Art and culture
Искусство и культура
The Oxford Advancer Learner`s Dictionary of Current English by Hornby gives us the following definition of the notion "art". ""Art" is the creation or expression of what is beautiful, especially in visual form. Drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, music, ballet belong to the fine art". Really when something is extremely beautiful or has great cultural value, we say: "It's art". Art has always been occupation for the few, but has been admired by many. I really enjoy everything that is beautiful. I like painting, sculpture. I am fond of music and theatre.
The twentieth century has given the world cinema. For a long time there have been disputes whether the cinema is an art or just an entertainment. Nowadays the cinema is considered one of the main contemporary arts. Not so long ago people went to cinemas frequently, but now we prefer to stay at home and watch video films and TV. Maybe cinemas are no longer as popular as they used to be but films will always be one of the best entertainments for people all over the world. Speaking about art one should not forget about music, especially classic music. Outstanding Russian composers make all the world admire their music. It's almost impossible to find a man who does not know Pyotr Ilyich Tchaicovsky, Michail Glinka, Nicholai Rimsky-Korsakov - the famous composers of 19th century, and Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitriy Shostakovich. The most famous ballets "Swan Lake", "The Sleeping Beauty", "The Nutcracker" and not less famous operas "The Queen of Spades", "Eugine Onegin" are still excellently staged and performed not only in Russian but in many greatest theatres in the world. Russia is famous for its architecture. The real jewel of architecture is the Moscow Kremlin with its cathedrals, towers and red brick walls. There are also a lot of museums and galleries in Moscow. The most famous gallery of Moscow is Tretyakov gallery, it reflects the whole history of Russian Art. It has a rich collection of early Russian painting including famous icon. The world famous "The Trinity" by Andrey Rublev is exhibited in the gallery. St.Petersburg has great number of real masterpieces of architecture of different styles and is definitely worth visiting and being admired. Russia is rich also in young talents, new Russian culture is forming. We can hear new voices in music and poetry, new canvases of modern artists, great actors and film directors. All of them will make their contribution into Russian Culture and Art.
This topic was written by Sfinx from Nizhnevartovsk...
British Holidays
Праздники в Англии
There are a number of holidays, which are celebrated in Great Britain every year.
One of them is, of course, New Year's Day on the first of January. It is not so popular in England as in our country, but it is rather popular in Scotland. On that day people usually visit their friends and there is a lot of dancing and eating. In Scotland people bring a piece of coal for good luck in the New Year.
The next holiday of the year is St. Valentine's Day. It is on the 14th of February. People buy or make Valentine cards and send them to the people they love.
In March there is Mother's Day. All the children, little or adult ones, come to their mothers on that day to express their love and gratitude.
In April there is Easter. At Easter children eat chocolate Easter eggs. Sometimes parents hide them in the ho-use or in the garden and children have to look for them.
In June there is Father's Day. On Father's Day children give or send their fathers and grandfathers cards and presents.
On the 31st of October there is a Halloween. They say ghosts and witches come out on Halloween. People make lanterns out of pumpkins. Some people have Halloween parties and dress as witches and ghosts.
The 25th of December is Christmas Day. It is one of the people's favourite holidays. People put Christmas trees in their houses and decorate them. There are beautiful Christmas decorations in the streets. On Christmas Eve everybody puts the presents under the Christmas tree. People say that at night Father Christmas puts presents into the stockings which children usually hang on their beds. The traditional Christmas meal is roast turkey and Christmas pudding.
Customs and Traditions in Britain
Обычаи и традиции в Британии
There are many customs and traditions in England. And I would like to tell you some of them. First tradition is called "Wrong side of the bed" When people are bad tempered we say that they must have got out of bed on the wrong side. Originally, it was meant quiet literally. People believe that the way they rose in the morning affected their behavior throughout the day. The wrong side of the bed was the left side. The left always having been linked with evil. Second custom is called "Blowing out the candles" The custom of having candles on birthday cakes goes back to the ancient Greeks. Worshippers of Artemis, goddess of the moon and hunting, used to place honey cakes on the altars of her temples on her birthday. The cakes were round like the full moon and lit with tapers. This custom was next recorded in the middle ages when German peasants lit tapers on birthday cakes, the number lit indicating the person's age, plus an extra one to represent the light of life.
From earliest days burning tapers had been endowed with mystical significance and it was believed that when blown out they had the power to grant a secret wish and ensure a happy year ahead. And the last tradition I would like to tell you is called "The 5th of November" On the 5th of November in almost every town and village in England you will see fire burning, fireworks, cracking and lighting up the sky. You will see too small groups of children pulling round in a home made cart, a figure that looks something like a man but consists of an old suit of clothes, stuffed with straw. The children will sing:" Remember, remember the 5th of November; Gun powder, treason and plot". And they will ask passers-by for "a penny for the Guy" But the children with "the Guy" are not likely to know who or what day they are celebrating. They have done this more or less every 5th of November since 1605. At that time James the First was on the throne. He was hated with many people especially the Roman Catholics against whom many sever laws had been passed. A number of Catholics chief of whom was Robert Catesby determined to kill the King and his ministers by blowing up the house of Parliament with gunpowder. To help them in this they got Guy Fawker, a soldier of fortune, who would do the actual work. The day fixed for attempt was the 5th of November, the day on which the Parliament was to open. But one of the conspirators had several friends in the parliament and he didn't want them to die. So he wrote a letter to Lord Monteagle begging him to make some excuse to be absent from parliament if he valued his life. Lord Monteagle took the letter hurrily to the King. Guards were sent at once to examine the cellars of the house of Parliament. And there they found Guy Fawker about to fire a trail of gunpowder. He was tortured and hanged, Catesby was killed, resisting arrest in his own house. In memory of that day bonfires are still lighted, fireworks shoot across the November sky and figures of Guy Fawker are burnt in the streets.
Great Britain
Великобритания
The United Kingdom of G.B. and Northern Irelands is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consists of two large islands, G.B. and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244,000 square kilometers.
The UK is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. GB consists of England, Scotland and Wales and doesn't include Northern Ireland. The capital of the UK is London.
The British Isles are separated from European continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. The western coast of GB is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.
The surface of the British Isles varies very much. The north of Scotland is mountainous and is called the Highlands, while the south, which has beautiful valleys and plains, is called the Lowlands.
There are a lot of rivers in GB, but they are not very long. The Severn is the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and the most important one.
The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters if Gulf Stream influence the climate of the British Isles. The weather in GB is very changeable. A fine morning can change into a wet afternoon and evening and the wrong side out. The English people say: "Other countries have a climate; in England we have weather." The English also say that they have three variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains in the afternoon or t\when it rains all day long.
The weather is the favorite conversational topic in GB. After they greet each other they start talking the weather.
The best time of the year in GB is spring (of course, it rains in spring too). The two worst months in Britain are January and February. They are cold, damp and unpleasant. The best place in the world then is at home by the big fire. Summer months are rather cold and there can be a lot of rainy days. So most people who look forward to summer holidays, plan to go abroad for the summer.
The most unpleasant aspect of English weather is fog and smog. This is extremely bad in big cities especially in London. The fog spreads everywhere so cars move along slowly and people can't see each other. They try not to be run over by a car but still accidents are frequent in the fog.
Great Britain
Великобритания
Learning English naturally leads to learning facts about the country it is spoken in, or better to say, it was born in. I am greatly interested in everything connected with Great Britain. So here are some basic facts about this country.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands. The total area of the islands is over 224’000 square kilometers.
The UK is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast respectively. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales and doesn’t include Northern Ireland. But in everyday speech “Great Britain” is used to mean the UK.
The capital of the UK is London. It stands on the River Thames. The British Isles are separated from the European Continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. The western coast of Great Britain is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea. The surface of the British Isles varies very much. The north of Scotland is mountainous and is called the Highlands; while the south, which has beautiful valleys and plains, is called the Lowlands. The north and the west of England are mountainous, but all the rest-east, center and southeast - is a vast plain. Mountains are not very high. Ben Nevis in Scotland is the highest mountain (1343 meters over the sea level).
There are a lot of rivers in Great Britain, but they are not long. The Severn is the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and the most important one.
The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters of Gulf Stream influenced the climate of the British Isles. It is mild all over the year round.
The UK is a highly developed industrial country. It’s known as one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of machinery, electronics, textile, aircraft and navigation equipment. One of the chief industries of the country is shipbuilding. The main industrial centers and at the same time the largest cities of the country are London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow.
The UK is a constitutional monarchy. In law, the Head of the state is the Queen or the King. In practice, the monarch reigns but doesn’t rule. Elected Government with the Prime Minister at the head rules the country. The British Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Common. It makes the Laws of the UK. There are three main political parties in Great Britain: the Labour, the Conservative and the Liberal Parties.
Two characteristic of the British Constitution confuse most foreigners: there is no written constitution; it is not contained in any single document. There are two kinds of rules by which GB is governed: Rules of Law and Rules of Custom. The Rules of Law are those set out in such historical declarations as Magna Charta (1215)? The Bill of Rights of 1689 and the Act of Settlement of 1701. Many principles of the British Constitution by which Britain is governed are principles of Common Law. There are principles, which are not established by any law passed by Parliament but established in the courts.
I can’t but say some words about Britons. Crowded together on their “tight little island”, cut off from the rest Europe by the Sea, and secure from invasion, the British developed their own character and way of life. They came to respect privacy and to value old traditions. They developed a dry wit, a love for personal freedom and a high degree of self-criticism. They have produced some of the world’s greatest writers, scientists, explorers, artists and political figures. The undying genius of William Shakespeare, in my opinion, determined the development of the whole world’s literature, influenced the minds of many generations, became their moral compass.
Some of the British national traits are resulting from the British way of life. The British are known as a people self-assured, absolutely confident in their national sense of superiority. Deep down the British still fell pretty satisfied with themselves.
The British display a very wide toleration of individual differences among themselves, and even among others. This trait comes out most clearly as willingness to tolerate; sometimes it seems a willingness to encourage individual eccentricities.
As a very sportive nation, the British invented and still do some original sports and games. Two of them obtained world-wild popularity; I mean football, or soccer, and boxing.
The history of the UK is the story of how a small island country became the world’s most powerful nation and then declined. Though it is no longer the world’s power, the UK is still a leading industrial and trading nation. The UK of today is in a state of change and is seeking its new role in the world.
The history of the UK is in its museums. There are about 2000 museums and galleries in Britain, which include the chief national collections, and a great variety of independently or privately, owned institutions. But some of the most comprehensive collections of objects of artistic, archaeological, scientific, historical and general interest are contained in the national museums and galleries in London. Among them are the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery, the Natural History Museum, Madame Tussaud’s, the Tower of London and many other treasure institutions. There are also national museums and art galleries in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Most cities and towns have museums and other treasures devoted to arts, archeology and natural history.
One of my greatest dreams is to visit Great Britain one day. Of course, I’d like to go to London first, it’s a must, I think. But there are so many places in this country that are worth visiting. Liverpool - the home city of the Beatles, Manchester - famous for its football club, Stratford-on-Avon - the birthplace of W. Shakespeare; Lock Ness - the lake where a monster is supposed to live. And I’d like to visit the Lake District. It’s a beautiful region of lakes and mountains in the country of Cumbria, in northwest of England. The region contains 15 lakes. Its beauty attracted many poets, writers and artists.
Sport
Спорт
The British are known to be great sport lovers. When they are neither playing, nor watching games, they like to talk about them. Many of games we play now have come from Britain.
One of the most British games is cricket. Summer isn’t summer without cricket. But the game, which attracts the greatest attention, is football, or soccer. There are plenty of professional or amateur clubs all over Britain. Next to football, the chief spectator in British life is horse-racing. A lot of people are interested in racing & risk money on the horse-races. A great number of people play & watch tennis. Indeed in one form or another sport is an essential part of daily life in Britain.
Many sports are popular in Russia. They are: hockey, soccer, weightlifting, track & field, tennis, basketball, volleyball, boxing, figure-skating, swimming, judo & shooting.
The Russians are not only sports fans. They take an active part in all sports activities. It’s been a tradition in this country to divide sport into professional & amateur. There are different sporting societies & clubs in Russia.
There are many stadiums & public sports facilities in Russia. Numerous national & international matches & competitions are regularly held in Russia. They attract a large number of fans. Most of important games are televised. Thousands of fans go to the stadiums to support their favorite team & thousands more prefer to watch games on TV. But watching sports events & going in for sports are two different things.
There is no need to speak about the importance of sports & games. They must become a part of your daily life. Sport helps people to stay in good shape, helps them to be fit, healthy. Some people go in for sports for pleasure for relaxation.
So sport attracts a lot of people. Some of them are members of sporting clubs. They go in different athletic events, do aerobics, go in for body-building, swimming. You may choose any kind to your liking & to your health.
As for me, I go to the swimming pool, because it’s good for my health.
Theatre
Театр
During the past hundred years, the radio, the cinema, TV and now Internet have made great changes in the entertainment with which people fill their free time. More than a hundred years ago people knew how to entertain themselves much better than they do now. When a group of people gathered together, they talked, played cards or other games, read aloud to each other, or went out shooting, or walking together. Summer picnics were also a great hit those days. Most of people could sing or play a musical instrument, so at a party the guests entertained each other. Conversation was an art, amusing conversation could keep people happy for hours.
As for games, such as football, tennis, people used to play them more often than they do now. Most of them didn’t play very well, but they could amuse themselves and their friends. Nowadays we are entertained by professionals. There appeared even such phenomena as show industry and professional sport. With the help of electronic Mass Media they are ruling in modern society. I’m not an exclusion and also pay my tribute to them. So choosing among theatre, cinema and TV, I’ll certainly choose Theatre.
Theatre is the ancient but ever - youthful parent of all entertainment in dramatic form. It has existed on and off for two-and-a-half thousand years because there is something special to itself that it offers us. But what is it that is special about the theatre? A famous playwright Priestly compares theatre with the restaurant. In a very good restaurant we have a dinner that is specially cooked for us; in a canteen we are merely served with standard portions of a standard meal. And this is the difference between the living Theatre and the mass entertainment of films, radio and television. In the theatre the play is specially cooked for us.
The production never takes its final shape, until it has an audience. The actors are not playing to microphones and cameras but to warmly responsive fellow-creatures. And they are never giving exactly the same performance. If the audience tends to be heavy, unresponsive – the company slightly sharpens and heightens its performance to bring the audience to life, and vice versa, if the audience is too enthusiastic. One more thing, when we see a play we form part of an audience. This is important, because we behave differently when we are part of audience. If the play is funny, we laugh a great deal more that we should if we were by ourselves. If it is pathetic we are more deeply moved just because a lot of other people are being moved too. We have to share the feelings of a great many other people to enjoy a play properly, and this in itself is a good thing, particularly this days when too many people usually living in large cities feel cut off, and separate.
To enjoy the theatre we have to join it. Today theatre is at some kind of crisis. The houses are alarmingly empty. Many other forms of entertainment have superseded theatre. There are many who do not care whether theatre lives or dies. This is causing anxiety. The main reason for that is that our cultural level is painfully low. Now we can see the degradation of people’s spiritual and cultural standards as a whole, the erosion of values and ideals. And culture is the health of a nation, a way of improving its genetic fund. It’s impossible to survive without culture. Theatre is the means of the disseminating culture. School is responsible for awakening a child’s interest to theatre, it’ necessary to instil into people, into their consciousness the love to the theatre. I do believe that the situation will change to the better. Theatre will never die. For some people it died long ago, - for people who are poorly developed emotionally, they simply do not understand the Theatre, as they do not understand painting, serious music. But theatre is eternal. The atmosphere in theatre is solemn. It’s the magical place where man meets his image, where people are taught to appreciate the beauty, to hate the evil, ugliness, where feelings are stirred, where our souls and mind are elevated. It is the enduring home of dramatic experience, which is surely one of the most searching, rewarding, enchanting of our many different kinds of experience.
There are two theatres in Grodno. The Puppet theatre and Drama Theatre. The Grodno Drama Theatre was found in 1947 and opened its doors on 20th October 1947. The first play at the stage of this theatre was the play of Obstrovsky “Truth is good, but happiness is better”. In 1984 the Grodno Drama Theatre moved into a new building, which is well known, to every citizen of our town. It is of modern architecture and you can easy got lost there. Especially in the main entrance. There are two halls in the theatre. A large hall and the small one. The large hall can seat about 700 people. The smoker contains about 200 of audience. At the first nights of early performances audience usually celebrate actors with a stormy applods and gives flowers to the actors. I think that this theatre will survive throw years and will be one of the best theatres not only in Belarus but in Europe as well. I would like my dream come true.
There is an actor in the history of theatre and cinema whose name is well known for everybody. It is Andrey Mironov. He got to be known thanks to his numerous film roles. I believe, everybody remembers his brilliant performances in “Twelve Chairs”, “A Diamond Arm”, “Adventures of Italians in Russia” and many other unforgettable comedies. He is one of the most brilliant comic actors of our days. His artistic palette is unbelievably rich. Though his humour is often sad, sometimes sarcastic, it left nobody indifferent. Spectators began to smile from the first minute Andrey appeared in the screen. The name of Mironov in the caption of a film was a guarantee of good entertainment a promise of high skill and good taste less known was Mironov a dramatic actor. He was a bright star in the constellation of popular dramatic actors who played in the Moscow Theatre of Comedy in those days. His repertoire in the theatre was richer and wore various than in films where directors exploited his gift of a comic only. His Figaro in “The Barber of Seville” is the best simple of his talent, his ability to create both comic and tragic characters. His sense of display, an ability to identify with a role, artistic imagination, intellectual and spiritual strength his exquisite sense of humour made Andrey Mironov a favourite of millions of spectators.
Theatre unites actors and spectators, moves our feelings, establishes close contacts between people, creates the atmosphere for thinking. Theatre makes it possible to establish close contacts between actor and spectators, to create intellectual atmosphere, to distinguish between the good and the bad, to understand and enjoy the beauty.