Easy English

Hobby

Most British children have a hobby. Some children collect posters or stickers. Some make doll`s houses or model aeroplanes. Other children play sport, listen to music or play computer games. Many adults have hobbies, too. Gardening and cooking are popular hobbies for adults.

My Mum`s hobby is gardening. My father`s hobby is cooking. He likes making cakes but he`s a terrible cook. My brother`s hobby is keeping tropical fish but he doesn`t like to clean a fish tank. My grandfather`s hobby is sleeping. He spends a lot of hours watching TV and snoring. When my grandmother was young she used to keep chickens and cows and grow vegetables. But now she buys vegetables from a greengrocer.

My hobby is _____________________________.

The world of animals

British people love animals and they usually take good care of their pets. Sometimes people find a lost or hurt animal and they can take it to the RSPCA – The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This organization finds new homes for about 80 000 stray animals every year. Many people work without pay as volunteers for the RSPCA.

Some people adopt animals. Many volunteers prefer to work hard in the vet clinics. They can learn how to make injections or use an eye dropper to feed a bird. They clean and feed the animals, write their records and help the vet.

How wonderful the underwater world is. We can watch the whales and other sea animals. The whales love jumping out of the water. They are very gentle and romantic. They sing long love songs. Last month my parents and I were in the USA. We bought new underwater cameras and swimming costumes. The photos were fantastic. The animals were excited.

I`m going to be a volunteer and help stray animals. I want to stop cruelty to animals.

Ukraine

Ukraine is a big country with many long rivers, thick forests and green fields. Many different animals live in Ukraine____________________________________.There are 45 mln. people live here. The Ukrainians love tasty food. They are fond of_____________________________________________________________.

My favourite city is Kyiv. It`s the capital of Ukraine. It`s modern but noisy. It`s busy and lively. Some streets are narrow and some streets are long and there are many cars on them. There are many hotels, museums, theatres, cinemas and parks there. There is a big zoo in Kyiv. There are some beautiful old houses and lots of interesting shops for tourists. The countryside around the city is very pretty.

There are lots of things to do in Kyiv. You can go to the main street___________, you can visit ______________________________. If you are hungry you can eat in the ________________________.

About me, my family and country

I live in Ukraine and both my parents are Ukrainian and I was born in Lviv so my family roots are there. I`m proud of our language because it sounds beautiful and we all speak it at  home.

I`m proud of my national anthem. We all like singing it  in Ukraine, you know. And one thing I really love is our landscape – in Ukraine it`s so green.

So, what sort of person am I? I`m sporty type of person. But maybe I`m a bit too laid –back sometimes. That`s what my mum says, anyway.

What things am I really keen on?

I`m keen on sport, especially football. I`m passionate about it. I play football and I`m in the school team. My Dad and I go to all the Ukrainian games.

And how am I express my identity? In my appearance, I mean.

Well, I`d like to have an Ukrainian flag tatoo but my mum isn`t very keen on that. But I`m into wearing team shirts like the Ukrainian national team football shirt, I wear it quite a lot.

Where am I from?

Well, I`m from Kyiv in the north of Ukraine but my family roots are in German. My grandparents came here from Munich in the 1960s, you see. We speak both German and Ukrainian at home, but I feel Ukrainian.

What things are important for me about Ukraine?

Well, I`m not very nationalistic but I guess I`m proud of being Ukrainian. Ukraine is a  great country to live in and it`s a very beautiful country, you know.

What kind of person am I?

I suppose I`m idealistic kind of person. I`m quite creative too but I`m a bit too shy sometimes.

What things am I into?

I`m really passionate about nature. I love to go trekking in the forest.

Education

There are different types of schools in Ukraine: boarding schools, middle schools, primary schools, nursery schools, secondary schools and vocational schools. The education is compulsory. Students follow the curriculum and they can have extra-curricular activities. The school year starts on the first of September and ends on the thirties of May. There are two terms in the school year. Students learn different subjects: Economics, English Literature, Science, Ukrainian and others. We solve equations at Maths and write up  the experiments at Science. We learn the new words, take the tests, read different texts and discuss them at the English lessons. After the 9-th form the students have the internal exams at school and after the 11-th form they have GCSEs. If they pass the exams the students can enter the university or the institute. The students can choose the different faculties: Economics, Psychology, Social Science, Sociology, Linguistics, Law, Humanities and Science.

English

When Julius Caesar landed in Britain nearly two thousand years ago, English didn`t exist. Five hundred years later, in the 5th century, English was already spoken by the people who inhabited Great Britain but they were not many and their English was not the language we know today. Nearly a thousand years later, at the end of the 16th century, when William Shakespeare created his works, English was the native language of about 6 million Englishmen. At that time English was not used anywhere else except Great Britain.

Nowadays 750 million people all over the world use English and half of those speak it as a mother tongue. At the end of the 20th century English is more widely spoken and written than any other language has ever been. It has become the language of the planet. Three quarters of the world`s mail and telegrams are in English. More than half of the world`s scientific periodicals and eighty per cent of the information in the world`s computers are also in English. English is the main language of business. It`s the language of sports: the official language of the Olympics.

English always changes. Some words die, some change their meanings and all the time new words appear in the language. I have to work hard to learn English. Nowadays all educated people should know English. English is taught in all schools of Ukraine. It`s the most popular foreign language in my country. I have been studying it for 10 years at school but I try to learn it on my own. I read books, watch educational programs on TV, videos and films in English. I also listen to radio programs and attend an English course outside school. To know English perfectly we do different tasks at the lesson: listening, reading, writing and speaking. We learn the new words too. I think it`s difficult to know a second language as well as native speakers do. I`m sure I`ll need English for my future job. So, I`ll try my best to improve it.

Food

Sometimes I like to eat a chip butty. It`s a sandwich with chips. I know that it`s disgusting. It`s got thousands of calories. Well, I love chips and potatoes, eggs and chips, fish and chips, roast beef with roast potatoes. I eat a lot of meat but I don`t like vegetables very much. My Mum eats a lot of vegetables, salads and fruit. So, she gets lots of vitamins, minerals and fibre. But I don`t eat a lot of that stuff at home. I like fast food like burgers and pizzas. The most important meal for me is dinner on Friday night.   I like to eat two enormous pizzas with lots of cheese. Mmmm! I love pizzas. My Dad likes Japanese food. It tastes delicious. I don`t like that sort of stuff much though I enjoy a good curry and rice from time to time. But my all-time favourite dish is dark chocolate ice-cream. Mm, it tastes bitter and sweet at the same time. Wonderful! And it`s got a lovely creamy texture. It`s very fatting but it`s lovely. Some people like to eat snails especially in France and think that it`s great but some people think that it`s disgusting. Tastes differ, you know. I`d like to try lots of new things. I`d like to try kangaroo steak.

Hobby

Most British children have a hobby. Some children collect posters or stickers. Some make doll`s houses or model aeroplanes. Other children play sport, listen to music or play computer games. Many adults have hobbies, too. Gardening and cooking are popular hobbies for adults.

My Mum`s hobby is gardening. My father`s hobby is cooking. He likes making cakes but he`s a terrible cook. My brother`s hobby is keeping tropical fish but he doesn`t like to clean a fish tank. My grandfather`s hobby is sleeping. He spends a lot of hours watching TV and snoring. When my grandmother was young, she used to keep chickens and cows and grow vegetables. But now she buys vegetables from a greengrocer.

My hobby is ______________________________________________________.

Image

I think she is stunning. In my opinion she`s one of the best-looking stars around at the moment and I really love her films. I don`t know exactly how old she is but I think she`s in her mid-twenties. Anyway, she`s not a typical Holliwood beauty, do you know what I mean? For example, she is not blonde. She is tall and slim and she`s got a high forehead with straight, long brown hair. She`s also got nice big green eyes but in some of her films her eyes are dark brown. In most of the photos I`ve seen of her she`s always very well-dressed with evening dressses and that kind of things. But in her private life she tends to wear casual clothes like jeans and T-shirts. I`d really like to meet her one day but I probably never will!

I think he`s really gorgeous. Easily the most attractive young star around at the moment, in my opinion. He`s in his late twenties, I think. He`s quite tall and slim. I guess he spends quite a lot of time in the gym because he`s quite muscular. He`s got a long face with a high forehead. His nose is quite big and he`s got lovely blue eyes. His hair is wavy and brown but its colour changes in some of his films. He`s got a nice smile but he often looks quite serious. In the photos I`ve seen of him in real life, he tends to wear dark, casual clothes like baseball caps, T-shirts, jeans and trainers. I think he`s going to be one of the biggest stars around in the future.

She is been famous for years and my dad still really likes her. Anyway, I think she`s pretty. She`s in her late thirties now and she`s tall and slim. She`s got a rather square face and very large blue eyes with a very big mouth. She`s also got a very bright, friendly smile and she looks very outgoing. She usually has long blond hair but I don`t think that`s her natural colour. She tends to wear very elegant designer clothes in public like glamorous evening dresses. She always looks great. She used to be a model, you know. I really love the clothes she wears. They`re imaginative and original.

Kyiv

Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine. It`s one of the most ancient cities. It`s more than 1500 years old. The population is 5 million people.

Kyiv lies on the both banks of the Dnieper. It`s one of the longest rivers in Ukraine. Kyiv is one of the greenest cities in the world. There are many parks and gardens here.

Kyiv is an industrial, scientific and cultural centre of Ukraine. There are many places of interest in it. Among them is the Golden Gate which is about a thousand years old. It was the main entrance to the city. There is St. Sophia`s Cathedral on the Sophia`s Square. There is a monument to Bogdan Khmelnytsky in front of the cathedral.

One of the most interesting places is Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. It was founded in the 11th century in Kyiv. Among the museums of Lavra is the museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art. There are more than 50 000 exhibits there. Not far from Lavra there is the park of Immortal Glory where we can find the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

We can see the monument to T. Shevchenko, the well-known poet and fighter for freedom. It stands in the park in front of the University. There are some other monuments in Kyiv: the monument to Lesya Ukrainka, the great Ukrainian poetess, the monument to N.Lysenko, the great Ukrainian composer.

There are many museums in Kyiv too: the State Historical Museum, the Museum of Ukrainian Art. Kyiv is the city of theatres. It`s famous for the Taras Shevchenko Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Ivan Franko Ukrainian Drama Theatre.

My house

I live in a little terraced house with my parents and my younger sister. Our house has got three bedrooms but they are not very big. Downstairs there`s a game room which is really cool. We`ve also got a little garden at the back with a small lawn and a pond. My room is tiny but it gets lots of sun. I like it because it`s cosy and it`s got all my things in it. You know, the typical stuff, like my posters, my books and my guitar. My house is in the suburbs in north-east of the city. It`s about forty-five minutes from the center of Kyiv by bus. My dream is to live in a one-bedroom flat with a big terrace and views of the river. I`d like to live right in the centre of the city. That would be really cool and you wouldn`t have to worry about getting back home on a Saturday night.

My friend lives in a two-bedroom apartment in downtown. It`s not very big but she lives there with her Mum and Dad. It`s also got a little terrace and it`s quite modern so it`s got good air-conditioning and central heating and all that kind of stuff. Her room`s not very big but she really likes it. They are opposite a big hospital and the street is quite busy but it`s not noisy. When she finishes college she would like to live in a motor home for a few years and travel around the country. There are so many places she`d like to go to.

My grandparents have got a motor home and it`s really cool. It`s even got a kitchen with a dishwasher and a washing machine and all that stuff. It`s great that you can just move on when you want to.

The environment

Interrelations between man and the biosphere are of a fairly complex nature. People depend on water, oxygen, food and shelter. On the other hand, the biosphere is strongly affected by all sorts of human activity.

About 200 years ago man lived in great harmony with his environment because industry was not developed. Modern people consume a great amount of oxygen to support fires, power plants and chemical processes. The carbon dioxide produced by technological processes has greatly changed the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. The technology has produced a wide variety of synthetic materials such as plastics, herbicides and industrial materials. Scientists say that the life on our planet may be damaged soon.

As the result nature and people suffer. Such sources of life as air, water, minerals, fauna and flora are wasted and destroyed. Some animals` species and plants have become extinct.

We have to take care of our Earth. The protection of nature has become one of the real problems of our century. More and more people in all countries are raising their voices in defence of nature.

The most common form of air pollution comes from cigarette smoke which pollutes many public places like cinemas, pubs and restaurants. Traffic and aircraft can cause serious noise pollution.

Some people suggest that the bicycle is the best way to travel because it`s cheap, quiet and a good form of exercise.

Tribes

In the 60s,70s and 80s there were many different tribes. Punks started in the late 70-s. And they still shaved  hair and strange haircuts. They wear lots of chains and have piercings too.

There are still people into heavy metal too.  They started in the 70 th and 80-th  .They are into a heavy metal groups like Metallica and wear  leather jackets and black T-shirts. The guys often have long hair and beards.

Goths started in the 80-th in the UK with their black make up and clothes. They still like horror films and groups like Evanescence.

What about newer tribes from this century?

Things are changing faster with digital technology and social networking. One popular tribe is the emos. They are into pessimistic punk like My Chemical Romance. They wear mostly black clothes and have long, straight dyed hair.

There are the trendies. They`ve got lots of money, they are into designer clothes and love clubbing and shopping. Music is very important for them. For example, skaters like wearing baggy clothes and they are into indie music. But they are obviously into skating and hang out at skate parks.

There are geeks who are not really into clothes. But they are obsessed with technology and they are great at using it. They are good at gaming too.

A lot of young people these days mix things a lot. For example, some people are into heavy metal and emo music at the same time. Or they are geeks into computers but they are trendies into clothes at the same time. So young people are becoming more independent and that`s a good thing.

Question words

Questions about the subject

When we ask questions about the subject of а sentence, the word order in the question and the

answer is the same:

Веп designed this house.

Who designed this house?

Х Whо did build this house?

✓ Who built this house?

• We use what, who, which, whose and how mапу in questions about the subject.

Questions about the object

Questions about the object need an auxiliary verb (do, have, is, etc.) before the subject:

Wren designed this cathedral.

What did Wren design?

• We use what, which, who, whose, when, where,how often, etc. in questions about the object.

Х Which cathedral  Wren built?

✓ Which cathedral did Wren build?

Неге is а summary of question words with examples:

position of prepositions

• Note the change in the position of а preposition in questions about the object:

I gave the book to John. becomes: Who did уоu give the book to? or То whom did уоu give the

book? ( = formal)

She sent the letter from India. becomes: Where did she send the letter from? or From where did

she send the letter? ( = formal)

what or which?

We use what when the choice is open. We use which when there is а limited choice:

What colour do уоu like? ( = open choice)

Which colour do уоu prefer, red or Ыuе? ( = limited choice)

What countries have уоu visited? ( = open choice)

Which countries in South America have уоu visited? ( = limited choice)

Phrases with time