English topics

SCHOOL TOPICS

AT THE CINEMA

I`m a great cinema-goer. I like the cinema tremendously. I see all the best films that are on in our city. I prefer feature films, though I enjoy documentaries almost as much, to say nothing of animated cartoon films, news-reels or popular science films.

As far as foreign films go I like some of them. I prefer them dubbed in Ukrainian. But as a matter of fact I don`t mind captions either. I usually go to the cinema (the movies) for morning or day shows. If I want to go to an evening show I book tickets beforehand.

I like to come to the cinema a couple of minutes before the movie starts. If there is a long time to wait I can always look again at the portraits of Ukrainian and foreign film stars hanging on the walls of the foyer, or listen to a little concert that is usually given for the spectators, or I can go to the reading-room.

It is a good thing that those who are late are not allowed to enter the hall until the news-reel is over. I hate being disturbed when a film is on. If I like a movie very much I go to see it a second time, and besides I see many of the movies televised. I regularly read the ‘Film Week’ to know which films have been released, and which ones are being shot.

Sometimes I read the script of the movies I am going to see. If a film is screened after a book, which I don`t remember very well I always reread the book to be able to compare it with the screened version. I know all the famous Ukrainian and foreign script-writers, producers and cameramen.

QUESTIONS

1. Do you like the cinema?

2. Which film do you prefer?

3. What film is on now?

4. Do you like foreign films?

5. For which shows do you usually book tickets?

6. What films have been lately released?

7. Who is your favourite film star?

8. What do you prefer to see: movies in the cinema or televised?

9. In which row in the cinema do you usually sit?

                        

AT THE MUSEUM

The other day I went to see our City Museum. I went together with my friends – it was an excursion. I had seen it before but I wanted to see again all the fine things one can observe there. The Museum is divided into three sections: the Picture Gallery, the History Department, the Natural Science Department. First of all we went to the Picture Gallery. There are a lot of fine pictures there: portraits, genre, landscapes, seascapes and still life. Some belong to brush of eminent painters. We like most of them tremendously. There are also some sculptures, but they are rather few. After that I went to the History Department. The curator himself showed us round he gave us all the necessary explanations. What a lot of wonderful things we saw there! We saw the scale-model of an ancient town, lots of ancient costumes, ancient arms, some very interesting pottery dating back to the first century of our era. It was all very well displayed. The Natural Science Department is also very interesting. It principally features the natural conditions of our region. We saw the number of stuffed animals, a collection of various minerals and stones as well as many pictures showing the life of wild and domestic animals and plants. Our excursion to the museum gave us much to think about. It was, indeed, a great pleasure to see it.

QUESTIONS

1.       Do you often go to museums?

2.       Do you generally go there alone or with an excursion?

3.       What kind of museums are you most interested?

4.       Describe what kind of exhibits are displayed in some museums which your know.

5.       Is it better to have a guide or to visit a museum alone?

6.       What kind of paintings do you prefer?

7.       Do you paint yourself?

8.       What does the museum display?

9.       What is the admission fee to the museum?

AT THE DOCTOR`S

My mother suddenly fell ill. She mounted a high temperature and felt very bad. She had a splitting headache and a cough. We sent for our district doctor. Doctor Smith came, removed her coat and put on the white gown which she kept in her bag. The doctor asked my mother to strip to the waist. She examined her, felt the pulse and took her temperature. The doctor said it was the flu and told my mother to keep to her bed. The doctor wrote out a prescription for some pills. Besides the doctor prescribed cups of mustard plasters, as well as a hot-water bottle to the feet. Next doctor Smith wrote out a slip for x-ray and blood examination.

The doctor put down everything she found in my mother`s patient`s file. The prescription which the doctor left was made up at the chemist`s. We followed the doctor`s instructions and in two weeks my mother felt much better. I took her to the policlinic for a check-up. We went to doctor Smith`s consulting room which is on the first floor. While waiting for my mother who went to the doctor, I looked through the stand containing diagrams with first aid procedures and the coloured photographs of certain diseases and their symptoms. Soon my mother came out. The doctor said she had fully recovered.

QUESTIONS

1. What do you do when you fall ill?

2. When do you send for the doctor?

3. What does the doctor do to you?

4. Where do you have your prescription made up?

5. When does the doctor prescribe cups?

6. What do you feel when you have the flu?

7. Whom do you consult when you have a toothache/earache/broken leg?

8. Who operates on people?

SEA VOYAGE

My father decides upon a sea voyage. He books the tickets beforehand. He wants to have a separate cabin for himself and my mother. So he asks for a second-class cabin with two berths to be reserved for him.

At the port of departure my father, together with a number of others, proceeds to the quay. The ship he wants to take is moored there. It is a fine motor ship of the latest design. The ship is to leave soon. The passengers mount the gangway and come on deck. Here stewards are already assembled to show them their cabins. Some are forward, some are aft, some are amidship. The passengers settle down in their cabins. However soon most of them come out on deck. Here they can breathe the rich sea air and look at the busy traffic of the harbour. The steamer soon leaves the dock where she was moored. She advances towards the open sea. She sails at a high speed. The sea is rough today and the ship pitches and rolls. Some passengers are sea-sick. Others are not afraid of the rough sea. They walk up and down the deck. Sometimes in order not to fall they catch hold of the railings. Soon the shore fades from the view.

In some time the passengers are invited to take dinner in the restaurant. After that some go down, some refer to stay on deck, some remain in their cabins. Towards evening the sea grows calmer. The passengers enjoy a beautiful sunset at sea. The next day the weather is better and the sea calmer, though there is a slight rain in the morning. But later the sun comes out and shines brightly in the blue sky. The ship passes several other ships. Towards evening the first port of call is reached. But the ship does not stay there long. Soon the ship weighs anchor and the voyage is resumed. On the fourth day the traveler reaches his destination. He feels healthy and refreshed.

She = ship, steamship, motor ship.

QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever travelled by steamer?

2. What kinds of ships do you know?

3. Have you ever seen a storm?

4. Where do passengers take their meals?

5. Who takes care of all the needs of the passengers on the board?

A TRIP BY AIR

I want to reach my destination as quickly as possible. I am in a great hurry. So I think the best way to travel is by plane. I book my ticket in advance. On the appointed day after packing my luggage I proceed to the airport by bus. I already see the big air-liner which is to carry me. Soon I board the plane.

It is a comfortable streamlined machine with 20 seats. I look round. In front I already see the pilot and the mechanic in the cockpit. We all recline in comfortable armchairs. I notice there is a kitchenette in the rear part of the plane where the stewardess is already preparing sandwiches. Very soon we take off. In a few minutes we are already above the clouds. I ask the pilot at what altitude we are flying. “2000 metres” he replies. The land can sometimes be seen below between the clouds. It looks like a geographical map. Our plane is due at its destination in six hours. I read some magazines, then for a short while I quietly doze. Soon the stewardess brings us some tea and sandwiches. I eat with great appetite. Our plane arrives at its destination exactly on time at 12 sharp. What a saving of time!

QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever travelled by plane and if you have, how did you like it?
2. How does the ground look from a plane?
3. In what cases do planes stop flying?
4. How are passengers planes arranged inside?
5. For how many passengers is there accommodation on most planes?
6. What refreshment can you get on board plane?
7. Is it possible to sleep on board a plane?

SPORT

If one wants to keep himself fit he must go in for one or another kind of sport. Sport occupies an essential part in my daily life. Every morning all the year round I do my morning exercises.  First I did it to the CD but now I`ve got my own set of exercises. Almost every day I do some training. In summer I go swimming or rowing. During my summer holidays I go mountaineering. In winter I usually go to the country during the winter holidays. There I ski, skate or toboggan .

I also go in for sport in a special and narrower sense: it is track and field athletics.

I am a member of the sport circle of track and field athletics in my school. We have all necessary facilities, equipment and coaching in many kinds of sport. There are different sport circles there too, such as: aquatic sports, gymnastics on apparatus and without apparatus, fencing, wrestling, boxing; games: basket-ball, volley ball, tennis, football; winter sports: skating, skiing, hockey. We have fine teams and a number of champions.

All kinds of competitions take place in our school. Recently we have won the inter-college cup.

Of all outdoor games I prefer football. I don`t play it but I like to attend football matches. I never miss a single match played by ________, for I fan this team.

I also take a great interest in chess. I follow closely all tournaments and especially that for the world championship.

QUESTIONS

1. Do you go in for sport?

2. What sport do you go in for winter (in summer)?

3. Do you belong to any sport society?

4. What is your favourite outdoor (indoor) game?

5. Are there fine teams at your place?

6. Which football team do you fan?

7. Do you often go to the Stadium?

8. Why must one go in for sport?

THE HOTEL

My car reaches the hotel where I want to put up. I get out and go to the hotel office. Here I ask if they can give me any accommodation. “Certainly”, answers the clerk, “we have got several rooms free”. Would you like a suite or a single room?” he continues. The clerk says he can give me such a room on the third floor. I ask about the price of the room. He informs me of it and soon everything is settled. I hand in my passport, fill in an arrival form and get the key of my room. Next I ask the hotel porter to carry my luggage to the room. He does as requested. I look at my room. I like it very much. It is very comfortable. I can have a fine rest here. I ring for the chambermaid and inquire about the meals at the hotel restaurant. Next I obtain information about the hairdresser, about where I can have my boots clean, etc. She answers all my questions. There is a lot of time before dinner and so I settle down quietly to rest.

QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever put up at a hotel?

2. What kind of room were you in?

3. What facilities do you generally find in a hotel?

4. What do you do first of all when you arrive at a hotel?

5. What is the best hotel in your city?

6. Describe it in short.

SCHOOL LIFE

As you know I am a pupil of the 11^th form, an eleventh former. I study at school __. It is quite new – above five years old – and quite big – above twelve hundred pupils. It is situated in the centre of our district close to my home. It takes me only up to ten minutes to get there. I go to school five times a week. Our classes start at 8 o`clock a.m. and last till 3 o`clock p.m. So we have 5 or 6 lessons a day. We study many different subjects: Ukrainian, Russian, English, French, Literatures, History, Geography, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Programming and Computer sciences. Languages, Literatures and history are my favourite subjects. I make a good progress in these subjects. The school year is divided into four terms, called quarters. It begins on the 1^st of September known as a Day of Knowledge and normally finishes in May. After that we take exams. Each quarter is followed by holidays.

How does our school building look like? It is a three-storeyed, glass and concrete building. It has many classrooms, specialized rooms, laboratories, workshops. Specialized rooms are used to study mathematics, chemistry, physics and other subjects. These rooms are equipped with corresponding teaching materials, facilities and devices. Language laboratories (labs) are equipped with tape-recorders, record-layers, TV-sets. There are many different grammar tables, pictures on the walls in these labs. In the workshops we have practice in different crafts: cookery, metal-work, woodwork, needlework, typing. On the ground floor there is a cloak-room, a dining-room (canteen), workshop, specialized rooms and a gymnasium (gym). In the gym we have physical training lessons and all sorts of sport competitions are held here. On the first floor there is a headmaster`s office, language lab, classrooms, specialized rooms, a library with a reading room and an assemble hall. We borrow books from the library and often work in its reading room. In the assembly hall various events, meetings and concerts take place.

By the way, our school is situated in a picturesque place. It is surrounded by the park where different trees, bushes, flowers grow. There is a playground and, a stadium near the building of the school.

QUESTIONS

1. What school did you study at?

2. Where is your school situated?

3. How many storeys are there in your school building?

4. Is it a new or an old building?

5. What specialized rooms and laboratories are there in your school?

6. Where pupils have their lunch or dinner?

7. What is your phonetic laboratory equipped with?

8. What subject did you study at school?

9. Which subjects were your favourite?

WHERE WE LIVE

Actually people live either in multistoreyed buildings or in private houses and cottages. Still some live in hostels, for example non-residential students.

We live in a new flat in one of the largest residential areas. We moved into it five years ago. It is on the fourth floor of a nine-storeyed building. We have a four-room flat. It consists of a living-room, a study, two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, toilet or lavatory, and closets. It has two balconies and all modern conveniences: running cold and hot water, electricity, central heating, telephone. There is a lift and a rubbish chute in our building. Our flat faces the Dniper river and the view is wonderful.

When you come to see us you will first come into an entrance hall. It`s not very large but rather cosy. There is a stand for hats, coats and umbrellas and a mirror on the wall. From the entrance hall you may get to each room through separate doors. Let`s have a look at the living room. By the way it is the largest room in our flat. There is not much furniture in it. Opposite the window there is a sofa, three armchairs and a nice carpet on the floor. The door next to the window of this room leads to the balcony. We grow a lot of flowers there. There is a colour TV set, stereo tape recorder and record-player in this room. There are two pictures on the wall and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. We like to receive our guests here. They always say that we have a lovely combination of various colours in this room.

When you come into other rooms you will see that they aren`t as large as this one. The smallest is the study. There is a writing table with a table lamp on it, many book-shelves, built-in bookcases, and black-and-white TV. My parents work there and sometimes my brother and I study there too.

Now a few words about other rooms. The bedrooms are the most comfortable rooms in our flat. They face the ark where there are a lot of trees, bushes and flowers and these rooms are always filled with sunshine. There are several beds and cots, chairs, two wardrobes and a round mirror in the corner on the left. Before we had used one of the bedrooms as a nursery.

In the kitchen there are two tables, some stools, a cupboard, a sink with water taps. There is also a refrigerator, a freezer and an electric cooker. We always have meals here. So we like our flat very much.

QUESTIONS

1. What street do you live in?

2. Do you live in a new or an old house?

3. Is there a lift in your house?

4. How many stories are there in your house?

5. Which floor is your flat on?

6. What conveniences are the in your flat?

7. How many rooms are there in your flat?

8. Which room is the largest?

9. What furniture is there in your living room?

10. How is your room furnished?

11. How long have you lived in your house?

12. Is there a yard or a garden near your house?

ABOUT MY FAMILY AND MYSELF

First of all let me introduce myself. My name is _____________. I am ____ years old.  I am a pupil of the ____th form. My family lives in _____. My parents have two or more kids besides me. Thus I have got an elder sister ___ and a younger brother ____. My brother is a schoolboy, too. He is thirteen. My sister is three years my senior. So she is twenty already. She is a designer by profession. She is married. Her husband is a journalist. They are four in the family. She has two children – a son and a daughter. They are twins. They are lovely little kids with golden hair and dark blue eyes.

My parents are not old at all. Daddy is forty-four and Mum is four years his junior. My grandparents are already pensioners, but they are still full of life and energy. I have many relatives – aunts, uncles, cousins.

My father is an engineer in computers and my mother is a teacher of English at the University. They like their work very much.

I am fond of reading books on history and fiction. I am going in for sports. I like playing football (soccer), basketball and chess. Especially I am good at chess. I take part in different chess competitions and tournaments.

In a year I shall finish my school and I have to decide what to do: either to apply for a job or for a study. Actually I study well and make some progress in liberal arts subjects. I am particularly interested in history, literature and languages. So I am going to enter the University.  

 QUESTIONS

1. How old are you?

2. Where and when were you born?

3. At what age did you go to school?

4. What social duties did you carry at school?

5. What is your favourite occupation at leisure?

6. Where did you work?

7. How long did you work there?

8. Where would you like to work after graduating from the University?

9. How many are you in your family?

10. Have you any brother or sister?

11. What are your parents?

12. Where do your parents work?

13. How old are your parents?

14. Does your mother like her work?

15. In what way do you help your parents?

16. Are your parents pensioners or do they still work?

17. Which of your relatives do you want to be like?

AT THE LIBRARY

I am a subscriber to our local library. About every fortnight I go there to exchange books. I enter the library and go to the Lending Department. Here I first of all look through the Catalogue. Sometimes I look through the Author Catalogue. Sometimes I look through the Subject Catalogue. Best of all I like fiction, travel books, biographies. I find the name of the author and the title of an interesting book. I fill in a slip and hand it to the librarian. She goes to the repository to see if the book is there. Soon she comes back and says: “Here is the book you want”. Sometimes however she returns with the words: “I am sorry, the book is taken. What other book would you like?” In such cases I suggest some other book. The librarian then gives me the book I have chosen. I thank her and go home. It`s always a fine thing to get an interesting new book to read.

QUESTIONS

1. What kind of books do you read?

2. Are you a subscriber to a library?

3. How many books may you take home from the library?

4. At what time of the day do you generally read?

5. How often do you go to the library to exchange book?

6. Do you ever read in the reading-room of the library?

7. What do you see on the title page of a book?

8. What do you find in the contents (table of matters) of a book?

9. Do you often use the dictionary in reading foreign books?

10. Who is your favourite writer or poet?