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At present the British royal family is headed by Queen Elizabeth. When the Queen was born on the 21st of April 1926, her grandfather, King George V, was on the throne and her uncle was his heir. The death of her grandfather and the abdication of her uncle brought her father to the throne as King George VI.As a chi1ld she studied constitutional history and law as well as art and music. In addition she learned to ride and acquired her enthusiasm for horses. As she grew older she began to take part in public life, making her first broadcast at the age of 14.

The marriage of the young Princess Elizabeth to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh took place in November 1947. She came to the throne after her father's death in 1952 and was crowned in Westminster Abbey in June 1953.

Among Queen Elizabeth's many duties are the regular visits she makes to foreign countries, and especially those of the Commonwealth, whose interests and welfare are very important to her. The Queen has allowed the BBC to make a documentary film about the every day of the royal family. She also started the tradition of the "walkabout", an informal feature of an otherwise formal royal visit, when she walks among the public crowds and stops to talk to some people.The annual Christmas broadcast made by the Queen on radio and television has become a traditional and popular feature of the season, and there were widespread celebrations and special programmes of events in 1977 to mark her Silver Jubilee.

The Queen's husband, Duke of Edinburgh was born in 1926 and served in the Royal Navy. He takes a great deal of interest in industry, in the achievements of young people (he founded Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme in 1956) and in saving raise wild animals from extinction.The Queen's heir is Charles, Prince of Wales, who was born in 1948, married Lady Diana Spencer and has two ch1ildren, Prince William and Prince Harry. The Prince of Wales is well-known as a keen promoter of British interest. In recent years he has become outspoken on such controversial topics as modern architecture, violence in films and on television, and the standard of English teaching in schools. His wife Diana, Princess of Wales (often called in mass media Princess Di), won the affection of many people by her modesty, shyness and beauty. Unfortunately, she died in a car accident in August, 1997.

The Queen's other chi1ldren are Princess Anne (born in 1950), Prince Andrew (born in 1960) and Prince Edward (born in 1964). Anne, Princess Royal, has acquired a reputation for being arrogant, but in recent years has become quite popular with the general public.The Queen is widely known for her interest in horses and horse-racing. She is now president of the Save the Chi1ldren Fund, Chancellor of the University of London and carries out many public engagements.

Prince Andrew, Duke of York, served as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy. In 1986 he married Miss Sarah Ferguson (Fergie, for short) and has two daughters. Prince Edward is keen on the theatre. This interest began while he was at university. He quit the Royal Marines, and is now pursuing a career with a theatrical company.

The Queen Mother, the widow of the late King George VI, celebrated her one hundred birthday in 2 000 and died in 2002. The Queen's only sister, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, is well-known for her charity work.

The origin of the word “Holiday” was found in the Old English. Many hundred years ago people use the verbal construction “Halig daeg” as the name of pagan festivals. Later we can find it in the form of open compound “Holy day” in Medieval English. It meant a day of religious celebrating when Christianity has come to the Western Europe. In the Modern English, the noun “Holiday” has finally replaced all earlier forms and we are happy to hear it because it means that we will have a long-awaited relax in our vacation or a red-letter day.

Today we use this word in the various cases because it can be realized as:

birthday, jubilee or a day anniversary of the famous historical occasion;
ecclesiastic date, religious festival or day of honour of saints. Orthodox Crunch has twelve major holidays: Christmas, Baptism, Annunciation, Fulfilment, Palm Sunday, Ascension, Trinity, Transfiguration, Assumption, Nativity of the Virgin, Exaltation (the Cross of the Lord), Introduction (Theotokos to the Temple);
family or personal date of memory and celebration of something;
day of games, entertainment and sports;
feeling of happiness, joy and triumph inside.
Every country or nation has its own favourite holidays based on the history, habits and faiths. An intelligent person learns and honours traditions of native land and other commonages.

Public holidays, festivals and carnivals can help you to dive headlong in other cultures. Cooperative weekends and trips will turn your family members and friends get together. There are also many advantages of knowledge about important dates and celebrations!

Parable from Alexander Bella
The girl asked the sage:
- Why are strong and beautiful rarely kind?
The sage looked at her - petty and nondescript. Mentally sighed. After a pause, he said:
- When bodies are offered to souls, those for whom the external is more important choose the best-looking shells. Beautiful souls are kind and generous, therefore inferior to others, often instilling in what remains. To show: not all the gold that glitters is present not to be shown and hidden ... But the main thing is that happiness is not attached to beauty.
Now the girl sighed:
“Then why is it not attached to beautiful souls?” After all, it is more difficult for them to deserve it than beautiful outside.
“What we have not spent on, we do not value and easily lose,” the sage answered.
And he thought: “Ugly girls are sure of the highest injustice. The beautiful ones are somehow ready to put up with what they found. But only the happy ones, whether they are beautiful or not, are convinced that everything is arranged correctly. Until happy. ”

Madam Tussaud's is the most popular and talked about wax museum in the world. There are wax models of the famous and infamous, both living and dead, from every walk of life.

Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Marilyn Monro, Michael Jackson, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, the British Royal family, Bill Clinton, Jack the Ripper... There is no other place where you can see all the celebrities at once, even if they are only wax figures. So if you want to rub shoulders with kings and queens or the latest pop stars, or probably with notorious criminals, this is the place to go.

The museum is situated in Marylebone Road, not far from the street which is famous as the home of the first great detective in fiction, Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

There's usually a long queue in front of the museum. No wonder! Many tourists would consider their trip to London worthless if they didn't visit the famous Madam Tussaud's. There are several halls at Madam Tussaud's. Highlights include the Grand Hall, the Chamber of Horrors and "The Spirit of London" exhibition.

The wax figures are standing and sitting, and sometimes even moving and talking. They are extremely realistic and when they look at you, their eyes sparkling, you often feel uncomfortable in their company. Computer controlled figures (they are called audioanimatronics) are especially popular with the visitors.

New models are being produced all the time while the old ones are quietly removed from display. Over the years hundreds of celebrities have made their way to Madame Tussaud's studio. Most people agree to be portrayed, but some refuse. Mother Teresa was one of the few who declined, saying her work was important, not her person.

The Cold War was the open yet restricted struggle that developed after World War II between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. The struggle was named the Cold War because it did not actually lead to direct armed conflict between the superpowers on a wide scale. The Cold War was waged by means of economic pressure, selective aid, intimidation, diplomatic maneuvering, propaganda, assassination, local conflicts, low-intensity military operations and full-scale war from 1947until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War saw the largest conventional and the first nuclear arms race in history. The term was popularized by the U.S. political adviser and financier Bernard Baruch in April 1947 during a debate on the Truman-Doctrine. It was coined by Eric A. Blair and George Orwell in an essay titled «You and the Atomic Bomb» on October 19,1945 in the British magazine Tribune.

The Cold War is usually considered to have occurred approximately from the end of the strained alliance between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during World War II until the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Korean War; the Hungarian and Czech Revolutions; the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Cuban Missile Crisis; the Vietnam War; the Afghan War; and U.S. backed military coups against governments in Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), and civil wars in countries such as Angola, El Salvador, and Nicaragua were some of the occasions when the tension related to the Cold War took the form of an armed conflict.

One major hotspot of conflict was Germany, particularly the city of Berlin. The most vivid symbol of the Cold War was the Berlin Wall. The Wall isolated West Berlin, the portion of the city controlled by West Germany and the Allies, from East Berlin and the territory of East Germany, which completely surrounded it.

The Korean peninsula remains a hotspot. The states of North Korea and South Korea and her allies also technically remain at war because although a truce is in effect, no formal peace treaty was ever signed. As a result, tension still remains high on the Korean peninsula, especially since North Korea declared to possess nuclear weapons.

In such conflicts, the major powers operated in good part by arming or funding surrogates, a development that lessened direct impact on the populations of the major powers, but brought the conflict to millions of civilians around the world.

In the strategic conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union a major arena was the strategy of technology. It also involved covert conflict through active acts of espionage.

Particularly revolutionary advances were made in the field of nuclear weapons and rocketry. In reality most or all of the rockets used to launch humans and satellites into orbit were originally military designs.

Other fields in which arms races occurred include: jet fighters, bombers, chemical weapons, biological weapons, anti-aircraft warfare, surface-to-surface missiles and cruise missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles, anti-tank weapons, submarines and anti-submarine warfare, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, electronic intelligence, signals intelligence, reconnaissance aircraft and spy satellites.

All of these fields required massive technological and manufacturing investment. In many fields, the West created weapons with superior effectiveness, mainly due to their lead in digital computers. However, the Eastern bloc fielded a larger number of military designs in each field and built a larger number of weapons.

In the 1970s, the Cold War gave way to detente and a more complicated pattern of international relations in which the world was no longer split into two clearly opposed blocs. U.S.-Soviet relations would deteriorate once again in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but improved as the Soviet bloc started to unravelin the late 1980s. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia lost the superpower status that it had won in World War II.

Ray Bradbury’s works belong to science fiction, that is fiction in which scientific discoveries and developments form an element of the plot or the background. Very often works of science fiction are based on future possibilities. In science fiction the impossible is presented as possible. A science fiction writer may carry his characters, and consequently the reader, into remote future, prehistoric past, to unknown worlds or to the sanctuary of human mind.

Themes of Ray Bradbury’s writing are extremely various, they comprise earthly affairs and space travelling. His literary credo is, as he himself puts it, «to make the commonplace miraculous, to make the miraculous commonplace».

He is not so much interested in mechanical contrivances as in man’s psychology and social behaviour in new and unexpected circumstances. His dreams of future are more of warnings of the future. This makes Bradbury turn to satire. In many of his stories and in «Fahrenheit 451°» in particular, he exposes to ridicule many traits of American reality. The novel established Bradbury’s reputation as a first-rank writer, it is an antiutopian novel and a warning. The social background is prompted by the fascist tendencies in the post-war years in the USA, known as the time of witch-hunting and maccartism (named so after the reactionary senator Mac Carthy). It was a period in the history of the USA when progressive organizations and activities were prosecuted and suppressed. The action of the novel takes place in not very remote future, most likely at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Fahrenheit 451° (about 233° Centigrade) is the burning point of paper. Since at the time described houses are fire-proof, the role of firemen consists in making flames instead of extinguishing them. People are allowed to think or know only what is presented by the supertelevision. Books are forbidden. The ownership of books results in burning volumes and owners alike. The central character of the novel is Guy Montag, an enthusiastic fireman, who meets a girl from a relict family, cherishing old views and traditions. Against his own will and accepted views Montag begins to think.

Moscow is the capital of Russia, its political, economic, commercial and cultural centre.

Moscow is the largest metropolitan area in Russia with the population of about 10 million people, one of the largest cities in the world. The city is situated on low hills on the banks of the Moskva River. The original settlement was founded where the Kremlin now stands. Because of its central location in the heart of European Russia, Moscow became a focal point for important trade routes.

Moscow was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1147. It is the official date of the foundation of Moscow, though the settlement had been there for some time before. It was fortified and became a market town in the late 12th century. The town was almost totally destroyed in 1237 and 1293 during the Tatar invasion. In the early 14th century Moscow became the political and religious centre of the north-eastern part of Russia. It was again captured by the Tatars in 1382. By the end of the 15th century, Moscow extended its rule over most of central and northern Russia. Its rulers continued to build fortifications around it.

The transfer of the capital by Peter the Great to St. Petersburg in 1712 brought a period of decline to Moscow. In 1812 came the Napoleon’s conquest and the city was destroyed by fire. The city was rebuilt within a short period. In the 19th century Moscow became a centre for industry and commerce, as well as a leading cultural, scientific and political centre.

Moscow is the seat of the Government of the Russian Federation.

Moscow is Russia’s largest industrial city. Nearly 30 percent of the city’s workforce is employed in industry and industrial research. Some of Russia’s largest plants are located in or around Moscow. Metallurgy, metal processing and engineering are the largest industrial sectors. Other large sectors are textiles, clothing and footwear, chemical and petrochemical industries, electronic instruments and automation equipment.

Moscow, apart from its political, administrative and economic functions as the capital of Russia, is its leading cultural centre. It is the seat of the Academy of Sciences. Russia’s largest University, over 80 scientific research institutions, technical colleges and academies of music and art are situated here. The city also contains the Russian State Library, with one of the largest and richest archives in the world, over 80 museums, the famous Bolshoi and Maly Theatres, opera and ballet. It is one of the world’s largest publishing centres. Moscow is Russia’s mam tourist attraction.

To tell the truth, I seldom visit theatres, but I have already watched one performance this year. Recently my friend Dmitriy invited me to the theatre to watch opera Eugene Onegin.

I dressed up in my best long dress and applied evening makeup. Dmitriy wore his black suit.

We met an hour before the play and walked to the theatre.

At the theatre, we bought the booked tickets and took our seats. I liked the interior of the theatre.

We watched the opera from the balcony. There were three acts and two intermissions. During intermissions we drank coffee in the theatre’s bar.

In the beginning I couldn't understand the words, because the actors were singing. Their actions, though, helped to follow the plot. It was a story about love and broken hearts.

My impression of the opera was contradictory. On the one hand, I liked the costumes and acting. On the other hand, I didn’t like much singing, though it was excellent.

For more than 30 years, the beggar sat on the side of the road. Once a page passed by.
- Serve some coins, the beggar mumbled with his toothless mouth, mechanically holding out an old baseball cap to him.
“I have nothing to give you,” said the wanderer. And then he asked, what are you sitting on.
“Yes, there’s nothing on it,” said the beggar, it’s just an old box. I sit on it for as long as I can remember.
- And inside, sometime I looked, the wanderer asked.
“No, the beggar said, what is the point of nothing there.”
“And look,” the wanderer insisted.
The beggar began to lift the lid, with great surprise and delight, not believing his own eyes, he saw that the box was full of gold.
“I am that same wanderer who has nothing to give you and who offers you to look inside, but not inside a box like in this parable, but much closer inside himself.” But I am not a beggar, can I hear from you in response, those who did not find their true treasure, that radiant joy of being and deep steady, unshakable peace that comes with him and there are beggars, even if they own unimaginable wealth they seek outside, they rummage in the dark, in search of fragmentary pleasures and their own realization, thirsting for recognition and self-affirmation, they seek security, they want love, at the same time they have at their disposal such inner wealth that encompasses not only all of the above, but also infinitely more bigger than the offer the world.

Speed, excitement, danger. You can find all these in the different extreme sports that have become popular last 10 years. Take bungee jumping. You jump off a bridge and you fall and fall, and then, just before you hit the ground or water, an elastic rope pulls you back. In skysurfing you jump out of aeroplane and use a board to “surf” the air, doing gymnastics in mid-air! And extreme sports on land can be just as dangerous.



Winter sports have always an element of danger. For example snowboarding, which has all the excitement of surfing but on snow, is more dangerous even than skiing. Probably the most dangerous of all the new winter sports is snowrafting. You sit in a rubber boat and sail down a mountain at great speed â€" and you can't control the boat!



Of course, water sports have always been fun. Ice diving, for those people who are absolutely crasy. You put on diving equipment and dive under a frosen lake. And, if that's not enough, you try to walk upside down on the ice! I feel cold just thinking about it.



A lot of people are not fit nowadays. It's a big problem today. If you want to feel fit you'd better go in for one kind of sport or another. I think that everyone must do all he can to be healthy. Good health is better than the best medicine. All kinds of physical exercises are very useful to make our bodies strong and to keep ourselves fit and healthy. To tell the truth I don't do sports regularly and it is not an essential part of my daily life. In the morning I do some exercises just to awake. In summer I go swimming as there is a beautiful lake with pure water where my Granny lives. In winter I swim in the swimming pool. I like to ride the bike. I shouldn't call myself a sports fan. Of course , I like to watch sports competitions on TV, like hockey or football. But most of all I admire extreme kinds of sport. I think they are really cool.