Топик: English topics
sure that books are our good friends and teachers. From them we
get to know the life around as better, they teatch as how to
tell right from wrong, to love our Motherland, to understand
friendship, people"s feelings. So, they teach us how to live.
As for me I like to read different kinds of books: ......
LIESURE TIME.
Everybody sometimes has a free time. Somebody prefer only to sleep in their liesure time, but the largest part of us prefer to do a great amount of things which are pleasant and interesting for us. It may be reading, a various types of sport game, watching TV, listening music and others. If we have a few day or a week we prefer to go to the attractive places. Many peoples thing that pupils and studients have too much liesure ,but in my opinion, they are wrong. We are very busy. Many pupils have six or se-ven lessons a day and go to school live or six day a week. Even during the holiday we learn our lessons after school. And we just no time to go some-there. Oldest of us are working after school or institutes. IТam not spend my time at school and ofter I have a free time. The large part of my free time devote to reading. I like to read books about another coun-tries, another times and another worlds. Also I read books about history of our country. Besides reading I like to do physical exercises. I and my school friends often gather after school and play basketball, fooftball or other active games. But my favorite hobby is travelling. Usually I travel in summer and ofter it is a trip to the south, to the warm sea. thing all peoples must have other occupation besides their basic work, ba-csuse it extand the bounduries of the familar world and teach us something new about people and thing.
Traveling.
Here is a story of a man who had an terrible holiday: The first thing that went wrong was that the country we were going to decided to have a war a few days before we were going there. So that was the end of that. But the plane we were going on was stopping off at Rome. So rather than not having a holiday at all, we thought we'd go to Italy. Very nice. See the sights. Go to the beaches and get fat with pasta. We were at the airport waiting for the plane and a friend of mine who lived near the airport had come to see us off. So we were having a few drinks in the bar and joking with this friend of mine, Peter, saying 'Poor old you in cold rainy England. This time tomorrow we'll be in Italy on the beach.' And I went down to see if the flight had been called and discovered it had gone. It was a terribly stupid mistake. We hadn't checked the time of departure. I was sure it was going 9 something but it was going at 19 something which of course is 7 o'clock. So we were actually there in the bar when it went without us. We were determined to have our holiday. The irony was that Peter was now going back to his comfortable home and we were stuck in the cold and the rain at 10 o'clock at night. You see, it was a charter flight so we couldn't book another one. We lost our money and all the other flights were booked up. Well, we got a train to the South Coast and caught the midnight boat across the Channel, froze to death all night, it was a terrible crossing with people being sick everywhere. And eventually we got to I think it was Dieppe and then a train to Paris. We got to Paris very early in the morning and I thought we'd be all right. You see, we now had to hitch hike because a lot of our money had gone on the boat and the train, but I thought 'Well, it's very early in the morning, we'll get a good place to start hitching and we'll soon be well on our way.' We got to the start of the motorway and I just couldn't believe it. I've never seen so many people trying to hitch a lift in all my life. Well, it was then it suddenly dawned on me. It was August the first wasn't it? and on August the first in France the whole population goes on holiday and there were hundreds of people, stopping the traffic, banging on drivers' windows trying to persuade them to stop and give them a lift. It was chaos, disastrous. Well, we got moving eventually. A lorry driver gave us a lift. And then things started to get better, as we got further south and it got warmer, you know, and we thought 'At last, the holiday's beginning.' Well, we camped that night and we then set off again the next day. We got some lifts, and met a great chap who owned a vineyard. He took us back to his farm and we tasted all this wine -Burgundy, my favorite - and we had a great time. Now the holiday really was starting. Well, he took us back to the motorway, and there we were by the side of the road, the sun was shining, we were a bit merry, sang a few songs - you know, life was great. And we got another lift from ... well he was a maniac, complete maniac. He seemed nice enough, but within a few minutes he was driving at about a hundred miles an hour, overtaking on the inside on the motorway, with his stereo at full volume, one hand on the wheel and well the other hand on various parts of Susan's body. What! So what did you do? I don't know why I'm laughing I've never been so frightened in all my life. We were absolutely -helpless. Susan tried to say that she had to go to the toilet, but he wouldn't stop then she pretended to be sick in his car, and he stopped in seconds. He had this really flash expensive car, and as soon as he stopped we just jumped out and ran. The worst thing was this tremendous drop from feeling so good to thinking that we were going to get killed. We eventually got down to the south of France and began to have a good time, and then down to Italy. We ran out of money, of course, but apart from that, it was good. I've never had such a tiring holiday. When we got back, I was exhausted. At the end of the holiday, I needed a holiday! And this is a story of an old woman. She has traveled all over the world in her tiny van. It's a nice way of having holiday. Now at this moment, somewhere on the other side of the Atlantic, Olive Gibbs is probably chugging along the road, in the early morning in her tiny camping van. The travel bug came to Mrs. Gibbs rather late in life. About 14 years ago, to help her get over the death of her husband she went on an overland bus trip to Katmandu. This fired her with the enthusiasm to travel more, but as she couldn't afford to go on extensive organized tours, she bought a camper and took to the road alone. Now at the age of 72, she's clocked up about 75,000 miles on trips that have taken her to America, Australia and South Africa. Ann Catchpole met her at her home on the Sussex coast just before she was setting out on her current venture another wander around America, Canada and Mexico, that'll take about a year, and she'd been very busy that afternoon packing up the van, mainly, as she told Ann, with stocks of food. Of all the meals that I have during the day, my breakfast is the one that I like. It's not that I have a large breakfast but I do like my toast and marmalade. I've got quite a few pounds of marmalade in my van at the moment, I should think I have about 10 pounds, and when that run out and if I'm down in California by then I shall make some marmalade. I take English things like Marmite which not many other countries of the world seem to appreciate. I'm also taking crisp breads to the United States because I don't care for their bread very much. And I take biscuits because I don't care for their biscuits very much. But otherwise I can buy everything I need in the United States. But I don't like wasting my time shopping, so I carry as much as I can and visit a supermarket only when I'm forced to. Well, I know vaguely which way I'm going to go, but I do change my direction if there's something I hear about which I think I would like to see, or I don't like the road I'll go a completely different way. And at the beginning of the day I don't know quite where I'm going to sleep at night. I wait until I feel tired or I wait until I see somewhere that attracts me and then I stop. The first thing I do, and I do this deliberately, I make myself a cup of tea, and I sit outside my van because I think it, it pleases the Americans to see an English lady having afternoon tea. But as soon as I really ... as soon as I arrive, especially in the United States or Canada, the men all want to talk to me about places they've been to when they were in the army during the war over here. Other people want to know and tell me about where their ancestors came from, and nearly always I have been to the places, or at least know something about them, because I do travel quite a bit in my own country as well as going abroad. In fact when I'm trying to unpack at the end of a day's journey and get a meal in the evening, life becomes very difficult because people gather round and want to know all about me and it's almost dark before I can get on with my unpacking and getting a meal ready. But I do try to get my cup of tea in first. In Zimbabwe, at that time called Rhodesia, and I was actually camping in Zimbabwe by the Zimbabwe ruins. And during the night someone went by with a torch. It woke me up, and I just thought it was somebody going to a toilet, and I took no notice. But when I woke up in the morning I found that a lot of my papers had been taken, and the wallet in which I kept them. And of course I didn't realize at the time what was going on. It must have been the noise of the door closing which woke me up. I suppose I'm very foolish but often I don't lock myself in my van at night. Sometimes I do if I feel at all nervous or if I'm in a camp site on my own, then I do lock myself in. Each country has something special about it. But I think the beauty of South Africa is something that I shall never forget. I used to stand sometimes when I was there and say to myself, 'Just look and look as much as you can in case you don't come this way again.
National holidays
There are many national holidays in the world, when people all over the country do not work and have special celebrations. For example in Russia the major holidays are: New Year's Day, Victory Day. The first holiday of the year is New Year's 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 colored 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. The greatest national holiday in our country is Victory Day. On the 9lh of May, 1945, the Soviet Army and its allies completely defeated the German fascists and the Second World War ended. A lot of guests from different countries of the world came to Moscow to participate in the celebrations. There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are: Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday. Public holidays in Britain arc 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 Norway give the city of London a present. It's a big Christmas tree and it stands in Trafalgar Square. Central streets are beautifully decorated. The fun starts the night before, on the 24th of December. Traditionally this is the day when people decorate their trees. Children hang stockings at the end of their beds, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys and sweets. 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. There are also smaller, local festivals in Britain. Now a few words about holidays in Brazil. The most important event in brazil - this a festival in Rio-de-Janeiro, which passes each year at the end of February the beginning of March. The festival lasts 4 days and 4 night. In Rio there are special schools, which train the people to dance Samba and Lambada. Each of these schools exposes on a holiday about 4000 dancers and 300 drummers. Other important event in Brazil in the year is ancient religious holiday MACUMBA, which is celebrated by Brazilian in the new year eve. During this holiday on sand of a beach KOPACABANA people place drinks and meal and light candles thirsted in sand. People in the midnight throw in the water their gifts and if ocean takes them, the year will be successful, but if it throws out on a coast, the year will not present. In the different countries according to their traditions and history, there is a set of various national holidays. But there is one thing, which unites all of them: a holiday is always fun and pleasure.
Sport and healthy way of life : run your way to health
When I started running seven years ago, I could manage only about a quarter of a mile before I had to stop. Breathless and aching, I walked the next quarter of a mile, then I jogged the next quarter of a mile, alternating these two activities for a couple of miles. Within a few weeks I could jog half way round Hampstead Heath without stop-ping. Soon I started to run up the quarter-mile slope to the top of Parliament Hill, although I had to stop at the top to get my breath back. Eventually I found that I could even manage to get up the hill comfortably. I started to run because I felt desperately unfit. But the biggest pay-off for me was—and still is— the deep relaxation that I achieve by taking exercise. It tires me out but I find that it does calm me down. In those early days I saw few other runners. Now there are many more—and not just the macho sports freaks. Men and women of all ages have now taken up running. Some 25,000 runners aged five to 85 are attracted each year to the Sunday Times Fun Run in Hyde Park. In the last two years the London Marathon has become the biggest British sporting event— overtaking the boat race and the Derby in the number of spectators it attracts. When I started to jog I never dreamt of running in a marathon, but in 1982 I realized that if I trained for it, it was within my reach, and after a slow, six-month build-up I man-aged the 26.2 miles in just under four hours. A creditable performance for a first-timer and a far cry from those days when I had to stop for breath after a quarter of a mile. What about heart attacks?My story shows that an unfit 39-year-old, as I was when I started running, who had taken no serious exercise for 20 years, can do the marathon—and that this is a sport in which women can beat men. But is it crazy to do it? Does it make sense to run in the expectation of becoming healthier? What about the chances of injuring yourself or dying of a heart attack? I was personally convinced of the health benefits of running because I felt unfit, and I wasn't worried about the risk of a heart attack, because I was not a smoker and I was sticking to a fairly low animal-fat diet. But one person I knew well did die immediately after a jog and plenty of people told me I was mad to start running. Reassuring evidence now comes from doctors in Seattle, showing that vigorous exercise actually reduces the chances of heart attack. They found that people who had a sudden heart attack when they appeared to be completely fit had taken less exercise than those of similar age. According to their findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (volume 248, p 3113) it is necessary to take 20 minutes of vigorous exercise at least two or three days a week to obtain some protection from heart attack. Apart from jogging, the exercise might be swimming, singles tennis or squash, digging or chopping wood. Whatever it is, the exercise should leave you out of breath. There is a small risk of unaccustomed stress causing a heart attack when a person is very unfit, but this can be reduced if exercise is always increased in easy stages. My advice is: if you are under 40, are healthy and feel well, you can begin as I did by jogging gently until you are out of breath, then walking, and alternating the two for about two miles. Build up the jogging in stages until you can do the whole distance comfortably. At first, two or three times a week will probably be enough. People over 40 who are in any doubt about their health should see their doctor before starting an exercise program. Over-40s should begin by making a vigorous walk of at least two miles part of the daily routine. When you can do this comfortably you can start the mixed jogging and walking routine and progress from there. You will have to expect soreness of muscles and joints to begin with. If soreness changes to pain, or if you find that you suffer from deep tiredness which you cannot shake off, then stop jogging for a while and just walk.
SPORTS IN GREAT BRITAN.
The English are great lovers of sport; and they are neither playing nor waching games, they like to talk about them. However, there is important thing about sport in Britain which we must know. Today, an big sports is professional and famous players can make a lot of money.
Lat's take Football for example. It is the most popular team game in Britain. It is played in most of the schools, and there are thousands of amatur teams for young man in all parts of the country. But for most of the public, football is a professionals games which is watched on saturday afternoons at the stadiym.
Professional football is big business. Every larg town has one or more professional clubs.
Ragby football is played with an oval ball which may be carried. The players in the other team try to stop the man running with the ball by frowin him to the ground. There are fifteen players in each team.
Sports competition get big crowds in Great Britan. All people in Great britan are fond of sport and Englishman know is they train hard Sport will make them srong and helthy.
Moscow.
I am going to tell you about Moscow. Moscow, the capital of Russia, is one of the largest cities in the world. The total area of the city is about 900 square kilometers. It is political, commercial and cultural center of the country. About 10 million people live in the city. Moscow was founded in 1147 by prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Moscow stands on the bank of the Moskva river. Moscow is also one of the most beautiful city in the world. The heart of Moscow is Red Square, the central and most beautiful place in Moscow. Here one can see the Cathedral of St. Basil, the monument to Minin and Pozharsky, the Kremlin, the History museums and other interesting things. Some skyscrapers decorate Moscow including Moscow State University, the oldest university in Russia. It was founded in 18th century by Lomonosov. Moscow is a city of students. There are over 82 higher educational institutes in it. The are more then 80 museums in Moscow. The largest one is Pushkin museums. The world famous art gallery, the State Tretyakov art Gallery, is in Moscow too. Moscow is famous for it’s theaters. The best-known of them is the Bolsoi Opera House. Drama theaters and studios are very popular too. There are many parks and gardens in Moscow, that’s why its citizen like to spend their free time out home. The most beautiful one is Park of Culture. Moscow is also the seat of the Russian Federation Parliament ( the Duma ) and the Official Resident of the Russian President. I live in Moscow and I think that it’s beautiful and worth seeing and in the future it will be better ‘cause we love it very much.
Children in sport.
I Hello, and welcome to today's 'You & Yours'. On today's program we look at children who are trying to be champions in the world of sport, and the pressures they can be under to win. Now I spoke to Allan Baker, the former British Athletics coach, and he had this to say.
AB Well the problem is that you want to find these children at quite a young age, to train them and motivate them as early as "possible. At that age they don't have social problems, you know they don't have boyfriends or girlfriends, so they give their sport the whole of their life. But they're so young that they can lose their childhood, and they're adults before they're 16. But of course they're not adults at all. Physically they can be quite developed, but emotionally they're still children. Everybody's looking for the new young star of the future, because there's a lot of money to be earned.
I Tennis is one of the sports where youngsters can play against their elders with more than a chance of success. In America there are tennis schools which accept children from as young as 9. So from the age of 9 a boy or girl is playing tennis for four or five hours every day, and doing ordinary school work around that. I spoke to the team manager of the English Lawn Tennis Association, Pam de Grouchy.
PG You see, we've already seen two 14-year-old American girls, that's Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger, playing at Wimbledon, and now, both at 18, they are now already showing the pressures on their bodies and their minds, and people are beginning to question whether this is a good thing for children. A 14-year-old just can't cope with the pressures of Wimbledon, the tournament, the Wimbledon crowds, and the press reporters. Well, I say to my girls, 'Stay at home, stay at school, do the things that teenagers like doing. If you like swimming, well swim; if you like going to dances, just go!' And if when they're older they'd really like to be a professional tennis player, well, they'll be a little older than the Americans, but they'll be better people for it, of that I'm perfectly sure.
I Pam de Grouchy thinks that young players shouldn't be allowed to become professionals until the age of 17 or 18 at least. I asked her what was responsible for the pressures on the young players - was it the money that can be earned, the parents, or perhaps the children themselves?
PG Oh no, it's the parents, without a shadow of a doubt. They want to push their children. I get letters from parents saying, 'My little Johnny enjoys playing tennis all day, and he'd like to learn only that and be trained by a professional coach', and quite frankly I just don't believe it.
I But what about the youngsters themselves? Robert, a 100-metre and 200-metre runner gave me an idea of his training program, and his own very simple way of avoiding trouble.