About My Family and Myself
Let me introduce myself. My full name is Victor Petrov. Petrov is my surname and Victor is my first name. I am nineteen. I am from Minsk, I live with my parents. My father’s name is Igor Ivanovich. He is a technician. He is fifty. My father is a handsome man. His hobby is fishing. Besides he likes to read newspapers and magazines and books on history.
My mother’s name is Nina Borisovna. She is a very kind and good-looking woman. My mother is four years younger than my father. She is a housewife. She looks after the house and takes care of all of us. She likes to read fiction and to make her dress herself.
My parents have two more children besides me. Thus I have got an older brother and a younger sister. My brother who is twenty studies at the Belarusian State University. He is a part-time second year student. He combines his work with the studies. My brother Sergey works at the factory from 9 a.m. till 6 p.m. In the evening four times a week he attends lectures and tutorials in different subjects. He is not yet married.
My sister Olga is 12. She is fond of music. She likes to play piano, and to sing songs. Besides she draws well and she goes in for sport. She is fond of skating.
I also have some other relatives: uncles, aunts, cousins and many friends. We are happy when we are together. We are tactful, helpful, tolerant and respect each other. It’s nice to have a good family.
I was born in Minsk in 1983. When I was seven I went to school. In June I left / finished school decided to enter the Managers’ Training Institute. I attended preliminary courses in subjects in which I took examinations successfully. And now I am a first year student of the Correspondence Faculty. I like my future specialty very much, that is why I study well.
A WORKING DAY OF A BUSINESSMAN
I want to tell you about a working day of Mr. Wallace. He is a manager of a firm. He works for Belarus-export. The company is very large. They sell many different goods to many countries. The firm does business with Belarusian and British companies. Many customers come to Belarus-export to discuss business matters with the representatives of the company.
Mr. Wallace often goes to different cities and countries to do business with their customers. He is usually very busy. He has got much work to do every day. His office hours begin at 9 o’clock. Mr. Wallace looks through newspapers and journals in the morning. He is interested in the latest political and business events. He usually receives much mail: letters, cables, and telexes.
Mr. Wallace has got many offers and enquiries on his desk. He reads orders for the equipment of his company. They sell new models of chemical equipment to foreign companies. Mr. Wallace often speaks on the phone with their customers. He makes appointments on the phone with Belarusian and British businessmen for the following day. They are interested in the catalogues and quotations for different goods. Mr. Wallace usually has dinner at 2 o’clock. After dinner, together with the inspectors, he often goes to plants in and outside the city. But sometimes he stays in the office and discusses business matters with the engineers or the director.
During the day Mr. Wallace meets Belarusian and British businessmen and makes contracts with them. They discuss prices for different goods, terms of payment, shipment and delivery. Sometimes he discusses business matters on the phone.
Mr. Wallace finishes his work at 6 o’clock in the evening. He usually comes home at 7 o’clock. He has supper together with his family and then after supper they go to their comfortable sitting-room. Mr. Wallace likes to be at home together with his family. They usually watch TV, read newspapers, journals, magazines and discuss their future plans.
Our Institute
I am a first-year student of the Correspondence Faculty at the Manager’s Training Institute.
Our Institute is one of the youngest institutions of higher education in Belarus. It was founded in 1992. At present there are only two faculties at our Institute: the Foreign Economic Activity and Enterprise Faculty and the Correspondence Faculty, but I think it will turn into one of the largest institutions of our country. Our Institute prepares specialists of such specialities as: management in commerce, construction, marketing, services, tourism, interpreters-readers. Our students acquire/get deep knowledge in different fields of national economy: internal trade, foreign trade, services, tourism, etc (et cetera).
Our Institute course lasts 6 years. The academic year begins on the first of September and ends in June. It is divided into two terms: winter term and summer term. The term is divided between theoretical and practical work: we have a few weeks of lectures followed by seminars. Twice a year (in January and June) we have end-of-term credits and exams.
Students should work hard during the academic year. They must attend lectures and tutorials, mustn’t miss seminars and practice. They must take and pass examinations and credit tests in time.
It is interesting to study at our Institute. We study such subjects as: foreign languages, history, economic theory, philosophy, mathematics, marketing, management and others. We have well-equipped laboratories: computer classes, a special laboratory for foreign languages with video- and tape-recorders.
At English lessons we learn English words, conversational phrases and dialogues by heart, read and translate easy texts, do exercises, write dictations. We sometimes work in the language laboratory listening to the recorded tapes, doing laboratory works, watching films on TV in foreign languages.
From lesson to lesson we improve our knowledge, learn more and more new words, grammatical structures and put them into practice of speaking. We enjoy our English classes and prepare carefully for them.
Highly qualified teachers, professors, assistant-professors work at our Institute. As to me I do well because I want to become a good specialist, to get a well-paid and interesting job afterwards.
Travelling by Air
It’s true that travelling is necessary for all of us, because it keeps us from growing stale, old and fat; it develops our imagination and enriches our outlook; it gives us that movement and change which are necessary to our life. Travelling gives us a chance to learn new things.
One of the aims of the travelling is to go in search of beauty, adventures. The beauty spots of the world are magnets, which attract millions of tourists year after year.
Frequent travelling to other countries is also very valuable, because, first of all, it’s the best insurance against war. If you have stayed in the homes of other people you will have the greatest antipathy for fighting against them.
Travelling gives you a chance of getting acquainted with other people, of making friends with them, of learning their customs and traditions, their character and their way of living. By communication we find out different views and opinions and it gives us new habits and new ideas.
If a person travels a lot, he has the greatest joy of coming home again. If you don’t travel and stay at home all the time you see its imperfections, but if you travel a lot you turn your thoughts home with longing and affection, where everything is familiar. So, the traveller, besides the delight of travel, has the warmest feeling of returning home. “East or West home is best”.
There are a lot of means of travelling. People travel by plane, by train, by ship, by car or on foot. All means of travel have their advantages and disadvantages. And people choose one according to their plans and destinations.
You can travel by air and save your time but not money. You can travel by train and combine work with pleasure. You can travel by sea and have a wonderful time and relax.
Statistics show that air travel is as safe as travelling by train. An air crash on our airlines is as rare nowadays as an accident on the railways. There are even more road casualties per day than air deaths per year. It’s much more dangerous to travel by car or walk across a street. The progress that has been made towards safe all weather flying is really great. At the airport of today nothing is left to chance. Before the plane takes off the weatherman briefs the pilot on the weather. Long distances can now be covered by modern passenger airplanes non-stop without landing to refuel. Besides, air travel does save the time.
In fact, it is the quickest method of travelling which will take you in no time at all to any place you wish. You should not trouble of changing. There is none of the dust and dirt of a railway or car journey. Your luggage is taken care of.
Flying is a thrilling thing. Flying over you can enjoy wonderful scenery beneath you. The airhostess offers you some drink, chewing gum, a cup of coffee or tea, remedy for airsickness.
However, flying is very expensive and not everyone can afford it, especially old-aged people, students, people with small salaries. Sometimes flights are put off or cancelled. The only thing is to wait tolerantly and ask Heavens. A lot of people hate travelling by air. They have to go through airport formalities. Passengers are requested to arrive at the airport in two hours. They must register their tickets and their luggage. Their luggage mustn’t be overweight, not more than 20 kilogrammes, if they travel economy class. There is also a danger of hijacking. The plane may hit an air pocket and start to rock, some of the passengers may feel uncomfortable or airsick and ask the stewardess for some remedy.
Anyway, people travelled, travel and will travel by air. On the whole, they have a favourable impression on their flying on board by plane.
TRAVELLING. At the Customs
Nowadays people travel a lot either on business or for pleasure. At the airport when crossing the border you must go through the customs and passport control.
First you go to the check-in desk where they weigh your luggage. Usually you are permitted twenty kilos, but if your bags weigh more, you may have to pay excess baggage (= you pay extra). The airline representative checks your ticket and gives you a boarding card for the plane with your seat number on it. Then you go through passport control where an official checks your passport, the customs where you are asked to make a declaration and into the departure lounge. Here, you can also buy things in the duty-free, e.g. perfume, alcohol and cigarettes. About half an hour or forty minutes before take-off, you are told to go to a gate number, e.g. gate fourteen, where you wait before you get on the plane. When you board (= get on) the plane, you find your seat. If you have hand luggage, you can put it under your seat or in the overhead locker above your seat.
The plane then taxis (= moves slowly) towards the runway, and when it has permission to take off, it accelerates along the runway and takes off.
When the plane lands (= arrives on the ground), you have to wait for it to stop (= come to a halt). When the doors are open, you get off the plane and walk through the terminal building and go to the baggage reclaim where you collect your luggage. You then pass through customs (green = nothing to declare; red = goods to declare; blue = European Union citizens).
The immigration officer asks you about the purpose of your visit and checks your passport and viza. If your documents are in order you go through the customs.
Every country has its own customs regulations, which stipulate what articles are liable to duty and what are duty-free. Sometimes an article which falls under customs restrictions and which is liable to duty is allowed to be brought duty-free if you do not exceed a certain fixed quota. These quotas are listed in a duty-free quota list.
Customs restrictions also include a prohibited articles list. This is a list of items which may not be brought into a country or taken out of it. An official paper from the authorities giving permission to take items out of a country is known as an import or export license.
If you have any item, which comes under customs restrictions, you are asked to declare it. The declaration is made either orally or in writing on a special form. As a rule, personal things are duty-free. If you have only your personal things in your suitcase, it is not necessary to open it.
The customs officer marks your luggage and wishes you a good trip.
The formalities at the customs-house usually take some time. Only after passing through the customs you may realize the journey.
If you are lucky, you can then get a bus, taxi or train to the centre of town without waiting too long. You can also hire a car (= rent a car) at most airports.
Travelling by Train
Travel is extremely important nowadays. Two hundred years ago most people never traveled further than a few kilometres. Whenever they traveled they walked, or went by carriage, or on horseback. But in the last quarter of the twentieth century people traveled a lot. Many people travel 50 or 100 kilometres daily by public transport, or private car. Millions of people travel long distances abroad on business trips or for holidays every year. Even a housewife who is going shopping may travel twenty kilometres.
For most people speed is a very important factor when they are traveling. They want to reach their destination as quickly as possible. There are now planes that can cross the Atlantic in just over three hours.
Other people prefer comfort to speed. They like to relax during the journey and enjoy themselves as much as possible.
For almost everyone safety is the most important factor. For example, a lot of people never fly because they believe it is dangerous. In fact, it is probably much more dangerous to travel by car or to walk across a street.