English proverbs and sayings

1. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

2. A new broom sweeps clean.

3. Business is business.

4. Everything is good in its season.

5. East or West, home is best.

6. Better late than never.

7. Manners make the man.

8. He laughs best who laughs last.

9. Honesty is the best policy.

10. A little pot is soon hot.

11. To cut a long story short …

12. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

13. The proof of the pudding is in its eating.

14. Well begun is half done.

15. It’s early bird that catches the worm.

16. Out of sight, out of mind.

17. No pains, no gains.

18. Haste makes waste.

19. As you sow, so you will mow.

20. Joy and sorrow are as near as today and tomorrow.

21. Where there’s will, there’s a way.

22. Wealth is nothing without health.

23. Birds of a feather flock together.

24. A creaking door hangs long.

25. Every man has his hobby horse.

26. Don’t count chicken before they are hatched.

27. Be just before you are generous.

28. Neither rhyme, nor reason.

29. Eat at pleasure, drink with measure.

30. The game is not worth the candle.

Poems Weather

When the weather is wet

We must not fret, –

When the weather is cold,

We must not scold.

When the weather is warm

We must not storm, –

But, be thankful together

Whatever the weather.

The twelve months

by Christina Rossetti

January with cold is set,

February is chill and wet.

March wind often rages,

In April weather changes.

Pretty flowers come in May,

Sunny June brings longest day.

In hot July the skies are clear,

Then August with corn is here.

For fruit September opens the way,

October sweeps the leaves away.

Next enters grey November

And, lastly, snowy December.

* * *

Thirty days have September,

April, June and November,

All the rest have thirty-one;

February has twenty-eight alone,

Excepting leap-year, that’s the time

When February’s days are twenty-nine.

The invitation

by P.B. Shelly

Away, away from men and towns,

To the wild woods and the downs –

To the silent wilderness

Where the soul need not repress

Its music lest it should not find

An echo in another mind,

While the touch of Nature’s mind,

While the touch of Nature’s art

Harmonizes heart to heart.

Around the world

In India you wear a sari,

You wear sandals in safari,

You wear wooden shoes in Holland

And purple leather shoes in Poland.

A brown windmill moves its hands

And farmers feed their sheep and lambs.

You wear a parka in Lapland,

Where winter seems to have no end.

A round igloo is so white

And sparkling in the polar night.

The questionnaire “ABOUT MYSELF”

Full name:

My age:

My birthplace:

The school I studied at:

Favourite subjects:

My family:

My friends:

Hobby (favourite occupation):

Likings (dislikings):

Some useful expressions

Let me introduce myself (Let me tell you about myself = I’d like to tell you about myself …)

I’m … .

My (first, second) name is … .

I was born at (in) … .

I studied at school № … .

My favourite subjects were (are) … .

My family consists of … .

We are three (four, five …) in a family: a father, a mother, a sister, a brother and myself (= I have …).

I’ve got many friends: … .

In my free time I’m fond of listening to music (watching TV, playing the guitar, reading books, studying, going shopping, going fishing, going hiking, dancing, sewing …)

Most of all I (dis)like Ving smth.

That’s all what I can tell you about myself.