Самостоятельная работа

Прочитайте и переведите тексты на русский язык.

    A.

    The colonel is a fine-looking man. His hair is white. So is his moustache. His face is cleanly shaven showing a bronzed complexion. The expression of his face is kind though firm.

    The colonel has three sons. Basil, the eldest of the boys, is seventeen years of age. He is a fine-looking lad though not handsome. He looks very brave and strong. His hair is straight and black. He is, in fact, the son of his father.

    How very unlike him is Lucien, the second of age. Lucien is delicate, with a light complexion and very fair hair. He is more like what his mother was, for she was a blonde. The colonel's youngest son is a quick-witted, curly-haired boy – cheerful at all times.

    B.

    Marriage is a very important event in the life of a man and a woman. It has many traditions, some of them are very old. For example, first wedding rings appeared in Egypt around 2800 B. C. (before Christ). To the Egyptians, a circle, having no beginning or end, signified eternity – for which marriage was binding. Rings of gold were the most highly valued by Egyptians, and later Romans. The ring finger was thought to contain a ''vein of love'' connecting to the heart.

    According to up-to-date tradition it's a duty of a bride to buy groom's wedding ring and a groom must buy a wedding ring for his bride. They exchange their rings during the wedding ceremony.

___________________________

- before Christ – до нашей эры

    C.

    Among the passengers there were two who interested me very much. One, a man of about thirty, was one of the tallest men I ever saw. He had yellow hair, a thick yellow beard, a handsome face and large eyes. His face made me think of someone I had seen before but at the time I could not remember who it was. The big man's name was sir Henry Curtis.

    The other man was short, stout and dark. He was always very neat and clean-shaven; he always wore an eye-glass in his right eye, and he never took it out. At first I thought he even sleep in it, but afterwards found that this was not so. He put it in his trousers pocket when he went to bed, together with his false teeth, of which he had two beautiful sets.

    D.

    So what is it like, the family tradition? Whose descendants are we? What are the stories your granny used to tell? What can family albums and diaries reveal? What is your grandfather's name? What is the name of your great grandmother?

    Many of the Russians are not able to answer these simple questions. The family tradition is lost for them. And it is one of the reasons why most people have no sense of family honour and pride.

    A group of people who have the same name and sit together in front of a TV set is not yet a family. Here are some family statistics in Russia. Over 80 per cent of women and about 70 per cent of men marry by the age of 25.

    At present, more than 40 out of every 100 marriages end in divorce. Every year about one million families break up. About 50 per cent of divorced do not want to remarry. Men remarry more often than women. Over 50 per cent of divorced men remarry within a period of ten years, while only 25 per cent of such women do so. Many young families have material difficulties. As a result, young couples often have to rely on the assistance of their parents.

    The housing shortage is another problem of many young families. Most young people don't wish to live together with their parents after they get married but about half of them have to do this.

    As the result these young people have no necessary experience in family life. They don't know: 1) how to run household; 2) how to manage the family budget; 3) how to bring up children.

My grandfather's biography

    I'd like to tell you about my grandfather's biography. He is an old man. He was born in 1925. His family was very large. He had five brothers and four sisters.

    In 1941 when my grandfather was only 16 years old the Great Patriotic War began. My grandfather became a soldier. Though he was very young he took part in the most significant battles against Nazis. In 1944 he was wounded and sent to a hospital. All his five brothers died during the war. In 1945 when the war was over my grandfather became a student of Moscow Steel and Alloys Institute. In 1950 he married my grandmother. They had two children: a daughter (my mother) and a son (my uncle). My grandfather graduated from the Institute and became an engineer. He worked at a plant in Moscow. Later he became a professor and in 1960s and 1970s he taught in Moscow Steel and Alloy Institute. His students liked him very much. In early 1985 he retired.

    My grandfather is a very wise and interesting person. He is still very active and spends a lot of time in the country. He likes nature and gardening.

Children and Parents

    Being a parent is probably the most difficult and demanding job people ever do. It can also be quite a disappointing time for some parents especially if they expected parenthood to be enjoyable all the time, or had unrealistic ideas about having the perfect child. But for most parents it is one of the happiest and most satisfying experiences of their lives.

    There are some problems that can make being a parent even more difficult – such as lack of money, cramped housing conditions, problems in your relationship.

    The most important thing to remember is that there is no one correct way of bringing up a child. Provided their need are met, children from all different kinds of social, religious or cultural backgrounds can still grow up to be happy, well-adjusted adults. You are the only experts when it time comes to bring up your children.

Грамматика

Безличные предложения

    Безличные предложения - это предложения, в которых отсутствует действующее лицо. Безличные предложения имеют такой же твердый порядок слов, как и личные предложения. Но у безличных предложений в качестве подлежащего выступает формальное подлежащее “It”, которое не указывает на личность или предмет, не переводится и выполняет чисто грамматическую функцию.

Безличные предложения описывают природные явления, погодные условия, указывают на время и расстояние.

Первый тип безличных предложений имеет составное именное сказуемое, проще говоря, в таких предложениях нет не только лица, которое выполняет действие, но и простого глагола. Сказуемое складывается из двух составляющих: именной части (прилагательного или существительного) и глагола-связки.

Второй тип безличных предложений имеет простые глаголы, но надо помнить, что аналогов таким глаголам в русском языке нет. Это такие глаголы, как: to rain, to snow, to hail, to freeze, to sleet, to drizzle, etc.