Robin Hood is a legendary hero of England. He lived in the twelfth century.

The legend said Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest with his merry men.
Robin Hood and his merry men took money from the rich and gave it to the
poor. There are many stories about them. Here is one of them.
One day Robin Hood was walking through the Forest with his men when he
saw a young man. The young man was wearing a very fine red coat and
singing merrily. The next morning Robin Hood saw the same young man
without his fine coat. The young man was looking very sad. Robin Hood
sent Little John to bring the young man. When the young man came to
Robin Hood the latter asked him, "What is your name?" The young man
answered that his name was Allan-a-Dale. Then Robin Hood asked:"Have
you any money?" AIlan-a-Dale answered, "I have only five shillings and a
ring that I have kept for seven years. I wanted to marry a nice young girl.
Yesterday I went to marry her, but her father is against it. He wants to
marry her to a rich old man. Now I am unhappy."
Robin Hood asked the young man: "What will you give me and my merry
men if we help you to get your girl back again?" Allan-a-Dale had neither
money nor gold, but he promised to be Robin Hood's true servant. So
Robin Hood decided to help Allan-a-Dale and they all went to the town
where the girl lived. When they came to the town they saw the girl Allan
loved. She was going into the church with the rich old man. Robin Hood
and his men went into the church and asked the priest to marry the girl to
Allan-a-Dale.
When the priest refused, Robin Hood pulled off the priest's coat and put it
on Little John. So Little John married the young people and they returned
together to the merry Greenwood.

There are four parts of the day: morning, afternoon, evening and night.
Morning is the first part of the day. It is the time from sunrise till 12 o'clock
a.m. In the morning we are busy. We go to school. When we come to
school, we say "Good morning" to one another.
The second part of the day is afternoon. The English afternoon is the time
from 12 o'clock a.m. to 6 o'clock p.m. In the afternoon people say "Good
afternoon". In the afternoon we come home from school.
Evening is the third part of the day. It is the time from 6 o'clock p.m. till
sunset. In the evening we do our homework: we read and write, learn
English, history, literature, mathematics, physics and other subjects. When
friends come, they say "Good evening".
Night is the fourth part of the day. It is the time from sunset till sunrise. At
night we are free. When friends go away, they say "Good night".

Olya invites Mary to her house

Olya and Mary are schoolgirls. They study in an eleven-year school in
Sosnovka.
Olya lives in Green Street. Her father is a doctor. The family lives near the
hospital. There are two big houses there. They live in one of them. The
house consists of five rooms.
The doctor's family is large. There are six of them: Father, Mother, two
sons and two daughters.
One day Olya invites Mary to show her their house and take tea with the
family. Mary thanks Olya for her invitation.
It is Saturday. The family is at home.
When Mary comes Olya welcomes her and says, "Good afternoon!"
Mary answers, "Good afternoon!"
Olya introduces Mary to her father, mother, sister and brothers. Before they
have tea Olya shows her friend their house.
"This is the dining-room, it is the biggest room of the house. On the right
you see Father's study, it is smaller than the other rooms. On the left there
is the living-room, it is a little smaller than the dining-room. Opposite there
are two bedrooms. This is our bedroom. My sister and I sleep in it. And that
is my brothers' bedroom. The rooms are not large but we like them very
much.
This is the kitchen and that is our bathroom. And how many rooms are
there in your house?"
"We have three rooms. Our rooms are not so large as yours. We have a
small house and a little garden behind the house. In the garden there are
many beautiful flowers and beds with vegetables."

It is very nice in spring. The sky is often blue. The sun shines brightly in the
sky.'It is warm. It sometimes rains, but the rain is warm and pleasant.
Spring is a hard time for those who live in the country. There is a lot of work
to do in the fields. Sometimes people are busy from morning till night.
Tractors work in the fields day and night.
Children do not work in the fields. They go to school. They should work
hard at the end of the school year.
Summer is as nice as spring. The sun shines brightly. It is warm and
sometimes hot. It is warmer and hotter than in spring. The days are longer
than in spring. The longest day of the year is the 22nd of June.
In summer children do not go to school. They have summer holidays. They
olten help fathers and mothers on a farm. There is always a lot of work
there in this season.
Summer is a pleasant season. There is a lot of fruit and vegetables at that
time. Some people like summer best of all.
After summer autumn comes. The days are shorter than in summer. The
weather is not so pleasant as in spring and in summer. II often rains. The
rain is cold and not pleasant at all. In September, the first autumn month,
the school year begins in our country.
Autumn is the season of fruit and vegetables. It is the hard est time for
country people. They should work hard in the fields. Children always help
them with fruit and vegetables in autumn.
November is the coldest month in autumn. It sometimes rains and it often
snows.
Winter is the coldest season in the year. Sometimes the weather is
pleasant. It often snows. Some people like when it snows. There is a lot of
snow on the ground. The snow is clean and white. The ground is all white
with snow. It is pleasant to walk when it is not very cold and it snows. The
best holidays in winter are the New Year and Christmas.

Yura Voronin and Vadim Somov live in the country. They live on different
farms.
One day Yura meets Vadim near the post office. Vadim tells Yura that he
was in town last week. He was there with his friends Sasha and Zina for
three days. They were at the youth conference in the club. They were all
very pleased with the conference. The friends had a lot of interesting talks
with people who were there.
The weather was fine all the time, and they had a good time in town.
Yura: Hallo. Vadim!
Vadim: Hallo, Yura. I am glad to see you. How are you?
Yura: Very well, thank you. And you?
Vadim: Fine, thank you. How is Lena?
Yura: I'm afraid she is ill. She must stay in bed for two weeks more, the
doctor says. She is afraid to be behind in her work at school, because she
misses a lot of lessons now. You know Lena always works hard and she is
one of the best pupils in the 8th form. She does not want to study worse
than she did it before.
Vadim: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
Yura: Where are you coming from?
Vadim: From school.
Yura: So late?
Vadim: We had five lessons, and after classes there was a class meeting.
Yura: Oh, I see.
Vadim: Mother is waiting for me for dinner. Goodbye, Yura.
Yura: Goodbye.

Walt Disney was born in Chicago, his father being Irish Canadian, his
mother of German-American origin. He revealed a talent for drawing and
an interest in photography early on and after service with the American Red
Cross in the First World War. In 1923 he left with his brother Roy for
Hollywood and for some years struggled against poverty while producing a
series of cartoon films. In 1927 he had some success with the series called
"Oswald the Lucky Rabbit", but it was not until September 1928, when
"Steamboat Willie" appeared, the first "Mickey Mouse" with sound, that he
achieved lasting success. Mickey Mouse became a household word
together with such companions as Minnie, Pluto, and — perhaps the
favourite of them all — Donald Duck.
"The Three Little Pigs" and " Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", with their
still familiar songs by Frank Cherchill, immediately spring to mind. After the
Second World War Disney turned his attention to real-life nature studies
and non-cartoon films with living actors. After a rather unsuccessful feature
cartoon "The Sleeping Beauty", he made a triumphant come-back with the
very successful "Mary Poppins".
In 1955 he branched out into a different enterprise —"Disney-land", a huge
amusement park in southern California.
Disneyland is situated 27 miles south of Los Angeles, at Ana-heim. Of all
the show-places none is as famous as Disneyland. This superb kingdom of
fantasy linked to technology was created by Walt Disney.
The park is divided into six themes and there is so much to see and do in
each that no one would attempt to see all of them in one visit. For extended
visits, there are hotels nearby.
Walt Disney died in California at the age of 65. His works have given so
much pleasure for many years to many people, young and old, in many
countries.