Форум гильдии Вальхалла

Travelling by air.
Speaking about travelling I must mention that one travels on business or for pleasure. There are many ways of travelling. Some people travel by car, others by air and a good many by train and there is still travelling by sea.
Each means have its advantages and disadvantages and we always chose the way of travelling depending on the place of destination, amount of money we can spend on a trip and, of course, our personal preferences.
This time I’m going to tell you about travelling by air. It’s not a secret that our aircraft industries has made such a great strides forward and travelling by air is becoming more and more popular. It’s absolutely the quickest way of getting from place to place. It’s no wonder that ever-growing number of people chose this way of travelling.
Travelling at a height of 30.000 feet far above the clouds, and over 500 miles an hour is an exhilarating experience. You don’t have to devise ways of taking your mind off the journey, for an airplane gets you to your destination rapidly. For a few hours you settle back in a deep armchair to enjoy the flight. An airplane offers you an unusual and breath-taking view of the world. You soar effortlessly over high mountains and deep valleys. You really see the shape of the land. If the landscape is hidden from your view, you can enjoy the extraordinary sight of unbroken cloud plains that stretch out for miles before you, while the sun shines brilliantly in the sky.
The journey is so smooth that there is nothing to prevent you from reading or sleeping. However you decide to spend your time, one thing is certain: you will arrive at your destination fresh and uncrumpled. You will not have to spend the next few days recovering from a long and arduous journey.
Airplanes have the reputation of being dangerous and even hardened travelers are intimidated by them. They also have the grave disadvantage of being the most expensive form of transport. But nothing can match them for speed and comfort. And fear of being killed in the air crash is senseless, because more people die in air accidents a day than in air crashes a year. You must be extremely “lucky” to die. You can also happen to be airsick and a flight can turn to a nightmare for you, but there are many medicines nowadays.
If you chose this way of travelling, you’d better remember several hints. Passengers are requested to arrive at the airport one hour before departure time on the international flights and half an hour on domestic flights. Passengers must register their tickets, weigh in and register the luggage. You must remember that the economy class limitation is 20 kg. First-class passengers are allowed 30 kg. Excess luggage must be paid for. Passengers are permitted to take only some personal belongings with them into the cabin. These items include handbags, brief-cases, umbrellas, etc. Each passenger is given a boarding pass to be shown at the departure gate and again to the stewardess when boarding the plane. In the plane you should watch the electronic sign flashes in the plane. When the “Fasten Seat Belts” sign goes on, do it promptly, and also obey the “No smoking” signal. Listen to the announcements on the public address system. The captain will welcome you on board; tell you all about the flight and the interesting places you are flying over. Do not forget your personal belongings when leaving the plane.
Finally, let me tell you about my personal flight experience. In spring my parent decided to go to Shanghai to watch Formula-1 Races. So we booked 3 tickets in the travel agency, so we didn’t face any difficulties in purchasing our tickets. At the appointed day we crossed the Russian-Chinese border and got to the airport of HeiHe 2 hours before the flight. We were a bit nervous, because it was our first experience. We registered our tickets, luggage, got luggage labels and went on board the plane. The flight took 3 hours and was very smooth. When we reached the destination, the pilot thanked everyone for flying with him and wished everyone good luck. Getting off the plane we took our luggage back and made our way to the hotel.

Olympic Games.
Perhaps the biggest event in the world, and definitely the most important sporting event are the Olympic Games. Everyone knows that it’s a feast when thousands of people from all over the world shift the limits of their abilities and show miracles every four years. But not much people know the history of this great event.
Long ago ancient Greeks often waged wars. Small states suffered and lost much even if they didn’t take any side and stayed out of wars. The ruler of such a small state, Elis, wanted to live in peace with all neighbors. He was a good diplomat because his negotiations were successful and Elis was recognized a neutral state. To celebrate this achievement he organized athletic games.
In the beginning this feast lasted only one day, but later a whole month was devoted to it. All wars and feuds were stopped by special heralds who rode in all directions of Greece.
The games were held every four years in Olympia on the territory of Elis. This four-year period was called the Olympic year or the Olympiad. The first games which were later called the Olympic Games were held about a thousand years before our era.
All athletes took an oath that they had been preparing well for the Games in gymnasiums and promised to compete honestly and keep the rules of the sacred Olympics. The athletes took part in all kinds of competitions. Winners were called “olympionics”, they were awarded olive wreaths and cups of olive oil. This tradition has survived. In our time sportsmen often get cups and wreaths for winning the first place in sports competitions.
The olympionics of ancient Greece became very popular. Best craftsmen were chosen to make honorary cups, many poets recited in public poems about the best athletes. Sculptors made their statues which were put up at the birthplace of the winners.
The Olympic Games were accompanied by art festivals. Poets recited their poems, singers sang hymns, dancers danced and orators pronounced speeches – all this in honor of the sacred games.
Only men could take part in the Olympic Games. Women were not allowed even to watch the competitions at the stadium under the fear of death penalty. There was a single exception when a woman coached her son and accompanied him to the stadium in men’s clothes. That brave woman was spared the penalty because her son excelled in many events. But from that time all athletes and their coaches had to compete without any clothes.
The Olympic Games had been held for about eleven hundred years, until the emperor Theodosius banned them for religious reason in 394 A.D.
The revival of the Olympic Games began long afterwards, in 1892, when a young French teacher Pierre de Coubertin made a public speech before the Union of French sports clubs in Paris. At that time many people in many countries practiced various kinds of sports and games. They wanted to make friends and compete with sportsmen from other lands. Pierre de Coubertin understood the importance of sports which united peoples of the world and served the cause of peace like in ancient time.
On the 23rd of June 1894 the International Congress of amateur sportsmen made an important decision: to revive the Olympic Games and to establish the International Olympic Committee which would be responsible for the administration of the modern Olympic Games.
The 1st Olympic Games of the modern times were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Winter sports made their debut in 1908, when ice figure-skating was included in the Olympic program among summer sports.
Much importance is attached to the opening ceremony. At the opening of the Games the IOC appears as host. The national anthem of the country is played, and all the participants march past the Lodge of Honor. The Head of the host country declares the Games open, then the Olympic flag is raised and the Olympic hymn is sung. Then the Olympic flame is lit that will burn till the end of the Games. The Olympic torch has been carried from Olympia by torch bearers, one for each kilometer, about 340 in all.
The Olympic flag has five colored interlaced rings, representing the five parts of the world, on a white background. The motto of the Olympic Games is “Faster, Higher, Stronger”.
Russia joined the Olympic movement in 1952. Since then, Soviet sportsmen have collected a great lot of gold, silver and bronze medals, not to mention the numerous Olympic and world records they have broken. In 1980 Moscow hosted the 22nd Olympic Games. The importance of the Olympic Games was well expressed by Coubertin: “The most important in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle”.

Sports in England.
The British are considered to be a sport-loving nation. Sports in England take many forms: organized sports, which attract huge crowds to encourage their favorite team to victory, athletic games, played for recreation and others.
Some sports are called spectator sports, when the number of spectators is greater than the number of people taking part in the game. Other sports are called participant, attracting large crowds only on special occasions such as tournaments.
Cricket, soccer, rugby, tennis, squash, table tennis, badminton, canoeing and snooker were all invented in Britain. The first rules for such sports as boxing, golf, hockey, yachting and horse-racing also originated from Britain.
Cricket is very much the English game. A match can take five days and still end in a draw. A form of cricket was being played 250 years ago. Teams are made up of 11 players each. They play with a ball slightly smaller than a baseball and a bat shaped like a paddle. Cricket has been seriously and extensively accepted only in Australia, India and Pakistan.
Cricket is slow and a spectator sitting in the afternoon sun after his lunch may be excused for having a little sleep for half an hour. Cricket is making no progress in popularity.
Association football or soccer is very popular. Nearly 49 million spectators each year attend matches between the great professional teams organized by the Football League. The biggest event in England is the Cup Final, played at the Empire Stadium, Wembley in a London suburb.
Football began as a contest between 2 neighboring villages – with no limit to the number on each side, no fixed pitch and almost no rules. Football Association drew up the first rules of the modern game in 1863 and in 1888 12 clubs joined together to form the first Football League. England won the World Cup in 1966. Rugby and football became two separate sports when the rules, laid down by the Football Association said that only the goalkeeper could handle the ball. Two kinds of rugby are played in Britain. Rugby Union is played by amateurs in teams of 15 in the South of England and in Wales (where it’s a national sport). Rugby League is played by professionals in teams of 13 in the North of England. Rugby football is played with an egg-shaped ball which may be carried and thrown (but not forward). Rugby is played mainly by the amateurs.
The games of golf and tennis are played by great number of people. Golf was probably invented in Holland, but has been played in Scotland for at least 400 years. At first it was played with balls stuffed with feathers. Golf is played in the countryside. It consists in driving a small ball towards and into holes separated by considerable distances by means of special clubs. The aim is to go round using as few strokes as possible.
The first rules for tennis were drawn up by the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club when it held its first tournament in the London suburb of Wimbledon in 1877. Wimbledon is still the world’s most famous tennis event. The innumerable tennis courts of England are occupied by people between the ages of 16 and 60 who show every degree of skill – from practically helpless to extremely able.
Nest to football, the chief spectator sport in Britain is horse-racing. A lot of people are interested in the races and risk their money on the horse which they think will win. Britain is also famous for motor-car racing, boat-racing, dog racing and even races for donkeys. The famous boat-race between the teams of Oxford and Cambridge attracts crowds of people.
There are a lot of sports and games which are popular both among youngsters and grown-ups. 25 million people take part in sports. Sport is on the program of all state and private schools and universities. Nearly all schools have sports grounds and swimming pools. Sport has for a long time been a very important part of a child’s education in Britain, not just – as you may think – to develop physical abilities, but also to provide a certain kind of moral education. Team games in particular encourage such social qualities as enthusiasm, above all, absolute fairness (no cheating) and being able to lose without anger are considered important.
The British also like to play baseball, hockey and grass-hockey. Various forms of athletics, such as running, jumping, swimming, boxing are also popular. You can sometimes hear that there are no winter sports in England. Of, the English weather isn’t always cold enough to ski, skate or toboggan, but winter is a good season for hunting and fishing.
Indeed, sports in one form or another is an essential part of daily life in Britain.

Американский инглиш.

Пусть учится))
Это ответы на билеты)))
Я догадалась)

Smart писал(а):

Американский инглиш.

Британский, педагогов учат британскому.

IgaPower писал(а):

Smart писал(а):

Американский инглиш.

Британский, педагогов учат британскому.

А педагогов не учат, что в Британии за Soccer можно в табло получить?)

а русские как его коверкают этот английский...

АрхонТ писал(а):

Smart
млин класический инглиш, какой нафиг американ? америкосы коверкают все жутко

Если это официальный текст, то все чинно-благородно.

"Вроде английский придумали у вас, а так говорите, хер что поймешь" (С) Snatch. Сами англичане так коверкают слова (особенно далеко от больших городов), что я попервой никак не раздуплял, а в Англию ли я приехал.

Ига, чо, ваще нагло завалила?

Оценку мне поставили еще до того как я начал отвечать