Cultural Life of Youth
Science and culture are two powerful wings of progress of the youth of the country. The primary task of today is to accelerate the cultural development of the youth. In school and out of school children's establishments conditions are created for the development of creative activities, for their aesthetic education. Pupils and students learn to sing and dance, play musical instruments. Circles of amateur art activities, festivals, holidays of songs and music, days of Poetry, Literary meetings, exhibitions of children's drawing and painting, school amateur theatres, creative associations of young literature lovers testify the growth of performers, their skill and actively contribute to the development of aesthetic inclinations. In their leisure time they go in for sports, read, and go to the libraries, parks, cinemas, theatres, concert halls. They can visit art exhibitions, the Zoo or the circus. A museum is a place where various collections of works of art are displayed. There are different kinds of museums: history museums, museums of art, archaeological museums, science museums and others. If you go to Great Britain you should definitely visit the British Museum in London. The museum is very big and you can see works of art in glass, stone, gold and also a few collections on natural history there. The Tower of London is another big museum in London. It used to be a treasury, a prison, an observatory and even a zoo. The Tower of London hosts a big collection of arms and jewels. The United States of America is famous for its museums and galleries, too. There is the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. It consists of several museums and art galleries that are free and open to the public. The National Museum of Natural History is popular with children. The museum contains one of the world's largest scientific collections: exhibits on human culture, evolution, dinosaurs, birds, animals, sea life, meteorites, plants, rocks and minerals. Another famous museum is the National Air and Space Museum. It houses the world's most expensive collection of aircrafts and spacecrafts. Visitors can see exhibits on the history of air crafting and watch documentaries in the IMAX movie theatre that is situated inside the building. All museums are very interesting to visit. Museums and art galleries give us an opportunity to learn facts about art, history and culture of different peoples and countries. About music As the world-famous composer Shostakovich said, “Music is a weapon and I have endeavored to vest my symphony with those feelings which grip our people. We fight for light against barbarity. Let us muster all our strength for an active and decisive struggle in the name of triumph and righteousness». When the audience heard the inspiring first performance of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, they followed the composer’s train of musical thought which he had embodied in his work. It cheered them up and moved them deeply. During the Great Patriotic War music helped our people to fight the enemy at the front. A large number of patriotic war songs written as one of the immediate responses of the musical world to the Hitler invasion heartened our people and our warriors too. The musical life in our country is not limited to the activities of composers alone. Our singers and composers, pianists and violinists make concert tours of our country and abroad.
A GREAT INVENTION Answer the questions.
1. What kind of great inventions do you know? 2. Read the quotation in the picture and give your opinions.
Read the text Text A
Many years ago hand-written papers with news of city life, gossips, chronicle of court began to appear. It was in the 16th century in Venice. People sold these papers. They cost one gazetta – a small Venetian silver coin. And soon these papers began to name “newspaper”. Then France newspaper called “La gazette” was founded in 1631. And the word “newspaper” has appeared in Europe. The first regular newspaper appeared in 1609 in Germany, in Holland and in England at the same time. The first daily newspaper has started to publish in Leipzig. We had our own irregular newspaper in Russia in the 16th century. It named “Vestovyepisjma ” or “Kuranty” (Вестовые письма или Куранты). The first printing newspaper was “Sheets about military and other affairs and so on”. (Ведомости о военных и иныхделах и т.д.). It appeared at the end of 1702. I think it’s a great invention. People can know news, problems, ask and answer questions. They can see advertising and know about new products and so on. My favourite newspapers are Moscovskiy Komsomolets, Arguments and Facts and our local newspaper Glagol. But I prefer reading news on the Internet now. Since the first automobile was introduced to our life, we can notice that there are a lot of changes happened around us. As a modern transportation, it not only brings convenience to our daily life, but also enhances the efficiency. One of advantages of using automobiles is that it can give the users much more convenience compared with other transportations, such as bikes or buss. For me, I like to go to the supermarket once per week and normally buy many foods at one time. Can you imagine that I need to carry a lot of foodstuff and maybe take a crowded bus to reach home? How inconvenient it is! Suppose that I have a car, and then I will feel very easy because what I need to do is to put all my stuff at the back of the car. On the other hand, automobiles can save our time and energy. Driving the automobile, we can go wherever we want to go. We can reach the destination faster than other transportation means. We can use the saved hours to enjoy the views or do anything that we want. After all, time means a lot to modern people. It can mean money to businessmen, knowledge to school students and profit to companies. By means of cutting time with the help of automobiles, we can increase the efficiency of our society. Of course, I must admit that automobiles bring a lot of problems such as traffic jam and air pollution. But these outcomes cannot be avoided during the development of a society. I believe we will have a better solution to solve all these problems soon. Generally speaking, I would like to say automobiles have improved modern life through providing more convenience to people and increasing efficiency. We should encourage the society to support the automobile industry and develop different kinds of automobiles to meet various needs.
2. Answer the questions:
1. What funny invention do you like? Why? 2. What invention is the most silly? Why? 3. What invention is the most original, creative? Why? 4. What inventions had been made by the end of the XX-th century? 5. Which of these world’s inventions had been made shortly before your birth: a microwave oven, a mobile phone, a calculator, a vacuum cleaner, a camera, a computer, a video, a dishwasher, a washing machine, a player, a karaoke, a television?
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