3 биографии выдающихся людей на иностранном языке (english)

Interesting Personality William Blake William Blake, English poet, painterand printer, was born on November 28, 1757. You may have read his poems - aboutthe lamb, the tiger, or his sad song about the poor chimney sweep. The strange thing is that in his owntime many people thought him mad. Almost a century passed after his death in1827 before he began to be recognised as a truly great poet and artist. His family background was obscure.Wedon t even know his mother s name. But he showed a talent for drawing early andat 14 he became apprentice to an engraver.

When he was 21 he became an engraveron his own account and later married a girl called Catherine who learnt to drawand paint so that she could work together with him. When he was young the FrenchRevolution took place and he supported it. Over in England a different sort ofchange was taking place, which is called The Industrial Revolution .Blake was horrified at the way life was being changed,with people young and old obliged to work in those dark satanicmills . He was particularly angered at theway the new factory owners and employers used child labour, and in many of hispoems he defends the rights of childhood.

From the time he was thirty he workedmore on his paintings, making coloured lithographs by a method he invented. Hispictures are often wild and strange, with very strong dramatic colours. Theyexpressed the very complex ideas in his poems. His great message is freedom for eachperson to develop.He hated slavery, black slavery on the plantations. whiteslavery in the factories.

Edison Edison is known as one of thegreatest inventors of his time. He invented so much that it is difficult to saywhich of his achievements is the greatest. He was an experimenter and apractical man more than a theoretician. Edison did not have any education. Hewent to school only for three months. Then he left it because the teacherconsidered him a dull boy. His mother became his teacher.The boy loved booksand his mother said that he had a wonderful memory. When he first visited apublic library and saw a lot of shelves with books he decided that he wouldknow everything in the world.

He measured the shelf and decided to read a footof books every week. In 1868 Edison built his firstpatented invention - an electromagnetic device. It is said that he planned to askthree thousand dollars for his invention, though he secretly decided he wouldsell it for two thousand if necessary.He was invited to a meeting ofbusinessmen who were interested in buying his invention, but when he was askedto name the price he was very nervous and quite unable to speak.

It is no use asking us a bigprice , said one of the businessmen, we have already decided howmuch we will pay. Forty thousand dollars is our limit . With this money Edison established aworkshop and began his career as a professional inventor at the age of twentyone.All his inventions were the result ofhard work. He sometimes made thousands of experiments.

According to his wordsthe idea that a genius works only by inspiration was absurd. Genius is 2per cent inspiration and 98 per cent perspiration , he often said. A Family of Scientists George Boole was born in 1815 he isfamous for his works an the field of mathematical analysis. His wife MaryEverest was a niece of George Everest.He is known as a man who performedtopographic survey in India on a large scale in 1841. It is after him thathighest peak in the world is named.

Mary Everest was very much interested inher husband s work and after his death she published several books whichcontributed greatly to the development of his theory. The Booles had fivedaughters, the eldest daughter Mary married C.Hinton who was a well-knownmathematician, inventor and author of science-fiction books. Their three grandchildren becamescientists. Howard was a talented entomologist, William and Joan were bothphysicists.The latter was almost the only woman-physicist who took part in thework at the atomic project of the USA. Their second daughter Margaret is knownas the mother of the outstanding English mathematician Jeffrey Tailor who is aforeign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Their third daughter Aliciawas a specialist in the field of multidimensional space. The fourth daughterLucy was the first woman-professor who was the head of a chemistry department.But the youngest daughter Ethel Lilian is the most famous.She married thePolish scientist and revolutionist Voynich.

Her wonderful book TheGadfly is translated into many languages and is popular in many countriesof the world.QUESTIONS1. Whom do we call interesting personalities?2. What facts of their life and activities impress usmost of all?3. Are they hardworking and creative people?4. What outstanding scientists do you know? What makesyou respect them?5. Who is your favourite writer? What do you know abouthim?6. Are political figures interesting personalities?7. Do interesting people inspire us?8. Could you recall any episode any period in yourlife when the influence of some interesting personality upon you was especiallystrong?9. Would you like to be an interesting personality?10. Do you hope to be an interesting personality?11. Do we need such people?.