First of all let me introduce myself. My name is Taras. I'm seventeen years old. I'm at 11-th grade. There are two more kids in the family besides me my elder brother Oleg and my younger sister Marija

James Aldridge
James Aldridge was born in 1918, in the town of Swanhill,
in Australia. His father was a journalist and writer. His
parents came to Australia from England only a few years
before James was born.
When James was 14 years old, he began to work as a
messenger boy for a newspaper in Melbourne. In 1939 he
went to England to enter the Oxford University.
In 1940 he was sent to Finland as a war correspondent. In
the years of the second World War Aldridge was a war
correspondent and visited Norway, Greece, Egypt, Iran and
other countries.
During 1944—1945 he visited Russia three times, living
there for nearly a year.
He saw how people fought against the fascist invaders.
Aldridge's first novel "Signed with Treir Honour" was
published in 1942. In this novel he described the heroic
struggle of the Greek people with the fascist invaders and
internal reaction.
His novel "The Sea Eagle", published in 1944 tells us about
the people of Crete and their fight against fascists. Aldridge's
books are devoted to the liberation struggle in the years of the
Second World War.
Aldridge was awarded the Gold Medal of Peace for the
book "The Diplomat" in 1953. This book shows the peace
loving policy of the USSR in contrast with the policy of
"cold war", which the imperialist countries followed at that
time.
"The Last Inch" was written in 1957 and translated into
Russian the same .year, while the first English edition came out
in 1960.
For many years James Aldridge has been a fighter for
peace among nations.
Questions:
1. Where was James Aldridge born?
2. When did his parents come to Australia?
3. When did James begin to work?
4. What countries did he visit as a war correspondent?
5. What does his novel "The Sea Eagle" tell us about?
6. What was Aldridge awarded for the book "The
Diplomat"?


Jules Verne
Jules Verne was born in 1828 in Prance. Young Jules
was interested in machinery, sailing and writing. Together
with his brother Paul, he explored the river near their home in
an old sailboat.
Jules' father was a lawyer and he wanted his son to
continue his career. So Jules was sent to Paris to study law.
Jules, however, decided soon that his main interest was writing.
He joined the club of scientific writers. This group was
interested in balloons so Jules soon wrote an adventure story
called "Five Weeks in a Balloon". His favourite subject at
school was geography, so he wanted to describe in his books
as many parts of the world as possible.
Jules Verne's books are still popular now because they are
good adventure stories. But in his books Verne also forecast
many inventions that we have now. He believed that someday
people would have airplanes, submarines, television, derigibles
and powerful weapons.
His most popular books are "Twenty Thousand Leagues
under the Sea" and "Around the World in Eighty Days".
Verne had a notebook where he wrote every idea or bit of
information he came across that might be useful for his books.
In his study he had a large map of the world with all routes of
his heroes marked on it.
During his life, Jules Verne had written more then 50
books. He died at the age of 77.
Questions:
1. Where and when was Jules Verne born?
2. What was young Jules interested in?
3. Whom did his father want him to be?
4. What modern inventions did Jules Verne forecast?
а. What his books did you read?
б. What helped him in his writings?
7. How many books did he write?