English

and efforts. Nowadays it is especially important to know foreign languages. Some

people learn languages because they need them for their work, others travel abroad,

for the third - studying languages is a hobby. Everyone, who knows foreign languages can speak to people from other countries, read foreign authors in the original, which makes one's outlook wider. A foreign language helps us in getting information about the achievements of modern science and technology. It is not surprising that many intellectuals and well-educated people know several foreign languages and they are called polyglots.

Nowadays a lot of people study foreign languages in every possible way. Foreign-language study groups are organized at industrial enterprises, at the offices

of big firms, at the educational establishments, at research institutes.

As for me I study English. Nowadays English has become the world's most important language in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. Over 300 million people speak it as a mother tongue. The native speakers of English live in Great Britain, the United States of America, Australia and N e w Zealand. English is

one of the official languages in the Irish Republic, Canada, and the South Africa

computer technology. English is the language of international communication.

English is truly a world language.! I think English is also worth studying because

our businessmen, tourists, experts often go abroad. In my opinion every visitor

our language perfectly, and the thing is they want to settle their problems in our

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L a ng u a ge is a means of communication in human society. People can use

other means of communication, such as red lights or flags, but these signs are interpreted into human language. So language is the normal form and the main means of communication in human society.

The appearance of language on our planet is as recent as the appearance of man himself. Labour and language are distinctive and exclusive marks of human beings.

use the voice. Dogs, for instance, make only two or three kinds of noise — say barking, growling and whining. In human speech different sound combinations have different meanings.

Primitive people had a few hundred words at the most. Today highly

cultured nations have more than seven hundred thousand words in their

dictionaries. This means that now people can communicate by words much better

Mankind speaks many languages. A group of people who use the same system of speech signals is a speech community. Speech communities differ greatly in size. An American Indian tribe of only a few hundred persons speaks

English has several hundred million native speakers. For them English is their mother tongue. Millions of people with some other native language learn English for business, professional or political purposes. For them English is not their mother tongue but a foreign language. Ukrainian, Russian, French, German,

Chinese and some other languages also have vast numbers of speakers.

There are people who know three, four, five or six languages. They are polyglots. They study languages because knowledge of languages is their speciality

i n . . i . Ilexible .nul expressive.

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Notes

to make use of smth. — вживати що-небудь the only — єдиний

living being — жива істота

as resent as = as old as — такий давній, як human being — людин а

at the most — найбільше

the remote past — далеке минуле spoken language - усна мова native speaker — носій рідної мови mother tongue — рідна мова

to have a practical command of— володіти практично

to have a much better grasp of the subject — краще володіти предметом

II. Give English equivalents of the following Ukrainian words and word-combinations:

Людство, людська мова, людське суспільство, засіб спілкування, за допомогою, єдиний, дар мови, поява, немислимий, людина, спілкуватися словами, далеке минуле, швидкий ріст, розмовна мова, жива істота, мовна спільність, з іншого боку, рідна мова, практично володіти іноземною мовою, більш гнучкий і виразний.

III. Answer the following questions on the text:

1. Why is human language the most astonishing creation of man? 2. Are there other living beings with the power of speech? 3. What is the essential difference between human language and other types of languages? 4. Do we know the time and place of language appearance? 5. What can you tell about the growth

do you call people who speak many languages? 12. Do you know outstanding people who had a good command of many languages?

IV. Read the text for obtaining information.

HOW MANY PEOPLE SPEAK ENGLISH AND WHY?

It is only in the course of the last hundred years that English has become a number one world language. In the year of 1600, in Shakespeare's time, English was spoken only by 6 million people and was a "provincial" language (as was Russian), while French was the leading foreign language of that century. Three centuries later 260 million people spoke English and now, at the end of the third this millennium, probably one billion people speak English. It has become one of the world's most important languages in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. In number of

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America, Australia and N e w Zealand. It is used as one of the official languages in Canada and South Africa and in the Irish Republic. It is also spoken as a second language by many people in India, Pakistan, numerous countries in Africa, where there are many different languages and people use English as an "official" or "second" language for government, business and education. Throughout the world many people use English as an international language: some use it for social purposes, others for business or study. In 1992 5 1 % of European schoolchildren studied English as their first foreign language and now this number is much higher.

V. Decide which of the statements are true and which are false.

1. English was the leading world language in the 17th century.

2. At the beginning of the 20th century about 300 million people spoke English.

3. More people in the world speak Chinese than English.

4. English is among official languages of Canada and South Africa.

5.English is often used as a second language by representatives of different nations within one country.

6.English may be called the language of business and commerce.

Unit T w o

About Myself and My Family

Before I start talking about my family let me introduce myself. I am Sveta Petrenko. I am 1 7 . 1 have left school this year. I was born in Kyiv, so I have been living in Kyiv since my childhood.

And now I am going to tell you about my family. We are a family of five. We think we are a large and friendly family. So we are happy to be living together

young. He is a good-looking man, handsome, rather thin with dark brown hair just

beginning to go grey. He is a very sociable person. What I don't like about my dad

is that he is always busy. Very often he works overtime. He is a bread-maker in our family. He is fond of going to the country on week-ends, because he enjoys working in the garden.

My mother's name is Galyna Mykolayivna. She is three years younger than my father. She works as a teacher at a nursery school. My mother is rather slim and

pretty, she is always elegant and smart. In short, she is a pleasant-looking w o m a n

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A n d r ea and Joseph Williams. Andrea is Donald and Rosemary's daughter. She is her mother's favourite child. In her childhood Andrea was fond of animals.

microbiology and she works in her laboratory for long hours. She is married to Joseph who loves his wife more than anything else in the world. Donald and Rosemary's son-in-law is a children's doctor. Andrea and Joseph don't have children of their own yet, so they like to spend time with their niece and nephew . They often take them out into the country where Andrea teaches the kids to love and respect nature and Joseph teaches them to fish and to make a camp fire.

Robin Hewitt. Robin is Andrea's brother. He is 25 and he is a rock singer, though not famous. His parents are not happy about the lifestyle Robin has chosen.

money was, he liked what his friends called "adventures" and ended up in a police station after his friends and he tried to rob a local bank. He didn't go to prison

because he was not 14 at that time but he never learnt to work hard and his parents are very m u c h upset that he doesn't want to study and get a good profession.

4.She is a very successful novelist.

8. Lucy and David are neglected by their parents.

9. Andrea and Joseph enjoy outdoor activities with their niece and nephew . 10. Robin stole from shops because his parents limited him in his pocket money .

11. "Skeleton in the cupboard" means some tragedy, crime or disgrace that happened in the family.

12. Donald got a threat that put his grandchildren's life in danger.

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to leave school next year. He loved his sister's wedding. He rode in an old bus and

learnt about its engine.

V. D r a w the family tree of this family and speak about each m e m b e r of

the family.

Unit Three

About My Friend

It's nice to have a lot of friends. You can enjoy things together. A good friend is a friend in need, who is always willing to do something useful for you,

w h o can give a good advice, who can keep secrets.

My friends usually obey their parents and teachers. They never complain of anything, they are worried about each other's health. We have a lot of interesting conversations in our group. We discuss different problems. Sometimes discussions are very exciting. In the evening I often talk with my friends over the telephone.

matters. Boys and girls get along well. They don't quarrel. We have a lot in

common . A lot of my group-mates enjoy out-of-group activities and traveling. Traveling helps us to become friendlier. Besides we are all full of impressions and excitements.

N o w I'd like to describe my close friend. Frankly speaking, I have a lot of friends w h o are my former schoolmates and boys and girls from my neighborhood. But my bosom friend is Ann. She is a pleasant-looking girl of about 18. Ann is not very tall, but she has a strong attractive body, she is pleasantly plump. She is always very elegant; she wears the clothes of latest fashion. Her features are very delicate and her charm is irresistible. Ann has white curly hair and dark-blue eyes. Her eyelashes are so long and thick, and they seem dark for this reason. Ann's face is oval and she has a turned-up nose. To cut the long story short — she is a pretty girl. But in my opinion, inner beauty is more important than physical one. Ann is a well-bread, jolly and kind-hearted person. She is very tactful, shy and sensitive, emotionally stable and witty. She is a girl of active and cheerful disposition. Ann is a pleasant person to deal with, she never loses her temper. But to my mind, her main feature is that she is a girl of character. Her words are entirely in character with her actions. Ann is an intelligent, bright and quick-witted girl, she has a big soul and a strong will. One of her best features is her readiness to help.. She always manages to be amusing and cheerful, energetic and enthusiastic. I must admit, Ann is an easy-going girl, and when sometimes it comes to quarreling, she tries to make it up at once.

In a word — my friend has a noble look and bright spirit, she seems a good sort of girl and her character corresponds to her appearance.

I think, a person can prove to be a personality by his deeds, not by his WOrdft. A proverb says: "Actions speak louder than words." It's not good to promise much by saying nice words. Let other people speak about your job, your deeds.

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Reading Text

I. Read and translate the text into Ukrainian.

THE INTELLIGENT YOUNG MAN by William Saroyan

In the next street a lady put her head out of a fine house and said: "Young man, what are you doing?" and the adviser told the book-keeper to continue his

saddle - сідло to drag - тягти

II.Answer these comprehension questions:

1. What sort of story did uncle Aram like to tell? 2. Was the King inclined to have absurd and ridiculous ideas? 3. What kind of ideas was the King inclined to have? 4. Was the young man cleverer than the King and all his ancestors put together? 5. Did the young m a n have less or more good sense and

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