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NEWS IN BRIEF

Police arrested an Uruguayan woman at a Montevideo airport with 45 lbs of gold hidden in her belt and shoes.

VOLCANOES HEAT GIVE ELECTRICITY

In the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the Russian Far East, half a million tons of fuel have been saved in the past ten years by using heat from volcanoes and geysers (гейзеры). Hot water and steam from underground heat comes as well as greenhouses (парники) which grow fresh vegetables; all the year round. Ten years ago the only fuel was coal brought from distant parts of the country.

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An automatic camera which will photograph lighting damage (повреждения, причиненные молнией) on power installations has been designed.

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Pompeii, Italy. Scientists have discovered the remains of 11 more people buried under ruins (развалины) of the Roman city of Pompeii. Earlier the remains of a man and a girl were found. Pompeii was destroyed in 79 of our era by an eruption of Vesuvius.

PARADOXES

В английской литературе и публицистике часто встречаются парадоксы, т.е. своеобразно выраженное мнение, резко расходящееся с общепринятым (иногда только внешне). Прочтите несколько образцов широко известных парадоксов.

This strange but true; for truth is always strange, - Stranger than fiction (выдумка).
George Gordon Byron (England, 1788-1824)

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
Abraham Lincoln (USA, 1809-1865)

True love i like ghosts (привидения), which everybody talks about but few have seen.
Francois de la Rochefoucauld (France, 1613-1680)

In this world there are only two tragedies. One is getting what one wants, and the other getting it.
Oscar Wilde (England, 1856-1900)

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance (роман).
Oscar Wilde

Animals are such agreeable friends; they ask no questions, pass no criticisms (не наводит критику).
George Eliot (England, 1819-1880).

Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, get your breakfast first.
Josh Bilings (USA, 1818-1885)

Good breeding (хорошее воспитание) consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
Mark Twain (USA, 1835-1910)

FISH STORIES
The Scales

A man who always boasted about the fish he had caught soon found that his neighbours did not believe him. So he bought a pair of scales (весы), installed it in his library and had his friends watch him while he weighted the fish.

One evening a neighbor ran in to borrow (взять взаймы) his scales. He has back almost immediately, smiling and proud. "Congratulate me (поздравьте меня)" he cried. "I am the father of a 24-pound baby boy".

Bigger and Better

Everybody knows that Texans (техасцы) are very proud of their State. It is the biggest State in the United States, so they think that everything is bigger and better in Texas than in other places under the sun.

An old Texan was attending a fishermen's conference in California. Speaker after speaker rose and spoke about remarkable West Coast fish. The Texan felt his anger rise, and when his turn to speak came, he began very quickly: "Well, we don't have any fish in Texas worth boasting about." Then he showed with his hands a length about 12 inches. "I never saw any bigger than that." He stopped briefly, looked at his audience and added: "Off course you have to remember that we always measure our fish between eyes."

It Could Be Worse

A traveler came up to a fisherman.

"Having any luck?" (везет или нет?)

"Not so bad," replied me fisherman. "I haven't had a bite (клев) in three hours."

"What is so good about that?" asked the traveler in surprise (удивление).

"You see that fellow over there? Well he hasn't had a bite in six hours."

Fisherman's Wife

Woman cleaning fish at sink (кухонная раковина) to fisherman husband:

"Why can't you be like other men? They never catch anything."