Order of Succession to the Throne
The Prince of Wales
Prince William of Wales
Prince Henry of Wales
The duke of York
Princess Beatrice of York
Princess Eugenie of York
Prince Edward
Dates Relating to Queen Elizabeth IIAnne, Prince Royal
Marriage: 20 Nov. 1947 Peter Phillips
Accession to throne : 6 Feb. 1952 Zara Phillips
Coronation : 2 June 1953 Princess Margaret
Birthday : 21 April Viscount Linley
Official Birthday Celebration : During June Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones
The Queen’s heir is Charles, the Prince of Wales, who was born in 1948, married Lady Diana Spencer and has two children, Prince William and Prince Harry. The Prince of Wales is well-knows as a keen promoter of British interests.
In recent years he has become outspoken on such controversial topics as modern architecture, violence in films and television, and standard of English teaching in schools. His wife Diana, the Princess of Wales (often called inmass media Princess Di), has won the affection of many people by her modesty, shyness and beauty. She is one of the most popular members of the Royal Family.
The Queen’s other children are Princess Anne (born in1950), Prince Andrew (born in 1960) and Prince Edward (born in 1964). Anne, Princess Royal, has acquired a reputation for being arrogant, but in recent years has become quite popular with the general public.
She is widely known for her interest in horses and horse-racing. She is now the president of the Save the Children Fund, Chancellor of the University of London and carries out many public engagements.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, served as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy. In 1986 he married Miss Sarah Ferguson (Fergie, for short) and has two daughters. Prince Edward is keen on the theatre. This interest began while he was at university. He has quit the Royal Marines, and is now pursuing a career with a theatrical company.
The Queen Mother, the widow of the lake King George VI, celebrated her ninety birthday in 1990 and continued to carry out many public engagements every year. The Queen’s only sister, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, in one the most unconventional members of the royal family. She is well-known for her charity work, including her support for Barbados, the Girl Guides Association, and the St. John Ambulance Brigade.
(from “Monarchy in Britain”)
Alexander Bell-the inventor of the telephone
Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1847. Both his father and his grandfather studied the mechanics of a sound. Bell’s father was one of the pioneer teachers of speech to the deaf. Alexander Bell never planned to be an inventor. He wanted to be a musician or a teacher of deaf people. Between 1868 and 1870 Alexander worked with his father and studied speech and taught deaf children in Edinburgh. In 1870 he moved to Canada and the next year he went to the USA. In 1866 the nineteen year-old Bell thought about telegraph and he tried to find a way to send musical sound through the wires. In 1873 he worked as professor at Boston University. He was interested in the mechanical production of a sound and based his works on the theories of Helmholtz. It was possible for Bell to convert the sound wave vibrations into a fluctuating electric current and to carry sound across wires at the speed of light. Alexander Graham Bell invented the first telephone in 1876. He became a citizen of the United States in 1882. Bell was a modest humanitarian who once told his family that he would rather be remembered as a teacher of the deaf than as the inventor of the telephone . both his mother and his wife were deaf. In tribute to Scotland and America, the inscription on Bell’s grave reads: ”Born in Edinburgh … died a citizen of the United States of America”. ”I wonder what the world would be like toady if the telephone hadn’t been invented; Sashe thinks to himself.”
Marie Curie
Marie Curie was born in Warsaw on 7th of November 1867. her father was a teacher of science and mathematics at school in town, and from him little Marya Sklodovska ― which was her Polish name ― learned her first lessons in science. Marya’s wish was to study at the Sorbonne in Paris and after many years of waiting she finally left her native land in 1891.
Once in Paris Marya began a course of hard study and simple living. She decided to work for two Master’s degrees ― one in Physics, the other in Mathematics. Thus she had to work twice as hard as the ordinary student. Yet she had not enough money to live on. She lived in a bare attic in the poorest quarter of Paris. Night after night, after her hard day’s works at the University, she would climb to her poorly furnished room and work at her books for hours. Her meals were poor, sometimes no more than a bag of cherries, which she ate as she studied. Though she was often weak and ill under this hard mode of life, she worked in this way for four years. She chose her course and nothing could turn her from it.
Among many scientists Marya met and worked with in Paris was Pierre Curie. Pierre Cutie, born in 1859 in Paris, was the son of doctor, and from childhood he liked science. At sixteen he was a Bachelor of Science and he took his Master’s degree in Physics when he was eighteen. When he met Marya Sklodovska he was thirty five years old and was famous throughout Europe for his discoveries in magnetism. But in spite of the honour he brought to France by his discoveries, the French Government could only spare him a very meagre salary as a reward, and the University of Paris refused him a laboratory of him own for his researches.
Pierre Curie and Marya Sklodovska , both of whom loved science more than anything else, very soon became the closest friends. They worked together constantly and discussed many problems of their researches. After little more than a year they fell in love with each other, and in 1895 Marya Sklodovska became Mme Curie. Their marriage was not only to be a very happy one but also one of the greatest scientific partnerships.
Notes
a teacher of science ― преподаватель естественных наук (химия физика биология)
master’s degree ― учебная степень магистра
under this hard mode of life ― при такой тяжелой жизни
a Bachelor of Science ― бакалавр естественных наук (звание присваиваемое после окончания университета
spare him a very meager salary ― (зд.) платило ему мизерное жалованье