The Olympic Games
In 1453 before Christ the first games were held in Olympia. Beginning
with approximately 776 before Christ the games were organised every fourth
year. These sports consisted of running, wrestling and other exercises.
The favourite games of that time were horse-racing and jumping. The
ancient winners got wreaths of palm leaves. The modern Olympic Games began
again in 1896. They take place every four years. They cannot take place in
a country which is at war, and during the two world wars there were no
Olympic Games. So except in 1916, 1940 and 1944, the Olympic Games have
been held every leap year. Women\'s events started in 1912. Winter Olympic
Games first took place m 1924.
The Games have been held in many countries. The 22nd Olympic Games were
held in Moscow in 1980. The international Olympic Committee, which was set
up and began to work in 1896, chooses the country and the city for the
Olympic Games to be held in. The 26th Olympic Games were held in 1996 in
Atlanta in the USA. It was a great sport event. There were competitions on
practically all summer sports. Russian sportsmen took an active part in
these Games. They won a lot of medals and we are very proud of them. The
Games were organised in a proper way. It was a wonderful festival of
sport, health, peace and friendship.
Robert Burns
Robert Burns is the national poet of Scotland. In his poems Burns sang
the beauty and the glory of his native land.
Burns was born in Alloway, near Ayr, on 25 of January 1759. His father,
a small farmer, was a hard-working man. When Robert was 6, he was sent to
a school at Alloway Miln. Robert and his brother Gilbert were given a good
knowledge of English. They progressed rapidly in reading and writing.
For some years Burns worked on the family field, plugging and reaping.
The combination of hard physical labour and poor food in his youth that
brought about the first symptoms of the heart disease which troubled him
for much of his life and from which he died.
Burns wrote his first poem at the age of 14 for a girl who worked with
him in the fields. After father\'s death he immigrated to Jamaica. His most
creative years were probably 1785 and 1786. During this period Burns wrote
his most brilliant poems. Burns published his poems in August 1786. The
success was great.
Soon, in April 1787, a second edition of his poems appeared in
Edinburgh; 3000 copies were printed - a very large number for those times!
Now Burns had the opportunity to see more of his native land which he
so dearly loved. He visited some historic places, which made a great
impression on him.
During the last 5 years of his life Burns wrote some of his best poems
and songs. After a short illness he died on 21 July 1796.
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