Топики и вопросы по иностранному языку (english)

POSTAL SERVICESThere are post-offices in every townand nearly every village in the country. If you want to post an ordinary letteror a postcard, you need not go to the post-office, you can drop it into thenearest pillar-box. If you want to send a telegram, you can either take it tothe nearest post-office or dictate it over the telephone.Pillar-boxes areemptied twice a day.If you want your letter to arrivemore quickly than by ordinary post, you can send it by Air Mail. Letters aredelivered to your home or office by a postman, and telegrams by a telegraphboy.

When we want to send a letter, we must write the address on the envelopeand stick the required stamps on it. For a registered letter, an air-mailletter or an ordinary letter to another country, we must stick more stamps onthe envelope.In most post-offices and also in manystreets, there are public call-boxes from which you can telephone.All you haveto do is to lift the receiver, drop a counter in the slot and dial the number.If you want to send a parcel, youmust go to the post-office, hand it to the assistant, who weighs it on scalesand gives you the necessary stamps.

The amount you have to pay depends on theweight of the parcel.MEANS OF COMMUNICATIONPeople use various means of communicationto get from one place to another. In the old days people had to travel severaldays, weeks and months to get to the place they needed. They either went onfoot, by coaches driven by horses or on horseback or by. boats and ships.

Thentrams, cars, buses, planes, underground and other means appeared.Many people like to travel by air asit is the fastest way of traveling.A lot of people like to travel by trainbecause they can look at passing villages, forests and fields thro-ugh windows.Some people like to travel by car. There they can go as slowly or as fast asthey like. They can stop when and where they want.People who live in big cities usevarious means of communication to get from one place to another.

Londoners usethe underground railway. They call it the tube . Lon-don s underground is theoldest in the world. It was opened in 1863. There was one route at that time,four miles long. Now London s underground has 277 stations and it is 244 mileslong. Londoners use buses.The first bus route was opened in London in 1904Today there are hundreds of routes there. The interesting thing is that some ofthe routes are the same as many years ago.London s buses are double-deckedbuses.

Londoners do not use trams, though London was the first city where tramsappeared. And now it is one of the biggest cities in the world where there areno trams. The last tram left the streets of London many years ago. Londonersuse cars. One can see a lot of cars in London streets. When Londoners leave thetown, they use trains, ships or planes.Imagine you are one of the little oldladies.Write a letter to your favourite grandchild describing the robbery actagaint you and how you felt about it. Dear Claire, Yesterday a terrible incidenthappened to me. I was returning home after buying some medicines in thechemist s shop and, while crossing the road, somebody snatched my bag out of myhands.

It was very unexpected, but I wasn t taken aback and stroked the muggerwith my umbrella I always take with me. It was unexpected too, but for HII started screaming at the top of my voice. Hetried to get back onto his bicycle and escape, but I continued hitting, givinghim no chance to do that. Fortunately the police was not too far, and theyarrived rather quickly and arrested him. The police officer was very kind withme and escorted me home without other accidents.

That s all for this letter.Hope to hear from you soon,Your Granny Have families changed in your countryor are they the same as they were a century ago? Russian families have changed greatlyin this century.In the early 1900s a typical family included a mother, amother, five or more children with their families, and even most of in-laws.Now the majority of Russian families are small.

May be that s why thepopulation of this country has stopped growing. A typical post-Soviet familyhas parents a mother and a father and two children. Grandparents come tovisit, but do not usually live with their children.Most people get marriedbetween the ages of 20 and 23 but many marriages end in divorce, so there are alarge number of single parent family , one mother or father lookingafter their children alone.

Write about a period in your life when you were having an amazingtime . This month is the period in my lifewhen I m having an amazingly bad time. I really don t know what ishappening to me these days. I have no idea about what have been and are thereasons of this decease and I don t want to look for them. The bestdescription of my state is Indifference, complete and total Apathy towardeverything taking place around me. This is really awful to attend lectures andseminars without any motivation, without even a wish to get education andbecome a lawyer in the near future.

That s even worse to see a reallyinteresting movie on television, a movie everybody likes and recommends, and tobe bored to death because of some unknown reasons. Apart I m very reserved person,so I d never share my real feelings with anybody and I d never express my realstate outwardly.For everybody I m really cheerful and joyful.

As usual. Andthat s bad, amazingly bad!.