England

England lies in the south of Great Britain

The north of England is a country of factories. You can hear the noise of machines everywhere, from morning until night and in some places all night too. Thousands and thousands of men and women work in the factories, and the things that they make go to countries everywhere.

England began to make machines and build factories earlier than other countries. More than a hundred years ago, English people began to say, “Our country is the world”. Of course England is not the workshop of the world today. But we know that the industrial revolution came to England first, that England was a pioneer in industry.

We have already said that the people of the north are factory workers. In the south the people are farmers, and they send meat and milk and fruit to London and other big cities.

England has many small farms, but not enough big farms, so English farmers cannot send enough food for the millions of workers in the cities. England gets only one-third of her bread and meat from her farms, and only one-tenth of the butter that she needs. Every day big ships come to English ports with food from Canada and the United States and South America. Every day smaller ships bring food from Europe to London and other English ports.

London, the capital of England, is on the Thames river, 50 kilometres from the sea. People sometimes ask, “Why did London, a city in the south-east of England and not near the centre, become the capital?”

To find the answer to this questions, we must remember that in old times England was not an industrial country. There were less people, and they lived in the warmer parts of England. In the south and east they could plant grain and get food easier. The place on the Thames river where London now stands was very important. There was a good port there for ships that came from Europe. People came to the Thames to sell things and to buy the things that the ships brought from other countries.

Where London now stands, there was a good place for a bridge. The Romans that came to England almost two thousand years ago built the first bridge there. They built many roads from the bridge into the whole country round. The most important road was the road from the London bridge to the south-east of England, because from there the way to Europe was the shortest.

Very early in history London became England’s biggest port and most important city. Today London is one of the most important cities in the world.

Answer the questions.

1. W

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   hat can you say about the north of England?

2. Why is the south of England different from the north?

3. What can you say about the south of England?

4. Where does England get the food that she needs?

5. Where is London?

6. Why did London become the capital of England?

The olimpic games

Part One.

The Olimpic games are a very old tradition in the world of sports. History tells us that the tradition began more than two thousand years ago, in Greece.

All the cities in Greece sent their best athletes to the city of Olympus, to compete in the games. Thousands of people came from all parts of Greece to see games.

At that time cities in Greece were not friends with each other. But at the Olympic games people were friends. All wars between the cities stopped, and the people lived in peace. Athletes and people from all the cities met, spoke with each other and became friends. So we see that the Olympic tradition is a tradition of peace.

The Olympic games were very important to all cities. They helped the cities to know each other and to understand each other.

Every city wanted to have the best athletes. When Olympic champions came home after the games, the people celebrated. Everybody came out of the cities to meet them, with flowers in their hands. They danced and sang in the streets, and threw flowers at the champions.

Olympic champions today are not only champions of one country; they are world champions.

The Olimpic games are the favourite sports of all countries-running, high-jumping, gymnastics, football, basket-ball, swimming, skiing, skating and other sports that young people in all countries go in for. Countries send their best athletes to take part in the Olimpic games. The competitions show us the countries that have the best runners and high-jumpers, the best skaters and skiers, the best swimmers, the best foot-ball-players and volley-ball-players – in other words – the best athletes.

Answer the questions:

1. Why do all people all over the world know about the Olympic games?

2. Why did the Olympic tradition become a tradition of peace?

3. What happened in the cities when the Olympic champions came home?

4. Can we say that the Olympic champions in old Greece and Olympic champions now are the same? Why?

5. Why were there no Olympic Games in 1916, 1940, 1944?

6. When were the Olympic games held in Moscow?

Part Two.

There were Olympic games in Greece every four years until the year 394. After that there were no Olympic games until 1896. In that year people of many countries came together and decided to have an Olympic Games Committee.

There is Olympic Games Committee now, too. The members of the Committee decide the place of the Olympic games and the sports that the athletes will compete in. Every four years the Committee says what city and country will be the place for the games.

If you look at the years in the calendar, you can see that there were no Olympic games in 1916, 1940 and 1944. That is easy to explain. In those years there was war in the world – the First World War in 1916, and the Second World War 1940 and 1944.

After the October Revolution, more and more people in our country began to go in for sports. We think that sports are very important, and there are very good athletes in this country. We have very good football teams, and good volley-ball and basket-ball teams, too. Of course, not everybody can become a world champion. But many Soviet men and women athletes are the best in the world in some sports. The Olympic games showed that Vladimir Kuts was the best runner and Valery Brumel was the best high-jumper. We have many women Olympic champions in our country, too – Irina Press, Ludmila Shevtsova, Maria Gusakova, and many others. Botvinnik was not an athlete, but he was the best chess-player in the world.

In 1952 the Soviet Union sent athletes to the Olympic games for the first time. Then, four years later in Australia, the Soviet Union won more medals that the other countries. Our athlets won thirty-seven gold medals and twenty-nine silver medals.

The Olympic tradition is a tradition of peace and friendship.

Answer the questions on the text:

1. When did the people decide to have an Olympic Games Committee?

2. How often do the Olympic Games take place?

3. Why there were no Olympic Games in 1916, 1940, 1944?

4. When did the former Soviet Union send athlets to the Olympic Games for the first time?

5. W

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   hat kind of tradition is the Olympic one?

Галина Гурьевна

Маринина

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