V. Speak on the topic: Tretyakov Gallery

IV. Read the following text and answer the questions to it PAGES FOR SENATORS

The U.S. Congress consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of 100 senators elected for six years, one third being elected every two years. There are two senators for each state. The House of Representatives is composed of435 representatives, elected for two years.

There is a group of teenage boys who are pages (helpers) for senators. The eighty pages run errands which means that they sharpen pencils, carry books, fetch glasses of water for members of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The pages are chosen by selected politicians from the country's brightest 14 to 18-year-olds for periods from two months to four years. Few, however, serve longer than a year for being appointed a page is considered a great honour as they have a unique opportunity to witness America's legislators at work

Senators like to spread such favours around as many future voters as possible. Till 1971 the pages were only boys. That year Paulette Desell, a girl of 17, became the first female page to be appointed by the US Senate,

So that pages don't fall behind with their studies a special page school exists in the Library of Congress which offers usual High School course at the most unusual hours: from 6a.m. until 10 a.m., and then again in the evenings.

Before Congress assembles, usually at noon, the pages 'supply their politicians with necessary papers such as Congressional Records, bills and amendments. From noon until business is concluded which could be as early as 6 p.m. or it could be well into the night they are at the beck and call of little buttons lighting up in the House or snapping fingers in the Serrate.

1. What do pages do for the senators?

2 Is it easy to become a page for the senator?

3. Can a girl become a page for the senator?

4. What hind of school is organizedfor pages?

5. What are the working hours of a page?

V. Speak on the topic: Environmental Protection

IV. Read the following text and answer the questions to it english as a world language

Today English is one of the major languages in the world. It follows only Mandarin Chinese in the number of people who speak it and geographically it is the most widespread language on earth. It is the language of progressive science and technology, trade and cultural relations, diplomacy, commerce and business. It is also the universal language of international aviation, shipping and sports.

It is difficult to imagine that three centuries ago only few million people spoke English, and the language was not thought to be very important for other nations of Europe and was unknown to the rest of the world. Nowadays English is spoken by more than 350 million people.

English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside England, in all the continents of the world. This exporting of English began in the seventeenth century, with the first settlements in North America. Above all, it is the great growth of population in the United States, assisted by massive immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that has given the English language its present standing in the world.

People who speak English fall into three main categories: those who have learned it as their native language, those who have learned it as a second language; those who are using it for practical purposes: administrative, professional or educational. The number of second-language speakers may soon exceed the number of native speakers. .

Statistic data show, that 75% of the world's mail and 60% of the world's telephone calls are in English. Half of the world's scientific literature is written in English.

1. How many people speak English?

2. In what spheres of human activity is English used now?

3. Why is English so popular in the world?

4. When did the exporting of English begin?

5. What do the statistic data concerning English show?