Was founded; higher school; day-time; correspondence form of education; to have smth. at one’s disposal; automation of industrial processes department; lecture-room; the latest instruments; to take part in research; to work hard; to have an opportunity; construction sites.

ТЕКСТИ ДЛЯ ЧИТАННЯ ТА ПЕРЕКЛАДУ

WHAT IS A SOCIETY?

The concept "society," like the concept "culture," is one of the basic building blocks used by sociology to better understand the world in which we live. We defined society as the interacting people who share a common culture. This is an intentionally broad definition, since the concept of society must encompass virtually all of the organizations and institutions we will encounter from families to nations.

Yet because this definition is so broad, it leaves many questions unanswered. Is the United States one society or many? Is there a middle-class society that is different from working-class society? Is there a society of Italian Americans that is distinct from a society of African Americans? Is there a society of thieves that exists outside the society of law-abiding citizens? If we speak of "American society," are we referring only to people in the United States, or are we including people living in Canada? Do we want to include people from Mexico and Uruguay as part of "American society"?

There are no hard and fast rules that determine what constitutes a "society" and what does not. At one time the notion of shared territory was also a part of the definition of society, restricting the term to people who occupy a fixed geographical space. While such a definition made sense at a time when the vast majority of people had contact primarily with others who lived within a few miles, it no longer makes sense today. Modern communications technology enables us to' interact by telephone, fax machine, and electronic mail with people thousands of miles away.

Many sociologists belong to the International Sociological Association, a society of people who share the common culture of sociology yet are dispersed around the world. Television fan clubs, labor unions, and religious organizations are but three of the thousands of societies that enable people who share a common culture to interact with one another, yet which are not bounded by geography. In fact, one of the key aspects of globalization is that it involves vastly increased social relations with people who are geographically distant, and therefore permits the creation of societies that are not territorially bounded.

Words

MY FAMILY

Before I start talking about my family let me introduce myself. I am Sveta Petrenko. I am 17. I have left school this year. I was born in Kyyiv, so I have been living in Kyyiv since my childhood.

And now 1 am going to tell you about my family. We are a family of five. We think we are a large and friendly family. So we are happy to be living together and are getting on all right.

To begin with, I am going to talk first about my father. His name is Sergey Petrovich, he is 45. He works as a surgeon in a hospital. He is neither old, nor young. He is a good-looking man, handsome, rather thin with dark brown hair just beginning to go grey. He is a very sociable person. What I don't like about my dad is that he is always busy. Very often he works overtime. He is a bread-maker in our family. He is fond of going to the country on week-ends, because he enjoys working in the garden.

My mother's name is Galina Nickolayevna. She is three years younger than my father. She works as a teacher at a nursery school. My mother is rather slim and pretty, she is always elegant and smart. In short, she is a pleasant-looking woman of about 40. She always has a lot of work to do both at school and about the house. She is fond of her work and spends a lot of time there. But she has to cook the food for all the family at home. Shopping and cooking is nearly half a day's work for her. But my granny and I are in a habit of helping her about the house.

Boris is my elder brother. He is six years senior to me. So he is 23 already. He has graduated from the University and he is an economist by profession now. Boris is married. His wife is a journalist. They are three in the family. They have got a child, my nephew. It is a lovely little boy of two with golden hair and dark brown eyes and a spirit that is always bright and happy, full of joy and gaiety.

And finally a few words about my granny. To tell you the truth, she is my best friend. She always listens to my endless stories about my friends and my school life. She is retired on pension now but in her youth and her older age she worked as a teacher in a school. I must admit, she is a very understanding person.

Put it into a few words, we are a united and friendly family.

The Royal Family

At present the British royal family is headed by Queen Elizabeth. When the Queen was bom on the 21-st 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 child 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 done much to signify the formalities of the monarchy, including allowing 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 children, Prince William and Prince Harry. The Prince of Wales is well-known as a keen promoter of British interests.

In recent years he has become outspoken on such controversial topics as modern architecture, violence in films and on television, and standard of English teaching in schools. His wife Diana, Princess of Wales (often called in mass media Princess Di), has won the affection of many people by her modesty, shyness and beauty. She is one of the most popular members of the Royal Family, widely admired for her commitment to helping children throughout the charities of which she is patron and her support for the aged and ill, particularly AIDS sufferers.

The Queen's other children are Princess Anne (born in 1950), Prince Andrew (born in I960) 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.

She is widely known for her interest in horses and horse-racing. She is now the president of the Save the Children 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 quitted 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 ninety birthday in 1990 and continued to carry out many public engagements every year. The Queen's only sister, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, is one of the most unconventional members of the royal family. She is well-known for her charity work, including her support for Barbados, the Girl Guides Association, and the St. John Ambulance Brigade.

MY HOME

I would like to tell you a few words about my home. To begin with, 1 want to tell you that 1 live in Kyyiv, one of the largest and oldest cities of Europe. It is one of the most ancient cities located on the picturesque banks of the Dnieper River.

Our family live in a new flat in one of the largest newly built residential areas. We moved into our flat seven years ago. It is a three-room flat on the fifth floor of an eight-storeyed building. It consists of a living-room, a study, a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, two closets and a lavatory. There are two balconies in our flat: the first one is in the living room, and the second — in the bedroom. Our flat has all modern conveniences: central heating, running cold and hot water, electricity, telephone and gas. Besides, there is a lift and a garbage disposal in our building. The layout is very good, 1 must admit. The rooms are light, though not very large. In my opinion, it's quite a modern-looking flat. The windows face the park in front of the buidling and the view is really wonderful.

Our living-room is quite a big room of about 19 square metres. It is the largest room in our flat. As my parents don't like much furniture in the house, so in the living room there are two comfortable armchairs and a sofa, coffee-table and a nice thick carpet on the floor. Opposite the window there is a wall unit, but it doesn't take much space in the room. Of course there is a colour TV set, a stereo cassette-recorder and a record-player in the living-room. A nice chandelier is hanging from the ceiling and there is a standard lamp to the left of the sofa. During the day, the light comes in through the window, but at night when it gets dark, we switch on the light and draw the curtains across the windows. We like to receive our guests in this room.

And now I would like to describe our study. At first it was my daddy's room, but as I grew older, it has become mine. To tell you the truth, I am very happy to have a room for myself, that's why I always try to keep it tidy and cosy. There is a sofa, a writing table, a bookcase, a wardrobe in my room. On the wail there are some shelves full of English, Ukrainian and Russian books. There is a radio set on the shelf and, I must confess, I like to listen to the wireless in the evening. The dressing-table is next to the sofa. In the chest of drawers I keep clean linen and handkerchiefs and in the wardrobe I keep my clothes, which I hang on coat-hangers. I have two water-colours on the wall above the sofa. They are nice copies of my favourite paintings by Serov.

Our bedroom is the smallest room in our flat. At night when my parents feel tired and sleepy, they share this room.

But the most popular and favourite place with all of us is the kitchen, as we spend most of our time there. We all are not big-eaters, but use the kitchen as a place where we can have a chat about our problems and life.

In the kitchen there are some stools, a table, a cupboard, a sink with water taps, a fridge and a gas cooker. Of course, we usually have our meals there.

We like our flat very much. It is important that our house is rather close to the underground station and we can easily get to any place we like.

MY WORKING DAY

I want to describe you my daily actions which I did, more or less regularly, on weekdays during my final year at school. There was little variation in my life then, all days except weekends looked very much the same.

On weekdays my working day began early in the morning. As a matter of fact, I am not an early-riser, that's why 1 hate getting up early, but 1 got used to it, I usually got up at about 7 o'clock. Then I did my morning exercises and went to the bathroom to wash my face and hands with a soap and clean my teeth with a toothpaste. I didn't take a shower in the morning, I generally did it late in the evening before going to bed. At a quarter past seven I was ready to have my breakfast. As a rule, I had a quick light breakfast which consisted of a cup of coffee or tea, a boiled egg or an omelette and a cheese or sausage sandwich. After breakfast I put on my coat, took my bag and left for school.

As my school is not far from my house, it took me 10 minutes to get there. I never took a bus or a trolley-bus on my way to school, I usually walked there.

Six or seven lessons a day was the ordinary timetable. I seldom had lunch in the canteen, because I usually had packed one in my bag (an apple and a sandwich).

The classes at school were over at about three o'clock. Twice a week I stayed at school later to play table-tennis or was busy with the English language club.

When I came home my mother always had dinner ready just in time. Then I changed my school uniform and had a rest. While resting, I listened to the music or looked through the newspapers or magazines. Then I started doing my home assignments. It took me about five hours to cope with my homework properly. I normally finished doing my homework at 10 o'clock in the evening. So I hadn't much time for television and friends, because I had to work hard at all the subjects during my final year at school. But sometimes I managed to see an interesting film. I did well in most school subjects without any effort. Besides, 1 have managed to help my mother about the house and do our shopping, go to the library and have private lessons in English in order to improve it.

And I must admit, that school life was a very interesting page of my life. I had good friends at school and some lessons were interesting.

After supper I usually relaxed for some time and then went on with my homework.

As a rule, I went to bed at about 11 o'clock or even later.

LEISURE-TIME ACTIVITIES

 (MY DAYS OFF) AND HOLIDAYS

On weekdays I usually go to school, but on my days off I prefer to rest. I think it is important for us to rest after hard work. That's why our weekends are more attractive than weekdays. At our leisure time we go in for sports, read the books, go to the library, the cinema, the theatre, the park, the museum, the exhibition. Sometimes we go to the zoo or the circus and enjoy ourselves watching animals. As a rule, we try to spend most of time outdoors. Some people prefer to go to the country to see their relatives and friends. In winter we like to go to the winter forest to ski and skate. After having such a pleasant rest in the open air, you are always happy to return home and have a rest sitting near the TV-set and watching an interesting TV programme. In summer and spring picnics are popular with schoolchildren and their parents. They are fond of picnics chiefly because they have an excellent opportunity to admire the beauty of nature, to run on the grass and to play interesting games, to have a bite without observing table manners. But the most exciting event is making a fire. The children are fond of collecting wood in the forest and sitting round the fire. And again, they like to return home after a picnic. And now they think that "there is no place like home" as saying goes.

Many people like to go to the cinema and theatre on weekends and holidays and enjoy seeing an interesting film or performance.

As for me, my days off are normally like this. I hate getting up early and on weekends I can afford to wake up later than usual. As a rule, I get up at 8 o'clock. Then I do my morning exercises, wash my face and hands and brush my teeth. After having breakfast I relax a little: listen to a lovely stereo music and try to forget about all my problems. Then I can visit my friends and have a chat with them about our life. Sometimes my friends and I go to the museum or art exhibition. As a rule, my activities on weekends depend on my plans, but in any case I manage to do a lot of things and to have a rest. I always try to do my best to have a really good time. But unfortunately time flies very quickly on weekends, and the next Monday morning comes, and I am looking forward to my next days off.