Card #16. Choosing a career.

Many students when they finish high school do not have a clear idea of what they want to do in future. Part of the problem is the size of the job market. With so many kinds of work (2000) how can you tell what will interest you? Some of the occupations are already overcrowded. In old industries there may be a little need of new workers, while new and growing industries will offer good jobs now and in the future. Finally how can you make the best use of you personal talents? Those who know themselves often find the best jobs.
Choosing a career is not easy for most people, yet it is one of the most important decisions you make in your life. It is of most importance to explore your choice of occupation from every angle, collect as much information as you can.
Above all - evaluate yourself. Be sure you know your own interests and talents. Unfortunately not everyone takes this trouble. Those who don't can make costly mistakes. For example many young people simply follow in the footsteps of their parents or relatives. But is not always an appropriate step.
Postponing a decision is another error people make. A lot of young men think that way: "I'll get started tomorrow or next week or next year". These people refuse to face the problem, hoping it will go away. But if you don't make the first step now, how can you plan for the future?
Everyone has skills and talents but yours may not be so obvious. Make a list of your interests, your talents and abilities. Most people have a lot of these but they are undeveloped and may not seem outstanding. By concentrating on a few or on one you may surprise yourself and everyone with how good you can get.
When choosing a future career it is important to keep in the consideration the following things:
- do you like meeting and dealing with people
- do you like to work inside
- do you enjoy thinking about problems
- do you enjoy working with your hands
- do you like working on you own
- do you enjoy being creative
Analyzing all this will help not to make wrong choice.
The majority of jobs may be divided into several groups: clerical, scientific, practical, outdoor, creative and social.
I can't say the exact group, in which my future occupation will be. Anyway I don't think that my future occupation is described in these groups. It can also be a mixture of different types of jobs. For example clerical and scientific. I like meeting and dealing with people, and I'm quite sure, that it will help me in my future profession, whatever it is. I don't mind working inside, besides the weather in our region is very often not suitable for outdoor works.
To tell the truth I do not enjoy working with my hands, I would prefer to think and solve different problems. I can't say that I enjoy working on my own, but often it can be pleasant and productive to work alone. I enjoy being creative, instead of feeling someone's authority on me.
I am quite confident in pointing the character features needed to my future occupation and to most of the occupations. These are: ability to learn quick, politeness, creativeness, accurateness, adaptability, friendliness, capability and others. You must also be a good team member. I think that in this or that degree I posses all these qualities, but some of them need to be developed.

Card #17. Icons.

From the time of Peter the Great's reforms to the beginning of the 20th century scarcely anyone showed concern for or interest in icons. At any rate their artistic virtues remained unnoticed. However, early Russian icon painting is a matter of legitimate pride for our century. And there is no reason to doubt that there existed in Ancient Rus a cult of icon as a sacred object.
Icon painting is so unlike the painting to which modern man is accustomed, that it can be understood only through the special teaching about icons.
In our days icons are exhibited on the walls of museums. But they were supposed to be with man in his daily life - in the place of honor in his log house, attached to a pole by the side of the road or a well. The majority was placed inside churches. They were a necessity to the daily church service. Icons are kissed they are expected to heal and work miracles.
One of those, who are known as outstanding icon painters, is Theophanes the Greek. He was a remarkable artist, who was important not only as the author of paintings, but also as one who influenced greatly the whole art of Ancient Rus. He was often referred to as a philosopher or a thinker.
We do not know what brought Theophanes to Russia. Few of great master's works have survived and whatever has survived through the ages is fragmentary. But even these few creations tell us a lot about the artistic value of works and their influence on Novgorod and Moscow icon painting.
Another world famous icon painter was Andrey Rublyov. His painting is the event of great rise of Moscow school of icon painting of the 15th century. He owed much to Theophanes the Greek with whom he worked.
But Rublyov was the antipode of Theophanes. The latter's sombre, dramatic images were always alien to him. Rublyov had other ideals. He attached utmost importance to man, active, ready to help his fellowman. For Rublyov this conception took a form of an angel, a saint, a hermit.
To Rublyov God was not the terrifying, mysterious, blind and merciless force he was to ordinary medieval mind. He humanized God and made him seem closer to the world. His Christ, his Paul, his Archangel are endowed with irresistible charm.
In climax of his power Rublyov created his most famous icon - the Trinity. On this icon we have the embodiment of the greatest sacrifice of witch love is capable with father, condemning his son to death. But the painter goes even further. He shows the act of submission with the son, prepared to sacrifice himself to atone man's sins.
Rublyov painted the Trinity in the moment of inspiration, given only to geniuses, and he produced the work witch is rightly regarded as the finest of Russian icons and one of the most perfect examples of medieval art.

Card #18. William Turner.

When talking about the British painters' contribution to the world of cultural heritage, we usually recall such artists as Hogarth, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Constable, Turner. These are the painters of truly international standing.
John Constable and William Turner were the greatest representatives of the Golden age of English landscape.
Joseph Mallord William Turner was born on 23 April 1775 in London. His father was the owner of a small barber's shop, mother died insane. JMW Turner was an essentric man with a withdrawn and intractable temperament. He was a man with paradoxical conduct, preferring solitude, at the end of his life a person evading all the social relationships that his great success could have brought him and hiding himself in Chelsea.
William went to school at Brentford, and then he was apprenticed by his father to Thomas Malton, a watercolourist. At the age of 14 William entered the Royal Academy. Among Turner's occupations were: copyist, painter of the countryside houses and castles, marine landscape painter.
Seascapes (the struggle of man and Nature), epic painting, historical painting were Turner's main painting genres. William's journeys to Wales and to the Island of Wight aroused historical and mythological subjects. The other subjects were, as follows: sea and its moods and the mountain storms (the Alpine landscapes). His clients were owners of country houses and castles (to make precise and accurate drawings of their possessions), some representatives of nobility, even George IV.
At the beginning of his professional career Thomas Girtin influenced him in painting watercolours. Poussin and Claude Lorrain influenced Turner in mythological and historical paintings.
When he was 27 years old, in 1802, Turner made a Royal Academician.
JMW Turner died on 19 December 1851 and was burried in St. Paul's Cathedral.
"The Shipwreck" is a very famous Turner's painting; though Turner painted it when he was quite young it shows extraordinary mastery of expression and perfect command of technique. Turner's painting is tremendously influenced by the fury of the high seas. The realism of this storm-tossed sea and shipwrecked sailors desperately trying to survive make this one of the masterpieces of Turner's youth.

Card #19. Museums.

As I've been to London, I'd like to tell about the most interesting museums and galleries I've visited there.
The British Museum is one of the world's greatest treasure-stores. The museum has two departments: The Museum of Mankind and The National History Museum. The Museum of Mankind includes the vast collection of antiquities, ancient works of art in stone, bronze and gold, and collections, illustrating Western Asiatic Civilizations. The NHM contains 5 principal collections on the history of plants, minerals and the animal kingdom. A series of new permanent exhibitions have been opened in the museum, among them "Dinosaurs and their living relatives".
The National Gallery is one of the greatest museums of art in the world. It is noted for the balance of its collections in all the important art schools and almost all old masters are represented there. It houses one of the most important Italian collections outside Italy. It is also famous for its Dutch collection, particularly for paintings of Rembrandt.
The next door is the National Portrait Gallery. It's the Britain's leading art gallery of portraits of famous people of British history. It is noted for representing various kinds of portraits - from traditional old paintings to photographs.
The famous Tate Gallery contains the unique collection of British paintings from the 16th century till the present day. Turner and Blake are particularly well represented in the collection.
There is a number of museums in London which are neither art museums or galleries. Nevertheless they attract tourists from different parts of Britain and from all over the world. You are sure to know about the Madam Tusseau's museum that contains hundreds of wax figures.
As for our town, it is a must for every tourist to visit Arkhangelsk Museum of Fine Arts. There you can see collections of drawings and paintings of different artists, collection of unique icons painted by Russian masters.
Other places to visit are our outdoors museums, they are: Chumbarovo-Luchinsky street and architecture museum in Malye Karely. The latter is well known throughout the world.
I have visited many museums and galleries in my life. I was in all our town museums, museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But one I remember most - is the Madam Tusseau's museum of London.

Card #20. Religious Diversity.

As I understand the world of religion, it is a special world outlook, spiritual belief, confession, sacred cult, special behavior. People choose themselves the idol, for them it is not a fantasy but a real person, it's ideal in everything, it's a teacher, tutor & friend, whom people can tell about their secrets, sins, ask it for a help or advice. In general the whole religion is based on the belief in God or in different forms of God.
In the world there are a lot of different religions, old & new, widely spread or not. But only some of them are recognized nowadays as international. Religions such as Christianity, Presbyterian Church, Anglican Church, Orthodox Church, Islam, Roman Catholic, Hinduism, Buddhism.
I'll speak about the Anglican Church. It is the established Church in England. It is one of the protestant churches that were founded in 16th century in the period of great reformation. Now there are many Anglican churches in Canada and Australia. There are about 30 millions Anglicans in the world.
The Presbyterian is the main Church of Scotland. It was founded the 16th century. It is against the Anglican Church & absolutism. The highest assembly is at the head of Presbyterian Church. In our days these churches are in Scotland, England, Ireland, and USA:
The Roman Catholic is the main church of Ireland. It was founded in the 17th century. The Rome's Father is at the head of it.
There is a debate about the reasons why the importance of religion has been declining in Britain during last years. One view is that religion is in decline & people are less religious in their behavior & attitude. The other view is that although church attendance has declined, people are still as religious as they used to be. People do no longer attend churches 'cause church attendance is not necessary in order to be respectable as it was in Victorian Britain. Instead those who do attend it, attend it though a much stronger sense of commitment.
What the church has really lost is any significant power to influence political decisions. Most religious appointments of the Church of England are decided by politicians. The growth of science & rational thought, the weakening of traditional religious values, the loss of family traditions to attend church services together, the lack of political role of the church, the growth of material values - all these things to some extent have destroyed the traditionally accepted norms of religious behavior in society.
In Britain with the population 58 million people, the main religion is Christianity (Anglican Community or Church of Scotland) - 19%, the Roman Catholic - 8%.
Nowadays there has been also a massive increase of non-Christ religions such as Islam, Hinduism.