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Перед вами еще один образец эссе, в котором предлагается рассказать об официальном обеде. Снова смокинги, столовое серебро и гости... Кого вы пригласите на сей раз?

Question: If you could pick three guests for a formal dinner, who would they be and why would you choose them? (300 words maximum)

If I could pick three guests for a formal dinner party, unconstrained by chronology and mortality, I would pick Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile Hunter". Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill have always intrigued me, because apart from their enormous accomplishments in public life, they led fascinating lives beyond the realm of politics - Roosevelt the big game hunter, conservationist, and hero of San Juan Hill; Churchill the soldier, war correspondent, and Nobel Prize winning author.

My third guest, the zoo director and television personality Steve Irwin, strikes me as the ideal foil for the two elder statesmen. As an Australian and non-politician, he would strike a balance between these bastions of American and British public life and focus the conversation on the personal experiences that make Roosevelt and Churchill so fascinating. Additionally, Irwin, with his cheerful self-assurance, would not be easily overwhelmed by Roosevelt and Churchill's domineering personalities.


With this triumvirate, I imagine the conversation moving from Teddy's tales of his wild game safaris in Africa and the spectacular beauty of the American West, to Winston relating his great escape from the Boer prison camp and his experiences in the British Raj, with Steve Irwin trying to one-up them as he recounts the origins of his various scars and expounds on the art of crocodile wrestling.

While the political careers of Roosevelt and Churchill can, and do, fill volumes, it is impossible to capture on the written page the passion and energy with which these men lived their lives. With this dining combination, I would hope to catch a glimpse of it. I can't think of a more interesting or remarkable evening than to be regaled by tales from these three exceptional men.

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