Англиский топики

Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia, its political, economic and cultural center. It was founded 8 centuries ago by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Historians have accepted the year of 1147 as the start of Moscow’s history. Gradually the city became more and more powerful. In the 13th century Moscow was the center of the struggle of Russian lands for the liberation from the tartar yoke. In the 16th century under Ivan the Terrible Moscow became the capital of the new united state. Though Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg in 1712, Moscow remained the heart of Russia.Now Moscow is one of the largest cities in Europe. Its total area is about 900 square km. The population of the city is over 8 million people.Moscow is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The heart of Moscow is Red Square. The Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral are masterpieces of ancient Russian architecture. The main Kremlin tower, the Spasskaya Tower, has become the symbol of the country. On the territory of Kremlin you can see old cathedrals, the Bell Tower, the Palace of Congress, the Tzar-Cannon and the Tzar-Bell, the biggest cannon and bell in the world. St. Basil’s Cathedral was built in the mid-16th century in memory of the victory over Kazan. There is a legend, that Ivan the Terrible blinded the architects Barma and Postnik, because he didn’t want them to create another masterpiece.Moscow is famous for its theatres. The best known of them is the Bolshoi Opera House. Drama theatres and studios are also very popular.Moscow is a city of students. There are over 80 higher educational institutions in it, including several universities.Moscow is the seat of the Russian Parliament and the center of political life of the country.

Moscow

The best way to see a strange city is to buy a map and a guide-book. If you want to learn, more about a city, it is useful to walk along the streets and look around to see historical places, buildings and monuments. There is no doubt that you should visit art galleries and museums.

Moscow, the capital of Russia, is one of the largest cities in the world. It stands on the bank of the Moskva River. About 10 million people live in the city. Moscow is famous for its historical and architectural monuments that were built by outstanding architects and sculptors: Kazakov, Bazhenov, Martos and others.

The best starting point of the tour around the city is Red Square, the central and the most beautiful square in Moscow. It is the place of parades, meeting and demonstrations. Here one can see the Cathedral of St.Basil the Blessed, or St.Basil’s cathedral, erected by architects Postnik and Barma to commemorate Russia’s conquest of the Kazan Kingdom in 1552. It is a masterpiece of Russian architecture. Tourists can see the monument to Minin and Pozharsky designed by Ivan Martos in 1818 in memory of the Russian victory over the Polish invaders, the History Museum. The heart of Moscow is the Kremlin, a wonderful architectural ensemble with 3 magnificient cathedrals, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great palaces, fortress walls and 20 towers. The most famous of the towers is the Spasskaya Tower with a big clock. The Kremlin with golden domes and tower makes a strong impression on tourists. The Alexander Garden with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is the place of memory. Some Skyscrapers decorate Moscow Including Moscow University, a palace of knowledge and students. Moscow is a scientific and cultural centre where there are a lot of institutes, universities, libraries, museums. The city leads a varied cultural life. It has a lot of cinemas, clubs, concert halls, more than 40 drama and musical theatres, including the Bolshoi Theatre, the Art Theatre. The Maly Theatre. The Vakhtangov Theatre.

Muscovites are proud of their museums : the Tretyakov Gallery, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, literary museums.

Crowds of people visit the Tretiakov Gallery admiring beautiful pictures of Russian painters.

Moscovites are fond of going in for sports so, there are a lot of stadiums, swimming-pools, courts and sports ground.

The citizens of Moscow enjoy spending their weekends in parks and gardens — the Park of Culture and Rest, Izmailovo, Sokolniki.

Television

It is almost impossible to imagine our life without TV. It plays a great and a very important role in the life of modern man. There is practically no family that doesn’t have a TV set. TV is one of the mass media kinds. Radio and newspapers tell us about different events but TV not only tells but also shows. TV has a lot of channels and everybody can watch the programs he likes. Our television suggests various programs: talk show and game show, news and sporting events, about animals and about foreign countries and so on. Soaps-lovers can watch their favorite films almost every day. TV shows us a lot of films of different countries: detective and melodrama, comedy and triller. As former I like to see adventure films, fantasy, comedies. My favorite sporting events programs are about volleyball, swimming, track-and-field athletics and gymnastic. I watch many programs with great interest. These programs are: a wild nature program, «Anshlag», some game shows and so on. There are a lot of films (most of them of foreign TV-companies) with a great number of corpses, with seas of blood now. It’s not very good to my mind. I think that one of the aims of TV is to bring up TV-viewers, to cultivate love to our country, kindness and other positive features of character.

Advantages and disadvantages of TV

TV has good and bad sides. First of all it keeps people informed, we can learn a lot of information watching TV. We can choose programs that appeal to us more, because TV provides programs for all interests. Sometimes we can relax, entertain ourselves when we are tired. Advertisement on TV gives us information about different products and it makes easier to choose things to buy. When we watch TV we learn about the world, famous people and global or recent news.

But TV has a lot of disadvantages. It takes a lot of time and it makes us lazy. And it’s very harmful for our health, expetially eyes. Some violent programs and films makes people violent. Violence become a vital problem. There is too much advertisement on TV. Sometimes it can encourage us to buy things we don’t need at all. Watching TV takes all free time from almost all people. We just watch it, not concentrate, and waste time.

In my opinion we need TV inspire of it’s disadvantages. People need something like information center. As for me I watch TV about one hour a day. I watch it when I want to learn news or relax and entertain myself. People need TV, but it can’t be the main thing in their life. It’s interesting, but not the main thing in our life.

I don’t really know what we must do to make TV better. I think we can do nothing. We just should not sit hour by hour watching TV. I think we must watch only the most important and interesting things. Because if we see everything we’ll become mad.

England

The United Kingdom is very small compared with many other countries in the world. However there are only nine other countries with more people, and London is the world’s seventh biggest city. When you travel about the country you can see how the scenery changes right in front of your eyes. Highlands turn into lowlands; forests and hills turn into meadows and plains very quickly. It’s hard to believe, but in Great Britain one you can find practically any type of scenery. Britain is an unusually beautiful country! England can be divided for five parts: the Southeast, the Southwest, East Anglia, the Midlands and the North of England.

The Southeast is a highly populated region of England. London, the capital of the UK, and such historical cities as Windsor, Dover and Brighton are situated here. When people travel to Britain by sea or by air they usually arrive in the Southeast, for this is where the main passenger ports and airports are. Heathrow airport, one of the world’s busiest airports is about 33 km west of central London.

The Southwest is the region where the main activity is farming. The Southwest used to be known for its pirates. The two principal cities of the region are Bristol and Bath. If you want to see the famous Stonehenge you should also come here. The most westerly point of Great Britain «Land’s End» is also in the Southwest.

East Anglia is very flat and it is another farming region. It has beautiful cities with fine historic buildings such as Cambridge. It is more that half surrounded by the sea.

The Midlands, known as the heart of England, is the largest industrial part in the country. The most important industrial cities are Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, which is one of Britain’s big ports, and Birmingham. The two famous.

Other cities in the Midlands are Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford. Stratford is the birthplace of William Shakespeare and Oxford is famous for its university.

The North of England has some of the wildest and loneliest parts in the country. Here you can find deep valleys, rivers and waterfalls, hills and mountains. This part of the country is rich in coal. The main attractions of the North of England are certainly the Lake District, the cities of York and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

England

England is often subdivided into three parts: the South, the Midlands and the North. In the South, the landscape is varied. The climate is warmer than in other areas. There are hundreds of miles of sea coast which range from flat or stony beaches to high rocky cliffs. The mild and sunny climate makes the south coast popular with holiday-makers. Some coastal resorts are famous, Brighton being among them. Somerset, Devon and Cornwall are rural counties with hidden fishing hamlets and are home to Britain’s warmest weather in winter. There are also high and deep wooded valleys. Inland, the landscape is gentle and green. It’s famous for its quiet beauty of the countryside.

One of the most beautiful counties in the South of England is certainly Kent. It is known as the gardens of England, because it is famous for its fruit and vegetables. In general, the South is wealthier than other areas of Britain. Work of all kinds is provided by the land. British Aerospace has factories building aeroplanes in several parts of the South. Lots of people are involved in service industries including financial, business and government services, computer services and information systems. There are also science-based companies and research organizations.

The Midlands Region has a lot of farming land, but this part of the country is better known as an industrial area. Birmingham, which is often called ‘the big heart of England’, is the most important city of the Midlands. It is the second largest city in the United Kingdom. Birmingham is famous for engineering, especially car production. Derby is another engineering centre. Rolls Royce makes airplane engines and cars there.

The West Midlands is another industrialized area, where there are many collieries and steelworks. It is known for the black smoke and blackened buildings there. In contrast, the Midlands region has some beautiful picturesque countryside in the Peak District with its National Park.

In the North, the weather is considerably colder. There is almost always snow in the winter. This is a region of great natural beauty although industry of some kind has existed here for hundreds of years. There is a strong contrast in the North between the beautiful open, hilly countryside and its industrial towns and mining villages. In parts of the North, especially in Yorkshire, there are gentle wooded valleys, green pastures and excellent farming land.

West Yorkshire is a very good county for sheep farming, and it has long been Britain’s most important area for the wool industry. Some famous industrial cities in the North are Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Editor’s note-The dash is not used in English as it is in Russian. We tend to use commas. In addition, a ship is a boat, and sheep are the animals, who generously provide us with wool.