A (Very) Brief History of the English Language



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Art in Moscow


Speaking about art galleries of Moscow we should mention the most famous galleries.

The State Tretyakov Gallery is one of the best-known picture galleries in Russia. It takes its name from its founder Pavel Tretyakov, a Moscow merchant. In the 19th century Tretyakov began to collect Russian paintings. He visited all the exhibitions and art studios and bought the best pictures. Little by little Tretyakov extended his interests and began to collect earlier Russian paintings. In 1881 Tretyakov opened his collection in St. Peterburg to the public, 11 years later he donated it to the city of Moscow. Since then the gallery has received hundreds of paintings from other museums and private collections. The Tretyakov Gallery reflects the whole history of Russian paintings from the 11th century to the present day.

Also I'd like to tell you about the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. The building was built in Greek style by Roman Klein in 1898 - 1912 to house the Museum of Fine Art, founded by the initiative of professor Ivan Tsvetaev. Since 1937 it has been known as the Puskin Museum of Fine Art. It has one of the world's largest ancient collections of European art. At present the picture gallerey has over 2 thousand works of various schools of painting which helps us to understand and appreciate the variaty of painting styles from over the centuries.

The Pushkin Museum pereodically holds exhibitions of the art of various countries and of individual outstanding artists of the past and present.


Australia


Australia is a large country lying between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia is an island, like Britain, but unlike Britain, it is vast. It is, in fact, nearly twenty-five times as large as the British Isles. Its area is about 8,000,000 square km. The population of Australia is about 18 mln. Most of Australia is semi-desert. People cannot live where there is no water, and so most of people in Australia live in the richer south-east. The first Australian people were dark-skinned Aborigines, and though the coming of the white settlers destroyed their tribal lives, some sixty thousand still survive in Australia today. Their account for about 1 percent of the population. They may be found in the island areas of the country. Some live in modern cities but it is not really easy for them. They have to fight for their rights. The first Europeans to land in this country were Dutch sailors. The national holiday, Australia Day, is now celebrated on or near January 26th in memory of landing of the British in 1788. The young country grew very fast. Today Australia is an independent federative state consisting of 6 states and 2 territories. It is a member of the Commonwealth headed by the British Queen. The national language is English. The capital of Australia is Canberra; the largest cities are Sidney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Australia


The Commonweaith of Austrelia is a self-governing federal state. It is situated in the south-west of the Pasific ocean, occupying the continent of Australia and a great number of islands of which Tasmania is the most important. Australia is a continent-island washed by the Indian and the Pasific Oceans. The country consists of 6 (six) states and 2 (two) territories. 16 million people live in Australia. The capital is Canberra. The offical language is English. Australia has a Parliament with two chambers, the house of Representatives and the Senate. The government of the country is headed by the Prime Minister. Australia is not only far from the rest of the world, it has a bad climate, too. The climate is better in the east and south-east, where most big cities have grown. But the northen coast has too much rain, and the westen coast is too dry. The highest part of Australia, and almost all the mountains are near the coast. The whole central part of the country is dry; it never rains, there are no large rivers and no water there. So there is no very rich plant life in Australia, except in the east and south-east. Australia is an important producer and exporter of primary products: wool, meat, sugar, fruit, coal, iron, copper, lead, gold and so on. Most of the factories are situated near big cities. There are 5 (five) big cities in Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. These cities are also the country's main ports. Canberra was specially planned as the capital. It is a quiet city. All the goverment buildings are situated there. There're no industrial plants in the city. About 300000 people live in Canberra. Sydney is the oldest and largest city in Australia. It was founded in 1788. Sydney is a big industrial centre. About 3 million people now live in the city.

Australia - the land of blue mountains


The Great Barrier Reef on the coast of Queensland is a garden under the sea. There are 1,400 different kinds of fish, and more than 300 kinds of coral. Tropical fruit and flowers grow on the beautiful islands. It’s not surprising that more holiday-makers come to Queensland every year. Tasmania, the island south of Australia, is small. It’s the same size as England. It is also very different from the other states. There are no deserts in Tasmania. It often rains, both in winter and summer. Only half a million people live in Tasmania, and a large part of the island is still covered with wild, beautiful wild forests. These forests are full of wonderful flowers and interesting animals.

In the Northern Territory you will find the red heart of Australia. And it really is red, with red rocks, red sand and red skies in the evening. Every year, thousands of tourists visit Ayers Rock and a strange group of huge red stones called “the Olgas”. But these places are also holy to the Aboriginals. They believe that the land itself has life. Sydney is the best known place in New South Wales. In fact, it’s the best known place in Australia. But New South Wales has more than cities. There are, for example, the Blue Mountains. They are covered with forests of blue colored eucalyptus trees. The air above the forest contains millions of microscopic drops of eucalyptus oil. When the sun shines, the air of the Blue Mountains is a real, beautiful blue.

Less than a hundred years ago, there was nothing except sheep in Canberra. But then Australians decided to build a capital city. The work began in 1913. Now, Canberra is an international city, full of diplomats and government offices. It’s a beautiful place, with parks, lakes, big open streets and fine buildings. Australia is sometimes called “the lucky country”. One reason is the wonderful riches under the earth: gold, silver, iron, coal and many precious metals. The Bass Strait, of the coast of Victoria, has been one of the country’s biggest oil fields for many years. South Australia is the driest of all the states, but it does have Murrey River. The river brings greenness and life to the south-east corner. In the early history of Australia, the Murrey River was South Australia’s main road. Before real roads and railways came, the river carried people and goods from the east up into the country. Some towns on the Murrey still keep the old river boats, and visitors can ride on them.

There are two kinds of gold in Western Australia. First, there’s real kind – the kind that comes out of the ground. Gold was found in Kalgoorlie in1893, and the “Golden Mile” was for a time the most expensive piece of land in the world. Kalgorlie still exports some gold, but new gold of Western Australia is wheat. Big farms grow millions of tones of wheat every year, and wheat has become Australia’s second biggest export.




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