Outstanding people of Ukraine

In the history of humanity there have always been people whose actions and ideas produced a great impact on the Jives of other people. The have made a great contribution to our country. For this reason they are called outstanding. There are a lot of outstanding people famous for their contribution to our science. They are scientists, musicians, experienced and skilled workers of medicine and education.

Vladimir Vernadsky, for instance, was the first president of Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. He was born in 1863. Vladimir Vernadsky was the first in our country to introduce the spectral method for the solution of geochemical problems. He developed special study to the composition of the Earth's crust, the ocean and the atmosphere. Vladimir Vernadsky was the founder of the modern doctrine on the biosphere. His findings greatly contributed to the world science.

Eugene Paton is another great scientist whom we take pride in. He was born in 1870 in the family of a Russian ambassador and received his education abroad. In 1904 Paton moved to Kyiv to work and teach at the Kyiv Politechnical Institute. He was a professor and the head of the chair for nearly thirty years at the Institute. Eugene Paton was the first to apply electro-welding in bridge-construction. Under his guidance a welded bridge was built across the Dnipro river in Kyiv. It is now known as the Paton Bridge. It is 1.5 km long. In 1930 Paton organised the Research Institute of Electro-welding at the Academy of Science.

Nowadays the Academy of Science of Ukraine includes many outstanding scientists and research workers famous for their discoveries. Great success has been achieved by the Paton Research Institute of Electric Welding, the Research, institute of Cybernetics, Super-hard Materials, and others.

Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Khmelnytsky, Bohdan (Fedir) Zinovii, was born in 1695-6, died 6 August 1657 in Chyhyryn. Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host from 1648 to 1657, founder of the Hetman state (1648-1782). By birth he belonged to the Ukrainian lesser nobility and bore the Massalski, and later the Abdank, coat of arms. His father, M.Khmelnytsky, served as an officer under the Polish crown hetman S. Zolkiewski and his mother, according to some sources, was of Cossack descent. Little Is known about Khmelnytsky's education. Apparently, he received his elementary schooling in Ukrainian and his secondary and higher education in Polish at a Jesuit college, possibly in Jaroslaw, but more probably In Lviv. He completed his schooling before 1620 and acquired a broad knowledge of world history and fluency in Polish and Latin. Later he acquired a knowledge of Turkish, Tatar and French. The Battle of Cecora (1620), in which he lost his father and was captured by the Turks, was his first military action. After spending two years in Istanbul, he was ransomed by his mother and returned to Ukraine.

There is no reliable information about Khmelnytsky's activities from 1622 to 1637. Only one fact is certain — that in the 1620s he Joined the registered Cossacks. Sometime between 1625 and 1627 he married Hanna Somko, a Cossack's daughter from Pereiaslav, and settled on his patrimonial estate in Subotiv near Chyhyryn. By 1637 he attained the high office of military chancellor. By the Ordinance of 1638 the Polish, king revoked the autonomy of the Zaporozhian Host and placed the registered Cossacks under the direct authority of tire Polish military command in Ukraine. The office of military chancellor, which Khmelnytsky had held, was abolished and Khmelnytsky was demoted to a captain of Chyhyryn regiment. In the fall of 1638 he visited Warsaw with a Cossack delegation to petition King WIadyslaw IV Vasa to restore the former Cossack privileges.

In the next few years Khmelnytsky, devoted his attention mostly to his estates 1ft the Chyhyryn region, but in, 1645 he served with a detachment of 2.000 - 2.500 Cossack in France, and probably took part in the siege of Dunkirk. By this time his reputation for leadership was such that King WIadyslaw, in putting together a coalition of Poland, Venice, and other states against Turkey, turned to him to obtain the support of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. These events contributed to his reputation in Ukraine, Poland, and abroad, and provided him with wide military and political contacts.

Khmelnytsky, however, had been regarded with suspicion for many years by the Polish magnates in Ukraine who were politically opposed to King WIadyslaw. In spite of the fact that Khmelnytsky received a royal title to Subotiv in 1646, the Chygyryn assistant vicegerent Czaplinski raided the estate, seized movable property, and disrupted the manor's economy. Khmelnytsky's small son was severely beaten at the marketplace In Chyhyryn. Under these conditions of violence and terror Khmelnytsky's wife died in 1647.

At the and of December 1647 Khmelnytsky departed for Zaporlzhia with a small (300-500-man) detachment. There he was elected hetman. This event marked the beginning of a new Cossack uprising, which quickly turned into national revolution.

The great uprising of 1648 was one of the most cataclysmic events in Ukrainian history. It Is difficult to find an uprising of comparable magnitude, intensity, and impact in the history of early modern Europe. A crucial element in the revolt was the leadership of Hetman B.Khmelnytsky, whose exceptional organisational, military, and political talents to a large extent accounted for its success.

Khmelnytsky was married three times. His first wife, who was the ''mother of all his children, died prematurely. His second wife, Matrona, whom he married in early 1649, was the former wife of his enemy D.Czaplinski. In 1651 while Khmelnytsky was away on a military campaign, she was executed for conspiracy and adultery by his son Tymish. In the summer of 1651 Khmelnytsky married Hanna Zolotarenko, a Cossack woman from Korsun and the widow of Col Pylyp (Pylypets). Surviving him by many years, she entered a monastery in 1671 and adopted the religious name of Anastasia. Khmelnytsky had two sons and four daughters. Khmelnytsky was buried on 25 August 1657 in St. Elijahs Church in Subotiv, which he himslelf had built.

Khmelnytsky’s greatest achievement in the process of national revolution was the Cossack Hetman state of the Zaporothian Host (1648-1782). His statesmanship was demonstrated in all areas of state-building – in the military. administration, finance, economics and culture.

THE BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM

STATE EDUCATION IN BRITAIN

All state schools in Britain are free, and schools provide their pupils with books and equipment for their studies. Nine million children attend 35.000 schools in Britain. Education is compulsory from 5-16 years. Parents can choose to send their children to a nursery school or a pre-school playgroup to pre­pare them for the start of compulsory education. Children start primary school at 5 and continue until they are 11. Most children are taught together, boys and girls in the same class. At 11most pupils go to secondary schools called comprehensives which accept a wide range of children from all backgrounds and religious and ethnic groups. Ninety per cent of secondary schools in England, Scotland and Wales are co-educational. At 16 pupils take a national exam called 'GCSE' (General Certificate of Secondary Education) and then they can leave school if they wish.This is the end of compulsory education. Some 16-year-olds continue their studies in the sixth form at school or at a sixth form college. The sixth form prepares pupils for a national exam called 'A' level (advanced level) at 18.You need 'A' level to enter a university. Other 16-year olds choose to go to a college of further education to study for more practical (vocational) diplomas relating to the world of work, such as hairdressing, typing or mechanics. Universities and colleges of higher education accept students with 'A' levels from 18. Students study for a degree which takes on average three years of full-time study. Most students graduate at 21 or 22 and are given their degree at a special graduation ceremony.

PRIVATE EDUCATION

Seven per cent of British schoolchildren go to independent private schools called independent schools. There are 2.400 independent schools and they have been growing in number and popularity since the mid-1980s.

Parents pay for these schools, and fees vary from about Ј250 a term for a private nursery to Ј3.000 a term or more for a secondary boarding school (pupils board, i.e. live at the school). Most independent schools are called prep schools because they prepare the children for the Common Entrance Exam which they take at the age of 11. This exam is for entry into the best schools. The most famous schools are called 'public schools' and they have a long history and tradition. It is often necessary to put your child's name on a waiting list at birth to be sure he or she gets a place. Children of wealthy or aristocratic families often go to the same public school as their parents and their grandparents. Eton is the best known of these schools.

The majority of independent secondary schools, including public schools, are single-sex, although in recent years girls have been allowed to join the sixth forms of boys' schools. Independent schools also include religious schools (Jewish, Catholic, Muslim etc.) and schools for ethnic minorities.

BRITISH INDUSTRY

THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE

The differences between the North and South have been linked to Britain's industrial past. Underline any sentences in the text which mention industrial factors. What other factors have added to this divide? Make a list using the text.

Are there any differences between regions in your country? Make a list of the geographical and historical reasons for the variations.

Since the 1970s the steady decline of manufacturing industries has led to the deserted factories, depressed towns and high unemployment in the areas where they were located. By contrast, the more rural South has experienced the growth of light industries and an increase of clerical and professional jobs. Most of the service industries have developed in southern regions, as well as high-tech firms in London and Cambridge areas. The increasing affluence of the South during the 1980s contrasted with the problems in the industrial cities of the North and Midlands where school-leavers could not find work.

This regional disbalance has been called the North-South Divide and when it was getting worse the word 'gap' was used by the media to explain the great differences in the standard of living of Britons. In the 1980s the government set up 'enterprise zones' in depressed areas and offered companies financial incentives (money/lower taxes) to move to these areas and provide jobs to the unemployed.There was also growing concern that the Channel Tunnel would attract a lot of business and money to the South-East, near its location, whilst the northern areas would not benefit.

At the end of the 1980s the government declared that it has solved the North-South Divide but critics protested that the gap between the regions continued to be a problem. The 1990's economic recession hit the service industries badly, consumers stopped spending and this has more effect on the affluent South than the North. London, in particular, suffered heavy job losses in retail, financial and banking services. It seemed to be a reversal of the North-South situation. Nevertheless the debate still continues. Are all Britons able to share the same standard of living and job opportunities? Will the new Europe be closer to the South but too far from the North?

MANUFACTURING