Library

In Russia there is a public library in every town. Most villages have a local library. Anyone may join a library. It costs nothing to borrow books. To become a member of a library you should fill in a special form. This form is called a library card. You should write your full name, address and your telephone number. Every member should have a library card. At the lending department you may borrow three fiction books and five non-fiction books at a time and keep them for ten days. If, at the end of this period, you have not finished reading books, you can prolong them for another period. If the book you need is out you may ask the librarian to keep it for you when it is returned.

Most public libraries also have a reading-room and a reference library. In the reading-room there are tables (desks) where you can sit and read the daily papers and all the other important periodicals (the weeklies, monthlies, quarterlies). In the reference library there are encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and other books of reference. They are not for continuous reading. We consult (refer to) them on occasion.

1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Do you enjoy reading books?

2. Are Russian writers an integral part of world culture?

3. Some people like Russian literature for its profound sense of responsibility to a man and mankind. What about you?

4. Who is your favourite Russian (foreign) writer?

5. What kind of books do you read? (novels, short stories, poems, fables, plays, essays)

6. Have you ever been in the reading-room of the library?

7. You like illustrated books, don’t you?

8. Are you a literary man?

9. Do you collect rare books?

10. Have you ever borrowed books from a library?

11. How long may you keep them?

12. Are you a member of our faculty library?

13. When did you join the library of our faculty?

14. What book are you reading now?

15. Do you like reading books in bed?

Текст 5 (Text 5)

Appearance and Character

My husband, Igor, is a lawyer. He is a very experienced lawyer. He is a good-looking man in his early forties, rather tall and sturdy. Igor enjoys such activities as swimming, skiing and wrestling. I think his character is cut out for his job. He is very patient, honest, persistent and determined. His friends think Igor is sharp, reliable and hardworking. However, he tends to be a bit reserved at times. He doesn’t like to display his feelings. My husband is also my best friend. He is always there when I need him.

1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. What characteristics annoy you most in people? (selfishness, rudeness, weakness, laziness, peevishness)

2. What qualities do you admire in people? (tolerancy, kindness, generosity, politness, faithfulness…)

3. What subjects is he/she good at?

4. What sport does he/she go in for? (boxing, swimming, running, jumping, skiing, gymnastics, hockey, ice-hockey…)

5. Who does he/she look like?

6. Who is he/she like in character? (gentle, communicable, frank, hypocritical, merciful, hot-tempered, jealous, mild)

7. What are his/her parents?

8. Who does she/he most take after, mother or father?

9. What is his/her date of birth?

10. Where was he/she born?

Текст 6 (Text 6)

Television

I know some people like to spend their free time at home. They spend a lot of their time watching television. In this country there are several television channels. I suppose some of them belong to the state, and some are privately owned.

There are international and national TV programmes, such as: educational, informational, entertainment programmes that we watch every day. A Russian television news programme “Vremya”, the First Channel, is one of the most prestigious and authoritative source of information. Tastes differ: someone likes watching feature films others like watching veriety programmes, evenings of humour and satire Children like watching cartoons, teenagers often prefer Mus TV and so on. At present there is a lot of advertising on TV. Some people don’t like when advertising interrupt their favourite films or programmes.

Текст 7 (Text 7)

Shopping

I like to do shopping very much. And what about you? As a rule people buy food more often than clothes. It takes a lot of time. To save my free time I try to do shopping once a month. At first I make a shopping list where I put down everything our family need. Then I make a date for shopping. I prefer to do shopping on weekdays, generally in the evening. As for me, it is more convenient to do all the shopping at one place. So we usually do our shopping in a supermarket. It is a very big food shop with different departments, selling different foodstuffs. As a rule there is a special department selling household goods in each supermarket. However I still have to buy fresh fruit, bread and dairy products two (three) times a week.

1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. How often do you go shopping for your family? (once a week, two times a week, every day)

2. Does your family have a shopping day? What is it?

3. Why do some people like going to the shops?

4. Who decides what to buy in your family?

5. Do you often visit the baker’s shop?

6. How many times a week do you go to the butcher’s shop?

7. You buy milk at the dairy, don’t you?

8. Who does shopping in your family?

9. Who carries bags when you go shopping?

10. What can you buy in a department store?

11. How often do you buy clothes

12. Are you a man of taste?

Текст 8 (Text 8)

Holidays

A great many people all over the World celebrate many festivals throughout a year. In Russia people keep Christmas on the seventh of January. In this country it is an official holiday. Christmas is a holiday when we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ¹. One of the most favourite family holidays is New Year. My family and I like to spend this holiday at home. We decorate a New Year tree with tinsel, bubbles and colour lights. We buy or make presents for our relatives and friends. We cook a festive supper and my mother bakes an extremely delicious New Year cake. Usually we invite some close friends to our New Year party. During the New Year night we sit at the festive table, eat and drink. Later we dance, sing songs to the piano or guitar, recite poems, make fun and just talk.

¹ Jesus Christ is the founder of the Christian religion.

1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. How many holidays a year are there in Russia?

2. Do people go to work on these days?

3. What holidays do people celebrate on the same date each year?

4. What do you know about holidays in Britain?

5. The most common type of celebration is a New Year party (either a family party or one arranged by a group of young people), isn’t it?

6. How do you celebrate New Year’s Day?

7. People celebrate St Valentine’s Day on February, 14. On this day boys and girls, sweethearts, husbands and wives, friends and neighbours exchange greetings cards, chocolates, flowers. And what about your friends and you?

8. People celebrate Easter in many countries, both in Russia and in Great Britain, do not they?

Текст 9 (Text 9)

Pets

Have you got a pet? I’ve got, even two. They are both dogs: a little one and a big one. At first I’ll tell you about the little one. It is a boy. His name is Dominick. But we call him Nicky. He is six years old. He is very clever and funny. He likes eating cheese, rings and apples, and of course meat and chicken. He likes going for a walk, but he doesn’t like it in cold or rainy weather. As for the big one, it is a girl. Her name is Dasha, but my little niece calls her Dashunya. Dasha is a God’s present. We found her as a little puppy in a very cold March day. She was very small and very ill. Today she is five years old. She is clever, healthy and beautiful. Nicky and Dasha are real friends. All our family love them very much.

Задание 1.

Переведите на английский язык следующие глаголы: летать, праздновать, толкать, играть, жаловаться, кусать, покупать, путешествовать, бежать, украшать.

1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Some people like going to the Zoo. What about you?

2. Do you think it is completely wrong to keep animals in Zoos?

3. There are some reasons to keep animals in Zoos. One of them is safety from hunters. What do you think?

4. Some people think Zoos can be unhealthy places for animals. Their reasons are: animals can’t get the exercises they need; difficult to give them food they eat in wild; weather conditions may be unsuitable (e.g. too cold for lions…); many become so bored and unhappy that they die. What do you think?

5. What can you recommend to save wild animals?

6. Do you think wild animals are wonderful to watch and have interesting personalities? Can we keep them as pets?

7. The basic meaning of “pet” is an animal we keep for emotional rather than economic reasons. What do you think about?

8. Do pets invite us to love and to be loved?

9. Can a cat or a dog comfort us at times when human words don’t help?

10. Do our pets depend on us for a home, for food and drink?

11. Learning to care for pets helps a child to grow up into a loving adult who feels responsible towards those depend on him, doesn’t it?

12. Do we need to teach children to be good to their pets?

13. Can our pets understand us?

14. Can our pets sense anger and sorrow?

15. Have you got a pet?

16. A pet animal is kept as a companion, isn’t it?

Текст 10 (Text 10)

Travelling

My brother-in-law likes traveling very much. To his mind traveling by plane is the best thing to do. His reason is you can reach your destination as quickly as possible only by plane. It is the fastest kind of transport. He thinks on the plane service is better than on the train yet there are trains where you can get excellent service and their speed is very high. The better service you can get the more expensive your travelling is. As for me traveling by sea is the most beautiful of all. On board you can enjoy watching beautiful scenery, especially when you are in the open sea. You never will be tired of it because the sea and the sky keep changing their colour. The sight is never the same. Travelling by sea is the most romantic kind of travelling. Traveling is a very useful thing. The more you travel the more you know.

1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Somebody likes traveling by car. What about you? (by plane, by train, go on foot, by sea)

2. People travel every day either on business or for pleasure. Is it true?

3. What is the fastest and the most convenient way of traveling?

4. You can see much more interesting places of the country when you are traveling through, can’t you?

5. Have you ever traveled by train? (slow or fast, local or long-distance, day coaches or overnight train)

6. Where can we buy tickets for a train? (at the booking office of the railway station, at the central (city) booking office)

7. What kind of traveling is cheaper: by plane or by train?

8. Where do you spend your holidays?

9. How can you get there?

10. How long does it take you?

11. Why do people like traveling?