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· Veterinary Education in Great Britain
There are six colleges in Great Britain that offer academic courses in Veterinary Medicine. They are: the Royal Veterinary College (University of London), the Royal School of veterinary study (University of Edinburgh), vet. school (University of Glasgow), school of vet/ science (University of Liverpool), school of vet/ science (University of Bristol). Undergraduates of Veterinary Colleges study five years. Every year of study is divided into three terms. The first term begins in autumn. Every year the undergraduates must take two exams – in july and October. Studies of clinical subjects begin in the third year.
In order to be admitted to the final examination the undergraduate must fulfil a six-months production work with an experienced practitioner. After successful examinations (final examinations) the graduates get the degree of B.V.M. (Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine).
· British Universites
When people speak about higher education in Britain they are generally speaking of university education. The two oldest Universities in England are Oxford and Cambrige. There date from the Middle Ages. The education at classic British Universities is centered more on general culture than on professional training or specialization. With the rapid advance industrialization more technicians and scientists were needed. Therefore, science classes were set up in industrial centres and they developed into either technical colleges or the «Modern Universities», such as University of London.
The students work under the direction of a tutor who carries on his own research work and directs a group of 10-15 students. Each sudent is to write essays and pepers on the subject he is studying and submit them to the tutor regularly, about once a fortnight (14 days), for correction and discussion.
At present there is a severe crisis in higher education in Britain. It is caused by the growing public demand for a better and more democratic system of education.
· London
London is one of the biggest and most interesting cities in the world, the capital of the United Kingdom. More than 8 mln people live in London and its suburbs. London is a city of great contrasts.
The East End is the district inhabited by the workers and the poor people. Industry is chiefly found in that part of the city.
The heart of London is the City - its commercial and business centre. Different banks and offices are situated here. It is the oldest part of London with the tower of London found by J.Caesar. It was used as a fortress, a palace, and a prison. Now it is a museum of armour.
The West End is a symbol of wealth high class as they say. The best and most expensive clubs, theatres, shops and restaurants are there. You can‘t leave the city without visiting Hyde Park with Kensington Gardens, the really national London park. When you are walking along the shady avenues, sitting on the grass, admiring its flowerbeds or watching swans and ducks floating on the ponds, it seems almost unbelievable that all around there is a large city with its heavy traffic and smoke: so London is without doubt one of the most fascinating cities in the world.
· London's Places of Interest
London is not only a political,economic and cultural centre of the United Kingdom. It is the main tourist attraction of the country.
There are a lot of places of interest in London which attract thousands of tourists every year. They usually want to see Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, the London Bridge, the Tower of London.
Westminster is now the political centre of London.In the 11th century King Edward the Confessor decided to build a great Abbey сhurch there. There are many royal tombs in the Abbey, like the tomb of Edward the Confessor himself, and memorials to famous men and women. The most popular ones are those to writers, poets and musicians in the Poet's Corner. William the Conqueror was crowned there, and since then all the coronations have taken place in the Abbey.
During the reign of Edward the Confessor the Palace of Westminister was built, too. It was the royal residence and also the country's main court. The Parliament met here since the 16th till the 19th century. The present Houses of Parliament were built after the fire in the Palace of Westminister in 1834. There are two houses in the Parliament: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. St. Stephen's Tower of the Houses of Parliament contains the famous Big Ben.
Buckingham Palace is the Queen's official London residence. Londoners usually watch the Changing of the Guards in the forecourt of the palace. It lasts about 30 minutes.
St Paul's Cathedral is Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece. It was built since 1675 until 1709. It is crowned with a huge dome. Iside the dome there is the famous Whispering Gallery. There are many memorials in the Cathedral, including memorials to Wellington and Nelson. St.Paul‘s contains memorials to many national heroes, among them Lord Nelson, Sir John Moore, the Duke of Wellington, and Sir Christopher Wren. There are steps up to the Wispering Gallery, inside the dome, where words whispered into the stone wall can be heard right round the other side. From the stone gallery outside visitors have a magnificent view of London.
The Tower of London. London is noted for its museums and art galleriers. Among them are the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate, the Museum of London, the Museum of Moving Image, Madame Tussau's Museum and many others. In 1066 William, Duke of Normandy, and his men defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Hastings and killed the Saxon King Harold. William and the Normans then set about building castles to complete their domination of England. One of the earliest castles was built where the Tower now stands. It was simply a timber fort, erected in a corner of the stone walls which the Romans had built around their city of London nine hundred years before. The Tower of London was begun by William the Conqueror as a fortress and palace. Later kings made it larger and stronger, and kept soldiers, armour, weapons, tre suare, and sometimes important prisoners there. For five hundred years coins of the realm were minted at the Tower and official documents stored in some of the castle buildings. There was even a zoo which began as theking's private collection of animals among which there were bears, lions, elephants. Now, howerer, all that remains of it are the ravens and the legend that if they ever leave the Tower will fall. For nine centuries the Tower has kept watch over London and the river Thames. Now it is one of the greatest tourist attractions of London.
Trafalgar Square is considered the geografical centre of London. It was laid out in memory of Lord Nelson‘s great naval victory of 1805 in the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson‘s statue stands on top of a column in the middle of the square, which makes a good place for people to meet or to unite for all kinds of meetings. At Christmas time there is a huge Christmas tree which is sent to Britain from Norway every year.
The City is famous for its oldest part, the Tower of London, which is more than nine hundred years old. It was originally built as a fortress, later it was a royal palace, and then served as a prison. Now it is a museum with a wonderful collection of armour and the Crown Jewels. The Tower is full of history and visitors can see the Yeomen warders or „Beefeaters“, in their picturesque uniforms of four hundred years ago. Today they will show visitors the main places of interest and speak about the history of the Tower. Tower Bridge, which crosses the Thames beside the Tower, has a distinctive victorian construction and can be opened to let big ships pass into the pool of London.
· THE GOLDEN AGE IN ENGLAND
The period from the defeat of the Spanish Armada /1568/ to the death of James I /1625/ represents one of Europe's most brilliant "golden ages". In less than forty years England gave the world Marlowe, Webster and Bacon, the prose of Sir Walter Raleigh, the scientific researches of Gilbert and Harvey and the music of Byrd, Gibbons, Morley, Weelkes, Wilbye, Bull and Dowland, all geniuses of the first rank, and a host of richly talented followers.
Elisabethan civilisation was the fruit of an exceptionally favou rable political and social union. The year 1588, which saw the defeat of the "Invincible Armada", ushered in an age inspired by a new sense of selfconfidence and optimism. It was really from this moment that music and theatre began to spread their wings. In the theatre for which Shakespeare wrote, music held an important place, and composers actively collaborated in plays which they enriched with numerous aires accompanied on the lute or viols. Unfortunately, owing to the essentially ephe meral of the occasion, much of this music is now lost.
But perhars one of the most remarkable features of the Elizabethan age was the popularity of music making. In a period when public concerts were still unknown, the abundance of musical publications is explained by the great demand for music by amateurs Everyone sang mad rigals,most sizeable households possessed a chest of viola,and the virginal,for which the keyboard composers poured out flood of fine mu sic,was still more popular-the Queen,herself a devoted virgina list,setting the example.As for the lute,such was its popularity that it was even to be found in bar-bers' shops,so that customers might pluck a few chords while awaiting their turn.Any young man unable to take his proper place in a vocal or instrumental concert became the laughing-stock of the society.If the people had opportunites to shave to the joys of music,popular music also greaty inspired composers,and the intimate fusion of art music with popular and folk elements remai ned one of the imperishable charms of the music of this golden age.Excepting large choral and orchestral works,Elizabethan music embraces every style and genre.But although it cannot offer us anything compa rable to the large-scale splendour of the Venetians,the beauties of the keyboard and chamber music may be ragarded as ample compensation.Religious music plays a definitely lesser role compared with the preceding period,even though it is represented by the masterpieces of Byrd and Gibbons,not to mention those of Morley,Weelkes,Tomkins and Peter Philips.Apart from Philips,Byrd was the only composer in England to write music for Latin texts.
In that time England gave the world famous painter Holbein.
In the sixteenth century Holbein came to England,bringing with him a much more highly developed pictorial tradition with a much fuller sense of plastic relief. Holbein himself was a supreme master of linear design;he could draw patterns for embroidery and jewellery as no one else,but he never entirely sacrificed the plastic feeling for form to that,and in his early work he modelled in full light and sha-
de.Still,it was not difficult for him to adapt himself somewhat to the English fond-ness for flat linear pattern.Particularly in his royal portraits,e.g.the portrait of Henry VIII,we find an insistence on the details of the embroidered patterns of the clothes and the jewellery,which is out of key with the careful modelling of hands and face.
Finally,by Elizabeth's reign almost all trace of Holbein's plas tic feeling was swept away and the English instinct for linear desc ription had triumphed completely.
Also one of the greatest men of "golden age" was Christopher Wren.Chis-topher Wren was one of the three or four greatest English men.This eminence is due as much to the amazing sweep of his intellect as to any single aspect of his work,for the creator of the dome of St.Paul's is fit to rank as an artist with Shakespeare;
while Wren's own greatest contemporary,Sir Isaac Newton,reckoned him among the three best geometres of his day,and for the first thirty of his ninety years he was exclusively a mathematician and astronomer.
His first building was the Sheldonian Theatre,at Oxford,begun in 1664,and gi-ven to the University by Archbishop Sheldon as a suitable hall for the conffering of degrees and similar ceremonies.
The turning-point in his career came with great suddenness in the years 1665 and 1666,the years of the Great Plague and the Fire of London.
After the great fire the king Chales at once appointed a commission for the re-building the City.Wren made the plan for the rebuilding the City of London.He was going to improve the planning of the Ci ty.His plan derives from the best con-temporary models in France and
Italy,and consist of long straight streets,intersecting mostly at right angels,but with a few main vistas centred on large public buil ding,such as St.Paul's or the Royal Exchange.
St.Paul's Cathedral its Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece.It was built since
1675 until 1709.It is crowned with a huge dome.Iside the dome there is the famous Whispering Gallery.There are many memorials in the Cathedral,including memo-rials to Wellington and Nelson.
We can't note about magnisiceny playwriter William Shakespea re,which in-fluence for all fields of world literature and art.
The last half of the XVI and the beginning of the XVII centuries are known as the golden age of English literature.It was the time of the English Renaissance,and sometimes it is even called "the age of Shakespeare".One writer of that time said that Shakespeare liked a quiet life,he did not like drunken parties,and was not fond of being invited to the court."If he was invited to the court,he was in pain".
Shakespeare's experience as an actor /although he usually acted only small parts,
like the Ghost in Hamlet/ helped him greatly in the writing of his plays.His know-ledge of the stage and his poetical geni us made his plays the most wonderful ones ever written.
Shakespeare wrote 37 plays.Among them there are deep tragedi es,such as Hamlet,King Lear,Othello,Macbeth,light comedies,such as The Merry Wives of Windsor,All's Well That Ends Well,Twelfth Night,Much Ado About Nothing,
historical dramas,such as Henry IV,Richard III.
Most of Shakespeare's plays were published in his lifetime.So so me of them may have been lost in the fire when the "Globe" burned down in 1613.
Shakespeare spent the last years of his life at Stratford,where he died in 1616.
He was buried in the church of Stratford.A monument was erected to the memory of the great playwright in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.
- Hello, and welcome to the London Quiz. Yes, a quiz about London. Here are six questions about London and this is question one. Question one. What’s this?
- It’s the Tower of London.
- Yes, and question two is How old is the Tower of London? Is it 500 years old? Is it 700 years old or is it 900 years old?
- 900.
- Yes. Yes, the Tower of London is 900 years old. Right. Question three. What’s this?
- The River Thames.
- Yes. Here’s question four. How long is the River Thames? Is it 238 kilometres long? It is 338 kilometres long? Or is it 438 kilometres long?
- I don’t know.
- I think it’s 338 kilometres long.
- Yes, it is. Here’s question five. What’s this?
- Is that Buckingham Palace?
- No, it isn’t.
- Is it Big Ben?
- Yes, it is. And question six is How high is Big Ben/ Is it 78 metres high? Is it 88 metres high? Or is it 98 metres high?
- 88?
- No. It isn’t 88 metres high.
- 98?
- Yes, well done! Big Ben is 98 metres high.
Unit 4
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