The Trooping of the Colour

EXAMINATION TOPICS

for the 7^th form

1. Imagine that you’ve received a letter from your English friend who asks a lot of questions about Russia. What could you tell him about our country?

2. Why does Moscow attract tourists? What sights would you show your foreign friends in Moscow?

3. Learning a foreign language is very important nowadays. Why do people in Russia learn foreign languages?

4. Each country has its own specific features. What are your associations with the country which language you are learning?

5. What would you tell your foreign friend about traditional holidays in Russia?

6. Imagine that an English school in Oxford and your own school have a student exchange programme. Give information about yourself.

7. Put together the information about Christmas and sum it up in a short talk about Christmas celebrations.

8. Why do people like to read books? What kind of books do you like to read?

9. What role do cinema and theatre play in your life? Tell your friend about your last unforgettable performance or film.

10. What do you know about the history of the Olympic Games?

1. RUSSIA

Russia is one of the largest countries in the world. The vast territory of Russia lies in the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia.

Russia is washed by twelve seas and three oceans. The oceans are: the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Pacific. The seas are: the White Sea, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and others.

Russia borders on many countries, such as Mongolia and China in the south-east, Finland and Norway in the north-west, and so on.

The land of Russia varies very much from forests to deserts, from high mountains to deep valleys. The main mountain chains are the Urals, the Caucasus and the Altai.

There are a lot of great rivers and deep lakes on its territory. The longest rivers are the Volga in Europe and the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena in Asia. Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and its water is the purest on earth.

The Russia Federation is reach in natural and mineral resources such as: oil, gas, coal, iron, gold and many others.

The population of Russia is more than 200 million people.

The capital of Russian Federation is Moscow, with the population of about 10 million people.

Russia is a presidential republic.

The President of Russia is D.A. Medvedev.

2. MOSCOW

Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation. The city was founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky and was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1147. It attracts tourists from all over the world.

Moscow is known for its beautiful old cathedrals, churches and monasteries. Some of them date from the 15^th to the 17^th centuries.

Moscow is known for its art museums. The most popular of them are the Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. The Tretyakov Gallery houses a unique collection of Russian painters.

The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts contains a vast collection of antiquities and a well-known collection of modern foreign painters including impressionists.

The oldest part of Moscow is the Kremlin. This is the main tourist attraction in Moscow.

Twenty towers of the Kremlin wall were constructed in the end of the 17^th century. The Spasskaya Tower is the symbol of Russia and Moscow. It has a famous clock.

The buildings inside the Kremlin wall are the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, the Uspensky Cathedral, the Archangel Cathedral, the Blagoveshensky Cathedral.

Outside the Kremlin Wall there is a famous Red Square. Tourists can look at the magnificent Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, the Lenin Mausoleum and the monument to K. Minin and D. Pozharsky.

Moscow is the city that must be seen.

3. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

It is very useful to learn foreign languages. Knowledge of foreign languages helps us to develop friendship and understanding among people.

English is very popular nowadays. It’s the language of computers, science, business, sport and politics. It’s spoken all over the world. It is the official language of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States of America, Canada, Australia. There are more than 1 billion speakers of English in the world.

Speaking a foreign language you can read papers, magazines and original books by great writers, watch satellite TV Programs. If you like travelling you can go anywhere without being afraid that other people will not understand you. English is very important to find a good job.

I study English, because I want to read English books of great writers in original. I want to communicate with people from different countries, I want to understand their culture and traditions. I like to travel. Speaking English I can travel anywhere, because more than1 billion people speak English.

Language belongs to each of us. Everyone uses words. We live in and by language.

The rise of English is a story of wonderful success. When Julius Caesar landed in Britain nearly two thousand years ago, English did not exist. Five hundred years later, in the 5^th century, English was already spoken by the people who inhabited Great Britain but they were not many, and their English was not the language we know today. Nearly a thousand years later, at the end of the 16^th century, English was the native language of about 6 million Englishmen.

Nowadays, four hundred years later, 750 million people all over the world use English, and half of those speak it as a mother tongue. It has become the language of the planet, the first truly global language.

There are several ways to add new words to the language. One of them is by borrowing words from other languages. At the end of the 20^th century in English there are many words that were borrowed from Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and other languages. The words that are borrowed tell us about the countries they have come from.

4. GREAT BRITAIN: A COUNTRY OF TRADITIONS.

Each season in Britain is connected with various colourful traditions, customs and festivals.

St. David’s Day

On March 1^st, the Welsh celebrate St. David’s Day and wear daffodils in the buttonholes of their coats or jackets.

May Day

May 1^st was the celebration of summer’s beginning. People decorated houses and streets with branches of trees and flowers. In the morning young girls went to the fields and washed their faces with dew. Young men tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows. People put a striped maypole decorated with flowers and danced round it.

The Trooping of the Colour

The second Saturday in June is the Queen’s official birthday. There is a traditional ceremony called the Trooping of the Colour. It’s a big parade with brass bands and hundreds of soldiers at Horse Guards Parade in London.

Swan Upping

On the River Thames there are hundreds of swans belonging to the King or Queen. In July the Queen’s swan keeper goes in a boat and marks the royal swans.

Highland Games

In summer Scottish people traditionally meet together for competitions called Highland Games. The games always include Scottish dancing and bagpipe music.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1039