The Great Romantic
Lord Byron (1788-1824) didn’t live a long life. He was an
aristocrat and a fashionable man. But he loved freedom (свободу) and
a simple country life. His personality attracted Britain and all Europe. He
brought to his poetry romanticism of his times. He was talented and handsome,
noble and brave. London admired him.
George Gordon Byron was born on January 22nd,
1788. He was the son of John Byron and his wife, Catherine, whose ancestors (предки) were
of the royal house of Stuart. He spent his early years outside the capital. He
lived in the north. Later his mother took him to Aberdeen. There they lived for
several years. George went to Aberdeen Grammar School and there is a monument
to him outside the school. Now it is a museum and art gallery. Later he studied
at Harrow School and the University of Cambridge.
When Byron was 19, he came to London. One day the poet wrote, “I
woke up (проснулся) and found myself (обнаружил, что
я) famous.” It happened after the publication of his
autobiographic poem “Childe Harold” in 1812.
The fact is that from 1809 to 1811 he had traveled in
different parts of Europe and in the poem he described everything that had
happened to him.
In the summer of 1816 Byron left Britain forever (навсегда). He
traveled around Europe and soon he became a member of the Greek liberation
movement (освободительное движение), for
which he died. But he did not lead the Greeks in battle as he wished. He
died of fever (лихорадка).
I. Переведите на английский язык.
1) Он любил свободу и простую сельскую жизнь.
2) Он принес в свою поэзию романтизм того времени.
3) Сейчас это музей и галерея искусства.
II. Ответьте на следующие вопросы.
1) When and where was G. Byron born?
2) Where did he study?
3) What did he describe in the poem?
4) When did he die?
CHRISTMAS
The 25th of December is Christmas
Day. It’s a happy holiday for many people in different countries.
Some week before Christmas English people are busy.
They send greeting cards to all their relatives and friends. You can buy
Christmas cards or you can make them. Many children make their cards at school.
People buy a Christmas tree and decorate it with
toys, colored balls and little colored lights.
On Christmas Eve people put their presents under the
tree. When children go to bed, they put their stockings near their beds.
At night Father Christmas comes. He has got a big
bag of presents for children. He puts the presents in the children’s stockings.
Every year there is a very big Christmas tree in the
centre of London, in Trafalgar Square. This is a present from the people of
Norway to the people of Great Britain. They send it to Londoners every year and
Londoners decorate the Christmas tree.
In the evening before Christmas people like to come
to Trafalgar Square to look at the tree. On Christmas Eve streets in London are
decorated, too.
The shops are very busy at Christmas. People want to
buy presents for their family and friends (for their nearest and dearest). And
they buy a lot of food and drink for all the Christmas parties.
People open their presents on Christmas morning and
they all are happy with what they get.
For Christmas lunch people eat turkey, potatoes and
green vegetables. Then they have the Christmas pudding. At five o’clock it’s
time for tea and Christmas cake.
On Christmas people wish
their nearest and dearest a merry Christmas.
The day after Christmas is Boxing Day. People
usually visit their relatives and friends. They do not work on that day.
1.
Answer the questions.
1) Why are people busy some weeks before Christmas?
2) Where can people get
Christmas cards?
3) Where is a Christmas tree from?
4) What are the traditional Christmas dishes?
5) What is Boxing Day?
6) Do English people like Christmas?
2.
Complete the sentences.
1. Many
children make their cards at …….
2. Father
Christmas puts the presents in the children’s ………..
3. There
is a very big Christmas tree in the centre of ………
4. On
Christmas people wish their nearest and dearest a ……….
5. They
do not………. on that day.
Monsters of the sea?
People have always been afraid of sharks. Films like
“ Jaws” have shown them as monsters. But now these animals are in danger, like
many others.
In
recent years, shark meat has become a popular food in America. Too much fishing
has begun to reduce the numbers of some kinds of shark. Some people say this is
a good thing. Sharks kill about twenty-five people a year near the world’s
beaches. Are we going to help sharks, or are they going to become extinct?
It’s hard to solve the sharks’ “ image” problem and change
people’s minds about them. Sharks are hunters and so they naturally kill. But
actually elephants kill more people than sharks every year – and every–one
likes elephants.
Sharks are very important for the world’s oceans. They eat unhealthy
fish and keep the numbers of different kinds of sea animals in balance. Now
scientists are trying to find way to protect these animals. They have been in
the oceans for 350 million years. Perhaps they can survive a little longer.
Выберите
соответствующие содержанию текста предложения.
- Films have
shown sharks as monsters.
- Sharks are in
danger like others.
- Shark meat
has become a popular food only in Canada.
- The number of
some kinds of shark has reduced because of much fishing.
- All people say
this is good that a number of some kinds of sharks has reduced.
- Sharks are
not monsters because they don’t kill anybody.
- It’s not hard
to solve sharks ‘image’ problem.
- Sharks are
hunters so they naturally kill.
- Elephants
kill less people than sharks, so people like them .
10.Sharks are very important
for the world’s oceans because they kill unhealthy fish.
11.Sharks have been in the
oceans for 200 years.
PACKING
by Jerome K. Jerome
Holiday time was near now, and we, that is, Harris and George and I met to
discuss our plans. Harris said that the first thing was to discuss what to take
with us. He also said that we couldn't take the whole world in a boat. They
could take what they really needed.
"It is very important,"
Harris said, "to have everything we need for a long swim every morning
before breakfast." He also said that a long swim always gave him fine
appetite. "If you're going to eat more than you usually do," George
said, "I think we'll let you go swimming not more than once in three or
four days. If you go swimming every day, we'll never have enough food for you.
We won't be able to carry so much in the boat. "
So we discussed the
food question. "Begin with breakfast," George said. "For
breakfast we must have a tea-pot," Harris said, "ham, eggs, bread and
butter and jam. It's easy to prepare breakfast with such things. And for lunch
— cold meat, bread and butter and jam — but no cheese. "
We agreed.
Cheese in a boat in summer, little by little becomes the master of all the
food. You may think you're eating sausage or meat and potatoes or cake, but it
all seems to be cheese.
Choose the right variant
1. George, Harris
and Jerome decided to discuss ....
a) future holidays b) the weather c) the newspaper article
2. It
happened in ....
a) summer b)
spring c)
winter
3. Harris
liked ... very much.
a) boating b) swimming
c) playing football
4. He
wanted to ... after swimming.
a) eat b)
drink c)
sleep
5. They
decided ... cheese.
a) not to take
b) to take c) to
buy
Answer the questions:
1.
What is the text about?
2.
Where did the friends want to go?
3.
What could give Harris a good appetite?
4.
Why was cheese the "master" of all food in summer?
5.
Whose idea was to take few clothes?
The Earth.
We live on the Earth. It is very, very big. There is a lot of
water on the Earth. It is in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. There are a lot of
forests and fields, hills and mountains on it.
The
Earth is full of wonders. Different animals live on the Earth. Different plants
grow on it. The Earth is beautiful.
There
are large countries and small countries. There are warm countries and cold
countries. There are some countries where there are four seasons in a year and
some countries where there are only two.
When it is day in one country
it is night in another country.
When
the sun shines it is day, when the sun does not shine it is night. You can see
the moon and the stars in the sky at night.
People
live in different countries. They speak different languages.
Our
country is Russia. Russia is the largest country in the world. Our country is
so large that when it is morning in the east, it is evening in the west. When
it is winter in the north it is summer in the south.
There
are a lot of long rivers, beautiful lakes, large forests and fields and high
mountains in Russia.
People
who live in Russia speak more1 than one hundred different
languages but they can speak Russian too.
Answer the questions.
1. Where do people live?
2. Is the Earth big or small?
3. What is there on the Earth?
4. Where is there water on the Earth?
5. The Earth is beautiful, isn't it?
6. Why do we say that the Earth is full of wonders?
7. Why do people speak different languages.?
Traditions and customs
Every nation and every country has its own traditions and customs.
In Britain traditions play a more important role in the life of people than in
other countries. They say British people are very conservative . They are proud
of their traditions and carefully keep them up. But when we speak about
British traditions we always remember that there are four parts in Britain —
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Traditions are different
in these parts of the country.
You
already know some of the English traditions and holidays. We hope you remember
St. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween which have also become
traditional American holidays. Here are some more facts about old English
traditions.
One of
the old English legends says that London can be the capital of the
country, rich and great until twelve black ravens live in the Tower of London.
Each has got its name and the keepers carefully look after them. If one of the
birds dies, another younger raven takes its place. Londoners believe this
legend and always bring some food to give to the birds when they come to the
Tower. The keepers cut the birds' wings a bit as they are afraid that they may
fly away.
Another
old English tradition is Guy Fawkes Day. Children go out into the streets on
the 5th of November with figures like scarecrows. They stand in the
streets and squares asking for the usual "Penny for the Guy". Then
with the money they have collected they buy fireworks and burn the guy (the
figure like a scarecrow) on their bonfire.
People
watch fireworks and some people go to parties in the evening.
Though
different countries have different traditions and holidays people all over the
world know some of them. They are — Easter, Christmas and New Year.
I.
True or False.
1.
Every country has its own traditions and customs.
2.
There are no common traditions all over the world.
3. English
people celebrate Maslenitsa.
4. There are some common
holidays in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
5. London can be great until 10 black
ravens live in the Tower.
6. English people celebrate
Guy Fawkes Day on the 5th of November.
II. Choose
the best title for the text.
1. BRITISH ARE JUST TRADITIONS CRAZY!
2. MORE ABOUT BRITISH TRADITIONS.
3. GUY FAWKES DAY.
III.
Match the words from the left column with their Russian equivalents
from the right column.
1.
look after
a. фейерверк
2.
scarecrow
b. обычай
3.
firework
c. заботиться
4.
custom
d. костер
5.
bonfire
e. чучело
A. Read
the text.
SCOTLAND
Although Scotland forms a part of the United Kingdom, it has a
distinct character of its own. In area it is more than half as big as England.
Its population is, however, only one-eighth as great — about 5 200 000.
Scotland is a land of romance and it has had a most eventful
history. The Picts and Celts lived there before the coming of the Romans to
Britain. Those Northern tribes worried the Romans so much that the Great Wall
was built to protect the Roman camps in the Northern part of England.
It was in the 11th century that the Normans began to settle in
Scotland. Almost all of Scotland's history is associated with and reflected in
many castles and forts that are to be seen all over the country. They are very
picturesque, having retained their medieval features: stern, proud, impressive,
perched high on a rock or at a hillside. Mary, Queen of Scots, the beautiful
Mary Stuart was married in one of them, her son James (who was to become James
I of England) was born in another.
And now some words about the Highlands. For centuries the
Highlands were a strange land, where the king's law common to all the rest of
the country, wasn't even known, where wild people spoke a language no one could
understand. Long after the rest of Britain adopted modern ways they kept to the
old life.
In 1603 King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England
too, and from then onwards the countries were under the same monarch, though
the Act of Union was not passed until 1707. This Act incorporated Scotland with
England in the United Kingdom, but the Scots kept their own legal system,
religion and administration, centered in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh – the capital of Scotland has always been admired as
one of the most beautiful cities. Glasgow – its second city – always had a bad
reputation. It was too often seen as a dirty, run-down urban area. But no
longer. The buildings have been cleaned up, the streets are tidy and the people
now take an obvious pride in their city. Glasgow was chosen to be the cultural
capital of Europe 1890.
Not
far from Glasgow there is one of the most famous of Scotland's many lakes (called
«lochs»), Loch Lomond. Scottish numerous valleys are known as «glens». Scotland
is a country with an intense and living national tradition of a kind only too
rare in the modern world. It has its distinctive national dress, the kilt, worn
only by men. It also has its own typical musical instruments (the pipes,
sometimes called «the bagpipes»), its own national form of dancing, its own
songs, language, traditions and education. Scotland has even its own national
drink, a fact so widely known that one need only ask for «Scotch».
Notes
The Picts and Celts – пикты и
кельты (племена)
tribe — племя
camp — лагерь
to pass the Act — принять Акт/Закон (в парламенте)
В. Comprehension
Check. Complete the sentences.
1. Scotland forms...
a) a part of England;
b) a part of the United States;
c) a part of the United Kingdom.
2. The Northern tribes...
a) began to settle in Scotland in the 11th century;
b) lived in Scotland before
the coming of the Romans;
c) came to Scotland together
with the Normans.
3. Mary Stuart...
a) was a Queen of the United Kingdom;
b) was the Queen of Scots;
c) was not a queen.
4. The kilt...
a) is a musical instrument;
b) is a form of national dancing;
c) is a type of national dress.
C. Answer
the questions.
1. What is the population of Scotland?
2. Why was the Great Wall built?
3. Why are there so many castles in the country?
4. What have you learnt about the Highlands?
5. When was the Act of Union passed?
6. What's the country's second city?
7. What do they call Scottish valleys and lakes?
8. Are national traditions still alive in Scotland?
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