Legend about the origin of the lake Burabay (Borovoe)
God created the earth, people and nations. Also God created round mountains,
lakes and rivers.
But only the Kazakhs got the endless steppe. Then the steppe people begged
and asked something else from God. The Creator looked in the sack where he kept
nature sights. There were some mountains, several beautiful forests, several cool
rivers and lakes. But they were the best. God took out the remains from his sack and
the most beautiful lake in the world – Burabay appeared. It is known as the lake
Borovoe – “Kazakh Switzerland”.
The farmer and his sons
A farmer had five sons. They were strong and hardworking. But they always
quarreled. The farmer didn’t like it. He wanted them to live in peace. The farmer
always thought what to do.
One day he found an answer. So he called all his sons.
He showed them a bundle of sticks and said, “I want you to break these sticks
without separating them from the bundle.”
Five sons tried one by one. They used their full strength. But they couldn’t.
Then the old man separated the sticks and gave them to break. They broke the sticks
easily.
The farmer said, “A single stick is weak. It is strong in a bundle. Likewise, you
can be strong together.”
Birbal the wise
One day, a rich merchant came to Birbal.
He said to Birbal, “I have seven servants in my house. One of them has stolen
my bag of precious pearls. Please find out the thief.”
So Birbal went to the rich man’s house. He called all the seven servants in a
room. He gave a stick to each one of them.
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Then he said, “These are magic sticks. Just now all these sticks are equal in
length. Keep them with you and return tomorrow. If there is a thief in the house, his
stick will grow an inch longer by tomorrow.”
The servant who had stolen the bag of pearls was scared. He thought, “If I cut a
piece of one inch from my stick, I won’t be caught.” The next day Birbal collected
the sticks from the servants. He found that one servant’s stick was short by an inch.
Birbal pointed his finger at him and said, “Here is the thief.”
Jealous goat
A goat and a donkey live on the same farm. The farmer feeds the donkey very
well, because the donkey works hard. The farmer gives the goat less food, because
the goat doesn’t work. The goat becomes jealous. He thinks if the donkey stops to
work, the farmer gives the goat more food. So he pushes the donkey into a large hole.
The vet examines the donkey. “The quickest way to make better,” he said, “is to give
the donkey the goat’s soup.” Now the goat must be a food for the donkey.
The First Robot
There was once a man named Joey. He dreamed to create the first robot. So Joey
wanted to become a mechanical engineer.
He attended the University of Engineering. Joey finished and now he is an
engineer. He built the first robot.
Every day he wakes up, eats breakfast and goes to work. He spends his day in his
high tech computer designing various items for companies.
Mechanical engineering is very important to society because just about everything
that is made or designed goes through a mechanical engineer.
Personal Computers
At 7:00 A.M. my personal computer wakes me up. As I slowly get out of bed I
say “mail, please”. It tells me I have two bills to play and a letter to read. Actually, I
ask my computer to read the letter with the command “read letter”.
Next, I go to the kitchen. There’s milk in the refrigerator, but I need eggs and
bread. So, I go back to my computer and say, “grocery order: eggs and bread”.
Do you think that I am describing the future? You are right. Personal computer
will do it in the near future. Already, automatic bill payment is replacing payments by
cash.
People accustomed to computers and think they can’t live without them.
All about Fast Cars
Most fast cars have a smooth look. This helps them go faster. The wind won’t
slow them down. The wind goes over the smooth car.
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Some fast cars have special tires. These tires don’t get too hot in a race.
Fast cars have a stronger engine.
Fast cars go faster because their weigh is small. Fast race cars have no extra
part that is why they are lighter.
Some of the fastest cars can go 2550 and 260 and 270 miles per hour on the
road!
There are many different types of racing cars. Races go in different places.
Some are done on tracks, roads and dirt.
Space Adventure
Part I
We were ready to lift off our space ship and explore our galaxy. I called my
friends. Space has no oxygen, so we cannot breathe unless we have the suits. Then we
lifted off, once we exited the atmosphere on the moon and took pictures. The aliens were
really nice.
Then we left the moon and went towards mars. It is the fourth planet in our solar
system. It was really hot and dusty. It was so dusty and I couldn't breathe. We couldn't
stand the dust, so we left.
Part II Jupiter
Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. The large spot on the planet is a
huge storm. It is known as the gas giant. We decided to go straight through the planet. It
was really hard to see in the thick clouds. Our computer calculated the planet consists of
90% hydrogen and 9.99% helium.
Part III Saturn
Saturn is a very cool planet. It has really nice rings around it. Those rings are made
of chunks of ice and small amounts of carbonaceous dust. This planet was really cool in
my opinion. We flew around its rings were amazed with the beauty of the planet. After a
few hours we left towards Uranus.
Part IV Uranus
Uranus is like an ice giant. It is the coldest planet in the solar system. We ice
skated on the patches of ice. When we exited the planet we saw a few alien spaceships.
They seemed very nice and offered us gasoline because we needed more gasoline for the
spaceship. After that we took a break to eat. We ate Pizza and vegetables, and drank
soda.
Part V Neptune
Neptune is the last planet in the Solar System. It is the smallest of the ice giants. It
is extremely cold and impossible for us to land on. We were getting ready to leave until
we saw on our GPS a small thing which looked like Pluto. So we decided to go to it.
Part VI Pluto
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Pluto was a planet in our solar system but not anymore. It is too small. It was
extremely cold. Its surface was mostly all ice with a bit of rocks. We were able to land
on Pluto and collect some samples of its ground. We left the dwarf planet and made our
way back home. It was an amazing and fun trip.
The Sun
The Sun is in the middle of the Solar System. The Sun is a star. It is the closest
star to the Earth. We could not live without the Sun. We need its heat and light to
live.
The Sun
The sun is a star. Stars are balls of very hot gas. As the gas burns it makes light
and heat. Plants and animals need this light and heat to live on the Earth. The sun is
the biggest part of our Solar System. It is very important.
The Cold Planet
Part I
Far from Earth there is a small planet, Fliptune. It is dark and cold, far from the
sun, behind a much bigger planet.
Little green aliens live there. They use torches to see.
One day, a young alien, Neila, put the wrong batteries in her torch.
Suddenly, there was a dazzling beam of light. It went up into the sky, around
the sun, and hit planet Earth.
The light hit a boy called Billy and his dog, Splodge. Neila quickly turned the
torch off, but it was late.
Part II
They landed near Neila.
“Wow!” said Billy. “Everything’s made of ice cream!”
“Nobody eats it. It’s too cold here,” said Neila.
Neila looked sad. “Can you help us?” she said. “We need sunshine.”
“Can you get us home? I have an idea.” said Billy.
She got her touch and put the wrong batteries again. ZOOOOOOOOM! Billy
and Splodge were on the Earth.
Billy pointed his bedroom mirror between the sun and Fliptune. The sun’s rays
reached Neila’s planet.
Fliptune is not cold any more. Splodge moves the mirror each day. Now, Neila
and her friends sit in the sun and enjoy all that ice cream.
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2. Texts in english for basic school
Reading for pleasure
Good morning, Miss Dove
After Frances Gray Patton
Miss Dove was a strict teacher. If a pupil wanted to leave the classroom to get
a drink of water, Miss Dove just looked at him and said nothing. They were afraid of
that look and they called her ‘the terrible Miss Dove’ though she never shouted at
them or scolded them.
On that day forty children were sitting in her class at the geography lesson.
They heard the bell, but they did not move, they did not talk, they all waited in
silence and looked at Miss Dove. Only after she had told them to close their books
and go, did they the classroom quietly without shouting or running. A boy who had
talked during the lesson was left in the room and had to write twenty times ‘I must
not talk during the lessons’.
The next lesson began. The pupils came into the classroom and took their
places. Miss Dove gave them written work to do, because it was Tuesday, and on
Tuesdays they always had some written work.
One of the boys pushed the girl who was sitting next to him. Miss Dove looked
at him, and he stopped moving though she did not scold him. Miss Dove looked at
the boy but she did not see him. Instead of him she saw his elder brother, Thomas
Baker, who had sat in that place some six or seven years before. The war had brought
the children she had taught to different parts of the world. One was in Germany,
another in the jungle of New Guinea, a third one somewhere in Africa. She did not
know where all of them were. Though all of them had finished school many years
before, she now saw them as they had been at seven, at ten, at twelve.
The pupil she thought about most often was Thomas Baker. The German
planes had bombed his ship, and for many days he had lain on a raft without anything
to eat and very little to drink. When they found him, he was almost dying. The
newspapers wrote much about him in those days.
Randy Baker put his hand up.
“Yes, Baker?” Miss Dove asked.
“I got a letter from Tom yesterday,” the boy explained. “May I read it to the
class?”
“Yes, certainly.”
“But it’s a long one”.
“I’m sure it will be useful for everyone to hear the letter of such a brave man,”
explained the teacher.
Randy looked around and began to read. Tom told his younger brother what he
had seen from the plane in which he was brought back to England. He wrote that the
land below looked like the map they had used at the geography lessons at school.
Then he wrote how he had suffered on the raft with almost no water to drink. “Do
you know who I was thinking about then? It wasn’t a boy or a girl,” he explained. “I
was thinking about Miss Dove, and out there in the open ocean I played a game. No, I
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am not joking. And it helped me to stay alive. I imagined that I was back again in the
geography class; I remembered the look Miss Dove gave us when we wanted to leave
the classroom for a drink of water. So I imagined that I was at her lesson and kept
thinking all the time: ‘The bell will go in a few minutes. You can wait a little longer.
You must wait for the bell.’ And it made everything easier. It was almost as difficult
there in the ocean as it had been at school. Tell that to the boys, will you?”
Randy stopped suddenly.
“Is that all?” Miss Dove asked.
“No,” said Randy. His face became very red. “It says here: ‘Please thank Miss
Dove and give her a kiss for me’.”
Miss Dove went up to the boy.
“Well, Randy,” she said. “I’m waiting.”
In the silence that followed little Randy kissed ‘the terrible Miss Dove’.
Nobody in the class laughed or even joked about it; everybody was silent except one
girl who suddenly spoke.
“It’s like a medal,” she said. “It’s just like a medal he has given to Miss Dove.”
Joe and His London Taxi
Sometimes people ask me, “What is the strangest thing that has ever happened
to you, as a taxi driver, something typical of England?” It’s difficult to answer. But
one of the strangest things that ever happened to me was during the great fog
1
.
Foreigners always think that Britain is nothing but fog every winter from
October to March. It’s not like that really. But in November and December of that
year we did have some rather bad fog in England.
The first night the fog came down very suddenly. I was driving someone from
Piccadilly to Richmond. I took my usual short-cut
2
through Richmond Park. It’s a
lovely place with big trees, lakes and herds of deer
3
. At week-ends people go there
for picnics, and every evening men go there to run. To run? Yes, to run. Running for
health is rather popular nowadays.
Well, we met a group of those men, running through the park.
“Not my favourite sport,” I said to my passenger.
I left my passenger at her house and drove back to London. I turned into
Richmond Park again. I soon realized that it was a mistake. The fog was really thick
4
.
The further I drove into the park, the thicker the fog became. I turned on my head-
lights. It didn’t help much.
Suddenly I saw something standing on the road in front of me. I braked and
stopped. The figure moved away. It was a deer, I was sure. Then I saw another figure
on the road, but it was a strange deer. It stood there in the light of my fog lamp …
wearing shorts, a white shirt and running shoes. It was one of those runners. I stopped
and opened my window. The man put his head in.
1
during the great fog – во время большого тумана
2
short-cut – кратчайший путь
3
herds of deer – стада оленей
4
The fog was really thick. – Туман был действительно густой.
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“Terribly sorry!” he said. “We’re lost!”
“Jump in!” I said. “Haven’t I seen you here before?”
“There are 15 of us here!” he added.
“Oh. Well, you’d better not jump in then,” I said. Now I could see the others –
strange figures in the fog, jumping up and down, now on one foot now on the other,
to keep warm
5
.
“Follow me,” I told them. “I’ll drive slowly – I know the way out of the park.”
So I drove at a ‘slow run’ for about half an hour. At last we came to the way out of
the park – the runners were safe now.
Our world
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and is the largest of the terrestrial planets.
The Earth is the only planet in our solar system not to be named after a Greek or
Roman deity. The Earth was formed approximately 4.54 billion years ago and is the
only known planet to support life.
Facts About The Earth:
-The Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing.
This deceleration is happening almost imperceptibly, at approximately 17
milliseconds per hundred years, although the rate at which it occurs is not perfectly
uniform. This has the effect of lengthening our days, but it happens so slowly that it
could be as much as 140 million years before the length of a day will have increased
to 25 hours.
-The Earth was once believed to be the centre of the universe.
Due to the apparent movements of the Sun and planets in relation to their
viewpoint, ancient scientists insisted that the Earth remained static, whilst other
celestial bodies travelled in circular orbits around it. Eventually, the view that the Sun
was at the centre of the universe was postulated by Copernicus, though this is also not
the case.
-Earth has a powerful magnetic field.
This phenomenon is caused by the nickel-iron core of the planet, coupled with
its rapid rotation. This field protects the Earth from the effects of solar wind.
-There is only one natural satellite of the planet Earth.
As a percentage of the size of the body it orbits, the Moon is the largest
satellite of any planet in our solar system. In real terms, however, it is only the fifth
largest natural satellite.
-Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
The other seven planets in our solar system are all named after Roman gods or
goddesses. Although only Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were named
during ancient times, because they were visible to the naked eye, the Roman method
of naming planets was retained after the discovery of Uranus and Neptune.
-The Earth is the densest planet in the Solar System.
5
to keep warm – чтобы согреться
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This varies according to the part of the planet; for example, the metallic core is
denser than the crust. The average density of the Earth is approximately 5.52 grams
per cubic centimetre.
Daily life and Shopping
Shopping
Shopping has common elements wherever it takes place. A buyer looks for a
seller who is offering something the buyer wants or needs at a price the buyer can
afford to pay.
Sellers often advertise their wares in newspapers, on the radio or TV, on
posters etc. Sellers use a variety of tactics to induce buyers to purchase from them at
a price which leaves some profit.
Shopping is a part of our daily life. And we have to deal with it whether we
like it or not. There are people who hate going shopping. So they make a list of what
they need and run through stores buying the needed things.
Sometimes they even don't care about the price. And there are people who go
from store to store looking for goods of better quality and lower price. Those don't
worry about the time they spend shopping.
But there is a very good service called Postal Market. It really helps you to
save your time and get goods of high quality. You just have to look through a
catalogue, choose the things you like, order them and wait a little to get them.
Vocabulary:
common —
общий
buyer —
покупатель
seller —
продавец
price —
цена
purchase —
покупка
Postal Market —
товары почтой
catalogue —
каталог
Entertainment and Media
Mass media
Mass media are one of the most characteristic features of modern civilization.
People are united into one global community with the help of mass media. People can
learn about what is happening in the world very fast using mass media. The mass
media include newspapers, magazines, radio and television.
The earliest kind of mass media was newspaper. The first newspaper was
Roman handwritten newssheet called «Acta Diurna» started in 59 B.C. Magazines
appeared in 1700's. They developed from newspapers and booksellers' catalogs.
Radio and TV appeared only in 20th century.
The most exciting and entertaining kind of mass media is television. It brings
moving pictures and sounds directly to people's homes. So one can see events in
faraway places just sitting in his or her chair.
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Radio is widespread for its portability. It means that radios can easily be
carried around. People like listening to the radio on the beach or picnic, while driving
a car or just walking down the street. The main kind of radio entertainment is music.
Newspapers can present and comment on the news in much detail in
comparison to radio and TV newscasts. Newspapers can cover much more events and
news.
Magazines do not focus on daily, rapidly changing events. They provide more
profound analysis of events of preceeding week. Magazines are designed to be kept
for a longer time so they have cover and binding and are printed on better paper.
Vocabulary:
feature —
черта
mass media —
средства массовой информации
handwritten —
написанный от руки
newssheet —
листовка
bookseller —
книготорговец
entertaining —
развлекательный
portability —
портативность
newcast —
обзор новостей
to focus —
сосредоточиваться
profound —
глубокий
cover —
обложка
binding —
переплет
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