Text 7. Robert Burns Read the text and do the exercises that follow it. Study the following vocabulary before reading the text:

to be well-read – быть хорошо начитанным

verse = poem

a tutor – домашний учитель

to plough – пахать

The greatest Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759–1796) was born in the family of a poor farmer. He was the eldest of seven children. He spent his youth working on his father’s farm, but in spite of his poverty he was extremely well-read: His father employed a tutor for Robert and his younger brother Gilbert. At 15 Robert wrote his first verse “My Handsome Nell”.

When his father died in 1784, Robert and his brother became partners in the farm. However, Robert was more interested in the romantic nature of poetry than in the hard work of ploughing. He was thinking of leaving his farm and going away to the warmer and sunnier climate of the West Indies. At the same time he continued writing poetry.

But he did not go to the West Indies. His first book “Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect” (a set of poems essentially based on a broken love affair) was published and was highly praised by the critics. This made him stay in Scotland. He moved to Edinburgh. The artists and writers of Scotland’s capital enthusiastically received the Ploughman poet. In a few weeks he was transformed from a local hero to a national celebrity.

Robert Burns travelled much about Scotland collecting popular songs. He discovered long forgotten songs and wrote his own verses. Robert Burns’s poetry was inspired by his deep love for his motherland, for its history and folklore. His beautiful poem “My Heart’s in the Highlands”, full of colourful descriptions, is a hymn to the beauty of Scotland’s nature and to its glorious past.

Burns’s poetry is closely connected with the national struggle of the Scottish people for their liberation from English oppression, the struggle that had been going on in Scotland for many centuries. His favourite heroes were William Wallace, the leader of the uprising against the English oppressors, and Robert Bruce, who defeated the English army and later became king of Scotland.

Robert Burns died at the age of 37 of heart disease caused by the hard work he had done when he was young. On the day of his burial more than 10,000 people came to pay their respect to the great bard. On the anniversary of his birth, January 25, Scots both at home and abroad celebrate Robert Burns. And not only Scots. Robert Burns’s birthday is celebrated annually by the lovers of poetry in many countries of the world.

Exercises

1. Decide if the following sentences are true or false:

1. He spent his youth reading books.

2. Robert wrote his first verse at 14.

3. “My Handsome Nell” was his first verse.

4. Robert Burns went to the West Indies and spent there the rest of his life.

5. His beautiful poem “My Heart’s in the Highlands” is a hymn to the beauty of Scottish nature.

6. Burns poetry is not connected with the national struggle of the Scottish people.

7. Robert Burns died at the age of 36.

8. The anniversary of his birth is January 25.

2. Answer the questions on the text:

1. Where was Robert Burns born?

2. How did he spend his youth?

3. What was his first book?

4. What is the Burns poetry connected with?

5. Who were his favourite heroes?

6. When did he die?

3. Be ready to speak about Burn’s life and his works.

Text 8. CHARleSDARWIN

Read the text and do the exercises that follow it.

Study the following vocabulary before reading the text:

an ancestor – предок

species – вид, род, разновидность

divine – божественный

aboard – на корабле

H.M.S. (= Her Majesty’s Ship) – Корабль Ее Величества

a fossile – ископаемое

extinct – вымерший

a specimen – образец

Charles Robert Darwin (1809–1882) was a British naturalist who became famous for his theories on evolution. Like several other scientists before him, Darwin believed that, through millions of years, all species of plants and animals had evolved (developed gradually) from a few common ancestors.

Darwin set forth his theories in his book. “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”. He gathered facts that supported the idea of evolution, and he proposed that evolution occurred through a process called natural selection.

Darwin’s theories shocked most people of his day, who believed that each species had been created by a separate divine act. His book, which is usually called simply “The Origin of Species”, presented facts that disputed this belief. It caused a revolution in biological science and greatly affected religious thought.

Darwin was born in Shewsbury, England. He was the grandson of the noted doctor and naturalist Erasmus Darwin, who had proposed a theory of evolution in the 1790’s. As a boy, Darwin often heard his grandfather’s theories discussed.

Darwin studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and theology at Cambridge University. He received a bachelor’s degree from Cambridge in 1831. From 1831 to 1836, Darwin served as a naturalist with a British scientific expedition aboard H.M.S. Beagle. The expedition visited places throughout the world, and he studied plants and animals everywhere it went.

In South America, Darwin found fossils of extinct animals that closely resembled modern species. On the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, he noticed many variations among plants and animals of the same general type as those in South America. Darwin collected the fossils and other specimens of organisms for future study.

Darwin returned to England in 1836 and settled in London. He spent the rest of his life studying specimens, doing experiments, and writing about his findings. His early books included “The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs” and a journal of his research aboard the Beagle.

In 1839, Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood. The family moved to Downe, near Croydon, in 1842, and Darwin lived there until his death. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in London.