Today Kuwait is a monarchy which is ruled by the Emir Sheikh Saban al-Salim al-Sabah (rained since 1985). It's area is about 7,7 square miles. Official language is Arabic, but there are also Persian and English in Kuwait. Religion: Islam. Places of interest: Oil wells, modern city of Kuwait, royal residences and so on.
That's all I would like you to say about Kuwait.
Moscow
Moscow is the capital of Russia, its political, economic, commercial and cultural centre. It was founded 8 centuries ago by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in 1147. Gradually the city became more and more powerful. In the 13th century Moscow was the centre of the struggle of Russian lands for the liberation from the tartar yoke. In the 16th century under Ivan the Terrible Moscow became the capital of the new united state. Though Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg in 1712; Moscow remained the heart of Russia. That's why it became the main target of Napoleon's attack. After the October revolution Moscow became the capital again.
Now Moscow is one of the largest cities in Europe. Its total area is about nine hundred square kilometres. The population of the city is over 8 million.
Moscow is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The heart of Moscow is Red Square. The Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral (Vasily Blazheny) are masterpieces of ancient Russian architecture. On the territory of the Kremlin you can see old cathedrals, the Palace of Congresses, the Tzar-Cannon and the Tzar-Bell, the biggest cannon and bell in the world. St. Basil's Cathedral was built in the mid-16th century in memory of the victory over Kazan.
One of the well-known Kremlin museums is the Armoury Chamber. The famous golden cap of Monomach, the first Russian imperial crown of Katherine the second and many other historical items are exhibited there.
There are more than 80 museums in Moscow. The Historical Museum, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Tretyakov State Picture Gallery are world famous and the largest.
Moscow is famous for its theatres. The best-known of them are Bolshoi, Maly and Art theatres.
Moscow is the seat of the Russian Parliament (the Duma) and the centre of political life of the country.
My school
First of all I'd like to tell you about my school which I've just left. My school is one of the specialised schools in Moscow. It is famous for its high-quality education and strict discipline. To my mind, our school-lyceum is very well equipped. It has a gym, a canteen, a library, a computer class and some labs( for example - chemistry lab or physics lab).
First two years in our lyceum we had 7 or 8 lessons, but in 10th and 11th forms we had less lessons. What about our homework we usually had a lot to do and it took me several hours. I sometimes had to sit up to write a composition, to prepare a report, to translate an article from English to Russian or to learn a poem by heart.
After classes we usually had some out-of-class activities. Our social and cultural life was well-organised. For example, we had a choir and literature club.
At school we had classes in Russian, literature, mathematics, English, history and so on. My favourite subjects were English, History and Russian. On Russian we had a lot of fun situations and talks; history, to my mind, is a very interesting subject; and what about English, we need learning this language to be able to read books, listen to the news, speak with English speaking people and so on.
Now my plans for the future. I must say that when you leave school you understand that the time to choose your future profession has come. It's not an easy task to make the right choice of a job. People choose profession according to their own interests and abilities. As far as I have a computer at home I've decided to enter some mathematics institute. It is called МГАТУ(Moscow State Aviation- Technology University). I'll be study there informatic and English. I think, today computer is very popular in our country and programmists are paid very much.
Political system of US
Washington, the capital of the United States is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. The district is a piece of land which doesn't belong to any state but to all the states. All these states are sovereignty.
Under the Constitution, the federal government is divided into three branches.
The legislative power is vested in Congress and made up of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representative. There are 435 members in the House of Representative and 100 senators. Each state elects two members of the 100-member Senate.
The executive branch is headed by the President, who proposes bills to Congress, enforces federal laws, serves as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and with the approval of the Senate, makes treaties. President can veto a bill unless Congress by a two-thirds vote shall overrule him.
The vice President, elected from the same political party as the President, acts as chairman of the Senate, and in the event of the death of the President, assumes the Presidency.
The judicial branch is made up of Federal District Courts, 11 Federal Courts and the Supreme Court. Federal judges are appointed by the President for life. Federal courts decide cases involving federal law, conflicts between citizens of different states. The Supreme court may rule the law to be unconstitutional.
Now about the elections. The President is chosen in nation-wide elections every 4 years together with the Vice-President.
Constitution. Constitution has been amended 26 times. The Bill of Rights guarantee individual liberties: freedom of speech, religion and so on. Later amendments abolish slavery, grant the vote to women and allow citizens to vote at age 18.
The Russian Federation
The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It occupies about one-seventh of the earth's surface. It covers the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia. Its total area is about 17 million square kilometres. The country is washed by 12 seas of 3 oceans: the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic. In the south Russia borders on China, Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In the west it borders on Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Belorussia, the Ukraine. It also has a sea-borders with the USA.
There is hardly a country in the world where such a variety of scenery and vegetation can be found. We have steppes in the south, plains and forests in the midland, tundra and taiga in the north, highlands and deserts in the east.
There are two great plains in Russia: the Great Russian Plain and the West Siberian Lowland. There are several mountains chains on the territory of the country: the Urals, the Caucasus, the Altai and others. The largest mountain chain, the Urals, separates Europe from Asia.
There are over two million rivers in Russia. Europe's biggest river, the Volga, flows into the Caspian Sea. The main Siberian rivers- the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena- flow from the south to the north. The Amur in the Far East flows into the Pacific Ocean.
Russia is reach in beautiful lakes. The world's deepest lake is Lake Baikal. It is much smaller than the Baltic Sea, but there is much more water in it than in the Baltic Sea. The water in the lake is so clear that if you look down you can count the stones on the bottom.
Russia has one-sixth of the world's forests. They are concentrated in the European north of the country, in Syberia and in the Far East.
On the vast territory of the country there are various types of climate, from arctic in the north to subtropical in the south. In the middle of the country the climate is temperate and continental.
Russia is very reach in oil, iron ore, natural gas, copper, nickel and other mineral resources.
Russia is a parliamentary republic. The Head of State is the President. The legislative powers are exercised by the Duma.
The capital of Russia is Moscow. It is its largest political, scientific, cultural and industrial centre. It's one of the oldest Russian cities.
At present, the political and economic situation in the country is rather complicated. There are a lot of problems in the national economy of the Russian Federation. The industrial production is decreasing. The prices are constantly rising, the rate of inflation is very high. People are losing their jobs because many factories and plants are going bankrupt.
But in spite of the problems Russia is facing at present, there are a lot of opportunities for this country to become one of the leading countries in the world. I'm sure that we, the younger generation, can do very much to make Russia as strong and powerful as it used to be.
Sport in our life
Millions of people all over the world are fond of sports and games. Sport helps people to stay in good shape, helps to support health and prevents from illness. Sport makes them more organised and better disciplined in their daily activities.
We've always paid great attention to sport in our schools, colleges and universities. You can hardly find a school without a gym or a sports ground. Every city and town has a few stadiums or swimming pools where local competitions are usually held.
There are different sporting societies and clubs in Russia. Many of them take part in different international tournaments and are known all over the world. A great number of world records have been set by Russian sportsmen. Our sportsmen also win a lot of gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympic Games.
Television and advertisement.
Many people have forgotten what the world was like before TV. But today it has become an integral part of our lives. No medium can compare with TV as a means of information, entertainment & education. TV now plays such an important role in so many people's lives that it is essential for us to try to decide whether it is bad or good.
On the first place TV is not only a convenient source of entertainment, but also a comparatively cheap one. For a family of 4, for example, it is more convenient as well as cheaper to sit comfortably at home than to go out. They don't have to pay for expensive tickets. All they have to do is to turn on TV and they can see films, political discussions and the latest exciting football matches. Some people say that this is fust where the danger lies. The TV viewers need do nothing: they make no choices, they're completely passive & don't even use their legs.
TV, people often say, informs about current events and the latest developments in science and politics. A lot of good films, music programs have appeared recently on TV. Yet here again there is a danger. We get to like watching TV so much that it begins to dominate our lives. A friend of mine told me that when his TVset broke he & his family suddenly found that they had much more time to do things.
The most important thing which is really criticising is poor quality of the programs and its harmful effect on children. For example the film " Natural Born Killers" teaches children to kill and there was one accident in France when a group of teenagers kill their parents.
There are many arguments for and against TV. I think we must understand that TV in itself is neither good nor bad. TV is as good or as bad as we make it.
Washington
I am going to tell you about Washington. Washington, the capital of the United States is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. The district is a piece of land which does not belong to any one state but to all the states. The district is named in honour of Columbus, the discoverer of America.
Washington was founded in 1791 for the purpose of serving as the capital of the United States of America. George Washington chose the place located midway to keep at close touch as possible between the states. Washington is quite new as it didn't exist for two hundred years. The population of the city is nearly million people. It is not a very large city, but it is very important as the capital of the USA. There is a law in Washington against building structures higher than the Capitol; therefore it presents a different appearance from New York with its skyscrapers.
Washington has many historical places. The largest and tallest is the Capitol, where the Congress meets. It is a very beautiful building with white marble columns. Not far from the Capitol is the Library of Congress. It holds five million books.
The White House, the residence of the president is the oldest public structure in the capital and one of the most beautiful. It was built in 1799. It is a two storied white building. It is said that in 1812 when England was at war with America the British entered the city and some of the buildings, including the Capitol and the house of the president were set on fire. Two years later in order to hide the marks of the fire, the brown stone walls of the president's home were painted white and it has been the White House ever since.
Not far from the Capitol is the Washington monument, which looks like a very big pencil. It rises 160 metres and it is empty inside. A special lift brings visitors to the top in 70 seconds, from where they can enjoy a view of the city.
The Jefferson Memorial was built in memory of the third President of the USA Thomas Jefferson, who was also the author of the Declaration of Independence. The Memorial is surrounded by cherry trees.
The Lincoln Memorial is devoted to the memory of the sixteenth President of the USA, the author of the Emancipation Proclamation, which gave freedom to Negro slaves in America.