Topic 6
Britain is acountry there sport and leisure life are taken seriously. TV hashelped to generate interests in a wide variety of sports. Millions ofpeople all over the Britain take part in sport exercises andcompetions.
Footballand Rugby football.The British invented the rules of many sport and games played allover the world. The rugby football or “rugger” is anotherpopular British sport. The story is told that in 1823 Boys at Rugbyschool in England were playing football in the normal way? Whensuddenly one boy picked the ball up and run with it. So a new gamewas born.
Cricketis sometimes called the English national game? Having been playedfrom 1550s. It’s usually played by a men and boys. Playerstraditionally wear white clothes.
Bowlsit is another outdoor summer game. It was played since 13 centure.It’s played an a specially prepared green/ The players rolllarge bowls towards a small ball and try to bring them as near aspossible.
Mountaineeringand rock climbing.There are more than 330 mountaineering clubs in Britain. The mostpopular areas in Britain are the sea cliffs of Devon and Cornwall,the peak district, the lake district, Snowdoniain North Wales andsome others. British climbers often go abroad to climb mountain, suchas Alp’s.
Horseracing and Horse riding.Horse racing sometimes called a sport of kings? Because it is veryexpensive to own a racehorse. There are two kings of h.r. : flatracing (w/o jumps) and steeplechasing (with jumps). Horse Riding isvery popular too. Riding a horse used to be means of transport.
Sailing.About 3 million British people go sailing in a small boats everyyear. The number of small boats owners has increased 1000% in last 10years. If you live in Britain you are never more then 100 miles fromthe sea and you have a lot of opportunities for sailing.
In Britain all the year roundthere are different competitions. In March – April the have gotThe international boat race, Oxford and Cambridge boat race, TheLondon marathon, The grand national and so on all the year round. TheOxford – Cambridge Boat race is a traditional annual rowingrace between teams from Oxford and Cambridge universities. The GrandNational is the most exciting steeplechase in Britain, held annuallyin spring. And as I started to speak about important sporting eventsI must mention the Wimbledon, the most important event in lawntennis. Wimbledon tournament draws huge amount of spectators from allover the world. And so at the end I would like to say that Englishpeople really fond of different kinds sports. But they do not onlywatch it on TV or on stadiums, but they also take part in it, theyform different clubs and compete with each other. All the schoolshave their own soccer or cricket teams and even such well-knownuniversities as Oxford and Cambridge have their own rowing team.
Topic2
Britain has many places of interestwhich have historic associations. London is one of the cities eachreflected the past. Buckingham Palace is the official Londonresidence of the Sovereign the daily ceremony ofthe Changing of the Guards takes place in its courtyard. The palacewas built by the Duke of Buckingham. Stonehenge a prehistoric complexregarded as one of the most important monuments of its kind in Europeand very popular with visitors. The great circle of standing stonesis believed to have had some religious purpose. Windsor is a town onthe Thames not far from London. Its castle has been a royalresidence for 9centuries. Seen from a distance it’s beautifulbeyond imagination. Windsor Castle has a long and fascinatinghistory. Canterbury an ancient city in Kent with a majestic cathedralwhich dominates it. Canterbury is a religious capital of England. Itbecame a place of pilgrimage in medieval. Stratfort-on-Avon is anattractive town world famous as the birthplace of WilliamShakespeare. It holds a priceless collection of Shakespeare relics.
InWales we can visit timesCoventry. It’s now known for its magnificent cathedral,decorated by the best artists and craftsmen in Britain. It was builtnear the ruins of the old cathedral destroyed during the Second WorldWar in the memory of those who died in the bombings.
Cardiff Castle has colorfuland lavish interiors continually suprise and delight visitors whoenter a grim fighting castle to find themselves surrounded byexquisite wood carving and sculpture. Cenarfon is an ancient townwith a magnificent preserved castle which dominates it.
Places to visit in Scotland.Edinburgh Castle stands high on the massive Grey Castle rock. In theCastle are the Honours of Scotland the Scottish Crown scepter and thesword of state the oldest royal regalia in Europe is an areas. TheBurns Country where Scotland national poet wrote many of the world’smost tender love songs. The thatched cottage where Robert Burns wasborn is the starting point together 40places associated with thepoet.
Placesto visit in Northen Ireland. The Giant’s Causeway is a mass ofstone columns standing very near together. The tops of the rocks fromstepping stones leading from the cliff foot and disappearing underthe sea. This strange geological feature is believed to have been theresult of volcanic action. It’s sometimes called the 8thwonder of the world.
Topic 3
In the UK represents four nations,which are distinct from each other in almost every aspect of live.They have their own dialects, economics, social and legal systems.All of them have got their own stereotypes. The Irish for example aresupposed to be good talkers when the Scots are supposed to have areputation for being careful with money. The Welsh are famous fortheir singing abilities and English are individualists. The firstnation I’m going to speak about is the English. The English aremainly Anglo-Saxon in origin. Since 12-th century the English peoplehave developed their own character and personality. They managed tosave their traditions of dance, food and music from mixing with otherorigins. English people are generally tolerant of new ideas andinfluences. Traditionally, the English are thought to be reserved,shy of strangers, suspicious of change and slow to accept new ideas.The Scots have a strong sense of national identity, of their owndistinct values, and traditions. This is partly due to history.Scotland’s history is a history of endless battles against theEnglish for independence, and Scots have many national heroes whofought in these battles. Scotland is a country with an intensenational tradition, with its own songs, its poetry, its own nationalfood and drinks, sports and manners. To many foreigners, the image ofScotland looks a little bit childish. Kilts, tartans, bagpipes, andtweed play an important role in it. Although the part of the UK,Scotland has it’s own laws, which in some are really verydifferent from English ones and Scotland even has got its own poundcoin. The Welsh are proud of themselves and they believe to be thetrue Britons. Nowadays only twenty per cent of them speak Welsh, theoldest language in Europe. Wales was inhabited from ancient times.From the 6-th century the Welsh fiercely resisted the attacks of theAnglo-Saxons into their land. Also the Welsh fought for many yearsagainst the English to win their freedom but they were defeated in1282. The Welsh are proud of their culture, traditions, and theirlanguage. They are really gifted in the art of self-expression inwords, they are not afraid of being poetic in speech, of using brightand pictorial descriptions of men and events in ordinaryconversations. And the last nation I’m going to speak about isthe Irish. The Irish are mainly Celtic people. They have maintainedtheir ancient Gaelic language but English is spoken everywhere. Tounderstand the present situation in Northern Ireland it is necessaryto know something about the island’s long and violent history.Before the early 20thcentury, Northern Ireland was a part of Ireland as a whole. Aftermany English and Scots people had settled there in the 16thcentury, Northern Ireland became mainly Protestant, unlike the restof Ireland which remained, as before, mainly Roman Catholic. By theterms of an Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, Northern Ireland was grantedits own parliament in which the protestant government was formed. Andalso Britain has a lot of immigrants who left their countries becauseof the political or religious persecution or some other problems. Inthe UK they form different societies in which they follow theirnative traditions.
Today English is a major language spoken in theworld. In every part of the world English is spoken with differentpronunciations, but the original and right pronunciations can beheard only in England and it’s called The King’s orQueen’s English. The King’s or Queen’s English is agood correct English, as it should be spoken. The standard form ofEnglish used in England is called the RP – ReceivedPronunciation and it is also called the BBC English as it is used bethe BBC. RP or BBC English is the accent of the South-east ofEngland. It has been associated with power and high social classsince the 14thcentury. At the time of the King, the Royal court and the governmentsettled in London, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, bothsettled in the Southeast, provided higher education for the wholecountry. People who wanted to be part of that powerful world had touse the same language and accent. In the 19thcentury RP was used in public schools and universities, thegovernment and the army to form small groups who would run theempire. It was even impossible to get any kind of high position ifyou did not speak the right way. The best advise to those who wish tobecome proficient in English was given in 1906 by the Fowler brothersin the famous book “the king’s English”. It isstill sound advice for any student of English, whether English is hismother tongue or whether it is foreign language: preferthe familiar word to the far-fetched, Prefer the concrete word to theabstract, Prefer the short word to the long, Prefer the Saxon word tothe Romance. Above I’ve mentionedaccent and nowI want to explain the right meaning and the role of it in England.Accent is the sound of a person’s pronunciation of the Englishlanguage. It is very important in Britain. It shows where the personcomes from and, to an extent, what class he or she belongs to. And Ialso want to mention that in London you can meet another way ofspeaking English, which is called Cockney. Cockney is typical amongpeople who live in the eastern area of London and it also known asLondon dialect. Cockney has some differences. For example in cockneyTH ispronounced as f anddidn’t becomedidn. Andnowadays English is considered to be the major language in the world.To my mind English language has reached such a great popularitythanks to the expansion of British colonial power and the emergenceof the US as the leading economic power of the 20thcentury. English is the language of the international air trafficcontrol, policing and emergency services. It is also used as thelanguage of international business and academic conferences and theleading language of international tourism. A lot of video games,broadcasting and computers use English language. World famouscomputer net, I mean Internet is based on English language. So frommy point of view English language is the major language and itsreally great to learn and to know this language as gives youopportunities to travel abroad, to learn more, to get a better job.
England as every country has its own kinds ofhouses that can be rarely seen in any other countries. In Englandthere are know three main types of houses that people live in. Theyare: detached houses, semi-detached houses and terraced houses. Theyall differ from each another by size, price and conveniences inliving. A detached house is the most expensive one among those that Imentioned. This house usually stands on its own land and its notattached to any other buildings. Such houses have privacy fromneighbors, and they are ideal for keen gardeners who can devoteplenty of time to work in their garden. The next house, which is lessexpensive than a detached one is a semi-detached. A shared wall joinsa semi-detached house to the house next door but it still offers agood standard of privacy and comfort. It usually has a small gardenin the front and a larger one at the back. A terraced house isusually two – or three- storeys high. It is one of thecontinuous rows of similar houses, joined together by theirsidewalls. Many rows of terraced houses were originally built forworkers in nearby factories or coalmines. A terraced house usuallycosts less than a semi-detached or detached house of similar size.There are miles of terraced houses in most towns. Over a quarter ofBritish families live in them. But apart from these houses there aresome other types that are popular with English people. They are:bungalows, apartment blocks and country cottages. Bungalows areone-storey houses, which are particularly popular with older people.Apartment blocks are high-rise blocks of flats, which provideaccommodation for a lot of city dwellers. But these buildings are notvery popular. About 20% of the population lives in flats. There aremore flats in cities than in rural areas. Most people in Britaintraditionally like to live in houses. To my mind English peopleprefer to live in detaches, semi-detached or terraced houses becauseof they habits, I mean that they are keen on gardening. To buy ahouse is an expensive thing and to help people to do it there arebuilding societies and mortgage system in Britain. From buildingsocieties people can get loans to buy a house, and then in a periodof 25 years you ought to return them money back. And Mortgage systemworks the next way: When you buy a house you pay only a half of itsprice and then during the limited period of time you have to pay therest of the house’s price by parts. The only disadvantage isthat you have to pay percent. About one third of the population nowlives in council houses. Local authority councils such as towncouncils, usually at a low rent, provide these houses. Since 1980 ithas become possible for council house tenants to buy their houses atfavorable rates after they have lived in them for at least two years.
Topic 1
TheUnited Kingdom is the administrated title and it includes GreatBritain and Northern Ireland. And Great Britain it self includesWales, Scotland, NIand England. They are 4 different parts of UK with their own culture,history, traditions & even language The differences are in theclimate, in their politic, in their mineral resources, in theirreligious, in the industries, which are promoted in different parts,people’s occupations. Landscape is varied. Yes that’strue: mountainous North of Wales, highlands & lowlands inScotland, miles of rocky cliffs on the coast of the south of England.But climate in England is more gentle than in other parts of UK.Great Britain is situated on one of the largest British island andthe landscape and climate very greatly, from cold in North to warm inthe South. At first I want to talk about England. England can bedivided into three main parts, which varies one from another greatly.In the south there are lots of sea costs, which vary from the flat,sandy or stony beaches to the rocky cliffs. The climate there ismild. The midlands region is mostly the farming land and the northhas a hilly landscape. In the midlands and in the north the climateis colder than in the south. Wales as England can be divided intoseveral parts: the south and the north. The country varies from thepicturesque mountains of the north to the valleys of the south.Scotland considered having the most beautiful landscape – ofhills, valleys and unspoiled beaches. The climate is considerablycolder than in any other parts of Great Britain, but however there isno month has an average temperature below freezing. The last part ofUK I wont to mention is Northern Ireland. The landscape there isgentle. The climate is not stable. Rain showers quickly changed bysunshine. As we can see all parts of the UK are different. They havetheir own landscapes and climate but as a hole they all form highlydeveloped industrial country. But besides climate and landscape allparts of the UK has their own traditions, culture, and way of livingand even language. For example in Wales apart from English peoplespeak on the Welsh language and in Scotland people speak The ScottishGaelic.
UK is a country where holidays are celebrated with greatenthusiasm. In England people have some different public holidays andbesides them there are other festivals, anniversaries and simplydays, on which certain traditions are observed, but unless they fallon a Sunday, they are ordinary working days. Here are some examples.From December to February people in England have such holidays as:Christmas day, boxing day, new year, burns night, St valentine’sday and Cruft’s dog show. Christmas is a traditional familyreunion day. On this day many people attend a church service, opentheir presents, eat Christmas dinner and watch the sovereign’sannual Christmas broadcast on TV. Preparations for Christmas arealways pleasant: Buying gifts, sending Christmas cards and decoratingthe Christmas tree with small, brightly-colored lights and smallcolored glass ornaments. In Britain, Christmas is the most importantpublic holiday of the year. It combines the custom of giving giftswith the tradition of spending this day with the family. 26thof December is a boxing day, which comes right after Christmas and iscelebrated as a bank holiday in Britain. It was formerly the customto give “Christmas boxes”, or gifts or money to servantsand tradesmen on this day. The custom gave a name to the holiday.January 1st, NewYear’s Day is now a public holiday in England. I think thatthis holiday does not need any explanation, as it’s well knownall over the world. 25 January is Burns night. This celebration isheld on the 25thof January, the anniversary of the birth of Robert burns, Scotland’sgreatest national poet. It usually takes the form of a supper atwhich the traditional Scottish dishes are eaten, including haggis,and during which a Scottish pipe plays, wearing traditional Highlanddress. 14th ofFebruary is called St Valentine’s Day or the day for lovers andit also becoming an international one. On this day, boys and girls,sweethearts and lovers, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors,and even office staff exchange greeting cards with the hearts onthem. Britain is a nation of animal lovers. No wonders that dog showsalways attract a lot of enthusiasts. Cruft’s Dog Show at EastCourt, London, is internationally known. Dog breeders from all overthe world bring their dogs to take part in it and the winner isbroadcasted on TV. From March to May in England are known suchholidays as: St David’s and St Patrick’s days, Pancakeday, April fool’s Day and many others. Pancake day is thepopular name for Shrove Tuesday, the day before lent. Peopletraditionally eat pancakes on Pancake Day, which are made from eggs,flour and milk, fried on both sides in fat on a pan and eaten withlemon juice and sugar. In many towns pancake races are held on ShroveTuesday in which women run with pancakes. Each runner has a pancakein a pan and while running have to toss the pancake up and over inthe air and catches it again in the pan. The 1stof April is the funniest day of the year. On this day people usuallyplay jokes on other people. Easter is the most important Christmasreligious festival. It is traditionally associated with Easter eggsand with the coming of spring. In many towns there are funfairs withroundabouts, coconut shies, switchbacks and other amusements. 23rdof April is the Shakespeare’s Birthday Celebration. ThisCelebration is always held in Stratford, where a long procession offlower-carriers walks from the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, throughthe streets to the churched where Shakespeare is supposed to be born.The 1st of May istraditionally celebration of the coming spring. On this day the mostbeautiful girl is chosen as a May Queen. A lot of people sale good onopen air. From June to august there are such holidays as: Troopingthe color, summer sales, the Proms, Notting hill carnivals andothers. Trooping the color takes place each June as part of a200-year-old ceremony to mark the official birth of the monarch.Trooping the color is an impressive military display held at horseGuard Parade, a huge open space behind the Whitehall where thevarious royal units troop their regimental flags to the tune of themarching music and thundering drums. Troops march past the Queendipping their Colors in salute. The ceremony ends with the monarchreturning to the B.P. at the heart of her Guards. Notting Hillcarnival is held over the August Bank holiday since 1966. It mostlyinvolves black people and is known for it’s colorful costumesand the steel band music. It’s the largest street carnival inEurope. Remembrance day(poppy day) is observed throughout Britain onthe Sunday nearest to the 11 of November, Armistice day. Fallen inboth world wars are remembered in special church services & civicceremonies. Poppies are sold in the streets & peopletraditionally wear them in memory of those who fell in the wars.
Self-honesty. Telling you the truth using emotional positive actions.
Self-honesty meanstelling myself the truth. It means knowing myself and choosingpositive actions that are right for me.
I know my strengths andweaknesses.
I admit my mistakes.
I don’t blameothers.
I resist peer pressure.
It will help us to:
Learn about andlike us.
Know our strengthsand weaknesses.
Admit mistakes andaccept responsibility for our own actions.
Avoid blamingothers and making excuses.
Behave in a waythat is honest with what we think and feel.
Keep our word anddo what we say we’ll do.
Sometimes things happened to us, make us feel sorry for ourselves.Nobody can go through life with the world on a string withoutanything bad ever happening. It’s pretty natural to feel sorryfor ourselves, at least for a little while. But if we keep feelingself-pity we won’t find the way out of our problems. And wesure can’t turn a bad thing into something good if we are lostin self-pity.
Being honest with yourself and admitting what is good about you aswell as those things about you that aren’t so good: yourstrengths and weaknesses. Sometimes a weakness{like eating too muchcandy} can be changed, but in some cases a weakness is just aweakness and there’s not too much we can do about it. In fact,recognizing both kinds of weakness in ourselves helps to find out whowe really are.
Being able to look at yourself closely and honesty and recognizewhat things you do best are positive actions. It is important to knowwhat you are strong in when choosing a career or trying out forsports or play; it can help you to make the right selection.
Everyone has some strength in a particular area. Your strength mightbe an ability to get along with others, a good memory, or an abilityto think quickly.
Have you ever heard anyone say: “ Oh, he’s always makingexcuses!” do you ever get tired of people who never do whatthey’ve promised and only give you an excuse why they didn’tdo it? We come across such situations quite often at school, when apupil hasn’t his homework and makes up some excuse not to begiven a bad mark
Often people make up excuses out of habit. They haven’t yetlearned the positive action of taken responsibility of their actions.Instead, they look for a quick way out of the problem not caring muchif they are honest or not.
Sometimes we need to be honest about our needs instead of makingexcuses.
Actions can be either honest or dishonest. Sometimes we apologizejust in order not to be punished. Sometimes we say we are busy justbecause we don’t want someone to come over and play. Sometimeswe misbehave to get attention. Throughout all our life we will haveto make decisions. It will never stop. We might as well begin nowbeing truly honest with ourselves about what is right for us. As weget older, we’ll have fewer and fewer people helping us makedecisions. The choices are ours to make. Some of lives’ choicesare easier to make than others. Some students of our age have to makechoices about drugs and other things that may not be good for theirbodies.
Do you have some needs right now? Do you feel like an outcast andneed friends? Do you wish you could like yourself more? Are youpulled in 2 different directions?
Have you ever experienced peer pressure? Pressure is “forceapplied to something”. If you’ve ever had a toothache youhave felt pressure on that tooth. But we can feel not only physicalpressure. One of them is peer pressure. Our peers are classmates andfriends, people that are equal to us.
Peer pressure is a term we may not have heard before but we’veexperienced it, we all have! Peer pressure occurs when others try toinfluence you in your thoughts and actions. Often friends try topersuade us to do something or to think a certain way that we know isnot right for us. We must be honest with ourselves! If we dosomething that is not within our personal Code of Conduct, we won’tfeel satisfied with ourselves.
Peer pressure is real and powerful. We are all influenced by it atsome time. But we should always remember to be honest with ourselves,to do what’s right for us. We must always remember: be true tothat important person you live with everyday – yourself!
Positiveaction.
Yourself-concept is how you see yourself. It is what you think about theperson you call “Me”. It is not only what you see in themirror. It includes feelings, emotions, opinions, and attitudes toothers. Ability to manage ones life successfully and other aspects ofyourself. Self-concept means the way you feel about yourself, friendsand families influence your self-concept. Negative choices andnegative actions create a negative self-concept. Positive choices andpositive actions make us feel good about yourself.
Thepositive circle shows positive feelings, leading to positive thoughtsand positive actions. If you want to be a happy positive person, say“Yes” to life.
Usepositive actions and you will be as happy as you can be. You know, anaction is something you do. A positive action is something you dothat makes life good for you and the people around you; a negative isjust the opposite. It is easy to learn about positive actions. It ishard to use positive actions.
Positiveaction is a course that helps to feel good about themselves. The wayyou think about yourself controls how happy, healthy and successfulyou be. You can learn simple ways to be your own good friend and tomake your life happy. You say to yourself:” I want to enjoy mylife, to do interesting things and be as happy as I can be.” Iam a happy and positive person. But I can expand on who and what Iam. I want to learn more about myself and to like myself, to be agood friend and to tell myself the truth. Self-concept helps me tothink about myself, to picture myself in my mind. This self-conceptis very important. Because it has a great influence on how happy I amand what I achieve. When I help others, if I am independent andloved, I feel good about myself. Most people are disappointed withthemselves at times, but they wish they were different in some way.And naming some negative feelings, people often have aboutthemselves, they mean that these negative words represent a challengefor improvement.
Developinga strong self-concept it is important to set yourself up to succeed.You must discover what is important to your self-esteem and then dothose things well.
Everyoneneeds a positive self-concept. No one can be 100 % positive all thetime. We all get a little angry with ourselves at times. This can bevery valuable if we keep things in perspective and use ourdisappointment to motivate us towards improvement and gives way todespair. We must accept our weaknesses as challenges and we must takesatisfaction in the abilities we have. The person who takes apositive self-view much more often than not is the one who will behappy, healthy and successful.
Takeo look at yourself and identify your strong points and built on thempositive self-concept. No matter what kind of self-concept you havenow , you can make stronger. Each of us can develop a skill, a talentor a personal quality, to bring us pleasure and the appreciation offamily, friends and others. You can develop your good qualities andmake even better. These qualities will give you confidence andhappiness. Do you sing or play an instrument? Are you a good friend?Do you read well or write stories or poems? Are you fun to be with?Can you organize and get things done? Do you know a lot about somesubject? Do you have a sport you play well? Are you clever? And doyou sometimes make people laugh? These things can give your enjoymentand are reasons for you to feel good about yourself. When people arehappy and well liked, they sometimes fail to realize that they stillhave room for improvement. It is an excuse to say ”I have to bemyself” or “That is just the way I am”. We shouldwant to be our best selves.
Nowask yourself “Is there some area that I am still weak in?”Is there something about myself that I could improve?” Once youhave chosen a quality you would like to improve, write it down andthen write your plan for improvement. Then thoughts-actions-feelingscycle can be a positive force for you.
Everyday we are faced all kinds of situations that require us to makechoices. When faced such situation we some thought about it. Thisthought leads to an action and that action leads to a feeling. Let ustake an example: a teacher asks you to do some homework. You have athought : homework makes me feel responsible( get knowledge). That isa positive thought and it leads to an action: you do a good job onthe assignment. This leads to a positive feeling: satisfaction andpride in your work. But when you begin with a negative thought suchas, “I hate homework”, negative feelings and actionsmight follow. So positive or negative thought do not simply stop withfeelings. Good or bad feelings cause us to have further thoughts andthose influence further actions and further feelings. The circle ofbehavior and emotions follow and continues on and on.
Somethings happen in life that are unpleasant . We can not pretend thatthey are not. These can be a serious as divorce. Certainly, we shouldnot excepted to be pleasant with everything that happens to us, butour thoughts about difficult situations still control our ability tohandle them in a positive way. Give examples of difficulties you haveovercome by using positive thoughts. A self-concept is not anaccident. Behind the way you feel about yourself are many influences.Important pictures we have about ourselves come from the people whoare most important to us – friends, teachers, and especiallyour families. By showing you that you are loved, interesting andimportant to your family and your friends also build youself-esteems. We all need to know that others think well of us. Whenwe are discourage and having and having negative thoughts sometimeswe need to go to a friend or a family member to find positivethoughts we need. Parents will almost give us that kind of help, thenthey know we need it. Sometimes “however” a friend or afamily member may be a very one giving us the negative thoughts ofourselves. At times like that we need to look inside ourselves forpositive thoughts and look to other friends or relatives who see whatwe need at that time. We should never feel ashamed of needing alittle “tender loving care.”
Friendscan affect self-concept. Perhaps, a compliment brightened the way youfelt about yourself. May be teasing hurt your feeling. We all needto look within ourselves for the assurance that we believe inourselves. But we can not help being not influenced by the attitudesof our friends. Now turn the situation around. Just think a goodfriend you can be to someone else’s self-concept. It takesalmost no effort to give a compliment and it also work in reverse.When you treat
Managing yourself.
Eachperson has eight gifts: time, energy, possessions, money, talent,thoughts, feelings, actions. We need to use our gifts wisely. We needto learn positive actions that will help us to waste less energy, tocreate some order.
Whena person con not use self-discipline, usually someone else has tomake choices for that person. If you let your time go, your parentshave to limit yourplaying time. When you make good choices and show self-control, youusually gain more chances to make, more choices, when you showimmaturity by using no self-control, you often lose some of thefreedom you have attained.
Timeis one of the resources we have in equal amount. Happy, healthypeople manage their time wisely. This management is a positive actionthat helps people feel good about themselves.
Energyis like fuel. Our actions lose strength and efficiency when we failto manage energy. These are things we can do to use our energy giftwell.
1stay healthy. If you are sick, rundown, tired or poorly nourished,you can not perform effectively.
2stay mentally alert. You mind can stimulate your energy.
3stay in control emotionally. People who are upset, sad or discouragedsometimes lose their physical energy. Happiness and excitement, onthe other hand stimulate energy.
4use your time wisely. At certain times of the day your energy levelis high. Study or hard work is rarely done well late at night whenyou are tired.
Learn tomanage possessions wisely.
Owingthings requires that we act responsibly. We may wish to share or evengive our possessions as gifts but too means that we use propermanagement. When we give proper care to the things we possess, wefeel a sense of satisfaction. In many ways our possessions representus people. If our rooms and the things we own in our rooms are keptin order and are looked after, we experience a sense of our ownworth. And we show the same respect for other possessions.
Whenyou use positive actions to protect the valuable things you own youwill respect yourself. And these is greater possessions than your ownsense of self-worth.
Money.People say that money can not buy happiness. That is true many times.But money can certainly make people unhappy. When we fail to manageour money wisely, we often make our lives difficult anddisappointing.
Moneyis not the most important thing in the world, but when it is usedwisely it gives you control over your life. When it is used poorly,it controls you and your are unhappy. Now is the time to acquire thegood money habits to make our life happy.
Positiveactions are also necessary for recognizing and developing talents.Some people seem to have lots of talents, others only have few. Buttalents do not mean much unless they are developed. We should bethankful for the things we are good at and we should do our best toimprove those skills. We have a lifetime to improve upon ourabilities, and after all, that is one of the main joys in life;seeing yourself get better at something.
Allpeople experience feelings and emotions. One of the most powerfulhuman emotions is love. Managing the emotion of love means being agood friend. You may call it caring about people. That is anothername for the same feeling. A person who is in control of this emotionwill expand his circle of friends and learn to be friendly to allpeople.
Andhow to manage anger? What does anger look like? Does it have a shape?Or edges? Each of us experiences anger in a different way. We all getangry at times. But uncontrolled anger will destroy your chances ofthinking and acting wisely. People who act in anger almost alwaysregret it. Wise persons learn to give themselves some time toconsider before they act and to react in a positive way. Here aresome ways to manage anger.
1accept anger as a feeling we all experience.
2never take your anger out on someone who is not to blame.
3give yourself time to think of ways to deal with it.
4try to get an explanation for what happened. It may help you handleyour anger constructively.
5react positively. Channel your emotional energy towards hard world orintense activity. Then you may be able to express your anger in areasonable way.
Problemswith worry. How do you feel when you worry? What happens to yourbody? Does you stomach feel sick? Does your heart hurt? Do you feellike crying?
Everyonefeels jealous at times. Positive people, however, learn to controlthe feeling by sharing the joy that others experience. If you careabout others, you should be happy with their good fortune. You expectyour friends to be happy for you.
Thefeeling of fear. Fear is certainly normal. It is something everysingle human being experienced. Fear can be useful. It keeps you fromdoing things that might harm you, such as leaning too far over a highledge or going into dangerous situations. But fear must be managed.Some fear are exaggerated and keep people from enjoying normalactivities. If you are afraid of water, for instance, you may have ahealthy fear. Water can be dangerous. But if that fear keeps you fromswimming, it has taken over and is managing you. You must face yourfear, enter the water carefully and conquer that negative feeling.People should also conquer the feeling of discouragement.Discouragement is the feeling we have when we feel we can not standup to the challenges we face. Discourage means to lose courage. Butthe positive action in such situation is not to give way to despairand to deal with feelings of discouragement.
Soif our goal life is to keep on leaning in all the ways we can we wantto be well-rounded persons, we must meet the needs ofbodies(physical), minds(intellectual) and emotional(feelings).
Youcan choose positive over negative actions.
Weall have eight gifts we can manage wisely: time, energy, money,possessions, talents, thoughts, feelings, actions.
Everyonehas feelings of anger, worry, jealousy, pride, fear, discourage andlove. We should learn to manage these through positive actions.
Youare in control. When you choose positive actions you feel betterabout yourself.
Topic13
Beowulfan epic in Old English tells us of the times long before theAnglo-Saxons came to Britain. The poem was compiled in the 10thcentury by an unknown author. The manuscript is in the British Museumin London. The main events are the staying of the monster Grendel andGrendel’s mother by the hero Beowulf of a brave and nobleknight who is ready to sacrifice his life for his country and hispeople.
TheCanterbury Tales is another masterpiece of the English literature.Geoffrey Chaucer who is acclaimed today as «the father ofEnglish poetry» wrote it in 1384. His most importantcontribution was the development of the resources of the Englishlanguage for literary purposes. By using English instead of the morefashionable French spoken in court circles and by the aristocracy headded tremendously to its prestige. “The Canterbury Tales”are a series of stories written in verse. The framework that servesto connect them is a pilgrimage to Canterbury is 60miles. To make thetiresome four-day trip more interesting the pilgrims decide to tellstories. Beside their intriguing and exciting plot they contain amoral which is valid for all times. The value of the work lies alsoin the brilliance of style.
Anotherwork which exercised enormous influence on the development of theEnglish language is The King James Bible. It was appointed to be readin churches throughout the Kingdom and in this way had a far-reachinginfluence on the population. The King James Bible remains the mostwidely accepted version of the Bible and a classic of the Englishlanguage. There are many phrases in the King James Bible which haveentered the English idiomatic language some of them are: eye for eye,a wolf in sheep’s clothing and many others. An exceptional rolein the English literature was played by William Shakespeare. He isthe author of 37plays and some tragedies and sonnets. Shakespeare’sgenius lay not only in masterful narration but rather in his capacityfor revealing the greatness and imperfections of human life in itsfull richness and movement. In his masterpieces Shakespeare possessessome special merit for every generation. Shakespeare enriched theEnglish language with plenty of phrases such as: what is done can’tbe undone, to play fast and loose, to much of a good thing.
Topic 14
WILLIAMSAROYAN.
WilliamSaroyan is an American writer of American origin. He gained hispopularity in the thirties as a short-story writer. The long list ofSaroyan’s collections of short stories opens with “TheYoung man on a FlyingTrapeze”. He is also known as a talented dramatist, the best ofhis plays being “The Time of Your Life”. He is the authorof a number of novels. His first novel, “The Human Comedy”,combined his talent of the storyteller with that of a dramatist.
Saroyan’s works are highlydemocratic, they are marked by deep belief in human kindness and thepower of humor. To himthe kind heart and humor are instruments of helping people inovercoming hardships and in resisting evil.
Saroyan’s characters are mostlycommon people, poor, noble, and full of humor.His is at his best, however with characters of children and suchgrown-ups who remain children, preserving their sincerity andsensitivity. No wonder that his manner of writing is characterized bythe sincerity of intonation and. His language is both lucid andcolorful. Saroyan makes the reader see the world through the eyes ofhis characters, keeping himself in the background, His humor ismostly mild, sometimes bitter, and more often than no eccentric.
Realisticand democratic at bottom, Saroyan’s works are not devoid ofdrawbacks and certain limitations. His firm belief in human kindnessmakes him resist the seamy side of life, its violence and cruelty.Though being a realist, he can’t help exposing it from time totime. But that is always accompanied by the soothing tone andreassuring smile suggesting that in spite of the hardships life willchange for the better . Thus his kindness borders on sentimentality.
“TheHuman Comedy” came out in 1943. It’s a rare case of theadaptation of a move scenario into a novel. Both the movie and thenovel were a great success. It reminds us of Saroyan’s shortstory collections, each chapter forming an episode which can bearranged into a story. The novel is set in California in a smallprovincial town of Ithaca during World War Second. The plot iscentered round the Macauley family, whose eldest son is at war, theyoungest, Ulysses, is only four, Homer is 14. Their mother is a widowof two years. The novel is to some extent autobiographical;Saroyan, as well as Homer Macauley, had to earn his living from anearly age and had a lot of after school jobs, one of them that of atelegraph messenger. The job was not a casual choice of the writer.It linked Homer with a lot of people and with their fates, andconstantly reminded was a war going on.
The title of the novel is suggestive. It implies that in spite of war and evil, life is going on and willfinally win, for the world is full of clever, noble, stoical people,possessing the sense of humor,too.
Theproblems of environment include a wide range of burning issues:nature distraction, pollution, extermination of wildlife on globalscale, endangering human health with industrial and nuclear wastes,shortage of natural resources and others. The problem of pollutionhas become one of the most serious ones during the last thirty years.That is why man’s interest in environmental protection has beenstimulated by a great number of problems mankind ever faced. A lot ofrainforests are disappearing fast on the planet. But we shouldn’tforget that the “green belts” not only provide restfulrelaxation but they are regarded as important allies in the battleagainst air pollution.
Manyfactories and plants pour their wastes into seas, rivers and lakes.That is why among the simple but far disappearing blessings is thesmall of clean fresh air and the good taste of pure water. Acidrains, holes in the ozone layer, global warming are caused bypollution.
Nowthe problem of pollution is being tackled depends greatly on theGovernment and social initiative. All states ought to join theirefforts to save the Earth from an ecological catestrophe. It’surgent to build such purifying systems which anable to avoid thepollution of rivers and reduce the amount of harmful wastes in theair. Natural and energy resources should be used economically. Asprotecting forests is the key to our survival on the Earth that’swhy the greenary must be increased. Ecological education should beintroduced in all schools since an early age because the shouldrealise the importance of environmental protection. We must saveenergy because production of electricity causes air pollution, acidrains, global warming. People should use ecologically harmless-salarpower, wind power and water power. Recycling saves energy and rawmaterials and also reduces damage to the countryside.
Englishmeals.
There are four meals a day inEnglish home: breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner.
Breakfast is the first meal of the day. It isat about 8 o’clock in the morning, and consists of porridgewith milk and salt or sugar, eggs – boiled or fried, bread andbutter with marmalade or jam. Some people like o drink tea, but etherprefer coffee. Instead of porridge they may have fruit juice, or theymay prefer biscuits.
The usual time for lunch is 1o’clock. This meal starts with soup or fruit juice. Thenfollows some meat or poultry with potatoes – boiled or fried,carrots and beans. Then a pudding comes. Instead of the pudding theymay prefer cheese and biscuits. Last of all coffee – black orwhite. Englishmen often drink something at lunch. Water is usually onthe table. Some prefer juice or lemonade.
Tea is the third meal of the day.It is between 4 or 5 o’clock, the so -called 5 o’clocktea. On the table there is tea, milk or cream, sugar, bread andbutter, cakes and jam. Friends and visitors are often present at tea.
Dinner is the fourth meal a day.The usual time is about 7 o’clock, and all the members of thefamily sit down together.
Dinner usually consists of soup,fish or meat with vegetables – potatoes, green beans, carrotand cabbage, sweet pudding, fruit salad, ice-cream or cheese andbiscuits. Then after a talk they have black or white coffee.
This is the order of meals amongEnglish families, but the greater part of the people in the towns,and nearly all country-people, have dinner in the middle of the dayinstead of lunch. They have tea a little later – between 5 or 6o’clock, and then in the evening, before going to bed, theyhave supper.
So the four meals of the day areeither breakfast, dinner, tea, supper; or breakfast, lunch, tea,dinner.
Topic 19
Thechoice of accommodation available in Britain is vast. It includeshotels, inns, “Bed and Breakfast”, farmhouses andself-catering establishments. You may stay at a castle that has beenconverted into a hotel or at a historic country inn with lowwood-beamed ceilings.
Britain’s large towns and city hotels offer everycomfort you would expect-central heating, bedside radio, TV,coffee-making facilities and privet bathroom. There will be arestaurant and bar on the premises. An increasing number of hotelshave leisure facilities for their guests-swimming pools, tenniscourts, small golf courses. Other have local arrangements forpony-trakking golf, fishing and sailing.
For real value of money accommodation, a friendlywelcome and the best chance to meet the British, try a B&B. Youwill find B&B in towns resorts and villages throughout Britain.Some are private houses, other are country pubs or farmhouses. Themain advantage about B&B is that you don’t need to book,just look for the sing saying B&B and walk up and knock at thefront door.
Guesthousesfound mainly in seaside towns and other tourist centers are slightlymore expensive but have more bedrooms and bathrooms.
Wherever you stay you’ll be pleased with thequality, friendly service and value for money.
Allkind of accommodation are to comply with the most stringentrequirements of thevisitors. They have convenient location with easy access and parking.They are set in tranquil picturesque surroundings and are sure tosuit any taste.
Topic 20
Ifi can choose a city to go, of course i’ll choose London. I havebeen there 2 years ago. London draws people from all over the world.Some come on business, some come to study, to work or on holidays.There is much in London which fascinates visitors and inspires theaffection of Londoners. London shows examples of buildings thatexpress all the different areas of its history. Buckinghampalace is heofficial London residence of Sovereign. The daily ceremony of theChanging of the Guards takes place in its courtyard. PiccadilyCircus has becomean important meeting point. At its hear is a bronze fountain toppedby a figure of winged archer, known as Eros, god of love. This areais now famous for its theatres, clubs and shops. Whitehallis a street incentral London running from Trafalgar Square to the Houses ofParliament. It contains many important buildings and governmentoffices: Ministry of Defense, the treasury, Admiralty. Its nameoriginates from former Palace of Whitehall which stood here until 18century. London is always full of life. The streets are crowded withtraffic. High “double-decker” buses rise above thesmaller cars and vans. TheCity of London iscommercial center, it has its own police and government. Theterritory of City is over one square mile, includes several banks,many financial companies.The parks of Londonprovide a welcome contrast of the great built-up areas. There are 4main parks: St. Jame’s Park, Green Park, Hyde Park andKensington Gardens, they all are linked together and forms the greenheart of London.