2. Do you remember your first visit to the theatre and your impression on it? Read this text and compare it with your reminiscences. The Blue Danube. *

As far as I remember it happened when I was about six. My mum decided to give me some taste for art (приобщить к искусству) and started doing this hard work with all her heart and will (c пылом-жаром. со страстью). She discussed that problem with all her friends. I listened to all those talks very attentively deciding if that 'theatre' could threaten my peaceful and cheerful life. I used it to the full (использовала жизнь на полную катушку) and didn't want to lose if only a tiny piece of my freedom.

Soon Mummy announced that the following Sunday we would go to the Opera House to the matinee. I was upset because my friends and me were going to test a new ice-hill behind our house. But it was promised to me that I could do it in the afternoon. So I decided that a 'theatre' was not such a bad thing. My curiosity grew as the appointed day was approaching. My mum didn't answer my questions but only smiled. She knew quite well that it was the only way to make me do something – to make me die of curiosity.

At last that Sunday came and we went to the theatre by bus. The stop was quite near the theatre and it was the first building I saw getting off the bus. It was very big and richly decorated with plaster and different statues. At the entrance door we were met by an attendant checking tickets and showing the way to the cloakroom. There we left our coats and hats and then we began to explore the halls and corridors of the theatre. Everywhere were the pictures of different people and places. Some of those people were funny; the others were ugly and frightening. Some women stood on the top of their feet and, of course, I tried to do the same immediately. Luckily Mum managed to prevent my falling onto the floor. After that I tried to investigate what there was in the lower hall and leaned over the banisters. And again Mum should catch me by the hem of my dress. I suspect at that moment Mum decided that the visit to the theatre buffet would be much safer for my health. It was a very good thought of hers. I was finishing my ice-cream when the bell began to ring for the first time.

We slowly moved along the corridor with all other people. But then a woman in a uniform opened one door and we stepped in. We were in a small room without one wall but only a barrier. Near it were six chairs in two rows. At once I took the seat in the front row and began to look around. I saw many rows of chairs covered with golden-brown velvet, several galleries running around a huge hall, a very big hole in the floor with strange sounds heard from there and something above that hole hidden behind a beautiful curtain. Mum began to tell me about everything I saw around. And I was fidgeting trying to absorb the pictures, sounds, colours and smells. Do you know that special aroma of a theatre – a mixture of dust of a curtain, perfume of women passing by, colophony (канифоль) that musicians use to rub their bows (смычки), paper, glue and paint of scenery? Have you ever enjoyed the richness and variety of colours, the sounds of the orchestra tuning up their instruments, murmuring of people taking seats, their polite and light coughing and rustling of the programmes? I think at that very moment, just before the beginning of the performance I fell in love with the theatre.

The third bell rang and the lights gradually went off. Soon I saw a man appearing in that strange hole; he bowed, turned his back to us and waved with his arms. I was about to laugh but at that moment I heard the first sounds of a charming waltz of Strauss and the curtain rose. And I forgot everything. Such words as soloists, cord-de-ballet, scenery, tutus, all those ballet terms denoting different movements of dancers were unknown for me. At that moment I was watching some beautiful fairy-tale. I was charmed, delighted; I didn't dare to move in order not to miss something important from that magical action on the stage. When the first act was over and the audience began slowly to flow out of the auditorium my sorrowful and disappointed scream broke that peaceful atmosphere: "Mummy, I want more cartoons!" Mum calmed me down and promised one more "cartoon" explaining that the dancers should have some rest and it would be nice for us to quench our thirst in a buffet too. So I found the 'theatre' more and more attractive and exciting for me.

The second part of the performance was the same for me – catching music of Strauss, charm and delight, wonderful dancing and splendour and richness of costumes – all that made a great impression upon me. When the curtain fell down after the performance all people burst into applause. The dancers appeared from behind the curtain and bowed. Mummy called them curtain calls. Some people brought flowers and gave them to the actors. Many people cried "Bravo!"

Wу got our coats and hats in the cloakroom rather quickly and soon left the theatre. All the way home I could speak about nothing but the performance. I demanded Mum to get tickets to the theatre again. In the afternoon I grandly (горделиво) told my friends in the yard about my visit to the theatre. And then we tested our new ice-hill. So I thought that the day had worked well, for sure (день определенно удался).