Famous english painters
Some of the greatest foreign masters were attracted to England by the nobility from the other European countries. Holbein, Rubens, Van Dyck were almost English painters during a longer or shorter period of their lives. Van Dyck lived the most part of his life and died in London. He is really the father of the English portrait school.
Till William Hogarth (1697 — 1764) we can’t find a painter truly English. Hogarth was a curious observer of men and manners. His first works date from 1730. For more than a century England saw a lot of geniuses: Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence, Constable and Turner. No country in Europe marked a love of the portrait.
J. Reynolds (1723 — 1792) is one of the outstanding British portraitists and has an important influence on his contemporaries. By the age of twenty he had set himself up as a portraitist in his native town. In 1749 he went to Rome and stayed there three years. He returned to London and in a short time had achieved a considerable success. In 1755 for example, he did 120 portraits. His models included the socially important people of the time and when the Royal Academy was founded in 1768, he naturally became its first president. His portraits are effective because their expression is related to the type of model. His colors are difficult to judge today because they were not scientifically applied, and many paintings faded.
Thomas Gainsborough (1727 — 1788) also succeeded and succeeded brilliantly, as a portrait painter. All the society went to him for portraits, his skills and special talent made him essentially the woman's painter. Gainsborough was an artistic person. One of his greatest friends was Sheridan, the dramatist; and his portraits of actors and actresses are among his most famous. He also painted the English country which had his heart.
John Constable (1776 — 1837) was the first British painter to paint only English landscape. He considered it a first and essential task to make sketches direct from nature at a single working day. He discovered the complete abundance of life in the simplest country places.
ТЕСТЫ
1.Ответьте на вопрос по содержанию текста
What kind of painting preferred Gainsborough?
2.Выберите правильный вариант ответа
John Constable was the first painter to paint:
a)woman’s portraits
b)children
c)English landscape
Текст 8
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Benjamin Franklin was a man of many identities: printer, writer, statesman, inventor, thinker, and revolutionary. He was the only American who signed the four major documents which shaped the American republic: the Declaration of Independence (1776); the Treaty of Alliance with France which joined America and France together in the war against England (1778): the Treaty of Paris signed by England and America which ended the Revolutionary War (1783): and the Constitution of the United States (1788).
Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1706, the fifteenth child of a poor maker of candles and soap. His parents emigrated from England in 1683. He worked for his brother's Boston newspaper, and then moved to Philadelphia where he became one of the leading printers in colonial America.
When he wasn't busy at his business, he spent his free time trying to improve the quality of life in America. He conducted important experiments on the nature of electricity. He designed a more efficient stove for heating houses. He founded the first library in the United States.
One of Franklin's most famous publications was Poor Richard's Almanac, a calendar filled with useful information as well as proverbs which have become a part of the American identity. "A penny saved is a penny earned". "The sleeping fox doesn’t catch a chicken". "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise". "Lost time is never found again". These sayings passed from generation to generation by Americans.
During the Revolutionary War, Franklin played an important role as statesman to France. When he was not active in colonial politics, Franklin was in Paris, he wanted to be sure that France was together with America in its war for independence. He always represented America's interests.
Americans remember Benjamin Franklin as the example of the self-made man. Born in poverty, Franklin became one of the most significant colonial Americans. He shaped the direction of American democracy and gave his energy and time to a young nation. Franklin symbolizes for Americans what a person can be if he or she works hard and is dedicated to his work.
ТЕСТЫ
1.Ответьте на вопрос по содержанию текста
What is the most famous publication of Franklin?
2.Выберите правильный вариант ответа
Why Americans remember Franklin?
a) he was a revolutionary
b) he was a thinker
c) he was a self made man
Текст 9
NEW YORK
Today New York is the largest city in the US and one of the largest cities in the world. It consists of five districts: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Richmond. The heart of the city is Manhattan. It's the business and financial centre of the nation. It's the most beautiful part of New York - its tall buildings reach the sky. The most famous skyscraper in the world is Empire State Building with 102 floors. But the tallest building in New York was the World Trade Centre which has 110 floors. From the top floor you can see the whole of New York.
The bronze Statue of Liberty is on Liberty Island. It was presented to the United States by France in 1886 to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of American independence. Manhattan is crossed from north to south by avenues and from east to west by streets. There are eleven avenues and about 300 streets. Broadway near Times Square is a place where most famous theatres are situated. Wall Street is America's financial centre, it symbolizes the money market and financiers of the US. The United Nations Headquarters occupies the area from 42 to 48th Streets. Bridges and tunnels link Manhattan with the other districts of New York.
Among the places of interest that visitors can see is New York Public Library, the biggest library in New York. It also houses exhibition rooms and two art galleries. The geographic centre of New York is Columbus Circle, in the centre of which is Memorial to Christopher Columbus. There are some museums and art galleries in New York. The most famous are American Museum of Natural History and Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has a magnificent collection of American and European paintings. The most important educational institutions in New York are New York University and Columbia University.
ТЕСТЫ
1.Ответьте на вопрос по содержанию текста
What gift was presented to USA in 1886?
2.Выберите правильный вариант ответа
What is the financial center of America?
Columbus Circle
Broadway
Wall street
Текст 10
BRITAIN AND EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (EC)
As a member of the European Community, Britain is part of the world's largest trading area. The Community abolished internal tariffs and certain other trade barriers, established a common customs tariff and a common policy for agriculture and made provision for the free movement of labor, capital and services. Other countries which have special links with the Community, especially the 60 developing countries have special privileges for the development of trade. Since it joined the European Union, Britain accepted the Community legislation. The Council of Ministers, the Commission and the European Parliament are the EC’s three legislative organs.
Through the development of political cooperation machinery, to which Britain attaches considerable importance, European Community members seek to co-ordinate their foreign policies and adopted common positions on a number of issues.
Membership in EC has its critics in Britain but the Government wants to play a full role in the European Community's development. In a referendum in 1975, after the adoption of membership, the British people voted to stay in the Community by a majority.
Now Britain is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch as head of State. Its formal title is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "Great Britain" (England, Wales, and Scotland) came into existence when the English and Scottish crowns were united at the beginning of the seventeenth century and their parliaments a century later. Wales had come under the English crown in medieval times. So did Ireland, but the British and Irish parliaments were not united until 1801. In 1922 the southern part of Ireland, Roman Catholic, became a separate state. Northern Ireland, with its Protestant majority, chose to continue as part of the United Kingdom and had its own parliament between 1921 and 1972.
ТЕСТЫ
1.Ответьте на вопрос по содержанию текста
What are the three main organs of European Community?
2.Выберите правильный вариант ответа
What is it Britain now?
democratic republic
parliamentary monarchy
federation
Для заметок
Для заметок