The University of St Andrews is located in the small town of St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland. It is the oldest university in Scotland, and the third oldest university in the United Kingdom after Oxford and Cambridge.
In the middle ages, there were no universities in Scotland and young Scottish people had to go abroad to study. Many of them went to study in France, to Paris University. In May 1410 a group of academics, mainly graduates of Paris University and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, started a school of higher learning in St Andrews, which offered courses of lectures in logic, philosophy, and law. Later the school turned into a university.
The town of St Andrews had not been chosen as the place for the first university of Scotland by chance. It was located not far from Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. In the 15th century, the town of St Andrews was already an important religious centre of the country. It had a monastery, a cathedral and several churches. The town was well-known in Europe.
By the middle of the 16th century, St Andrews was quite a big university and had three colleges. Even today some of the university buildings date back to this period and they are still in use. In the 17th to 19th centuries, St Andrews University went through a period of decline. It had serious financial problems, and the number of students got very low. It was recorded that in 1773, the university had only 100 students.
However, in the 19th century the town of St Andrews became a trendy holiday destination. The railway arrived in the town, the population increased, and a lot of new streets and houses were built. The University of St Andrews got back its fame as one of the best universities: the number of students and professors increased.
Today St Andrews University has a world-class reputation in teaching and research. It is considered to be one of the best in the United Kingdom. The University population (staff and students) numbers nearly 9,000. They come from more than 100 countries. St Andrews’ graduates include statesmen, inventors, authors, political leaders and journalists.
No wonder the university has many traditions. One of them is the red academic gown which is usually worn at formal university occasions (several times a year). First-year-students wear their gowns on the shoulders, then, in the second year, off the shoulders. Third-year-students wear the gown off the left shoulder or on the right shoulder. A fourth-year-student will wear the gown off both shoulders, across the elbow.
Another famous tradition that many students choose to take part in is the May Dip. They get into a freezing North Sea at sunrise on the first of May. The students believe that this ritual will bring them good luck in exams. If you do not like a cold swim, you can just look after your friends’ clothes on the beach. It will also help you to have good luck!
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| In the 15th century, lectures were given in French at the university in St Andrews. | |||||||||
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| The town of St Andrews was the capital of Scotland in the 15th century. | |||||||||
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| From the 15th to the 19th century the number of students at the University constantly increased. | |||||||||
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| In the 19th century, due to the changes in the town, the university started to develop. | |||||||||
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| Some representatives of the Royal family studied at St Andrews University. | |||||||||
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| Students wear the red gown in different ways depending on which year they are in. | |||||||||
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| Taking part in the May Dip swimming is obligatory for all the students. | |||||||||
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# 69 (8BF383)
Esperanto
Esperanto is an artificial language which was invented at the end of the 19th century. Esperanto Day is celebrated on 15th December. The date for the birthday of the language was not chosen by chance. It is the birthday of its creator – the Polish doctor and linguist L. L. Zamenhof.
L. L. Zamenhof wanted to create a politically neutral language that would promote peace and international understanding between people who speak different languages. He hoped that his new language would be an international language, that is, many people's second language. L. L. Zamenhof didn’t want to replace any national tongue.
Thinking up a new language L. L. Zamenhof tried to make it simple, so that any person can learn it. Esperanto is based on Latin and modern European languages like French, English and Polish. However, Zamenhof’s language has none of the complicated grammar rules of many existing languages. As for the vocabulary of the language, L.L. Zamenhof chose word roots which a lot of people could recognize. In this way, anyone who speaks a European language already knows a large number of words in Esperanto. All words are spelled as pronounced. The language is easy to read and speak.
Nowadays, Esperanto is the most widely spoken artificial language in the world. Up to 2 million people worldwide speak Esperanto. It is particularly popular in Europe, East Asia, and South America. The World Esperanto Association has members in 120 countries.
Most people learn Esperanto on their own. They use teach-yourself books or email courses. Most learners gain impressive skills in this language and can use it in real life.
Through Esperanto they make contacts with people from around the world. They read books and magazines from other countries and listen to international radio broadcasts. There are over 25,000 original and translated books in Esperanto and over a hundred Esperanto magazines.
There are also many websites, blogs, podcasts, videos and television and radio stations in Esperanto. You can find lots of online discussions in Esperanto about different topics on the Internet. People can use Esperanto versions of the social network Facebook and other websites. Several computer programmes have an Esperanto version.
Learning a logical language can be a great way to exercise the brain and prepare for learning other languages. Several studies were carried out in Europe, United States, and Australia. In one study, a group of European secondary school students studied Esperanto for one year, then French for three years. The test showed that they had a better command of French than the students who studied only French for all four years. Similar results have been found in other studies.
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| L.L.Zamenhof wanted people all over the world to use Esperanto instead of their own languages. | |||||||||
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| Esperanto was designed to be easy to learn. | |||||||||
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| Most people who speak Esperanto live in Poland. | |||||||||
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| It is impossible to learn Esperanto without a teacher. | |||||||||
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| People use Esperanto for different purposes. | |||||||||
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| You can find an Esperanto Wikipedia on the Internet. | |||||||||
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| According to the research, Esperanto helps to learn other foreign languages. | |||||||||
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# 70 (7B128D)
Tove Jansson
The Moominland series of books and cartoons are very popular with children. They have been translated into several languages, filmed and staged. Moomins, the funny fictional animal characters, were invented by the Finnish fairy tale writer, Tove Jansson. These characters lived in the imaginary country of Moominland. The author not only wrote the story but also made professional illustrations for every book in the series.
When she was a child, Tove Jansson never planned to be a writer. Born into the family of a sculptor and an artist, Tove enjoyed a relaxed and creative atmosphere in her home, open to many people. She spent a lot of time painting and staging fairy tales with her brothers. Since her early years, Tove was impressed by Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. In her imagination she lived the characters’ lives and imagined their adventures in her colourful dreams.
The family often went on sea trips, the memories of which Tove kept for years. She admired the Finnish landscapes with beautiful sunsets and sunrises, she watched the sea constantly changing its colour and the cosy bays. All the magic appeared later in the pictures of the Moomin valley with the blue house standing in the middle of it.
At about fourteen, Tove realized she wanted to go into painting professionally. At first, she worked for a local children’s magazine together with her mother. When Tove completed her school course, she studied fine arts in colleges in Finland and abroad. Tove’s excellent education, talent, and magnificent artistic skills allowed her to illustrate the books of the famous English writers J.R.R. Tolkien and Lewis Carroll. She made some successful wall paintings in Helsinki as well.
At the age of thirty, Tove still had the character of a child who suffered from the injustice and cruelty of life. At that time, she thought of creating an alternative honest and fair world for people like herself. She created it in her imagination. Once Tove recalled a small white hippo she had drawn on the wall to tease her little brother. This is how a new character of Finnish literature, the Moomin, appeared.
Her first book was published in 1946. The fantasy characters were something new for a children’s book of that time. That is why they made Tove Jansson famous overnight. Images of Moomins made in wood, china, soap and plastic spread all over the world. The first book was followed by eleven more tales of Moominland. Each new story reflected an important event in Tove’s life.
In the 1970s, Janssen started to write stories and novels for adult readers. Apart from the illustrations of children's books Tove Jansson returned to serious painting. The critics praised her pictures a lot for their colours and harmony. Tove Jansson’s most well-known works are a self-portrait and a portrait of her friend. However, she used to say that people would remember her only as the author of the Moomins, not as a painter. This made Tove Jansson feel sad.
All the Moomins tales had a happy ending. Just like her characters, Tove Jansson made her dream come true. At the end of her life she bought a small island in Finland to settle there with her mother. She arranged children’s festivals on the island and read her tales for the young audience. Her house, like the one in the Moominland, was always open to her numerous friends and readers, who often came to her island.
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| When Tove Jansson was a child, she was keen on literature and arts. | |||||||||
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| Tove Jansson’s mother was a well-known Finnish artist. | |||||||||
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| Tove Jansson had never been on a sea voyage. | |||||||||
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| Tove Jansson’s college teachers were impressed with her academic results. | |||||||||
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| Tove Jansson’s first book was a success. | |||||||||
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| Writing children’s books was Tove Jansson’s only occupation. | |||||||||
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| When Tove Jansson settled on the island, she received a lot of guests. | |||||||||
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# 71 (297A4B)
Fyodor Konyukhov
Fyodor Konyukhov is a Russian traveller, a yacht captain, a balloon pilot, an artist and a writer. He has completed over 40 unique expeditions. He is the first and only person in the world, so far, to have reached the five extreme points on the earth: the North Pole (three times), the South Pole, the Pole of Inaccessibility in the Arctic Ocean, the top of Mount Everest (twice), and sailing around the world via Cape Horn (four times).
Fyodor Konyukhov was born in 1951 into an ordinary family. There were 5 children in the family: three boys and two girls. From his childhood, Fyodor was dreaming about travels to different parts of the world. Fyodor’s father, a fisherman, often took his sons to the Azov Sea for the fishing season. Since that time, the sea has always attracted Fyodor. When he was just 15 he went on his first expedition. Fyodor crossed the Azov Sea in a fisherman’s boat. Later he studied and graduated from the Odessa Naval College and the Leningrad Polar College, becoming a professional navigator and marine engineer.
It is difficult to mention all of Konyukhov’s achievements in a brief text. Here are some of them. In 1977, Fyodor Konyukhov organized a research sailing expedition on yachts in the Northern part of the Pacific Ocean. He followed the routes of Vitus Bering and other Russian explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Fyodor was curious to know how those people, sailing in small light boats, managed to discover new islands, gulfs and bays. The expedition lasted for 4 months. Then there were numerous other sailing expeditions.
Fyodor Konyukhov also travelled by bike, dog sled and horse and on foot, skis and camel back. He crossed the ocean on boats and yachts, and flew in a hot air balloon. Though Konyukhov gladly participated in collective travel, he undertook most of his expeditions alone.
In 1990, Fyodor Konyukhov set out on a unique solo trip to the North Pole. In spite of all the difficulties, in 72 days he reached the North Pole. Five years later he set out to conquer the Antarctic, again alone. For navigation in the extreme conditions he used a special system. It helped him to reach the South Pole on the 59th day of his trip. For research reasons, he kept a diary. There, he observed his own physical and psychological condition under the effect of height, low temperature and strong winds. He also did some research for the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institutions.
In 2016, at the age of 65, Fyodor Konyukhov set a new record – for a solo nonstop round the world flight in a hot air balloon. He never stepped on the ground during the whole flight. It was the fastest flight – in 11 days the traveller covered 35 168 kilometres.
Fyodor Konyukhov’s expeditions are very important for Russian science and sport. They show what a person, who is well prepared physically and morally, can accomplish. Besides travelling, Fyodor Konyukhov writes poetry and fiction, paints pictures and composes music. His first three books were published in 1999. Though they are mainly travel journals, they are read like exciting adventure novels.
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# 72 (562B4A)
The Moscow metro
The Moscow metro is very important as a means of transport in the Russian capital, in particular during rush hours. It has more metro visitors than the New York subway and London underground put together! The Moscow metro works efficiently and the trains run very frequently and very fast. The Moscow metro is one of the most beautiful subways in the world. 44 of the stations are listed as cultural heritage sites.
The first plans for a metro system in Moscow date back to the times of the Russian Empire. One such project was actively discussed in 1902, but at that time the local government declined it in favor of trams. Indeed trams in those days were very popular and brought lots of money into the city’s budget.
Then the plans for the construction of a metro system in Moscow were postponed by World War I and the October Revolution. As a result, the construction of the metro was only started in 1931 after the Soviet Union was established. The first 13 stations opened on May 15th, 1935. They were wonders of engineering and design.
Now, the Moscow Metro has 13 lines and more than 200 stations. Each line has a name, a number and a colour that identifies it. The Moscow metro has a circular line that links all metro lines. There is a legend concerning the appearance of the circle line, which had not been planned in the original project. The legend says that at a meeting devoted to metro construction Joseph Stalin put his cup of coffee on the metro map. It left a brown circle around the city centre. Joseph Stalin showed the circle to the builders and ordered the construction of such a line. It was how the circle line appeared and it explains why it has a brown colour on the metro map.
While travelling on the radial lines of the Moscow Metro to the centre, the stations are announced by men’s voices and while going from the centre, women announce them. On the circle line men’s voices announce the stations when going in the clockwise direction, while women’s voices are used when going counterclockwise. This is done to make navigation simpler for blind people in the metro.
The Moscow metro carries almost seven million people daily. The people who work there use every effort to ensure the comfort of the passengers. All trains have free wireless internet access, so that the passengers can read their emails or chat with their friends on their way to work.
Recently the ‘Music in the Metro’ project has started. 30 talented and well-trained musicians give different concerts to the metro passengers. All concerts are held from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (apart from rush hours) absolutely free. There is no special stage –the musicians perform in different stations of the metro. Muscovites really like the concerts, and ‘Music in the Metro’ has become a regular event in the Moscow metro. Sometimes, walking through the metro, you can listen to a top-quality concert.
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| At the beginning of the 20th century, the Moscow government preferred trams to underground transport. | |||||||||
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| The first metro stations were designed by Russian, English and American architects. | |||||||||
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| The colours of the lines on the metro map are connected with the technical characteristics of the line. | |||||||||
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| According to legend, the original plan of the Moscow metro included the circle line. | |||||||||
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| There is a special rule when male and female voices are used to announce the metro stations. | |||||||||
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| It was the initiative of Moscow students to make the Internet accessible in the metro. | |||||||||
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| ‘Music in the Metro’ is the name of a new popular musical. | |||||||||
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# 73 (6C5535)