Robert burns

1. Robert was born on 25 January 1759, in Alloway, Scotland, the eldest of seven children.

2. Robert got very little education, since he so often had to help with the heavy work of farming, but he read a great deal. He wrote his first poem, «O Once I Loved,» in 1774, and after that there was no stopping him.

3. Once he met a sailor named Richard Brown who read Robert’s poetry and encouraged him to publish it. Robert agreed, mainly because he had hopes that the royalties would pay his way to Jamaica, where he hoped to make his fortune. The book, printed in 1786, was so successful that Robert decided he could make his fortune right where he was. This book, known as the Kilmarnock Edition, featured mainly satiric and moral poems, not the lyrics he is most known for, but they were both vivid and innovative.

4. He pioneered a new form of satire, combining a traditional Scottish verse form with the contrasting images and ironic rhymes used by the English satirist Alexander Pope.

5. Over the next few years, Robert turned his attention to gathering and writing of Scottish songs. He’d often put his own poems to music he composed, or to traditional Scottish airs, and at this point in time, there was quite a market for that. He edited and contributed to several volumes. He finally hit financial security around 1790, and it was about this time that he started writing what many call his greatest poem, Tam O’Shanter. But just two years later, his health, which had never been great, began to decline further. The fits of depression which had plagued him most of his life got worse. His really good poems became few. He finally died on 21 July 1796 at Dumfries.

VII. Ответьте на следующие вопросы и будьте готовы к устной беседе с преподавателем о Вас, Вашей семье и работе.

1. What is your name?

2. Where are you from? / Where do you live?

3. When do you celebrate your birthday?

4. What are you? / What is your profession?

5. When did you make your professional choice?

6. What sports do you like?

7. Do you study by correspondence?

8. What do you need the university education for?

9. Is it easy for you to combine work with studies?

10. Have you got a family of your own? Describe your family.

ВАРИАНТ 4

I. Переведите следующие предложения на русский язык. Определите по грамматическим признакам какой частью речи являются слова, оформленные окончанием -s и какую функцию это окончание выполняет, т.е. служит ли оно

а) показателем 3-го лица единственного числа глагола в Present Indefinite (Simple);

б) признаком множественного числа имени существительного;