the history of buildings.
for many thousands of years people have lived in houses and liked comfortable and safe living, not so dependent on weather conditions.
at first people began building houses of wood, stones or clay. clay was mostly used in hot countries, as people had learnt that clay bricks dried in the sun became as hard as stones. men learnt the use of these sun-dried clay bricks especially in ancient egypt. some of buildings at that time are still standing though several thousands of years passed.
hundreds of years later, the ancient egyptians discovered that stone can be used as a building material. with it they built temples, palaces, the greatest tomb ever built was the stone pyramid of khufu, pharaoh of egypt.
another ancient civilization, the greeks, also used stone, and their beautiful buildings remind us of their great culture. the greeks decorated the houses with splendid carvings, they were very fond of using upright pillars for supporting and decoration. in greece parts of many of these ancient buildings can still be seen today. the elements of ancient greece architecture began to be used again during the period of the renaissance in europe. in our country the latest period when trends were followed was the period of stalin classicism.
greek culture was inherited by roman one. the emperor august said that when he became emperor the rome was made of clay and that he leaved rome made of stone. the roman period left many architectural monuments, such as colosseum, arch of titus, pantheon, and many other buildings and their relics.
ancient rome embodied the tradition suppressed by time and followed to logical end.
many ancient cultures had their own architecture – ancient china, burma, civilization of the american indians. archeologists find more and more places left by man for centuries – the legendary city petra in jordan which is hidden in the mountains, the city machu- picchu in peru, left for three centuries and found in 1911 by an american architect hiram bingham, a buddhist temple borobudur on central java (in indonesia) forgot the help of unesco.
modern architecture is quite different from ancient buildings.
in all epochs there are buildings that are designed to be beautiful and stand for centuries, and buildings which are built for practical purposes. in soviet time buildings made from prefabricated blocks were very popular and were erected very quickly. their architectural style is very strict and devoid of any ornaments. the drawbacks of these buildings are: they conduct sound and give away heat, and nearly all of them exist longer than it was planned originally. this was the period when the idea of combination of architecture, technology and science was combined, and art gave way to constructivism.
modern architectures is free to choose and combine all the experience accumulated during the centuries. there are hundreds and hundreds of buildings worth admiring in any country.. new buildings that appear should match them in quality, longevity and beauty.
answer the questions:
1. why do people build houses?
2. what were the first houses made of?
3. where was clay mostly used?
4. did the houses made of clay stand the test of time?
5. who discovered that stone was a good building material?
6. what were the characteristic features of the architecture of ancient greece?
7. did ancient greece influence the architecture of other countries and epochs?
8. what famous monument of roman architecture still exist?
9. did ancient cultures have their own architectural styles?
10. did archaeologists find new monuments of ancient architecture even in the 20th century?
11. is modern architecture different from ancient buildings?
12. can we classify buildings of cach epoch into two categories?
13. what are the advantages and disadvantages of the buildings made of prefabricated blocks?
14. are these houses beautiful and breathtaking? why?
15. are there buildings worth admiring and following? name some of them.
1. What is your name?
My name is Tanya
Меня зовут Таня
2. Where do you live?
I live in a three-room flat on the second floor of a nine-storey block of flats in the central part of my city, which is Minsk, Belarus
Я живу в трехкомнатной квартире на втором этаже девятиэтажного жилого дома в центральной части моего города, который находится в Минске, Беларусь
3. What is your address?
My address is 125, Sadovaya Street, Minsk.
Мой адрес - дом 125, ул. Садовая, г. Минск.
4. What is your favourite subject?
My favourite subjects are English and Maths.
Мои любимые предметы — английский язык и математика.
5. What do you want to be?
I want to be a doctor.
Я хочу быть врачом.
6. What does your mum do? (= What is your mum?)
She's a teacher.
Она учительница.
7. What does your dad do? (= What is your dad?)
He's an engineer.
Он инженер.