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of Rembrant remains one of the most profound witness of the progress of

the soul in it's earthly pilgrimage towards the realisation of higher

destiny. The son of the prosperous miller, Rembrant was born in Leiden

in 1608. He studied at Leiden University, but his real vocation was

painting. His rapid sugsess promoted him to move to the Amsterdam in

1631.

In 1632 Rembrant bought a splendid house, started a collection of

paintings and rarities.

The universal artist dealt with many world subjects. Rembrant created

a number of portraits and some group portraits which were traditional to

the Dutch art. The best of them are "Anatomy lesson of Dr. Tulp" and

"The night watch".

In 1655 Rembrant found himself in the midst of several financial

troubles. At that period he painted "The Polish Rider", which is an

allegory of the man's earthly journey.

Probably in 1669, the year of his own death, Rembrant painted his

famous "Return of the Prological son", which stands at the ultimate peak

of Cristian spirituality, illuminating the relationship of the self to

the eternity.

The biblical theme was very important to Rembrant. He painted

"Artakserks, Oman and Eshpir", "The Saint Family".

Rembrant was not understood when he was alive. He died in poverty.

But it is the spirituality of his art that distinguishes Rembrant from

his Dutch contemporaries making him the greatest artist of the world.

Theatres, music halls and cinemas

Theatres are very much the same in London as anywhere else; the chief

theatres ,music halls and cinemas are in the West End. If you are

staying in London for a few days, you'll have no difficulty whatever in

finding somewhere to spend an enjoyable evening. You'll find opera,

balley, comedy, drama, revue, musical comedy and variety. Films are

shown in the cinemas during the greatest part of the day.

The best seats at theatres are those in the stalls, the circle and

the upper circle. Then comes the pit, and the last of all the gallery

where the seats are cheapest. Boxes, of course, are the most expensive.

Most theatres and music halls have good orchestras with popular

conductors.

You ought to make a point of going to the opera at least once during

the season if you can. There you can get the best of everything - an

exellent orchestras, famous conductors, celebated singers and well

dressed audience. But, of course, if you are not fond of music and

singing, won't interest you.

At the West End theatres you can see most of the famous English

actors and actresses. As a rule, the plays are magnificently staged -

costumes, dresses, scenery, everything being done of the most lavish

scale. Choose a good play, and you'll enjoy yourself thoroughly from the

moment the curtain goes up to the end of the last act. Get your seats

beforehand, either at the box-office of theatre itself or at one of the

agencies. When you go to a theatre, you'll probably want to seat as near

to the stage as possible. But if you are at the cinema, you may prefer

to seat some distance from the screen. In fact, I would say, the further

away the better.

Music in our life

Music - it art, reflecting validity in sound art images, one of the

forms of public ideology. Having by powerful force direct emotional

effect, music during of all history of man-kind plays a huge social,

cultural and educational role.

Leading composers are connected to progressive public movements,

life, interests and aspirations people. Each nations differs by peculiar

national features. Folk music, being improved by creative efforts of

many generations of the people, reaches a high degree of art maturity.

On the basis of riches of national music professional musical creativity

of composers is developed. Rejection of music from advanced ideas epoch

of national culture, national roots of art leads to it's to decline and

degeneration.

Idea emotional contents of music is passed through sound art images,

implemented in musical sounds. The basis of music is the tune. According

to the way of performance music is devided into 2 main branches:

instrumental and vocal.

There are a great number of different styles of music, such as Jazz,

Pop, Rock, Classic; and new musical directions. One of the new music

directions is Rave. I prefer to listen hard-core and more quiet music

such as Roxette and others.

Now days the number of music styles is growing, and every young

people, which are fond of music can easily choose that style which

appeals to them.

Learning languages

The problem of learning languages is very important today. Foreign

languages are socially demanded especially at the present time when the

progress in science and technology has led to an explosion of knowledge

and has contributed to an overflow of information. The total knowledge

of mankind is known to double every seven years. Foreign languages are

needed as the main and most efficient means of information exchange of

the people of our planet.

Today English is the language of the world. Over 350 million people

speak it as a mother tongue. The native speakers of English live in

Great Britain, the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand.

English is one of the official languages in the Irish Republic, Canada,

the South African Republic. As a second language it is used in the

former British and US colonies.

It is the major international language for communication in such

areas as science, technology, business and mass entertainment. English

is one of the official languages of the United Nations Organization and

other political organization. It is the language of the literature,

education, modern music, international tourism.

Russia is integrating into the world community and the problem of

learning English for the purpose of communication is espicially urgent

today. Learning a foreing language is not as easy thing. It is a long

and slow process that takes a lot of time and patience. But to know

English is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every

good specialist.

It is well known that reading books in the original , listening to

the BBC news, communicating with the English speaking people will help a

lot. When learning a foreign language you learn the culture and history

of the native speakers. One must work hard to learn any foreign

language.

LONDON, Jack (1876-1916).

The novelist and short-story writer Jack London was, in his lifetime,

one of the most popular authors in the world. After World War I his fame

was eclipsed in the United States by a new generation of writers, but he

remained popular in many other countries, especially in the Soviet

Union, for his romantic tales of adventure mixed with elemental

struggles for survival.

John Griffith London was born in San Francisco on Jan. 12, 1876. His

family was poor, and he was forced to go to work early in life to

support himself. At 17 he sailed to Japan and Siberia on a seal-hunting

voyage. He was largely self-taught, reading voluminously in libraries

and spending a year at the University of California. In the late 1890s

he joined the gold rush to the Klondike. This experience gave him

material for his first book, 'The Son of Wolf', published in 1900, and

for 'Call of the Wild' (1903), one of his most popular stories.

In his writing career of 17 years, London produced 50 books and many

short stories. He wrote mostly for money, to meet ever-increasing

expenses. His fame as a writer gave him a ready audience as a spokesman

for a peculiar and inconsistent blend of socialism and racial

superiority.

London's works, all hastily written, are of uneven quality. The best

books are the Klondike tales, which also include 'White Fang' (1906) and

'Burning Daylight' (1910). His most