Тема 1: our university

In July this year we took entrance exams at the Moscow State University of Food Production. Everybody who passed the exams successfully entered the University and now we are first-year students.

There are five Faculties at our University: the Faculty of Technology and Production Management; the Faculty of Economics and Business Management; the Food Engineering Faculty; the Faculty of Management, Quality, Safety and Ecology of Food Enterprises; the Faculty of Informatics and Control and the Part-time Education Center, including two subdivisions: Mechanics and Automation and Technology and Economics. Each Institute is headed by the Director.

Those who study at the day department are full-time students. Most full-time students get a state scholarship. Part-time students have to combine work with studies at the evening or correspondence department.

The first-year students study Mathematics, Physics, Descriptive Geometry, Engineering Graphics, Chemistry, Philosophy, a Foreign Language and other subjects.

Experienced teachers and well-known professors work at our University. Every day students must attend lectures and practical hours. They also work in labs equipped with modern instruments and tools.

At the end of each term students take exams and the fifth-year students submit their graduation paper.

If students want to do some research they may choose one of the scientific societies at the University. The research work is useful and interesting.

The duration of the course of studies at the University is 4 years for receiving a Bachelor’s degree, 5 years for getting an Engineering qualification and 6 years for earning a Master’s degree.

After graduating from the University students can take a three year post-graduate course doing research. Post-graduates who defend a thesis successfully are awarded a Candidate of Science degree.

Our University trains specialists for the food, microbiological, medical, machine-building industries, agriculture and other fields.

Тема 2: what is food?

Active Vocabulary

food, foods/foodstuffs; nutrition, nutrient, nutritive, nutritious, nutritionist; to nourish, nourishment; to eat (ate, eaten); to take in, intake; to digest, digestion, digestible; capacity; ability, able/capability, capable; to constitute, constituent; to compose, composition, component; to make up/to build up; to meet the need/requirement; to make contribution; amount, quantity; to lose (lost, lost); to repair; to supplement; to define, definition, definite; to refer to; to accept; to regard; to list; essential, adequate, complex

Food is essential to the nutrition of any human being or any form of life. If there is no food there is no life; if the amount or kind of food is inadequate, growth is stopped and the capacity to work is lost.

The term “food” is commonly used to refer to those substances that form a part of the usual diet. Milk, eggs, tomatoes, and flour are accepted as foods. Scientifically speaking foods are not so much substances that we eat as substances that supply certain nutrients when eaten. Foods, then are defined as those substances which when taken into the body, supply energy, build and repair tissues, and regulate body processes. Foods, which we eat, are often complex substances, capable of meeting more than one of these body needs. One food may supply both energy and building material, another may regulate body processes and give energy. The contribution that a food makes to the body depends upon its constituents and the ability of the body to utilize them. The chief constituents of foods are classified into six groups: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins and water.

The body’s need for energy is met through carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Its need for building and repairing tissues is primarily met by proteins and minerals, though these are supplemented by the other constituents. The regulation of body processes is commonly regarded as particular function of water, proteins, vitamins, minerals, organic acids and cellulose. Though water, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats make up the largest quantity of the food constituents used the others listed are also essential.