Great Britain

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles. They lie to the north-west of Europe. The British Isles are separated from the continent by the narrow strait of water which is called the English Channel.

The United Kingdom consists of four parts. England, the central part, occupies the most of the island of Great Britain. To the west lies Wales and to the north the third part of the country, Scotland, is situated. The fourth part is called the Northern Ireland and is located on the second island. Each part has its capital. The capital of England is London, Wales has Cardiff, Scotland has Edinburgh and the main city of the Northern Ireland is Belfast.

The area of the UK is some 244,100 million square kilometres. Its population is over 57 million people. English is the official language.

Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy. The powers of the British Queen are limited by Parliament. The British Parliament consists of the sovereign, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Great Britain is a country of forests and plains. There are no high mountains in this country. Scotland is the most mountainous region with the highest peak, Ben Nevis. The rivers of Great Britain are not long. The longest rivers are the Thames and the Severn. As the country is surrounded by many seas there are some great ports at the seaside: London, Glasgow, Plymouth and others. Wales is a country of lakes. It has the most famous lake in the world- Loch-Ness. Seas and oceans influence the British climate which is not too cold in winter but never hot in summer.

Great Britain is a beautiful country with old traditions and good people.

London.

London is the capital of Great Britain, its political, economic and cultural centre. It is one of the largest cities in the world. Its population is more than 11 million people. London is situated on the river Thames. The city is very old and beautiful. It was founded more than two thousand years ago.

Traditionally London is divided into several parts: the City, the West End and the East End. The City is the oldest part of London, its financial and business centre. The West End is the part where rich people live. It is the most beautiful part of London. The best hotels, restaurants, shops, clubs, parks and houses are situated there. The East End is an industrial district of London. There are many factories and the Port of London is there.

London has many places of interest. One of them is the Houses Government. There one can see a famous Clock Tower Big Ben, The symbol of London. Big Ben is really the bell which strikes every quarter of an hour. Another place which can strike you most is Buckingham Palace. It`s the residence at the Queen. There are many other places of interest in London: Trafalgar Square, Regent`s Park, Westminster Abbey and, of course, the British Museum. We can`t describe all the places of interest. The best way to know London is to visit it.

Music in Our Life.

People can not live without music. They can listen to the music everywhere even in the forest, when they walk and hear birds singing.

Music can be classical and modern. Classical music is performed by symphonic orchestras in the great halls. There are a lot of famous composers whose music is played nowadays. Classical music is serious and requires good understanding or it may seem to be boring and dull.

Most of the people prefer modern music. Modern music is performed by TV and radio. Modern music has different kinds: pop, rock, disco, rap, techno and others. Young people like techno and disco. Older people are fond of jazz, rock and pop. There are a lot of singers or music bands who performs this or that kind of music. Everybody knows the founders of rock music. They are the “Beatles” and Elvis Priestly. Now there are a lot of discs and records of different performers.

The last achievement in music production is clip. Musical clips are short films accompanied by melody. It may be a short story about what the song is or simply a great number of different shows. People like to watch clips because it`s not only listening to music but also watching interesting things. I`m fond of music and like to listen to it for it helps me to have good relaxation.

My friend

I have a friend. His (her) name is…….. He (she) is 16. We made friends many years ago when we started to go to one and the same school. He (she) sings well and likes to tell funny stories. He (she) is full of life and energy. He (she) does not have much free time but if he (she) has he (she) likes to spend it in a good company. We like to listen to good music, to dance, to watch new films and discuss them and do many other interesting things how to take an active part of our school life. We often go to the cinema, to the cafes, concerts and shows. My friend is a good friend. He (she) is always ready to help everybody who needs. My friend knows a lot of interesting facts about music, famous people and history. I`m happy to have such a good friend as he (she).

Kazakhstan

A new independent country- the Republic of Kazakhstan – joined the World community in December 1991. Kazakhstan is one of the independent states of the Commonwealth Independent States. The Republic of Kazakhstan is a unitary country with a presidential form of the government. The first president of Kazakhstan is N. A. Nazarbayev. He became the first president of the country in April 1990.

The Republic of Kazakhstan is situated in the central part of the Euro-Asian continent. The total area of over 2.724 million square kilometres. This country shares its borders with the Russian Federation to the north and north- west; to the east with China and to the south with the central Asian republics of Kirgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. According to active administrative and territorial division, Kazakhstan consists of 14 regions, and 223 districts. There are 83 cities and 204 townships. The regions are: Akmola, Almaty, Atyrau, Aktobe, Eastern Kazakhstan, Taraz, Mangystau, Pavlodar, Kzyl- Orda, Karagandy and Kostanai.

The population of Kazakhstan is about 16 million people. People of 120 nationalities live in the country. Kazakh is the state language and Russian is the language of international communication.

The country is rich with mineral resources such as copper, gold, iron, lead, nickel, silver, tin, uranium and zink with deposits of oil and natural gas.

Peaceful and generous, the land of the Kazakhs has always been famous for its hospitality.

The Republic of Kazakhstan with the world`s ninth largest area has many such beautiful places and a rich culture.

Astana

On the 10-th of December 1997 the city of Akmola was declared the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Astana is a big center of automobile, rail-road and air transport communication. It connects the Central Kazakhstan with its southern and western regions, with Siberia, Urals and Volga and other regions. Astana is on the banks of the Ishim river and its population is about 500 thousand people.

There are 5 institutes in the city, among them the State Euro-Asian University named after N. Gumilev. There are two theatres- the Russian Drama Theatre named after Stanislavsky and the Kazakh Music Theatre.

In 1997-1998 the Government House, the Parliament House, The Palace of Congresses were reconstructed in Astana. The government of Kazakhstan started removing to the new capital in 1997. Akmola was formally renamed as Astana in May 1998. On the 10th of June 1998 the international presentation of the new capital-Astana took place. Astana will become the center, of business contacts, as it is situated in the center of the Asian Continent.

Nowadays Astana – is a big construction site and soon it will become one of the biggest the beautiful cities of the XXI century.