Additional vocabulary

быть «жаворонком»	to be lark
быть «совой»	to be owl
делать чай	to make tea
часы, когда вы бодрствуете	waking hours
по дороге домой	on the way home

II. Read the text. Be ready to discuss it. My working day

On week days the alarm-clock wakes me up at 6.00 and my working day begins. I’m not an early riser, that’s why it’s very difficult for me to get out of bed, especially in winter. I switch on my tape-recorder and do my morning exercises. Then I go to my bathroom where I clean my teeth and wash myself (and shave). If I have enough time I take a shower. Then I go to my bedroom to get dressed and to brush my hair. Usually my mother makes breakfast for me. But when she is away on business or just doesn’t have to get up early, I make breakfast myself. And my friend lives at a students’ hostel, he has to make his breakfast himself. It may be a cup of tea or coffee and a sandwich. While having breakfast, he listens to the latest news or music on the radio.

I leave my house at 7.00 and go to the nearest bus or trolley-bus stop. It takes me fifty minutes to get to the University. But I don’t want to waste my time on the bus or trolley-bus. I’ve got a small cassette-player and I listen to different texts and dialogues as I am fond of English. Sometimes I look through my notes to revise the material for my practical classes. We don’t have bells at our University, because classes begin at different time in each group. They may start at 8 sharp or at 8.20 or 8.30. My friend lives not far from the main building of our University so it takes him only five or seven minutes to get there. He doesn’t want to be late for the first period so he comes to the University a few minutes before classes begin.

I am a medical student. I study five days a week. Every day we have practical classes in numerous theoretical and special subjects ... We perform different laboratory works and work in the dissecting-room. In addition to one or two practical classes we have a lecture or two every day. The attendance of the lectures and practical classes is compulsory at our University. Students who have missed some classes have to go to the tutorials. They are held on Saturdays. Besides, we read a lot of literature in the reading-room. When we have a long break between the periods we go to the University’s canteen to have lunch. Then we come back to our classes and we study hard till 5 or 6 o’clock.

I come home at about 5 o’clock in the afternoon and have dinner. After dinner I usually have a short rest or do some work about the house: wash and iron linen, clean the flat, wash up the dishes, go shopping, etc. The first year at the University is a pretty hard one. I have a lot of homework in every subject so I am usually pressed for time. It takes me about four or five hours a day to prepare for my classes. I normally finish doing my homework at 11 with hardly any breaks since 6 o’clock. There is practically no time for television or friends. As a rule I go to bed about midnight.

This is my usual working day. Weekends are more attractive, because I can lie in bed till 11, I can watch TV, listen to music, meet my friends, go to the cinema or to the theatre. And still I always look forward to my next working day because I like my studies. I think I get a lot of useful knowledge.