Иностранный язык (английский язык). Перевод и разговорная речь. Учебное пособие

What__________________________________________________? 2. The doctor’s recipe must have been paid yesterday. Whose__________________________________________________? 3. We should have visited our grandmother long ago.

Whom __________________________________________________? 4. Adam must have been working at the report for a month.

How long _______________________________________________? 5. We must accept the rules of the company. Who____________________________________________________? 6. I have to pass the exam to get the driving license next week. When___________________________________________________?

7.The university students have to take their examinations two times a year. How often _______________________________________________?

8.People can’t afford happening an environmental disaster.

Why ___________________________________________________? 9. You can book a hotel in advance.

When ___________________________________________________? 10. There will be a lot of people at the party.

How many_______________________________________________? 11. There have been some accidents recently.

Since when______________________________________________? 12. There were two museums in the street five years ago.

When ___________________________________________________?

УСТНЫЕ ТЕМЫ

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Составьте вопросы по теме и ответьте на них (см. Приложение 2).

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Topic 1

Me and my family

My family is very important for me. We are four: my parents, my younger brother and me. My mom is a beautiful woman of mid-forties. She works as an accountant and is respected by her colleagues as a highly qualified specialist. She is fond of music and often goes to concerts. My dad is smart and athletic. He is an engineer by his profession but now he works as a businessman. He spends much time at work and travels on business a lot. He tries to keep fit and goes to the gym regularly. My brother is at school; he is very good at math and studies well. In his free time, he plays computer games and goes to a tennis club. My granny does not live with us but we visit her quite often. As for me, I am a second-year student of Higher School of Print and Media Technologies. My major is Technological Machines and equipment. In my free time I do some sports (now I play basketball in my Institute team), watch films, read books. I try to spend much time with my family. We often have dinner together and share our thoughts and ideas. The most important holiday for us is the New Year, which we always spend together with our grandmother. We cook our specialties and have much fun. I love my family very much.

Topic 2

My role model

Movie stars and singers, who make a lot of money and are famous, are teenager’s admiration. However, they do not even know the person or their personality. To me admiration is a kind of respect. Nevertheless, there are not a lot of people in this world who have that kind of respect from me. My mother is the only person who entered my life and made me look at things differently.

The first reason that I admire my mother is that she teaches me about lifeexperience. Experience is what you learn as you go through your life. As a child, you always learned that people really nice and generous. That is not true. As you step into the real world, you will see the person’s real face and all difference schemes, plan to make them success. This had happened to me when I was in sixth grade. When my class has a test and my friend does not know the answer , she asked me what the answer is and I told her what the answer is but when I have a problem and I asked her, she’s never answer me. Instead, she said she does not know or she hasn’t got there yet. I was really upset and unhappy but as I have learned this from my mother, I understand why my friend did that and I let it go easier.

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She takes care for her children first before she can take care of her is the second reason why I admire my mother. Take care of a person is not easy, and take care of you, as the same time is even harder. My mother always takes care of me first before she can take care of herself. For example, after a long day of work, she was really tired that she can just go home and has a nap. Instead, she made diner for our family, washed our cloth and took a short time to look at my homework and listened to me complaining about my studies. Nobody had ever done this for me and there will be no one who would do the same things like my mother beside her.

Topic 3

Leisure and entertainment. Friends and friendship

Leisure or free time is a period of time spent out of work and domestic activity. It is also the period of recreational time before or after compulsory activities such as eating and sleeping, going to work or running a business, attending school and doing homework or housework. Leisure time is the time when you can forget about day-to-day stress and stressful activities and relax. These activities can be our hobby.

Nowadays people work all day long and rarely have spare time to rest and to do something they like. But if they have it they try to spend it in the way they prefer. In addition, there are a lot of possibilities to do it perfect. There are plenty of things to do that can help you not to feel bored. Any activity is much better than doing nothing.

I’d like to notice that there are two main ways of spending free time: the one is to do some physical activities (often outdoors), for example, football, swimming, hockey, skiing; and another way is to enjoy something relaxing at home or in special places: reading, watching TV, knitting, engaging in handmade. At any rate, hobby is a matter of taste, and everybody should choose it according to the personal preferences.

As for me, I like to pass my leisure time both in active and passive way. I really enjoy reading or watching films, because it’s always interesting, helpful and helps to relax, what is especially necessary after a long tiring day. Also I am fond of active sports, swimming, skiing or riding a bike from time to time, when it is possible. Sometimes you feel you need to escape from everyday worries and to do something not thought-provoking. In many cases I can’t let me doing anything very extraordinary, so I just go walking over long distances. It really helps to release the tension and refresh the mind. I also like to my free time and holidays with my friends.

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As we all know, leisure time is one of the most important thing people cannot live without. It is a big part of our life, and it actually shows the character and temper of person. I cannot imagine a person who does not have any hobbies and favourite activities, because it is really impossible. Our hobbies and habits make our lives, filling it up with variety of feelings and emotions. Each person chooses his or her own way of spending time, either active of passive, and in any case in should be refreshment and a source of inspiration.

Topic 4

English holidays

There are many holidays widely celebrated in the UK. The main are Christmas, New Year, Easter and Halloween.

Christmas is celebrated on 25 December with Christmas tree, Christmas chicken staffed with apples and Santa putting his presents for good children in stockings wearing over the chimney.

When talking about the New Year in Britain, one cannot forget telling about the traditional custom of First Footers on the New Year’s Day. It is believed that the first person over the threshold on the New Year’s Day will dictate the luck brought to the particular house in the New Year. This tradition is mainly followed in Scotland and Northern Ireland with the first footers bringing in a piece of coal, bread and whisky while crossing the threshold.

Easter is the most important festival in the Christian church year. It begins with Good Friday. Easter falls on a different day each year because Easter Sunday is the Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring (21 March). Easter eggs, Easter Rabbit (Easter Bunny) and sending Easter cards are tradition not only in Britain.

On 31 October English people celebrate Halloween, thought to be the one night of the year when ghosts, witches, and fairies are especially active. No one really knows the origins of Halloween. What we do know for sure is that Halloween is on the eve of a major Catholic festival, All Saints (the 1st of November) and the eve of the pagan Celtic festival known as Samhain. Pumpkin lanterns and orange-and-black garlands decorate the houses; people usually have carnivals and wear scary masks and costumes of witches and ghosts.

Besides these big holidays Britain has less known but very specific holidays, for example Bonfire night celebrated on 5 November.

Four hundred years ago, in 1605, a man called Guy Fawkes and a group of plotters attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London with barrels of gunpowder placed in the basement. They wanted to kill King James and the

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king’s leaders. It was a small group of Catholics who felt that the government was treating Roman Catholics unfairly. They hoped that King James 1st would change the laws, but he did not. Their plot failed and the plotters were executed.

Throughout England, towns and villages people light huge bonfires, let off magnificent fireworks, burn an effigy (a homemade model of a man, like a scarecrow) and celebrate the fact the Parliament and James I were not blown sky high by Guy Fawkes.

As well as burning effigy of Guy Fawkes, the bonfires are used to cook potatoes wrapped in foil and to heat up soup for the crowds that come to watch the fireworks. The traditional cake eaten on bonfire night is Parkin Cake, a sticky cake containing a mix of oatmeal, ginger, treacle and syrup. Other foods include sausages cooked over the flames and marshmallows toasted in the fire.

There is one more very specific British holiday - the Queen’s Official Birthday which is now celebrated on the first, second, or third Saturday in June, and is marked in London by the ceremony of Trooping the Colour, which is also known as the Queen’s Birthday Parade. The Queen’s Official Birthday does not coincide with when she was born. Edward VII (who reigned 1901–1910, and whose birthday was in November) moved the ceremony to the summer in the hope of good weather.

Other British holidays are St Valentine’s Day celebrated now all over the world on the 14 of February with traditional sweetheart cards and presents, Mother’s Day (celebrated 3 weeks before the Easter), St. Patrick’s Day (the greatest Irish holiday celebrated on the 17 of March) and April Fool’s Day (on the 1 of April).

Topic 5

Russian holidays

Like the whole world, Russian people love celebrating their holidays. Celebrations in Russia reflect many aspects of its history, culture and traditions. Some Russian festivities are official public holidays and government offices, schools and banks have their days off. These are New Year (January, 1st– 5th), Orthodox Christmas (January, 7th), Defender of the Motherland Day (February, 23rd), International Women’s Day (March, 8th), Spring and Labour Day (May, 1st), Victory Day (May, 9th), Russia Day (June, 12th), National Unity Day (November, 4th) and Constitution Day (December, 12th).

The Russians usually celebrate holidays with plenty of food and presents. The most popular holiday is New Year’s Day. Russian people decorate fir-trees, cook delicious meals, make fireworks. All children wait for Father Frost and

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his granddaughter Snegurochka (Snowmaid) to get presents from them. On Christmas people visit their relatives and friends and tell fortunes.

Defender of the Motherland Day is also known as Men’s Day because all Russian men and boys, active servicemen and war veterans get warm greetings and special presents from their families, friends and colleagues. International Women’s Day has been celebrated in Russia since 1913 and it is the day for all mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and girlfriends. Spring and Labour Day appeared in Russia on the 1st of May in 1890 after the strike of Chicago workers who demanded an 8-hour working day.

Victory Day is a sacred and dramatic holiday for Russia. The whole country commemorates millions of victims of the Great Patriotic war. Russia Day became a national holiday after the Declaration of Sovereignty was adopted in 1991. Moreover, National Unity Day commemorates the liberation of Moscow from Polish occupation in 1612 and is celebrated with parades. Constitution Day is a celebration of the adoption of the Russian Federation Constitution in 1993.

Unofficial Russian holidays are also observed. There are religious and foreign celebrations among them: Old New Year (January, 14th), St. Valentine’s Day (February, 14th), Orthodox Easter Sunday, Maslenitsa (Shrovetide), Cosmonaut’s Day (April, 12th), Halloween (October, 30th) and Mothering Sunday (in November).

Some Russians celebrate the New Year according to the Julian calendar that was used in Russia before 1918 and they call this holiday Old New Year. Easter is always celebrated with painted eggs and church services. Maslenitsa is a holiday of meeting the Russian spring with such rituals as eating pancakes and burning a dummy of winter.

Topic 6

Friendship and my best friend

According to the dictionary friendship is a feeling and behaviour that exist between people, but what these feelings are and what this behaviour is everyone should decide for himself. I consider that friendship is a gift from the God. That’s why I highly appreciate it. I think it is hard to find a close friend because people are unique creatures of nature, all of them have their own habits, opinions and judgments which differ from others.

It makes sense to say that friendship can be compared to a tree. Its seed should find good soil and under favourable conditions it will grow into a tree. As the years go by the tree stands firmer and firmer on the ground and if it is

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strong enough it will survive all the storms and winds, but to help it we should take care of it and love it.

In my opinion lucky are the people who have real friends. As for me I’m happy to have lots of friends, some of them are close, some are less, but all of them make my life interesting and enjoyable and I can’t imagine my life without them, because friendship means very much for me. Being friends means making allowances for the other person’s faults, being tolerant to each other moods. The most important thing about friends for me is being able to share secrets, to tell each other your problems and share your worries, to help each other out.

In my opinion, an ideal friend should possess such qualities as honesty, sincerity, faith, tolerance and respect in attitude to you. A friend is a person who can help you in no time, lend you a hand, whom you can wake up in the middle of the night just to say you feel worried or who is eager to do everything for you waiting nothing in return, who supports you in all your beginnings and who will never betray you. A really close and devoted friend can be not only the same sex as you. It does not matter your best friend is a girl or a boy. I think that her or his soul, character and attitude to you are considerably more important. I disagree with people who say that boys are better friends than girls are. Such people think that a boyfriend can never spread false stories about you or tell your secrets to the entire world, but to my mind it depends on his moral qualities. I knew one boy who began to spread stories about me, saying I was dishonest, unreliable and impudent, when we broke our relations, but I still actually believe in friendship between fellows and girls, in fact I have equal amount of boys and girls among my close friends.

Nevertheless, it isn’t an easy thing to be a true friend and before somebody can name you his best friend you should prove your friendship. Everyone can have only one or two true friends, because a friend to all is a friend to none. I believe that faithful friend can brighten your life and make it more interesting, vivid and enjoyable. You are interested in your friend with all his positive and negative traits of personality and your friend in his turn can understand and forgive you everything. You shouldn’t tell a lie to your friend, there mustn’t be hypocrisy in your speech and even in thoughts. Before telling your friend something, before doing anything you should think a lot and guess what kind influence it will render on him and on his life. Therefore, I think that it is difficult to be a real friend, but in reality all of us try to achieve the ideal of a true friend.

I am sure you will agree that nowadays there are various ways of acquaintance. Some people make friends when they are travelling or on weddings, others

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prefer to find friends with the help of newspapers or the Internet. Somebody can get acquainted with his future friend when he even doesn’t expect it, for example, when he simply walks in a park or goes anywhere by public transport.

I believe that friendship should be sincere. In my opinion, your friend should be attentive to you, he or she should be reliable, honest and he or she should trust you, because, I think, trust probably the most important feeling that exists between friends, but it never appears by itself, it is the result of a long friendship.

Topic 7

A house of my dream

I do not dream of living in houses which are large. Rather I need a place where I can live with peace of my mind. In fact, I need a small house to live in. Thank you for your nice question and I am happy to let you all know about it.

I do not have any problem with the house space but the interior needs to be beautiful. To be frank, I do not need a swimming pool inside my bedroom but I need enough space to place my bookshelf. I do not need a house that will look striking from a mile away, rather I need my place should be well decorated with necessary furniture and other stuff. Moreover, I need a personal space to read books or listening music or enjoying movies.

I do not love hustle bustle of city life but I have no alternatives left. I will try utmost to get the house at a corner of the city so that I am not disturbed. I do not need any scenic location for my house. Rather I need a calm and quiet place for living. On the other side, the location needs to be filled with foliage. I love trees and will create some space for them too. So, the location needs to be near nature. Finding such a place is really difficult in Thailand. Almost all the open lands have been filled and commercial structures have been constructed on the spaces. Hence, I am in search of such a place to build my house.

This is a modern age and certainly, I expect some modern facilities for the house. First of all, the house should be well ventilated. It should come with larger windows. The tiles and other necessary fittings should be of high standard. Moreover, the house should have access to continuous civic facilities like gas, water and electricity supply. I also need alternative backups for the facilities lest I do not need to suffer for any of those when there will be an unexpected interruption. I need another facility for my housethe communication system needs to be improved.

I want to live in such a house for many reasons. I work for a multinational corporation and need to remain busy round the day. Moreover, I need to

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plan and execute some strategic decisions. So, I need a comfortable place to think over the matters. It is my study which I think as the best place for such purposes. If I get the required environment, I would be able to make the plans and visualise their implementation process clearly. Moreover, such a house is necessary for a healthy living too. Therefore, I want to live there.

Topic 8

My native city and my favourite sights

I live in the city, which is the cultural capital of Russia. It was founded by Peter the Great in 1703 as a new capital of Russia. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Many tourists come to St. Petersburg to see its sights: the Palace Square with the Winter Palace, Peter and Paul Fortress, The Bronze Horseman – the monument of Peter the Great, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, parks and fountains. The best time to come here is the White Nights when you can walk around the city day and night and see how the bridges across the Neva River are drawn.

There are a lot of theatres, museums, art galleries and concert halls in St. Petersburg. Many famous musicians and theatric companies come here on tours. You can listen to any music you like and watch any play. If you like classic music, you can go to State Kapella or to the Big or Small Halls of Philharmonic Society. If you like jazz, you can go to Jazz Clubs. If you like modern pop music, you can go to concert halls. If you like rock, you can go to various clubs. If you enjoy opera and ballet, you can go to opera and ballet houses. You can watch different plays in many different theatres, the most famous is the Big Drama Theatre.

Saint Petersburg is famous for its museums. If you like fine art, you can spend years in the State Hermitage, the second richest museum in the world, or in the State Russian Museum. If you are interested in architecture, you can go on excursion to multiple palaces and cathedrals of the city and its suburbs. Alternatively, you can just walk around the city, which is a monument as it is. If you are interested in science, you can go to theZoological Museum, the Kunstkamera, the Zoo or the Botanic Garden. If you like sports, you can go and watch a football or hockey game. There are many cinemas in our city, which show films to all tastes.

As for me, my favourite place in our city is Zodchego Rossi Street which strikes with its outstanding harmony and beauty. It is a short street which leads from the Fontanka up to Alexandrinsky Theatre, the oldest dramatic theatre in Russia. All the buildings were designed by famous Italian architect of the

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early 19 century Carlo Rossi. He was the author of many classical buildings and architectural ensembles in Saint Petersburg and its environments.

Topic 9

Travelling

People have always been interested in travelling. They travel on land, by water and by air.

You can travel on land by car, bus or railway. Travelling by car is very convenient for family travelling. You feel at home and you can stop at any interesting place. Nevertheless, it is good if you travel not far. It is better if two people can drive in turns. If not the driver will soon get tired and it is not a rest for him

As for the bus, it is the cheapest means of transport for tourists. It is not very convenient because you have to sit all the way and sleep sitting. I spent 27 hours on the road to Budapest and did not like it.

The railway is the most convenient because there are sleeping carriages so you can have rest. The first railway in Russia was opened in 1837. It was the road between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Now the road from St. Petersburg to Moscow takes 6 hours by fat train.

The oldest means of transport is water transport. You can travel by big liner or small boat. Tourists who come to St. Petersburg love to travel by small pleasure boat to Peterhof across the Finnish Gulf.

However, the most convenient and the fastest is travelling by air. It is more expensive than travelling by railway and rather dangerous but it is very fast.

As for me I prefer travelling by air because it is the fastest possible way. Last summer I went to Turkey and spent 2 weeks in a nice hotel at the seaside. It was a good relax for me and my family.

I dream to visit Italy one day. I am very much interested in ancient culture so I hope to see Rome and its attraction. Italian cuisine also attracts me.

Topic 10

Countries. Russia

Russia is one of the largest countries of the world. It occupies about oneseventh part of dry land. Its total area is over 17 million square kilometres. The country borders Finland and Norway in the north-west and China and Korea in the south-east. It is washed by several seas and three oceans. There are different types of climate in the various regions of Russia. It is very cold in Yakutia even in summer. Central Russia has mild climate: winters are quite cold, springs and autumns are cool and wet, summers are hot. In Krasnodar

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