1. English as a world language. Main spheres of usage

Modern world is becoming smaller all the time. Every day distances between different countries seem less. For this reason it's becoming more and more important to know different languages, especially English.

One billion people speak English today. That's about 20% of the world's population. 400 million people speak English as their first language. For the other 600 million people it's either a second language or a foreign language.

English is the first language in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand. It is one of the official languages in Canada, the Irish Republic and the Republic of South Africa.

As a second language English is spoken in more than 60 countries. It is used by the government, businessmen and universities.

English is the language of politics and diplomacy, science and technology, business and trade, sport and pop music. 80% of all information in the world's computers is in English. 75% of the world's letters and faxes are in English. 60% of all international telephone calls are made in English. More than 60% of all scientific journals are written in English.

To know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every good specialist. Learning a language is not an easy thing. It's a long and slow process that takes a lot of time and patience. But it's a must.

English is taught throughout the world and a lot of people speak it quite well. In our country English is very popular: it is studied at schools (sometimes even at nursery schools), colleges and universities.

Everyone will speak English soon — I'm sure of it. We all need to understand each other. To do that we need an international language, and that's English.

2. Healthy lifestyle and the main ways of keeping it.

  I believe that health is better than wealth, basically because you can get by living on a small amount of money, but you cannot live without good health, and without good health nothing else is worth having. People nowadays are more health-conscious than they used to be. In order to be healthy we should avoid bad habits that can affect our health. In my opinion, smoking and drinking alcohol, are the worst ones. Smoking, for example, causes lung diseases, such as pneumonia, emphysema and cancer, heart attacks and high blood pressure. Besides, it makes teeth yellow and skin unhealthy. Alcohol causes heart disease and brain damage. A drinker becomes nervous and aggressive, loses friends, and finally loses his work, family and happy life.

   Smoking and drinking are joined by less dangerous habits, such as skipping meals, eating unhealthy food, or even overeating. If we eat too much, we start to put on weight, and obesity leads to serious health problems. Experts say people should remember a wise proverb ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’. This means that we should eat more fresh vegetables and fruit. We should have regular eating habits and try to have meals every day in the same time.

   Regular exercise is an essential part of our life. A person who takes regular exercise will stay physically fit, vigorous and keep a youthful shape. Regular sleeping habits are also important. At night while we sleep our brain also processes and stores all the information learnt during the day. In conclusion I would like to say that is’s easier to prevent a disease rather than try to cure if after you get sick.

6. Cinema and theatre as arts: comparative characteristics.

Some people say that the theatre is likely to disappear, while others believe that it will continue attracting large audiences.

The theatre has existed since 2000 ВС. Greek theatres were huge, open-air structures that were able to seat thousands of viewers. Nowadays there are many types of theatres: a comedy theatre, a drama theatre, a concert hall, a musical theatre, an opera and ballet house, a dance theatre and others. Some theatres are famous all over the world such as the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow or la Scala in Milan.

Personally, I am sure that the theatre is not likely to disappear. I am a real theatre-goer. To my mind, a good play stirs spectators1 imagination, makes them smile and cry, fills them with joy and excitement, makes them forget about dull reality and carries them away to a fantastic country. The theatre is a small world with its own rules, its own life and feelings. Going to the theatre is always an exciting event for me.

But nowadays a lot of people prefer watching a movie to going to the theatre. Some of them even say that the theatre will not last long. Firstly, a lot of people prefer to watch TV sitting in a comfortable armchair at home. Secondly, tickets for a good play are rather expensive. Finally, they should be bought beforehand and one will have to stand in a queue for a long time. But I believe that those people who say that they don't care about the theatre have never seen a good play.

Nowadays production companies are putting many films in 3D. Personally, I think that watching a 3D movie is a great fun. It gives you a wonderful opportunity to interact more with the film. To my mind, 3D movies prove that the technology can enhance not only the experience, but the storytelling too. People perceive the world around them with depth. So it would be natural to see films that are given more depth to the scene instead of flat images.

To conclude, I think that the theatre will exist as long as people love art and enjoy a special atmosphere that reigns in the theatre.

7. The mass media of Ukraine and the English-speaking countries.

Mass media is a broad concept. It includes radio, television, newspapers, magazines, Internet and else. It’s hard to imagine life without mass media nowadays. Media plays very important part in everyday life. It informs us about current affairs in the world. It educates us, gives a possibility to learn something new. It certainly entertains us in different ways. Mass media influences the way people dress, eat, communicate and many other parts of our lives. It can often make people change their views on different matters. Millions of people watch TV every day, listen to the radio in cars, read newspaper and magazines. Everyone finds something interesting through means of media. Of course, not all that we see, hear or read is objective. Sometimes the information can be altered. However, I believe that good reporters try to deliver us only reliable information.

The media in Ukraine today is a single public structure providing society with up-to-date detailed information concerning sociopolitical, economic, cultural aspects, etc. It is designed to positively influence the general public, from their progressive views, aspirations and ideals. At present, Ukraine numbers 4,000 editions varying in forms of ownership, genre, type, and periodicity. Periodicals are independent and censorshipfree. The national radio-and-television network of Ukraine is made up of government-run and non-government radio and TV companies. Ukraine is a member of the International Telecommunication Union and an active participant in the Intervision network. Besides State channel "UT-1" there have appeared several nongoverment TV and radio companes: "1+1", "Inter" "STB" and others. Among Ukraine's information agencies special popularity enjoy the UKRINFORM (Ukrainian National Information Agency), UNIAR (Ukrainian Independent Information Agency Respublica), and several others. These agencies have correspondents and reporters throughout the country and abroad and disseminate information both within and outside Ukraine.

Like in any other country of the world, television is very popular in the USA and Great Britain: many families here have more than one TV set. The most popular channels on the British TV are BBC 1, BBC, ITV and Channel. The two BBC channels are national — they are founded by the government but are non-political. On BBC Channels the televiewers can watch news, TV sport programmes, educational programmes, interviews with prominent people, musical programmes and many other items. Films are shown on TV, too, but usually they are old: some of the films are made specially for television, for example, so-called soap operas. Out of the 1,500 TV stations in the USA about 1,200 are commercial ones. Сommercial TV stations broadcast mainly entertainment programmes because they must attract as many televiewers as possible in order to sell advertising time at high prices.

In the morning, before work, and in the evening, when they come home, people in the English-speaking countries like to read newspapers and magazines, watch TV or listen to the radio. The newspapers, which are produced in Great Britain, the USA and other English-speaking countries, are divided into national and local. The national newspapers are those, which are sold all over the country: they are “The Times”, “The Guardian”, “The Independent”, “The Daily Telegraph” and “The Financial Times” in Great Britain and “The Wall Street Journal”, “The New York Times”, “The Washington Post” and “The Christian Science Monitor” in the USА