Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner born in Germany in 1813. His parents Friedrich and Johanna. His father died when Richard small. His stepfather Ludwig very keen on music and little Richard interested in it, too. Soon he began to study music professionally and to compose operas.

Richard a chorus master at the theatre in Dresden, a composer, and opera conductor, a writer and a critic.

He very famous for his operas. He also wrote music for the piano and for the string quartet. His operas very difficult for singers. His most famous opera “Lohengrin”.

Wagner married twice. He not very happy in his life. He had many debts and affairs with married women.

Wagner died in Venice in 1883.

11. Write Giacomo Puccini’s biography using the notes below.

Full name	Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini
Birthplace	Italy
Date of birth	1858
Profession	сomposer
Parents	church musicians
First music teacher	his uncle
Education	the Milan Conservatory
Favorite composer	Verdi
First job	a church organist
Favorite musical genre	opera
The impression his music made	emotional and sentimental
Most famous operas	‘Tosca’, ‘Madam Butterfly’

12. Translate the text into English.

Моя бабушка была норвежкой. Мои родители тоже были из Норвегии, но у моего папы был бизнес в Англии, поэтому я родился там. Бабушка была нашей единственной родственницей. Она приходилась матерью моей маме, и была моим самым большим другом. Когда мы были вместе, я был абсолютно счастлив. Она была мне ближе, чем моя собственная мать.

Бабушка была невероятно старая и сморщенная. Ее массивное тело было укутано серым кружевом. Она была необыкновенно величественна в своем кресле. Она была как какая-то древняя королева на троне.

Бабушка была великолепной рассказчицей. Все ее истории были очень увлекательными, но самыми увлекательными были истории про ведьм. Очевидно, она была настоящим экспертом по этим существам. И мне было ясно, что, в отличие от многих других ее историй, эти не были выдуманными. Они были абсолютной правдой.

(after The Witches by Roald Dahl)

THERE + TO BE

13. Fill in the gaps with there is or there are.

It’s an Amazing World!

Caves

In Mammoth Caves National Park, in the United States, _______ (1) a cave system with nearly 300 kilometers of passages already explored.

In the Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, _______ (2) a cave 77 meters high and 550 meters across.

Ice and water

_______ (3) ice on about 10% of the earth’s land.

_______ (4) a place on the Antarctic continent where the land (under the ice cap) is 2,468 meters below sea level.

Greenland, the world’s largest island (not counting Australia) is covered by a thick ice cap; _______ (5) several islands underneath.

Mountains

_______ (6) arguments concerning which of the known mountains should be considered the highest. _______ (7) scientists who think that it is Everest. But actually, it is Mauna Kea, on Hawaii, whose total height is 10, 203 meters (including 5, 998 meters below the surface of the sea).

_______ (8) mountains which are completely below the surface of the sea. The highest of them, which is 8,690 meters high, is between Samoa and New Zealand.

14. Fill in the gaps with there is or there are.