It's difficult to overestimate the role of science and technology in our life. They accelerate the development of civilization and help us in our co-operation with nature. Scientists investigate the laws of the universe, discover the secrets of nature, and apply their knowledge in practice improving the life of people.

Let's compare our life nowadays with the life of people at the 'beginning of the 20th century. It has changed beyond recognition. Our ancestors hadn't the slightest idea of the trivial things created by the scientific progress that we use in our every day life. I mean refrigerators, TV sets, computers, microwave ovens, radio telephones, what not. They would seem miracle to them that made our life easy, comfortable and pleasant. On the other hand, the great inventions of the beginning of the 20th century, I mean radio, aeroplanes, combustion and jet engines have become usual things and we can't imagine our life without them.

A century is a long period for scientific and technological progress, as it's rather rapid. Millions of investigations, the endless number of outstanding discoveries have been made. Our century has had several names that were connected with a certain era in science and technology. At first it was called the atomic age due to the discovery of the splitting of the atom. Then it became the age of the conquest of space when for the first time in the history of mankind a man overcame the gravity and entered the Universe. And now we live in the information era when the computer network embraces the globe and connects not only the countries and space stations but a lot of people all over the world. All these things prove the power and the greatest progressive role of science in our life.

But every medal has its reverse. And the rapid scientific progress has aroused a number of problems that are a matter of our great concern. These are ecological problems, the safety of nuclear power stations, the nuclear war threat, and the responsibility of a scientist.

But still we are grateful to the outstanding men of the past and the present who have courage and patience to disclose the secrets of the Universe.

People can associate with each other talking on their own language. But it’s too hard to understand people all over the world because they are speaking different languages. But there is one way that always gives possibility to understand each other. It’s art. Moreover it can tell more in every genre of it than if you say in words. The art have borned with human. And it is known from the ancient times when everybody was dressed in skin and was living in caves. As we know they draw on the walls of the caves also tried to be dressed in a better skin and made the things they need from different material they could find. But the centuries passed. And with the development of human creative qualities appeared more genres of art. In my opinion the art is consisted of simple things in which human can see and then show something marvelous, interesting, unique and also put a part of himself in it. There are a lot of genres of art: painting, music, architecture, cinema and others. But I would like to tell you about painting. This genre of art is one of the most ancient. In other words it connects us with past centuries. Artists show the things they see and how do they see it and then express it on their pictures. Moreover their pictures are often connected with the time they live. Because in every part of time people have different minds and it develops, so the art doesn’t stay on one point. And in every part of time art has it’s own name and have differences among others. Some of the genres become popular some not. There are a lot of genres of painting: portrait, landscape, still life and others. And looking at the picture it’s not hard to say in what century this picture was painted. This year in English we talked a lot about English painting. So I want to tell you about it and some of the greatest painters of 17th-19th centuries. This time is really important because of the number of great painters. They were greatly influenced by foreign painters. And of coarse we cannot forget about such artist like Van Dyck the father of English portrait, William Hogarth who raised pictorial art to a high level, Joshua Reynolds the most outstanding portraitist of 18th century and Thomas Gainsborough portraitist and landscape painter. But I’d like to tell you more about Thomas Gainsborough one of the greatest masters of English school. One of the most famous works is the portrait of the Duches of Beufort. His portraits were painted in clear tones. He influenced greatly the English school of landscape. He painted his native land and he was one of the first English painters who did it. And his paintings “Sunset” and “The Bridge” are one of his works painted on this theme. He was so poetic by his nature and we can feel it looking at his paintings. No doubt he was more landscape painter then portraitist. In conclusion I want to say that everybody has to try to feel the art. Because I don’t believe that there is no genre of art that cannot touch the heart of human because everybody can feel.

For some people there is nothing so exciting as traveling, and I'm not an exception. And I'm happy that I have traveled a lot and I hope that my first journey wasn't the last one. First I bought a ticket for plane. Many people think, that nothing can be compared with traveling by air, because it is the most comfortable, and, of course, the quickest way of moving. There is none of the dust and dirt of a railway or car journey, none of the trouble of changing from train of another to streamer and then to another train. But booking tickets in summer is a problem. The air-fare is quite expensive and not all people can afford it. Then I continued my way by the train. This kind of transport has also many advantages. With a train you have a comfort and speed combined. From a comfortable corner seat of a railway carriage you have a splendid view of a countryside. If you are hungry you can have a meal in the dinning-car and if the journey is long one can have a bed in a sleeper. But I believe that there is no travel so fine as by ship. It's wonderful to feel the deck of the ship under the feet, to see the rise and fall of the waves, to feel the fresh sea wind blowing in the face, hear the cry of the sea-gulls. Of course, the voyage isn't exciting for those who are sea-sick when the sea is a little bit rough. Many people say: . And it is not surprising. The walker leaves the dull, broad highway and goes along little winding lanes where cars can't go. He takes mountain paths through the heather, he wonders by the side of quiet lakes and through the shades of woods. He sees the real country, the wild flowers, the young birds in their nests, the deer in the forest, he feels the quietness and calm of nature. And besides, you are saving a lot of money by traveling on foot. No one can deny that walking is the cheapest method of traveling.

There are many holidays in our country. They are: New Year's Day, Christmas, Women's Day, Victory Day, May Day and others.

I like New Year's Day, it is my favourite holiday. The 1st of January is a winter holiday and now it is the first day of the New Year.

Peter the First changed the Russian calendar in 1699. He made the 31st of December, 1699 the last day of the year. The first of January 1700 became New Year's Day.

The 1st of January is in the middle of winter. The weather is usually fine and there is a lot of snow everywhere. As the 1st of January is a holiday I don't go to school and my parents don't go to work.

We usually have got a very interesting New Year's party at school. We have got it on the 28th or 29th of December.

Our family prepares for this holiday beforehand. My father buys and brings home a beautiful New Year's tree at the end of December. Our family has a tradition to buy it. I like to decorate the New Year's tree with toys, little coloured lights, sweets and a beautiful star on the top.

My mother and grandmother prepare our holiday supper and lay the table. I make a cake.

All the members of our family clean the flat before this nice holiday and then each of us try to dress well. We like to see the New Year in at home with our relatives. They come to see us at 11 o'clock in the evening.

At 12 o'clock we are sitting at the table and we are glad to see the New Year in. We say, "Best wishes for the New Year!"

I hope that next year will be better than the last one.

The New Year's Day is always connected with our new hopes and dreams.

It is a pleasant moment to get presents on the New Year's Eve.

I usually get many nice useful things from my parents and relatives.

My parents put their presents under the New Year's tree.

We don't go to bed till morning, we watch TV, dance, eat tasty things and make jokes.

I enjoy this holiday very much.

Russia is a country that can rightfully boast its artistic and cultural traditions, its art galleries attract huge crowds of tourists from all over the world. St. Petersburg is a precious stone in the crown of Russian cities. The Hermitage is famous all over the world for its valuable rare collections of canvases and other art objects covering a span of about seven hundreds years and comprising masterpieces of by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Raphael, Rembrandt, and Rubens. The collections illustrate the art of Italy, Spain, Holland, Germany, France, Britain, and Sweden. The West - European Department also includes a fine collection of European Sculpture. People come to admire the collections of tapestry, precious textiles, weapons, ivory, pottery, porcelain and furniture as well.

The Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Russian Museum should be mentioned by all means. This picture gallery was founded by a Russian merchant and a connoisseur of art Pavel Tretyakov in the 19th century. He was especially fond of the works of Peredvizhniki or Wanders- the artists who belonged to the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions such as Kramskoy, Perov, Ghe and other great Russian painters. The Tretyakov Gallery reflects the whole history of Russian Art. It has a rich collection of early Russian painting including famous icon. The world famous "The Trinity" by Andrey Rublev is exhibited in the gallery.

Speaking about art one should not forget about music, especially classic music. Outstanding Russian composers make the whole world admire their music. One can find a man, who does not know Pyotr Ilyich Tchaicovsky, Michail Glinka, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - the prominent composers of 19th century, and Sergey Rachmaninov, Sergey Prokofiev and Dmitriy Shostakovich.

It was Glinka (1804-1857) who laid the foundation for modern Russian music; his music expressed the temperament of Russian people. His two best known operas "Ivan Susanin" and "Ruslan and Ludmila" were based on Russian folklore and historical legends.

The most famous ballets "Swan Lake", "The Sleeping Beauty", "The Nutcracker" and not less famous operas "The Queen of Spades", "Eugene Onegin" are still excellently staged and performed not only in Russian but in many greatest theatres in the world.

Russia is world famous for its literature. The "golden age" of Russian literature began in the 19th century when such outstanding masters of letters such as Alexander Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, and Dostoyevsky created their immortal masterpieces.

Alexander Pushkin, the father of Russian Literature was the authors of more than 700 lyrical poems. He wrote also the volumes of dramatic works, short stories, made adaptations of Russian fairy-tales.

Russia is famous for its architecture. The real jewel of architecture is the Moscow Kremlin with its cathedrals, towers and red brick walls. Just outside the Kremlin walls stands St. Basil's Cathedral, one of the world most astonishing buildings with 8 domes of different designs and colors.

St. Petersburg has great number of real masterpieces of architecture of different styles and is definitely worth visiting and being admired.

Russia is rich also in young talents, new Russian culture is forming. It will appear on the basis of the old one, but its essence will be new. We can hear new voices in music and poetry, new canvases of modern artists, great actors and film directors.

All of them will make their contribution into Russian Culture and Art.

There are a number of holidays in the USA which are celebrated every year. Here are some of them. The 1st of January is New Year's Day. People do not go to bed until after midnight on December 31.  Memorial Day, or Decoration Day, is dedicated to those who fought in the War of Independence.The 4th of July is Independence Day. It is the biggest national holiday in the USA. The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, when the American colonies were fighting for independence against England. On the 11th of November there is Veteran's Day. Thanksgiving Day is on the fourth Thursday in November. In the autumn of 1621, the Pilgrim Fathers celebrated their first harvest festival in America and called it Thanksgiving Day. Since that time it has been celebrated every year. Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December. People usually stay at home at Christmas time, and spend the day with their families.

Halloween is a holiday that comes from several mysterious religions that blended together. Europeans brought these traditions to America.

One Halloween tradition comes from the Druids of England, Scotland and Ireland. The Druids were priests who taught a religion of many gods. One of their chief gods was named Saman. The Druids said that Saman would tell the spirits of dead people to visit the Earth on October 31st, the last day of the year according to their calendar. The Druids said that autumn was a time of dying, and that winter was a season of death. Therefore they believed that the earth and the spirit world were very close to each other, especially during the night of October 31st – their New Year’s Eve. On that night they believed these dead people would visit people on Earth.

To keep the evil spirits away from people, the Druids told them to make an animal sacrifice on Druid altars. The priests used the organs of these dead animals to do two things. First, they foretold the future. Second, they helped make peace with angry, evil spirits nearby. Happy spirits would leave them alone. Later the dead animals were burned in bonfires. The priests fore told the people that fire scared away the evil spirits that didn’t like all the light coming from the flames.

Other customs grew over the years. If the spirits caused no problems for a family, that family celebrated later that night. Parents sent the children out to collect food from friends and neighbours. To help them keep away from evil spirits, parents dressed up their children as ghosts and other figures that looked like evil spirits, trying to scare away real spirits! When children were outside, they heard what people said the evil spirits were doing – kicking over garbage cans, taking gates off fences, letting farm animals loose and throwing paint on houses. So they began doing these things themselves. They would visit a house and call out: Trick or Treat! If they did not receive what they wanted (a treat), they would cause problems for that family (the trick). Some families cut out scary faces in large turnips and put them around the edge of their property. They thought this would help keep evil spirits away.

Another event was “bobbing” for apples. People thought the apple was a sign of protection. They would bring a large bucket into their home, fill it with water, and put the apples into the water. Then one by one, each person would try to pick up a floating apple using only their teeth. They believed that those who got an apple with their teeth were safe from the evil spirits that night.

American Halloween customs also came from central Europe. Hundreds of years ago many people there believed in witchcraft, a religion of evil power. This is also called Black Magic. Witches (females) and warlocks (males) usually wore black clothing and acted like priests for the Devil. In the Bible the Devil is God’s enemy and the centre of all evil in the world. Black represents darkness and death to these priests. People were very afraid of witches and warlocks because they talked with the Devil and used his power. They believed these evil priests could change themselves into black cats, bats and spiders. They also thought witches could fly on brooms.

Witches have several days of the year that are their special religious days. One of them is May 1st, a day called May Day in many countries. Another special day of the calendar year for witches is October 31st. They believe that any spell they had made earlier in the year that had not yet occurred would occur that night. Because of this, witches and warlocks celebrate on this day with feasts and noisy partying. Part of the celebration is cutting out pumpkins with scary faces that look like the evil spirits they contact.

Halloween celebrations also have a connection to the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). It seems the Church wanted to completely change the original holiday, not add to its tradition. One Catholic Church practice, praying to dead “saints”, seems to be similar to Halloween’s attention to the spirits of dead people. The RCC says “saints” are persons who were chosen by the Church to be honoured after their death because of their good works. Many of the early saints were killed because of their faith. The Pope chose dates that would be named for their saints. After many centuries, the number of saints grew very large. There were saints for safe travel, financial success, healing, children, families, etc. The calendar did not have enough days to honour all of them. So someone suggested the idea of “All Saints Day”, a day when all saints could be honoured.

The Church first celebrated All Saints Day in the springtime. Then in 732 AD Pope Gregory III moved the holiday to November 1st. They called it “All Hallow mas” (all = every; hallow = saint; mas = RCC worship service, called a “mass”). The RCC then told their members they could begin celebrating All Saints Day the night before November 1st, the name of the service therefore was changed. The “all” was dropped, the “mas” was changed to “een” (a shorter form of the word “evening”). Church members attended this service and prayed to their favourite saints to help them. This change in the Catholic holiday caused their members to think more about dead saints on the very same night that others were celebrating evil spirits and powers!

The real question is: Why did Pope Gregory III move Allhallowmas to November 1st, and then changed it to October 31st? He probably did it to stop people from celebrating evil and death, and to stop honouring saints in a special church service. Many people think this change did not help. People became more interested in the evil celebrations, because RCC members were going out to church services that night when evil activities were happening.

Another important event occurred on October 31st, on that date in 1517 AD a Roman Catholic priest named Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 complaints on the door of the Wittenberg Church in Germany. After studying the Bible for several years, he believed that the RCC was teaching many things that were different from what he read in the Bible. A short time later he left the church and started a movement called the Reformation, trying to change the RC. Luther wanted to correct the Church’s teachings and practice. This created the Protestant part of Christendom. Those who joined Luther believed the Bible was the authority over the Church officials. Catholics believed Protestants turned away from the true faith and Church.

Traditional Halloween activities still include haunted houses, bobbing for apples, and children doing “trick or treating” – when they dressed up as ghosts, monsters, animals, etc., and ask for candy from their neighbours. Traditional colours for Halloween are orange and black. Many churches have different activities on Halloween night. They replace witches, Black Magic and other evil themes with costume parties, harvest festivals, or activities with Christian themes that are safer for kids. They usually include candy, games, contests, and other fun things to do for children and families.
 

In most cases every year we have absolutely similar celebrations of our birthdays. And it really becomes a boring routine. Birthdays must not be boring at all. I always want to celebrate my  birthday in an absolutely different way. Last year on 30th march my mum came to me and  gave an envelope, as i remember now, at that moment i thought that there was money in it, but i was surprised she gave me them a day earlier than by birthday actually is. But I was surprised more when I found tickets to Spain and arrival there was exaztly on my birthday. When we got there on the 31 march we were met by our friends who live there. I can't imagine a  better birthday than was mine.  we lied on the beach, we swam and dived in the sea, enjoyin the sun.As for presents, my friends dug them,  they drew a little  map and gave me some hints how to find the presents. At night we continued sitting by the fire and drinking wine. We lyed on our backs gazing at stars in the night sky. Night sky is especially clear at sea. It was such a pleasure to look into the endless night sky and talk or keep silent. On the next day we go back home. This was  the best birthday in my life.

My favourite movies are comedy. I like to watch them when i have free time and i'm in a bad mood The movie Friday was one of the best comedies I have ever seen. It had a great director, a talented cast, a good plot, a spectacular soundtrack, and is filled with funny gags and jokes. It was by far the most hilarious movie of the decade. I have never laughed so hard in all of my life. I loved this movie.The cast of the movie was sensational. Playing the main character was famous musician and actor, Ice Cube. He is such a serious person that at first I was skeptical of his performance in a comedy.. Playing opposite of him was Chris Tucker who is one of the most gifted performers that I've have seen. He has stared in hits such as Rush Hour, The Fifth Element, and Money Talks. Cast is important, but a good plot is crucial in the success of a film. So many movies have had great marketing and bombed because the plot was not good. I hate when I go to see a movie and the plot is not interesting. If I pay money for a movie, I want it to be worth it. In a comedy, I look for, a lot of, laughs. That is exactly what this movie gave me, it had it all. It also had a great soundtrack, which is very important to me. I have to like the music to a movie in order to like the movie. I mean, who wants to watch an action movie with country music playing during the fight scenes? I feel that a movie soundtrack should relay the plot of the movie. In this case there were great musicians to do that.While I really enjoyed this movie, it is not for all eyes to see. Though the film is one of my favorites of all time, there were a few things about it, I found, that didn't sit to well with me. For instance, the continued use of extreme profanity was really distasteful, as well as, the use of alcohol and marijuana, by one of  the characters. It was not so vulgar as some films, but still quite offensive to some extent. I think most college students would like this more because most college students like to party and would find these things offensive.

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I have read a great number of books, some of them i liked another not so much. one of my favourite books from my childhood is "The Children of Capitan Grant" by Jules Verne.It was my first big book to read. My dad recommended it to me. I loved it and starting to fell in love with Jules Verne's books.He has a wonderful way of writing that just takes you away from your own reality and into his fantasy worlds. It's one of the greatest adventure stories ever.

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The end of school is the start of our independent life and the beginning of the most serious examination we have passed. In order to do well at this examination it is necessary to choose the right road in life which will help us best to live and work for own good and for the benefit of our country.Many broad ways will open before the pupils when they leave a secondary school. Everybody will have a chance to develop and use knowledge and education received during the school years. have known from childhood that I want to be an interpreter I have chosen this profession, because a knowledge of foreign languages and foreign cultures is growing in importance nowadays. Foreign languages are needed as the main and the most efficient mean of information exchange between the people of our planet. Although there are 3000 languages, English is the most universal. It is the language of progressive science and technology, trade and cultural relations, and business. It is the universal language of international aviation, shipping, sports, medicine. English is the official language in nearly forty countries. It is spoken by more than 350 millions people and also spoken as a second language in many parts of India and Africa. Besides, millions of people study English as a foreign language . In our country English is very popular. It is studied at schools, colleges and universities. It is important for me to learn English because I want to know what is going on round me in the world. With recent advances in technology, the world is changing rapidly in many fields, such as business, arts and medicine. These changes will affect me soon and its important for me to read and keep up with these changes. In fact, learning English is the answer to a lot of the things that I need and want.  In conclusion I would like to say it is an advantage to choose our future career while at school. It gives us a goal to work towards and enables us to choose a right, suitable course of study. I’d like to mention also that if we don’t think about our future, nobody will think for us, so we just can’t have one. We must work hard to archive out ambitions and to realize our wishes, because future is purchased by the present.