Introduction

I’m sure everybody is familiar with the opinion: “Success is one per cent of talent and ninety-nine per cent of persistence”. Without any doubt, to achieve good results one has to be determined and to work his fingers to the bone. But still some people are more gifted than others, and some children are even considered to be prodigies. There’s a nice story about one of such children in our reading comprehension book. And I’d like to speak more detailed about this child, who came a clear first out of 530 candidates who sat the entrance exam for one of Oxford colleges.

Main Part

Ruth is a ten-year-old girl, and she has never been to school. Her father gave up his job when his daughter was five to educate her at home. So, the child’s mother is the family breadwinner. Ruth began to read at four and started academic subjects at five. Because the girl doesn’t go to school, she doesn’t mix much with other children. She likes serious conversations with adults, and always concentrates on what she enjoys, principally mathematics. As every child, Ruth watches television, but she is not in the habit of doing it. Besides, the girl plays the piano and has quite a wide range of interests. If she does well at this college, Ruth expects to take a further degree and eventually hopes to become a research professor in mathematics. By the way, the all-women college is even likely to offer her a scholarship. The principal of the educational establishment admits that taking so young a student is a daunting responsibility, but she’ll tailor the teaching to the girl’s requirements and will try to make college life fur for Ruth.

Conclusion

Well, definitely, there are very few children who are as smart as Ruth. But I believe that every person is gifted in his own way, and we are all good at doing something. We just never need to give up.

I’d also like to mention that there are some educational establishments that are famous all over the world, Eton, for example. It is a public school that was founded in 1440. Eton is probably the best known of Britain’s private schools which cater for about 3% of the population. It is a boarding school for boys only. By the way, boys in public schools are usually addressed by their family names. Parents who wish to send their son to Eton must put his name on a waiting list at birth or even before, and the payment for the education there is extremely high. This establishment has a special uniform for both children and teachers. Besides, the boys there use a special language and their own signs. Eton offers the wonderful sort of education, the qualified staff and just a great amount of facilities.

The similarities and differences between the “Orientation Week” at Stanford University and the University I study at (“Roommates”)

Introduction

Quite a large number of schoolchildren dream of becoming students of particular universities. And when their dream finally comes true, they feel an inexplicable mixture of both excitement and apprehension. At first a university seems to be the biggest, most bewildering place, all Freshmen feel really confused and get lost almost all the time. But luckily many universities have Orientation Week, during which first-year students are helped to get acclimated and not to be disquieting. By the way, there’s a nice story in out reading comprehension book, in which Orientation Week at Stanford University is described. So, I’d like to compare the Orientation Week at Minsk State Linguistic University and at Stanford University.

Main Part

During Orientation Week at the latter one Freshmen are immersed in planning activities: campus tours, study technique workshops, meetings with academic advisors, panel discussions by upperclassmen, a barbecue, an afternoon at the beech, an evening in San Francisco, and, of course, registration for classes. Well, certainly, Orientation Week at out university differs a little, but I’m still very grateful to all those people, who explained to me every single thing about the university. After that week I knew how many beans make fire. By the end of Orientation Week I could reliably find the library, the classrooms, the gymnasium, the canteens, the café. Besides, it helped me to make up my mind to go in for aerobics, and now I really enjoy doing it. I also can’t help mentioning that just after that week all first-year students started to take an introductory course in phonetics. It was rather a hard period for me, and I spent a lot of time and effort trying to pronounce English sounds correctly and also to use English intonation. But I have always realised that I have to work hard if I want to make progress. Well, as the proverb goes, “No pains, no gains”.

Conclusion

Right now I understand that university life is not a bed of roses, and a lot of people even consider a Freshman’s lot not to be a happy one, but I firmly believe that the result is worth fighting for. Besides, there are lots of people at the university, who are ready to help you not only during Orientation Week, but all the time.

The relationship between the world’s climate and man’s activities (“The World and the Weather”)