XVII. Translate into English.

1.Какая ужасная погода! 2. Дождь льет как из ведра. 3. Гром, кажется, гремит прямо над нашей головой. 4. Молния освещает дом у пруда и маленькую березовую рощицу (birch grove). 5. В мае все деревья в цвету. 6. Дни стоят жаркие и воздух неподвижен. 7. Темные тучи стремительно двигаются по небу. 8. Вскоре все небо покрыто грозовыми облаками. 9. Внезапно шквал ветра согнул деревья и поднял тучи пыли. 10. Началась гроза с градом. 11. Через час погода прояснилась. 12. Дети с удовольствием шлепали по теплой грязи и лужам. 13. Люблю грозу в начале мая, когда весенний первый гром, как бы резвяся и играя, грохочет в небе голубом. 14. Крупные снежинки, медленно кружась в воздухе, опускались на замерзшую землю. 15. Декабрь стоял лютый, морозы и метели, серое низкое небо и снег повсюду – на домах, деревьях, на земле. 16. Осенью постоянно моросит нудный, холодный дождь. 17. Осенью есть одна или две недели бабьего лета. 18. Воздух тих и прозрачен, небо безоблачно, солнце нежно греет щеки, и деревья поражают многоцветием. 19. На заре ты ее не буди, на заре она сладко так спит. 20. Шумел камыш (reed), деревья гнулись, и ночка темная была. 21.Мы стояли на высоком берегу реки и удовольствием наблюдали за ледоходом. 22. На одной из льдин мы заметили нескольких зайцев. 23. К счастью льдина застряла около берега, и зайцы перепрыгнули на берег. 24. Распустились цветы на деревьях, и их нежный аромат стоял в воздухе. 25. После грозы в небе появились две радуги. 26. Летние ливни коротки. 27. Через час только небольшие лужицы напоминают о нем. 28. В тихом воздухе плыла паутина. 29. На каждой травинке сверкала капелька росы. 30. В детстве мы любили кувыркаться в сугробах, кататься с горки и играть в снежки.

 

XVIII. Read these texts. Look up all the words you don’t know in the dictionary and learn them. Make not less than 15 questions as a kind of a plan to each story. Retell the texts.

Seasons*

1. Spring.

There are four seasons in a year. And when speaking about them people usually begin with spring. Spring months are March, April and May. Though in our places spring begins in the middle of March and sometimes even at the end. Everything awakes from its winter sleep.

The nights become shorter and the days become longer. Usually in spring the sky is clear and bright blue. Though there are days when the sky is cast with low grey clouds. In March it's rather cold. It still often snows. But once you notice that the snow begins gradually sink down and becomes dark. And soon it begins to melt. In the middle of April there are only patches of snow, mainly in forests. There are streams everywhere. Lakes, ponds become free from ice and one can watch ice drifting on the rivers. The sun shines brightly and it is warm. Sometimes the temperature rises up to 15-20 degrees above zero.

At the beginning of May we can see the first green grass in the fields and meadows and small gentle green leaves and buds on trees and bushes. The first wild flowers appear – snowdrops (подснежники), primroses (примулы), forget-me-nots (незабудки), lilies of the valley (ландыши), and violets (фиалки). Birds come back from far-away countries to make nests, to lay the eggs and to hatch their younglings (птенцов). They sing their songs and twitter among the trees. In May people begin to work in fields and gardens. The farmers plough and sow seeds. The gardeners are busy in their gardens and orchards digging the ground, making future flowerbeds, and sowing young trees and bushes and flowers.

  But the weather is very changeable in spring. The light breeze becomes chilly wind, and a small cloud can bring rain or even snow. But in an hour the weather turns for the better and again the sun shines in the bright blue sky.

At the end of May trees, bushes are in bloom. Meadows look like a multicoloured carpet because of a plenty flowers. And at last, we can watch the first thunderstorm.

I like spring, though it's not my favourite season. I don't like slush and mud, but I enjoy warm days after cold winter…

2. Summer.

In June summer sets in. July and August are also summer months. The days are the longest and the nights are the shortest. The sun rises early and sets late in the evening. The foliage of the trees and bushes becomes bright green and dense (густая). There are a lot of different flowers everywhere. I think, every summer month has its own flower: June – daffodil (нарциссы) and dandelion (одуванчики); July – cornflower (василек); August – dahlia (георгин). Usually the weather in summer is warm and hot. The sun shines brightly and the sky is cloudless.

There are days when it is stuffy, the air is still and there is even no light breeze. And then, the sky turns dark-blue, a strong wind bends trees and you can't go straight. You begin to understand that a thunderstorm is coming. Terrifying peals of thunder break the stillness of the air just over your heads frightening us. Flashes of lightning dazzle us and then a rain crashes upon us. After it there are a lot of puddles that disappear very quickly. But children have enough time to splash through the warm water of puddles and mud. Sometimes there are rains with hail – a real disaster for farmers. I like summer showers, short and strong. After them the nature seems to be well-washed. But when it is drizzling you know that after such rains there are a lot of mushrooms in the forests. You take your basket and go to the forest for a " quiet hunting " – mushrooming and picking berries.

But sometimes there is no rain at all for a long time. Everything gets dry and a thick layer of dust covers trees, bushes and grass. The flowers begin to fade (вянуть), the sky is colourless and the sun burns merciless. It's drought. It's so hot and stuffy that all clothes stick to the skin.

But in spite of all annoying moments of summer, such as flies (a fly – муха), swarms of mosquitoes, dust, heat and so on, I like summer best of all. There is a lot of fun! Fishing at the daybreak is one of them. Or you can go boating or swim, raft down the river  or simply lie in the sun being a lazy-bone. We, Russians, are very inventive in the ways to relax. And it's very pleasant, being in the countryside, to spend our evening by the fire, singing songs, laughing, joking and feeding mosquitoes. And it's so interesting to watch a starry) night trying to find familiar constellations.

In August there is a hard time for farmers and gardeners. The hot sun ripens corn, fruit and vegetables. It's time for a harvest. August comes to the end and we notice that the days become shorter and it's not so warm as it was in July.  

3. Autumn.

Autumn begins in September. The days are much shorter and colder. In the mornings there are early frosts. The green leaves fade. The trees and bushes become yellow, orange, red, and purple. The foliage begins to fall down. The sky is usually grey and cast with low dark clouds. It often rains. The puddles and pools don't disappear so quickly as in summer but stay for a long time. And mud. There is mud everywhere – the main disaster of any autumn. Running past trolley-buses, cars and lorries can splash mud over passers-by from top to bottom (сверху донизу). And you have to put on a raincoat and take an umbrella not to get wet through. There is usually strong wind trying to tear out (вырвать) umbrellas and people practically run along the streets. The weather is usually nasty / beastly. Sometimes there are thick fogs and you can hardly see anything in a few metres. Everything is dull.

But in September or at the beginning of October there is a period, which we call Indian summer. The days stay clear and still. The sky is blue with some white clouds. And the sun warms gently but does not burn. The nature is in its full beauty – multicoloured trees, dark brown fields and green and yellow meadows, fresh air, warmness and flocks of birds flying away to the far-away countries to spend winter there.

But this period is not very long. And then it starts raining heavily. The woods become bare, the grass fades. Chilly winds make people stay at home. At the end of October it snows for the first time. Usually it melts very quickly, but it is a sign winter is coming. Late autumn is cold with frosts in the mornings. The harvest is gathered and brown fields under the rain look sad.

4. Winter.

Winter begins with snowfalls and the first not very strong snowstorm. December is the first winter month. January and February are winter months too. But in reality winter lasts from the middle of November till the middle of March in our places. The sun is low in the sky and there is little warmth from it. The sky is usually grey or colourless. But sometimes you can see very gentle colours of pearl, pale blue, pink, yellow. In the sunbeams snow begins to sparkle. But then the weather changes and it snows heavily and the piercing wind blows hard making snowflakes go up and down in strands.

There are large snowdrifts in which children like to play and roll. All rivers, lakes and ponds are frozen over. Sometimes it's so bitterly cold that you can have frost-bitten nose, cheeks and ears. But when it is not so cold you can find some fun skating or skiing, tobogganin g or playing snowballs. In the yards snow fortresses are made. Children slide down the ice-hills. Sometimes we have days when it is still and snow falls down slowly in huge snowflakes. The branches and twigs of trees are covered with hoarfrost. Everything looks like in a fairy-tale.

There are sometimes large changes of temperature – after hard frosts and blizzards there are periods of thaw. Then the temperature is about zero, the snow sinks down and there is slush on the roads and the streets. These days you can get home all over dirty and wet.

To my mind these two opposites – frosts and thaws are the only unpleasant moments of any winter. But there is one holiday thanks to which they like winter. I mean the New Year. People begin to get ready for it long before. They buy a New Year tree and decorations – toys, garlands, fires, flags, and candles. They go shopping to buy foodstuff, beverages and presents. On the eve of the holiday they clean their flats, decorate New Year trees and make a holiday supper. And the nature prepares too. It's strange enough, but the New Year night is usually still and not very cold. People are glad to go outdoors after midnight and walk for several hours after a holiday supper. There are crowds of people, laughing, singing, dancing and joking.

Well, I don't like winter because of its coldness, snowstorms and the shortest days of the year. When you get up it's still dark outdoors, when you get home after work it's already dark. The only thing that let me live in peace with winter is the New Year.     

 

Topic 'Leisure Time'

Introductory texts.

I. Hobbies.

Hobbies differ like tastes. If you have chosen a hobby according to your character and taste you are lucky because your life become more interesting.

Hobbies are divided into four large classes: doing things, making things, collecting things and learning things.

The most popular of all hobby groups is doing things. It includes a wide variety of activities, everything from gardening to travelling and from chess to volleyball. Gardening is one of the oldest of man's hobbies. It is a well-known fact that the English are very fond of gardening and growing flowers, especially roses. Both grown-ups and children are fond of playing different computer games. This is a relatively new hobby but it is becoming more and more popular.

Making things include drawing, painting, making sculptures, designing costumes, handicrafts. Two of the most famous hobby painters were President Eisenhower and Sir Winston Churchill. Some hobbyists compose music or play musical instruments. Ex-president of the USA Bill Clinton, for example, plays the saxophone.

Almost everyone collects something at some period of his or her life: stamps, coins, match-boxes, books, records, postcards, toys, watches. Some collections have no real value. Others become so large and so valuable that they are housed in museums and galleries. Many world-famous collections started in a small way with one or two items. People with a good deal of money often collect paintings, rare books and other art objects. Often such private collections are given to museums, libraries and public galleries so that the others might take pleasure in seeing them.

No matter what kind of hobby a person has, he always has the opportunity of learning from it. By reading about the things he is interested in, he is adding to what he knows. Learning things can be the most exciting aspect of a hobby.

 

1. Find in the text the following words and word combinations:

В соответствии с характером; счастливый; хобби делятся на; широкий выбор видов деятельности; хорошо известно; взрослые; сравнительно новое хобби; становится все более популярным; рукоделие; художники-любители; играть на саксофоне; в какой-либо период жизни; не имеют реальной ценности; настолько ценные; размещаются в музеях и галереях; всемирно известная коллекция; начинаться с малого; предмет, пункт; собирать картины; редкая книга; предмет искусства; частная коллекция; получать удовольствие от занятий; иметь возможность сделать что-либо; интересоваться чем-либо; прибавлять, увеличивать; наиболее увлекательная сторона.

Translate into English.

1. Хобби – это времяпрепровождение, которое человек выбирает по своему вкусу.

2. Четыре класса, на которые подразделяются хобби – это делать что-либо, создавать что-либо, собирать что-либо и узнавать что-либо.

3. Люди, имеющие хобби создавать что-либо, рисуют, создают скульптуры, костюмы и т.д.

4. Коллекции могут не иметь реальной ценности.

5. Коллекции картин, редких книг и других предметов искусства могут быть настолько ценными, что их размещают в музеях и художественных галереях.

6. Люди получают радость, осматривая коллекции, переданные в музеи.

7. Возможность узнавать новое – это самая увлекательная сторона хобби.