Task#1 READING Read the text and answer the questions.
Britain’s Solo Sailor
ElIen MacArthur started sailing when she was eight, going out on sailing trips with her aunt. She loved it so much that she saved her money for three years to buy her first small sailing boat. When she was 18, she sailed alone around Britain and won the 'Young Sailor of the Year' award.
But Ellen really became famous in 2001. Aged only 24, she was one of only two women who entered the Vendee Globe round the world solo race, which lasts 100 days. Despite many problems she came second in the race out of 24 competitors and she was given a heroine's welcome when she returned.
Ambition and determination have always been a big part of ElIen's personality When she was younger, she lived in a kind of hut for three years o while she was trying to gel sponsorship to compete in a transatlantic race. Then she took a one-way ticket to France, bought a tiny seven metre Classe Mini yacht, slept under it while she was repairing it, and then she raced it 4,000 kilometres across the Atlantic in 1997, alone for 33 days.
ElIen has had to learn many things, because sailing single-handed means that she has to be her own captain, electrician, sailmaker, engineer, doctor, journalist, cameraman and cook. She also has to be very fit, and because of the dangers of sleeping for long periods of time when she's in the middle of the ocean, she has trained herself to sleep for about 20 minutes at a time.
And she needs courage. Once, in the middle of the ocean, she had to climb the mast of a boat to repair the sails - at four o'clock in the morning, and with 100 kph winds blowing around her. It look her many hours to make the repairs; Ellen says: 'I was exhausted when I came down. It's hard to describe how it feels to be up there. It's like trying to hold onto a big pole, which for me is just too big to get my arms around, with someone kicking you all the time and trying to shake you off.'
But in her diary, Ellen also describes moments which make it all worthwhile: 'A beautiful sunrise
started the day, with black clouds slowly lit by the bright yellow" sun. I have a very strong feeling of pleasure, being out here on the ocean and having the chance to live this. I just feel lucky to be here.'
Read the text again answer the questions.
When did she sail alone around Britain?
How many days is the Vendee Globe race?
Where did she live for three years, and why?
Where did she sleep when she was fixing the seven metre boat?
Why does she have to be her own electrician, sailmaker, etc.?
Why does she only sleep for about twenty minutes at a time?
The city of Dnipro (ex Dnipropetrovsk) or Dnepr (Rus.) is situated on the Dnieper River (Dnepr or Dnipro) in East-Central Ukraine and has a population of 1 million (third city in the country by population). Large and beautiful, it is the main city of East-Central Ukraine.
Dnipro is a dynamic and lively city.
The city is surprising green along the wide and slow-moving Dnieper river (Dnepr in Russian, Dnipro in Ukrainian) and has remarkable embankments, long boulevards and spacious parks.
It is also the major centre of high-technology industries, education, machine-building, metallurgy and trade. The city is not only famous for its commercial industry, but also its green hills and deep history.
The old fortress settlement has existed since the middle of the 16th century. The new town was founded in 1776 by the Russian Prince, Potemkin by order of Catherine II, Empress of the Russian Empire and was called Yekaterinoslav (Ekaterinoslav) from 1776 to 1926. During 1918 the town’s name was Sicheslav (The Glory for Sich’/Fortress of Cossacks).
Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk) has been the major center of the steel industry from the beginning of the 20th century until the present. It has also dominated in the machinebuilding and aero-spacebuilding industry since the 1950s.
Объяснение:
To the question “Describe the Englishman”, many of you would answer: “Stiff, polite, love tea and always talk about the weather.” The opinion of most readers would be based on well-known stereotypes that are not always true.
An important role in creating such stereotypes is played by the literary works of the most famous Russian and English writers: the vivid artistic image of the heroes leaves a trace in our memory for a long time and forms an attitude towards a particular nation. Here is an example from the novel Orlando by the English writer Virginia Woolf: