XI. Письменно переведите 1 и 2 абзацы текста.

Variant II

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MY FAVOURITE ENGLISH WRITER:

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1615)

Wherever the English language is spoken, and English books are read, the name and the writings of William Shakespeare are known. As it is generally believed, William Shakespeare was born in 1564 at Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire. He was the son of John and Mary Shakespeare.

Little is known about William Shakespeare himself. It is probable that he studied at the Stratford grammar school. He must have received a good education, and, like most boys of the time, acquired some knowledge of Latin.

In 1582, in his nineteenth year, he married Anne Hathaway. Five years later William left Stratford for London. All this time he was in difficulties for want of money. Many different stories are told about how the great poet was put to earn a living. According to one version, he picked up a few pence by holding the horses at the theatre door. He is also said to have been a call-boy, whose duty was to inform the actors when it was their turn to go out on the stage. But it is certain that between 1588 and 1589 he began writing his great plays.

In 1597 Shakespeare returned to Stratford and bought a house there. Now it is called "New Place" to distinguish it from the old house where he was born. At New Place Shakespeare lived until his death on 23 April 1616. This date is traditionally, but not definitely, said to be his birth­day too. Shakespeare was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. Shakespeare had three children, his family soon died out, and none of his descendants live at the present day.

The order in which his plays were written is uncer­tain. Perhaps he began his literary career by improving the works of other dramatists, and the three plays tell­ing the story of King Henry VI may be an example of this. It is generally agreed that Shakespeare wrote thir­ty-seven plays.

Most of Shakespeare's plays are well known all over the world. But the favourite with both the audience and readers is Romeo and Juliet. Famous for its poetic treat­ment of the ecstasy of youthful love. Romeo and Juliet dramatizes the fate of two lovers victimized by the feuds and misunderstandings of their elders and by their own hasty temperaments. The tragedy is the greatest love story, which has ever been written. Romeo and Juliet's pas­sionate love is set in Verona amid the heated feud of the Montague and Capulet families.

Shakespeare's plays are mostly written in verse, al­though there are some scenes in prose, or a mixture of verse and prose, especially in comedies. The rhythm used in the verse is the iambic pentameter. It means that each line consists of ten syllables. These syllables are alternately unstressed and stressed. In some plays Shakes­peare also used rhyme. The use of rhyme is most charac­teristic of his early writings.

The plays of Shakespeare have been read, repeated, or acted by so many millions of English-speaking people since the time when they were written, that the very phrases they contain have become part of the English language. Shakes­peare said so many things well, and put so many good thoughts into such good words, that people who came af­ter him have found no better way of saying the same things, and have begun to use the words used by Shakespeare. “To be or not to be?”, “What's in a name?”, “Much ado about nothing”, “All that glitters is not gold” and many other phrases became common of English speech.

Vocabulary

to believe – считать, полагать

to hold a good position in – занимать хорошее положение в

to acquire knowledge – получать знания

to be put to earn a living – быть вынужденным зарабатывать на жизнь

a call boy – посыльный

a descendant - потомок

a feud – вражда

a hasty temperament – вспыльчивый характер

to be written in verse – написанный в стихотворной форме

these syllables are alternately unstressed and stressed – эти безударные слоги чередуются с ударными