Everyone agrees that Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was one of the greatest of all painters. His painting «The Last Supper» is probably the. most famous painting in the world. But Leonardo would be famous if he had never painted a stroke. For he was also a great inventor. He invented the wheelbarrow, the military tank, and roller bearings. He made

According to the chronicles Kyiv’s first citadel was built in the period from the sixth to eighth centuries. Kyiv bears the name of prince Kyi, who lived on the old Kyiv Hill in the sixth century. Under the rule of Yaroslav the Wise Kyivan Rus with Kyiv as its capital reached the height of its power. Nowadays Kyiv is a

Moscow is the capital of Russia. It is one of the biggest and most beautiful cities in the world. Moscow is a modern city now. The population of the city is about 9.8 million people. Moscow is a political centre, where the government of our country works. Moscow was founded in 1147 by Yuri Dolgoruky. The total area of Moscow

A year is the average time it takes for the Earth to go once round the Sun. There are 12 months or 52 weeks or 365 days in a year. Every four years there is a leap year. It has 366 days. The names of the months are: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.

Why do We Learn English? People began to speak many centuries ago, and since then they have been speaking different languages. Every language reflects the soul, behaviour and temperament of each nationality. Peoples created their own alphabets and rules, but they always wanted to communicate with each other, to understand and to know more about each other. Languages help people

Michael Lermontov bas born on the 15th of October 1814 in a noble family. The poet spent his youth at Tarkany. He entered Moscow University, but very soon had to abandon it. Then he entered St. Petersburg School of Cavalry Cadets and finished it. In 1837 the poet was exiled to the Caucasus for his poem on Pushkin’s death in

For many British families Christmas is the most important holiday of the year. It is a combination of the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ, and the traditional winter holidays. On the Sunday before Christmas many churches hold a carol service where special hymns are sung. Most families decorate their houses with coloured paper or holly, and they usually

I was born and spent all my life in my native city — Archangel. Archangel is the administrative, industrial and cultural center of Archangel region. It is situated on the banks of the Northern Dvina, not far from the place where the river flows into the White Sea. If you want to have a better look at Archangel you need

There is a saying, wealth is nothing without health. And it is true because only healthy people can fully enjoy their life. Healthy lifestyle becomes more and more popular nowadays. My healthy lifestyle There are 3 main things in my healthy lifestyle: Healthy eating, physical exercise and leisure activities. All together these components help me keep my body and mind

In 1971, motivated by their vision of a green and peaceful world, a small team of activists set sail from Vancouver, Canada, in an old fishing boat. These activists, the founders of Greenpeace, believed a few individuals could make a difference. Their mission was to «bear witness» to US underground nuclear testing at Amchitka, a tiny island off the West

It took over the hundred years to establish a national theatrecompany. It’s first director in 1962 was Lawrence Olivier. This is thefirst state theatre Britain has ever had. A special building for it wasopened in 1976. It has three theatres in one: «The Oliver theatre», thebiggest is for the main classical repertoire; «The Lyttilton», a bitsmaller is for new writing

I often take books from the school library. The library is helpful when I have to make a report or when I need information on some subjects. The choice of books in our school library is very good. There are many short stories and novels, textbooks and reference books, dictionaries and encyclopedias there. All books are arranged in alphabetical order.

It`s a well known fact that hotels nowadays play a big role. Every year more and more new hotels are opened. Sometimes it is even difficult to decide which to choose while traveling. There are luxury hotels, which seem to be expensive, b & b hotels, where you will get only breakfasts and a place to sleep, youth hostels, where

At first glance, Ireland, an offshore island on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, remote, romantic and untrodden by the Roman legions, does not appear to be in the mainstream of Europe. However, from the earliest of pre-Christian times, the dividing seas around her have been her connecting sea roads — the equivalent of today’s motorways and autobahns, linking her

When we are ill, we call the doctor, and he examines us diagnoses and the illness. When we have a headache, a stomachache, a sore throat, a cold or a pain in some part of the body, we call the doctor. He takes our temperature and our pulse. He examines our heart, our lungs, our stomach or the part where

In Great Britain there is no official control over the newspapers. The government does not exercise any official control over the newspaper industry and most of the English newspapers are very proud of their peculiarities, their individual styles. And although every newspaper has a definite profile, they can be classified into two main groups: quality and popular newspapers. Quality newspapers

The British press consists of several kinds of newspapers. The national papers are the ones sold all over the country, with a large circulation, giving general news. There are two main types of national papers — the «popular» papers and the «quality» papers. The popular papers are smaller in size (they are tabloid size), with lots of pictures, big headlines

Several animal species such as the bear, wolf, and beaver were exterminated in historic times, but others such as the fallow deer, rabbit, have been introduced. More recently birds of prey have suffered at the hands of farmers protecting their stock and their game birds. Under protective measures, including a law restricting the collecting of birds eggs, some of the

The USA is situated in the central part of the North American continent. Its western coast is washed by the Pacific Ocean and its eastern coast by the Atlantic Ocean. The highland regions are the Appalachian Mountains in the east, and the Cordillera in the west. The main rivers of the USA are the Mississippi, Saint Lawrence River and Hudson

The political centre of London is Westminster. It is the part of London where there are a lot of offices. If you go down Whitehall from Trafalgar Square on the right you will see a small street where the British Prime Minister lives. He lives at number 10, Downing Street. Whitehall is a wide street leading to Parliament Square. This