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Education after 16 is voluntary in United Kingdom. Students, who live in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland must take at the age of 16 the examinations for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). In Scotland students receive the Scottish Certificate of Education. After this exam students can choose to stay on in school or attend colleges of further education.
British universities are self-governing and are guaranteed academic independence. Funding for education and research is provided by funding councils set up by Parliament. The number of universities jumped in 1992 when polytechnics and some other higher education establishments were given the right to become
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universities. By the end of 1994, there were some 90 universities, almost half of them former polytechnics, including the Open University.
Many of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge universities were founded in the 12th and 13th centuries. All other universities in Britain were founded in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Open University, based in Milton Keynes, England, was founded in 1969. It uses extension techniques of correspondence courses, television and radio programmes, and video cassettes, supported by local study centres and summer schools, to provide higher education opportunities to a wide variety of people.
During the 1960s there was a significant increase in the number of new universities, reflecting a fast growth in student numbers. During the 1980s, an expansion in higher education places led to another large jump in student numbers. In the 1992-1993 academic year there were more than 1.4 million students in full or part-time higher education in Great Britain, compared with just under 850,000 a decade earlier. About one quarter of young people are in higher education in England, Wales, and Scotland; one third in Northern Ireland. About 90 per cent of students get state grants to cover tuition fees and living costs.
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The size of the grant is determined by parents income. Since the late 1980s, however, grants have been frozen; students can apply for a student loan.
Text 4: «THE UNITED STATES Of AMERICA»
The United States of America is the 4th largest country in the world after Russia, Canada and China. It occupies the central part of the North American continent.
The United States of America is a federal republic, consisting of 50 states including the states of Alaska and Hawaii. Outlying areas include Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands.
The northern boundary is partly formed by the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River; the southern boundary is partly formed by the Rio Grande. United States also has a sea-border with Russia.
The total area of the United States (including the District of Columbia) is about 9,809,000 sq km.
The country is washed by 3 oceans: the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Pacific. The country has many lakes, with the Great Lakes included. There are also many rivers on the US territory. The longest of them are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Columbia, the Rio Grande and some others. On the US territory there are mountains and lowlands. The highest mountains are the Rocky Mountains, the
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Cordillera and the Sierra Nevada. The highest peak, Mount McKinley, is located in Alaska.
The climate conditions are rather different. The country is rich in natural and mineral resources: oil, gas, iron ore, coal and various metals.
The USA is a highly developed industrial and agricultural country. The main industrial branches are aircraft, rocket, automobile, electronics, radio-engineering and others.
Americans are made up from nearly all races and nations. The country population is over 250 mln. The national symbol of the USA is its national flag «Stars and Stripes», having 50 white stars and 13 white and red stripes on its field, symbolising the number of the original and present day states.
Officially the country comprises 50 states and one District of Columbia. The states differ in size, population and economic development. Each state has its own capital. The capital of the USA is Washington. It is situated in the District of Columbia on the banks of the Potomac river and is named after the 1st US President -George Washington. There are many large cities in the country: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, San-Francisco, Cleveland and some others.
The United States of America is a federal state, headed by the President. According to the US Constitution the powers of the Government are divided into 3 branches: legislative, executive and judicial.
The legislative power belongs to the Congress consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate represents the states while the House of Representatives - the population. The executive power belongs to the President and his Administration (Vice-President and Cabinet of Ministers). The judicial power belongs to the Supreme Court and the system of Federal, state and district courts.
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There are several political parties in the USA, the largest of them are the Republican (symbolised by a donkey) and the Democratic (symbolised by an elephant).
Text 5: "AUSTRALIA"
If you go to Australia it will seem to you rather an upside-down world. The seasons are the other way round. Summer is from December to February, autumn from March to May, winter from June to August, and spring from September to November. New Year is at midsummer, and midwinter is in June. Hot winds blow from the north; cold winds blow from the south. The farther north you go, the hotter it gets.
You will be dazzled with magnificent landscapes and unusual plants. It will seem strange to you that trees lose their bark, not their leaves, and a lot of flowers have no smell. Even stranger than plants are the animals. Many of them are found nowhere else in the world. There live kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, platypi and a lot of rare birds.
Australia is the world's largest island and its smallest continent. People often call Australia the "land down-under" because it lies entirely south of the equator.
Australia is the oldest of all continents. Its mountains are the worn and ancient stumps that were once higher than the Himalayas; its desert sands rose from the waves of the sea millions of years ago and still contain fossils of the marine creatures that formerly swam over them. Its animals are ancient and unique. Its wandering aboriginal tribes still live like the men of the Stone Age.
Australia is the driest continent on earth. The four great deserts of central Australia cover 2,000,000 square kilometres. There are few rivers there. Australian lakes, which look impressive on the map, are usually little more than clay and salt pans.
Australia is the flattest of all continents. Unlike any other continent, it lacks mountains of truly alpine structure and elevation. Its most significant mountain chain is the Great Dividing Range running down most of the east coast. Because of its overall flatness and regular coastline, Australia is often called a "sprawling pancake".
An island continent, Australia was cut off from the rest of the world for millions of years. As a result, it was the last continent to be discovered and settled by Europeans.
Australia is the only continent that is also a country. As a country, it has the sixth largest area in the world after Russia, Canada, China, the United States and Brazil.
Australia is the least populated of the continents. Only 0,3% of the world's population live there. However, Australia is the most urbanized country in the world. Two out of three of its citizens live in the eight largest cities.
The capital of Australia is Canberra.
Text 6: "CANADA"
Canada is the second largest country in the world. It covers the northern part of North America and its total area is 9,975,000 square kilometres. Canada's only neighbour is the USA. The border between the two countries is the longest unguarded border in the world.
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Canada's motto, "From Sea to Sea," is particularly appropriate because the country is bounded by three oceans - the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic. Its vast area includes some of the world's largest lakes and countless smaller ones. One-third of all fresh water on Earth is in Canada.
Canada's name comes from an Indian word kanata, which means "village". The first French settlers used the Indian name for the colony, but the official name was "New France". When the area came under the British rule in 1897, the new country was called the Dominion of Canada, or simply Canada. Canada is a union often provinces and two territories.
Compared with other large countries, Canada has a small population, only about 27,300,000. The country, however, is one of the world's most prosperous. Canadians developed its rich natural resources and, in the process, have achieved a high standard of living.
Canada is a constitutional monarchy. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and Queen Elizabeth II is its official head of state. Although the Queen holds this high position, she doesn't rule. She serves as a symbol of British tradition. Her representative in Canada is the Governor General, whom she appoints on the advice of the Canadian Prime Minister. The Governor's duties are limited to symbolic, mostly ceremonial acts.
The real power belongs to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. The Canadian Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Commons and the Senate.
There are two official languages in the country: English and French. All Canadian children have to learn both French and English at school, but Francophones and Anglophones do not enjoy learning each other's language.
"We have two races, two languages, two systems of religious belief, two sets of laws... two systems of everything," said one Canadian journalist.
There was a time when Quebec Province (its population is 90% French) decided to separate from Canada and form a new country. Fortunately, the movement has waned.
The capital of Canada is Ottawa.
Text 7: "WHAT IS A COMPUTER?"
The term computer is used to describe a device made up of a combination of electronic and electromechanical (part electronic and part mechanical) components. Computer has no intelligence by itself and is referred to as hardware. A computer system is a combination of five elements: Hardware Software
• People Procedures Data/information
When one computer system is set up to communicate with another computer system, connectivity becomes the sixth system element. In other words, the manner in which the various individual systems are connected - for example, by phone lines, microwave transmission, or satellite - is an element of the total computer system.
Software is the term used to describe the instructions that tell the hardware how to perform a task. Without software instructions, the hardware doesn't know what to do. People, however, are the most important component of the computer system: they create the computer software instructions and respond to the procedures that those instructions present.
The basic job of the computer is the processing of information. Computers accept information in the form of instruction called a program and characters called data to perform mathematical and logical operations, and then give the results. The data is raw material while information is organized, processed, refined and useful for decision making. Computer is used to convert data into information. Computer is also used to store information in the digital form.
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Computers
Computer is an electronic device that can receive a program (a set of instructions) and then carry out this program by calculating numerical information.
The modern world of high technology is possible mainly due to the development of the computer. Computers have opened up a new era in manufacturing by means of automation, and they have enhanced modern communication systems.
Personal computers
Personal computers are also called microcomputers or home computer. The most compact are called laptops. They are portable and work on built-in batteries.
Personal computers are designed for use at homes, schools, and offices. At home they can be used for home management (balancing the family finances, for example) and for playing computer games, watching films or listening to music. Schoolchildren can use computers for doing their homework and many schools now have computers for independent learning and computer-literacy studies. In the office personal computers may be used for word processing, bookkeeping, storage and handling of necessary information.
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Personal computers were made possible by two technical innovations in the field of microelectronics: the integrated circuit, or 1С, which was developed in 1959 and the microprocessor that first appeared in 1971. The
1С permitted the miniaturization of computer-memory circuits, and the microprocessor reduced the size of a computer's CPU to the size of a single silicon chip.
Because a CPU calculates, performs logical operations, contains operating instructions, and manages data flows, a complete microcomputer as a separate system was designed and developed in 1974.
In 1981, IBM Company offered its own microcomputer model, the IBM PC that became a necessary tool for almost every business. The PC's use of a 16-bit microprocessor initiated the development of faster and more powerful personal computers, and its use of an operating system that was available to all other computer makers led to a standardisation of the industry.
In the mid-1980s, a number of other developments were especially important for the growth of personal computers. One of these was the introduction of a powerful 32-bit CPU capable of running advanced operating systems at high speeds.
Another innovation was the use of conventional operating systems, such as UNIX, OS/2 and Windows. The Apple Macintosh computers were the first to allow the user to select icons - graphic symbols of computer functions - from a display screen instead of typing commands. New voice-controlled systems are now available, and users are able to use the words and syntax of spoken language to operate their personal computers.
