III. Which is correct? Circle the correct number.

1. British Rail /BR/ runs train services from London to all parts of Britain.

2. There are two main London railway stations.

3. The world’s first Underground line was between Baker Street and the City.

4. The tiles at Baker Street Station feature detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at 221B, Baker Street.

5. Now there are 273 London underground stations with the lines covering 404 km.

6. Sometimes Londoners nickname the London Underground “the subway”.

7. There are 19 underground lines in London.

 

IV. Replace the pronouns with the nouns in the brackets.

1. She visited the National Gallery in 1838.

2. One can see it in the Science Museum.

3. It is most loved by children and their fathers.

4. You may feel it in the Geological Museum.

5. It helped to understand the Egyptian picture writing.

(Science museum, Apollo10, QueenVictoria, Rosetta Stone, earthquake)

 

V. Complete the sentences with one of the following words.

1. The London Transport Museum has lots of restored trams, buses and Underground trains which you can ….

2. The first London … started running in 1829, between Paddington and the City.

3. In the 1900’s London … were introduced.

4. London … came from “cabriolets” /a goat’s leap.

5. They are traditionally ….

6. To get a taxi license … have to memorize hundreds of routes and be tested.

7. These tests are called “…” and take two years to be passed.

(Running, black, popular, history, double-deckers, bus, drivers, board, taxicabs, the Knowledge)

 

 

Lesson 34.

 

 

Topic: Cultural Programme.

I) Read and translate the following text:

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is a listing of notable objects built between about 3000 BC and 476 AD. The practice of listing the seven wonders probably began in ancient Greece. The ancient Romans also listed memorable things that travellers should see. Many such lists were made, and they included many different objects. But all the lists of ancient wonders included only objects made by human beings and considered notable because of their great size or some other unusual quality. This article discusses the seven most commonly listed wonders of the ancient world.

The pyramids of Egypt at Giza, built as tombs for Egyptian kings, are the oldest and best reserved of all the ancient wonders. Three famous pyramids were built about 2600 to 2500 BC.

The largest pyramid, called the Great Pyramid, stands about 450 feet (137 meters) high. Its base occupies about 13 acres (5 hectares). The Greeks and Romans marvelled at the size of the pyramids. They were unaware of the religious importance of the pyramids as tombs, and considered the pyramids to be foolish extravagances of the Egyptian kings.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were probably built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for one of his wives. Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon from 605 to 562 BC. Babylon was located near modern Baghdad in Iraq. Scientists have been unable to identify positively the remains of the gardens. Our information about the gardens comes from an account by Berrosus, a Babylonian priest of the 200’s BC. Berrosus described gardens that were laid out on a brick terrace about 400 feet (120 meters) square and 75 feet (23 meters) above the ground. In order to irrigate the flowers and trees in the gardens, slaves worked in shifts turning screws to lift water from the Euphrates River.

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, built about 550 BC, was one of the largest and most complicated temples built in ancient times. It stood in the Greek city of Ephesus, on the west coast of what is now Turkey. The temple was entirely marble, except for its tile-covered wooden roof. It was dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis and was designed by the architect Chersiphron and his son, Metagenes. Its foundation measured 377 by 180 feet (115 by 55 meters). It had 106 columns, about 40 feet (12 meters) high, in a double row around the cellar (inner space). Wealthy King Croesus of Lydia donated some of the columns.

The temple burned down in 356 BC, and another one like it was built on the same foundation. Goths burned down the second temple in 262 AD. Only the foundation and parts of the second temple remain. The British Museum in London contains sculptures from the second temple.

The statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece, was perhaps the most famous statue in the ancient world. The Greek sculptor Phidias made it about 435 BC, and dedicated it to Zeus, the king of the gods. The statue, 40 feet (12 meters) high, showed Zeus on his throne. Phidias made Zeus’s robe and ornaments out of gold, and he made the god’s flesh of ivory. In the statue, Zeus had a wreath around his head and held a figure of Nike, his messenger, in his right hand. He held a sceptre (king’s rod) with an eagle in his left hand. The statue no longer exists.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnasus, in what is now south-western Turkey, was a huge, white marble tomb. It was built about 353 BC to hold the remains of Mausolus, a provincial ruler in the Persian Empire. Its size and decorations made it so famous that all large tombs are now called mausoleums. The tomb was about 135 feet (41 meters) high. It had a rectangular basement beneath a colonnade, and a statue of Mausolus in a chariot probably stood on top of the pyramid. The Greek architects Satyros and Pythios designed the tomb. Four famous Greek sculptors – Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas, and Timotheus – carved the frieze (decorated band) on the building. The top part of the mausoleum was destroyed by an earthquake, and only pieces of the building and its decorations remain. The British Museum in London contains some sculptures from the mausoleum.

The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge bronze statue that stood near the harbour of Rhodes, an island in the Aegean Sea. The statue honoured the sun god Helios. It stood about 120 feet (37 meters) tall – about as high as the Statue of Liberty. The Greek sculptor Chares worked 12 years on it in the early 200’s BC. He used stone blocks and about 71/2 short tons (6.8 metric tons) of iron bars to support the hollow statue. In 224 BC, an earthquake destroyed the Colossus. The metal supports were sold for scrap in 653 AD.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, over 400 feet (122 meters) high, stood on the island of Pharos in the harbour of Alexandria, Egypt. It became so famous that the word “pharos” came to mean lighthouse. The lighthouse is also called the Pharos of Alexandria. The structure, completed during the reign of Ptolemy (283 – 246 BC) from a design by the Greek architect Sostratos, rose from a stone platform in three sections. The bottom section of the lighthouse was square, the middle eight-sided, and the top circular. A fire burning at the top of the lighthouse provided light. The Lighthouse of Alexandria stood for about 1,500 years before an earthquake finally toppled it.

Lesson 35.

 

Topic: Cultural Programme.

I. Read and translate the following texts:

Cinema

The first film show took place in Paris in Capuchin Boulevard, on December 8, 1896. So, cinema is more than one hundred years old already.

The first one hundred spectators came to a little hall “cinematograph”, to watch a film about a train, coming to the railway station. Seeing that train on the screen, the people rose and ran away.

That first film was made by brothers Lumier. They are considered to be the “fathers” – founders of the new kind of art. Cinema nowadays is used to invest, spend and gain money.

According to the statistics the most expensive films during the last 100 years are:

“The Titanic”, 1998, it cost 200 million dollars.

“Water World”, 1995 with Kevin Costner, it cost 175 million dollars.

“The Fifth Element”, it cost 90 million dollars.

“Men in Black”, it cost 80 million dollars.

The cheapest film was the Australian film “Lost Illusions” (1927), which cost 300 dollars.

The most expensive properties were in the film “Golden Finger” (1964), it was the car which was sold for 275,000 dollars after 22 years.

The most expensive actress was Demy Moor. She gained 12,5 million dollars for the film “Striptease”. Jodi Foster was the second to earn 12 million dollars for the film.

One of the biggest fees was gained by Jack Nicholson (50 million dollars) for the role of Joker in “Batman”.

Marlon Brando was present in the film for 20 minutes, he was being shot for 12 days and earned 3,5 million dollars.

The greatest failure was the film “Heaven Gate” (1980), which cost 57 million dollars, but brought back only 1,5 million dollars.

The most expensive actors were: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Silvestre Stallone, who earned 20 million dollars for one film.