The Book – a Person’s Friend

The Book – a Person’s Friend

Talk about – rozprávajte o:

– Different kinds of books – rôzne druhy kníh
– My attitude to books – môj vzťah ku knihám
– Famous English writers –  slávni anglickí spisovatelia
– My favourite book  –  moja obľúbená kniha

1. Different kinds of books

People like reading books – it is one of the most favourite leisure activities. We can buy books in a bookshop or we can borrow them from a library.

We can read books anywhere – at home, on the bus or train, at the doctors’… The books are a good source of information and entertainment. Reading books can be fun when it is a hobby, but it can also be boring – for example for students who have to study and learn a lot of information when they have to take an exam or a test.

Every year, the Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded to the writer whose work of fiction is considered unique and great. For example E. Hemingway, J. Steinbeck are the Nobel Prize winners.

Literature can be divided into 2 categories:

a)  NON-FICTION BOOKS – náučná literatúra

b) FICTION BOOKS - beletria

NON-FICTION BOOKS /náučné knihy/ – they are usually for information. They can be divided into:

– textbooks /učebnice/ – they are educational books which contain information about some subject – for example mathematics, geography, a foreign language …
– dictionaries /slovníky/ – they tell us about the meanings of words
– encyclopaedias /encyklopédie/ – they are large books and they contain a lot of facts and dates about different subjects – e.g. the world encyclopaedias, the animal encyclopaedias and so on.
– biographies /biografie, životopisné knihy/ – they contain information about a life of a famous person – e.g. of a president, scientist … Sometimes there are also biographies about ordinary people.
– autobiographies and memoirs /autobiografie a spomienky/
– travel books – cestovné / cestopisné knihy
– art books /knihy o umení/
– cookery books /kuchárske knihy/ – they contain recipes and teach people how to cook different meals or bake cakes

FICTION BOOKS /beletria/ – there are 2 types of fiction books:
-  POETRY /poézia/ – poems
-  PROSE /próza/ – it contains:
– tales – príbehy  => fairy tale = rozprávka
– short stories – poviedky
– westerns – westerny
– science-fiction – sci-fi
– crime/spy novels – kriminálne/špionážne novely
– romantic novels – romantické novely
– historical novel – historické romány
– thrillers - trilery

2. My attitude to books

a) I like reading books. It is my favourite leisure activity. I have read many books in my life. I prefer ……………….. /fiction / non-fiction/. My favourite books are encyclopaedias because I like to learn about the human history, the nature, animals or important inventions. Sometimes I read novels, especially spy and crime novels that have a complicated plot because they are interesting. They usually investigate a murder. I don’t like romantic novels – I think that they are boring.

b) I don’t like reading books. I only read books when I have to read them for school. I think that books are boring. I prefer playing football or watching TV. But sometimes I read encyclopaedias about animals because I like wild life. But that is not very often.

3. Famous English writers

There are many famous English writers. For example:

– William Shakespeare
– Charles Dickens
– Brőnte sisters /Emily Brőnte, Charlotte Brőnte/
– Ernest Hemingway
– Oscar Wilde...

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564 – 1616)
-  he was an actor /herec/, poet /básnik/, playwright /dramatik, písal divadelné hry/
-  he was born in Stradford upon Avon and died when he was 52 years old
-  he came from a fairly rich family – he attended a grammar school /gymnázium/, but he didn’t have university education
-  he got married when he was 18 years old – his wife was older than him when they got married – she was 26 years old => they had 3 children – 2 daughters and 1 son. Their son died when he was 11 years old – the death of his son reflected /sa odrazila/ in his work
-  some people don’t believe that Shakespeare could write all his works because he didn’t have university education – they think that somebody else wrote it

His work:
-  he wrote for money
-  he used excellent language /he used metaphors, jokes…/ in his work and he invented many new words and sayings which we still use in our everyday lives => for example “Love is blind” – “Láska je slepá“
He wrote 139 plays /play = divadelná hra/:

– Romantic plays – romantické hry
– Romeo and Juliet
– Tragedies – tragédie
– Othello
– Mackbeth
– King Lear
– Hamlet
– Comedies – komédie
– All’s Well That Ends Well – Koniec všetko napraví
– Historical plays – historické hry:
– Henry VIII.
– Richard III.
 
He also wrote:
– poetry – poéziu
– sonnets – sonety

4. My favourite book

My favourite book is …………………….  It is a …………………….. /love story, crime story, spy novel…/ I have read it many times. It is about …………………. I got it as a present for my birthday / I borrowed it from the library / my friend gave it to me.

I don’t have a favourite book because I don’t like reading books. It takes a long time to read a book. I prefer watching TV or reading newspapers and magazines because they contain a lot of information and I can read about what happens in the world now.

Vocabulary:

different kinds of books – rôzne druhy kníh
leisure activity – aktivita na voľný čas
borrow – požičať si
library – knižnica
anywhere – hocikde
a source of information – zdroj informácií
entertainment – zábava
fun – zábava
boring – nudný
students who have to study – študenti, ktorí musia študovať
take an exam – urobiť /vykonať skúšku
every year – každý rok
the Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded – Nobelová Cena za literature je udelená
work of fiction – beletria
consider – považovať
unique – unikátny, jedinečný
the Nobel Prize winner – ten, komu bola udelená Nobelová Cena
divide – rozdeliť
contain – obsahovať
a foreign language – cudzí jazyk
the meanings of words –významy slov
ordinary people – obyčajní ľudia
recipe – recept /na jedlo/
meal – jedlo
bake cakes – piecť koláče
attitude – postoj

I have read many books in my life. – Prečítal/a som vo svojom živote veľa kníh.
prefer – uprednostňovať
the human history – ľudská história
the nature – príroda
important inventions – dôležité vynálezy
spy – špión
crime – kriminalita, zločin
a complicated plot – komplikovaná zápletka
they investigate a murder – vyšetrujú vraždu
have to – musieť
wild life – život v divočine
he was born – narodil sa
a fairly rich family  - pomerne bohatá rodina
attended – navštevovať /školu/
university education – univerzitné vzdelanie
get married – oženiť sa
wife - manželka
death – smrť
he could – on mohol
somebody else – niekto iný
he used excellent language – používal vynikajúci jazyk
joke – vtip
saying – príslovie
still – ešte stale
in our everyday lives – v našom každodennom živote
play – divadelná hra
I have read it many times. – Čítal som to mnohokrát.
a present – darček
It takes a long time to read a book. – Trvá to dlho prečítať knihu.
happen – stať sa