Questions
1. What public holidays are celebrated in Russia?
2. What is your favourite holiday?
3. How is New Year's Day celebrated in your family?
4. Do you see the new year in at home?
5. What New Year traditions do you know?
6. When is Christmas celebrated?
7. What holiday do we celebrate on the 8th of March?
8. What is the greatest national holiday in our country?
9. Why is the 9th of May so sacred () for the Russian people?
10. What other Russian holidays do you know?
SUPPLEMENTARY READER
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH
Have you ever wondered how many people there are who speak English?
It's quite a number!
Geographically, English is the most widespread language on earth, and it is second only to Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It is spoken in the British Isles, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and much of Canada and South Africa. That"s about 400 million people.
English is also a second language of another 300 million people living in more than 60 countries.
If you add to this the enormous number of people who learn to understand and speak English (like yourself), you will realise that English is indeed a "world language".
In Shakespeare's time only a few million people spoke English. All of them lived in what is now Great Britain.
Through the centuries, as a result of various historical events, English spread throughout the world. Five hundred years ago they didn't speak English in North America: the American Indians had their own languages. So did the Eskimos in Canada, the aborigines in Australia, and the Maoris in New Zealand. The English arrived and set up their colonies...
Today, English is represented in every continent and in the three main oceans the Atlantic, the Indian and the Pacific.
English is mixing with and marrying other languages around the world. It is probably the most insatiable borrower.
Words newly coined or in vogue in one language are very often added to English as well. There are words from 120 languages in its vocabulary, including Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.
Other languages absorb English words too, often giving them new forms and new meanings. So many Japanese, French and Germans mix English words with their mother tongues that the resulting hybrids are called Japlish, Franglais and Denglish. In Japanese, for example, there is a verb Makudonaru, to eat at McDonald's.
One of the many "Englishes" spoken and written today is Euro-English. Euro- English has its origins in the political arena of the European community.
A century ago, some linguists predicted that one day England, America, Australia and Canada would be speaking different languages. However, with the advent of records, cinema, radio, and television, the two brands of English have even begun to draw back together again.
Britons and Americans probably speak more alike today than they did 50 or 60 years ago. (In the 1930s and 1940s, for example, American films were dubbed in England. It's no longer the practice today).
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People have long been interested in having one language that could be spoken throughout the world. Such a language would help to increase cultural and economic ties and simplify communication between people. Through the years, at least 600 universal languages have been proposed, including Esperanto. About 10 million people have learned Esperanto since its creation in 1887, but English, according to specialists, has better chances to become a global language. So why not learn it?
(from Speak Out, abridged)
SOME FACTS ABOUT ENGLISH
There were only 30,000 words in Old English. Modern English has the largest vocabulary in the world more than 600,000 words.
There are about 60,000 words in common use.
About 450-500 words are added to the English vocabulary every year.
70 per cent of the English vocabulary are loan words and only 30 per cent of the words are native.
There are are words from 120 languages in English, including Russian.
The most frequently used words in written English are: the, of, and, to, a, in, that, is, I, it, for and as.
The most frequently used word in conversation is I.
The longest word in the English language is: Pneumonoultamicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (a lung disease).
The commonest letter is "e".
More words begin with the letter "s" than any other.
The most overworked word in English is the word set. It has 126 verbal uses and 58 noun uses.
The newest letters added to the English alphabet are "j" and "v", which are of post- Shakespearean use.
The largest English-language dictionary is the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, with 21,728 pages.
The commonest English name is Smith. There are about 800,00 people called Smith in England and Wales, and about 1,700,000 in the USA.
(from Speak Out, abridged)
HOT ISSUES
WHAT WILL OUR LIFE BE LIKE?
Can you imagine what our life will be like in the year 2050? What will our cities be like in the future? How will we live and behave? Will medical science win its battle against the terrible illnesses that mankind continues to suffer from?
If things go as researchers plan, by 2050 computers and Internet connections will be in every room in the home, and so will robots!
By 2010 most of us will be working on the move. Your office will be wherever you are. It'll be possible to have a virtual meeting instantly. Simply say to your computer "I want to have a meeting with my team at 11 o'clock" and they'll appear before your eyes on the screen of your wearable computer.
By 2025 we will have cars that drive themselves. By 2040 we could be driving on fully automated highways. Some scientists believe one day there will be flying cars, too.
Our power will come from sources cleaner than coal, oil and gas.
In the near future, progress in technology, electronics and genetic engineering will make it possible to regulate DNA. We'll become healthier and will be able to live longer.
In the next thirty years, we may all know someone who has travelled in space. Space travel is really expensive at the moment, but scientists are trying to find a solution.
"Fly me to the moon" may become a common demand, with package tours to lunar resorts.
By the end of the century we could travel to Mars as easily as we do to New York.
Mars could be the base for space exploration into the outer regions of the solar system and the Earth may even become a quieter planet
