UK test 7

1. Stonehenge was built ________.

a) around 2000 BC b) in 4000 AD c) in 2000 AD

2. Stratford-upon-Avon is a birthplace of ________.

a) Walter Scott b) George G. Byron c) W. Shakespeare

3. Oxford University was founded in ________.

a) the 10th century b) the 12th century c) the 13th century

4. Cambridge University was founded ________.

a) in the same century as Oxford University

b) earlier than Oxford

c) later than Oxford

5. The Lake District is situated ________.

a) in the north-east b) in the south-west c) north-west of England

6. The Lake District is ________.

a) boring b) not exciting c) surprisingly beautiful

7. Windsor Castle is ________.

a) in the mountains b) on the River Thames c) on the plain

8. Windsor Castle is a comfortable place to relax for ________.

a) the Prime Minister b) tourists c) the Queen and her family

Knowledge is a city, to the building

of which every human being brought

a stone.

Emerson, P. R. W. (1803-1882)

1. UK CULTURE

Great Britain has produced a galaxy of outstanding people in a variety of fields.

Music and musicians. The Britons are very fond of music, and it is quite natural that concerts of the leading symphony orchestras, numerous folk groups and pop music are very popular. Rock and pop music is extremely popular, especially among younger people. In the 60s and 70s, groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd became very popular and successful. Some of the more recent rock groups are Eurhythmics, Dire Straits, and Black Sabbath.

One of the most popular contemporary musicians and composers is Andrew Lloyd Webber. The musicals and rock operas by A. L. Webber, such as The Phantom of the Opera and Cats, have been a great success both in Britain and overseas. In classical music, the most famous is Benjamin Britten.

Among London's theatres, the most famous is Covent Garden, now called the Royal Opera. Another famous old theatre, the Old Vic, is now occupied by the National Theatre Company. The Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park is well-known for its performances of Shakespeare's plays.

Concerts are held in the Royal Festival Hall, which has seats for more than three thousand people, and in the Albert Hall, with seven thousand seats, as well as in many other concert halls all over London. Foreign theatre companies, ballet companies and singers often give performances in London's theatres and concert halls.

Literature. The greatest playwright and poet of all time is certainly William Shakespeare (1564-1616) born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His most famous plays include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and Twelfth Night. He wrote poetry, especially the Sonnets and worked as an actor at the Globe Theatre in London.

Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832) was a Scottish writer and poet, famous for his stories of Scottish life, including several based on historical characters.

Swift Jonathan (1667-1745).Irish poet and satirist, best known for his Gulliver’s Travels (1726), a satire on people and political institutions which has also appealed to generations of children and adults as an adventure story.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870), a novelist. Dickens used his novels to identify and address many problems of the nineteenth century, such as child abuse, unfair labour practices, unjustices in the legal system, and weaknesses in education. Some of his most popular novels are David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Great Expectations.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)was an English novelist, short-story writer and poet. He is most widely known for his works for children, especially the ''Jungle Book''. Many of Kipling's stories and novels reflect his experiences in India and convey the importance of duty and unselfishness. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907.

Lord Byron, George Gordon (1788-1824), is called ''The Great Romantic''. He was talented and handsome, noble and brave. His most famous masterpiece is Don Juan. He was also engaged in politics and died in Greece while fighting against the Turks for Greek independence.

Robert Burns (1759-1796), a national Scottish poet. His fame rests on his brilliant poems and songs in which he described joys, sorrows and life of ordinary people who loved him for his generosity and kindness of his nature, patriotism and truthfulness.

Among other best known British writers are Agatha Christie (1890-1976), an author of detective stories; James Hardy Chase (1906-1985), William Thackeray (Vanity Fair), J.R.R. Tolkien ( The Lord of the Rings ), J. Rowling (Harry Potter books), Bernard Shaw (The Pygmalion), Lewis Carroll, a mathematician and the author of Alice in Wonderland; Daniel Defo (Robinson Crusoe); Arthur Conan Doyle (The Hound of the Baskervilles); Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice, Sence and Sensibility), Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray), R. Stevenson (Treasure Island), Ian Fleming, the author of internationally famous James Bond spy novels.

Visual Art. The greatest English painters of the 18th century are W. Hogarth, J. Constable ( a landscape painter), W. Turner (a watercolour master), T. Gainsborough (a lyrical painter and a portrait painter). Sir Christopher Wren, an architect, designed many beautiful churches (St. Paul's is one of them), palaces and fine houses.