Заказывайте!. Listening 71 articles. tracks

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Listening 71 articles

🎧 71 tracks

Contents :

Articles

1. Canada : Provinces and Territories

2. Two Great Artists : Leonardo and Michelangelo

3. The Viking

4. William Shakespeare

5. Ice Hockey

6. Chinese People in North America

7. The History of the English Language

8. Physical Fitness

9. Benjamin Franklin

10. Preservation of Forests

11. Violence on Television

12. The Inuit

13. Kings and Queens of England

14. The Origins of Canada and The United States

15. Hawaii

16. Charles Darwin

17. Jazz

18. Australia : Nature

19. Australia : People

20. The Earth Revolves Around the Sun

21. George Washington Carver

22. New York City

23. California

24. Scotland

25. London

26. Soccer

27. Extinctions

28. Obesity and Nutrition

29. Cultural Differences : Individualism and Collectivism

30. Modern Engineering Wonders

31. The Automobile, or Car

32. The Mississippi River

33. Doctors Without Borders

34. Chicago

35. Women and the Right to Vote

36. Charles Dickens

37. Samuel Clemens, or Mark Twain

38. The Islands of the Caribbean

39. North American Indians

40. Abraham Lincoln

41. Two Great Musicians : Mozart and Beethoven

42. Life in Academia

43. Education Systems in Canada

44. Business Education

45. Strategic Uses of Information Technology

46. Great Lakes

47. Canadian Rocky Mountains

48. Canadian Universities

49. Banff National Park

50. Sport Canada

51. The National Hockey League

52. Drug Use in Sport

53. Participation

54. The Olympic Games

55. Sport in Canada

56. Professional Sport in Canada

57. Rowing

58. Globalization and Sport

59. Women in Sport

60. Sport and Television

61. Nike

62. Arthur Ashe

63. Bjorn Borg

64. FIFA

65. International Olympic Committee

66. Marathon

67. National Football League

68. Jackie Robinson

69. New Zealand

70. Track and Field

71. Thomas Edison

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Article 1 Canada : Provinces and Territories

Canada is one of the largest countries in the world. It is located in the northern half of the

continent of North America, above the United States. Canada is divided into ten

provinces and three territories, each of which is different from the others.

The province of British Columbia is located at the far western end of Canada. British

Columbia stretches from the Pacific Ocean, at the west, to the Rocky Mountains, at the

east. British Columbia contains the city of Vancouver, where two million people live. Most

of the land of British Columbia is very mountainous, with vast forests covering the

mountains. In British Columbia, forestry is an important industry, providing wood for

people around the world.

Moving east from British Columbia, the next provinces are Alberta, Saskatchewan, and

Manitoba. These are known as the prairie provinces, because they are mostly made of

flat, grassy land called "prairie." Alberta is the province where the flat prairie meets the

tall and beautiful Rocky Mountains. In Alberta, there are many fields where oil and gas

are found, and there are also many farms where cattle are raised. Saskatchewan is the

Canadian province that grows the most wheat. Wheat from Saskatchewan is sent around

the world to make bread and pasta for many people. Manitoba is the other prairie

province. Its largest city, Winnipeg, is about halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic

oceans. Winnipeg has the coldest winters of any large city in the world, with

temperatures sometimes reaching -40 degrees Celsius!

Moving east, the next province is Ontario. The land in the northern part of Ontario is very

rocky and contains many thousands and thousands of lakes. Many mines are found in

northern Ontario. In the southern part of Ontario, there is good farmland, and there are

also many cities where factories produce cars and steel. Ontario contains Canada's

largest city, Toronto, as well as the capital city of Canada--Ottawa. In the southern part of

Ontario are four of the largest lakes in the world, known as the Great Lakes.

Next to Ontario is the province of Quebec. Unlike the other provinces, where most people

speak English, most of the people in Quebec speak French. The capital of Quebec is

called Quebec City, and this is one of the oldest cities in North America. Quebec City

contains many buildings that are hundreds of years old. Also in the province of Quebec

is the city of Montreal. Of all the French-speaking cities in the world, only Paris is larger

than Montreal!

In the eastern part of Canada are the Atlantic provinces, which are next to the Atlantic

Ocean. These provinces are New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and

Newfoundland. In the Atlantic provinces, fishing is an important industry. Tourism is also

important as many people come to see the beauty of these provinces. The people in

these provinces are said to be the friendliest in Canada.

In the far north of Canada are the three territories that lie beside the Arctic Ocean: Yukon,

Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Many of the people in these territories are the Native

people of Canada, known as the Indians and the Inuit. The northern areas have very cold,

dark winters. The summer is short, but the days are very long and bright.

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Article 2 Two Great Artists : Leonardo and Michelangelo

Many people admire the paintings and sculptures that artists create. Some very beautiful

paintings and sculptures were created by two men who lived in the same country at the

same time. These men were Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. They both lived in Italy

around the year 1500.

Leonardo da Vinci is most famous for his painting called the Mona Lisa. This is perhaps

the best-known painting in the world. The Mona Lisa shows the head and shoulders of a

dark-haired woman. When people look at this painting, they are often captivated by her

smile and by her eyes, which have a look of mystery.

Another painting of Leonardo's is called The Last Supper. This painting shows a famous

scene from the Christian religion. In this painting, Jesus Christ is seated at the middle of

a long table, with his followers (the disciples) seated around him. Many of the paintings

that were created at this time have a religious theme.

Leonardo was not only an artist; he was also interested in engineering. He actually

worked for some time as an advisor to a military leader, helping him to develop new

machines for use in war. Leonardo also made rough drawings of machines that are

similar to those that were invented much later, such as submarines and helicopters.

Obviously, Leonardo was an extremely creative man.

Michelangelo was about 23 years younger than Leonardo. In addition to being a painter,

Michelangelo was also a sculptor, and many experts consider him the greatest sculptor

of all time. One of his most famous sculptures is David, which is a statue of a young man

who was a famous figure in the Bible. Another great sculpture of Michelangelo's is called

the Pieta. The Pieta shows Mary, the mother of Jesus, holding the body of her son across

her lap.

Michelangelo is also famous for painting the ceiling of a church known as the Sistine

Chapel. The leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Julius, asked Michelangelo to

paint the ceiling of this new church. This project required many years of hard work, and

the Pope complained that it took too long. However, when the work was finished, the

ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was covered with beautiful paintings of many scenes from

the Bible.

Fortunately, many of the works of Leonardo and of Michelangelo can still be seen today

in the art galleries of Europe. During the past 500 years, the color of the paintings had

faded somewhat, but in recent years, some work has been done to restore the paintings

to their original appearance.

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Article 3 The Viking

About a thousand years ago, people known as the Vikings were known and feared

throughout Europe. The Vikings were the people of the northern part of Europe, called

Scandinavia, which includes the modern countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

The Vikings made their living by farming and fishing. However, by about the year 700,

they began making attacks, or raids, upon towns along the coasts of Europe in order to

steal the wealth of those towns.

The Vikings made their attacks very quickly and without any warning. They were very

cruel to the people of the towns they attacked, and they sometimes destroyed the towns

by burning down the buildings. In some parts of Europe, the local kings would often fight

against the Vikings. Sometimes, however, the kings would pay the Vikings in order to

persuade them not to attack.

Although the Vikings were known as fierce warriors, they also built excellent ships. The

wooden Viking ships, called longboats, were able to sail even in very bad weather. Many

Viking longboats were about 20 metres long, but some were nearly 90 metres long. The

Viking sailors used both sails and oars to move their ships.

The Vikings travelled across a large area. They made many of their attacks in Britain,

France, and Germany, but sometimes sailed south, into the Mediterranean Sea. Other

Vikings moved to the east, and then south along the rivers of Russia. Some even went as

far as the area that is now the country of Turkey. In some places, the Vikings decided to

stay. Many Vikings settled in England and in France, and eventually they mixed with the

local people. Other Vikings settled in Russia and also mixed with the people there.

The most famous travels of the Vikings were in the Atlantic Ocean. Vikings sailed

westward to the island of Iceland where many of them stayed. Today, the people of

Iceland are descended from the Vikings. Some Vikings sailed farther west to the cold

island of Greenland. Vikings lived in Greenland for several generations, but eventually

they died out. Some Vikings had gone even further west and reached the Canadian island

of Newfoundland. The Vikings only stayed for a few years, but they had reached North

America about 500 years before Christopher Columbus!

Gradually, the Vikings became converted to the Christian religion. They also stopped

raiding the towns of Europe, and instead of fighting, they began trading with their

neighbors. Today, the Scandinavian countries are known as very peace-loving nations.

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Article 4 William Shakespeare

There have been many great writers in the history of English literature, but there is no

doubt about which writer was the greatest. Many people consider William Shakespeare to

have been the best writer who ever lived.

William Shakespeare was born in the town of Stratford, England, in the year 1564. When

he was a young man, Shakespeare moved to the city of London, where he began writing

plays. His plays were soon very successful, and were enjoyed both by the common

people of London and also by the rich and famous. In addition to his plays, Shakespeare

wrote many short poems and a few longer poems. Like his plays, these poems are still

famous today.

Shakespeare's most famous plays include Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear,

Othello, and Julius Caesar. Usually, Shakespeare did not invent the stories that he told in

his plays. Instead, he wrote his plays using stories that already existed. However,

Shakespeare's plays told these stories in a more interesting way than ever before. Some

of the stories were tragedies, some were comedies, and some described historical

events.

In his plays, Shakespeare revealed a very wide knowledge of many areas of life. The

characters in his plays discuss many different topics, often with the knowledge of

experts. But what is even more impressive about these plays is Shakespeare's use of the

English language. His vocabulary was very large, and Shakespeare seems to have

introduced many words to the language! Also, many of the phrases that are said by

Shakespeare's characters are now used in everyday conversation. Today, writers often

use quotations from Shakespeare's plays in their own works.

But perhaps even the most impressive features of Shakespeare's plays are the

characters within them. The many characters in his plays seem very different from each

other, but they seem very realistic. The emotions they feel, the words they say, and the

actions they perform are all easily understood. Many people who watch one of

Shakespeare's plays will find that they know people who remind them somewhat of the

characters in those plays.

Shakespeare died in the year 1619, but his writings are still popular today, 400 years after

they were written. The poems and plays are greatly admired by experts in literature, but

also by people in general. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people enjoy attending

performances of Shakespeare's plays. No other writer in the English language has

remained so popular for such a long time.

Article 5 Ice Hockey

One of the most popular sports in northern countries is the game of ice hockey. Each

winter, this sport is played by hundreds of thousands of children and adults in North

America and in Europe. Ice hockey is a fast and exciting game that can make winter

much more enjoyable.

The game of ice hockey is played on a flat surface of ice called a rink. The rink is about

60 metres long, and about 25 or 30 metres wide. At any time, each team has six players

on the ice. On their feet the players wear skates, whose thin metal blades allow fast

movement along the ice surface. Learning to skate requires time and practice, but many

people can skate very quickly and smoothly.

In many ways, ice hockey is similar to soccer. However, unlike soccer, there is no large

ball used in hockey. Instead, the players use a hard, black, rubber disk, which is called a

puck. The players skate around the ice, trying to get the puck. They do not use their

hands or their feet to control the puck. Instead, they carry long wooden sticks, which are

shaped in such a way that it is easy to push the puck along the ice. The players can pass

the puck to each other by sliding it across the ice.

To score a goal, a hockey player must shoot the puck into the net of the opposing team,

but this is a difficult task. The net is less than two metres wide, and it is protected by a

player called the goaltender. However, some players can shoot the puck very suddenly

and with great power.

Sometimes, the sport of ice hockey can be quite rough. Players try to take the puck from

their opponents by bumping into them at a high speed. This is called a "body check."

Players are not allowed to hit each other with their sticks. If a player does this, then that

player may be given a penalty by the referee, who enforces the rules of the game.

Naturally, the sport of ice hockey is most popular in countries that have cold winters. The

sport was first played in Canada, but it is also very popular in many countries of Europe,

including Russia, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Germany. In

addition, many people play hockey in the United States.

In previous generations, ice hockey was considered a sport for men and boys only.

However, in recent years, women and girls have been playing hockey much more

frequently than in the past. Not only do many girls enjoy playing hockey for fun, but now

women's hockey is officially a sport at the winter Olympics.

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Article 6 Chinese People in North America

In recent years, many people have moved to North America from China, but many people

do not know that Chinese people have a long history in Canada and the United States.

During the nineteenth century, both Canada and the United States were rapidly

expanding to the west, toward the Pacific Ocean. In those days, there were of course no

cars or airplanes to allow people and goods to move across the land. Instead, the best

method of long-distance transportation was the railroad. Railway trains could move

quickly across the countryside. However, there was one problem: before the railway

trains could run, railroads had to be built across very long distances.

To build the railroads was a very big job. Many men would be needed because the

distance was so long and the land was so difficult, with many mountains and rivers to be

crossed. For the men who owned the railroad companies, it would have been too

expensive to hire Canadian or American men to build the railroads because those

workers would only work for high wages.

The railroad owners decided to get workers from overseas. Many Chinese men were

willing to work for low wages because they were very poor. These men would work very

hard and send much of the money back to their relatives in China.

Thousands of Chinese men were brought to North America to work on the railroads. They

did good work, but their employers treated them badly. The work day was very long, and

working conditions were very unsafe. Many Chinese men died in accidents while

constructing the railroads. Some Chinese women also came to North America, but there

were many more men than women.

After the railroads were completed, by about the year 1900, very few Chinese people

were allowed to come to North America. Most people in Canada and the United States

were not familiar with Chinese people and did not want strangers to come to their

countries. Any Chinese person who came to North America had to pay an expensive tax.

This made it difficult for Chinese men to bring their wives and families to join them in

North America. Later, the governments of Canada and the United States made Chinese

immigration illegal.

Eventually, the people of Canada and the United States realized that their laws had been

unfair. They changed the rules so that Chinese people could immigrate in the same way

that people from other countries could do so. In recent decades, many Chinese people

have moved to North America, and have formed a very lively and successful community.

Many cities, such as Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, and New York, have been

enriched by Chinese culture. Chinese people are now very prominent in North America,

just as they were many years ago.

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Article 7 The History of the English Language

Most people know that the English language is spoken by many millions of people

around the world. However, few people are aware of the history of the English language.

Today, English is one language, but in some ways it is a mixture of many different

languages.

The English language is most closely related to a group of languages called the

Germanic languages. This group also includes languages such as German and Dutch.

About 1500 years ago, these languages were not yet distinct from each other. Some of

the people of Germany and the Netherlands then moved to England. Those people were

called the Anglo-Saxons, and their language then evolved into English. Most of the basic

words of the English language are derived from these very old Anglo-Saxon languages.

For example, the words for the parts of the body, for numbers, and for animals are mostly

Anglo-Saxon words.

Some new words were brought to England over 1000 years ago by people who came

from the Scandinavian countries of northern Europe. Many words that begin with the

letters "sk", such as skin and skill, are Scandinavian words.

A major change happened in the English language after the year 1066. In that year,

England was conquered by a king from the northern part of France. He and his followers

spoke French, so French became an important language in England. During the next few

hundred years, the English language absorbed a very large number of French words. In

fact, today's English dictionaries contain more words of French origin than of Anglo-

Saxon origin. Part of the reason why the English language has so many words is that it

often has two words for each idea-one word of Anglo-Saxon origin, and one word of

French origin.

Many more words entered the English language a few hundred years ago, when science

and technology became more widespread. Most scientific and technical words are

derived from words of the ancient languages of Latin and Greek. Because there are so

many of these scientific and technical words in the English language today, the influence

of Latin and Greek has been quite large.

Other languages have also contributed many words to the English language. Some

words have come from the Celtic languages, spoken in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Many words have been added to the English language by immigrants who came to North

America from various countries of Europe. Also, many more words have been adopted

from the Native languages of North America, Australia, and the Pacific, and from the

languages of peoples in Africa and Asia. All of these words have made English a very

interesting language!

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Article 8 Physical Fitness

In modern society, many people find that they do not get very much exercise. They travel

by bus, train, or car, and they can move up or down in elevators. They have machines

that do most of the heavy work that was once done by people. However, exercise is

important for staying healthy. A person who exercises frequently will be "physically fit."

There are different aspects of physical fitness.

One important element of being physically fit is called cardio-vascular fitness. The word

"cardio-vascular" refers to the heart and lungs. If one's heart and lungs are in good

condition, then one can exercise at a steady pace without soon getting tired. To develop

cardio-vascular fitness, it is important to perform some exercise that makes one's heart

beat quickly. For example, a person can improve cardio-vascular fitness by riding a

bicycle, by running, by swimming, by rowing, or even by walking quickly. Some people

go to special places, called "health clubs" or "gyms," where they can use different

exercise machines to develop their cardio-vascular fitness. But many people improve

their cardio-vascular fitness by playing recreational sports, such as tennis or soccer, or

by dancing vigorously. By having good cardio-vascular fitness, one is less likely to suffer

from heart disease. Of course, there is one way to improve cardio-vascular fitness that

does not involve exercise: stop smoking!

Another important aspect of physical fitness is called flexibility. Flexibility refers to one's

ability to stretch comfortably. For example, a healthy person should be able to touch his

or her toes without bending the legs. People can perform various stretching exercises to

improve flexibility. By being flexible, a person can avoid injuries that might otherwise

affect their body.

Yet another important aspect of physical fitness is the strength and endurance of one's

muscles. Many people suffer from injuries that result, in part, from weakness of the

muscles. Muscular strength and endurance can be improved by a variety of exercises.

Some of these exercises involve lifting a weight, but other exercises simply involve

pushing or pulling against the weight of one's own body. One example is an exercise

called the "push-up." In this exercise, a person lies on the floor, with the face pointing

down. The person bends his or her arms, so that the palms of the hands are on the floor,

next to the shoulders. The person then pushes with his or her arms, lifting the upper part

of the body above the ground until the arms are straight.

Before starting to do any exercises, it is a good idea to have a medical check-up. Some

people do not want to exercise because they think it will be too much work. However,

many people find that they feel very good when they exercise. Exercising can be an

enjoyable and fun way to maintain health and fitness.

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