. In the 16th century under Ivan the Terrible Moscow became the capital of the new united state. Though Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg in 1712; Moscow remained the heart of Russia. That's why it became the main target of Napoleon's attack. After the October revolution Moscow became the capital again.
Now Moscow is one of the largest cities in Europe. Its total area is about nine hundred square kilometres. The population of the city is over 8 million.
Moscow is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The heart of Moscow is Red Square. The Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral (Vasily Blazheny) are masterpieces of encient Russian architecture. On the territory of the Kremlin you can see old cathedrals, the Palace of Congresses, the Tzar-Cannon and the Tzar-Bell, the biggest cannon and bell in the world. St. Basil's Cathedral was built in the mid-16th century in memory of the victory over Kazan.
One of the well-known Kremlin museums is the Armouty Chamber. The famous golden cap of Monomach, the first Russian imperial crown of Catherin the second and many other historical items are exhibited there.
There are more than 80 museums in Moscow. The Historical Museum, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Tretyakov State Picture Gallery are world famous and the largest.
Moscow is famous for its theatres. The best-known of them are Bolshoi, Maly and Art theatres.
Moscow is the seat of the Russian Parliament (the Duma) and the centre of political life of the country.
Famous People of Russia.
Much was done by people to reach the present state of human development. It is necessary to say that great contribution to the development of the world science and culture, literature, music and painting was made by the Russian people. The names of Russian scientists and writers, poets, composers and painters are world-famous-Pushkin, Lermontov, Chehov, Levitan. This chain can be endless. It is almost impossible to name a branch of science in the development of which the Russian scientists haven’t played the greatest role. Lomonosov, the founder of the Moscow University was an outstanding innovator both in the humanities and sciences. Mendeleev’s greatest discovery was the Periodic System of Elements. Popov invented radio. Sechenov and Pavlov were the world’s greatest physiologists. Russia is rightly called the mother of aviation and cosmounatics. Names of Tsiolkovsky, Korolov and Gagarin are symbols of new space era.
People in many countries admire paintings, portraits and landscapes Surikov, Levitan, Repin works of our Russian writes and poets are translated into many languages.
I want to tell about one of the greatest Russians. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, an outstanding Russian composer, was born in Votkinsk in 1840. He was fond of music since his early childhood. His mother sang him beautiful songs and taught him to play the piano. He graduated from the Petersburg Conservatoire only in 1866 because of his poor living conditions. He was the best pupil of Anton Rubinstein. Wen the Moscow Conservatoire was founded Pyotr Ilyich became a professor there.
He created wonderful music: 10 operas, 3 ballets, 6 symphonies, 7 large symphonic poems and many other musical pieces.
«Eugene Onegin», a new type of opera, was a great success all over the world «His Swan Lake», «The Nutckracker», «The Sleeping Beauty are musical masterpieces. In his music he used folk melodies for the musical descriptions of Russian nature and life. His compositions are full of realist.
Seasons & Wheather
Englishmen say «There is no bad weather, there are bad clothes», It means that they like all the seasons, all kinds of weather. Every season is good in its own way. Each person likes this or that season. It depends on his character, mood. They say that Pushkin liked autumn very much. This season is full of colours, bright and tasty. The sky is blue, but sometimes grey clouds appear. The sun shines but it begins to hide behind the clouds. Its rays are not so warm. Autumn is full of vegetables and fruit, mushrooms and berries. There is nothing like Indian summer in autumn. As for me, I like to walk on the carpet of bright leaves listen to the last songs of birds flying to warm countries, look at the nature. It is like a fairy-tale. It fades away and nothing can be done. Soon drizzling rains will begin and everything will be dull and sad. But still I like autumn.
Winter in Razvilka is long and severe with dark nights, bitter wings and hard frosts. Even sometimes you can see a quiet winter frosty day. It is snowing. Fluffy soft snowflakes are falling to the ground making a beautiful thick carpet. The icecles glitter in the sun the snow sparkles like diamond. Going outdoors in such weather is pleasant. Many people go to the forests and enjoy toboganing and skiing, playing snowballs and making a snowman.
As for spring, people in Razvilka dream about it during long winter days. It comes late but suddenly. I don’t like it because my town becomes grey. But spring is the beginning of new life. Nature awakens from its long winter sleep. The trees begin to bud and soon tiny green leaves will appear. Young green grass appear, fruit trees begin to blossom. Everything looks magic covered with green carpet. Nature looks full of promise.
I like summer because we have holiday and enjoy resting after school year.
In my opinion every season is beautiful and attractive.
TRAVELLING
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People are fond of traveling. They spend their holidays traveling. They travel to see other countries and continents, to learn a lot about people’s traditions, to enjoy picturesque places. It is interesting for them to discover new things, different ways of life, to meet different people, to try different food.
Those who live in the country like to find themselves in large cities with their shops, cinemas, crowds of people. City-dwellers usually like a quiet holiday by the sea or in the mountains with nothing to do but walking and bathing, lazying in the sun. Most travelers and holiday makers take a camera with them and take pictures of everything that interests them - beautiful views of waterfalls, forests, unusual plants and animals. These photos will remind them of the happy time of holiday.
These are many ways of traveling - by train, by plain, by ship, on foot. Everyone chooses his favourite one. My favourite way is traveling by plain. And not because it is very comfortable. It is exciting. I also like traveling by train. I’ve traveled this way a lot. When you are in the train you can see the beauty of nature.
I envy the tourists because I think that they study geography traveling and visiting different parts of the world. They can tell you many things which you didn’t know before.
They are interesting people from whom you can learn much new for yourself. Any kind of travel helps you to understand many things that you can never see or learn at home. Though you may read about them in books and newspapers.
As for me I’d like to have a coach tour to some foreign country. Coach tours are planned and I’ll have a chance to do a lot of sightseeings and have a good rest at the same time.
Hobbies.
Hobby is what a person likes to do in his spare time. Hobbies differ like tastes. If you have chosen a hobby according to your character and taste you are lucky because your life becomes more interesting. The most popular hobby is doing things. It includes a wide variety of activities from gardening to traveling, from chess to volleyball. Both grown-ups and children are fond of playing different computer games. This hobby is becoming more and more popular. Making things include drawing, painting, handicrafts. Many people collect something - coins, stamps, compact discs, toys, books. Some collections have some value. Rich people often collect paintings, rare things and other art objects. Often such private collections are given to museums, libraries.
As for me, I like to listen to music. I have a CD Man. I like different music, it should be good. I collect discs of my favourite groups and singers. I carefully study the information printed on discbooklets. I try to find everything about my favourite singers. Also I like to watch music programmes on TV. I want to keep up with the news in the world of music.
Of course, I like to spend my spare time with my friends. We talk about all sorts of things ( politics, teachers, girls). We discuss films, books, TV programmes. In fine weather we like to be in the open air. We find a nice place somewhere in the forest. We make a fire, bake potatoes and have a lot of fun. When the weather is bad, my friends come to my place. We have a good time together.
Environmental protection.
The poisoning of the world's and,air, and water is the fastest-spreading disease of civilisation. It probably produces fewer headlines than wars, earthquakes and floods, but it is potentially one of history's greatest dangers to human life on earth. If present trends continue for the next several decades, our planet will become uninhabitable. Overpopulation, pollution and energy consumption have created such planet-wide problems as massive deforestation, ozone depletion, acid rains and the global warming that is believed to be coused by the greenhouse effect.
The seas are in danger. They are filled with poison: industrial and nuclear waste, chemical fertilisers and pesticides. The Mediterranean is already nearly dead; the North Sea is following. The Aral Sea is on the brink of extinction. If nothing is done about it, one day nothing will be able to live in the seas.
Every ten minutes one kind of enimal, plant or insect dies out for ever. If nothing is done about it, one million species that are alive today will have become extinct twenty years from now. Air population is a very serious problem. In Cairo just breathing the air is life threatening- equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. The same holds true for Mexico City and 600 cities of the former Soviet Union.
Industrial enterprises emit tons of harmful substunces. These emissions have disastrous consequences for our planet. They are the main reason for the greenhouse effect and acid rains.
An even greater environmental threat are nuclear power stations. We all know how tragic the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are.
People are beginning to realise that environmenta problems are not somebody else's. They join and support various international organosation and green parties. If governments wake up to what is happening- perhaps we'll be able to avoid the disaster that threatens the natural world and all of us with it.
My visiting card.
My name is ANdrey Brysiev. I'm 14 years old. I likve in settlement of Razvilka. It is situated near Moscow, capital of Russia.I go to school in Razvilka. I go to the 9th form "Д". I have a rather big family - Father, Mother, sister and granddad and me.
My Father and mother work nearby my house, in Gas Institute. My father is Head of Laboratory. My mother is scientific worker. My is retired. He was a headmaster and a teacher of Geography. I have relatives all over European Russia: near St. Peterburg, near Volgograd, near Orenburg and more.
We live in medium flat now. My hobbies are: sports, computing ( especially playing games), music. My favorite music band is Mumiy Troll. My favorite kinds of sports are football, basketball, tennis and a lot more. My sign of the zodiac is Saggitarius. I am a bright represantative of this sign. As all saggitariuses I am very friendly, optimistic and very funny boy. Sometimes I laugh too much and have problems with discipline in school. I like animals and littile children because all are very stupid. I don't know who I'll be in the future, but it surely will be a job I like.
Holidays in Great Britain,
There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday. May Day, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank Holiday. Public holidays in Britain are called bank holidays, because the banks as well as most of the offices and shops are closed.
The most popular holiday is Christmas. Every year the people of Norways give the city of London a present. It's a big Christmas tree and it stands in Trafalgar Square. Central streets are beutifuly decorated. There are lots of traditions and customs dedicated to the Christmas day.
People decorate ther trees on the 24th of December. Children hang stockings at the end of their bed, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys and sweets. Christams is a family holiday. The 26th of December, Boxing Day, is an extra holiday after Christmas Day.
New Year's Day is less popular in Britain than Christmas. But in Scotland Hogmanay is the biggest festival of the year. Besides public holidays there are some special festivals in Great Britain. On that day British burn a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, on a bonfire and let off fireworks. This dummy is called a "guy" (like Guy Fawkes and children can often be seen in the streets before the 5th of November, saying, "Penny for the guy." If they collect enough money they can buy some fireworks.
There are also smaller, local festivals in Britain.
Great Britain
The United Kingdom of G.B. and Northen Irelands is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consists of two large islands, G.B. and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244,000 square kilometres.
The UK is made up of four countries:England, Wales, Scotland and Northen Ireland. GB consists of England, Scotland and Wales and doesn't include Northen Ireland. The capital of the UK is London.
The British Isles are separated from European continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. The western coast of GB is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.
The surface of the British Isles varies very much. The north of Scotland is mountainous and is called the Highlands, while the south, which has beautiful valleys and plains, is called the Lowlands.
There are a lot of rivers in GB, but they are not very long. The Severn is the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and the most important one.
The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters if Gulf Stream influence the climate of the British Isles. The weather in GB is very changeable. A fine morning can change into a wet afternoon and evening and the wrong side out. The english people say:"Other countries have a climate; in England we have weather." The English also say that they have three variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains in the afternoon or t\when it rains all day long.
The weather is the favourite conversational topic in GB. After they greet each other they start talking the weather.
The best time of the year in GB is spring(of course, it rains in spring too). The two worst months in britain are January and February. They are cold, damp and unpleasant. The best place in the world then is at home by the big fire. Summer months are rather cold and there can be a lot of rainy days. So most people who look forward to summer holidays, plan to go abroad for the summer.
The most unpleasant aspect of English weather is fog and smog. This is extremely bad in big cities especially in London. The fog spreads everywhere so cars move along slowly and people can't see each other. They try not to be run over by a car but still accidents are frequent in the fog.
The Russian Federation
The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It occupies about one-seventh of the earth's surface. It covers the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia. Its total area is about 17 million square kilometres. The country is washed by 12 seas of 3 oceans:the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic. In the south Russia borders on China, Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In the west it borders on Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Belorussia, the Ukraine. It also has a sea-borders with the USA.
There is hardly a country in the world where such a variety of scenery and vegetation can be found. We have steppes in the south, plains and forests in the midland, tundra and taiga in the nirth, highlands and deserts in the east.
There are two great plains in Russia:the Great Russian Plain and the West Siberian Lowland. There are several mountains chains on the territory of the country: the Urals, the Caucasus, the Altai and others. The largest mountain chain, the Urals, separates Europe from Asia.
There are over two million rivers in Russia. Europe's biggest river, the Volga, flows into the Caspian Sea. The main Siberian rivers- the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena- flow from the south to the north. The Amur in the Far East flows into the Pacific Ocean.
Russia is reach in beautiful lakes. The world's deepest lake is Lake Baikal. It is much smaller than the Baltic Sea, but there is much more water in it than in the Baltic Sea. The water in the lake is so clear that if you look down you can count the stones on the bottom.
Russia has one-sixth of the world's forests. They are concentrated in the European north of the country, in Syberia and in the Far East.
On the vast territory of the country there are various types of climate, from arctic in the north to subtropical in the south. In the middle of the country the climate is temperate and continental.
Russia is very reach in oil, iron ore, natural gas, copper, nickel and other mineral resources.
Russia is a parliamentary republic. The Head of State is the President. The legislative powers are exercised by the Duma.
The capital of Russia is Moscow. It is its largest political, scientific, cultural and industrial centre. It's one of the oldest Russian cities.
At present, the political and economic situationn in the country is rather complicated. There are a lot of problems in the national economy of the Russian Federation. The industrial production is decreasing. The prices are constantly rising, the rate of inflation is very high. People are losing their jobs because many factories and plants are going bankrupt.
But in spite of the problems Russia is facing at present, there are a lot of opportunities for this country to become one of the leading countries in the world. I'm sure that we, the younger generation, can do very much to make Russia as strong and powerful as it used to be.
Holidays in Russia.
There are many holidays in Russia, when people all over the country do not work and special celebrations.
The major holidays are: New Year's Day, Women's Day, May Day, Victory Day, and Independence Day.
The first holiday of the year is New Year Day. People see the new year in at midnight on the 31st of December. They greet the New Year with champagne and listen to the Kremlin chimes beating 12 o'clock.
There are lots of New Year traditions in Russia. In every home there is a New Year tree glittering with coloured lights and decorations, Children always wait for Father Frost to come and give them a present. Many people consider New Year's Day to be a family holiday. But the young prefer to have New Year Parties of their own.
A renewed holiday in our Country is Christmas. It is celebrated on the 7th of January. It's religious holiday and a lot of people go to church servies on that day.
On the 8th of March we celebrate Women's day when men are supposed to do everything about the house and cook all the meals.
The greatest national holiday in our country is Victory Day. On the 9th of May, 1945, the Soviet Army and its allies completely defeated the German fascists and the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War ended. Few years ago we celebrated 50th year anniversry of this great event.
Independence Day is a new holiday in our country. On the 12th of June, 1992, the first President of Russia was elected.
We also celebrate Day of the Defender of Motherland on the 23rd of February, Easter, Day of Knowledge and lots of professional holidays which are not public.
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