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Komalova Lilly 105 English/Spanish 2001-2002
The system of going to University in Great Britain.
Education in Britain is provided by the Local Education Authority (LEA) in each country. It is financed partly by the Government and partly by local rates (a kind of property tax). Each LEA is free to decide how to organize education in their area.
There are 46 universities in Britain. Good 'A' Level results in at least two subjects are necessary to get a place at one. However, good exam passes alone are not enough. Universities choose their students after interviews, and a competition for places at university is fierce.
For all British citizens a place at university brings with it a grant from their Local Education authority. The grants cover tuition fees and some of the living expenses. The amount depends on the parents' income. If the parents don't earn much money, their children will receive a full grant, which will cover all their expenses.
Most 18 and 19 year-olds in Britain are fairly independent people, and when the time comes to pick a college they usually choose one as far away from home as possible! So, many students in northern and Scottish universities come from the south of England and vice versa. It is very unusual for university students to live at home. Although parents may be a little sad to see this happen, they usually approve of the move, and see it as a necessary part of becoming an adult. Anyway, the three universities terms are only ten weeks each, and during vacation times families are reunited.
When they first arrive at college or university, first year university students are called 'freshers'. A fresher's life can be exciting but terrifying for the first week
Often freshers will live in a Hall of Residence on or near the college campus, although they may move out into a rented room in their second or third year, or share a house with friends. Many freshers will feel very homesick for the first week or so, but living in hall soon helps them to make friends.
During the first week, all the clubs and societies hold a 'freshers' fair' during which they try to persuade the new students to join their society. The freshers are told that it is important for them to come into contact with many opinions and activities during their time at university, but the choice can be a bit overwhelming!
On the day that lectures start, groups of freshers are often seen walking around huge campuses, maps in hand and a worried look on their faces. They are learning how difficult it is to change from a school community to one of many thousands. They also learn a new way of studying. As well as lectures, there are regular seminars, at which one of a small group of students (probably not more than ten) reads a paper he or she has written. The paper is then discussed by the tutor and the rest of the group. Once or twice a term, students will have a tutorial. This means that they see a tutor alone to discuss their work and their progress. In Oxford and Cambridge, and some other universities, the study system is based entirely around such tutorials, which take place once a week. Attending lectures is optional for 'Oxbridge' students!
After three or four years (depending on the type of course and the university) these students will take their finals. Most of them (over 90 per cent) will get a first, second or third class degree and be able to put BA (Bachelor of Arts) or BSc (Bachelor of Science) after their name. It will have been well earned!
There are a lot of universities in Great Britain (Oxford, Cambridge, University for Industry and others). I am going to tell you about 'The Open University'. Its name suggests that all other universities are closed. And this is true because they are closed to everyone who doesn't have the time, the opportunity or the qualifications to study there. 'The Open University' was found in 1967 and now it offers degree and other courses for adult students of all ages. Courses are usually based on a credit system. Most of the students work at home and can study only in their free time. They do not need formal academic qualifications to register for most courses. Some people come there to improve their qualifications; others, like retired people or mothers whose families have grown up, are at 'the Open University' because they now have the time to something they have always wanted to do. For some people it is very difficult to turn in students, as they don't remember how to write essays, to prepare for exams and so on.
To keep people from giving up each student gets the help or support of his own tutor, who he meets regularly and can telephone in any crisis or difficulty. Besides that students arrange some 'self-help' groups. These groups meet in each other's homes to discuss some tests and they try to help their friends, who are specially produced printed texts, television and radio broadcasts, audio/video cassettes and some other methods. 'The Open University' is producing (выпускает) graduates who go on to better jobs, higher pay or postgraduate degrees.
So, universities train for the profession and teach special skills. They turn out doctors, engineers and lawyers, chemists, physicists and economists. Universities must certainly educate people in a variety of subject areas in order to meet the future needs of the nations. The main duty of the universities is to produce well- educated people who can construct the future nd adapt to it.
Komalova Lilly 105 English/Spanish 2001-2002
Row of science and technology.
Science plays a great part in our life. It develops our society and everything we have today is the result of the development of science and technology. Science includes a lot of trends: physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology and others. Whereas (тогда как) science is connected with understanding how and why things happen, technology deals with making things happen.
Many centuries ago people had no a single idea how to use the nature. In fact they were afraid of it and couldn't take anything useful from it. They didn't know how to make a fire or how to build a house, they lived in their small world and they couldn't even imagine that our planet was full of interesting and useful things.
Today our life is different. We use tools (инструменты), machines, techniques and sources of power to make our life easier. Of course, it took people a lot of time to invent all these things we use now: telephone, radio, television, computer and other means of communication.
So a lot of inventions were in the 20th century. It is even called "the century of inventions". There are some of them:
Television (1920s). The invention that swept (смёл) the world and changed leisure (досуг) habits for countless (бессчетных) millions was pioneered by Scottish-born electrical engineer John Lorgie Baird. It had been realized for some time that light could be converted (превращено) into electrical impulses, making it possible to transmit such impulses over a distance and then reconvert (восстановить) them into light. John transmitted the first television picture on 25 October 1925. The first thing on television was a boy from the office next to Baird's workroom in London. In 1927 Baird sent pictures from London to Glasgow. In 1928 he sent pictures to New York and also produced the first colour TV pictures.
Motor car (late 19th century). With television, the car is probably the most widely used and most useful of all leisure-inspired (легко прижившихся) inventions. German engineer Karl Benz produced the first petrol-driver car in 1885 and the British motor industry started in 1896. Henry Ford was the first to use assembly line (конвейер) production for his Model T car in 1908. Like them or hate them, cars have given people great freedom of travel.
Electricity. The name came from Greek word for amber (янтарь) and was coined (создавать новые слова) by Elizabeth the I's physician William Gilbert who was among those who noticed that amber had the power to attract light objects after being rubbed (утильсырьё). In the 19th century such great names as Michael Faraday, Humphry Davy, Alessandro Volta and Andre Marie Ampere all did vital work on electricity.
Photography (early 19th century). Leonardo da Vinci had described the camera obscura photographic as early as 1515. But it was not until 1835 that Frenchman Louis Daguerre produced camera photography. The system was gradually refined (усовершенствована) over the years, to the joy of happy snappers (моды) and the despair (отчаяние) of those who had to wade (пробирались) through friends' endless holiday picture.
Telephone (1876). Edinburgh-born scientist Alexander Graham Bell patented his invention of the telephone in 1876. The following year, the great American inventor Thomas Edison produced the first working telephone. With telephones soon becoming rapidly available, the days of letter writing became numbered.
Computer (20th century). The computer has been another life-transforming invention. British mathematician Charles Babbage designed a form of computer in the mid-1830s, but it was not until more then a century later that theory was put into practice. Now, a whole generation has grown up with calculation, windows, icons, computer games and word processors, and the Internet and e-mail have transformed communication and information.
Aeroplane. The plane was the invention that helped shrink (сжало, уменьшило) the world and brought distant lands within (в пределах) easy reach of ordinary people. The invention of the petrol engine made flight feasible and the America Wright brothers made the first flight in 1903.
From "Club", abridged (сокращено).
Thanks our scientists today we made a "quick look" puter space. Yuri Gagarin was the world's first spaceman, while the Americans made the first landing on the Moon. All these events were the result of series of splendid achievements of scientists and engineers of the world.
Today we go to the cinema, listen to the radio, use the computer and the Internet, but we don't even think how much time and effort scientists needed to make these things available to us.
Nowadays a lot of people can't imagine their life without a computer and the Internet. But it hasn't always been like that. First computers were very simple; they had a low of memory. But today a computer is a great machine, which is widely used everywhere. Computers help us in our everyday activities calculation, translation ect. Their influence is growing every day, because they help us to do any work more quickly. Computers take part in designing large engineering projects, in the management of factories and machine. Nowadays computers are used in schools, colleges and universities in order to teach students. They help in medicine.
As for the Internet, it was developed in the 1970s. It is now the world's largest computer network, with over 100 million hosts connected by 2000 provides an increasing range of services and helps a lot of people to be in touch with each other through the electronic mail.
What exactly is it that gets us all so excited about the Internet?
As well as being a global network of networks, the Internet is a global network of people, ideas and information. The Net is as interesting and exciting as the people, organizations, companies, governments and weirdoes that are connected to it.
There is another thing that's exciting about the Internet. Like love and life, the Net is what you make it. If you don't like what's happening on one part of the network, you can build yourself a whole new cybercity, appoint yourself as mayor and run it exactly as you want.
The Internet enables (даёт возможность) you to do a lot of things simultaneously (одновременно). You can read the latest copy of your favorite newspaper while planning your night's TV viewing and ordering some cheap CDs from discount disc store.
You send e-mail to someone you've never met before … Some people have "met" over the Internet and got married.
The first web browsers only supported (содержали) simply texts and images, but now a multitude of multimedia plug-ins (подключения) enables webpages to sing and dance.
From PC banking to online shopping and chats with celebrities, the Internet is already changing our lives. The arrival of digital TV promises even more exciting things.
The latest addiction to trap thousands people is the Internet, which has been blamed (обвиняется) for broken relationships, job losses, financial ruin and even suicide. Psychologists now recognize Internet Addiction Syndrome (IAS) as a new illness that could cause serious problems and ruin many lives. IAS is similar to other problems like gambling (азартная игра), smoking and drinking: addicts have dreams about the Internet; they need to use it first thing in the morning; they lie to their parents and partners about how much time they spend online; they wish they could cut down, but they are unable to do it. Many users spend up to 40 hours a week on the Internet. Some of the addicts are teenagers who are already hooked on (пристёгнуты к) computer games and who find it very different to resist the games on the Internet.
Some people think that soon computers will substitute our brains. I don't agree with such kind of opinion. Of course, computers take a great part in our life, but the brain is the most skilled and clever computer in the world for every time. Computers help us to do some work, to learn any material, but they can't substitute us or it will be the world of machine and there won't be place for us.
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