ANGLIČTINA – VŠEOBECNÁ TÉMATA
VŠEOBECNÁ TÉMATA ANGLIČTINY
1) Britská literatura
2) Americká literatura
3) Příroda
4) Současné umění
5) Praha a její monumenty
6) Historie umění
7) Drama
8) Filmy
9) Hudba
10) Život mladých lidí
11) Cestování
12) Evropská unie
13) Architektura
14) Výběr profese
15) Hobby
16) Velké osobnosti ČR
17) Velké osobnosti USA a VB
18) Životní prostředí
19) Vesmír a UFO
20) Zeměpis ČR a anglicky mluvících zemí
21) Sport a sportovní události
22) Umělecké školy
23) Způsoby komunikace
24) Svátky a zvyky ČR a anglicky mluvících zemí
25) Život se zvířaty
Otázka č. 1
Britská literatura – British literature
Medieval literature
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340 - 1400) /džefri šóser/
He is considered to be as the father of English poetry, because he wrote in English rather than in
French or Latin. His Canterbury Tales records the imagined conversation of pilgrims as they
journeyed from London to Canterbury.
Renaissance and Reformation
The Renaissance in England culminated during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (ruled 1558 - 1603), a
period of prosperity, successful sea voyages, and cultural activities. The Reformation of the Church in
England from Catholic to Protestant was begun by Elizabeths father, King Henry VIII in the 1530s.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) /wiliem šejkspír/
He was the worlds greatest playwrighter, wrote historical plays about Kings of England (Richard II,
Henry V), comedies (Twelfth Night, As You Like It), tragedies (Romeo and Juliet, Julius
Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear) in the form of sonnets. Many well – known English sayings
come from Shakespeares work, and he had a great influence on the English language.
The English Revolution and Restoration
In 1640 began The Civil War between the Kings army and Oliver Cromwells Parliamentary forces.
John Milton (1608 - 1674) /džon miltn/
He is one of the greatest poets and is celebrated for his powerful, rhetoric poetry and is famous
mainly for his epic poem Paradise Lost. Milton published also pamphlets defending civil and religious
rights.
18th century literature
We can called this time period as the “Age of Reason”, because all branches of science were
developed and resulted in great technical progress.
Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)/džonatan svift/
He uses his black humor and irony in his satirical pamphlets. His most famous work is Gullivers
Travels, a satire on British society.
Daniel Dafoe (1660 - 1731) /Daniel dafó/
He is remembered for his book Robinson Crusoe, which is still one of the most popular books among
children. In Moll Flanders, he gives a realistic picture of the life of a prostitute in London.
Romantic literature
Literature at the end of the 18th century turned again to sentiments, traditions, and exotic settings.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824) /džorž gordon, lord bayern/
Otázka č. 1
He was represents the so–called “Revolutionary Romantics”. His work is concerned with the freedom
of the individual as well as nations.
Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832) /sir valtr skot/
He took for his novels themes from Scottish history (Waverly) and from English history (Ivanhoe).
Themes of horror and mystery appeared in prose called “Gothic novels”.
Mary Shelley (1797 - 1851) /meri šeli/
She wrote Frankenstein and is the most well–known of the Gothic novels.
Victorian novels
In this period writers wrote about English society.
Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) /čárls dikens/
He wrote for example Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.
20th century
Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963)
He is known for his religious themes. He wrote Bus to the heaven.
Life of William Shakespeare
He is dominant person of the English drama. William Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest of
all dramatists in the world. His work reflected an image of human unity and a love of people and
nature. He was born in Stratford. William attended the local grammar school. When he was 18, he
married eight years older Ann. He came in London and joined a group of actors. Then he bought his
own theatre and named it the Globe Theatre. At Shakespeares time there were no actresses and the
man played also the womans roles. Also one actor played more then one role. At first Shakespeare
helped to adapt or rewrite older plays but later he started to write his own plays and he was very
successful. One day during a performance, the Globe Theatre was destroyed by the fire. After his
sons death, Shakespeare went back to Stratford and he was living a quiet life with his family. He died
in 1616 on the same day as he was born. William Shakespeare is buried at local church with his wife
and other members of his family.
Romeo and Juliet – This drama is about the unhappy love and death and it is the one of the most
famous plays. It is a story about two young people who love each other. The only obstacle to their
love is the hatred between their families: The Capulets and Montagues. The story takes place in
Verona. The end is tragic, Romeo and Juliet die.
Otázka č. 2
Americká literatura – American literature
American Literature began in the year 1608, when John Smith /džon smif/ wrote A true Relation,
telling about the newly discovered world. Then graduates of Oxford and Cambridge wrote factual,
scientific reports the Indians, strange plants and animals.
Revolution in writing
In the 18th century almost every politician, newspaper, and citizen had a strong opinion about
whether the colonies should be freed from British rule. Some of the famous writers this time are
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and a philosopher-writer who later served as President of the
United States, Thomas Jefferson.
American literature of the 19th century
After the American Revolution, American literature developed more strongly in the area of fiction.
Washington Irving (1783 - 1859) /vošinktn irvink/ specialized in folk tales about Dutch settlers in
New York state. One of his most famous is The Legend of Sleepy Hallow, a very scary (but funny)
story for Halloween.
Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) /valt vitman/ His essays, poems and fiction are considered to be as an
American reflection of European Romanticism. He was pioneer of new poetry in America.
Edgar Alan Poe (1809 - 1849) /edgar alan pou/ wrote short stories about crimes, mysteries, and
horror. Poe was journalist and edited several American magazines in which he publisher his literary
critique and some of his short stories. He invented a new literary form: the detective story.
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) /emily dikinsn/ His poems are about love, nature, religious faith and
death.
Modern times: the 20th century
American writers in the 20th century are free to write about any subject, in any style.
This time is represented by Mark Twein (1835 - 1910) /mark tvejn/, an American humorist of worldwide popularity. The son of a poor father. He come from the South and he worked as a steamboat
pilot on the Mississippi river and his best books are on the base of his own experience along the river
Mississippi. Every child enjoys reading Tom Sawyer, a series of wild adventures of Tom and his
friend Huck. In Hackleberry Finn, Huck himself is the principal hero and his friend is Jim. But Twain
also wrote books that took inspiration from English history.
Ernest Hemingeay (1899 - 1961) /ernest hemingvej/ – was awarded Nobel Prize for his famous
book The Old Man and the Sea. After WWI Hemingway became a journalist. Among his best novels
belong A Farewell to Arms – it is about WWI. It is a love story about of an American boy and an
English nurse.
Otázka č. 3, 18
Životní prostředí, příroda - Environment, Nature

We can say, that nature and environment are everything, what man didn‘t do. We can divide
nature into two parts. All animal and plants belong to the first part – living nature. All mountains,
rivers, etc. belong to the second part – unliving nature.

The environment is all around us. Is consist of the flora, fauna, the water, the air, and the
earth. And so, we can say, that opaque of the nature is our civilization. However, human don’t always
care for the environment as they should. So our planet has many ecological problems. People want
bigger houses, better cars, enough food and a lot of entertainment and the whole nature have to pay
for it.

Among big ecological problems in our planet belong – for example pollution of air or water,
global warming, waste, Ozone hole, acid rains, cutting rainforest or population growth.

We consume a lot of nature resources and therefore we make a lot of garbage. And so, we
have a very big problem where we will put all of this garbage? But where we will put all of this
garbage? In the Ocean? Yes, Ocean is very big but Ocean is of course our environment! And it is very
danger give this waste to the Ocean. Some people say that in future the Moon will be our big garbage
dump. I think that this is possible because there will be no more room on our Earth!

How I said before, seas and oceans are very important for human life. There live many kinds
of animals. Sea’s fish are very important because they are important part of human food. The most
fish consume China, Russia and Japanesse. Water from the sea is for us very important. This water
contains mineralsand. In the bottom under the land is also oil and gas.

Another problem is global warming. Many scientists believe that certain kinds of air pollution
made the hole in the ozone layer. If the hole gets bigger it is supposed that the Earth will get warmer
and the oceans will rise.

The Amazon forest is very important for the future of the world. This area contains one third
of the worlďs trees and these forest are cutted, because people need the land and they have money
from the trees. If more of the Amazong forest cut down, the air that we breathe will lose some of iťs
oxygen. It means that in the air will be more carbon dioxide too. The temperature will rise, the ice will
melt, the sea level will rise, and hundreds of coastal cities will be flooded.

Also Czech Republic has its own problems. Probably the worst problem is air pollution. People
burn brown coal which is very dirty. Factories fill the air with smelly and dangerous smoke. In parts of
country especially in the North Bohemia, Prague and around Ostrava people have many health
problems.

Another big problem is the destruction of nature. Industry hed destroyed many forest. This
problem is called deforestation. People always need more land, factories, paper or wood.

We have to protect our nature and environment. We can recycle paper, iron or plastics, we
can save energy or water too. We protect many animals in Czech Republic, for example – panda,
frogs, elephants or tiger in the world.
Otázka č. 4
Současné umění – Contemporary art

With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the l9th century, new art
styles and movements appeared and disappeared, reflecting changes in our society.

The history of modern art started with Impressionism. It all began in Paris as a reaction to
a very formal style of painting. The exhibition of Edouard Manet in 1863 in the Salon caused a
scandal. It can be considered as the beginning of Impressionism.
The Impressionist painters preferred to paint outside and studied the effect of light on objects. Their
preferred subjects were landscapes and scenes from daily life. The best known names in Impressionist
painting are Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro and Pierre Auguste Renoir
in France and Alfred Sisley in England.

The word Fauvism comes from the French word fauve, which means "wild animals". Strong
and vivid colors are typical for this style. Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh had carried
Impressionism to its limits by using expressive colors. Fauvism went one step further in using
simplified designs in combination with an "orgy of pure colors" as it was characterized by their critics.
The first exhibition by Fauvist artists took place in 1905. The best-known fauve artists are Henri
Matisse, Andre Deraín, Maurice de Vlaminch, Kees van Dongen and Raoul Dufy.

Expressionism was some kind of a German modern art version of Fauvism. The
expressionist movement was organized in two groups of German painters. One was called Die Brücke,
literally meaning The Bridge. The group was located in Dresden with the artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner,
Erich Heckel, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, Otto Mueller and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.
The second Expressionist group of artists was centered in Munch and is known by the name Der Blaue
Reiter, meaning The Blue Rider. The famous names are Franz Marc, August Macke, Gabriele Miinter,
Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Alexei Yavlensky.

Art Nouveau came from France and means New Art. It is characterized by its highly
decorative style and by the dedication to natural forms. Art Nouveau was popular from about 1880 to
1910 and was an International art movement, because it covered all forms of art - architecture,
furniture, jewelry, glass and illustration.
Fine examples of Art Nouveau are the subway entrances in Paris or the posters by Alphonse Mucha. A
famous painter is Gustav Klimt. This Art had the philosophical roots in high quality handicraft; Art
Nouveau was nothing for mass production.
Art Deco was primarily a design style, popular in the 1920s and 1930s. The Art Deco movement can
be considered as the follow-up style on Art Nouveau - more simplified and closer to mass production.
The Art Deco movement was dominant in fashion, furniture, jewelry, textiles, architecture, commercial
printmaking and interior decoration. The Chrysler building in New York (1930) is an example of Art
Deco style in architecture.
Otázka č. 4

Cubism, 'another modern art movement, had a major influence on the development of
modern art. Cubism was initiated by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques in Paris before World War I.
Paul Cezanne, usually categorized as a PostImpressionist, can be considered as their predecessor.
Cubism had strong roots in African tribal art. Everything is reduced to cubes and other geometrical
forms. Other famous artists of this style are Marcel Duchamp or Juan Gris. Cubism paved the way for
abstract art.

Its philosophical "father" of Surrealism was Andre Breton, a French poet and writer who
published the Surrealist guidelines in 1924 in Paris. Surrealism emphasizes the importance of dreams
and the psychological aspect in arts. Surrealism became an important movement in the arts, literature
and in films.
The best-known names are Salvador Dali, Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Duchamp, Max Eunst, Joan Miro,
Yves Tanguy, Rene Margritte and Marc Chagall.

It says that the father of abstract art is Russian-born painter Wassily Kandinsky. Piet
Mondrian is another dominant character in establishing abstract painting. During World War II many
leading artists emigrated to the US, for example Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp and Marc Chagall. And
so, New York became the new center for modern art and abstract painting.

The word Pop Art means Popular Art. The name says it all. The Pop Art movement wanted to
bring art back into the daily life. It was a reaction against abstract painting, which pop artists
considered as too sophisticated and elite. Pop artists' favorite images were objects from every day's.
Typical technology of the Pop Art movement was serigraphy, a photorealistic, mass-production
technique of printmaking. Pop Art influenced media and advertising. Other great names are Jaspar
Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, Georg Segal, Wayne
or James Rosenquist. The Pop Art movement was mainly an American and British art movement.
After Pop Art it was Op Art, a short form for Optical Art. Op Art expressed itself with reduced
geometrical forms - sometimes in black and white contrasts and sometimes with very brilliant colors.
The most prominent artist is Hungarian-born Vasarely.
Otázka č. 5
Praha a její monumenty – Prague and its monuments

Prague is the capital and the biggest city in the Czech Republic. It is situated on the river
Vltava. Prague is often considered as the city lying in the heart of Europe. Others say: „hundredtowered Prague“. The oldest parts of Prague are The Lesser town, The Old town, The New town,
Josefov, Hradčany and Vyšehrad. Prague is also the seat of the president, parliament and goverment.

Prague has a large number of monuments. The most famous are Hradčany, with Prague
Castle. Prague became a Gothic centre of European during the government of the king and emperor
Charles IV who established the New Town and Charles University in 1348.
Prague castle
Prague castle is part of Hradčany and it is considered to be the most voluble monument of the Czech
Republic. Prague Castle was founded in the ninth century and it was the residence of the Czech kings
and our countrys presidents. If you visit Prague Castle you can also see other building of Prague
Castle: St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George Basillica, Lobkowicz Palace, Royal Garden, Belveder
with singing fountain, The Golden Lane Small houses built in Gothic style, Franz Kafka used one
of the houses. Prague Castle offers a beautiful view of The Lesser Quarter, the National Theatre,
the Church of Saint Nicholas and other interesting parts of Prague. We can also see the Petřín
hill with the Petřín observatory tower.
Old Town Square
Among the most frequently visited places in Prague is the Old Town Square where is situated a large
number of monuments. In the middle is a monument to Master Jan Hus by Ladislav Šaloun and at
the edge is Týnský Church. The Old Town Hall was built in the 14th century and in the 15th century
a horological clock was added.
Wenceslals Square
Another frequented place is Wenceslas Square, which is the longest in the country (approximately
750m). In its upper part is the statue of the Czech prince Saint Wenceslas. Nearby is the National
Museum. On Wenceslas square we can find a large quantity of shops, restaurants, banks and currency
exchange offices.
Charles Bridge
The river Vltava flows through Prague, and there are a large number of bridges in Prague. The most
famous and also the most beautiful, is Charles Bridge, which was founded in 1357 by Charles IV
according to plans by Petr Parléř. This Bridge is symbol of Prague and all our country.
Other interesting monuments in Prague are Vyšehrad, Rudolfinum, National Theater, Carolinium or
Bethlem chapel.
Otázka č. 6
Historie umění – History of Art

History of art started in Prehistoric period. We can find many monuments by this time
period in whole world. The cavern’s paintings are typical for this period. The most famous are
paintings at Lascaux. The best known monument of this period is the megalithic ruin known as
Stonehenge. Examples of existence prehistoric art in our country is a little statue, which we known
as Venus of Věstonice.

Egypt is rich on monuments because it was in history very culturally refreshed country and
people believed in many gods and in after-life. These things reflected to the art. The Great
Pyramids of Giza are the place of last rest of pharaohs, and they are the oldest, the biggest and
most exact stone constructions in whole world.

Other countries, which are rich in ancient monuments, are Greece and Italia – their art of
this period is called Antiquity. This period is full of large temples, like in Acropolis. There are many
antiquity theatres, which are built in slope. And large arena Colloseum, which was built for gladiators
matches, stand in Rome.

The Romanesque style originated in the 11th century in Italia and lasted until the 13th
century. The Romanesque style served church for propagation of spiritual ideology and so, church was
the main order of this style. Well-known historical buildings are The Basilica of Saint George in
Prague Castle or Rotunda of st.Martin on Vyšehrad.

After The Romanesque style followed the Gothic. The Gothic Style developed from the 12th
to the 15th century and comes from France. Except castles, cathedrals and churches were built in
these styles stone bridges, houses and town halls. Examples of Gothic architecture are Charles
Bridge, Old Town Hall, Krlštejn and Křivoklát. The building masters were Matyáš of Arras and
Petr Parléř.
After Gothic came Renaissance.

Renaissance began in the 14th century in Italy and this style was between the middle age
and the modern age. The period of Renaissance was cultural movement which brought scientific
revolution and artistic transformation. Artists of this period were universal – for example Leonardo
da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect and inventor. And he became famous with his Mona Lisa
or The Last Supper. A sculptor Michelangelo is author of statue, which is named David and he
painted The Sixtin Chapelle, too.

The Baroque Style lasted from the second half of the 15th to the 18th century. This style is
decorative and ornamental. It says, that it is art of Catholic church. Motives of death and conflicts
Otázka č. 6
between body and soul are typical for this period. Typical architectural monuments are Černínský
palace, Loreta, Church of St.Nicolas in Prague.

Rococo is the final stage of Baroque. It began in 1730 and lasted 40 years. Typical attributes
are that interiors are bright and full of light, decorated with paintings and porcelain with love scenes.
Rococo’s monument is Kinský palace.

The Clasicism appeared in the 18th century. Some attributes are straight lines and light
colours. Tyl theatre is built in this style in our republic.

Neo-styles were appeared in the end of the 19th century. Churches and public buildings
were built – for example National Theatre and National museum.

The art of Noveau Style began in 1895 and lasted to 1905. It’s very decorative style. New
materials came into use like glass, ceramic or metal.
Typical building of this style is Industrial Palace. The famous monuments of this style are Antonio
Gaudí’s constructions in Spain, for example Sagrada Familia or Park Güell. Our best-known
painter of this period is Alfons Mucha with his posters and large series, which is named Slovanská
epopej.
Otázka č. 7
Drama - divadelní/dramatické umění

The plays played in theatres by actors are called drama. It has a form of a dialogue. Actors
picture an action by expression, voice or pantomime.

In fact, the two masks associated with drama with the smiling and frowning faces. There are
both symbols of the masks Thalia and Melpomene. Thalia is the mask of comedy and it has the
smiling face. Melpomene is the mask of tragedy and has the frowning face.

Drama can be divided into 4 categories by its content: tragedy, comedy, farce and cabaret
(revue). We can divide drama also by the form of playing. The main categories are: dramatic play,
musical, ballet, opera, operetta, pantomime, puppet show... If the performance is a play, actors and
actresses recite their roles. If it is an opera, there are singers and soloists who are accompanied by a
chorus and an orchestra conducted by a conductor. If it is a ballet, the roles are played by ballet
dancers and ballet ensemble.

Drama is played in buildings called theatres. The main parts of the theatre are a stage and an
auditorium. These parts are separated by a curtain. The curtain rises at the beginning of the
performance. At the end of the performance the curtain falls down. One of the main parts of the
theatre is a stage. There is scenery. In the auditorium there are rows of stalls. The performance is
divided into acts. Between two acts there is an interval.
British drama
One of the best known English playwrights is William Shakespeare. He is considered to be
the greatest of all dramatics all over the world. He worked in London as an actor and a playwright. He
spend most of his life in Stratford. He died when he was only 52.
Shakespeare's plays were written in not rhyming verse and make up the basis for the English
theatrical tradition. They have been translated into almost all the languages of the world.
William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays but it is not sure if all the plays were written by him. He also
wrote beautiful sonnets. His plays may be divided into:
Comedies, such as As You Like It
Tragedies, such as Romeo and Juliet! Hamlet Macbeth, King Lear, Othello...
Historical plays, such as Henry IV., Richard III., Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra.
William Shakespeare founded the theatre the Globe. A Shakespeare Festival is held every summer in
Stratford.
Another world-known British dramatist is George Bernard Shaw. He lived at the break of
the 19th and 20th century. His most famous play is Pygmalion which became world known in its film
musical version under the title My Fair Lady. G. B. Shaw was awarded Nobel Prize for literature.
Otázka č. 7
Samuel Beckett was born in Ireland but lived and wrote in France. He was a dramatist of the absurd
theatre which represents the Post-war period. He won a Nobel Prize. He had very strong inclination to
Existentialism. His masterpiece is called Waiting for Godot.
Czech drama
The first well-known playwright was probably Josef Kajetán Tyl (19th century) who wrote for
example Strakonický dudák or Fidlovačka. Another’s dramatists were Jiří Voskovec & Jan Werich who
were very popular before WWII and still are. Their plays contained songs composed by Jaroslav Ježek.
Karel Čapek is another famous dramatist. Among his plays belong: Bílá nemoc or RUR. The most
famous playwrights of the communist period were Pavel Kohout and Vaclav Havel (representative of
Czech absurd drama), whose plays were prohibited in the Czechoslovakia but very appreciated
abroad.
Otázka č. 8
Film
 I am quite a big film fan. I like films very much. I like watching good films on TV, but I am not
a television maniac. I think going to the cinema is much better than sitting in front of TV. However, I
visit a cinema hardly ever because it is quite expensive and there are not many good films in cinemas
nowadays. I don't want to spend money to watch an average American commercial film. And I also
think that Czech films will be on TV soon. Moreover we have now a possibility to download films from
the internet. The last film I have seen at the cinema was The Sea Inside. It was a Spanish movie
about the right for the euthanasia. It was awarded the Oscar prize for the year 2004 in the category
"The best movie in a foreign language".
 As I said I like films very much but there are very few films I watched more then once. These
belong among my favorites and these are for example: Pulp Fiction, Brave heart, Magnolia or The
Wall. Pulp Fiction is a film by Quentin Tarrantino about gangster underworld. It has a form of several
stories which are joined together at the end. The movie Magnolia is filmed in similar form. It consists
from 9 stories which mingle. This brilliant drama shows that everything what happens is not a matter
of chance. And everything is possible. Strange things happen all the time! Brave heart is a historical
drama. It is inspired by a real figure of a Scottish hero William Wallace who fought against the English
king. There are lots of heroism, hate, love and bravery in the film. There are also many military
scenes which are very realistic and naturalistic. The director and also the title role player is Mel
Gibson. The Wall is timeless audio-visual film created by the music group Pink Floyd. It is very
depressing. The film is also about war and fanaticism.
 I can't say what genre of films I like to watch. It depends on the momentary mood. If the film
is good, it is not important what genre it is. I like especially films which are non-traditional or which
have some deeper sense. I could say I like sad films more then comedies. Among comedies I like
especially parodies, like the British comedy Life of Brian. I hate stupid American comedies where all
the fun is based on primitive jokes. I also don't like action films where heroes use their force instead
of their brain. I also don't like films where it is clear from the beginning how the film will finish, such
as simply romantic films.
 From Czech films I liked for example: Pelíšky or Musíme si pomáhat. These films are from our
recent history. Pelíšky is from the time before Soviet occupation, Musíme si pomáhat is from the time
of the Protectorate. The director of both films is Jan Hřebejk. There is a very good cast in these films,
starring with Miroslav Donutil, Jaroslav Dušek or Boleslav Polívka. The other films which I liked were
Kolja or Rok d'ábla. From older ones: Spalovač Mrtvol (by Juraj Herz with Rudolf Hrušinský in the title
role), Limonádový Joe or Obecná škola. There are many other good movies in our cinematography.
Otázka č. 9
Music - Hudba

Music is very important for many people. Listening to the music improves our fantasy and our
inner world. I think that there is not anyone in the world who hates music. Every time period has its
own music style. You can learn very much about old times while listen the old songs or music works.

For me, music is very important part of my life. I listen to the music every day. The first thing
that I do when I wake up is that I switch the radio or TV on. I listen to the music while I am learning.
Also when I go anywhere I have to listen to my walkman. I could say that I can not live without
music.

The music that we can listen to is very various. There are plenty of kinds of music. The old
music is called classical music. You can find here very famous composers like Beethoven, Mozart or
Dvorak. The kinds of music works are very various from opera to symphony. Now days this music
style is not so popular, but it has always its listeners.

Another kind of music is jazz and blues. Jazz has its roots in blues. Blues is the music of black
slaves who worked in the fields. It is full of improvisation and it is played by small group of musicians.
Jazz is more sophisticated music. It could be played by an orchestra or like the blues by a small group
of musicians.

Another kind of music that is specific for a special group of people is a country music. It
begun played by cowboys in USA. Now it is listened by a truck drivers and people who like tramping.

Rock’n’roll and rock were the most favorite music couple years ago. It was very hard for elder
people to accept the new and very different music than they were used to listen. It was kind of
protest against the life style. It was something like a revolution in the world of music. The artists
started to play electric instruments, music was very loud and it has a simple rhythm and was easy to
remember. In the beginning the critics said that the rock music was a matter of short time but it stays
and it is listened today as much as it was listened twenty years ago.

In these period is very popular the pop-music. There are many kinds of it. From new kinds of
rock music to techno or hip hop music. It is very hard to classify some groups now because the styles
are very mixed nowadays. The very new kinds of music like techno are played in the discos. The song
has very simple rhythm and use the beat and drums very much.

The most popular group of the 20th century is The Beatles. This music quartet started
performing in Liverpool in 1958. They have novel singing style, long hair and unconventional dress
Otázka č. 9
and they were very popular among teenagers around the world. The group included John Lennon,
Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Lennon and McCartney wrote most of the Beatles’s
songs for examples Yesterday, Yellow submarine etc. To their most popular albums belong: Help!,
The Beatles, Yellow submarine, Let It Be etc. After their managers died, there were conflict among
the members and The Beatles ended.

When you want to listen to more than one group live you should visit some music festival.
There are two main kinds of festival, indoor and outdoor. I like more the outdoor festivals, for
example Mezi ploty. They are organized mainly in summer and they long more days and you can see
many groups there.
Otázka č. 10
Life of young people – Život mladých lidí

If we tell about „young people“, we think sort of people, which fall into the period of life from
the beginning of puberty to the attainment of adulthood. Everybody says that youth is the best time
of our life, that being young means romance, love, new discoveries, but it is also the most difficult
time, because you have to make some very important decisions, which will influence all your future
life.

Things are not easy nowadays even for adults, but for teenagers, who have to find their own
place in society, it's very difficult.

We can say, that the first problem, which appeared in life of young people is smoking. But
usually, this is not problem for young people or children, but their parents see it as a problem.
Teenagers don’t feel smoking ill-effects, but they see in it part of their image. And then, when they
are older and they needn’t to care of their image too much, cigarettes help them to fight with stress.

Other problems, bigger than smoking, are alcohol and drugs. There can appear cruel
dependence, which is necessary to heal, there became big problem with money, because cost of
drugs is too expensive. Usually, teenagers started with it in similar reason like with smoking, but there
are some horrible cases, when teenagers run out of reality inside of their family to drugs. There are
many problems, which can appear in family. Many various examples we can see in festival One World
every year.

For this last reason, many teenagers run from their home. There exist some global
problems, which appeared in whole world. One of them is choosing future occupation. If they
choose occupation, which they enjoy, there is usually problem with job, because in many professions,
they must have 2 years or more praxis and so, many young people don’t have job in their field of
study or they stayed as unemployed.

Other big problem is housing. Many young people don’t have parents, which they can help
them with new housing and young people don’t have money to provide their own housing.

And last problem, what I will speak about, is AIDS. It was big problem during the 80th years,
when HIV virus appeared.
Otázka č. 11
Traveling – Cestování

Traveling is a part of life of each of us. It is mostly our hobby. We can find new places, new
culture, meet new people. A lot of people travel for their holiday for example to the see or to the
mountains. Some people travel abroad to learn new language or to earn some money for example AU
PAIR. Some people travel far away from their home because of starting new life. But there are many
other reasons for traveling. Probably the most common reason is tourism. People have always been
curious about far-away places and cultures and traveling is really the only way to experience these
different environments. Traveling is not limited to any age group. If you travel abroad you must have
all the necessary documents like a passport and a visa to travel to a specific country. You will also
need to exchange some money into the local currency of the country where you are traveling.

But traveling has some disadvantages too. It’s dangerous, because we can meet bad people,
we can get lost, be murdered, money can be stolen. And we can get some strange diseases.

We can travel in many ways. The simplest way would be to go everywhere on foot. We don’t
need to worry about missing the bus, running out of gas, and our car breaking down or getting into a
car accident. We can even get to places that we could never reach by car. When we’re tired, we can
simply sit down, rest and have a snack. It’s the cheapest kind of traveling, it’s healthy, keeps you fit,
and improves your condition. It’s proper for short distances and very dangerous if you travel alone.

Another possibility for our traveling is to go by car. Almost every family today owns a car.
Traveling by this means of transportation is quite comfortable, because car can take us relatively
quickly to wherever we want to go. But if everyone travels by car, it would be very bad for our
environment.

Another popular means of transportation is the bus. Traveling by bus may sometimes be a
little uncomfortable. It’s relatively fast, cheap, but sometimes dirty, there is no privacy, but we can get
nearly everywhere.

If we want more privacy, something more comfortable and less dangerous than bus we can
go by train. But we can’t get everywhere and in our republic it is expensive and carriages are dirty.

Hitch-hiking is a very special type of traveling. Mostly it’s used by young people who are not
afraid of taking a risk. It’s cheap, but very dangerous.
Otázka č. 11

Flying by plane is another way how to travel. It is comfortable for long distances, but it’s more
expensive than bus or car.

And at the end, if we are romantic people we can use a boat or yacht. It is slower, but very
interesting, because we need water for traveling.

We must decide if we travel alone or with the travel agency. Advantages for own holiday are
that we can do own program. We can do what we want. But traveling with the agency has some
advantages too.
Otázka č. 12
The European Union – Evropská unie

On May 1, 2004, the Czech Republic joined the European Union and became one of the 27
member countries.

The European continent went through many battles, wars and revolutions during the last
centuries. Millions of people died because of their belief in Got or because of the aggressive plans of
their kings, emperors or leaders. The idea of a united Europe was only a dream for a long time. It
took centuries for this dream to come true, although many famous men spoke about it in the past as
a great opportunity for keeping the peace. Our king George from Poděbrady has also dream of united
European.

Six countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – made the
first step by creating a common market for coal and steel in 1952.

In 1973 Denmark, Ireland and the UK joined the Community which had new social, regional
and environmental priorities.

In 1981 Greece joined, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986. Austria, Finland and Sweden
became members in 1995.

On May 1, 2004, ten more countries entered this large European family. They are Cyprus, the
Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

And in this year Bulgaria and Rumania entered.

At the moment, 27 countries, with around 600 million people belong to the European Union
which respects the freedom and identity of all its member countries.
European institution
All decisions are made by democratic institutions: the European Council, the European
Parliament, the European Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors.
The European Flag
Since 1986 all European institutions have used the same flag as the official emblem of the EU.
A circle of twelve stars on a blue background represents solidarity and unit among the peoples of
Europe. The number of stars which remain twelve is symbolic and has nothing to do with the number
of member countries.
The European Anthem
In 1985 Beethovens “Ode to Joy” from his “Ninth Symphony” was adopted as the official
anthem of the EU. The famous conductor Herbert von Karajan wrote an instrumental arrangement.
And so, without words, in the universal language of music, this anthem expresses the ideals of
freedom, peace and unity. The European Anthem will never replace the national anthems of individual
member countries.
Otázka č. 12
The common Euro
The common currency is the euro. Euro coins and notes replaced the national currencies of 12
member countries on January 1, 2002. Design for the euro common for all countries. On both sides of
the notes there are motifs of the main architectural styles found in Europe.
Europe Day
Europe day is celebrated on 9 May because on 9 May 1950 Robert Schuman, a French
minister, made the “Schuman Declaration” and prepared creating a new organization of European
states.
Otázka č. 13
Architecture – Architektura

History of art started in Prehistoric period. The best known monument of this period is the
megalithic ruin known as Stonehenge.

Egypt is rich on monuments because it was in history very culturally refreshed country and
people believed in many gods and in after-life. These things reflected to the art. The Great
Pyramids of Giza are the place of last rest of pharaohs, and they are the oldest, the biggest and
most exact stone constructions in whole world.

Other countries, which are rich in ancient monuments, are Greece and Italia – their art of
this period is called Antiquity. This period is full of large temples, like in Acropolis. There are many
antiquity theatres, which are built in slope. And large arena Colloseum, which was built for gladiators
matches, stand in Rome.

The Romanesque style originated in the 11th century in Italia and lasted until the 13th
century. The Romanesque style served church for propagation of spiritual ideology and so, church was
the main order of this style. Well-known historical buildings are The Basilica of Saint George in
Prague Castle or Rotunda of st.Martin on Vyšehrad.

After The Romanesque style followed the Gothic. The Gothic Style developed from the 12th
to the 15th century and comes from France. Except castles, cathedrals and churches were built in
these styles stone bridges, houses and town halls. Examples of Gothic architecture are Charles
Bridge, Old Town Hall, Krlštejn and Křivoklát. The building masters were Matyáš of Arras and
Petr Parléř. After Gothic came Renaissance.

Renaissance began in the 14th century in Italy and this style was between the middle age
and the modern age. The period of Renaissance was cultural movement which brought scientific
revolution and artistic transformation. Artists of this period were universal – for example Leonardo
da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect and inventor.

The Baroque Style lasted from the second half of the 15th to the 18th century. This style is
decorative and ornamental. It says that it is art of Catholic Church. Motives of death and conflicts
between body and soul are typical for this period. Typical architectural monuments are Černínský
palace, Loreta, Church of St.Nicolas in Prague.

Rococo is the final stage of Baroque. It began in 1730 and lasted 40 years. Rococo’s
monument is Kinský palace.
Otázka č. 13

The Clasicism appeared in the 18th century. Tyl theatre is built in this style in our republic.

Neo-styles were appeared in the end of the 19th century. Churches and public buildings
were built – for example National Theatre and National museum.

The art of Noveau Style began in 1895 and lasted to 1905. It’s very decorative style. New
materials came into use like glass, ceramic or metal.
Typical building of this style is Industrial Palace. The famous monuments of this style are Antonio
Gaudí’s constructions in Spain, for example Sagrada Familia or Park Güell.
Prague castle
Prague castle is part of Hradčany and it is considered to be the most voluble monument of the Czech
Republic. Prague Castle was founded in the ninth century and it was the residence of the Czech kings
and our countrys presidents. If you visit Prague Castle you can also see other building of Prague
Castle: St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George Basillica, Lobkowicz Palace, Royal Garden, Belveder
with singing fountain, The Golden Lane Small houses built in Gothic style, Franz Kafka used one
of the houses.
Charles Bridge
The river Vltava flows through Prague, and there are a large number of bridges in Prague. The most
famous and also the most beautiful, is Charles Bridge, which was founded in 1357 by Charles IV
according to plans by Petr Parléř. This Bridge is symbol of Prague and all our country.
Otázka č. 14
Choosing career – Výběr profese
Choosing a career is a very important step in everybody’s life. Most children and even some
students have vague ideas about their jobs. Boys usually want to be pilots, astronauts, designers,
architects, soldiers etc. Girls on the other hand dream about becoming actresses, singers, ballet –
dancers or dressmakers, hairstylists, nurses and teachers. Some children want to follow their parents
or parents want their children to work in the same line as they did. Only few of children have a
precise idea of their careers but many of them change their minds.
After study many people go to a work. There is a very small group of people which are so rich
that they can not go to work. I dont fall into this group and so I have only two possibilities: after
study I have to find some job or some other school. There are very interesting study courses on the
Charles University for me. Study program Society work is interesting for me, because I worked three
years in Salesianists center with children and young people. Other possibility is Informations study on
the Philosophical faculty, because information is becoming one of the important thinks in our
transformations society. Nowadays this study course is for it very attractive in.
For many people is looking for a job very difficult. There are some possibilities how to find good job:

you can visit one of the many Personal agency, which will be looking for a job according to your
idea

if you are registered by employment office, they also help you find job, but this work does need to
be according to your idea

the third possibility, I think that the best, is look for a job on own hook, today there are many
advertisement in newspapers or in internet
It is usual for an advertisement to give a short job description, conditions of work and salary,
and to invite introductory letters from applicants. The application form requests clear information
about things as the applicants age, education, qualifications and work experience. Alternatively, you
may have to write a letter of application. Unless you can get an interview, you have no chance of
getting the job. Usually people visit a several interview than they find job. The young people have one
big disadvantage. Many employers need two years experience in the same position.
After finished basic school my professional career began in Secondary polytechnical school in
Zlin. I studied a study course of printer for press industry. After graduates this study course I
attended other 2 years on the same school and I passed a leaving exam. Now I study postgraduate
study course on the Higher Graphics School in Prague. During my study I was visiting print houses
Graspo and Reproprint and I would like to work there after finishing all my studies. In Graspo
Company I made also absolvent diplomas work myself. My absolvent diplomas work is about quality
and standardization of print process. I would like to focus my future work into those areas of
problematic.
Otázka č. 15
Hobby – Hobby

A hobby is a very important for everybody. It is like a cure if you are tired, sad, feeling small
or in low spirits. A hobby is a complete change from work but some hobbies are rather expensive
(traveling), some are dangerous (gliding, mountaineering), some are very romantic (camping), some
are very time-consuming (watching TV).

Traditional indoor hobbies include collecting things e.g. stamps, postcards, model cars and air-
planes, butterflies, stickers, shells, coins, dolls, matchboxes, beer mats, concert program, decorated
plates, antiques – simply anything.

Many people like to do something creative such as painting or drawing, making pottery,
playing musical instruments, dress making, model-making, knitting, sewing, cooking or doing
crossword puzzles.

Television and videos provide easy indoor entertainment, and watching TV is by far the most
popular leisure activity. People also play computer games or use the Internet. Other home-based
activities include reading and listening to music.

Some people have a sport as their hobby. The most popular sports for people are football, ice-
hockey, basketball, handball, softball, and tennis. Some people play informally with friends, others join
a local team. Many people go regularly to a sports centre which provides facilities for keep-lift class
and indoor sports such as squash or badminton. On the other hand, a lot of people who are interested
in sport prefer to watch at a stadium or on television.

Going out can be another form of relaxation, but rather expensive. You can go to the cinema,
to see a concert, or to see a theatre performance. Art lovers often visit exhibitions in art galleries and
museums.

Some people like to spend their time-off with their friends. They have a picnic in the park or
go out for a drink or go dancing, eat out.

Many families, especially those living in big towns and cities, like to go away for the weekend.
They go to the countryside for short trips or they spend weekends at their cottages – doing
gardening, growing fruit and vegetables, flowers, cutting grass, doing home improvements.
Different people have a different hobbies and interests, they spend their space time in different ways.
Otázka č. 16
The Great Personalities of the CR – Velké osobnosti ČR

Czech television made public inquiry, which was called The Greatest Czech. This project
wanted to ascertain, who is the most important personality from Czech history for our people.

This public inquiry won Karol IV. He was the most important European ruler of the late
Middle age. He established the New Town in Prague and University. During his rule was built stone
bridge over the river Vltava and the main part of St.Vitus Cathedral, where he is buried. There were
made the coronation jewelry. He was married for four times. He became national legend and so, his
nickname is Father of homeland.

The second was president Tomáš Garique Masaryk. During the First World War he
organized anti - Habsburg’s revolt and than he became the first president of constitutional republic.
His name is top symbol of democracy of the First Republic.

The third personality is only one-still living of these top ten great personalities – writer and
last president Václav Havel. He worked as a scenic technical in Prague theatre ABC. He studied
dramaturgy in DAMU. His plays were played in theatre Na zábradlí in 60th years. In his writer’s work,
he criticized totality strength. For this reason, he was busted in normalization. He was co-founder of
Charta 77. He was one of authors of petition Několik vět and was one of the leaders of Občanské
fórum. As a president he got for our country international prestige and respect. Václav Havel was
several times nominated for Nobel Piece Prize.

Humanist, pedagogue and churchman Jan Ámos Komenský is known as teacher of peoples.
He was theologist, writer, historian and politician.

Jan Žižka was national hero for Czech people and he was model for centuries of German
oppression.

Jan Werich was refined comic, original actor and author of modern fairy tales. He made
repertoire of Osvobozené Divadlo with Jiří Voskovec. After War, he found new scenic partner in
Miroslav Horníček, but he put brain more to film and literature.

Jan Hus dedicated his life to fight for reform church and society. His human model and
massage of his life became base of one of the most important historical periods of our history, which
is named the Hussitism.

Antonín Dvořák is musician of world repute. Novosvětská and opera Rusalka belong to jewel
of world classical music.

The name of Karel Čapek is symbol of humanism and democracy. His news papering work is
connected with the most famous period of Lidové noviny. He was nominated for several times on
Nobel Literature Prize.

Božena Němcová was only one woman in this top ten. Her fairy tales Tři zlaté vlasy, O
dvanácti měsíčkách or Dlouhý, široký a krátkozraký are inseparable part of our culture. For her
folkloristic work and book Babička, she became one of national icons. Her emancipation stances are
very important too.
Otázka č. 17
The Great Personality of the USA and UK – Velké osobnosti USA a VB

Sir Winston Churchill was born in U.K. He worked as war correspondent of Daily Graphic on
Cuba. After it, Churchill spent whole year in India with his cavalry. Then he tried to enter to politic for
the first time. In the same year, he was in Boer War, and he worked as a correspondent of Morning
Post. During this time he was also busted. Then, he run from prison and he run 500 km by train to
place, which belongs to U.K. And so, he became a national hero.
On this wave of popularity, he became candidate to politic again in 1900 and he won. And there
started his successful politics career. In 1908 Churchill became the Minister of Trade and two years
later, he became the Minister of the Interior. In 1911, he was Minister of marine and he tried to
reform British shipping. Churchill wanted to fight against Communists in Russia in this function. In
1919 he became Minister of war.
Next years weren’t so successful, because in 1922 started the economic depression. And so, in this
situation, Churchill lost the election.
Churchill was called on to politic scene again in began of the World War II, when he was named the
Minister of army. Churchill took part in conference about future border lines between Europe and Asia.
He wrote history of WW II. and he got the Nobel Literature Price in 1953.

It say, that the best music group of Great Britain, is Liverpool’s group The Beatles. This
music quartet started performing in Liverpool in 1958. They have novel singing style, long hair and
unconventional dress and they were very popular among teenagers around the world. The group
included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Lennon and McCartney
wrote most of the Beatles’s songs for examples Yesterday, Yellow submarine etc. To their most
popular albums belong: Help!, The Beatles, Yellow submarine, Let It Be etc. After their managers
died, there were conflict among the members and The Beatles ended. I think, that the most famous
personality of this group, was John Lennon. Lennon was universal artist – he was musician, actor,
writer and painter. The significant part in his life has his partnership with his Japanese wife Yoko Ono.

One of the most famous Personality of USA is president John Fitzgerald Kennedy. After
attending Harvard University, he enlisted in the United States Navy, and was injured in World War II.
Kennedy entered to politics in 1952 when he won a seat in the US Congress. He ran for the
presidency and won. Kennedy was in this time younger than most politicians.
The presidency would not be easy for John F. Kennedy, because the US and the Soviet Union were
on the verge of nuclear war. Fidel Castro had decided to allow the station of Soviet nuclear missiles in
Cuba, just a few miles from the US mainland. But Kennedy stood up to the Soviets and later was
viewed as the victor in what is called the Cuban Missile Crisis, but actually the world was the winner,
because it avoided nuclear war. In 1963 was Kennedy assassinated.
Otázka č. 17

Henry Ford was born in Michigan and at the age of 16, he left home, because he started
work as a mechanist in Detroit. Then he worked in Westinghouse Company. Ford became an engineer
in the Edison Company and there he had time and money for his personal experiments. His first
vehicle was named Quadricycle.
After this success, he formed the Detroit Automobile Company with other investors. But this
company went bankrupt soon. With his interest in race cars, he formed a second company, the Henry
Ford Company and this company became most famous company in this period.
His new Model T was disqualificated in race „ocean – to – ocean“ through the USA, but it became
the most popular car in America.
Otázka č. 3, 18
Životní prostředí, příroda - Environment, Nature

We can say, that nature and environment are everything, what man didn‘t do. We can divide
nature into two parts. All animal and plants belong to the first part – living nature. All mountains,
rivers, etc. belong to the second part – unliving nature.

The environment is all around us. Is consisting of the flora, fauna, the water, the air, and the
earth. And so, we can say, that opaque of the nature is our civilization. However, human don’t always
care for the environment as they should. So our planet has many ecological problems. People want
bigger houses, better cars, enough food and a lot of entertainment and the whole nature have to pay
for it.

Among big ecological problems in our planet belong – for example pollution of air or water,
global warming, waste, Ozone hole, acid rains, cutting rainforest or population growth.

We consume a lot of nature resources and therefore we make a lot of garbage. And so, we
have a very big problem where we will put all of this garbage? But where we will put all of this
garbage? In the Ocean? Yes, Ocean is very big but Ocean is of course our environment! And it is very
danger give this waste to the Ocean. Some people say that in future the Moon will be our big garbage
dump. I think that this is possible because there will be no more room on our Earth!

How I said before, seas and oceans are very important for human life. There live many kinds
of animals. Sea’s fish are very important because they are important part of human food. The most
fish consume China, Russia and Japanesse. Water from the sea is for us very important. This water
contains mineralsand. In the bottom under the land is also oil and gas.

Another problem is global warming. Many scientists believe that certain kinds of air pollution
made the hole in the ozone layer. If the hole gets bigger it is supposed that the Earth will get warmer
and the oceans will rise.

The Amazon forest is very important for the future of the world. This area contains one third
of the worlďs trees and these forest are cutted, because people need the land and they have money
from the trees. If more of the Amazong forest cut down, the air that we breathe will lose some of iťs
oxygen. It means that in the air will be more carbon dioxide too. The temperature will rise, the ice will
melt, the sea level will rise, and hundreds of coastal cities will be flooded.

Also Czech Republic has its own problems. Probably the worst problem is air pollution. People
burn brown coal which is very dirty. Factories fill the air with smelly and dangerous smoke. In parts of
country especially in the North Bohemia, Prague and around Ostrava people have many health
problems.

Another big problem is the destruction of nature. Industry hed destroyed many forest. This
problem is called deforestation. People always need more land, factories, paper or wood.

We have to protect our nature and environment. We can recycle paper, iron or plastics, we
can save energy or water too. We protect many animals in Czech Republic, for example – panda,
frogs, elephants or tiger in the world.
Otázka č. 19
Space and UFO – Vesmír a UFO

Universe is a collection of all objects which influence to each other. Scientists say that age of
universe is something about 18 milliard years.
Everything started with a big bang, when whole mass of universe was hurtled with a very high
temperature.
In Universe, we can find body giants, like galaxies, stars, planets and many smaller bodies and the
smallest bodies, we can’t see with human eyes. These elements are photons, electrons, neutrons etc.

The area around stars is filled up with interstellar matter, which is full of atoms with
different elements. It is a fundamental material of whole known universe.
Meteorites are bodies, which fly through atmosphere. Other bodies, which we can find in universe,
are asteroids. These bodies orbiting star or it can be seen like single pieces among planets. Comet
is object on night sky, which migrating across solar system. The rise of planetary system depends on
rise of central star, and all planets will circulate around this star. Another object in universe is planet,
which is well known for us, because we live on one of those planets.
Stars are elementary and most important elements in universe and they are the biggest elements.
Typical star is our Sun. But there are 200 milliards stars only in our galaxy.

Galaxies is a system, which are consisting from single components like stars, planets,
meteorites, asteroids. Typical example of galaxy is our galaxy Milky Way
Our galaxy, system Milky Way, is gigantic system of 150 milliard stars. Our galaxy belongs to
local group of galaxies, which includes 25 galaxies.
Sun is situated in the middle of solar system. It is hardest body of our solar system and it is made
of hydrogen and helium.
Mercury is planet, which is the nearest by sun and is also smallest in solar system.
Venus is the second planet from sun and it’s the nearest planet to the Earth.
Earth is the third planet of our solar system from the Sun. Earth runs around Sun behind 365 days.
Our planet is different from others, because there are water, which covers 2/3 surface of the Earth.
And that’s the reason, why there is life exists. This atmosphere is only one in whole known universe.
The Moon is only one satellite of the Earth.
Jupiter is the biggest planet of solar system. It is consists of gasses and chemical consistence is
similar to Sun. 39 satellites circle around Jupiter.
Saturn belongs to the giants planets of solar system. 30 satellites circle around Saturn. The
biggest of them is Titan.
Uran is the seventh planet of solar system and there is very low temperature.
Otázka č. 19
Blue planet Neptun is the last planet of solar system. It’s the typical represent of glass giants and
it’s the smaller one of these types of planets.
Pluto was eight planet of solar system but many scientists say, that it’s not real planet.
Otázka č. 20
Geography of English Speaking countries and the Czech Republic –
Zeměpis ČR a anglicky mluvících zemí
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The UK consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The many islands in this
political group lie off the NW mainland of Europe and are surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean to
the west and the North Sea to the east. France is only 35 km to the southeast across the English
Channel.
The southern tip of England is roughly at the same latitude (52 degrees North) as Prague and the
zero degree of longitude (Greenwich Meridian) passes through London.
The physical geography is varied with the highest mountains in Wales and Scotland (Ben Nevis
1343m). The eastern and southern parts of England are lower. The lowest point in the UK is minus 4
m in the drained Fens of East Anglia.
The United States of America
The United States includes fifty semi-autonomous states. It also administers 14 territories, made up
mostly of Pacific islands.
The United States is the third largest country in the world in both size, and population. It is
approximately half the size of Russia.
The central region is dominated by large plains. In the west are mountains and in the southwest,
areas of desert. The lowest point is Death Valley in California (-86 m). Mount McKinley in Alaska (6194
m), is the highest point in the US.
Canada
Canada is the second largest country in the world (almost 900 000 sq km is covered with rivers and
lakes, including the Great Lakes within the Canadian border). Canada also has the worlds longest
coastline.
Ireland
Ireland is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, separated from Great Britain by the Irish Sea. It is divided
into two major political units – Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the
Republic of Ireland. Central plain is surrounded by mountains. The longest river is the Shannon. The
climate is mild, with frequent rains.
Australia
Australia is a continent between the Indian and the Southern Pacific Ocean. It is the smallest
continent in the world, but the worlds sixth largest country. Much of the centre of Australia is flat, but
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there are some mountains of which Uluru is the best known. Australias climate is quite different from
the rest of the world.
New Zealand
New Zealand consists of two islands that are located southeast of Australia in the South Pacific.
Both islands are well known for their beautiful scenery. There are active volcanoes, caves, deep lakes,
amazing fjords and long sandy beaches.
The Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a land-locked country, meaning it does not have a border with the sea, but is
surrounded by other countries (Poland, Germany, Slovakia and Austria). The country is made up of
two regions, Bohemia in the west and Moravia to the east.
The Czech landscape is quite varied. Bohemia is surrounded by mountains with the highest point of
Sňežka (1602 m). Moravia in the east is hilly and in the south low-country. The climate is a mixture
with warm summers and could winter.
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Sports and sports events – Sport a sportovní události

In England the word "sports" means some indoor or outdoor activities for fun. Favorite English
sports are e.g. Horse-riding, horse-racing, swimming, athletics, running or jumping. A sport with rules
is considered as a game. In England football, rugby, cricket, golf and tennis are commonly played.

Most young people consider sports and games to be as a very good kind of active relaxation.
They think it is very important to be fit, healthy and strong. If people don't go in for any sports, they
are often lazy and fat. Everybody should try to practice jogging. It is running for health. Whoever
wants to be a strong and look very attractive he can attend a fitness-centre. Sports and games can be
practiced indoors or outdoors. Many sports and games are played in sports-halls, on playgrounds or
stadiums. Tennis is played on a tennis court, golf on a golf course. Some winter sports are practiced
on an ice-rink. Among these are ice-hockey, speed skating or figure skating. If a river is frozen over,
everybody can skate on. Skiing is another popular winter sport. There are many kinds of skiing. Down
hill run is going down a hill. It is necessary to have a pair of skis, boots and sticks. Only a good skier
can ski on a steep slope. We can get to the top of a hill by ski-lift, chair lift or by cable-railway. Other
skiing disciplines are slalom, giant slalom, ski jumps, cross-country skiing and biathlon.

The most popular summer sport is swimming. It can be practiced in a lake, river, sea or
swimming pools. People often go for a swim if the day is sunny. During the swimming we must always
be careful. Swimmers compete in different disciplines like the crawl, breast stroke, backstroke and
butterfly. Aquatics are water polo, water skiing, windsurfing, yachting or jumping into the water.
Boat racing can be practiced on a river or water canals.

There are many ball games in the world. Football is the most popular ball game in the world.
In America it is called soccer. The aim is to get the ball into the opponents goal without using your
hands. A football team has eleven members, one of which is goalkeeper. The leader of the team is
called a captain. One game is divided into two halves. Each half is 45 minutes long. Rules of play are
monitored by runs. A typical English ball game is cricket. The rules of this game are very complicated.
A typical American ball game is baseball. This game is played with nine players on each side. Golf is
also a very popular game in Great Britain. The aim is to get the small ball into hole.

Another kind of sport is gymnastics and athletics. A sportsman, who practiced athletics, is
called an athlete. There are many kinds of athletic sports. The Marathon race is the longest run. It is
42 kilometers and 165 meters long. If a sportsman achieves the best performance in the world, he
becomes a record holder.
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
Olympic Games are the most important competitions for sportsmen all over the world. They
are only once in a four year period. There are summer and winter Olympic Games.
Another kind of competition is championships. The world championship is the most important sport
occasion. Its winner becomes the world champion. The cup is a typical competition in football or
tennis matches e.g. the Davis Cup. Other kinds of sports are races. There are car races or horse races
etc.
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Art schools – Umělecké školy

There are special schools, which serves to students, which enjoy art, and there are divided
into two main groups. The first type is for people, who want to choose art as their job and other type
is for people, who have art as a hobby.

But the real step to the world of art is to choose some secondary art school, like Hollar school,
graphic school in Hellichova street, graphic school in Hodonín or there are many private secondary art
schools like in Jihlava or Písek

It’s necessary to make talent exams, usually, there is drawing of some real object like chair
and where students must show their knowledge of perspective, other task is drawing head. Other task
is some color abstraction painting. And last parts are art historical test and entrance interview.

If students get in secondary art school, they learn to draw and paint some portraits or human
figures. There are secondary art schools, which are divided into special branches like photographers
or restoration.

After it, students can go to work – usually in some graphic studios, but many of them try to
make exam in high schools. There are academies of art in Prague with many creative professions like
painting, plastic art or new media.

High art schools have long tradition and its beginnings we can find in the middle ages. But
the first real high art school appeared in German Výmar and it was called Bauhaus. And I can’t forget
on fact, that professors on Bauhaus were the greatest artists of this period like Kazimír Malevič, Paul
Klee or Vasilij Kandinskij.
Graphic school Prague
Our school was established in the year 1920. It is the only school in the Czech Republic the study
course of which includes the whole process of creation, production and finishing of print materials
which means its design, preparation, printing and finishing. Today our school includes four
departments. One of them is technical and the other three are artistic. The course of study lasts for
four years and concludes with leaving exams.
Polygraphy is the technically oriented department, which offers the complete knowledge of
polygraphic production. In lessons professors take special care of the process of preparation for
production, text design, picture design, print producing and also the finishing process. Students gain
knowledge on the base of theoretical lectures of the subjects followed by practical application at our
schools studios. Graduates of this department gain employment at the production, technical, economic
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and business departments of polygraphic firms, publishing houses, production centers and advertising
agencies and many other DTP studios.
All the themes used in polygraphy are introduced to our students at in our Commercial Photography
department. The aim of school is to develop their personal artistic abilities and to teach them how
obtain the technical knowledge required for todays professional photographers. Emphasis is placed on
developing both there creative potential and technical skills. Graduates are successful in cultural
institutions, scientific institution, editorial offices and publishing houses, in advertising agencies or as
individual professional photographers.
Graphic design is another department. Students are taught to prepare documentation of production
for there designs. Graduates are successful in advertising agencies, publishing houses, graphic and
DTP studios or as independent graphic designers.
At the Conservation and restoration department, student gain artistic skills especially in the
conserving and restoring paper, leather and parchment. They also work with textile, glass, ceramics,
china, wood etc. Graduates work in museums, archives, libraries or art galleries.
Continuation in the field of education in the form of three year full-time study programs is offered
to our secondary school graduates. This course has status of the higher professional education.
All graduates of our school can continue their education at universities.
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Ways of communication – Cesty komunikace

People knew only a few kinds of communication a few centuries ago. They could speak to
each other, they could send their message from one place to another by smoke signals, and they used
mail. Than, they had some newspapers.
The first expansion of media was when the radio and
television were invented. The second and the biggest boom started in 1960s when the first
communication satellite was launched into orbit.
The oldest medium is newspaper. The first newspaper was appeared in the 17th century, after
Johannes Gutenberg discovered printing around the year 1450.
We have 3 main kinds of newspaper: there are Broad sheets (a quality newspaper) with very big
pages. There are any colors pages, a few black and white photos, and more difficult language. It
focuses on some topic – more details and facts, longer articles about everything (policy, culture,
money...) People, who read it, are businessmen, people with higher education, people who don’t like
blabs. There are The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, MF, Lidové noviny, Svoboda.
Other kind of newspaper are Tabloids, they have smaller pages, dramatic headlines, lots of colors
pages, too much colored photos, short articles, human interests stories and sensations, simple
language and many blabs. They are more popular than broad sheets and typical are The Sun, The
Mirror, Blesk, Hrom.
And the last part is consists of special interests magazines. They are issued weekly or monthly,
they intent on special things (gardening, computers, food, music, film...). They are much more
expensive than daily newspapers, but they are printed in better paper, you should be more educated
in a special things.
Radio is the second oldest kind of media. It’s distributed on radio waves. We can hear news, music,
advertising or some special or funny programmers. Two kinds of radio stations exist in our republic:
state and private. Among state, we can named Český Rozhlas and private are Radio 1, Evropa 2,
Radio Limonádový Joe, and other else. Radio is still popular, because you can listen it wherever you
want (very popular is in a car).
The world famous British radio station is the BBC because they have their BBC World Service, which
broadcast in 37 languages. Its seat is in London.
Television is very young media, because the first transmission was in our republic in 1954. We
can divided them into two groups: first group are state channels, such as Czech Television with her
two channels Czech Television 1 and 2 and their new channel Czech Television 24 goes off only in
satellite waves. These channels are financed from charge. Main task of this channel is informed and
educate people. In Czech Republic are two private channels: Nova and Prima. These channels are
financed from advertising. Other group of channels is satellite channels. We can find there music
television MTV, for example. Special group are cable channels. We must pay monthly charge, if we
can watch these channels. There we can find HBO channel.
One of the youngest media is the Internet. It is international network of computers. Some
computers – called servers – are used to share information. Thanks service World Wide Web we can
using our web client view information placed on web pages. These pages contain text and graphics
and are connected with site of hypertext jumps between pages. Each internet user have own e-mail
address and so, we can send letter to somebody in the second half of the Earth during a minute.
Media make the world much smaller – particularly the TV and the Internet. You can learn the
culture and habits of other nationalities; you can see what they are doing right now. And so, the world
is also called ‘the global community village’.
Communication is very important in our life, it is necessary for us. We can tell to another people
stories, jokes, problems, ideas, news and so on.
On this time we can talk with our friends when they live or stay in other road, village, city…
Last centuries it was very difficult. People can talk only when they were together. And when
somebody had to go away for a long time, nobody knew any information about him (e.g. if he is ok)
And people need information about person, who likes.
They started to write letters. It is the oldies way of communication for longer distance. It was very
romantic when for example a boy sent a letter from military duty to his girlfriend.
I like writing letters and I send it quite often. My last letter was for my granny because she didn’t see
me every day so she is afraid about me. So I promised it her and I sent it last week
Although writting letters is quite outdated I like it and I sometimes write letters to my cousin or to my
best friend.
The great change in communication of people was invention of telephone by Mr. Bell.
I quite often use this possibility, especially its younger brother, mobile phone.
The most quickly way of communication is using modern technology as is the Internet. It is very
quickly, quite cheap and favorites. The net offers a lot of possibilities of communication e.g. e-mail,
chat or ICQ. The e-mail is typical way of communication between businessman, chat is way for talking
with unknown people or finding new friends, ICQ is the most quickly way between friends - you can
write short message, send it and in the moment your friend read it and send his answer to you.
The Internet is very favourite especially because it is very cheap possibility of communication with
people from foreign countries. You can communicate with all the world and sit at home.
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Celebrations - Svátky a zvyky ČR a anglicky mluvících zemí
In the Czech Republic we have three different kinds of celebrations. There are public holidays,
religious holidays and family celebrations.
I think the most popular holidays are Christmas and Easter. In the Czech Republic we celebrate
Christmas on the 24th December in honour of the birth of Jesus Christ. We start to prepare for
Christmas four weeks before Christmas Eve. This period of time is called Advent. Children have a
special calendar called a Christmas Calendar. It is usually made out of paper and it has twenty four
windows. During the time of Advent women are very busy cleaning the house, cooking and baking
Christmas cookies and cakes.
It has become a tradition to have a Christmas tree. The whole family decorates the tree with
Christmas ornaments. There is tradition, that who abstain from eating meat on the day of Christmas
Eve will see the “golden pig” later in the evening as a reward.
Christmas dinner starts around 6 p.m. We usually have fish soup and carp with potato salad. The best
part of the day comes after dinner: opening the presents.
Some people have a tradition of going to church for midnight mass. After the Christmas Eve
we usually spend the rest of the Christmas holiday visiting our friends and relatives.
In Great Britain there is the Christmas Day on 25th December. The children find their presents
from Santa Claus under the Christmas tree in the morning. Many families attend the church. Christmas
dinner consists traditionally of turkey, goose or chicken with and roast potatoes.
Many Christmas customs which originated in Britain have been adopted in the United States and
Canada.
Another celebration during this same time of year is St. Nicholas on 6th December. St. Nicholas, angels
and devils walk from house to house on the evening before St. Nicholas Day and give presents to the
children who have behaved well.
The second most celebrated religious holiday is Easter which we celebrate in early spring. Easter is
only Catholic celebration and symbolize Jesus died.
In the Czech Republic we celebrate many public holidays: New Years Eve. We call it Silvester and we
celebrate the beginning of the news year. Everyone enjoys the last hours of the year. At midnight
people drink champagne for happiness and prosperity in the news year.
The 1st of January is called the New Years Day.
On 1st May we celebrate a holiday of working.
The 8th of May is the day of the liberation of Czechoslovakia from the Nazis and the end of the Second
World War.
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The 5th of July is the day of St. Cyril and St. Method who came from Byzantia to teach the people of
Great Moravia how to read and write and they bring a Catholic religion.
Master Jan Hus, a Catholic preacher was burned to death at the as a heretic on 6th July 1415.
The day of the rise an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 we celebrate on 28 th October.
We also have a same of special celebrations from West world.
There is the 14th of February which is the day of St. Valentine. Symbols of love, such as chocolate
hearts and flowers, are exchanged by lovers.
On the 1st of April, in Great Britain known as the Fools day, people make jokes and trick to others.
In Great Britain and in the USA there are many public holidays, too. For example Mothers Day,
Fathers Day, Independence Day, Halloween or All Saints Day.
The Independence Day is celebrated in the USA on 4th July when the Declaration of Independence
was signed.
On the 31st October Children dress up and go to neighbours. This holiday is called Halloween and is
celebrated in Great Britain and in the USA, too.
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Life of animals – Život se zvířaty

We can say, that nature and environment are everything, what man didn‘t do. We can divide
nature into two parts. All animal and plants belong to the first part – living nature. All mountains,
rivers, etc. belong to the second part – unliving nature.

To the time, when first man appeared, all animals lived on freedom. After it, some types of
animals were domesticated. For example, there were dogs, sheep or horses. Some of them were used
only for meat, like pigs. Others are reared for products of them like cows for their milk or hens for
eggs. Horses were domesticated for help in work, but we rear them for horse-racing this time.

Animals were reared in small groups only for own used in history. This time animals are rare
in mass production on big farms. Animals are often reared in very bad condition and so, there
appeared first eco-farms, where animals have better life. But products of these farms are too
expensive.

Many people have some animal at home, which is one member of family for them. Dogs, cats,
parrots and fishes are most often kinds of animals in our houses. Animals, which live in our houses,
have often some name and it is possible to buy calendar with dogs and cats names.

Many animals from different countries lost their freedom, because they were caught to zoo.
This time zoos serve for animals, which were born in captivity, or there are endangering types of
animals, which stay before extinction by civilization. Zoo was big ethic problem for long time, but last
years, there is strong effort to create better life condition for animals. For example, there were
created big pavilion for equators animals in Prague zoo, where aren’t any bars and it’s very similar to
their real life.

Some animals are typical for some countries; in English-speaking countries there are buffalo in
USA, grizzly in Canada, kangaroo is typical for Australia and birds kiwies we can find in New Zeland.

Fortunately, human relationship to animals is better in this time. Many animals were hunted in
too many numbers. For example, whales hunting. Different groups fought against this, for example
Greenpeace.