Упражнение 2. Раскройте скобки, употребляя глаголы в Past Simple или Past Continuous. I (to go) to the cinema when they met me. I (to learn) words when mother came home. We (to go) to the cinema yesterday. My parents (to work) in the garden from five till eight yesterday. My cousins are fond of reading. They (to read) the whole evening yesterday. The child (to do) their lessons at six o’clock yesterday. She (not to play) the piano yesterday. She (to write) a letter to my friend. I (not to play) the piano at four o’clock yesterday. I (to read) a book. The children (not to sleep) when father came home. They (to do) his homework. We (to work) in the garden yesterday. When we (to go) to school the day before yesterday, we met Mike and Pete. They (to talk) and (to eat) an ice-cream. Why you (to cry) when I saw you yesterday? My parents (give) me money and I (spend) it all in one day.

went

learnt

went

working

read

did

doesn't playing wrote

don't playing read

don't sleept did

worked

went talking eating

cryed

gave spent

N the painting “Girl with peaches” (the famous portrait of Vera Mamontova by Russian artist Valentin Serov) we can see a girl in a light pink dress, sitting at the table. The girl is about twelve years old.

She is dark-skinned and there is bright blush on her cheeks. She has got thick dark hair, which is a bit tousled. The girl has got a pretty roundish face. Her eyebrows are dark and thick. She has got big brown eyes.

The girl is sitting in a light room. I think it is a dining room. Behind the girl there is a big window in a white wooden frame. Through the window we can see some leaves of the trees in the garden. The leaves are light green and yellow. The walls in the room are white. There is a big white porcelain plate on the wall next to the window with a beautiful blue pattern on it. Behind the girl we can also see a statuette of a soldier.

There are some dark brown wooden chairs in the room and a small table beside the window. The big table, at which the girl is sitting, is covered with a white tablecloth.

The girl is holding a big yellow peach in her hands. On the table in front of the girl there are three more peaches. There are also some dry maple leaves and a small knife.

The first problem in my personal rating is absence of freedom of choice. What does it mean? For example, if an adult person doesn’t want to work as a teacher, he can try hand in something else. If he doesn’t like working in this particular company, nobody will make him do that. Yes, sometimes adult people have to do boring and unpleasant work, but, firstly, it’s their own choice, and, secondly, they get money for this. As for pupils at school, they cannot choose what subjects to study. They cannot choose teachers as well. They just have to do what everyone does. And that is not fair. For instance, I know for sure that I will never need Geometry in my life. I am going to be an interpreter or a tour guide, and dedicate my life to travelling and communicating with people. I don’t consider myself to be stupid, but I really can’t cope with all these figures, theorems and integrals – I just have no gift for Mathematics. And I don’t understand why on earth I should waste time and efforts on this useless stuff! It is commonly believed that schoolchildren are too small to choose, because they don’t know what subjects they will need in future. Yes, I agree that they are too small in primary school, but we, tenth-graders are old enough to make a choice. However, I will have to pass a Unified State Exam on Math, which is a compulsory subject, and it’s more than likely that I will spoil my school-leaving certificate with a bad mark.