Познавательный текст на английском языке (What is your favourite colour?)

Прочитав этот познавательный текст на английском языке, Вы узнаете, что цвета не существуют. Это только игра нашего воображения. Однако люди с древности приписывали цветам символические значения и даже магические свойства.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR?

Colours do not exist. When your eye receives light, it sends messages to your mind. And your mind translates these messages into colours which vary according to the wavelengths of the light.You are all aware of the strange tricks your mind can play on you. It’s not surprising that when it translates your eyes’ messages into colours, it adds other messages. Colours become linked with memories, associations, emotions and natural body reactions. Green begins to mean trees and leaves; red subconsciously reminds you of fire.

Perhaps this is why, over the centuries and throughout the world, colours have been given special significance and magical properties. Every colour has a superstition associated with it. The great abstract artists of this century studied the psychological effect of colours. And recently scientists have begun to discover that colours can deeply influence our lives. Here are some of the meanings that old wives and contemporary science have attributed to basic colours.

 RED – the colour of fire. Red is usually associated with passion. If red is your favourite colour, your heart rules your life. In China, red is a lucky colour for brides. Scientists believe that red stimulates the nervous system. Don’t paint your walls red, it could drive you crazy.

YELLOW – the colour of sun. Yellow is a joyful colour, and it is associated with fertility (плодородие) because of harvest. Yellow is also a musical colour. It is like a high note and, according to the painter Kandinsky, it can cause a sharp pain in the eye, just as a high pitch musical note can hurt your ear.

 GREEN – the colour of trees and leaves. Green is always thought of as a harmonious colour, because it symbolizes growth in nature. It is a peaceful colour which can make you feel calm and rested. In some schools blackboards have been replaced by greenboards because green light wavelengths do not cause strain to the eyes. An, as an experiment, a black “suicide bridge” was repainted in bright green. As a result, the number of suicides decreased by a third.

BLUE – the colour of sky. Blue is a spiritual colour, and it is normally associated with the mind. If this is your favourite colour, you are either spiritual or very intellectual – or both. Blue light is cold. It can make you shiver and may dull your emotions. Scientists believe that in blue light time seems to pass quicker for you – because you are day-dreaming.

BLACK AND WHITE – these are not actually colours, but to most people black symbolizes death and evil, white means innocence and good. But in many oriental countries, black is good and white is for widows and the devil.

It’s all in your mind.