EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN




There are different kinds of educational institutions in Great Britain: universities, colleges, university extra-mural departments, evening department at colleges, etc.

There are at present about forty universities in Great Britain; practically every big city of the country has a university. Its function is to give the highest type of education and training to its students to make them able to carry out scientific work. A University graduate is awarded the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, Science, Engineering, Medicine, etc.

University usually consists of some Colleges, which are a part of the University. They provide training and give degrees to their students. English Universities differ greatly from each other. They differ in date of foundation, history, tradition, general organization, internal government, methods of instruction, ways of student's life, etc.

Oxford and Cambridge are well-known not only because they are the oldest universities but because the standard of teaching there is very high. The cost of education at these Universities is so high that only the children of the richest classes can attend these universities.

At present Oxford and Cambridge have a tutorial system of education which brings a student into close and personal contact with his tutor. Each student has a tutor who helps the student to plan his work.

Besides universities in Great Britain there are at present about three hundred technical colleges providing part-time and full-time education. Technical colleges give special instruction in certain subjects. They give diplomas, not degrees to their students. The course for training specialists lasts three or four years, while at the universities it lasts as a rule more than four years.

 

QUESTIONS

1. What university did you enter?

2. What examinations did you have to take when ente­ring the university?

3. Who is usually admitted to the University?

4. What marks did you get in all the subjects?

5. What subjects do the first year students study?

6. Who is at the head of any university?

7. Who is in charge of tuition?

8. What curriculum does your university have?

9. Who carries out all the pedagogical and scientific work?

10. Specialization usually begins in the third year, doesn't it?

11. Is there a Student Scientific Society at your university?

12. What are the graduates from your university?


UNIT 5

IN TOWN

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

in the street pavement the roadway crossing overcrowded bus heavy (small) traffic   on the right hand side to change a tram for a bus to turn (to the) left to go by bus (tram or trolleybus) speed limit filling station underground (subway) rush hours traffic light   to take a bus to go on foot to lose one's way

 

How much is the fare?

Will you give me a lift, please?

Is this the right way to...?

Which is the shortest way to...?

It's only five minutes walk to...

Are you getting off at the next stop?

Hold on, I'm getting off here.

What is the name of this street?

“No Parking”

“Road Closed”

Cross the street under the green light.

 

A TOWN

A town is a large number of houses, schools, hospitals, theatres, factories, works and other buildings built near each other. All these buildings are divided into blocks by streets. Short narrow streets that join larger ones together are called lanes. On one side of the streets the buildings have even numbers, on the other - odd numbers. The main streets are usually paved with stone or asphalt. Along the streets run carts, cars, buses and trolley-buses. In large towns tramways are laid down the wider streets, along which tram-cars rattle with great noise. On both sides of the streets are raised pavements on which people walk.

In very large towns, which are generally called cities, countless pedestrians walk along the foot-pavement forming two smoothly-flowing ceaseless, currents. In England walkers keep to the right, while vehicles on the road keep to the left.

People usually cross the streets at special places, called crossings. When the traffic is very heavy, the policeman, who regulates the movement of the cars and buses, has to stop the never-ending stream by raising one hand, thus affording the pedestrians a chance of crossing the street. On the foot-paths, close to the gutter, stand dust-bins, into which refuse is put.

In large towns the ground floor and the first storey of the houses, that line the principal streets, consist of shops. These shops present most attractive features. The windows are very large and the plates of glass often reach almost to the pavement. It is interesting to look at the shop-windows where the articles on sale are displayed.

In the centre and in important parts of a large town, there are squares, gardens and market places.

A town is generally situated near or on a river across which bridges are built. In almost all towns there are places of interest, which a stranger would be invited to see - monuments, cathedrals, museums, etc.

In England a town is governed by a council, the head of which is styled the mayor.

A STORY

(A story of a girl who came to stay at her aunt's in a big city and who nearly lost herself when she went to see the town alone).

Aunt Mary, if you only knew how happy I am to see you again. I had such an exciting time when you were out. I tried to make a short round about the neighborhood though I knew you would not let me out alone. In fact, I nearly got lost.

First I went along the street your house is in, then I took a turning to the left. There was a fine building at the end of the lane. I turned to and I wanted to see it closer. All of a sudden I got to a small square with old houses around it, a fountain in the middle and a tall clock tower in one of its corners. It was a nice and I'd say - a very cosy place. There were plenty of pigeons on the pavement and elsewhere. I sat down on a bench to have a rest and looked around. Several narrow by-streets began at the square. So when I started my walk back I probably chose the wrong one. It led me to a broad avenue with heavy traffic. Hundreds of cars, lorries and buses rushed by and I couldn’t cross the roadway. Of course I didn't know there was a subway at the end of that block and a passer-by helped me to find it.

But that isn't the end of the story. When I found myself on the other side of that big street I noticed I was there for the first time. All the houses, shops and all seemed quite unfamiliar to me. I turned to the right and again the street was unknown to me. I stopped at a loss and was about to cry. I understood I wouldn't find your street myself and I asked an old woman the way here. I was very much surprised when she said I had to take a trolley-bus and ride four stops. It's good luck I had some small change on me.

 

QUESTIONS

1. What means of city transport do you know?

2. What do they call the underground railways in Moscow (London, New York)?

3. What do we call the hours when the city tran­sport system carries the greatest amount of passengers?

4. Which is the best underground railway in the world? Give your reasons.

5. Where is the distance between tram and bus stops greater, in the centre of the town or on the outskirts?

6. Why do people queue (line) up at bus stops?

7. When are the trams usually full?

8. Where do you change on your way to the Institu­te?

9. What do we call the money passengers pay for their trip in trams, etc.?

10. How much time does the trip to the Institute take you?

UNIT 6.

HOLIDAYS, TRAVELLING

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

sea-side accommodation a boarding-house a resort [ri′zo:t] a holiday makers to go swimming to sunbathe in the South the Crimea [′kraimiə] the Caucausus [′ko:kəsəs]

 

to rent a room (a flat)

to be on holiday

to have a holiday

to go on holiday

to have a quiet rest

to spend a holiday in the open air

to be on a camping holiday

to be at the sea-side

to stay at a hotel

on the coast of the Baltic Sea

 

HOLIDAY

Where can you go for a holiday? You have a lot of opportunities. Of course, most people would like to go to the south or to the seaside, but you must consider the weather and the season.

You may want to go to Siberia, for example. The nature is wonderful there. You will never see such a lot of sparkling white snow. You will enjoy frosty fresh air if you go skiing or bear-hunting, but you should remember that it's very cold there in winter. The temperature may be about 50 degrees below zero.

Some people prefer to spend their holidays in warmer places. There is no warmer place than Africa. It's warm there all the year round. The sun shines every day, but in summer it's too hot and sometimes it's humid there. And you won't be able to go lion-hunting until the sun sets. But when it starts raining, it may rain the whole week. If you want to get sunburnt it's the best place. You can get as sunburnt as the natives.

Anyway choosing a place for your holiday you must consider the weather forecast.

 

TRAVELLING

Modern life is impossible without travelling. Thousands of people travel every day either on business or for pleasure. They can travel by air, by rail, by sea or by road.

Of course, travelling by air is the fastest and the most convenient way, but it is the most expensive too. Travelling by train is slower than by plane, but it has its advantages. You can see much more interesting places of the country you are travelling through. Modern trains have very comfortable seats. There are also sleeping cars and dining cars which make even longest journey enjoyable. Speed, comfort and safety are the main advantages of trains and planes. That is why many people prefer them to all other means.

Travelling by sea is popular mostly for pleasure trips. On board large ships and small river boats people can visit foreign countries and different places of interest within their own country.

As for me I prefer travelling by car. I think it's very convenient. You needn't book any tickets in advance. You needn't carry heavy suitcases. You can stop wherever you wish and spend at any place as much time as you like. Every year my friend and I go somewhere to the South for holidays. It is my father who drives the car. I haven't got the driver's license yet.

The Black Sea is one of the most wonderful places which attract holiday makers all over the world. There are many rest-homes, sanatoriums and tourist camps there. But it is also possible to take a room or a furnished house for a couple of weeks there.

 

QUESTIONS

1. What means of travelling do you know?

2. Which means of travelling are the most po­pular with the passengers? Why?

3. Which is the fastest way of travelling?

4. Have you ever travelled by air?

5. How do people usually travel when they go ab­road?

6. When you travel within the country, do you usu­ally go by car, by plane, by ship or by train?

7. What are the advantages of travelling by rail­way?

8. When did you last travel by train?

9. Do you agree that travelling by sea is al­ways enjoyable?

10. What makes travelling by car enjoyable?

11. What are the disadvantages of travelling by car?

12. Where do you usually spend your holiday?

13. Where do you stay when you go to the South?

14. What is the best time for travelling and tou­rism?


UNIT 7.

HEALTH

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

patient hospital physician disease illness health chemist's medicine to cough treatment flu

 

to recover

to be ill

to fall ill

to prescribe a medicine

to catch (a) cold

to take one’s blood count

to check one’s blood pressure

to X-ray

 

complication after a disease

sick-leave certificate

I have a sore throat.

It hurts here.

This is a good medicine for colds.

What do you take for a headache?

I have a running nose.

I'm not feeling quite up to the mark.

AT THE DOGTOR'S

follow-up examination out-patient hospital in-patient hospital contagious disease at the dentist's medical check-up poor health nurse ward pill surgery

 

to examine the patient

to have (to run) a temperature

to take one's temperature

to loose one's appetite

to feel run-down

to sound smb's chest

to go to the dentist's

to have a toothache

to fill a tooth

to take out the tooth

to have a tooth pulled out

to have pain in one's knee

to take pills for a headache

to sneeze

to be overweight

to cure smb. of (from) smth.

to be off-colour

 

What seems to be the trouble?

The trouble is...

The patient is feverish.

This medicine will send your temperature down.

He was cured of heart disease

HEALTH

When we are ill, we call the doctor, and he examines us and diagnoses the illness (or disease).

When we have a headache, a stomach ache, a sore throat, or 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 we have a pain (the part of the body which hurts us) and tells us what is the matter with us. He says: “You have a slight temperature” or “You have caught a cold” or “You have heart disease”.

The doctor prescribes medicine, and gives us a prescription, which we take to the chemist, who makes up the medicine. The doctor says: "I shall prescribe some medicine. You must take the prescription to the chemist and he will make up the medicine for you. Take the medicine twice or three times a day, before or after meals". We must follow the doctor's orders if we want to get better. If we have a temperature, we must stay in bed and take the medicine he prescribes.

If you need an operation (for example if you have appendicitis), a surgeon performs the operation on you. If we are too ill to walk, we go to hospital in the ambulance. After our illness we can go to a sanatorium until we are strong again.

When we have toothache, we go to the dentist’s. The dentist examines our teeth. The dentist asks: “Which tooth hurts you?” He says: “That tooth has a cavity. I must stop it (I must put in a filling)”. If the tooth is too bad, the dentist extracts it.

THE LAWS OF HEALTH

One of the first duties we owe to ourselves is to keep our bodies in perfect health. If our body suffers from any disorder, our mind suffers with it, and we are unable to make progress in knowledge, and we are unfit to perform those duties which are required of us in social life.

There are certain laws of health which deserve particular attention, and they are so simple that even a child can learn them. A constant supply of pure fresh air is indispensible to good health.

To secure this, nothing impure should remain either within or near our houses, and every room in the house, especially the bedrooms, should be properly ventilated every day.

Perfect cleanliness is also essential. The whole body should be washed as often as possible. The skin is full of minute pores, cells, blood vessels and nerves. It “breathes” the way the lungs do. Therefore it should always be clean.

A certain amount of exercise is necessary to keep the body in perfect condition. All the powers (mental and bodily) we possess are strengthened by use and weakened by disuse. Therefore labour and study should succeed each other.

Remember that exercises warm and purify the body. Rest is also necessary to the health of body and mind. The best time for sleep is during the darkness and stillness of the night.

Most essential to our body is food. Be moderate in eating. If you eat slowly, you will not overeat. Never swallow your food wholesale and you will never complain of indigestion.

Thus we must remember that moderation in eating and drinking, reasonable hours of labour and study, recreation and rest, cleanliness and many other essentials lay the foundations for good health and long life.

 

QUESTIONS

1. Where do you usually get treatment when you fall ill and what kind of treatment do you get there?

2. Have you ever been taken to hospital? If so, tell us how long you stayed there and what you were treated for?

3. How were you treated for flu when you were last ill?

4. What are the symptoms of flu?

5. What do you usually do to get well as soon as possible?

6. What is necessary to do to prevent serious deceases?

7. Why is it necessary to go to a dentist regularly for an examination of your teeth?

8. Are regular medical check-ups necessary? Why?

9. What do you know about the health system in our country (Great Britain, USA, etc.)?


UNIT 8.

SEASONS

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

Indian summer frost first frosts hoar frost mud mist fog smog thunderstorm shower drizzling rain frosty day weather forecast

It’s snowing.

It’s thawing.

It’s slippery.

The wind is from the north.

It’s windy today.

What is the weather like today?

The winter has set in.

What nasty weather we are having.

25 degrees below (above) zero.

We had ten degrees of frost last night.

It's raining cats and dogs.

It seems to be clouding over.

How long do you think this cold spell will last?

There’s really no telling.

It’s wonderful weather we're having.

 

SEASONS

Spring is a very pleasant season. The weather is usually warm, but there are sometimes cold days in spring. Nature awakens in spring. Birds return from the South. Trees turn green, young, fresh leaves appear, grass becomes green too. The rays of the sun warm the earth. The sky is blue and cloudless; there are no clouds in it.

Everybody feels younger and stronger. Many people like spring more than other seasons. It is very pleasant to watch how nature awakens from her winter sleep.

When summer comes the weather gets warmer and sometimes it's very hot. When the temperature is over twenty degrees centigrade we say that it is hot. When the temperature is below twenty degrees we say it is warm. It is a busy time for those who live in the country. They cut grass and make hay while the weather is fine. It sometimes rains however in summer, and heavy clouds cover the sun. When clouds cover the sky we say: “It is cloudy”. There are also storms in summer with thunder, lightning and hail. There are showers too. When autumn comes the days get colder. The trees turn yellow. The leaves begin to turn yellow and fall from the trees.

Autumn is harvest time. The farmers gather crops and pick fruit in the orchards. The more they work the sooner the work is over. It's necessary to finish work before it gets cold and rainy. It often rains in autumn. Autumn is a rainy season. It often rains in summer too, but summer is not a rainy season and autumn is a rainy one. Autumn is the most rainy season of the year.

Winter is the coldest season. Sometimes we have hard frost. The air is frosty then. The wind often blows in winter and we say: “It is windy”. But sometimes we have fog and we say: “It is foggy”. The days in winter are shorter than those in autumn. The shorter the days get, the longer the nights become. The days are the shortest in winter and the nights are the longest. People usually spend more time indoors because it is cold out of doors.

 

ABOUT ENGLISH WEATHER

England is an island country and its territory isn't very large. That's why there is no wide range of climatic conditions in this country. There are some features common to the climate of this country as a whole: the climate is mild, wet and the weather is changeable.

The weather really very often changes in England. You can seldom have the same kind of weather for a long time. This is because of the Atlantic Ocean. The winds blowing from the Atlantic bring plenty of rain to the island.

Summer sometimes happens to be hot but not very often. More often sunshine and rain follow each other so many times during the day that it is better not to leave your raincoat at home. Sometimes summer months are rather cold. One can never depend on the weather. So, most people plan to go abroad for the summer holidays, to France or somewhere on the Continent.

As to winter, it is generally mild. The English winter on the whole is not as severe as the Russian winter. They never have very low temperatures there. However here again we must say about the weather changeability. In winter they have all sorts of weather. Sometimes it rains and sometimes it snows and they also have fog and frost, but they never have much snow and many frosty days there.

Spring is a lovely season of the year in England. However, they sometimes have really cold days when it is raining and cold winds are blowing from the north.

When autumn comes, of course, they get a great deal of rain; the weather is very damp and rather nasty.

The most unpleasant aspect of English weather is fog and smog. This is extremely bad in big towns and especially in London, where fogs can be very unpleasant and they can stop traffic.

So we say that English weather on the whole is not exceptionally good. It's very damp, they have a great deal of rain and the English summer is usually disappointing.

QUESTIONS

1. How many seasons are there in a year? What are they?

2. How long does each season last?

3. What are the winter (spring, summer, autumn) months?

4. What is the weather like in winter (spring, summer, autumn)?

5. What is the average temperature in winter?

6. Which season is the hottest in the year?

7. Why do people like to have their holidays in summer?

8. What is the best season for tourism (sports)?

9. What season is the harvest time?

10. Is the weather pleasant in September?

11. Does it often rain in autumn?

12. What is the shortest (longest) day of the year?

13. Which is your favourite season and why?

14. What is the weather like today?

15. Have you heard the weather forecast for tomorrow?


UNIT 9.

TELEVISION

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

TV broadcast screen channel music program   colour film silent film dubbed-in film full-length film short film feature film mystery film (“Who done it”) black-and-white (non-colour) film   documentary film comedy film horror film popular science film animated cartoon (film)

 

to watch television

to watch a football match on television

to watch a TV program

 

I saw it on TV.

He spoke on TV.

What make is your TV set?

My heart was in my mouth. (My heart fell).



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