ÖDEV 2 TEXT

TRANSPORTATION IN TURKEY

There are two important types of transportation in Turkey: Railway transportation and highway transportation. Highway vehicles (trucks, buses, cars, etc.) transport 90% of the passengers and 75% of the cargo in Turkey; but trains carry only 5% of the passengers and 25% of the cargo.

 Now, we can compare the costs of trucks and trains. We want to transport 1500 tons of cargo. One truck can carry 10 tons, but one train wagon can carry 50 tons. We need 150 trucks but only 30 train wagons for 1500 tons of cargo.

SMALL CARS

 When you go out, you can see a lot of cars, buses and trucks on the roads. The streets are always very crowded. Today, many people would rather use small cars. Small cars are cheaper and they are more economical because you can save petrol and you spend less money. These small cars are also safer because they can't go more than 100 kilometers per hour.

In the future, a lot of people will probably use small cars, and probably these cars will use electricity so there will be less pollution in cities.

AMY'S RESTAURANT

 Amy's Restaurant is an example of a good place to eat in Greenwich Village. It's a perfect place for students to eat lunch and dinner. It's clean, the service is fast and the prices are reasonable. Amy's has a different special every day. The special includes fish or meat, vegetables, a mixed salad, bread and butter, dessert and coffee or tea - all for $3.45. The special and the other items on Amy's menu are always excellent for the prices.

HOME SWEET HOME

For many British people, a house is the most important thing in their lives. In fact, 60% of the population doesn't live in rented housing. They would rather have their own houses, but prices are going up all the time, and many young people have not got enough money to buy a house. They live in small flats or in their parents' house (even when they are married).

Prices are especially high in the southeast of England. In the north, and in Scotland, prices are quite low. Young people often buy old houses, perhaps more than a hundred years old because they are not so expensive. But they have to spend a lot of time and money on repairs and decoration.

EDUCATION AT HOME (1)

 Some children in England don't go to school but they study at home. Do you think it's right?

Our reporter, Jean Anderson, went to talk to some children. The Richardsons live in a big old house, 20 kilometres from London. The family is large - two girls and three boys. Our reporter visited them on a Wednesday morning. The children were at home. She heard music inside the house, a piano and a guitar. A normal family? A normal day? Yes, but in one way the Kichardsons are very different. The children don't go to school. Their parents, Marian and Roger, teach them at home.

JOHN LENNON

 A lot of people remember John Lennon for his music with the Beatles. He was serious and creative, and many young people of the 1960's and 1970's thought he spoke for them.

 Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England. When he was a child, he listened to the music of rock and roll singers like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. At 15, when he was in art school, Lennon started his first rock-group, the Quarrymen. The members of the group were Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best, who played the drums.

The Quarrymen later changed their name to the Silver Beatles and then the Beatles. When Pete Best left the group, Ringo Starr joined the Beatles as the drummer. Between 1958 and 1962 the group played in night clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany. Then the Beatles made a record called 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' and had their first big success in Britain. 'Please Please Me' came a short time after that and it became number one.

 Lennon was both a singer and a songwriter. He wrote many of the Beatles' songs and most of these songs became number one all over the world. They were romantic and intelligent, and today's musicians still play them.

Lennon did not only make music and films with the Beatles. He also wrote two books, the first one in 1964 and the second one a year after that. In 1967 he acted in a film called How I Won The War.

 On December 8, 1980 John Lennon died in New York, shot dead outside his apartment building. Every year thousands of people come together in New York's Central Park to remember him. For many people in the world, he was someone very special.

BANGOR

Centred round its university on the hill and its cathedral below, Bangor is one of the most attractive towns in North Wales. It is a small town with a population of only 13,000 and with little or no heavy industry. Therefore, it is still clean and quiet.

Bangor is an important cultural centre. There is a theatre and a cinema and visitors should not miss the Museum of Welsh Antiquities or Bangor's famous public garden, Gardd yr Esgob. A little further away, there is Penrhyn Castle with its railway museum.

For sports enthusiasts, Bangor has an 18-hole golf course and a large modern swimming-pool.

LAURA

Laura Denison, famous singer and star of Top Twenty, was born in Bristol in 1953. Her parents originally came from Ireland. Laura's father was a customs officer on the Bristol docks. Unfortunately, he died a few years ago.

Laura, who is an only child, grew up in the suburbs of Bristol. She started her education at a local school and then moved to a large, modern comprehensive school in another part of the city.

 After leaving school when she was 18, Laura went to Bristol University to study history and economics. She stayed there for three years. When she was at the university, she joined a university music group, and started to sing. It was at this time that she wrote her famous song The Price of Peace'. When she finished university she joined another group and began to earn money with her performances and songs.

When she was 21, she married Tony Harper, who was a student at that time. They have two children - a boy and a girl. When they got married they rented a beautiful farm house in a suburb of Bristol. They are still there but only a few days ago they decided to leave Britain and move to Los Angeles.

EDUCATION AT HOME (2)

About 4000 families are teaching their children at home, and they are doing very well. One example is the Tanner family from Hertfordshire. Eve Tanner, 27, and her 29-year -old husband James do not send their children to school. The Tanner children, six-year-old Stephen and eight-year-old Jason, study at home with their mother. They have a bright, comfortable study in their home. All around there are lots of books and the children's paintings are on the wall. James says, "Both Eve and I think we got nothing from school -only a diploma. We had no fun at all; in fact, everything was boring."

Some parents who are teaching their children at home have a study programme, but the Tanners don't. Eve says, "The children love books - they read all sorts of things. And, of course, we read story books together. I teach them writing and mathematics, too. They write shopping lists for me. Then they go shopping with me and pay for the things we buy."

Eve and James take their children to the library, to museums, to concerts, to swimming pools and to gymnastics. They think these activities are very important. What do friends think? Eve says, "Most of them are very interested. Some friends are also thinking about teaching their children at home.

 

NOTTINGHAM

Nottingham is a busy industrial, commercial and university town with almost 300,000 inhabitants. Close to the centre of one of Britain's richest coalfields, it is important in the Midlands for its many kinds of industry. Nottingham is an industrial city, but it is not at all ugly or dirty. Nottingham lies on the side of a hill near the River Trent, only a short distance away from Sherwood Forest, the famous home of Robin Hood.

The city's castle is also quite famous, and Nottingham has three theatres, several cinemas, a very large university and various museums and galleries to look after the cultural needs of the town. Nottingham also enjoys some of the best sport in the country, with two professional football clubs, a first-class cricket ground (Trent Bridge) and the National Water Sports Centre in its large country park.

A LANGUAGE TEACHER'S PERSONAL OPINION

 Why is English such an important language today? There are several reasons. Many newspapers send their reports to other newspapers in different countries in English - not in Spanish or Italian. English is also the language of the businessworld. For example, when a Mexican businessman buys something from a Chinese businessman he usually speaks English. At airports you can always hear English, and at the cinema you can watch a film in English. Today a lot of people want to learn this language. They go to language schools in England or take English courses in their own countries.

 Every day I see advertisements in the newspapers and on buses. They are about language courses. Sometimes they also advertise language cassettes in English. They say you can learn a second language very fast and easily. They often say you can read plays by Shakespeare or books by Charles Dickens after you listen to the cassettes or after you go to the classes for three months. These advertisements are awful. I am an English teacher and I know that it is difficult to learn a new language. But a lot of people think these advertisements are true. They want to go to these short courses or buy those expensive cassettes. I don't understand them. How can someone learn a new language in three months? Are 'super teachers' teaching their classes? I really don't know.

 I don't think people can learn English from cassettes. When we speak a language we don't repeat sentences only. We use the language every day and everywhere. For example, we talk to our friends, our neighbours or to a waiter in a restaurant. You can't speak to a cassette. You can only repeat the questions and answers. We must talk to people and listen to them when we learn a new language. And this takes a long time. Not only three months!

 

THE WORLDS OF WALT DISNEY

Disneyland and Disney World are the two most famous entertainment parks in the world. Disneyland is in California and Disney World is in Florida, U.S.A. These were built by Walt Disney.

 Walt Disney started to make cartoon films in 1923 with his brother Roy. First he made 'Alice in Wonderland' and then, in 1928, Mickey Mouse was created. He was very interested in technology so all his work was technically excellent and very enjoyable. He believed in providing good, clean entertainment and fun for all the family. He wanted a world which would give him a lot of fun when he was a boy and so he built it for others to enjoy in Disneyland, which was opened in Anaheim, California in 1955. It has four parts: Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.

 In 1960 Walt Disney bought a big piece of land near Florida and started to build his second great entertainment park. This was called "Disney World". It was finished in 1971 and cost 400 million dollars. This place is a little different from Disneyland. It has got hotels and shopping centres as well as entertainment places. So people can eat, sleep and enjoy doing things in the same place.

A few years ago two other small cities were planned near Disney World. One of them is called Lake Buena Vista. This has been completed and people have started to move in. They are still building ihe second city so people will not move in until 1995.

Walt Disney died of cancer in 1966, but people still remember him when they visit his parks today.