Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

                I think it would be really hard to find someone who has never seen the painting of Mona Lisa and I‘m sure the creator of this painting needs no introduction. It‘s Leonardo da Vinci. The reason I‘ve chosen to talk about him is because not only was he a brilliant painter and a sculptor, but also an amazing architect, anatomist and an inventor.

            So, what do we already know about him? His full name is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci and he was born in the present-day Italy in 1452. He lived for 67 years and died in 1519. Leonardo was, and still is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts and his Lady with an Ermine is also one of the most famous paintings in the world.

            However, the most amazing thing about Leonardo da Vinci is his technological ingenuity although he was homeschooled and lacked a formal education.  He drew sketches of a working flying machine, a tank, concentrated solar power and an adding machine. And did you know that In December 2000, skydiver Adrian Nicholas landed in South Africa using a parachute built from one of Leonardo's designs? Leonardo was also the first to explain why the sky is blue - it's because of the way air scatters light. You might also be surprised to hear that being a paranoid dyslexic, Leonardo could draw forward with one hand while writing backwards with the other, producing a mirror-image script that others found difficult to read—which was exactly the point.

            I’m sure you’ll agree that Leonardo was not an ordinary man: he enjoyed purchasing caged birds so that he could set them free and he dug into graveyards at night to steal corpses and study human anatomy. He was also a vegetarian for humanitarian reasons. But what‘s really fascinating is that despite being a left-handed dyslexic and procrastinating perfectionist he managed to become so successful.

            There’s so much more I could tell you about Leonardo da Vinci, but I think it’s enough for now. Let me just finish by saying that this man, who died almost 500 years ago was a person that you can truly call a genius.

The younger generation knows best

The younger generation knows best

Many people believe that knowledge depends on age. But, I think, that age doesn’t have such a big influence on person’s intelligence. In my opinion, the younger generation knows better, because they are better educated, it’s easier for them to adapt to the new changes and they have better connections with actual problems.

To begin with, the younger generation has better education than their grandparents and they are able to adapt faster to the new changes than the majority of elders. Younger people are using newest technologies on day to day basis, so because of this they can quickly learn about what is happening around the world or about what they need to have personal opinion, which will be based on different points of view. Moreover, because of better education, the younger generation is more open-minded. Some older people have their personal opinion, which is outdated, but they won’t change it, because they were brainwashed by their government or other institution to believe that it is the only way in life.

Secondly, younger people are closer to the actual problems. Old men and women have safe and quiet life. They are not interested in problems, which do not concern them. But the younger generation is more active, because they have more strength to stand up for themselves and new ideas to fight for.

On the other hand, some people claim that older generation knows best, because they have more experience. Younger generation usually listens to their intuition, while aged individuals listen to their mind. They make decisions, which are more studied and responsible. Moreover, because of experience, they know what can happen if you choose one or the other path in your life. Because of this they make les mistakes.

To sum up, although some people say that older generation knows best, because of the experience they have, I believe that younger generation knows better, because they are more open-minded, closer to the actual problems and because they have modern technologies as their friend.

Presentation: Louis Pasteur

There have been many great scientists in humankind’s history, who were successful in different fields of science. The reason I have chosen Louis Pasteur, a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, is, because he was a great man who saved millions of people by devoting his life to chemistry and physics, but only a small group of individuals know him. I hope you’ll learn a few things about Louis Pasteur from my presentation.

So what do we already know about his life?  Well, he was born on December 27, 1822, in Dole, Jura, France, in a Catholic family of a poor tanner. Also, he was an average student in his early years, and not particularly academic, as his interests were fishing and sketching. Moreover, in 1848, he became a professor of chemistry at the University of Strasbourg, where he met his wife Marie Laurent. They were married on May 29, 1849, and had five children together, only two of whom survived to adulthood; the other three died of typhoid. You won’t be surprised to hear that these personal tragedies were his motivation for curing infectious diseases.

As for his career, Louis Pasteur was appointed to the Chair of Chemistry in the faculty of sciences of the University of Strasbourg. Also, in 1854, he was named dean of the new faculty of sciences at Lille University. In 1856, he moved back to Paris, because he was feeling homesick, as the director of scientific studies where he took control from 1858 to 1867 and introduced a series of reforms.  His examinations became more rigid, which led to better results, greater competition, and increased prestige. Louis Pasteur raised the standard of scientific work, leading to two serious student revolts. Furthermore, in 1862, he was appointed professor of geology, physics, and chemistry until his resignation in 1867. And finally, in 1887, In Paris, he established the Pasteur Institute and was its director for the rest of his life.

And now, when you know a little bit more about this great scientist, you are probably wondering, what are his achievements, right? Well, he is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases, and his discoveries have saved countless lives ever since. He, also, reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. And the interesting fact about his vaccine is that it had been tested only on 11 dogs before its first human trial. And the first patient who was injected with Louis Pasteur vaccine was a 9-year old boy! But he is best known to the general public for his invention of the technique of treating milk and wine to stop bacterial contamination, a process now called pasteurization.

There’s so much more I could tell you about this man, popularly known as the "father of microbiology", but I think it’s enough for now. Let me just finish by saying that Louis Pasteur had a big influence on today’s chemistry and medicine and I’m sure you’ll agree that he was a very successful scientist.

Nikola Tesla: The best inventor of all time

There have been a lot of well-known extraordinary people who were obsessed with many different fields of our world and they left a mark in humankind’s history. But today I want to talk about a man who invented today’s world and hadn’t got his recognition until recently.

This man is a Serbian American Nikola Tesla. He was an inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and a futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system.  Nikola Tesla devoted his life to make the world a better place to live in. There are about 300 patents for his inventions which took about 50 years for humankind to understand how they work and how to use them but none of them have a patent protection. Nikola Tesla gave permission to other scientist to use his patents for their research. He succeeded in making X-rays, radars, wireless transmissions and even Death ray, which he destroyed, because he knew that it could have handed world domination to whoever held it. Because of these devices Nikola Tesla has gained reputation as a “mad scientist”. Another interesting action in Nikola Tesla’s life was when he ripped apart a contract, when he found out that, because of that contract a person will lose his business, and all of his employees will lose their jobs.

Although Nikola Tesla was a good man and in my opinion the best inventor of all time he died poor and alone, except for the pigeons which he loved. But despite that he had forgiven everyone their ignorance and literally made the world a better place to live in.

Letter: Grandmother issues

Dear Agne,

Thanks for your last letter. It was great to hear from you and I symphatise with you. Sorry, that i haven't wrote earlier - I've been very busy for the past few days.

First of all, if I were you, I would try to expalin to my grandmother, that I'm a grown up already. Also, you should explain to her, that you are on diffrent wavelenghts about life, because of the generation gap. Things have changed since her day, so did the fashion and even behaviour at school. I think then she'll understandhow you feel about her behaviour and if she doesn't, you should ask your parents for help to finding the solution to this problem. Explain them how you feel about beeing critized by your own grandmother in front of your friends. I reassure you, they'll definetelly help you.

I hope my advise helps. Write me as soon as you know how it goes. I'm looking forward to it.

Lots of love,
Jimmy

Dialog roommate

S: Hello, I haven't seen you for a long time. How are you?

M: Hi. I'm fine. How are you?

S: I'm fine too, thanks. I got this new roommate, Chris, I think you should know her. She said you used to live next door and go to school together when you were thirteen. Do you remember her?

M: Yes, I remember. When I was thirteen we went to school together.

S: Oh, can you tell me more about her?

M: Yes, sure. She used to wear a blue  uniform. Her hair was orderly tied into the pancreas.

S: Really? I guess she's changed a lot since then. Now her hair is short and messy most of the time and she never leaves the house without her black leather jacket. Did she use to play the guitar back then?

M: Yes. She used to play the guitar very well.

S: Well, she does play very well, but it's really tiring sometimes.. What about her habits? So far I've only noticed that she is leaving the top off the toothpaste every morning and it's so annoying!

M: I remember that she used to talk behind someone's back. I hope she break oneself of a habit, because it's very rude.

S: Really? I would've never guessed that. She seems so nice and friendly to me. Are you still friends with her?

M: Not exactly. We sometimes meet and talk about childhood.

S: I see. Well, could you tell me something more about her? Because she's so reserved, I feel like I don't know anything about her.

M: She used to like animals and watch films. She also liked sports. She had joined the gymnastic club.

S: Well, she still watches lots of films, but I don’t think she’s still interested in sports. She’s mentioned that she goes to a drama-club twice a week. Anyway, thanks for telling me about her.

M: You're welcome. I hope you two will become friends.

S: I hope so too. Well, I have to go, I've promised to meet someone. See you later!

M: Bye!

Habits

Five years is quite a long time and I think that everybody changes in that time. Five years ago I was only twelve years old and since then I have grown up and changed quite a lot. First of all, I used to be very shy back then, especially around new people and now I feel much more confident about myself. Moreover, I used to read a lot of books and now I spend more time browsing on the Internet instead of reading. My style has also changed – I used to wear baggy clothes and look like a boy a little bit but now I understand that I’m a girl and I should act like one.

In the last five years I’ve also made some new friends and some people who are now very close to me, were only strangers back then. I think that I’ve also become closer with my family members and even though I’m a teenager now, we talk more with each other and I think my parents understand me better.

I don’t think there’s a huge generation gap in my family, because my parents are trying to be modern and as I said, they understand me and my behavior most of the time. However, I do know some families where generation gap is really visible and not only age difference but also teenagers are guilty for that because they want to be independent and smarter than everyone else. That kind of behavior definitely has a negative effect on the family because teenagers start arguing about almost everything with their parents and that never solves anything. However, this problem could be solved by both sides working with each other like equals and, of course, a little bit of tolerance for the different opinion would help a lot.

Dialog: Multilingual radio

V: Hello, Agne! Long time no see. How are you?

A: Hello! I’m fine, thank you. How about you? Did you hear about our school new project about multilingual radio?

V: Good, good. Yes, I did. By the way, have you known that our class has to do a proposal project for this radio?

A: Yes, I have. And I also have some suggestions.

V: Ok. Share them with me.

A: First of all, I think that this radio could offer programs in as many languages as possible including Estonian and Japanese. What are your feelings about it?

V: That’s a valid point. But don’t you think that it would be better if radio play programs in our native language and in languages that we learn in school, because what’s the point of broadcasting programs in languages no one understand?!

A: Yes, I suppose so. But I think that playing programs in different languages than we are learning could inspire students to learn them on their own.

V: You may be right. What are your other suggestions?

A: The radio could play songs in different languages and provide short lessons. Don’t you think so?

V: Well, others might think that it would be better if radio play programs which would cover topics such as: ways of learning or tips for doing homework?

A: Okay, but don’t you think that music during breaks could help pupils to relax?

V: True, I’d never thought of that. But tips for doing homework is a good idea too, don’t you think so?

A: Yes, I do. How about your suggestions? Do you have anything in mind?

V: Perhaps we should interview teachers and other pupils about the most interesting activities and play it as suggestions what to do in free time?

A: I don’t entirely agree with that, because I think that our school radio should make programs in Lithuanian about the different languages and cultures of the world. Would you agree?

V: I’m not totally convinced, but it’s an interesting suggestion.  Ok, I had written down all of our thoughts. We’ll discuss about it later with rest of the class and maybe we will use them in our class proposal project.

A: Ok, I have to go to Biology class. See you later!

V: Bye, bye!

Makeovers

          Makeovers can range from something as simple as a new haircut or new clothes to the use of cosmetic surgery, implants, eye-color changing contact lenses and so on. However, in most cases people only change their hairstyle and clothes. We read about Colin, who changed his style from sloppy to smart and well-groomed. He cut his hair off, got rid of his beloved leather jacket and even sold his motorbike. He did it because he knew that if he stays the way he is, it will be really hard for him to find a job because nobody sees him as a serious employee. His friends and colleagues had very different opinions about his change. Some thought it was a good thing and Colin looks much nicer now, and others thought the new look doesn’t suit him and that he looks really self-conscious in his professional clothes. However, I think Colin did the right thing. He didn’t just change his appearance, but he also changed his personality. If he had stayed the same, he would have never achieved anything in life because he didn’t care about anything – he loved partying with his friends and nothing else really mattered. Now he has become more ambitious and he might have a promising career.

                However, getting a new job is not the only reason for having a makeover. Some people change because they hate the way they look and they have no confidence because of that. People also change as they get older, because they can’t always stay the way they were in their teens. You don’t see grown-ups dressed as punks or emos that often. Another reason can be trying to get your girlfriend or boyfriend to like you more. But I don’t think that’s a good reason to have a makeover because if they really love you, they won’t ask you to change.

                I would change my image for a job if I had to but I don’t think that I’d have to change a lot – I think getting new clothes and maybe changing my hairstyle a little bit  would be enough.

People's first jobs

                I am going to talk about young people and their first jobs.  As you have probably noticed, young people nowadays start their first job at much later age than their parents did. For example, if you asked any older person when they had their first job, they would probably say it was before they were 18 years old. Today, most of the people start their first jobs only after they finish university, in their mid-twenties. I think the main reason for this is that our standard of life is higher. Young people get everything they need to live from their parents, so they don't have to go to work. One of the reasons can be laziness, as well. Why work if you can spend your day lying on the sofa and watching TV? In my opinion this kind of behavior doesn’t have many advantages.

                Those people have more time for themselves and that’s good. But on the other hand, they don’t get the chance to try themselves in different situations before their first serious job. Another thing is that those people depend on their parents’ money, so they can’t do or buy everything they want. It’s also harder for them to find a job later, because they’ve never had one and they don’t have any kind of experience.

                In conclusion, being an active worker means being independent. So I think the sooner you start your first job, the better it is. Because the experience in work is really important and valuable ant it’s never too soon to get it.

Generation gap

To start with, all of us can see that there is a great lack of understanding between teenagers and adults and it's reason would be the genetarion gap. That is because we, younger people tend to adapt to the new evinrovment, than it was like 20 years ago. And here I am going to give you fine examples of these situations happening with my family members.

Moving on that, i'd like to begin with about what I argue with my parents. I usually argue with them about the things I like, and they dislike, a good example of this would be luxurious cars. They tend to think that luxurious cars are just for showing off and speeding, where I disagree with them, because we all know it's up to the person who drives it how he wants to use it. However, I do not argue with my parents about what clothes I wear, where I spend my free time, about my school amars, friends, or what time I should be at home, because they trust me and I do not let them down, most of the times. Unfortunately, that's where my grandparents kick in. I always argue with them about what time I should be at home, especially with grandmother, because she's out of touch and totally out of date, sometimes it feels like she's still living in 1980's. Always watching television about how bad things happen to young people when they get out of home and don't come back, I totally hate that and try to ignore it.

What is more, it's that most parents personal life experience might help understand teenagers, due to that they, sometime ago were aswell teenagers. Personally I didn't have problems with my parents about understanding me about any problems I had. Moreover, there is a mistake that most teenagers do quite often, they are thinking that they know better than their parents, there might be true about some of the things, but we must admit, that our parents know a lot more then us due to their life, and i'm not talking about computers and stuff, but about  , how to handle the life.

However, there is a quite a major problem in this social world where parents think they know better on what we want, but this is a complete non-sense. Of course by growing us, they saw the things we like to do, but the only person of what we truly want is yourself and noone else.

Moreover, there could be some actions that might help to understanding between teenagers and adults or elders. For example doing sports, watching TV, talk about how did your day go at school or work, however teenagers shouldn't do everything with their parents. A good example of this would be, hanging out with girlfriend or going to school, well the obvious things. That would just seperate the bond. Moving on, talking about you think and trying it to explain it, always helps, because as I stated earlier due to their personal experience they can always give advice, and you can confide in them.

Taking all things in consideration, there are quite a lot of problems in society between the teenagers and adults aswell as elders, but there always quite a lot of ways to get past them. You should always respect your family, maybe follow in one of your family footsteps aswell. Despite the age difference, they can always share something that you don't know and lend a hand.

Presentation: Rihanna

My presentation about: Rihanna

The reason I chose Rihanna is, that I didn’t know about whom I should do this presentation and my girlfriend suggested to do it about her. Rihanna is a Barbadian recording artist, actress, and a fashion designer. She started her career in Hollywood in August 2005, when her debut single, "Pon de Replay" was released. It charted successfully worldwide, peaking in the top five in fifteen countries.

So, to begin with, I’m going to talk about how Rihanna looked before her big makeover. From 2005 to 2007 she had long curly brown hair and she wasalso wearing beautiful dresses, when she was in Hollywood parties.Moreover, Rihanna’s song lyrics had a deeper meaning. For example, her big hits like S.O.S  and Unfaithful. Rihanna was singing about love, passion and betray. Furthermore, her music videos were more appropriate for younger audience. Rihanna didn’t do any inappropriate things in her music videos, like dancing half naked, singing about drugs or alcohol. All in all, she was, how music critics say, a good girl.

After release of album calledGood Girl Gone Bad, Rihanna’s style turned upside down, she became a “bad girl”. Rihanna cut her hair short, and started to change hairstyles like socks. Furthermore, she is now wearing revealing outfits. And she says: It has become more about taking a risk, so that’s why I’m always looking for something that's a little off. Also now, Rihanna’s song lyrics are about rapes, domestic violence, dollar bills and strip clubs. A good example is song called Pour It Up. In this music video she is wearing just a bikini, dancing inappropriate dances on a chair and in the background girls are dancing on a strip pole. One of her music videos was even banned in eleven countries for its sexual content.

In conclusion, Rihanna before her big makeover was a good girl, which liked smart clothes and made songs with the deeper meaning. And now she is a bad girl, who wears revealing clothes and sings songs about money and violence. But it is up to you to decide if it’s a bad or a good makeover.

Essay: Google Inc

My work about: Google Inc

Google Inc.

                As you can see, I am going to talk about Google. I chose this topic, because I think we all use Google services everyday but we don’t know that much about the company itself. So I am going to tell you more about it.

Google Inc. is an American multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services and products. These include search, cloud computing, software, and online advertising technologies. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They met at Stanford University in 1995 and by 1996, they had built a search engine (initially called BackRub) that used links to determine the importance of individual web pages. Google Inc. was born two years later, in 1998.

Today, Google’s headquarters are in Mountain View, California and they are referred to as “the Googleplex”. It doesn’t really look like a place where people actually work. The lobby is decorated with a piano and lava lamps and the hallways are full of exercise balls and bicycles.  Each employee has access to the corporate recreation center. Recreational amenities are scattered throughout the campus and include a workout room with weights and rowing machines, locker rooms, washers and dryers, a massage room, assorted video games, table football, a billiard table and ping pong. In addition to the recreation room, there are snack rooms stocked with various foods and drinks. Free food is available to employees 24/7.

Google employees not only get amazing benefits and work conditions, but they also make a lot of money. A survey revealed that Google’s 26.000 employees earn a median salary of $141.000 a year. However, that isn’t so much compared to how much money the company makes a day: about $104.000.000.

Here are some interesting facts about Google:

·         Larry and Sergey named the search engine they built “Google” after the word “googol”, which is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros.

·         New employees are called "Nooglers," and are given a propeller beanie cap to wear on their first Friday.

·         Bicycles painted in the corporate color scheme are available for free use by any employee travelling around the Googleplex.

·         The team has created over 1000 doodles for their homepages all around the world. Doodles are fun, spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and other special days.

·         And, of course, I found all this information using Google.

                In conclusion, working for Google is a dream job. It’s fun, well-paid and employers really care for their workers. However, if you ever want to get a job at Google you’ll have to be not only smart, educated and team-oriented, but also very ambitious and full of new ideas. And, of course, lucky, as there are so many people who want to get that job.

Essay: It’s natural for humans to use animals for food and clothing

My work about: It’s natural for humans to use animals for food and clothing. Do you agree?

Although more and more people are against using animals for food and so on, we are  still using other living creatures to please our needs. People are arguing about this question for a long time, but in my opinion it’s natural for people to use animals for food and clothing.

First of all, it’s humans lifestyle to use animals to please their needs, we have done this since we started to walk on this planet. Furthermore, humans are more intelligent and superior than animals, and in the nature  only the strongest survives, so it’s natural for us to use other species to survive. Above all, human’s organism needs vitamins and other chemical elements which are in the meat to survive, so we must use meat for food if we want to stay alive.

Opponents of people who uses animals for food and clothing, also called “Greens”, say that it’s wrong to use living creatures for our needs. Firstly, they ask us to imagine if animals started to use humans for their needs, what we would do and so on. Secondly, they say that it’s kinder to animals, cheaper and healthier to live as a vegetarian. “Greens” also say that modern man can choose what to eat because it’s not a prehistoric times.

All in all, although some people are against that humans are using animals for their needs, people won’t stop doing this, because it’s natural for us to use animals for food and clothing. Above all, everyone has rights to choose what to eat.

Essay: Generation gap

My speech about: Generation gap

There  have been lots of different generations of people in the world. And all of them had one thing in common: The generation gap, which usually emerges between teenagers and their parents or grandparents. So let’s talk about why it happens.

So, to begin with, generation gap appears, because there is a difference of age between teenagers and their parents. Sometimes because of this parents are a little bit out of touch and because they are older and have more experience in life they tend to think that they know better what is good for their children. They start constantly telling their kids what they should and what they shouldn’t do or how everything was different in their days. And this kind of behavior is very annoying for the teenagers.

Moving on, not only age difference but also teenagers are guilty for the generation gap because they want to be independent. Teenagers start arguing about almost everything with their parents. For example, clothes they want to wear, marks they get or even why they should decide when to come back home from parties or friends. A good example is my cousin, he used to come home late and act as if nothing was wrong. Because of this, it’s very difficult to deal with teenagers and the generation gap gets bigger and bigger.

Even if this sounds very bad for you, it’s not too late to close this gap between generations. All both sides need to do is just to create a closer bond. Teenagers should keep their parents up-to-date by introducing them with today’s fashions, life theories and new technologies. And parents should discuss with their kids like equals instead of saying what they have to do in their lives. When this goal is reached, both sides will gain each other’s respect and the generation gap will be closed.

All in all, generation gap is between teenagers and their parents, because of age difference and teenagers aim to be independent. But this problem could be solved by both sides working with each other like equal with equal and a little bit of tolerants.

Greetings

Hey guys,
I'll be posting here my English lessons homework assignments.
P.s. English language isn't my native language, so in my works can be some little mistakes.