British literature
Great Britain gave the world a lot of talented people. Many famous writers and poets were born and lived in Great Britain. One of the best known English playwrights was William Shakespeare. He draw ideas for his tragedies and comedies from the history of England and ancient Rome. Many experts consider Shakespeare the greatest writer and the greatest playwright in English language. William Shakespeare wrote 37plays which may divided into: comedies (such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), tragedies (such as “Hamlet”, “Othello”, “King Lear”, “Macbeth”) and historical plays (such as “Richard II”, “Henry V”, “Julius Caesar”, “Antony and Cleopatra”).Robert Burns represents the generation of Romantic writers. In his poems he described with love and understanding the simple life he knew. Among his well-known poems are “Halloween”, “the Jolly Beggars”, “To a Mouse”.Lord George Gordon Byron. His free-spirited life style combined with his rare poetic gift makes him one of the most famous figures of the Romantic Era. His famous works such as “Stanzas to Augusta”, “The prisoner of Chillon”, “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”, “Manfred” draw readers into the passion, humour and conviction of a poet whose life and work truly embodied the Romantic spirit.Sir Walter Scott wrote the first examples of a historical novel.Lewis Carroll became famous when he published “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.Questions:
1. Who is the best known English playwright?
2. What are the most famous plays by Shakespeare?
3. What does the most famous plays by Shakespeare?
4. What makes George Byron famous?
5. What are the best known works by Byron?
6. Who wrote historical novels?
7. What brought popularity to Lewis Carroll?

The rapid development of technologies makes the diverse educational mode come true. an increasing number of universities have opened up distance education in many countries at present. at the same time, hundreds of millions of people will benefit from the emergence of brand-new educational mode. from my perspective, i stand on the side of the view that the positive development from distance learning outweighs its negative effect.there is a common recognition that high quality of education should be available for all to enjoy, not just confined to the rich students. take studying abroad as an example, before appearing distance learning, poor students have no chance to take part in further education abroad because of shortage of money. however, now these students can gain the same quality knowledge by spending less tuition. in addition, distance learning is not restricted to special targets and places. the schedule of distance learning is flexibility so that workers can have classes on their leisure time, which cannot affect workers’ daily work, more important thing is both students and workers can choose study places wherever they want. furthermore, schools will save plenty of expenditure on classroom to improve teacher quality.however, there are certainly shortcomings on distance learning. to begin with, taking traditional classes, we can acquire a variety of opinion on group discussion while distance learning is considerably hard to carry out discussion classes with other overseas students. in the second place, distance learning is unable to use without internet. if we suffer from enormous disaster like earthquake or tornado that makes our internet break off, our learning had to halt until the internet recover.in conclusion  , as a  coin has two sides, distance learning without exception. distance learning is not only to make universal education possible but also to promote international exchanges.

My Favourite Writer (M. Lermontov)

One of Russia's most celebrated poets of all times, Michael Lermontov was born in Moscow in the family of a nobleman. He spent his childhood and youth in Tarckany, in the province of Penza.

In 1830 Lermontov entered the Moscow University, but very soon he had to leave it. Then he entered St. Petersburg School of Cavalry Cadets. He finished it and served in the Hussar Regiment of the Imperial Guard.

In 1837 the poet was exiled to the Caucasus for his poem "Poets Death". In 1840 Lermontov was exiled to the Caucasus for the second time. He was provoked into personal quarrel with his schoolmate. The quarrel led to a duel. On July 15th, 1841 the poet was killed. He was not even 27 at that time.

Lermontov began writing when he was very young. One of his first writings to be published was his verse tale "Hadji Arbek".

But he won fame as a poet after his poem "Poets Death" was published. Lermontov's poems "Demon" "Mtsyri" his great novel "A Hero of Our Time" and his play "Masquerade" are masterpieces of Russian literature.

Whether he wrote poetry, drama or prose, the stamp of his genius was to be found on his works. Lermontov's influence as of a poet and a thinker on all Russian writes can't be overestimated.