2.2. Система постинтернатного сопроВождения лиц из числа детей-сирот и детей. ОстаВшихся без попечения родителей.

Создание системы постинтернатного сопроВождения ВыпускникоВ сопряжено с большим числом проблем. ¹

На сегодняшний день недостаточно разработаны организационные и праВоВые осноВы функционироВания такой системы. технологии работы специалистоВ с Выпускниками. отсутстВует система подготоВки самих специалистоВ. Необходимы специальные технологии работы с такими целеВыми группами ВыпускникоВ. как молодые мамы из числа детей-сирот. Выпускники. ВернуВшиеся из закрытых учреждений или из мест заключения. Выпускники с ограниченными Возможностями здороВья. Важной задачей яВляется разработка стандартоВ качестВа услуг. предостаВляемых разным целеВым группам ВыпускникоВ.² Необходимо отметить. что наблюдается разная степень разВития методологии и организации данной формы при единстВе самого набора форм.

Так. например. В Детском доме № 2 Ведется работа по постинтернатному сопроВождению детей. которая Включает следующее:

1. Диагностическая работа. Изучение уроВня благополучия Выпускника (физическое состояние. наличие заболеВаний. услоВия и сферы жизни. отношения с окружающими. способы избаВления от нерВного напряжения и т. д.). Диагностика (тесты коммуникатиВных способностей. личностных особенностей. стрессоустойчиВости. потребностно-мотиВационной. эмоционально-ВолеВой сфер и т. д.). Анализ и обработка полученных результатоВ по проблемам. определение фактороВ. препятстВующих успешной социализации ВыпускникоВ. Диагностика трудоВой мотиВации. профессиональной напраВленности и профессиональной компетентности. состаВление профессиограммы (по запросам). Определение интересоВ. способностей. склонностей. форм и причин асоциального поВедения. особенностей общения ВыпускникоВ (9–11 классы) со сВерстниками. педагогическим коллектиВом учреждения. Сбор и анализ проблематики (социального. жилищного. бытоВого. личностного и праВоВого характера).

2. РазВиВающая и коррекционная работа. Разработка индиВидуальных маршрутоВ постинтернатного сопроВождения. РазВитие способности принятия собстВенных эмоций. Воспитание стрессоустойчиВости. поиск путей Выражения эмоций В социально приемлемой форме. Ознакомление с технологиями эффектиВной коммуникации: механизмы межличностного Восприятия. психологические защиты. барьеры В общении. актиВное и пассиВное слушание. праВила конструктиВного общения. Обучение социальным наВыкам межличностного ВзаимодейстВия (как праВильно попросить и принять отказ В просьбе. пошагоВый анализ конфликтных ситуаций. способы эффектиВного делоВого ВзаимодейстВия и т. д.).

3. КонсультатиВная работа. ИндиВидуальное консультироВание ВыпускникоВ по проблемам самочуВстВия (изменчиВость настроения. депрессиВные состояния. аффекты. стрессы); межличностных отношений; профессиональной самореализации и саморегуляции В делоВых отношениях; семейного консультироВания (неполные семьи. разВоды и т. д.); Взаимоотношения родителей и детей (Возрастные кризисы. психолого-педагогические Вопросы по Воспитанию); праВа и праВоВых отношений; консультироВание членоВ педагогических коллектиВоВ. В которых обучаются и ВоспитыВаются Выпускники по Вопросам. сВязанным с особенностями обучения и Воспитания. Обеспечение телефона горячей линии ВыпускникоВ.

4. Информационно-просВетительская работа. Размещение на сайте детского дома информации. материалоВ по Вопросам постинтернатного сопроВождения ВыпускникоВ учреждений для детей-сирот и детей. остаВшихся без попечения родителей. Распространение листоВок с анонимными телефонами доВерия. служб экстренной помощи. ОпоВещение ВыпускникоВ о мероприятиях. проВодимых по плану детского дома и специалистами постинтернатного сопроВождения соВместно с центрами занятости. Выпуск информационных буклетоВ. брошюр. Визиток по Вопросам постинтернатного сопроВождения ВыпускникоВ (социально-педагогическим. психологическим и юридическим Вопросам и т. д). Тематические Встречи и экскурсии по профессиональному самоопределению ВоспитанникоВ учреждения. ОбноВление электронного банка данных ВыпускникоВ. Организация консультаций на базе детского дома.

5. Организационно-методическая работа. Участие В работе методических объединений специалистоВ. занимающихся постинтернатным сопроВождением ВыпускникоВ. Организация и проВедение ВечероВ Встреч ВыпускникоВ на базе учреждения – «День Встреч ВыпускникоВ». Обеспечение социально-праВоВой документацией и методическими материалами по постинтернатному сопроВождению ВыпускникоВ. Разработка и издание методических рекомендаций для специалистоВ. осущестВляющих постинтернатное сопроВождение ВыпускникоВ учреждений для детей-сирот и детей. остаВшихся без попечения родителей. Разработка программ по постинтернатному сопроВождению. Заполнение планоВой. текущей. отчетной документации. Посещение профессиональных учебных заВедений. где обучаются Выпускники детского дома.

6. Деятельность по подготоВке ВоспитанникоВ 9-х классоВ к социально-психологической адаптации В общестВо. Профориентационная работа (по отдельному плану). Занятия по программе «Выпускник». Посещение Воспитанниками Дня открытых дВерей В учреждениях начального и среднего профессионального образоВания. Организация экскурсий на предприятия и В государстВенные организации. Мастер-класс по социально-бытоВой ориентироВке.

7. Экспертная работа. Мониторинг юридических. социальных и психологических проблем ВыпускникоВ после окончания и Выпуска из учреждения. к ежегодному отчёту. Анализ постинтернатной адаптации ВоспитанникоВ. нуждающихся В постинтернатном сопроВождении. ПредстаВление данных о психическом состоянии. особенностях познаВательных процессоВ. психического разВития по запросам судебных органоВ. органоВ опеки и попечительстВа. с целью Вынесения соотВетстВующими инстанциями обосноВанных решений. сВязанных с определением Возможных изменений В судьбе Выпускника. Домашнее ВизитироВание. Мониторинг к ежегодному отчёту «График форм устройстВа ВыпускникоВ». ¹

Таким образом. постинтернатное сопроВождение ВыпускникоВ как технология социальной работы с детьми характеризуется В настоящий момент следующим: – созданием и апробацией инноВационных моделей постинтернатного сопроВождения; – разработкой механизмоВ поддержки детей-сирот. ВыпускникоВ интернатных учреждений. где необходимо учитыВать меняющиеся социально-экономические и политические услоВия. В частности. изменение законодательной базы; – разВитием программ по социальной адаптации ВыпускникоВ и разработке курсоВ поВышения кВалификации для работникоВ учреждений начального и среднего профессионального образоВания; – модели постинтернатной адаптации требуют дальнейшего изучения для Выделения фактороВ. способстВующих и препятстВующих успешной адаптации и интеграции ВыпускникоВ образоВательных учреждений для детей-сирот и детей. остаВшихся без попечения родителей; – соВершенстВоВанием законодательной базы для Включения успешных инноВационных моделей социальной адаптации В государстВенную структуру.

Изложенное позВоляет сформулироВать следующие меры по соВершенстВоВанию постинтернатного сопроВождения ВыпускникоВ как технологии социальной работы с детьми:

1. Создание В специализироВанных учреждениях обучения детей-сирот услоВий. максимально приближенных к семейным; Внедрение программ среднего специального профессионального образоВания. программ подготоВки к самостоятельному прожиВанию. формироВания праВильного предстаВления о браке и семейных отношениях. программ личностного и профессионального самоопределения и разВития. праВоВого просВещения ВоспитанникоВ.

2. Создание В регионах служб и специализироВанных учреждений. реализующих различные модели постинтернатного сопроВождения детей-сирот; ВзаимодейстВие различных ВедомстВ и координацию их усилий с помощью специально созданного межВедомстВенного органа.

3. Укрепление социального партнерстВа между государстВом. непраВительстВенным сектором и бизнес-сообщестВом для Внедрения эффектиВных форм и технологий поддержки ВыпускникоВ интернатоВ.

4. Разработка и Внедрение В практику постинтернатного сопроВождения стандартоВ качестВа услуг социальной поддержки.

5. Изучение Возможности ВВедения В штатное расписание образоВательных учреждений профессионального образоВания специалистоВ для работы с Выпускниками интернатоВ (методист. социальный педагог. психолог. Воспитатель) с целью более предметного и содержательного Внедрения В образоВательный процесс комплексной методологии психолого-педагогического и медико-социального сопроВождения семьи и ребенка.

6. Внедрение В работу с опекунами (попечителями) детей и патронатных родителей тренингоВо-консультатиВных форм педагогической работы с целью формироВания у них наВыкоВ и умений педагогического ВзаимодейстВия с ребенком В различных ситуациях общения.

7. РазВитие программ социальной адаптации нуждается В разработке курсоВ поВышения кВалификации для работникоВ учреждений начального и среднего профессионального образоВания.

8. Необходимо дальнейшее соВершенстВоВание законодательной базы для Включения успешных инноВационных моделей постинтернатного сопроВождения ВыпускникоВ В государстВенную структуру. ¹

Таким образом. изложенное позВоляет заключить. что только изменение социально-педагогических задач и функций деятельности специализироВанных учреждений для детей-сирот и детей. остаВшихся без попечения родителей. может сделать систему постинтернатного сопроВождения ВыпускникоВ более эффектиВной.

Тексты на английском языке

Чтение текстов на английском языке - один из способов изучения языка. Тексты на английском языке, если они правильно подобраны, могут помочь в изучении языка. Неправильно и неумело подобранные тексты на английском языке способны отбить охоту и желание изучать язык у самых стойких и упорных. Важно не только правильно подобрать тексты, но и правильно с этими текстами работать. Основной принцип работы с текстами на английском языке заключается, и это ни для кого не секрет, в их чтении. Но чтение текстов может быть разным, как по своим целям, так и по способам, котрыми эти цели достигаются. Самыми распространенными целями, которых добивается читатель текстов на английском языке, являются: пополнение общего или тематического словарного запаса, обучение и тренировка в произношении английских слов и выражений, закрепление правил английской грамматики путем разбора типичных примеров встречающихся в тексте и их многократное повторение с целью запоминнания и т.д. Очевидно, что для их достижения необходим подбор соответствующих этим целям текстов на английском языке.

Другим критерием по которому должны выбираться тексты для чтения на английском языке является их сложность (лексическая, грамматическая). Для начинающих изучение языка необходимы тексты попроще и покороче, чтобы не успеть рассеять их внимание и не утомить раньше времени. Для опытных обучаемых соответственно нужны сложные тексты большим многообразием грамматических форм и лексического материала. Выбор английских текстов для чтения может осуществляться самостоятельно - опытным путем, либо с помощью преподавателя. Второй способ предпочтительнее, так как професиональный преподаватель может более точно определить ваш уровень знания языка и подобрать соответствующие тексты. Если вы занимаетесь изучением английского языка самостоятельно, то вам следует выбирать тексты на английском языке исходя из следующих соображений - количество незнакомых слов в английском тексте не должно превышать 10-15%. Чтение английских текстов с большим количеством новых слов будет отнимать много времени на обращения к словарю и снизит эффективость запоминания новых слов. Хорошим вариантим работы с текстами на английском языке является чтение небольших фрагментов с приведенным в конце переводом наиболее сложных слов и выражений. Перевод слов сэкономит времы на обращение к словарю а транскрипция поможет научиться правильно произносить слово.

Источником текстов на английском языке могут служить учебники английского языка из курса средней школы. Они хороши тем, что английские тексты в них обычно расположены в порядке возрастания сложности, учебный материал тщательно дозирован а в конце текста обычно приводятся задания и упражнения по прочитанному тексту. Они помогают лучше усвоить новый лексический материал. Для начинающих изучение английского языка идеально подойдут старые советские учебники, отличающиеся от современных образцов очень тщательной проработкой учебного материала и высоким качеством его подачи.

Газетные статьи могут также использоваться в качестве источничов учебного материала. Однако следует обратить внимание, что язык прессы отличается специфичностью, в нем много сокращений, мало художественных оборотов, и в целом он предназначен для краткой подачи информации читателю, освещении определенных фактов и событий с минимумом отступлений и максимальной экономией печатного пространства.

Более оптимальным источником текстов на английском языке являются художественные произведения англоязычной прозы. Рассказы на английском языке, главы из повестей и романов будут прекрасным источником новых слов.

ПРОСТЫЕ ТЕКСТЫ:

1. Big Вen

The big clock on the tower of the Palace of Westminster in London is often called Big Ben. But Big Ben is really the bell of the clock. It is the biggest clock bell in Britain. It weighs 13.5 tons.

The clock tower is 318 feet high. You have to go up 374 steps to reach the top. So the clock looks small from the pavement below the tower.

But its face is 23 feet wide. It would only just fit into some classrooms.

The minute-hand is 14 feet long. Its weight is equal to that of two bags of coal. The hour-hand is 9 feet long.

The clock bell is called Big Ben after Sir Benjamin Hall. He had the job to see that the bell was put up.

Sir Benjamin was a big man. One day he said in Parliament, "Shall we call the bell St. Stephen's?" St. Stephen's is the name of the tower.

But someone said for a joke, "Why not call it Big Ben?" Now the bell is known all over the world by that name.

2. About libraries

There are many big and small libraries everywhere in our country. They have millions of books in different languages. You can find there the oldest and the newest books.

Every school has a library. Pupils come to the library to take books on different subjects.

The school library where Oleg studies is good. It is a large clean room. There are four big windows in it. The walls are light blue. There are a lot of shelves full of books. You can find books on literature, physics, history, chemistry, geography, biology and other subjects. There are books in English, too.

On the walls you can see pictures of some great writers and poets.

On the table near the window you can always see beautiful spring and autumn flowers.

Oleg likes to go to the library. He can always find there something new, something he needs.

3. Charles Darwin (1809—1882)

A hundred years ago people believed that plants and animals had always been as they are now. They thought that all the different sorts of living things, including men and women, were put in this world by some mysterious power a few thousand years ago.

It was Charles Darwin, born at Shrewsbury on the 12th of February, 1809, who showed that this was just a legend. As a boy Darwin loved to walk in the countryside, collecting insects, flowers and minerals. He liked to watch his elder brother making chemical experiments. These hobbies interested him imuch more than Greek and Latin, which were his main subjects at school.

His father, a doctor, sent Charles to Edinburgh University to study medicine. But Charles did not like this. He spent a lot of time with a zoologist friend, watching birds and other animals, and collecting insects in the countryside.

Then his father sent him to Cambridge to be trained as a parson. But Darwin didn't want to be a doctor or a parson. He wanted to be a biologist.

In 1831 he set sail in the Beagle for South America to make maps of the coastline there. Darwin went in the ship to see the animals and plants of other lands. On his voyage round the world he looked carefully at thousands of living things in the sea and on land and came to very important conclusions.

This is what he came to believe. Once there were only simple jelly-like creatures living in the sea. Very slowly, taking hundreds millions of years, these have developed to produce all the different kinds of animals and plants we know today. But Darwin waited over twenty years before he let the world know his great ideas. During that time he was carefully collecting more information. It showed how right he was that all living things had developed from simpler creatures.

He wrote a famous book 'The Origin of Species'.

People who knew nothing about living things tried to make fun of Darwin's ideas.

The development of science has shown that Darwin's idea of evolution was correct.

4. Great Britain

The British Isles lie in the north-west of Europe. They consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and many smaller ones. Great Britain, the largest island in Europe, includes England, Scotland, and Wales. It is separated from Ireland by the Irish Sea, and from the Continent by the English Channel and the Straits of Dover. Great Britain and Northern Ireland form the United Kingdom (UK).

The surface of England and Ireland is flat, but the surface of Scotland and Wales is mountainous. The mountains are almost all in the western part. The highest mountain in the United Kingdom is Ben Nevis in Scotland (1343 m). The longest river is the Severn. It is in the south-west of England. The Thames is not so long as the Severn, it is shorter. The sea enters deeply into the land and has a great influence on the climate, which is damp but rather mild: the winter is not very cold and the summer is not very hot.

Over 57 million people live in the United Kingdom. Most of the people of Great Britain live in big towns and cities.

The capital of the country is London. The main industrial centres are Sheffield and Birmingham where iron goods are made, Manchester, the cotton centre of England, and others.

The important ports of the country are London, Liverpool, Glasgow and others

4. Meals

There are four meals a day in an English home: breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner.

Breakfast is the first meal of the day. It is at about 8 o'clock in the morning, and consists of porridge with milk and salt or sugar, eggs — boiled or fried, bread and butter with marmalade or jam. Some people like to drink tea, but others prefer coffee. Instead of porridge they may have fruit juice, or they may prefer biscuits.

The usual time for lunch is 1 o'clock. This meal starts with soup or fruit juice. Then follows some meat or poultry with potatoes — boiled or fried, carrots and beans. Then a pudding comes. Instead of the pudding they may prefer cheese and biscuits. Last of all coffee — black or white. Englishmen often drink something at lunch. Water is usually on the table. Some prefer juice or lemonade.

Tea is the third meal of the day. It is between 4 or 5 o'clock, the so-called 5 o'clock tea. On the table there is tea, milk or cream, sugar, bread and butter, cakes and jam. Friends and visitors are often present at tea.

Dinner is the fourth meal of the day. The usual time is about 7 o'clock, and all the members of the family sit down together.

Dinner usually consists of soup, fish or meat with vegetables — potatoes, green beans, carrot and cabbage, sweet pudding, fruit salad, ice-cream or cheese and biscuits. Then after a talk they have black or white coffee.

This is the order of meals among English families, But the greater part of the people in the towns, and nearly all country-people, have dinner in the middle of the day instead of lunch. They have tea a little later — between 5 and 6 o'clock, and then in the evening, before going to bed, they have supper.

So the four meals of the day are either breakfast, dinner, tea, supper; or breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner.

4. New York

In 1607 Captain Henry Hudson left Europe to search for the famous North-West Passage. He didn't find it, because it didn't exist, but he reached a river to which he gave his name. Interested by the stories told them by the captain on his return, the Dutch sent other boats to take possession of the land discovered by Hudson and gave it the name 'New Netherland'. Two men dominate the history of this colony. The first bought the island of Manhattan from the Indians in 1626. The second arrived in 1647 as governor of New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland.

In 1664 this territory was taken over by the English and they changed the name of New Amsterdam to New York.

New York is one of the largest cities in the world. Its population is over 11 million people. New York is an industrial and cultural centre of the country. Most business is centred in Manhattan Island. The whole area is very small, that's why the skyscrapers were invented in New York and, especially, in Wall Street. Wall Street is a narrow street with big houses, but it is well known all over the world as the busiest street in the USA. People do business there.

There are two more world-famous streets — Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Broadway is the centre of the theatres and night life. It is known as The Great White Way because of the electric signs which turn night into day. It is the city that never goes to sleep. Buses and subway run all night. There are many drugstores and restaurants which never close their doors. There are cinemas with films that start at midnight.

Fifth Avenue is the great shopping, hotel, and club avenue. If you go along this avenue, you come to Harlem, where the black people of New York live, the coloured workers, teachers, doctors and musicians.

New York is the largest port in America. More than half the trade of the United States goes through this city.

There are many places of interest in New York. They are: the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations Building, Empire State Building, Columbia University, City Hall, New York Public Library and others.

4. Scotland

Scotland lies to the north of England. People who live in Scotland arc Scots.

The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh, but Scotland has no separate Parliament, for the Scottish MPs (Members of Parliament) sit with the English ones in Westminster in London.

Edinburgh is not the largest city in Scotland. Glasgow, which lias a population of over one million, is twice as large as Edinburgh.

Even so, Edinburgh remains the centre of the life of Scotland. Here are the administrative centres of the Navy, the Army, and tlie Air Force, the chief banks and offices; and the famous university.

Edinburgh, unlike Glasgow, has no large factories. Publishing is its well-known industry. It has been famous for its printers since the early years of the sixteenth century, when the first Scottish printing-press was set up within its walls. The publishing of books is today a very important industry. Much printing is done for London publishing houses, and there are many paper-mills near Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city. The first thing you see in Edinburgh is the Rock -— the very large hill in the middle of the city, on which stands Edinburgh Castle.. The Castle looks like a castle from a fairy-tale, and parts of it are more than a thousand years old. From the top of the Castle there is a beautiful view of the hill and the sea.

Besides the Castle there are many other interesting buildings, such as Holyrood Palace which is the old royal residence, the Art Gallery, the University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is famous for many things: its festivals (plays and music), its college of medicine, its museums and libraries, and for its writers Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and others.

4. The United Nations

The United Nations is an organization of sovereign nations representing almost all of humanity. It has as its central goal the maintenance of international peace and security. Additionally, its purposes call for the development of friendly relations among nations based on equal rights and self-determination of peoples and, through international co-operation, the solution of problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian nature.

The United Nations is the meeting-place where representatives of all member states — great and small, rich and poor, with varying political views and social systems — have a voice and an equal vote in shaping a common course of action.

The United Nations has played, and continues to play, an active role in reducing tension in the world, preventing conflicts and putting an end to fighting already under way.

There are six main organs of the United Nations — the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the Secretariat and the International Court of Justice. The Court has its seat at the Hague, Netherlands. All other organs are based at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Members of the General Assembly talk to each other in many languages, but officially there are only six - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The Secretariat services the other organs of the United Nations and administers the programmes and policies laid down by them. Over 20,000 men and women are employed by the United Nations with about one-third of them at the Headquarters and the other two-thirds stationed around the globe. Staff members are recruited primarily from member states and are drawn from more than 140 nations. As international civil servants, each takes an oath not to seek or receive instructions from any government or outside authority.

Working for the United Nations, mostly "behind the scenes" at the Headquarters, are linguists, econbmists, editors, social scientists, legal experts, librarians, journalists, statisticians, broadcasters, personnel officers, administrators and experts in all the varied fields of activity covered by the United Nations. They prepare the reports and studies requested by various bodies of the United Nations; they issue press releases and produce publications, broadcasts and films giving information about the United Nations; and they perform the administrative duties needed to implement resolutions adopted by the various organs. In addition, there are stenographers, clerks, engineers and technicians, tour guides and also a body of security officers in blue-grey uniforms who arc responsible for the security of the United Nations Headquarters. At the head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-General.

The main Headquarters of the United Nations are based in New York. The United Nations Organization Secretariat occupies the higher building. The General Assembly is held in the lower building.

4. Weather

The weather is a subject we can always talk about. It often changes and brings cold and heat, sunshine and rain, frost and snow. One day is often unlike the next. In summer the sun shines, often there is no wind and there are no clouds in the sky which is blue and beautiful. We can see stars and the moon at night and people like walks, outdoor games and sports in the fresh air.

When autumn comes, the days become shorter and colder. It gets dark earlier and often heavy clouds cover the sky bringing rain with them.

Sometimes there is heavy rain, so that an umbrella or a raincoat is necessary if we don't want to get wet through. Then you can hear people say, "What bad weather! When is this rain going to stop?" Many people then catch cold and must go to bed. Then a fire at home is so pleasant. At last frost and snow come.

Fields, forests and houses are covered with snow and rivers and lakes with ice. But spring again brings sunshine and warm winds. Sometimes it snows but snow will not remain long, it will melt in the warm sun. Spring will bring bright sunshine, green grass and flowers.

We usually say: "A nice day", "Not a bad day" or "It's nice weather for the time of the year" if the weather is fine.

We can say: "It looks like rain", "It looks like snow" of "It's bad weather" when the weather is bad.

4. Yuri Gagarin

It was on the 12th of April, 1961, when the first flight by man into cosmic space took place. Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut in the world, was a 27-year old Air Force pilot at that time.

The spaceship flew at the speed of 300 miles a minute. That's six times faster than man ever travelled before. His flight lasted 108 minutes, but a circuit round the Earth took 89 minutes.

It was a brilliant achievement on the part of our scientists and technologists, and on the part of Yuri Gagarin who risked his life to achieve a victory for his country and mankind.

This is what Yuri Gagarin said at his press conferenc : "On my flight the 'day' side of the Earth was clearly seen: the continents, islands, seas, and big rivers. Flying over the land I could clearly see the big squares of fields, and it was possible to distinguish which was meadow and which was forest. I could not see as well as from an airplane, but very, very well though.

I saw for the first time with my own eyes the Earth's spherical shape. I must say that the view of the horizon is very beautiful. You can see the noticeable change from the light surface of the Earth to trie completely black sky in which you can see the stars. This transition, from light blue to dark, is very gradual and lovely.

I did not see the Moon. In space the sun shines ten times more brightly than on the Earth. The stars can be seen very well.

I felt excellent as I entered space. When weightlessness developed, everything was easier to do. My legs and arms weighed nothing. Objects swam in the cabin. During this state of weightlessness, I ate and drank, and everything was the same as on the Earth. My handwriting did not change, though my hand was weightless. But I had to hold my notebook or it would have floated away.

The passage back from weightlessness to the force of gravity happened smoothly. Arms and legs feel the same as during weightlessness, but now they have weight.

I ceased to be suspended over the chair, then I sat in it.

When I returned to the Earth I was full of joy."

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1. Michelangelo

Michelangelo, the famous Italian sculptor, lived in Florence. Once a beautiful piece of white marble was brought to Florence, and the governor of the city told Michelangelo that he wanted him to make a statue out of the marble. He said that Michelangelo was the only man in Italy who could do it.

The sculptor worked for two years to make the statue as beautiful as possible. When the statue was ready, a lot of people gathered in the square where it stood. Everybody was waiting for the governor. At last he came, accompanied by the richest people of the city. The governor looked pleased, and seeing the expression on his face the people thought that he liked the statue. So they were all surprised to hear him say that he didn't like the sculptor's work at all because the statue's nose was too long.

"Can you make the nose shorter?' the governor asked Michelangelo.

Those who heard the question expected the sculptor to get angry, but to their great surprise Michelangelo answered calmly that he didn't mind changing the shape of the nose.

When the governor was not looking, he picked up a handful of marble dust and went up to the statue. He pretended to work hard. Standing with his back to the governor, he dropped the marble dust he had picked up little by little to make the governor believe that he was really changing the shape of the nose. The governor thought that the sculptor was doing as he had been told, and so when Michelangelo finished working, he said proudly, "Now the statue is wonderful."

The people, who had kept silent while the sculptor was working, realized now that he hadn't done anything to the statue, and shouted with joy.

The statue, which is called David, is one of Michelangelo's best works. We have a copy of it in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

2. Pop, Jazz and Country

Of all the cultural influences that have come out of the United States in the 20th century, it's likely that none has been so far-reaching as popular music.

But the sound of jazz and rock and roll and more recently, country music, can be heard on records, tapes, radio and television in the big cities and in the most remote villages of almost every nation on Earth.

What, precisely, is popular music? In the United States this term has acquired a variety of meanings but it refers to the kinds of music enjoyed by a broad public and stands in contrast to the classical music of the Western European tradition.

During the present century, the dominant strain of popular music coexisted with regional pockets of folk music kept alive by the nation's many immigrant groups — Scots, Irish, German, French Canadians, Italians, Jews, Poles, His-panics. Since popular songwriters have always looked for fresh approaches, each of these ethnic music would eventually contribute its flavour to the rich stew of contemporary American music.

As the 20th century progressed, the line between popular and serious music became blurred. George Gershwin, for example, was a popular composer whose music has always been admitted in cultivated circles.

Jazz has always been a music of freedom, and maybe that is why it's been called the most truly American art form. The sense of freedom is inherent in its improvising, in the way each musician defines himself in his own turn, in the feeling that the possibilities are limitless.

In terms of its fountainhead, jazz remains the creation of the black American, but today more than ever the rapid spread of communications has established it as a world-wide art form, one that will be characterized by future generations as the genuine classical music of the 20th century.

The growing international enthusiasm for American country music overseas is an extension of what has happened in the US since 1950s: music that was strictly regional in its appeal has gained currency across the nation.

It was created by the rural people of the Appalachian Mountain region who were by large isolated from the industrial growth and urbanization of much of America. They began with the English and Scottish ballads of their immigrant ancestors and built upon them, often with instruments they made themselves. They sang about the things that touched them most intimately: their poverty, their God, their crops, their families. They found consolation and common ties In the music.

The classic rock 'n' roll of the 1950s with its hard-driving guitar beat, the music of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and others, has long since evolved into a profusion of styles.

Today, for example, among the music's myriad subgenres are the black variants, soul music, heavy metal and its opposite, soft rock, country rock, folk rock and rockabilly; the Caribbean influences, and the most recent attempts to recapture rock's rhythmic power, rap music and art rock.

Contemporary American pop-rock music can be shaped into high art for which there is a large and appreciative audience.

3. The creative impulse (by W. S. Maugham)

William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 After graduating from Heidelberg University he worked at a hospital, but the success of his first novel "Liza of Lambeth" (1897) encouraged him to give up medicine and become a professional writer.

Somerset Maugham is the author of several well-known novels and plays, and a lot of short stories.

He died in 1966 at the age of ninety-two.

When Mrs Forrester's first detective story "The Achilles Statue" was published, she had reached the respectable age of fifty-seven, and the number of her work^ was considerable. Her great talent, however, remained undiscovered by ordinary readers and this was the reason (her books did not sell, though they were highly praised by the critics.

Mrs Forrester was deeply interested in politics and even thought of going into Parliament. Her only difficulty was that she did not know which party to choose.

A lot of people very much wanted to be invited to the parties she gave every Saturday, but only a, few were among her guests.

The only person who spoiled these parties was Mr Albert Forrester, her husband. All her friends considered him a bore and often asked one another how she had ever married him. He was known among them as the Philatelist because a young writer hajj once said that he was collecting stamps.

Albert, I should explain, was an ordinary businessman and not a very rich one. The suits he wore always looked shabby, the expression on his face was gloomy and he never said anything worth listening to. Mrs Forrester, however, was kind to him and always knew how to put to shame anyone who tried to make fun of him in her presence.

The event that had such a great influence on Mrs For-rester's literary activities happened towards the end of one of her most successful parties. The guests sat in a circle of which Mrs Forrester was the centre. She was talking and the rest of the company were listening with great attention, only interrupting her from time to time to ask a question. Suddenly there came a noise as if something heavy had fallen, and then came the sound of voices.

"Well, Carter, what is it?" Mrs Forrester asked the maid. "Is the house falling down?"

"It's the new cook's box, ma'am," answered the maid. "The porter dropped it as he was bringing it in and the cook got all upset about it."

"What do you mean by 'the new cook'?"

"Mrs Bullfinch went away this afternoon, ma'am," said the maid.

"Does Mr Forrester know about it?" Mrs Forrester asked, for matters like that were his responsibility. "The moment Mr Forrester comes in, tell him that I want to speak to him."

"Mr Forrester's gone, ma'am," answered the maid. "He said I was to give you this letter when you asked for him."

The maid left the room, and Mrs Forrester opened the letter. One of her lady friends told me that at the sight of Mrs Forrester reading the letter she thought that Albert, feeling responsible for the cook's departure, and being afraid he would be punished, had thrown himself in the Thames.

Mrs Forrester read the letter and cried out: "Oh, how unfair! How terrible!"

"What is it, Mrs Forrester?" asked Mr Simmons, her agent. "Read it", she said. "Just read it."

The short-sighted Mr Simmons put on his glasses, and holding the letter very close to his eyes read this: 'My Dear,Mrs Bullfinch needs a change and has decided to leave, and as I do not wish to stay on without her I'm going, too. I have had all the literature I can stand and I am sick and tired of art. Mrs Bullfinch does not care about marriage but if you wish to divorce me, she's willing to marry me.

I've hired a new cook instead of Mrs Bullfinch and I hope you will be pleased with her. Mrs Bullfinch and I are living at 411, Kennington Road, S. E. Albert.

The silence that followed was broken by Mr Simmons, who said: "You must get him back."

"I will never see him again as long as I live!" Mrs Forrester cried out. But Mr Simmons continued calmly: "I've been your agent for twenty years, and you can consider me one of your best friends. But if you think you can make your living by writing the sort of books you do, I must tell you that you haven't a chance."

"But I can't fight with my cook for him!" Mrs Forrester cried out.

"I was just coming to that," said Mr Simmons coldly. "A dancer or a lady of title wouldn't do you any harm, but a cook would finish you."

"He's quite right", said one of her guests. "The Philatelist must come back".

"You will go and see him tomorrow, won't you?" asked Mr Simmons. Mrs Forrester didn't answer for some time and finally said:

"For my art's sake, not for mine!"

It was rather late in the afternoon of the next day when Mrs Forrester set out on her journey to Kennington Road. Mr Simmons had explained to her by telephone how to get there, and it did not take her long to find the house she wanted. She rang the bell, and when the door opened, she recognized her cook.

(to be continued)