My House

I live in a house near the lake. It’s an old house, about 55 years old, and it’s very small. There are two bedrooms upstairs but no bathroom. The bathroom is downstairs, next to the kitchen and there’s a living-room where there’s a lovely old fireplace. There’s a garden in front of the house. The garden goes down to the beach and in spring and summer there are flowers everywhere.

I live alone with my dog, Charlie, but we have a lot of visitors. My city friends often stay with me.

I love my house for many reasons: the garden, the flowers in summer, the fire in winter, but the best thing is the view from my bedroom window.

Where is it? Is it old or new? How many rooms are there? Is there a garden?

Who do you live with?

Do you like it? Why? What is the best thing?

Sociology is one of the social sciences. Its aim is to discover the basic structure of human society, to identify the main forces that hold groups together or weaken them and to learn what conditions transform social life. In this sociology, like any pure or basic science, is a disciplined, intellectual quest for fundamental knowledge of the nature of things.

Some aspects of society are well known to most people and almost everyone has some specialized knowledge of a social situation: a family, a work setting or a life-style. The sociologist is respectful of this common-sense knowledge and he often depends upon it — for instance, by interviewing people to learn about their experiences and interpretations.

Answer the following questions.

1. What kind of science is sociology?

2. Who is respectful of common-sense knowledge of a social situation?

Olympic history

The Olympic Games have a long history which goes back to ancient times. Starting in

Greece 3,000 years ago sports competitions were organized at Olympia and were

named after their location Olympic Games.

Olympic athletes had to be male of Greek nationality and not slaves. They promised

to compete in an honorable way and to follow the rules but some athletes still

cheated. If caught, they had to pay a large fine and this money was used to pay for

statues of Zeus, which were located along the route to the stadium with the name of

the cheat on each base. To get to the stadium, the athletes had to walk past all the

statues.

Unlike the modern Olympics, which currently includes 35 sports and nearly 400

events, many of which are team sports such as football and basketball, the ancient

Games only included individual events. Seven types of events took place in the

stadium, including running, discus, javelin, long jump, wrestling and boxing. There

was also chariot racing and horse riding in the hippodrome.

The Olympic Games became a major sports event but the Roman Emperor

Theodosius I decided to ban the Olympic Games in 393 AD after more than 1,000

years of existence because he thought they were a pagan cult. Gradually the site

disappeared and was forgotten. However, in the 19 th century, archaeological work

finally revealed the ruins of Olympia and today visitors can appreciate Olympia and

imagine the past glory of the Games.

Выберите правильный вариант.

1. The Olympic Games are …

a. 1,000 years old b. 2,000 years old c. 3,000 years old

2. The Olympic Games started in …

a. Italy b. Egypt c. Greece

3. The Olympic Games are named after …

a. a god b. a place c. a river

4. Olympic athletes were only …

a. the Romans b. the Greek s c. the Olympians

5. The ancient Games included … events.

a. 9 b. 35 c. 400

Итоговый контроль представляет собой экзамен в I семестре и зачет в конце II семестра учебного года, экзамен в 3 семестре 2 курса учебного года.