Shakespeare’s tragic families

King Lear: King Lear loves his three daughters: Cordelia, Regan and Goneril. But do the daughters love their father? A story of land, money and power.

Hamlet: In Denmark, Prince Hamlet’s father is dead, and his mother Gertrud is now married to Claudius-Hamlet’s uncle. A story of a son’s love and revenge.

Macbeth: A story of Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth wants power, and she wants her husband to be the king. A story of revenge and power.

Romeo and Juliet: Romeo is the son of Lord and Lady Montague. Juliet is the daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet. Romeo and Juliet are boyfriend and girlfriend. But their families are enemies. A love story.

Othello: Lago is Othello’s friend, or is he? He makes trouble for Othello and his wife Desdemona. A story of jealous husband.

Text 16.

1. Read and make up your own questions according to the text. (10 questions)

2. Translate the first paragraph of the text without dictionary.

The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

In April of 2011, Nursultan Nazarbayev was reelected to a five-year term as Kazakhstan’s President. President Nazarbayev was born on July 6, 1940 in the village of Chemolgan, Kaskelen District, Almaty region. In 1967, he graduated from the Highest Technical Educational Institution at the Karaganada Metallurgic Works.

He is a Doctor in Economics, Academician of the National Academy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, International Academy of Engineering, Russian Federation Academy of Social Sciences, Honorable Professor of the Al-Farabi Kazakh State National University, Honorable Member of the Academy of Science of the Republic of Belarus, Honorable Professor of the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

From 1960 through 1969, he worked at the Karaganda Metallurgical Works.

From 1969 through 1973, he was involved in the Party and Komsomol work in Temirtau of the Karaganda region. From 1973 to 1977, he was a secretary of the party committee at the Karaganda Metallurgic Works.

From 1977 through 1979, he served as secretary, and then second secretary of the Regional Committee of the Party in Karaganda.

From 1979 through 1984, he served as Secretary of the Committee of the Communist Party of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From 1984 through 1989, he was a Chairman of the Ministers Council of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

From 1989 through 1991, he served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. From February to April 1990, he concurrently served as Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

Has served as Kazakhstan’s President since April 1990.

On December 1, 1991 the first national presidential elections were held where Nursultan Nazarbayev had been supported by 98.7 percent of electors.

On January 10, 1999 he was elected the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the alternative basis with 79.78 per cent of electors.

On December 4, 2005 he was again elected President of the Republic of Kazakhstan supported by 91.15 per cent of electors.

Nursultan Nazarbayev is married to Sara Alpysovna. She chairs the ‘Bobek’ International Children Charitable Fund.

The President has three daughters. Dariga is a Doctor in Political Science. Dinara is chairing the Nursultan Nazarbayev Educational Fund. Aliya is a businesswoman, chairing the Elitstroy Construction Company.

 

Text 17.

1. Read and make up your own questions according to the text. (10 questions)

2. Translate the first paragraph of the text without dictionary.

George Washington (1732 – 1799)

He was the first President of the United States. He became President in 1789, eight years after the American War of Independence.

George was born in Virginia. His family owned a big farm and had slaves. George didn't have much education. During his life he had three jobs: he was a farmer, a soldier, and a politician. He loved the life of a farmer. He grew tobacco and owned horses. He worked hard but he also liked dancing and going to the theatre.

In 1759 he married a widow called Martha Custis. They were happy together, but didn't have any children.

He was Commander-in-Chief of the army and fought the British in the War of Independence. When the war ended in 1781 he was happy to go back to the farm, but his country wanted him to be President. Finally, in 1789, he became President, and gave his name to the new capital city. He started the building of the White House, but he never lived in it. By 1797 he was tired of politics. He went back to his farm and died there two years later.

Margaret Thatcher (1925 -)

She was the first woman prime minister in Europe. She became Prime Minister of Britain in 1979.

She was born above a shop in the small English town of Grantham. Her father, Alfred Roberts, was a grocer. He worked very hard for little money. Margaret also worked hard, and she went to Oxford University, where she studied chemistry. In 1951 she married Denis Thatcher, a rich businessman. They had twins, a girl and a boy. The love of her life was politics. She didn't have much time for other interests. She said she only needed four hours' sleep a night.

She became a politician in 1959, leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, and Prime Minister of Britain four years after that. She had a strong personality. A lot of people were afraid of her, and «he was called 'The Iron Lady'. In 1984 Irish: terrorists bombed her hotel, but she survived. She was Prime Minister for eleven years. She finally resigned in 1990, but she didn't want to, and she was in tears when she left 10 Downing Street.

Text 18.

Text 19.

1. Read and make up your own questions according to the text. (10 questions)

2. Translate the first paragraph of the text without dictionary.

 

Two Special Houses in the American Southwest

 

 

Every year, many people visit Arizona to learn about Native American tribes. Most people stay in hotels, but some people stay in traditional Native American homes, called hogans. Lorraine Nelson, a teacher from Arizona, invites visitors to stay in her hogan. It has three chairs, two beds on the floor, and a wood-burning stove. Ms. Nelson teaches her guests

In San Antonio, Texas, there is a purple house. This house is the home of Sandra Cisneros. Ms. Cisneros is a Mexican-American writer. She is famous for her interesting stories. The house has a porch with a pink floor. The rooms are green, pink, and purple. There are many books and colorful paintings. Many other houses near Ms. Cisneros's house are white or beige, so her house is very different. Some of her neighbors think her house is too colorful, but Ms. Cisneros loves it.

 

 

Text 20.

1. Read and make up your own questions according to the text. (10 questions)

2. Translate the first paragraph of the text without dictionary.

Love your neighbours?Sometimes it can be difficult!

Yоu can chooseyour friends but you can't choose your neighbours. The people who live upstairs, downstairs and next door can have a very big influence on our lives - and it isn't always positive! The typical problem that people have with their neighbours is that they make a lot of noise. In a European newspaper survey these were the top eight problems:

They argue loudly. Their babies cry. They have noisy parties. Their dogs bark. They watch TV late at night. They move furniture. They play a musical instrument. They argue with their partner. Alberto took one look at his new neighbours and knew that his life was going to get more difficult. He watched them arrive in their big, noisy car and watched them get out.

There they were, two of them, as big and as noisy as their car.
'Terrible!' he thought. 'How am I going to put up with them?' He went to tell Mimi. Mimi was the friend he lived with. 'Have you seen the new neighbours?' he asked her.

'No' she said. 'Who are they?' 'Two of them. The ones we don’t like. Big and noisy and stupid and smelly. 'Oh, no' said Mimi. 'How awful! I suppose we can just ignore them. 'I suppose you’re right' agreed Alberto. 'We’ll just have to ignore them.' For a few days Alberto and Mimi tried to ignore their new neighbours. When the neighbours went out for a walk, Alberto and Mimi didn’t say hello to them. When the neighbours were in their garden, Alberto and Mimi went inside. This was OK for a few days but things didn’t stay this way. One day Alberto woke up from his sleep to find one of the neighbours in his garden. 'Mimi!' he shouted. 'Have you seen this!? He’s in our garden!!!! Look!'
'How terrible' said Mimi. 'Let’s call our staff and make sure they get rid of him immediately!'

Miroslav Perovic, 38, teacher. I do know my neighbours, but we don't really get on. I have two young children, including a 10-month-old baby who can scream the house down. We get complaints from them about noise, but they are just as bad. They live above us and march all over the place and play loud music. I think that as neighbours we're fine, but the noise is something we can't help as the flats have hardly been soundproofed. We do talk about the problems, but it's not a nice thing to discuss.

Maria Lyons, 43, beauty therapist. I think I'm a good neighbour. We don't disturb anyone. If we're having a fire in the garden, we think about the best time to do it. I'm on call for an elderly neighbour in case she falls. When we had an extension built recently, we went out and spoke to everyone about it. Once, we allowed one of our hedges to grow too high and the neighbours complained, but we went out and hired some special equipment to cut it down the same day. Friends parking outside us probably annoys our neighbours, but that's because we all share a small lane. We all get by.

Stella Powell, 67, partner in a local garage and coach hire firm. I like to think that I'm a good neighbour. We try not to annoy people and if anybody wants us, we're here, we'll help. Some neighbours complained about the garage over the 30 years that we've been here, but they're not our immediate neighbours, who have never said anything. We try to be as quiet as we can; even if we're on a late hire, we don't rev the engines or anything when we come back.

 

 

Text 21.

1. Read and make up your own questions according to the text. (10 questions)

2. Translate the first paragraph of the text without dictionary.

The Tower of London

The Tower of London is one of the most imposing and popular Of London’s historical sites. It comprises not one, but 20 towers. The oldest of which, the White Tower, dates back to the 11^th century and the time of William the Conqueror. Nowadays a lot of tourists visit the Tower of London, because of the evil reputation as a prison. The Tower is famous as home of the Crown Jewels. Today they can be viewed in their new jewel house. They include the Crown of Elizabeth the Queen Mother which contains the celebrated Indian diamond.

Many stories associated with British history come from the Tower. In 1483 King Edward IV’s two sons were murdered in the so-called Bloody Tower. Over two centuries later the skeletons of two little boys were found buried beneath steps in the White Tower.

Of course, no visit to the Tower would be complete without seeing the ravens; huge black birds who are an official part of the Tower community. Legend states that if the ravens were to leave the Tower the Crown will fall and Britain with it. Under the special care of the Ravens Master, the ravens are fed a daily diet of raw meat. And there is no danger of them flying away, because their wings are clipped.

 

Text 22.

1. Read and make up your own questions according to the text. (10 questions)

2. Translate the first paragraph of the text without dictionary.

“Food around the world”

For 99% of human history, people took their food from the world around them. They ate all that they could find, and then moved on. Then about 10,000 years ago, or for 1% of human history, people learned to farm the land and control their environment.

he kind of food we eat depends on which part of the world we live in, or which part of our country we live in. for example, in the south of China they eat rice, but in the north they eat noodles. In Scandinavia, they eat a lot of herrings, and the Portuguese love sardines. But in central Europe, away from the sea, people don’t eat so much fish, big business. But they eat more meat and sausages. In Germany and Poland there are hundreds if different kinds of sausages.

In North America, Australia, and Europe there are two or more courses, to every meal and people eat with knives and forks. In China is only one course, all the food is together on the table, and they eat with chopsticks.

In parts of India and the Middle east people use their fingers and bread to pick up the food.

Nowadays it is possible to transport food easily from one part of the world to the other. We can eat what we like, when we like, at any time of the year. Our bananas come from the Caribbean or Africa; our rice comes from India or the USA; our strawberries come from Chile or Spain. Food is very big business. But people in poor countries are still hungry, and people in rich countries eat too much.

Text 23.

1. Read and make up your own questions according to the text. (10 questions)

2. Translate the first paragraph of the text without dictionary.

 

Text 24.

1. Read and make up your own questions according to the text. (10 questions)

2. Translate the first paragraph of the text without dictionary.