A (Very) Brief History of the English Language
Download 0.58 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Meals and Cooking
- Means of Communication
Mass mediaMass media (that is, the press, the radio and television) play an important role in the life of society. They inform, educate and entertain people. They also influence the way people look at the world and make them change their views. Mass media mould public opinion. Millions of people in their spare time watch TV and read newspapers. Everybody can find there something interesting for him. On the radio one can hear music, plays, news and various discussions or commentaries of current events. Multiple radio or TV games and films attract a large audience. Newspapers are used in different ways, but basically they are read. There is a lot of advertisment on mass media. Some of the TV and radio stations and newspapers are owned by different corporations. The owners can advertise whatever they choose. But it is hardly fair to say that mass media do not try to raise cultural level of the people or to develop their artistic taste. Mass media brings to millions of homes not only entertaiment and news but also cultural and educational programs. There are more then six TV channels and lot's of radio stations and newspapers now in the Russian Federation.
There are many different ways to get knowledge about our big world. It is mass media, travelling, museums, meeting with interesting people, etc. People all over the world enjoy books. Books are our friends and teachers. We can learn a lot of interesting and useful things from the books. Many people choose traveling as the way to know the world. I enjoy it too. It's very fun and interesting! Every year I travel to another place than last year, and I like it: new places - new impressions! The mass media have done and continue doing much to excite an interest in every aspect of the country's life. The mass media are the various ways by which information and news is given to large numbers of people, especially television, radio, newspapers and magazines. The mass media now play an important role in shaping our opinions. I think, it is impossible to imagine our life without newspapers. Millions of copies of them appear every day. Many people subscribe to two or more newspapers; others buy newspapers at the newsstands. There are national daily newspapers, such as the "Izvestiya", and the "Komsomolskaya Pravda". There are also national weekly newspapers, such as the "Argumenty i Fakty" and the "Nedelya". Most national newspapers express a political opinion, and people choose them according to their political beliefs. Most newspapers contain news, detailed articles on home and international affairs, reviews of books, art and TV shows. Many of them also cover sports events. In the USA daily newspapers are published in 34 different languages. The daily newspapers are of two kinds: quality and popular. A quality paper is a serious newspaper, which publishes articles and commentaries on politics. A popular paper contains many photographs; its articles are often sensational and mostly deal with private life of famous people. "The Wall Street Journal" is a quality paper. It is a business newspaper with the largest circulation in the country. There are also newspapers in the USA, which are famous all over the world for their quality. "The New York Times" is "the world's top daily". Meals and CookingWhen we cook, we boil, roast, fry or stew our food. We boil eggs, meat, chicken, fish, milk, water and vegetables. We fry eggs, fish and vegetables. We stew fish, meat, vegetables or fruit. We roast meat or chicken. We put salt, sugar, pepper, vinegar and mustard into our food to make it salted, sweet, sour or simply tasty. Our food may taste good or bad or it may be tasteless. The usual meals in England are breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner or, in simpler houses, breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. For breakfast English people mostly have porridge or corn-flakes with milk or cream and sugar, bacon and eggs, marmalade with buttered toast and tea or coffee. For a change they can have a boiled egg, cold ham, or fish. English people generally have lunch about one o'clock. At lunch time in a London restaurant one usually finds a mutton chop, or steak and chips, or cold meat or fish with potatoes and salad, then a pudding or fruit to follow. Afternoon tea can hardly be called a meal. It is a substantial meal only in well-to-do families. It is between five and six o'clock. It is rather a sociable sort of thing, as friends often come in then for a chat while they have their cup of tea, cake or biscuit. In some houses dinner is the biggest meal of the day. But in great many English homes, the midday meal is the chief one of the day, and in the evening there is usually a much simpler supper — an omelette, or sausages, sometimes bacon and eggs and sometimes just bread and cheese, a cup of coffee or cocoa and fruit. Means of CommunicationPeople use various means of communication to get from one place to another. In the old days people had to travel several days, weeks and months to get to the place they needed. They either went on foot, by coaches driven by horses or on horseback or by. boats and ships. Then trams, cars, buses, planes, underground and other means appeared. Many people like to travel by air as it is the fastest way of traveling. A lot of people like to travel by train because they can look at passing villages, forests and fields through windows. Some people like to travel by car. There they can go as slowly or as fast as they like. They can stop when and where they want. People who live in big cities use various means of communication to get from one place to another. Londoners use the underground railway. They call it “the tube”. London's underground is the oldest in the world. It was opened in 1863. There was one route at that time, four miles long. Now London's underground has 277 stations and it is 244 miles long. Londoners use buses. The first bus route was opened in London in 1904 Today there are hundreds of routes there. The interesting thing is that some of the routes are the same as many years ago. London's buses are double-decked buses. Londoners do not use trams, though London was the first city where trams appeared. And now it is one of the biggest cities in the world where there are no trams. The last tram left the streets of London many years ago. Londoners use cars. One can see a lot of cars in London streets. When Londoners leave the town, they use trains, ships or planes. Directory: ebook -> umm ebook -> "That was our view and I believe it right." ebook -> Computer Science Conference Ranking ebook -> Problem a arbitrage ebook -> Problem a addition Chains ebook -> "Race and the Making of the Nation: Blacks in Modern France" ebook -> The Teachings of Don Juan ebook -> I’ve got it let’s invade Iraq! ebook -> Appendix 9c sa army unit histories1 Infantry umm -> Corpora in the classroom without scaring the students Download 0.58 Mb. Share with your friends:
|