21 anglų topikas

Lithuania

Lithuania is a small plot of land at the Baltic Sea. It is in the

geographical centre of Europe (18 km from Vilnius). Lithuania borders with

Latvia, Byelorussia, Poland and Russia. It’s not a big country. The

territory of Lithuanian Republic is about 65000 square km. The population

is 3,7 millions.

The capital of Lithuania is Vilnius.

The official language of the state is Lithuanian. Lithuanian flag consists

of gold, green and red ribbons. State emblem — white Vytis in the red

field.

The biggest town in Lithuania is VVilnius, then goes Kaunas, very beautiful

town on the place where the river Neris flows into the Nemunas. Klaipeda,

Panevezhys, Shiauliai and other big cities too.

For the first time Lithuania was mentioned in 1009 in Quedlinburg annals.

As a state it was emerged in the early 13th century and Mindaugas became

the Grand Duke of Lithuania about 1240. At the end of 14th and the

beginning of 15th century Lithuania became one of the most powerful states

in the Europe. Lithuania was christened in 14th century, uuntil that time it

was pagan. Lithuanian people had to fight a lot for their freedom. The

latest occupation ended only in 1990, when on March 11 Lithuania proclaimed

its restoration of statehood.

There are two big Universities in Lithuania in Vilnius and in Kaunas.

University in Vilnius is very old: it was established in 1579, and another

University, which received the name of the Vytautas the Great, was founded

in 1930.

Holidays in Lithuania

Every nation and every country have its traditions, customs and holidays.

Lithuanians are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. It

has been the law for about centuries not to work on Sunday. On that day

people went to the church, spend their time in the family circle, or went

visiting their relatives. Holidays in our country are specially, rich and

are different in Zhemaitija, Aukshtaitija and Dzookija.

Christmas is a Lithuanian national holiday. On the eve of Christmas people

has a family supper, they don’t meat, only fish, fruits and berries.

Everybody is waiting for Christ to be born.

Some ppeople enjoy themselves on the new year’s day. On the eve of New Year

they have a party at home, or go the restaurants, visit their friends. The

New Year tree is decorated for the Christmas or New Year. The day of

Lithuanian’s independence is on the 16 of February. Since 1928 Lithuanian’s

people marks this day every year by paying tribute to those who gave their

lives for the people’s happiness. For many years after World War the second

this holiday was forbidden. Since 1989 iit again becomes the national wide

holiday in your country. It’s a non-working day. The 11 of March is also a

very important day for your country.

Mother’s Day is celebrated on the 1st Sunday of May. The member of family

honour mother giving flowers, presents to her on that day.

The 1st of November is day of commemorating the dead usually on All Saints

Day. People lay flowers on dear people and honour their memory by observing

a minute’s silence.

In spring we celebrate the Easter Day. The tradition of Easter Day is to

colour eggs for Easter table.

There are some other holidays in Lithuania, but I tried to discuss the most

popular.

London

London is one of the biggest and oldest cities in the world. This town is

about 2000 years old. It’s population with suburbs about 10,000,000. The

town is on the river Thames. There are many places of interest in London,

so it attracts many tourists.

The main part of London is city. It’s the places where London started. Now

it’s business centre. Few people can afford living in this part of the town

— it’s very expensive, so most people come there to do their job and leave

this region in the evening.

Westminster — it’s the central part of the town. Houses of Parliament,

Westminster AAbbey, National Galleries are situated there. There are many

government offices. In one tower of House of Parliament is Big Ben — the

main clock of Great Britain. Just across the street is Westminster Abbey —

main church of England. New monarch is crowned there, wedding ceremonies of

the Royal family take place there. It is also famous for its poets’ corner

— many famous people are buried there.

Not far you can see Trafalgar square with Admiral Nelson’s statue. Under

his leadership English fleet defeated united Spanish and French forces.

Another interesting place is Buckingham Palace. If the Queen is in, you can

watch changing guards.

West end is the residential part. It’s the richest part of London. Not far

from there Hyde Park is situated with famous speakers corner.

East part is the poorest part of London. It is industrial region, so air is

polluted, a lot of slums are there.

The tower of London is famous for tower and tower bridge. Tower is museum

now, but it used to be a fortress, state prison, the mint, treasury. The

tower of the bridge in middle ages was used like place of execution.

There is one more place of interest — British Museum.

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuanian Republic. It’s the largest city in our

country and iit is political, scientific, cultural and industrial centre

too. The central bodies of the republic power — parliament, called the

Seimas, Government, various ministries, TV and Radio stations, editorial

offices of republic newspapers, theatres, museums are located in Vilnius.

The first documentary reference to Vilnius dates back to 1323, when the

Great Duke Gediminas proclaimed Vilnius the capital of Lithuanian state and

invited foreign artists, scientists, builders to come live and work here.

Vilnius has got a very beautiful Old Town, which reminds us the history of

our native country.

In the centre of the Old Town, on the Castle hill, stands the Gediminas

Tower, a part of an old castle built 6 centuries ago. There is a square in

slope of the Castle Hill. It’s called the Cathedral square, because there

is a cathedral in the centre of it. This cathedral, reconstructed in the

end of the 18th century by the famous Lithuanian architect Stuoka-

Gucevichius, is the most important catholic church in Lithuania.

Vilnius is a mixture of the main architectural styles: Baroque, Classicism,

Renaissance and Gothic. The church of St. Anna is considered to be a Gothic

masterpiece, the Gediminas castle is a representative of Gothic style too.

Well-known representative of Baroque is the church of St. Peter and Paul.

The Italian sculptors worked on the

masterpieces of art of this church.

There are thousands of sculptures in it. Classicism dominates in some

Cathedral, University buildings. Vilnius University is very old, it was

established in 1579.

There are many new districts built in the latest 30 years: Lazdynai,

Baltupiai (shame of Vilnius), Karolinishkes, Fabijonishkes, Justinishkes. I

don’t admire such „modern“ houses of blocks, factories, standing in the

centre of the city.

Despite this, I don’t want to criticise Vilnius more. It’s my native town

and I couldn’t live in any other town.

The cities of Great BBritain

Great Britain is abundantly populated, but most part of Great Britain

people lives in cities. It’s about 80 percents. There are many old and

beautiful cities. The biggest city is London. In north of London there is a

middle size city Cambridge. Cambridge is famous for its colleges. The first

college Peterhouse was built in 1284. There are 22 colleges in Cambridge

now. Its staff consists of teachers and students. Many great men have

studied at Cambridge, among them Cromwell, Newton, Byron, Tennyson, Darwin.

If we go tto north – west from Cambridge we’ll drive up Birmingham. It is

the second city after London. Birmingham is one of the biggest economic

city in Great Britain. There are many architecture monuments in Birmingham.

In the North of Birmingham we can find MManchester. It is the second biggest

city in Lancashire after Liverpool. It is the industrial capital of the

North of England. Manchester is the fifth largest port in Great Britain

although it is 56 km away from the sea. It is connected with the sea by the

Manchester Ship Canal. Its population is about 700.000 people. Manchester

is the twin city of Sank – Petersburg. Liverpool is the West of Manchester.

Liverpool is the fourth city in Great Britain. It is the second port after

London by the size and importance. A famous group „The Beatles“ was born

here in the 1960. Liverpool is famous for its cheese too. The next city is

in the north of Liverpool. It is the old capital of Scotland – Edinburgh.

It is one oof the most beautiful cities in Europe. It is situated on the

seven hills and goes down those hill to the bay firth of forth. The city is

well planed with beautiful old houses. The last city is Glasgow. It is in

the centre of Scotland. Near the river Clyde. Glasgow is a big industrial

city of Great Britain. It produces one third all Great Britain production.

I think that all cities of Great Britain are beautiful and great.

My Famous writer (Charles Dickens)

Ch. Dickens is ffamous English novelist of the 19th century. Ch. Dickens was

born in the 1812 in Portsmouth, a town in the South of England.

In 1821 his family went to London. Dickens’s father was a very clever man,

but he was very poor, so the life of the family was very hard. Charles had

to go to work when he was ten. For two years he worked at a small factory

in London. Later he worked as a clerk in a lawyer’s office. He spent a lot

of time reading and educating himself. In a few years he become a newspaper

reporter. Dickens published his first book in 1836. It was a collection of

sketches of London life. This was followed by his „Pickwick Papers“ which

made him famous. It is one of funniest books in the English language.

After „Pickwick Paper“ he wrote „Oliver Twist“. In „Nicholas Nickleby“ his

next book, he showed an English school where the boys were starved, beaten

and terrified by their schoolmaster.

Then his novels „Dombey and son“, „David Copperfield“, „Hard Times“,

„Little Dorrit“ and many others appeared one after another. London with its

contrasts: the world of rich people and powerly. He truthfully described

what he had learned in his hard childhood and youth.

Dickens’s style of writing was journalistic and most appropriate for the

wide range of readers.

The works of Charles Dickens show the abounded faith of the writer in the

final victory of truth and goodness over the dark forces of evil.

Dickens is one of my famous English writers, I highly value his novels for

their realism, their humour, their love and sympathy for ordinary people.

Ch. Dickens died in 1870 and was buried in the Poets Corner of Westminster

Abbey.

The Seasons of the year

There are four seasons in a year. They are spring, summer, autumn, and

winter. Every season is beautiful and pleasant in its own way.

Spring is a wonderful season. Spring comes and nature awakens from its

winter sleep. The days become longer and nights shorter. The ground is

covered with fresh green grass and the first spring flowers .The trees are

covered with new leaves and blossoms. The air is fresh and sun shines

brightly. Spring’s months are March, April and May.

Summer months are June, July and August. The weather is usually fine in

summer. It is much warmer than in spring. The trees are green and the

gardens are full of flowers. Everybody enjoys summer. A lot of people have

their holidays in summer. They can go swimming and boating , they can lie

in the sun and get sunburnt , they can gather berries and mushrooms.

Autumn months are September, October and November. The days become shorter

and the nights become longer. The weather often changes, and it gets colder

and colder. The sky is often grey and cloudy, often rains. Autumn is

harvesting time, the time when grain, fruit and vegetables become ripe.

Winter months are December, January and February. Sometimes it is very cold

(30 degrees or more below zero). It often snows. Winter is a good time for

sport. Little children are fond of playing snowballs and making snowmen ,

older ones go in for skating and skiing.

Theatre

History: The first theatres were in ancient Greek. People sat in the open

air on a hillside, while below actors and dancers performed on a space

called orchestra. Plays were tragedies and comedies. In the middle ages

people performed miracle and mystery plays- stories from the Bible or

morality plays.

Some of the first indoor theatres were built in England in the 16th

century. Groups of actors performed the plays of Shakespeare and others.

Actors wore clothes of their days. Boys took women parts, as women were not

allowed to act. Since the 18th century plays became closer to real life.

The plots are usually about lives of ordinary people.

My first visit: I can’t say

I like the theatre very much and I often visit

it. But sometimes I go to visit the Opera House. It’s my favourite theatre.

It was open in 1974. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see the 1st Opera

performed there, because I was born only in 1976. To the best of my memory,

the 1st ballet I saw was „Spragtukas“ by Chaykovskij. I was about 7 years

old that time. That evening was very impressing. For the first time I saw

such a wonderful interior and sso many people, dressed festively. We bought

tickets to the boxes and I had a very good seat (the best you can get in

the boxes, of course). I could see almost everything around me. For the

first time I saw such a big audience and such a big nice area. Everything

was strange for me. I was too little to understand anything. I even didn’t

know who played the main roles, what was the cast of the ballet. But I

really remember, that the cast hhad to appear on the stage again and they

got many flowers. The evening I spent in the Opera House made a great

impression on me.

Some years later I finally understood it was a fairy-tale, not the real

life.

My last visit: I like ttheatre very much. My favourite theatre — the Opera

House. I often look through the theatre advertisements in order not to miss

my favourite plays. Last month I visited the Opera House. I went to see the

opera „Carmen“ by Gorges Biset. I was unlucky. All tickets to the stall

were sold, so I only got tickets to the boxes. By the entrance door I met

my friends. We went to the cloakroom dressed off, bought the programs and

climbed up to the boxes. The lights went off. The overture was being played

while the curtains were rising. The scenery wasn’t very particular. But the

singers were great. There were a lot of applause after the play. The cat

had to appear on the stage 3 or 4 times.

Great BBritain

Great Britain is on the British Islands. It’s surrounded by the Atlantic

Ocean, the North Sea and the English Channel. The climate is influenced by

the surrounding waters, particularly by the Gulf stream. That’s why the

climate is rather mild. Summers are not very hat and winters are not very

cold. There is no snow in the greatest part of GB.

The landscape is nice. There are no high mountains in GB, but they have

some high hills in Scotland, which they call Highlands. There are aa lot of

small lakes in Scotland, which are called lochs. The biggest river is the

Thames.

GB is constitution monarchy. It has a monarch, but he doesn’t rule, he just

reigns, controlled by the parliament. The King or the Queen is the symbol

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