Moscow the capital of Russia is one of the world’s great cities. Its name was first mentioned in chronicles in 1147. Since that time M. has played an important role in R-an history. Today M. isn’t only the political center of R. but also the contry’s leading city in population, industry & in cultural importrance. M. stands on the M.R. in the center of the vast plain of E.R. The climate of M. is continental. Winters are long & dark with a lot of snow. Spring is rather short & the temperature rises quickly during late April. Summers are warm & July is the warmest month. Rainy days are quite common but the summer rainfall often comes in heavy showers & thunderstorms. Autumn like spring is brief with rapidly falling temp-s. M. is the largest industrial center of R. The most important industries are those producing automobiles & trucks, machine tools, radio & TV sets. M. plants & factories also produce food, furniture, clothes & footwear. The most important element in M’s city transport is the metro subway. The system was begun in 1935 & is still developing. M. has numerouse theatres headed by the B. theatre. I know such theatres as the M. art theatre, the state central puppet theatre & the M. state circus. M. has some museums & art galleries of international rank. Among them are the state Pushkin museum of fine arts & the state Tretyakov Gallery with an exellent collection of R.paintings.

UK. The UK of Great Britain & Northen Island with an area of some 244sq. miles is situated on the British Isles, which are separated from the European continent by the North Sea, the Strait of Dover & the English Channel. Britain’s population is over 56 million people. The territory of Gr. Britain is small. Yet the country has a wide variety of scenery. The capital of Gr. Britain London stands on the Thames which flows into the North Sea. The Thames is the deepest & the most important river in Gr. Britain but isn’t very long. The Severn, which flows into the Irish Sea, is the longest British river. The climate of Gr. Britain is mild. The Atlantic Ocean & the warm waters of the Gulf-Stream affects the weather of the British Isles. The summers are usually cool rainy. There is much rain & fog in autumn & in winter. The heart of Britain is England. It is the richest & most populated in the country. The north & the E. are mountainous, but all the rest of the territory is a vast plain. In northwest E there are many beautiful lakes called Lake District. The smallest of Britain’s countries is Wales. The large part of Wales is covered with rocky mountains, which are difficult to climb. Scotland is a land of mountains, wild moorlands, narrow valleys & plains, famous lakes & no end of large & small islands of the coast. The highlands of Scotland are among the oldest mountains in the world. The UK is a monarchy the head of the state is a king or a queen. In fact the sovrin rings, but doesn’t rule. The UK is governed by the Government. Parliament consists of 2 houses – The House of Lords & the House of Commons. The members of the House of Commons are election every 5 years. The House of Commons is very important because it makes laws. The members of The House of Lords are permanent. The House of Lords can delete & change laws.

London. The capital of Gr. Britain is London. It is an ancient city many centures old. L. was built by the Romans many years ago. They built a town on the river Thames. The name of the town was Londinium. In Roman times it was a small town. In 1666 there was the Great Fire of L. After that people built a new city. About 9 million people live in L. It is the seat of government of the whole country. It is also the center of British cultural life & famous for its places of interest. Trafalgar Square is a good starting point for any tour of L. In the middle of the square is Nelson’s column. This square is the place for all sorts of meetings & demonstrations. On the north side of the square are the National Gallery & the National Portrait Gallery. In the corner of Tr. Sq. stands the old & well-known church of St. Martin-the-Fields. The most important parts of L. are the City, the East End, the West End & Westminster. One of the most beautiful sights in L. is Westminster Abbey. It is an outstanding example of medieval architecture. Many English kings & queens are buried there. In the south side is the Poets’ Corner where many of the greatest Eng. Writers & scientists are buried. There are many monuments of great men here. Across the road from Westminster Abbey is Westminster Palace the seat of British parliament. At one end of the palace is Clock tower with the largest clock called Big Ben in it & at the other end – the Victoria Tower. The oldest part of L. is called the City, it isn’t very large but it is very important, its financial & business center. 2 masterpieces are situated within the City: St. Paul Cathedral & the Tower of L. The East End is the poorest part & an industrial district of L. There are many factories & large riverside docks there with the port of L. The West End is the richest & most beautiful part of L. It is situated between the City & Hyde Park of L. The West End is a symbol of wealth & luxury.

Home. The place where you live in is very important because if you have a comfortable flat or a house to your taste you can relax there & forget about your troubles, sitting in a worm cosy armchair with a cup of tea or coffee. Some people have a house others have apartments. I would like to live in a house. There’re 2 ways of having the dwelling: to buy an apartment or to build an individual house. I think I’ll have enough money to build my own house. There will be the door on the west side it can be half glass. & there will be a path from the gate to the front door. On the west side of the house there‘ll be the garage. What about the exterior of the house there will be yellow bricks for the wall & red tiles for the roof. Now I’d like to discuss the interior design. On the downstairs on the side facing the road there’ll be the hall & kitchen. The living room & dining room will be on the side facing the garden. I agree to combine living room & dining room. The devision can be made by built-in book shelves on the living room side & cupboards & more shelves on the dining room side. I like built-in furniture. It saves space & is cheaper. Ofcourse, on the there will be a cloak- room with wash -basin in it & a lavatory. What about the upstairs there will be 3 large bedrooms. Each of them will have a large closet so there is no need for separate wardrobes. There will be the bathroom & the W.C. next to it. I don’t want standard lamps so I’ve arranged for indirect lighting. The cables will be built into the wall. There will be also several power points at the lower parts of the walls for appliances.

Sport. Almost everyone likes sports. Next to the weather people probably talk more about sports than about any other topic. There is no doubt that sport holds an important part in our life. It helps people to keep fit to become stronger & developed physically. It makes them to be more organized quickens our reactions & sharpens our wits. If you want to keep fit you must do sports. To my mind it must be an essential part of our daily life. A person must work to be skil full in sports. Even if you do a set of morning exercises every day you’ll feel healthy & cheerful for the rest of the day. As for me I fully support those parents who train their babies to swim from the cradle. As a rule these babies grow sound & healthy. Almost any pleasant activity aimed at exercising the body may be called a sport. What a sport for one person may be just hard work for another. Many of us play such games as volleyball football basketball or tennis. Athletics is the most popular sport. People call it the queen of all sports. Great championships in sport, which are organized every 4^thyear are called the Olympic games. The last Olympic games were in 2002. My friends prefer swimming, running, tennis. But as for me I’m found of volleyball basketball. These games are very exciting & I always follow them on TV. I think our PT lessons do us a lot of good. We often have different competitions in different games such as pioneer-ball basketball volleyball. Of all outdoor & indoor games I prefer basketball tennis hockey, but I’m also interested in other sports.

Theatre is one of the most popular arts nowdays. There are many different theatres in our country, but the most famous theatre is the Bolshoy Opera Theatre in M. It was founded in 1776. Many outstanding singers, musicians take part on the performances. I’ll never forget my first visit to the B. Theatre. My friend & I wanted to see the famous ballet Chelkunchik by Tchaikovsky. We knew the plot very well. We also knew some pieces of music from this ballet & decided to see the whole performance. We bought the tickets in advance & come to the theatre half an hour before the show. At 7 p.m. the performance began. From the very 1^st minute I was deeply impressed by everything I saw on the stage. The acting was superb & exciting. The costumes were fine the music was thrilling. The ballet seemed to me a fairy-tale. I had never seen anything more wonderfull. My friend also enjoyed every minute of it. After the 1^st act we went to look over the theatre. We saw the boxes the pit, the dress-circle & the gallery. There were many portraits of famous opera-singers, ballet-dancers, musicians & producers on the walls of the foyer. We had disscussion about the play & went to our seats again as it was the bell for the 2^nd act. When the curtain fell at the end of the performance there came a storm of applause. It seemed it would never end. The dancers received call after call. They were presented with large bouquets of flowers. We also applauded enthusiastically. The performance was a success.

England. Gr. Britain is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Many tourists come over especially look at the pictures landscape. Highlands turn into lowlands. Forests & hills turn into meadows & plains very quickly. There are many deep valleys rivers & waterfalls, hills & mountains. England occupies the largest part of the island of Gr. Br. The north & the west of England are mountainous, but all the rest of the territory is a vast plain. The chief rivers of England are the Severn & the Thames. The Thames flows through L. & makes it a large seaport. There are many ports in England including Bristol Liverpool L. England is famous for its cities for example, Starford upon-Avon & Oxford. Starford upon-Avon is the birthplace of great W. Shakespeare. Oxford is famous for its university. In the northwest of E. there are many beautiful lakes called Lake District. The Southwest is a highly populated region of E. London is a capital of Gr. Br. & such historical cities as Windom, Dover & Brighton are situated here.

The southwest is the region where the main activity is farming. Although, there are some very big farms. Most of them are small family farms. The s-w. used to be known for its pirates. The romantic past makes it a popular place for artists, writers & holidaymakers. Bristol & Bath are 2 principal cities of the region. The most westerly point of Gr. Br. Lands End is also in the S-w. East Anglia is very flat & it is another farming region. It has beautiful cities with fine historic buildings such as Cambridge. The north of E. has some of the wildest & loneliest parts of the busiest industrial cities. This part of the country is rich in coal, which is important for the region’s industry.

Arts. Art is a part of culture. There are 3 kinds of art: visual including painting, sculpture & arhitecture, audio-visual including theatre, opera, cinema & audible, which consists of music & literature. But we don’t know, which of the arts is the oldest. We know that cave men drew on the walls