Task: Answer the questions of the quiz

1. When was the cinema born?

2. What is its date of birth?

3. What is its place of birth?

4. What is its address?

5. Who are its parents?

6. Who are its siblings?

7. What is its marital status?

8. What is its motto?

Sly

Now he is intelligent with a nice sense of humor. He says he is not like Rambo or Rocky in life.

Silvestre Stallone’s nickname is Sly. He was born in 1946, on July 6. his father was a barber in New York. His mother is American, but her roots go to France and to Odessa. Sly says he is 100% American.

When he was a small boy he was weak and ill. At 13 he weighted only 45 kg. till 10 his left side was paralyzed. When Silvestre was 16, his parents divorced. After school Sly was not taken to Vietnam. Then he began training. For 9 years after school Sly had been cleaning cages in the zoo, working in restaurants, playing cards.

In 1977, Silvestre himself became a scriptwriter and made his first film “Rocky”. He earned 25,000 dollars. In “Rocky – III” he got 500,000 dollars for each sentence. He became one of the most expensive actors in Hollywood earning 20-25 million dollars for one film. In 1983, he played the role of Rambo.

His hobby is painting and collecting pictures.

For some years he had been awarded the anti-Oscar award “Golden Strawberry” for his poor roles.

Task I: Read the text and mark the sentences true or false.

 

1. Sly is the nickname of Marlon Brando.

2. Silvestre Stallone is one of the most popular Italian actors.

3. Sly had been a “problem” baby in his childhood.

4. In real life Sly is like Rambo.

5. Sly is a clever man with a nice sense of humor.

6. Stallone got an “Oscar” for his last roles.

Task II: Answer the following questions:

1) Who is Sly?

2) What is his profession?

3) Is it his name or nickname?

4) Where does he live?

5) What do you know about him?

 

II. Cultural life in the USA.

 

There are 6800 museums in the U.S. Many museums offer classes, lectures, films and field trips. The most famous museums in the U.S. include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and Smithsonian Institute in Washington.

Theater in America is especially healthy in the hundreds of university groups. But it is Broadway with its 40 major professional stages and 350 experimental theatres that bring to mind American playwrights such as O’Neill, Saroyan and Shephard. The theatre in the U.S. is not state-supported. Americans pay for his/her own favourite cultural activity. The Metropolitan Opera’s annual budget is $75 million: only 5% comes from governmental sources, the other 95% is made by individual contributions.

The community open-air concerts which are free for all also has a long tradition in America. They attract thousands of Americans. So called serious music is therefore very healthy in the U.S. The contribution of America to “semi-classical” or “classical” musical form has been enormous, from Oklahoma and Westside Story to Hair and a Chorus Line. Jazz was one thought to be a great danger to youth and was outlawed in some countries. Luis Armstrong /i900-71/ revolutionized jazz. Because of his genius he became one of the architects of American art. Swing, rock’n’roll of Elvis Presley who changed the face of American popular culture and country western music have similar histories. Metallica are famous for their stage shows.

The world of American film is far-reaching topic. There are many studios throughout the country. Of course, Hollywood comes first to mind. American films grow in popularity throughout the world. Generation have grown up watching American films / and viewing America through them/, for better or for worse.Television has only increased its popularity. American films stretch from Gone with the Wind to Star Wars. Movies which treated alcoholism, divorce poverty and immigration have all received awards and have done well at the box office.

Lesson 36.

 

Topic: Cultural Programme.

I) Read and translate the following text:

The origin and history of Madame Tussaud’s

The origin and history of Madame Tussaud’s are as fascinating as the wax portrait figures themselves. Marie Grosholtz (later to become Madame Tussaud’s) was baptized in Strasbourg in 1761, two month after her father, a soldier, was killed in the Seven Years War (waged by Prussia and Britain against Austria, France and Russia). Marie’s mother took a job as a housekeeper in Berne for Philippe Curtis, a doctor who was skilled at modelling wax to create anatomical figures. These subjects led to portraiture, which soon became more lucrative than his medical career.

In 1767, Marie and her mother moved with Dr Curtis to Paris where he opened his first public exhibition. Dr Curtis taught Marie the techniques of wax sculpting from an early age, and she became so proficient in wax portraiture that she was soon making figures of many prominent people of the era such as the writer Francois Voltaire and the US statesman Benjamin

Franklin (both on display today). In those days visiting wax portrait figures exhibition was like going to the cinema or watching TV today – people knew the names of the famous and infamous people of the time but didn’t know how they looked, so they were intrigued enough to pay to see wax portrait figures.

It wasn’t long before Marie’s skills were noticed by Louis XVI’s sister, Madame Elisabeth, and Marie was invited to live at the family’s splendid palace at Versailles to help in Madame Elisabeth’s artistic education. Marie spent nine years at court, and whilst there she created the figures of Louis XVI and his family.

However, in 1789, Dr Curtis asked Marie to return to Paris. Once back in Paris the French Revolution erupted, and Marie was soon asked to make death masks of some of the prominent figures who were executed, such as Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette.

She herself was imprisoned in 1794 by the revolutionaries and had to share a cell with Napoleon Bonaparte’s future wife, Josephine de Beauharnais. It must have been a terrible time for Marie, who at one stage actually had her hair cropped in preparation for the guillotine.

Fortunately, she escaped that terrible fate and was eventually released.

In 1794, near the end of the revolutionary period, Curtis died, and Marie inherited the exhibition. She later went to marry a French engineer called Francois Tussaud and by 1800 had given birth to three children – a daughter, who died, and two sons, Joseph and Francis. Since the exhibition was struggling in the economic decline following the revolution, Marie decided to take her show to England in 1802, leaving behind her husband and the youngest son. Marie and Joseph, who were later joined by Francis, made a great success of their traveling show, touring the British Isles for the next 33 years. They showed British characters such as King George IV as well as the death mask of Emperor Napoleon. The show even survived a stormy crossing Ireland in 1822, when the ship carrying the figures was wrecked, but fortunately some of the figures were saved.

Then, in 1835, at the age of 74, Marie decided to settle the exhibition permanently at the Baker Street Bazaar, not far from the present site. Initially the Chamber of Horrors was called “The Separate Room” as it was thought too alarming for ladies of decline disposition. People had to pay extra to be allowed to visit it, which no doubt added to its mystery.

Marie continued to work at the exhibition until her death in 1850 at the age of 89. Her sons and grandsons continued with the business, but these days her descendants are no longer directly involved. However, the spirit of Marie continues to live on, not least in the form of the last figure she made of herself eight years before her death. Her grandsons decided to move the exhibition to its present site in 1884. Over the years there have been several disasters which the exhibition has managed to survive.

Since then Madame Tussaud’s has continued to develop its attractions. In 1958, the London Planetarium was built on the old cinema cite. Today the most recently developed attractions are the “Spirit of London” time travel ride, spanning the history of Britain’s capital city from Elizabethan times to the present day.

 

Lesson 37.

Topic: Cultural Programme.

Active Vocabulary.

Attitude відношення

integral part невід’ємна частина

varied різноманітний

to reflect відображати

boundless безмежний

to satisfy задовольняти

to influence впливати

to arouse викликати

to remove позбавитися

musical мюзикл

to appeal подобатися

to appreciate високо цінувати

to escape уникнути, врятуватися від

to thunder гриміти

to hiss шипіти

to blast вириватися