Examination Topics

his love for people.I also admire American famous people. I’d like to tell

you about Walt Disney, the pioneer of animated cartoons. He is famous for

creating such cartoon characters as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy

and others. He was born in 1901 in Chicago. His father was a carpenter,

farmer and building contractor. So the family changed homes several times.

In 1917 Walt entered a Higher School in Chicago, where he took photographs,

made drawings for the school paper and studied cartooning, for he wanted to

get a job as a newspaper cartoonist. After World War 1, in which he

participated as a truck driver for the American Red Cross in France and

Germany, he returned to Kansas City. There he met Ub Iverk who turned into

his partner for life. They started a small studio of their own and began

making short animated advertising films. In 1927 Mickey Mouse appeared.

Disney himself provided the voice for Mickey. Then the other cartoons

appeared. Gradually, the Disney studio turned into a big enterprise and

began to produce a variety of cartoons for children. And it was he, who

initiated plans for a huge amusement park, which is known as Disneyland. A

lot of grown-ups and children visit this park and remember the person who

founded it, Walt Disney. And, of course, they remember Walt Disney because

of his remarkable cartoons.

9. What would you tell your foreign friends about traditional Russian

holidays and celebrations? What do you think your British friends will tell

you about their traditional holidays and celebrations?

Every country has its own national holidays, but there are holidays that

are common for many countries. People all over the world know New Year’s

Day, Christmas and Easter. In Russia, New Year’s Day is the most popular

holiday; but in the West people pay more attention to Christmas.

Christmas

New Year’s Day is a family event in Russia. People begin to prepare for

this holiday beforehand. Everything is rush and bustle. There is a great

air of expectation. People decorate their New Year trees with tinsel,

various baubles and coloured lights. They usually put their presents under

the tree. When the Kremlin clock strikes 12 they see the New Year in.

There are also dates and events in our country that are memorable to

Russian people. They are Victory Day, the Day of Reconciliation and

Harmony, Women’s Day, the Day of Spring and Labour, Independence Day,

Country Defendant’s Day, Constitution Day, and Maslenitsa. Besides, there

are many professional days in our country: Teacher’s Day, Miner’s Day, etc.

Christmas in Russia is celebrated on 7 January. It is celebrated with all-

night services in churches. Country Defendant’s Day is celebrated on 23

February. This holiday is devoted to soldiers and officers and everyone

else who defended the country or is in the Army. Women’s Day is celebrated

on 8 March. It is a day-off. Men and boys try to please their mothers,

sisters and friends by giving them presents and flowers. Maslenitsa marks

the end of winter and the beginning of spring and Lent. During this

festival people make pancakes, sing and dance traditional songs and dances,

and visit each other. Maslenitsa and Easter are movable holidays. Easter is

the main Orthodox festival. People colour eggs and enjoy traditional

Russian dishes. Churches hold special services on this day.

The Day of Spring and Labour is celebrated on 1 May. On this day people

prefer to go outdoors and take part in all kinds of outdoor activities.

Victory Day is celebrated on 9 May – it celebrates the end of the Soviet

Union’s participation in World War II in Europe. People put flowers at the

tombs of the soldiers who were killed during the war. The main ceremony is

held in Moscow. People lay flowers in Moscow’s Park Pobedi and at the Tomb

of an Unknown Soldier. Independence Day is celebrated on 12 June. On this

day Russia became an independent country after the break up of the Soviet

Union in 1991. This is an official holiday. The Day of Reconciliation and

Harmony is celebrated on 7 November. It used to be the greatest official

holiday, celebrating the anniversary of the October Revolution. Now this

day is marked by marches and demonstrations. For many people it’s just a

day-off. The Constitution Day is celebrated on 12 December. It celebrates

the new Constitution of 1993.

There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European

countries. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Good

Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday and Late Summer Bank Holiday.

All holidays and traditions are connected with the history and culture of

the country.

The most popular holiday is Christmas. Every year the people of Norway give

the city of London a present. It’s a big Christmas tree and it stands in

Trafalgar Square. The central streets are beautifully decorated. People

decorate their houses with holly and mistletoe. They send Christmas cards

to greet each other. Children hang their stockings, hoping that Father

Christmas will come with toys and sweets. Before Christmas groups of people

go from house to house – they sing Christmas carols and collect money for

charity. Christmas is a family holiday. The family usually meets for a

traditional dinner of turkey and Christmas pudding, and everyone gives and

receives presents. New Year’s Day is less popular in Britain than

Christmas. But in Scotland, Hogmanay is the biggest festival of the year.

They celebrate New Year. The preparations for the occasion begin several

days before the New Year’s Eve, which is known as Hogmanay. The night of

Hogmanay is a time for merrymaking, the giving of presents and observance

of the old customs. The name “Hogmanay” is supposed to come from the Anglo-

Saxon “Haleg Monath” (Holy Month), or the Gaaelic “oge maiden” (New

Morning). December 26th is Boxing Day. People usually visit their friends,

go for a drive or for a long walk, or just sit around and watch TV

recovering from too much food after Christmas dinner. In the country there

is fox-hunting.

Easter

Easter is the time when certain old traditions are observed. It is

celebrated as the start of spring and as a religious festival. It is the

time for giving and receiving presents, such as Easter eggs, hot cross

buns, fluffy little chicks, baby rabbits, and springtime flowers to signify

nature’s reawakening.

Four times a year the banks are closed on Monday apart from traditional

weekends. Such days are called Bank Holidays.

Besides public holidays, there are certain traditional festivals which have

existed over centuries in the country. They are Pancake Day, Guy Fawkes’

Night, Saint Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Hallowe’en, April’s Fool Day,

etc. These days are not days-off. But they help to keep many traditions,

which Englishmen have always been famous for.

As for me, most of all I like Hallowe’en. It goes back many, many hundreds

of years. At that time the Celts lived in England. The Celts said, “In this

night the ghosts of the dead come back.” Nowadays children in the USA and

Britain dress up as witches or ghosts. Some children also make jack-o’-

lanterns out of pumpkins. They put them in the windows at night. In the

evening, the children go out in groups and knock at people’s doors. The

children call out: “Trick or treat.” Most people then give the children a

“treat”. This is usually a sweet, some chocolate, or maybe a toffee apple.

But some people do not give the children a treat. Then the children play a

trick on them. Sometimes, they ring the doorbell again and then they hide

or run away. Or they come to the house again later and put leaves, grass,

stones or other things into the letterbox. Children and older people often

have Hallowe’en parties where they play games such as “bobbing for apples”,

“apples on a string”, “fortune telling”. I wish we celebrated Hallowe’en in

Russia because this holiday is very funny and interesting.

10. You are going to spend a month with an American or British family. What

do you think will be interesting for your host family to learn about you?

Hello! Let me introduce myself to you. I’m Alexander, Alex for short. I

live in Moscow. I’m a student of the 9th grade. We are a family of four: my

mother, my father, my elder brother and me. We live in a block of flats on

the 11th floor. There are three rooms in our flat and we have all modern

conveniences. I share a room with my elder brother. My brother is a student

of Moscow University. We are close friends. I discuss everything with him

and we don’t have any secrets from each other. We get on very well.

Sometimes I even borrow his clothes and he never gets annoyed. We don’t

feel competitive, because we have different interests. I’m more academic

and he’s more artistic. But we are both fond of sport very much. We both go

to the swimming pool twice a week. It helps us to keep fit, it gives us

good stamina, and it’s good for our hearts and lungs. We hardly ever

quarrel or fight. My brother never sees me as being in the way. I think I’m

quite easy-going. I’m similar in personality to my mother. She is always

very friendly to all, although she can be quite critical of people. I like

to be friendly to the people around me, and I don’t normally like to let my

bad moods and anger inside me, come out and affect other people.

I don’t know if I’m particularly obsessive. I like to do different things

every day. I am fond of collecting different things. One day I collect toy

cars, another day I want to collect badges. But most of all I prefer

collecting stamps because it’s a family hobby. You can learn a tremendous

amount through stamps, especially about history. Stamps are a great way to

bring history alive. All the members of my family collect stamps and the

theme of our collection is history. It is a long-lasting hobby and who

knows – in 20 years or so it may have become an impressive collection that

can be appreciated and enjoyed by my own children too.

I have grandparents, my mother’s parents. They don’t live with us; but I

often visit them. They live a very routine life, but they like it. I can’t

put my finger on it, exactly, but there is some atmosphere in their house

like nothing has changed for twenty years. My parents are doctors and they

work in the hospital. They are very giving, caring persons, and always

consider those around them. They work very hard in their hospital and

really put all their energy in their work. They are very much in love, even

after years of being married and always caring for each other. My parents

have warm, friendly eyes and always express a spirit of goodwill towards

people. I love my parents very much and my ambition is to be a doctor too,

because I want to help people if they have some problems with their health.

I originally became interested in medicine during my 9th grade, when I

realized that my skills and my traits would serve me well in my future

career. Besides I’m good at Chemistry, Biology and History – they are my

favourite subjects. I’m not very good at English, but I understand that it

is one of the most important subjects now, and I try my best to improve it.

We have a pet. It’s a dog. Her name is Sunny. Her mother is a Scotch

Shepherd dog. I am never lonely with my pet. She is a great favourite with

everyone in our family. All people admire her. She wears a good collar with

her name on it. She especially likes morning walks with my father.

My native city is Moscow. Many people associate Moscow with the Kremlin and

Red Square as the heart of the city. It is really the oldest historical and

architectural centre of Moscow and my favourite place in Moscow, because

it’s connected with the history of my country. Nowadays the Moscow Kremlin,

with all the beauty of the palaces and cathedrals, is a wonderful sight.

All these cathedrals have been converted into museums. Ivan the Terrible

Bell Tower, one of the most remarkable structures of the 16th century,

rises in the centre of the Kremlin. It unites all the Kremlin Cathedrals

into a majestic ensemble. One of the well-known Kremlin museums is the

Armoury Chamber. It was built in 1851. The famous golden cap of Monomach,

the first Russian imperial crown of Catherine II made of silver, and many

other precious historical items are exhibited there. So when you come to my

native city, I’ll show you all the interesting and amazing sights of it.

11. People have various reading preferences. What do you like to read? What

is your favourite writer?

I think that we can’t live without books. There are a lot of different

kinds of books in the world, for example, thrillers, historical novels,

science fiction, adventure books and others. Most of them are with us

during all our life. Boys all over the world like reading adventure,

thrillers and horror stories, whereas girls prefer romances, historical

novels and poetry. Encyclopaedias, reference books and dictionaries help

pupils to do well at school.

All the members of my family like reading very much. My father often reads

newspapers and magazines. He thinks that it is the only way to be in the

know of everything. And my mother is keen on reading romances and modern

novels. For her they are more interesting than boring historical novels.

She agrees with Anatole France that “history books which contain no lies

are extremely dull”. But she wouldn’t mind reading about the life of well-

known people.

I enjoy reading very much. Most of all I like reading detective stories,

because they have interesting story lines and unusual endings. I am

particularly captivated by characters who conduct investigations.

I never believed there really were books that you couldn’t put down. I

changed my opinion when I started to read The Woman in White by Wilkie

Collins, an English writer. The book was written in the 19th century. It’s

a very good detective story, with a bit of romance thrown in it. The book

is basically about mistaken identity. The main character in the story is a

young artist who goes up to the north of England to instruct two young

ladies. And he falls in love with Miss Fairlie, who looks very like the

woman in white. Finally they turn out to be identical twins. The author

brilliantly describes the adventures, love and fears of his heroes. He

really brings the characters to life. A good writer knows how to keep you

reading the book. In The Woman in White the reader’s interest is caught

from the very first page and there is suspense till the very end! This is a

great book and I would recommend it to anyone.

But my favourite writer is Agatha Christie. She is possibly the world’s

most famous detective story writer. She wrote 79 novels and several plays.

Her books are translated into 103 foreign languages. Many of her novels and

short stories have been filmed. Her sales outnumber those of Shakespeare,

but her life was often lonely and unhappy.

She was born in 1890 in Devon. She didn’t go to school, but was educated at

home by her mother. During World War I, while she was working in a hospital

dispensary, she learned about chemicals and poisons, which proved very

useful to her in her later career. She wrote her first detective novel,

“The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, in 1920. In it she introduced Hercule

Poirot, the Belgian detective, who appeared in many subsequent novels. Her

other main detective was an elderly spinster called Miss Marple. Miss

Marple doesn’t look like a detective at all. This old lady always uses her

instinct and knowledge of human nature to investigate crimes.

In 1914 she married Archibald Christie, but the marriage was unhappy. It

didn’t last long, and they divorced in 1926. Agatha desperately wanted

solitude and developed very bitter feelings towards the media because the

newspapers had given her a hard time over her breakdown. She was determined

never to let them enter her private life again and she buried herself in

her work. On November 25, 1952 her play “The Mousetrap” opened in London.

Today, over 50 years later, it is still running. It is the longest running

show in the whole world. Agatha Christie died peacefully in 1976. People

all over the world value this talented writer and consider her to be the

Queen of Crime.

I don’t mind reading adventure stories. I especially like to read about

characters who go through dangers to complete their mission. I think it’s

more interesting than reading dull historical novels. But I dislike poetry,

especially modern poetry. I find it too complicated. Sometimes I fail to

understand what poets mean.

I am sure that reading is an essential part of our life. Only in books can

you find answers to all your questions. Books can tell us a lot about the

modern world and ancient times. Besides, they can help us to explore new

ideas and expand our outlook. I completely agree that “reading is to the

mind what exercise is to the body.” What is more, books teach us to be kind

and honest. While reading we learn how to solve our problems and to make

people happy. And I think that reading is a perfect way to spend free time

and not to feel bored. Books must be our friends during all our life.

12. Television is much spoken about nowadays. It has both good and bad

points. What are your arguments for and against watching TV?

It goes without saying that television plays a very important part in

people’s lives. It’s a wonderful source of information and one of the best

ways to spend free time and not to feel bored. Television viewing is by far

the most popular leisure pastime. For example, in Britain over 99 per cent

of British homes have a TV, and the average person watches “the box” 26

hours a week. It’s not surprising, because TV channels show a great variety

of programmes: documentaries and current affairs programmes, feature films

and comedies, soaps and police series, concerts and talk shows.

There are four TV channels in Britain: BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV and Channel 4. BBC

1 and BBC 2, the two state channels, do not show adverts. ITV and Channel

4, the two independent channels, do show adverts. BBC 1 and ITV tend to

broadcast popular programmes: sports programmes, recent films, news, game

shows, children’s programmes and soaps. BBC 2 and Channel 4 show programmes

which usually attract much smaller audiences: TV plays, classical concerts,

foreign films and programmes for minority groups.

Russian television has between 10 and 15 channels, which show all kinds of

programmes: news and sports programmes, talk shows and quizzes,

documentaries and feature films, soaps and police series, comedies and

concerts.

Thanks to satellites, TV viewers can increase their options and watch TV

from different countries. Conventional television has to struggle to retain

its audience, as people switch over to cable viewing, satellite TV, or

renting video cassettes.

Television is a reflection of the modern world. It gives you an opportunity

to travel all over the world, to see different people and learn about their

customs and traditions. Television keeps you informed about the rest of the

world. And of course, it helps you to escape from everyday problems.

A lot of people usually relax watching soaps – TV serials which dramatise

their characters’ daily life. Their story lines are entertaining, but often

unbelievable. I don’t think that they show life realistically; but to many

people, the characters in the weekly TV serial shows have become more

important than real people.

As for me, I prefer watching different quizz shows. That’s why my favourite

TV programme is “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” It is shown twice a week,

and lasts about an hour. The programme is now hosted by Maxim Galkin. It is

a game show where the player is asked different questions. If the answers

are correct, the participant gets a lot of money. But if he is wrong, he

loses everything. I particularly enjoy watching this programme, because the

questions are always very interesting and they help me to expand my

outlook. Besides, it’s a perfect way to be in the know about everything. I

find this programme clever and informative and try not to miss it.

Of course, not everything shown on TV is made in good taste. There are

badly-written programmes which contain unnecessary bad language and

violence. The strange thing is that neither politicians nor producers like

to admit that watching violence on TV leads to greater violence on the

streets.

Many people admit that the quality of television could be better. They

would prefer to see fewer soap operas and crime series, and more history,

drama, and science. One reason for the poor quality of programmes is

advertising. Not all people like watching commercials. They find ads silly

and boring. As for me, I don’t take advertising seriously. On the one hand,

advertisements help people choose the best products and get the best value

for their money. But on the other hand, they show life unrealistically and

give false information. Besides, in adverts all people seem to be happy

consumers, all kids seem to be healthy and well off. But this is not true

at all. What is more, I find it very annoying when a film stops at the most

interesting moment. Nevertheless, I am not against commercials on TV,

because television companies earn their money from advertising.

Another thing I would like to complain about is the amount of smoking in

the films that are shown on TV. Smoking is often shown as a very “cool”

thing to do – making young people much more likely to copy what they see,

and take up smoking themselves.

Some people say that television is a terrible waste of time. Of course,

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