II. Read and translate the text: People of Culture and Science of the uk

Artistic and cultural life in Britain is rather rich. It passed several main stages in its development.

Monuments and traces of past generations are everywhere. There are buildings of all styles and periods. A great number of Museums and galleries display precious and interesting finds from all parts of the world and from all stages in the development of nature, man and art.

London is one of the leading cultural centers not only in Britain but in the whole world.

Now Britain has about 300 professional theatres. Regular seasons of opera and ballet are given at the which is also called “Covent Garden” in London. Another famous theatre in London is the National Theatre, which stages modern and classical plays.

There are many concert halls and one of them is the Royal Albert Hall, one of the biggest and famous the Royal Albert Hall concert halls in London.

The National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900^[a] in its home on Trafalgar Square. The gallery is a non-departmental public body; its collection belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and entry to the main collection (though not some special exhibitions) is free of charge.

The National Gallery. One of the halls

People of Culture

Many British writers, poets, painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, composers, actors, singers and dancers are known all over the world.

William Turner (1775–1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style is said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivaling history painting. Although renowned for his oil paintings, Turner is i Ivy Bridge also one of the greatest masters of British watercolour landscape painting. He is commonly known as "the painter of light".

Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) was one of the most famous portrait and landscape painters of 18th century. Gainsborough painted more from his observations of nature and human nature. He studied portraits by van Dyck and was eventually able to attract a better-paying high society clientele including portraits of contemporary celebrities. Mr. and Mrs. Andrews

Among the outstanding British writers there is William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the greatest and most famous of English writers and poets, and probably the greatest playwright who has ever lived. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). He wrote 154 sonnets and several poems, 37 plays among which there are such deep tragedies as "Hamlet", "Othello", and "Macbeth", and light comedies, for example, “Twelfth Night", and historical dramas: "Henry IV" and "Richard III". His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Robert Burns (1759 – 1796) was born in Scotland. At the age of fifteen, he fell in love and shortly thereafter he wrote his first poem. Burns also wrote many of the poems collected in his first book, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, which was printed in 1786 and paid for by subscriptions. This collection was an immediate success and Burns was celebrated throughout England and Scotland as a great "peasant-poet".

Most of Burns' poems celebrate traditional Scottish culture, expressions of farm life, and class and religious distinctions. Burns wrote in a variety of forms: epistles to friends, ballads, and songs. He is well known for the over three hundred songs he wrote which celebrate love, friendship, work, and drink with often hilarious and tender sympathy. Even today, he is often referred to as the National Bard of Scotland.