"My working day (4)"

The Smiths live at 87 King Street. In the morning Mr Smith goes to work and the children go to school. Their father takes them to school every day. Mrs Smith stays at home every day. She does the housework. She always eats her lunch at noon. In the afternoon she usually sees her friends. They often drink tea together. In the evening the children come home from school. They arrive home early. Mr Smith comes home from work. He arrives home late. At night the children always do their homework. Then they go to bed. Mr Smith usually reads his newspaper, but sometimes he and his wife watch television.

"My working day (5)"

I get up at 7 o'clock in the morning. I do my morning exercises, wash myself and dress. Then I sit down to breakfast. At 8 o'clock I leave home and go to the Institute. As a rule I come to the Institute at a quarter to 9. The lessons begin at 9 sharp. Today we have two lectures, a seminar and an English lesson. At our English lessons we read the texts, ask and answer questions and do all sorts of exercises. We do not write many exercises. We usually write exercises at home. We speak English at the lessons. We speak English a little now, but we want to speak English well. At about 1 o'clock I generally have dinner at the canteen. I come home at about 6 o'clock. I have supper and do my homework. I always do my homework in the evening, but I never work late in the evening. At 11 o'clock I go to bed.

"My working day (6)"

I usually get up at 7 o'clock in the morning. I do my morning exercises, but not always, make my bed, wash and dress. Then I sit down to breakfast. At 8 o'clock I leave home and go to school. As a rule I come to school in time as the lessons begin at 9 o'clock. I live not far from school and it usually takes me 15 minutes to get to school on foot. Usually we have 6 or 7 classes every day and after classes I return home. At 3 o'clock I have dinner and rest a little. After that I do my home work and help my mother about the house if she needs my help. Then I have supper and if the weather is good I go for a walk with my friends and if the weather is not good I stay at home something I watch TV; sometimes I listen to music or chat with my friends over the telephone. I never work late in the evening. At 11 o'clock I usually go to bed but sometimes I watch television till late in the evening and that's why I may go to bed very late. But I always remember the proverb: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise."

"My working day (7)"

On week days I usually get up nearly seven o'clock. I do not like to get up early, but I have to, because I have a lot of work to do during the day. I do my morning exercises, make my bed, wash my-self, dress and go to the kitchen to have breakfast. My mother usually prepares breakfast for me, but sometimes I do it myself. I do not like big breakfasts, I prefer a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Then I go to school (to work). It is rather far (not far) from my house and I go there by bus (on foot). I have classes (I work) till ... o'clock. Then I come home and have dinner. After it I do my homework and do some work about the house. I sweep the floor, dust the furniture and clean the carpets with the vacuum-cleaner. Sometimes my mot-her asks me to go shopping or to help her in the kitchen. After it I have free time. I go for a walk with my friend, or watch TV, or read books, or play computer games. Then I have supper with my family. I like evenings very much because all of us get together after work and study and have the opportunity to talk and to discuss our family affairs. I usually go to bed at about eleven o'clock.

ABOUT MYSELF

They say that if you want something to be done well, do it yourself. So I follow this wise saying and would like to introduce myself. I believe that it isn't an easy thing to speak about yourself as it's hard to have a look at yourself from aside but at the same time who knows you better than you yourself do?

 My name is Elena Protasova. I live in Gomel. My family is an average sized Belarusian family: it consists of my father, mother, elder brother and me. As for my appearance I am a slim girl, a bit shortish, but it does not mind me. I have a blunt nose, blue expressive eyes and chestnut shoulder length hair. My friends think I am rather attractive girl, but I have never thought I am a beauty. As far as preferences in clothes are concerned I should say that I'm rather moody person that's why I cannot say I have one favourite style. Today I can wear a skirt, formal blouse and high-heeled shoes, but tomorrow I can prefer tight-fitting jeans, casual T-shirt and low-heeled shoes. Everything depends on my mood.

 To my mind our life goes so fast that sometimes we don't notice how fleeting it is. For instance I didn't notice how eighteen years of my life have passed. I feel like it was yesterday when I went to school for the first time, but this year is the last one at school. It's unbelievable but it is true. But I want to tell you everything in details.

 My early years, which I remember only by parts, were interesting and careless. My childhood was happy because my parents devoted me a lot of time, my brother played with me and read books for me in the evenings. So I can say I was surrounded with love, care and attention. As most children I was sent to the kindergarten at the age of three as both of my parents worked, but as far as I remember I didn't like to attend kindergarten. I'm sure I can never forget my governor who made me eat semolina. In general the attendance of kindergarten seemed boring to me, though mainly there I met my first loyal friend.

 When I was seven I went to school. My first school years were spent at school number 32, but then I moved to an English Specialized school number 71, where I got a proper education especially in such subjects as English, History and Geography.

 School meant very much to me and I'm sure that it gave me a lot; first of all of course in educational sphere. Thanks to school and my teachers I became more intelligent and educated person. I consider that I became more persistent, determined and ambitious. Diligence, attention and accuracy - all these qualities school developed in me regularly. And owing to school I got acquainted with interesting people, devoted friends and excellent teachers. 

 After the 9th form I entered Gomel stale regional lyceum. Of course it was hard for me to leave my school friends and teachers, but I understood that it was my chance to improve my knowledge in particular fields. The subjects I liked best at lyceum were English, Belarusian and History, that's why I decided to become an interpreter. In my opinion choosing the kind of career to follow is probably one of the most important decisions you will ever make. Before you make this decision you will have a lot of thinking about who you are, about the things you like to do and the things you do well. Though I descent from the family of engineers I'd like to become an interpreter. This profession has always attracted me because I can get acquainted with various people and I can learn their customs, rituals and traditions. I'm sure that this creative profession can enrich my mind and make me more educated and intelligent person. And I hope that my dream will come true.

 I think that my star sign can tell you a lot about me, my inside world, soul and character. I believe that stars influence our fate and character, though I don't trust daily horoscopes. I was born under the zodiac sign of Gemini. Stars affirm that Gemini are active and artistic. These people admire adventures and changes, they make friends with unusual lightness and they are excellent mates too. They are clever, dreamy, kind-hearted and demanding at the same time. They aspire to do several things simultaneously, but they often leave them half-done. Such people hate to listen to complaints and wait for long. I can agree with majority of these statements, though I can't say that I am very demanding.

 

Once I read in a magazine that some scientists are sure that they can say what kind of person you are if they know what your favourite colour is. As for me I'm fond of purple and blue colours. According to the scientists' words I'm temperamental, successful, thoughtful and quite. And I can say that I agree with all these traits of my character, though some of them are more clearly expressed in me, but others are less.

 In my opinion I'm a kind-hearted and jolly person. I think I'm responsive and reliable that's why my friends and relatives can always rely on me. I never refuse if people whom I love need support or a piece of advice. I try to be fair and just in attitude to the others. I'm rather calm person, but sometimesI1 can lose my temper and become either angry or sad. I'm modest and sometimes shy, but do not advice someone tricking or kidding me. I like staying alone and sometimes I retire into my shell, but at the same time I like a noisy company of my friends. I like to laugh and joke with them and I never let my friends down.

 My parents think that I'm an exemplary daughter, but a bit lazy, because I don't, like to help them about the house. They are sure that I'm a creative and active person and as busy as a bee, because I always do anything and I constantly have no free time.

 My friends consider me to be rather earnest girl, because I always think about anything, but all of them know me as a faithful and responsive friend, I'm always eager to help my friends and to calm them with the help of a tender word.

 But like other people I'm not an ideal. I can't wait for long that's why I can be called an impatient person. Sometimes I can be lazy, but I always try to fight with this feature of my character. Also I can be very sensitive I can't say that it's a negative trait of my character but I dislike it a bit.

 Though I'm rather a busy girl and I don't have much free time I always try to find spare time for my hobbies and interests because I have a lot of them. To my mind hobbies differ like tastes and if you have chosen a hobby according to your character you are lucky, as your life becomes more interesting and enjoyable. In my leisure time I like to listen to my favourite music, but what kind of music I listen always depends on my mood. If I'm full of joy I like to listen to pop music, but if I'm sad I prefer hard music. I believe that music awakens the best feelings in my soul and high emotions. Also I like to read various books. To my mind reading is very useful because books enrich our experience with that of other people. Besides books help me to continue my own education and I disagree with the people who think that a tempo of modern life is too fast to waste time on reading. They are sure that books have begun to lose their prestige and value. I don't think so; I enjoy books of various genres: detective stories, thrillers and historical novels, tales, works after classical and modern writers, but my favourite genre is love stories. I adore "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte. I have read this book a lot of times and I consider that it is a masterpiece of love genre. But most of all I like traveling because in my opinion it is always interesting to discover new things, different ways of life, to meet various people, to try diverse food, to listen to different music, etc. If you are fond of traveling, you see and learn a lot of things that you can never see or learn at home, though you may read about them in books and newspapers and see pictures of them on TV.

 As far as my dislikes are concerned I hate getting up early and overcrowded buses. I dislike envious and pushy people and rainy weather. But I'm happy that I have more things I like than I dislike.

 And of course like all people I have someone I admire very much. Such a person for me is my mother. To my mind my mummy isn't an ordinary woman. I can't say that our characters are very alike but usually we understand each other without a word, our views often coincide.

 She is always ready to listen to my endless stories about my setbacks, problems and troubles. She encourages me when I doubt my ability, helps to fulfill my aspirations and ambitions or to reach a secret goal.

 And in conclusion I'd like to say that I like being me. And I hope that everybody who knows me likes me with all my positive and negative features of character.

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MY WORKINNG DAY

When I studied at lyceum my usual working days looked practically the same. But in my opinion, everything depends on person himself, so I did my best to make them more interesting and useful.

Life is impossible without work. Of course not all creatures as well as people like it, but it is very important for progress. Our teachers and parents always say that hard work is the only way to achieve our aims and goals. To my mind one can't appreciate the value of rest if he doesn't work. As for me I tried to organize my working day in such a way that I would be able to do as much work as possible.

My working day usually started like this. At sharp 6.30 my radio alarm buzzed. As it was actual on my bed it literary blasted me into awareness of the morning. This was due to the loudness I needed to wake me up. Though I am not a lazy-bone, in winter it was always difficult for me to wake up early. I hate the cold that's why I usually tried to stay in bed as long as possible. Sometimes I lay for a while deciding whether to pretend to be fatally ill, but then I usually gave up this silly idea because only little children practiced it and besides this trick usually didn't work. But when spring came and the air was fresh, when the sun shone brightly in the morning and the birds were singing I forgot about my sleep and felt full of energy.

So I finally crawled out of bed. By this time it was usually about 6.50. a.m. I think it wouldn't be fair to say that I did my morning exercises only from time to time. Though, of course. I know that good health is better than wealth. Nevertheless I preferred taking a shower to merely washing my face and after having a shower I got dressed and brushed my hair. It took me about 25-30 minutes to do my toilet. I want to say that while I was doing all these things my mother was making breakfast. I was in a habit of having only a light breakfast. A cup of tea. some ham or cheese sandwiches were enough for me to be full. As a rule while having my breakfast I listened to a piece of good music on the radio. After breakfast I snatched my school bag. Frankly speaking I found my habit of packing the bag in the morning quite irritating, because I always left something important at home, but I couldn't make myself do it in the evening. And then I rushed for lyceum. Unfortunately I live far from the lyceum. It took me about forty minutes to get there, that's why I was not lucky to sleep a bit longer than pupils who lived near it.

Frankly speaking sometimes my mood depended on what classes I had. On some days lessons flashed by very quickly, especially if they were the humanities, which I liked most, but they were dragging more slowly if I had such sciences like Physics, Chemistry or Math and especially when we had to write tests in them. Wednesday was the hardest day for me; I stayed in lyceum longer than usual because we had an additional lesson in Belarusian language. I should say that I usually enjoyed hours at lyceum if I was up-to-date with my school work, because I hated the feeling of being left behind with anything. In general I enjoyed lyceum hours because they were instructive and interesting besides I liked lyceum because of the number of friends I had there, but I didn't let my private life interfere with my school work. In common I found life at lyceum bright and absorbing. Our classes started at 8.20 instead of 8.00 as they do in most schools. Usually we had 7 lessons a day. Every lesson lasted 45 minutes, as in a common school, but our breaks were too short, that's why our freedom lasted only 5 or 10 minutes. But we were lucky to have a large break in the middle of the day which lasted 45 minutes. During this break we went to the canteen, and if there was nothing tasty and edible in it, we visited the nearest shop to buy something, for example, sweets or rolls and then did almost everything we wanted. As life is given us only once I try to live it in the best and useful way. So I usually spent the rest of time reading various interesting books or magazines or doing special exercises useful for brain, for example. I could solve puzzles. When I didn't manage to do all my homework at home the large break was mainly the time when I had an opportunity to finish it.

At 3 o'clock when my classes were over I stayed at lyceum to play volleyball or to do some crafts. Our lyceum administration arranged several kinds of extra-class activities like concerts, debate clubs and sports competitions. Honestly I wasn't their active participant, but I took part in them from time to time. Frequently I was back home later than 5 o'clock. On my way home I went to the baker's to buy some white and brown bread, biscuits and cakes. In the evenings I was busy doing my homework. There were subjects which required a lot of homework to be done and I usually spent most of my time on them. The English language, as it was my main subject, took me no less than three hours to be done. Belarusian and Russian literatures took me a lot of time as well as I should read a lot, wrote different compositions and thought over various problems of our life. These subjects had never seemed easy to me.

When late evening came and I had some free time left, which happened very seldom, I went for a walk with my friends. But I rarely sat in front of the TV set, as I prefer meeting friends to merely watching TV. Besides I'm keen on music. Listening to music makes me feel relaxed and calm. Sometimes it even helped me to do my homework. I was in the habit of doing two things together, for instance, listening to music and at the same time reading a book or writing a composition. I don't know why but music didn't prevent me from productive work and didn't draw my attention away. On the contrary it helped me. Here I should say that there were not many household chores that I did in my final year as my parents understood that I was preparing for entering the university and they tried to set me free from spending my precious time on anything else but studying. But in spite of it I had little time for rest; I think working hard is the right thing to do if you want to achieve something in life.

At about eight o'clock we usually had supper and all our family gathered in the kitchen. I should mention that it was the only time when we could see one another and talk about different things. We shared our joys and sorrows; discussed our plans for the next day. As for my supper it was usually light as I had dinner very late (at 5 or 6 o'clock), that's why I was not hungry when time came to have supper.

At about 11 o'clock I usually had a bath and then I went to bed. When I went to bed I often thought about possible careers and dreamt of becoming reach and famous due to an outstanding talent that no one had discovered yet (just like they do in the movies). Then I allowed myself to worry a bit about lyceum, my future, the next day, what I looked like, what people thought about me and what I could do to change the way people thought about me. I usually fell asleep at midnight.

Generally I try to plan my working day. I think it helps not to waste time on trifles and to do all the things at a time. I like punctuality, exactness, when everything has its own place. To my mind it is easier to live then. When my working day is planned I don't waste time on thinking what to do, so I have more time to do various useful things. When my working day is over I usually think about what things I have done and what this day has brought to me. If I understand that I have enriched my knowledge, learnt useful things and practiced to do something important I consider that this day turns out well. I try not to leave things till last time. But not long ago it was my weak spot. It I had to learn something by heart I did it on the last evening, if I had a lot to read I did it at night. Of course sometimes I didn't manage to do all the things I needed. I'd like to admit that my mum always said that I shouldn't leave things for tomorrow if I could do them today. At present I agree with her completely. So I have managed to get rid of this weak spot.

And in conclusion I'd like to say I'm happy to live a busy life. It is more interesting, exciting and instructive. When you are busy life doesn't seem to be boring.

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MY SCHOOL

Education is the main people's wealth and lots of them consider it the sense of living. They get education from early childhood and learn until their hair is grey. To my mind, education plays an important role in people's lives, that's why a great attention is paid to it.

School is one of our most significant institutions. School teaches reading, writing, the use of mathematics and other basic skills needed in everyday life. It increases people's knowledge of the world and themselves and helps them understand the rapid changes that take place in modern society. In schools pupils learn their responsibilities and rights as citizens, improve their ability to think critically, and develop such basic values as truth, justice and equality.

People throughout the world attend schools, but the quality of schools varies among countries. Today most of countries have well-developed educational systems and I'd like to mention that Belarus is among these countries. It embraces 11,000 educational establishments. The republic guarantees its citizens the right to universal secondary education and creates means for further professional education. It tries to preserve the democratic character of education paying much attention to common human values, developing independent critical thinking instead of simple perception of information. But in spite of it, education in our country faces various problems nowadays.

It seems to me that the greatest problem for a school today is that all subjects are compulsory and pupils have no opportunity to choose the subjects they want to learn deep. Thousands of pupils have to spend a lot of time sitting and thinking over the subjects they don't like, don't need or don't understand. It usually drives them mad (I know it for sure) and they start hating this or that subject or become indifferent to it. So if I were a Minister of education I would organize education in another way. In my opinion, some subjects should be optional so that children could choose their favourite ones out of the formal curriculum. I think that such education is better and more effective.

Also in my personal view, schooling doesn't bring practical experience for young people. To my mind learning only theory by textbooks isn't enough. In every school should be chemical and biological laboratories where pupils who want to know more could work with their teachers after the classes. To my great regret not every school has a good computer centre. I think that special excursions to the corners of our native country should be organized for pupils who are interested in History. It isn't only useful but interesting as well. And of course, it would be great if the children who want to connect their lives with foreign languages could go to the countries where these languages are spoken and spend there some time, communicating with native speakers.

To my mind these problems of schooling should be solved as soon as possible.

Now when my school years have been over I can say with certainty that it is fairly difficult to learn and that schooling brings hundreds of sleepless nights, impaired nerves and millions of hours learning and learning. But on my first day at school many years ago I knew almost nothing about school.

As far as I remember, during the last two years at the kindergarten I was dreaming to go to school, because I found attendance of the kindergarten boring and I disliked almost all its rules. For example, I couldn't sleep at a daytime, but our governor always tried to make me sleep but in spite of it, while all children were sleeping I was thinking about school.

And finally the first September of 1995 came. I'm sure I can never forget that day. It occurred on a sunny bright day when birds sang and trees were still in leaves I got up early on that day because I felt excited and started awakening my parents. Then we ate, got dressed and went to school. I was ready for going to school, as at the age of seven I could read, write, count and paint, I had a good memory and learnt some Russian verses and some English words.

On my way to school I was thinking about this establishment School was a magic word for me. While walking I felt a bit nervous. It wasn't fear but the feeling of something new, unexpected that I would meet. I was accompanied by both of my parents and elder brother who was going to the 6th form.

My teacher and classmates met me at a school yard and after a solemn part we went to our classroom. Then there was a little excursion around the school. The teacher showed us a canteen, a gym, different classrooms, etc. I spent the whole day at school. It was the happiest day in my school life because my dream had come true. Both the teacher and new classmates became my friends. That day was unforgettable.

Years passed and my impressions about school changed. I began to learn different subjects, new teachers appeared and school became a typical place where I spent the largest part of the day. Long grey days started but the first day would be in my memory forever. My first teacher also will be in my soul and heart. Frankly speaking she was my favourite teacher and I'm sure that she can be called an ideal teacher. She was an excellent teacher, not just a person teaching us subjects but a helper, an adviser and a friend. And what is no less important her attitude to the pupils was always friendly and tolerant. She was always interested in her pupils' health and atmosphere in our families. When a pupil was in trouble she usually gave him or her a piece of advice, if a pupil was ill our teacher always phoned him. Her lessons were always interesting and unusual. She arranged various discussions and we took active part in them. She really had a gift to teach!

But our life passes so fast that sometimes we don't even notice how fleeting it is; so my first four years at school spent with my beloved teacher, flashed by very quickly.

I went to the secondary school. Though studying was not an easy thing to do I never felt homesick. I should say that I was lucky to study at an English specialized school. There I got proper trainings in such subjects as English, German, Literature and History. But school for me was not only lessons and learning: I had a lot of friends there. It was an unforgettable time full of joys and trouble, of happiness and unimaginable adventures. I'm sure that school taught me a lot, first of all in educational sphere. Thanks to school and my teachers I became intelligent and educated person. But school gave me a lot not only in educational sphere. I became more persistent and stubborn. Diligence, attention and accuracy - all these qualities school developed in me every day. I had many friends at school and good relations with my teachers. School was like my second home.

But after the 9th form I entered Gomel State Regional Lyceum. It's one of the best educational establishments in my native town that is famous for its high-quality teaching and good equipment. Frankly speaking it was difficult for me to leave my school, as I'd spent a long span of life there. I came to school when I was a little girl, but when I was leaving it I was a grown-up person who knew what she was going to be. But honestly I was really happy to enter the lyceum because the atmosphere there was so warm and pleasant, both teachers and students were one large and friendly family.

I want to say that lyceum is one modern schools in Belarus as it is a new type of educational establishments. It provides two years of education which offers a general course of academic and non-academic subjects. Besides it offers а number of courses giving a profound knowledge in a variety of fields: the humanities, natural sciences, mathematics, etc.

What about me I specialized in the humanities. The course I took included: Belarusian, Russian, History of Belarus and of certainly my chief interest was the English language. I got interested in this subject because to my mind every modern and cultural person should know at least one foreign language. The foreign language I have chosen is English, because it is the language of the planet, that's why knowing it is a life necessity. Likewise I'm sure that knowledge of English can be applied in my prospective occupation.

The lyceum, I finished, is located in the city centre. The building itself is of typical design with the same layout and the distribution of classrooms, administrative offices, canteens, gyms and libraries as you can see in most other schools. But when you come in through the front door you find yourself in a spacious hall with comfortable sofas and large windows. Cloak-room is also situated in the hall. On the ground floor there is a large assembly hall, which is used for various performances, festivities and lyceum meetings, a library, a canteen, the Doctor's office and some classrooms. On the first floor there is a large computer centre, where basic computer skills are taught, an ecological centre with rear species of fish and the Head's office. On the second floor there are a lot of classrooms and laboratories, and there is a hostel on the third floor for pupils who come from small towns and villages of our region. In general, to my mind, the lyceum is very cosy inside: there are a lot of sofas, Venetian blinds and mirrors in the corridors. All classrooms are well-equipped, but frankly speaking, they look like classrooms in all schools of our country: there are three rows of desks, a teacher's table with a chair and a blackboard on the wall.

Though I have spent at lyceum only two years, it has become an integral part of my life. Our social and cultural life was well organized; both teachers and classmates were so friendly and easy to get along with. I was on good terms with my classmates, as all of them were interesting and a bit enigmatic persons. We often spent our free time together and I think I can never forget these two years and I will regret that everything has finished.

To my mind it goes without saying that I was more pleased to study at lyceum than at school. I'd like to compare, for instance, the quantity of English classes a week. At lyceum we had nine English lessons while at school I used to have only four. It was a great problem for me as I didn't have enough practice in grammar, vocabulary and listening at all. I attended courses in English, but they didn't give visible results. Thanks to lyceum I have known a lot of information I would have never got at school.

Another thing that differed lyceum from school was books. At school we had only one textbook where we did our exercises, learnt rules and read texts, but at lyceum everything was different. We needed to buy lots of necessary books and our teacher also gave us additional literature. So at lyceum we were fully provided with educational supplies.

Also we had a lot of concerts, sport competitions we took part in, excursions and visits to libraries and theatres at lyceum. Social and cultural life at lyceum was diverse, but at school we had nothing but went to theatre twice a year.

Sincerely speaking, lyceum was much better than my former school, but I can't say that my school wasn't good: it gave me my first knowledge, learnt to appreciate education and friendship. Even though I liked my school and my former classmates I didn't regret that I had changed my school for lyceum. I think it was a right choice.

I think you'll agree that education means much in every country, but in Japan education is the main thing in people's lives.

In Japan children go to school at the age of four and finish the primary school at twelve. Then rather a difficult life for them starts. They begin learning special courses and choose the subjects they like.

Talking about Japanese schools I should say that every class has forty pupils. The discipline there is rather strict: when a teacher enters the class children stand up and bow to him. While a teacher delivers a lecture pupils make notes, but they don't shout and don't ask questions that is considered to be impolite. Pupils try to do they best at school and even if a pupil falls ill his parents attend lectures instead of him.

I should say that Japanese education is considered to be one of the best in the world. Really, in many aspects it may seem that a Japanese school is ideal, but to my mind, this opinion is wrong. In Japanese school pupils are as busy as bees, they spend most time at schools, they learn hard from morning till late evening.

For me an ideal school is situated eighteen thousand miles far from Japan to the west. This school is a little school in Summerhill.

Recently I've read about Summerhill school in a magazine and was very interested in the method of education in this school.

This school is a modern kind of school, the main idea of which is to make school fit the child instead of making the child fit the school. Here teachers don't make children sit at desks studying mostly useless subjects. They allow children freedom to be themselves. In order to do this the administration of this school had to renounce all discipline, all direction, all suggestion and all moral trainings. They are sure, and I completely agree with them, that each child is innately wise and realistic. If left to himself without adult suggestion of any kind, he will develop as far as he is capable of developing. Summerhill is a place where people who have innate ability to be scholars will be scholars.

To my mind Summerhill is possibly the happiest school in the world and an ideal school for children. For instance lessons are optional there. Children can attend them or stay away from them. There is a timetable but only for the teachers, so children can choose when they start their day at school. The children have classes usually according to their age, but sometimes according to their interests.

The teachers are friendly and understanding there. They are sympathized with the children and help them as much as they can. They help the children to do as well as possible in their exams and help them to develop their personalities and characters. So, Summerhill is a placе that gives the children not only some skills or knowledge, but teaches some social things the pupils need to know when they leave school. And the main thing - Summerhill is a pleasant place to be in as the children feel comfortable, equal among each other and happy.

Frankly speaking I regret that I didn't have an opportunity to be a pupil of this school, though I really enjoyed years at school and lyceum. And now when I have finished them, my heart is full of gratitude to most teachers for the knowledge they gave me and to many of my classmates who made my school life enjoyable. School has opened me the world and the way to it, and I'm sure I will always look back at my school and lyceum years as the happiest years in my life.

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MY ENGLISH STUDIES

According to a legend, originally the world only had one language. One day the people decided to build an enormous tower so that they could reach up to heaven. The creator, convinced that he had to put an end to such futile ventures, decided to confuse their languages so that they couldn't understand each other, and to scatter them all over the earth.

Since that time people throughout the world have been struggling to understand each other.

Despite various attempts to create universal language- between 1880 and 1907 no less than 53 were invented- today, whether we like it or not, English is the only universal language.

I'm sure that it is very important and necessary to learn English now, because English is the language of the whole world. 700 million people all over the world use it. Over 30 million people speak English as a mother tongue. The native speakers of English live in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, etc. English is one of the official languages in the Irish Republic, India, Canada and the South African Republic. As a second language it is used in the former British and US colonies. Besides, millions of people study and use English as a foreign language. But at first I'd like to say some words about the history of this language.

The rise of English is a story of wonderful success. When Julies Caesar landed in Britain in the 5th century, English was already spoken by the people, who inhabited Great Britain, but they were not many and their English was not the language we know today. Nearly a thousand years later, at the end of the 16th century, when William Shakespeare created his works, English was the native language of about 6 million Englishmen. At that time English wasn't used anywhere except Great Britain, but now English is the main language of business, sports, science, trade, progressive technology, commerce and it's the world's computer language. 75% of the world's mail and 60% of the world's telephone calls are in English. Also it is the universal language of international aviation, shipping and the major language of diplomacy. It has replaced French in the world of diplomacy and German in the field of science. English is the dominant language of medicine, electronics and space technology, of international business and advertising, of radio, television and film. Besides, the English language is the language of the great literature, hundreds of books, magazines and newspapers are printed in English and read all over the world. A lot of new films in English come out every day. If you know English, you can understand them without translation. Also I should mention that every year thousands of people from Belarus go to different countries as tourists or to work and they can't go without knowing the language of the country they are going to, but they can speak in English, because it is an international language.

I should say that in general interest to foreign languages is increasing nowadays, especially among young people. Youth likes to rest in different youth camps and to communicate with coevals from other countries, but it is problematical if you don't know any foreign language. Modern teenagers like to sit at the computers as well and to spend a lot of time in charts, where they can make acquaintance with people from other countries, but communication with them also requires knowing foreign language.

I'm sure you will feel at home while doing business if you know foreign language, because you have an opportunity to exchange visits and business letters. You can fluently speak to your foreign partners on business on the phone, without help of an interpreter. I'm sure that a specialist knowing a foreign language can find a well-paid job in any professional sphere. Learning foreign languages opens up new opportunities to expand one's knowledge in particular fields. Some people are interested in the culture of other peoples and it is the reason why they learn foreign languages. To my mind the best way to know the culture of different nations is to travel, because when we travel we can see and learn a lot of things that we can never see or learn at home, though we may read about them in books or newspapers and see pictures of them on TV, but to my mind the best way to get to know and understand the people is to meet them in their own homes. Also I'm sure that learning other languages can give you self-confidence when you go abroad, because you can freely express your wishes and thoughts and you will never get in a silly situation.

I'd like to admit that all people have their own purposes for learning other languages, but all of them have the same opinion that learning foreign languages opens up a lot of new prospects nowadays.

As for me I think that learning a foreign language is the best way to discover new things about world culture, which you have never known before and it will open to you great prospects for business. I learn English because it expands my knowledge. At every English lesson I get to know something new and interesting. English enriches my knowledge in some particular fields, broadens my outlook and enriches my mind. If I want to feel quite well in today's multilingual society I should learn English because it is an international language and it is spoken everywhere. Another reason why I learn English is that I want to read English books. I like Shakespeare, Byron and Mark Twain and I want to get pleasure reading books in the original. Also I learn this language because I want to use it for professional purposes as I want to become an interpreter. In my opinion an interpreter is a very useful profession because it helps people to communicate. I want to work in an international environment; I want to travel and to communicate with people. It has always attracted me.

But my friend is sure that learning a foreign language is a waste of time. She says that learning of English is a fashion of the day; she thinks that foreign languages would not be popular in some years. Also she finds her English lessons dull and boring, she says that she always wants to sleep when her teacher begins to speak in English. I'm sure that the reason is that she can't understand what the teacher and other pupils say, and that's why foreign language sounds tiresome for her. She is always grumbling about the difficulties of this language. On the one side she is right, because English is very idiomatic language, there are a large number of exceptions to any rule and the prepositions are terrible, also there is a problem of spelling. I agree with her that English is not an easy thing as it takes a lot of time and patience. Sometimes it is boring to study grammar or to learn new words, but it is well known that reading books in the original, listening to the BBC news and communication with the English speaking people will help a lot But my friend says she would be rather learning one of the artificial languages, for example, Esperanto, because it is a neutral language that is very easy to learn: there are no exceptions to any rule, the tense system is simple and the grammar is based only on 16 rules. Also to her mind it sounds beautiful, because it is quite similar to Italian. She even thinks that in future English would be replaced by Esperanto, but I disagree. I don't think that Esperanto can become an international language, because it is artificial, people don't use it for communication and they don't write letters in Esperanto or read books because only few books are translated in it. There is no country where the native speakers of this language live and where you can go in case you want to improve your language. That's why I prefer learning English to Esperanto, though I find English harder. Also I want to say that a hard thing always evokes larger interest than an easy one.

As for my English studies I should say that I have been studying English for ten years. Here I must admit that I was privileged to study at a school where the English language was taught since the first form, as it was a specialized English school. Since the first days at school English became my favourite subject. At the age of seven I was introduced into foreign speech and was taught to read, write and listen to short texts in English. My first English teacher made each lesson an interesting game which I enjoyed very much. It was exciting and easy to learn English at that time by playing games and singing songs. As I grew older our lessons became more instructive and serious. After the 9th form I entered Gomel state region lyceum where we had five English lessons a week and four additional lessons in English literature and practical grammar. Much attention was paid to grammar, writing all kinds of tests, speaking and listening.

Of course like all pupils I had tasks that I liked to do and that I disliked to do. I didn't like to write tests as I found it boring. I'm a rather creative person that's why I preferred such kinds of work where I could express my own thoughts, and opinions ,that's why I liked writing compositions and speaking. I can't but mention my teacher of English who devoted all her energy and talent to making us speak good English. She did her best to convince us that learning a foreign language was a strong requirement of modern life. I think I can never forget her words that every educated person should be able to speak al least one foreign languages and in many aspects of life English is the key and it has a great influence everywhere. She says that today one person in seven of the world's population either knows English or learns it. I belong to the last group because I'm only studying it now. I'm sure that language learning is something that everyone can do throughout their lifetime - you're never too old or too young to learn a language. Learning a new language is always a challenge but if approached in the right way it will be enjoyable and will provide an immerse feeling of satisfaction. It will give you a practical skill which can add to appreciation of other cultures, improve employment prospects and make travel more rewarding; to my mind you should never stop learning foreign languages. You never reach a point where you can say "at the end of this course I will know this language and I can stop learning it". It's a process that goes on and on. You can reach a certain level, you can pass an exam or even get a university degree but you still remain a learner all your life.

If yon learn language you always learn it for some definite purposes and these purposes usually dictate the most important things in learning this language. That's why the most important things in learning foreign language can be different to different people, for instance to my mind learning vocabulary and listening are considerable) more important than learning grammar if you want to use the language for tourist's purposes because I think that gestures and facial expression can always help you in it. But if you want to enter the university and then to use English for professional purposes you should pay a lot of attention to learning grammar and vocabulary hard, also you should read a lot because it is a good way to learn new words and to improve your English. And what about me particularly I can say that it is very important for me being corrected all the time I make a mistake because if I'm not corrected I'll use the word wrongly again and again it can lead to misunderstandings in conversation. That's why I always pay a lot of attention to vocabulary learning.

I should say that different people organize their vocabulary learning in various ways. Some of them put words in groups and have some grammar pages in their notebooks, other remember word families. I find this ways of learning vocabulary rather original and effective because you don't have problems with word formation. My cousin has a little notebook where he writes new words with translation and short sentences as examples. But to my mind it isn't a very good idea because he can't include thousands English words in one small notebook and also I'm sure that it isn't comfortable to curry this notebook everywhere. What about me, not long ago I tried to learn new words by little bits of paper which were hung all over my house. But frankly speaking it didn't work up because I didn't pay attention to these shits of paper. And now I try to practice another ways of learning English words: I write new words on little pieces of paper in English on the one side and in Russian on the other. Then when I have spare time, for example, when I go anywhere on the bus I learn these words. If I remember the words they go to my right pocket and if I don't they go to the left pocket again. Also sometimes I can record on to the tape the sentences with new words and then listen to them on the walkman while going somewhere. I find this way of vocabulary learning quite comfortable and rather successful.

I think that it can be interesting for you to know: nearly a month ago I had a dispute with my friend. We couldn't decide on what is more important in learning: ability or hard work. I agree with her that skills and abilities play a great role in learning, but to my mind hard work is more important than ability because patience and hard work can change everything, thanks to hard work you can develop your abilities in sphere where you even don't expect it. But ability without practice and work is nothing. I'm sure that if you want to achieve something in this life you should work as hard as you can and try to improve your knowledge all the time.

As for foreign languages I'm sure that there are a lot of ways to improve your knowledge in them. Some people try to read books in the original, they can learn poems by heart, others can learn definite amount of English words at a time. I personally do English tests or exercises from additional textbooks and I listen to special cassettes. When I listen to an English song I always try to translate it into Russian and I want to admit that it is very interesting. Also I have such TV channel as BBC, that's why when I have spare time I like to watch it. But I think that the best way to improve your foreign language is to go to the country where this language is spoken and spend there some time, communicating with the native speakers. I'm sure that it is not only the best way of learning the language, but also the shortest way of learning it. That's why I have a dream to go to England for a month or two.

I'm definitely sure that my future career should be connected with foreign languages, because I want to become a translator or interpreter. But to achieve my dream I should work hard And I do everything possible to make my dream come true!

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WHAT ARE BONDS AND THEIR TYPES

Well there is a way of earning money on the stock exchange by making loans to companies or to the government in the form of bonds. A bond is a promise to repay a sum of money at a certain interest rate and over a certain period of time.

Loans made to joint-stock companies are usually called debentures while loans made to the government are called government stocks.

 Unlike shareholders, debenture holders are not members of the company in question. They do not share the members' risks; they receive a regular income from their investment and take precedence over the shareholders if the company is liquidated - that means, debenture holders are paid before shareholders. This makes debentures a relatively safe form of investment.

Loans can be made to the government as well in order to finance its spending. Government stocks are repaid at a fixed future date (at maturity). In the meantime, their holders receive interests on their loans. The interests received on government stocks are known as the coupon.

 Why do companies issue bonds? Let's say a corporation needs to build a new office building or needs to purchase manufacturing equipment. Or maybe a city government needs to construct a new school or repair streets. Whatever the need, a large sum of money will be needed to get the job done.

One way is to borrow this money form a bank, but a generally less expensive way is to issue bonds. Bonds are issued by companies of all sizes. Bond-issuing companies are rated by private ratings companies such as Moody's or Standard & Poors, for example, and given an 'investment grade' according to their financial situation and performance (AAA being the best, and С the worst, it's nearly bankrupt).

Most bonds are bearer certificates, so after being issued (on the primary market), they can be traded on the secondary bond market until they mature.

For companies, the advantage of bonds issue over shares issue is that bond interest is tax deductible. In other words, a company deducts its interest payments from its profits before paying tax, whereas dividends to shareholders are paid out of already-taxed profits. On the other hand if debt increases financial risk also increases. Bond interest has to be paid, even if the year was without any profits from which to deduct it and the principal has to be repaid when a bond reaches maturity.

And why do governments issue bonds? Governments, of course, unlike companies, do not have the option of issuing shares. Consequently they issue bonds to reduce the money supply, they sell bonds to commercial banks, and withdraw the cash received from circulation; to increase the money supply they buy them back.

There are different types of companies' bonds.

" Secured (mortgage) and unsecured (naked) debentures. If a company cannot repay the loans or pay the interest, the holders of secured debentures are automatically entitled to payment from the company's assets. But holders of unsecured debentures are not automatically repaid from the company's assets if the company is unable to pay in the usual way. They can of course go to court to recover their money, but are not treated differently from the shareholders. An unsecured debenture is basically no more than a promise to repay a loan.

" Registered and bearer debentures The holders of registered debentures are listed in a company register. These debentures can only be transferred in accordance with certain terms and conditions, and every transfer must likewise be entered into the register. A bearer debenture is an unregistered debenture which can be negotiated by just handing it over to the new holder.

" Redeemable and irredeemable debentures Redeemable debentures are repaid on a fixed date or within a certain period, often at a higher price than the issue price, which means some extra money for the holder. There is no fixed date for the repayment of irredeemable debentures; the loan is only repaid when the company is liquidated. However, holders of irredeemable debentures may ask the company to redeem them if it fails to keep up its interest payments.

" And there are also convertible debentures that can be exchanged for ordinary shares if a debenture holder wants.

There are also different types of government stocks that fall into three categories depending on the date of maturity: " Shorts: bonds to be redeemed in 7 years or less; " Mediums: bonds to be redeemed in a period of 7 to 15 years; " Longs: bonds to be redeemed more than 15 years from the date of issue. And in the end it's necessary to say that the choice of bonds depends on readiness of an investor to risk.

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MY FAVOURITE RUSSIAN WRITER

I consider that books are with us during all our life. When I was a child my parents read them to me and I was pleased to listen to the stories and tales. I learned a lot of interesting and useful things from books. Later I could read myself and books brought me a lot of pleasant moments.

In general I'm fond of reading and to my mind books are a source of emotional inspiration and romantic feelings. Reading means much in our life. It is very useful because books enrich our experience with that of other people, help to continue our self-education and to discover what we are. Reading is a rewarding pastime, as the time spent on a good book is never wasted. But some people think that a tempo of modern life is too fast to waste time on reading. They are sure that books have begun to lose their prestige and value. I agree that our century is the century of computers and progressive technologies, but it doesn't mean that one day books will be replaced by computers. We read love and detective stories, science fiction and historical novels for pleasure and they create a special atmosphere. Books take us into the imaginary world of high human emotions and exciting relations. Owing to books we have the invisible contact with the writer who speaks with us from the passed centuries. I'm sure that computers are unable to replace these things. In my opinion books are not only things which help us to wide our knowledge but they are as teachers help us in different situations and set examples. Books teach us what is right and what is wrong, to understand the world we live in and people in it; they mould our character and at the same time they tell us exciting stories.

Unlike most of young people, who read little, I have been doing regular reading since my childhood. Today youth isn't used to reading. Reading tends to be something you enjoy more as you get older, but if you don't develop a taste for it when you are young you may never discover the pleasure of getting involved in a good book. In my opinion, the main advantage books have over all other entertainments like computer games, videos or TV is that they are relatively inexpensive and portable. I mean you can take a book with you whenever you go, it doesn't break down if you get sand inside it, you don't need batteries and you can put it down and pick it up whenever you like - the only equipment you need to have is a bookmark.

I should say that we have a large collection of books at home, but I never miss the opportunity to borrow some new books from the library. I have been interested in Russian and Belarusian literature since my childhood. As far as Russian literature is concerned it is hard to name one favourite writer or one favourite book especially if we are talking about the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, known as the "golden" and "silver' periods in the Russian culture. Such giants of Russian literature as A. Pushkin, I. Turgenev, I Tolstoy, A. Chekhov and many others are known all over the world.

The writer who stands out of this list for me is Fyodor Michailovich Dostoyevsky. I think I can never forget my first acquaintance with him. Nearly three years ago when I came to our local library the librarian, a pleasant young lass, offered me to borrow "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky. The title of this book tells its own tale and though I have never enjoyed books about murders and crimes I decided to take it, as I have heard about Dostoyevsky as about one of the most seminal writers in European literature. But after reading his book, "Crime and Punishment" became my favourite book and its author came into my life as my beloved Russian writer.

I look upon him not only as a great writer but a great philosopher as well. His ideas had an immense influence on the literature that followed and his deep penetration into the human soul and the motives of people's behaviour impresses the modern reader as much as it did his contemporaries.

Dostoyevsky was born in Moscow on October 30, 1821. He was the second son of a former army doctor. Though the Dostoyevskies were a middle-class family the father was able to provide the best education for his sons. The boy was educated at a private Moscow boarding school and, shortly after the death of his mother in February 1837, was sent to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Army Engineering College. He received a commission in 1843 and was attached to the Army Engineering corps, but in 1844 Dostoyevsky resigned his commission to devote himself to literature.

In the spring of 1846 he joined the group of Utopian socialists led by Michael Butashevich-Petrashevsky. And in April 1849 Dostoyevsky and other members of the group were arrested and imprisoned for eight months in the Petropavlovsk fortress. On November 16 Dostoyevsky was sentenced to death, but the death sentence was commuted to four years of hard labor in a Siberian prison. After his release from prison in February 1854, Dostoyevsky did his compulsory army service in Siberia.

In March 1857 Dostoyevsky resigned from the army and return to St. Petersburg. Two years after his return, at the end of 1859, he founded the monthly periodical "The time" under the nominal editorship of his elder brother Michael, who was his best friend throughout his life. But some years later "The Time" was suppressed because of an article on the Polish uprising.

Dostoyevsky died in St. Petersburg on January 28, 1881, from a burst blood vessel in his lungs, aggravated by an attack of epilepsy. Fyodor Michailovich Dostoyevsky died but he left his descendants a large heritage. At present Dostoyevsky is still among the most widely read authors, whose contribution to the world literature can hardly be overestimated. I consider that he is so popular among the readers because of the problems raised by him; these problems haven't lost their significance. Dostoyevsky wrote about Russian people and the problems of the Russian society of his time, his genius made the problems raised international and vital for people of all nationalities. Among his outstanding novels are "The Idiot", "The Devils", "The Adolescent", "The Brothers Karamazov", "Humiliated and Abused", but as I have said before my favourite is "Crime and Punishment".

To my mind the novel "Crime and Punishment" is one of the best books I've ever read which leaves lasting impression and unforgettable feelings. It holds your attention from the start and becomes more exciting as it progresses.

The author worked upon this novel in 1865 and throughout the following year and the book was published in 1866. It is the psychological account of a crime. A young man Radion Raskolnikov, sent down from university, of middle-class origins and living in extreme poverty has decided to break out of his appalling situation. He decides to kill a certain old woman, the pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovna. The old woman is stupid, deaf, ill and greedy; she is evil and torments the life of her younger sister. "She is of no use for anything", "why does she live?"', "is she of any value to anybody at all?" - such questions thoroughly disconcert the young man. He decides to kill and rob her in order to improve the fortunes of his mother and sister. He wants to save the family, finish his course, go abroad and then for the whole of the remainder of his life to be honest. Despite the fact that such crimes are terribly difficult to carry out, he carries out his plan quickly and successfully. He passes almost a month after this before the final catastrophe. Nobody suspects him and here the whole psychological process of the crime unfolds. Insoluble questions confront the murderer, unsuspected and unanticipated feelings torment his heart. God's truth and the earthly law and justice take their toll, and he ends by being compelled to give himself up.

I have a really high opinion of this book, as I got the whole pleasure from it. This is the book which, once you have started, is impossible to put down. While reading the novel you share all Radion's feelings and fears together with him, you try to understand his behaviour and thoughts, to cut the long story short, you live together with the main hero. "Crime and Punishment" includes strong elements of realism; you can find a certain theme to think over at every page of the novel. From my point of view all these make the book unforgettable and peculiar. And I think if I met a person who hasn't read this book, I would recommend him or her to read it, as "Crime and Punishment" is a real masterpiece of Russian literature.

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MY FAVOURITE AMERICAN WRITER

I consider that books are with us during all the life. When I was a child my parents read them to me and I was pleased to listen to the stories and tales. I learned a lot of interesting and useful things from books. Later I could read books by myself and they brought me a lot of pleasant minutes.

In general, I'm fond of reading and to my mind books are a source of emotional inspiration and romantic feelings.

I think you'll agree that reading means much in our life. It is very useful because books enrich our experience with that of other people, help to continue our self-education and to discover what we are.

Reading is a rewarding pastime, as the time spent on a good book is never wasted. But some people think that a tempo of modern life is too fast to waste time on reading. They are sure that books have begun to lose their prestige and value. I agree that our century is the century of computers and progressive technologies, but it doesn't mean that one day books will be replaced by computers. Love and detective stories, science fiction and historical novels we read for pleasure and they create a special atmosphere. Books take us into the imaginary world of high human emotions and exciting relations. Owing to books we have the invisible contact with the writer who speaks with us from the passed centuries. I'm sure that computers are unable to replace all these things. In my opinion books are not only things which help us to wide our knowledge but they are as teachers help us in different situations and set examples. Books teach us what is right and what is wrong, to understand the world and people in; they mould our character and at the same time they tell us exciting stories.

Unlike most of young people, who read little, I have been doing regular reading since my childhood. Today youth isn't used to reading.

For me reading tends to be something you enjoy more and more as you get older, but if you don't develop a taste for it when you are young you may never discover the pleasure of getting involved in a good book. In my opinion, the main advantage books have over all other entertainments like computer games, videos or TV is that they are relatively inexpensive and portable. I mean you can take a book with you whenever you go, it doesn't break down if you get sand inside it, you don't need batteries and you can put it down and pick it up whenever you like - the only equipment you need is a bookmark.

I should say that we have a large collection of books at home, but I never miss the opportunity to borrow some new books from the library. My attention has always been attracted by shelves with English and American literature. Nearly three years ago when I came to out local library the librarian, a pleasant young lass, advised mo to borrow "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. Frankly speaking, the title of the book didn't arose my attention at first, though I decided to take this book. But when I finally read it, "Gone with the wind" became my favourite book and its author came into my life as my beloved one. I have been fascinated by this great American writer.

When I read her biography | was impressed by her personality. Margaret Mitchell was born on November 8, 1900 in Atlanta to a family with ancestry not unlike the O'Hara's in "Gone with the Wind". Her mother, Mary Isabelle Stephens was of Irish-Catholic ancestry. Her father, Eugene Muse Mitchell, an Atlanta attorney, descended from Scotch-Irish and French Huguenots. The family included many soldiers-members of the family had fought in the American Revolution, Irish uprisings and rebellions and the Civil War.

The imaginative child was fascinated with stories of the Civil War that she heard first from her parents and great aunts, who lived .it the family's Jonesboro rural home, and later from grizzled Confederate veterans who regaled the girl with battlefield stories.

Young Margaret attended private school, but was not an exceptional student. When, on one memorablе day, she announced to her mother that she could not understand mathematics and would not return to school, Mary Isabelle dragged her daughter to a rural road where plantation houses had fallen into ruin.

"It's happened before and it will happen again," mother sternly lectured the girl. "And when it does happen, everyone loses everything and everyone is equal. They all start again with nothing at all except the cunning of their brain and the strength of their hands."

Chastened, Margaret Mitchell returned to school, eventually entering Smith College in the fall of 1918. In January 1919, her mother died of a flu epidemic and Margaret left college to take charge of the Atlanta household of her father and her elder brother.

In 1925 Margaret Mitchell began writing the book that would make her world famous. Once she said: "If the novel has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people able to come through catastrophes and others, apparently just as able strong and brave, go under? It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive, others don't. What qualities are in those who tight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those who go under…? I only know that the survivors used to call that quality 'gumption'. So I wrote about the people who had gumption and the people who didn't."

"Gone with the Wind" was published in June 1936, and she was awarded the Pulitzer Price for her sweeping novel in May 1937. The novel was made into an equally famous motion picture starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. The movie had its world premiere at the Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta on December 15, 1939 with Margaret Mitchell and all of the stars in attendance.

On August 11, 1949 while crossing the crossroads, Margaret Mitchell was struck by a speeding taxi. She died five days later and is buried in Atlanta Oakland Cemetery with other members of her family.

Margaret Mitchell died but her book is still alive and it is still popular among readers. To my mind the novel "Gone with the Wind' is one of the best books I've ever read, which leaves lasting impression and unforgettable feelings. It holds your attention from the start and becomes exciting as it progresses.

"Gone with the Wind" is a sort of historical novels where the Civil War (1861-1865) between two hostile camps of South and North is depicted. The author of the novel blames the war and shows all its horrors and burdens, hunger and collapses, nonsense and inhumanity. One of the most interesting aspects of the story is the portrayal of the main hero Scarlet O'Hara, who is a beautiful, proud and spirited girl with practical mind. In youth she passionately falls in love with Ashley, but he prefers another girl and marries her. Scarlet's fanatical devotion to her first love prevents her from an opportunity to estimate at Rhett Butler's love. Rhett is a strong-willed, bold man who is quite similar to her in temperament and spirit. Finally Scarlet understands that all her life she has loved not real Ashley, but her own child's dream only when Rhett leaves and she remains alone. But Scarlet isn't defeated, she hopes for the next day. That's why not without reason the novel ends with the words: "But tomorrow will be another day."

As for me I have a really high opinion of this book, as I got the whole pleasure from it. This is the book which, once you have started, is impossible to put down. "Gone with the Wind' includes strong elements of realism, it portrays life very truthfully and it can make people laugh and cry. The characters are depicted so vividly that people immediately recognize themselves; it amuses the readers and arouses the feeling of admiration. From my point of view all these facts make the book unforgettable and peculiar. And I think if I met a person who hasn't read the novel, I would certainly recommend to read it; as "Gone with the Wind' is a real masterpiece of American literature.

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MY DAY OFF

What is the life if, full of care,                                                                                                            We have no time to stand and stare

 Sometimes it is very hard to find some free time even on our days off, because we are often busy with our work and we don't see all kinds of other activities. Besides we don't save our minutes, that's why we have no time to relax. Until recently staying busy relieved me of the need to make decisions about how I was spending my time. Business gave me a sense of control over my life. Frankly speaking my dilemma is deeper than shortage of time; it is the problem of priorities I want to spend time at work, but not for the lack of good rest. Physical rest is very important, but we also need spiritual relaxation - the peace and refreshment in our soul. It has been wisely noted that after spiritual rest we feel strengthened, dashing and patient. So, at present I try to maximize my time in such a way in order to have enough time for work but also have some spare time for entertainments. This is usually connected with my weekends or in other words days off.

I should say that this year was not an easy one in my life. Apart from everyday preparation for the lessons at lyceum, I had to do quite a number of additional studies in English, Belarusian and History because I started getting ready for the entrance examinations. During the school week I got so tired and exhausted that I anxiously looked forward to the weekend when I could relax and have a good rest. A day off for me was a nice possibility to escape from the daily lyceum routine. Every day off came like a reward and like all nice things it flashed by quickly.

To my mind every day off needs some special planning. Time passes quickly and if you have no plans you can be sure to get no results, as you may spend your time on trifles.

In general I'm for an active rest I like to go somewhere with my friends and to spend my free time in a good company. I hate staying at home at the weekend. While studying at lyceum, I tried to do all my homework right after the classes on Saturday, because I didn't want to remember about it during my weekend. Also I did something about the house like cleaning my room, placing books on the shelves which were piled up in different places and then I was free and could do everything I wished. I enjoyed my Saturday evenings most of all. I never knew about boredom even when I spent the evening on my own listening to music or reading an exciting book. I'm fond of reading. Books help me to continue my self-education, besides I'm sure that a reader lives much richer and interesting life than a non reader. I prefer reading psychological books. In my opinion, the time spent on such a book is never wasted, as these books help me to understand the world and people in it, teach me what is right and what is wrong and at the same time they mould my character.

But I should mention that usually I spent my Saturday evenings in another way. I met my friends and we went for a walk or to the disco. I'd like to say that a lot of clubs have been opened recently in our town. The entrance ticket isn't very expensive, wonderful music is played there and you can dance there and get acquainted with interesting people. I can't explain all the feelings I experience while dancing, but it gives me so much energy that I even don't feel my tiredness. I always returned home brisk and in a good mood. I should say that on Saturdays I tried to return home early, because I wanted to have a good sleep which was a well-deserved reward for the six days of hard work and early rising.

I'm in the habit of getting up late on Sundays. Especially when the weather was nasty, I afforded myself to relax and not to be in a hurry. I hate the cold that's why I usually tried to stay in bed as long as possible. So I could stay in it and not get up till 11 or even 12 o'clock in the morning. Only then I dressed and had my breakfast.

I could do everything I wished till 5 o'clock. Usually I watched TV, visited my friends or chatted with them on the phone. But sometimes if I had known that the next week was hard I could spend half of the day reading numerous pages in literature, writing essays or compositions. I should say that it helped me a lot and I had more free time during the workweek.

I tried to end all my duties till 4 o'clock, as at 5 o'clock my trainings on shaping began. To my mind not without reason people say that sport is a world of its own and it can't mean the same to everybody. I'm absolutely sure that doing sports is the best way to keep fit, healthy and strong. It is wide known that there is a sound mind in a sound body. But for me sport is also a means of relaxation and entertainment, a way of acquainting with other people. I should say that I have met a great amount of interesting people there, communication with whom made my day off brighter and more enjoyable But to my great regret I had to give up my trainings some months ago, because of lack of spare time.

After the trainings, tired but happy, I returned home. It was usually about 8 o'clock. The rest of the day I preferred to spend with my family members, as my family has always meant very much for me I like most of all when the whole family gather in the kitchen and we all sit chatting for hours It happens especially often on long winter evenings. We usually drink tea or coffee and share our news, joys and sorrows and discuss our plans for the next week. I have always enjoyed the honest and open relattons in our family and I think that my family is the most valuable thing I have in my life.

I have described you my typical day off, but of course, my weekends vary depending on the season. Summer weekends are more pleasant than long winter evenings, but I don't mean to say that I never enjoy weekends like these. Honestly, an ideal weekend for me is going for a picnic somewhere in the country or in the forest with my friends, sitting around the fire and singing songs to the guitar. That is the kind of weekend we sometimes have in spring or early autumn. But frankly speaking, it happens quite rarely, as I and my friends are busy people. Take me for example: studying at lyceum left little time for entertainment but the English say: He, who knows how to work, knows how to rest, and I think I'm not the exception.

I believe that in future when I have more spare time and ,hopefully, more money, then I'll have other preferences and choices in rest and relaxation, but now I'm an exceptionally lucky person, because I get a good deal of what I want, and I can work actively for the rest. So my life is full of interesting and varied activities. Frankly speaking, I feel pity for those people, whose lives are boring and who don't see anything except work and TV. We have to learn to run providing some rest, comfort and entertainment, so that we could live full lives.

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MY FLOT

It goes without saying that all of us have our own ideas about home because it can't mean the same to all people. As for me I'm sure that homes are not just places. Home is your little world where you live according to yow own rules and interests. It's a place where you feel comfort, warmth and reliability. My own home should be quite large and spacious, because I hate tiny rooms with small windows. Undoubtedly it should be handy for bus stop, shops and all public places like clinics, schools, etc. Evidently all these things are significant, but nevertheless warm and friendly relations between members of the family are considerably more important than large rooms and modern furniture. I think that if you live under pressure in a flat of your dream it won't seem so wonderful, modernized and comfortable for you. And I prefer to live in a common fiat without particular modem conveniences, but where there are harmony and friendly atmosphere. It is true that all of us encourage warm relations between family members and all of us want to see the members of their family respecting, helping each other and sharing the same joys and troubles. I believe you will agree that these simple things help people to form the mood of friendly atmosphere in their homes.

 We say "East or West, home is best ", the English say "My home is my castle". I personally agree with these statements, because it is home that always awakens the most pleasant feelings and high emotions in my soul. Always after a hard day I return home and think "At last I came home". For me there is no place like home.

 Though my house is situated rather far from the centre of our town I think that myhouse is perfectly located. It is a short way to the bus stop and I cannot say it is a great problem for me to get to any place in the town because public transport works well. It takes meonly about five minutes to get to the post office, pharmacy and hairdresser's. There are three schools, two kindergartens, about five shops, a church and a market not far from my house. I should say that it has never been a problem for me to get to the hospital, as both nursery and adult hospitals are separated from my house only by the road. And as far as the road is concerned it's not a busy one, that's why I can't say that noise troubles me.

 The only thing I don't like about my flat is the view from my windows because one of the windows in my flat faces a nine-storied grey building and all the others look on a private neighborhood.

 At first look my house is a common grey and boring building. It looks like hundreds of other buildings in our town, but for me it is the best house in the world. 

 I live on the second floor in a three-room flat. Our flat is always filed with happiness and joy. Even after the first few minutes in our flat you can understand all hospitality and friendliness of this place and the family which lives there. Our flat is very warm and cosy, so it makes you feel at home.

 I should say that as you come in through the front door, you find yourself in a long hall. It is a place where we greet our guests and it's the place where you can get the first impressions about our flat, that's why we made our entrance hall in such way that each thing there creates the feeling of comfort. There is a grey carpet on the floor, but walls and ceiling are papered white. Such contrast between the dark floor and the light walls is very spectacular. It is the darkest room in our flat, because we have only one small lamp there but the darkness makes our hall rather mysterious. Near the door there is a little seat and a mirror. A wardrobe with a coat racks stretches near the right wall but on the left wall there is only a long artificial flower and three pictures, made in one style.

 The first door on the right of the hall leads into my parents' bedroom. It is a very convenient room, though there isn't much furniture there. There is a double-bed near the wall and two bed-side tables by its sides with photos. In front of the bed stands a dressing table with a big mirror. It's the place where my mother makes up every morning. There are always a lot of perfumes on this table and it isn't a surprise that the room is always filled with their scents. There is also a door to the balcony. In summer it is usually open and I like to enjoy the fresh air and cool swish of leaves that come from it.

 The next room after the bedroom of my parents is my own bedroom. First of all I should say that it is my favourite room in our flat. I have always tried to make my room cosy, because to my mind your room is your face. My bedroom is the place where I wake up every morning to the refreshing smell of coffee from the kitchen and where every day of my life starts.

 Though my room isn't very large I can say that it is rather spacious for me because I live alone. My bedroom is also my study, so you can see a table near the window and three bookshelves on the wall with various books. Not far from the table there is my bed, near it stands a bed-side table with the telephone. You can also find a wardrobe, a chest of drawers in my room and a fluffy carpet on the floor.

 

In my opinion my room is very cool and light. It is always filled with the sounds of my favourite music. Certainly my room is very lovely and comfortable. Here there are a lot of beautiful things that make it funny and merry; I have a lot of toys which sit on my bed and on the shelves. I collect postcards and statues as well, that's why a lot of them are situated on the chest of drawers and on the shelves. But my room isn't very green, because I don't like flowers and frankly speaking I don't enjoy the view from my window.

 But in general I adore my bedroom and I always feel myself comfortable in it. I like to receive guests in my room and we like to listen to music together, to drink tea with sweets and candies and to talk about our problems, interests and news.

 As far as our living room is concerned I'd like to say that it is the largest and the busiest room in our flat. Every evening we gather together there and discuss some problems and events, watch TV or read magazines. This room is filled with cheerful and friendly humor; here you can always hear happy laughing and joyful voices.

 The walls in this room are white but sofa and armchairs are red. There is a table for magazines between two armchairs and near the front wall a wardrobe and a suite of furniture stand. There is also a TV set in the living room. We usually like to have a cup of coffee there and to talk. To the right of the hall or in front of the living room there is our kitchen with all its conveniences where we sit chatting for hours in winter. Our kitchen is rather small, but cosy and warm. It faces east, that's why there is a lot of sunshine there especially in the morning. The air of this room is usually filled with the delicious smells of my mother's cooking, because mainly she is the hostess of the kitchen.

 The walls are papered blue there. As scientists say blue is the colour that is the most universally preferred as blue rooms instill peacefulness, blue can also help us feel calm and confident, that's why I like this room and spend there quite a lot of time.

 A table and four stools stand near the window with wonderful gaily-coloured curtains. In the corner to the left of the door you can see a sink and a gas cooker. Next to the cooker stands a working top and over it there are wall cupboards. 

 Between the kitchen and the living room there is a bathroom and a toilet. Our bathroom is rather large. Its walls are covered with blue tiles, but the floor with grey ones. In the front of the door there is a bath. Near it you can find a sink and a mirror over it with some shelves. There is also a back for clothes and a wash machine in this room. I'm sure that our bathroom is very stylish and nice.

 So it's my flat, my "home, sweet home". Sometimes after a long journey I return home with such pleasure and happiness, that I feel myself like a baby that returns to its mother. I love every corner and every thing in my flat. "My home is my fortress", it is my territory, my place where I feel good and comfortable. Nobody can disturb me here. 

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MY FRIEND

According to the dictionary friendship is a feeling and behaviour that exist between people, but what these feelings are and what this behaviour is everyone should decide for himself. I consider that friendship is a gift from the God. that's why I highly appreciate it. I think it is hard to find a close friend because people are unique creatures of nature, all of them have their own habits, opinions and judgments which differ from others.

It makes sense to say that friendship can be compared to a tree. Its seed should find good soil and under favourable conditions it will grow into a tree. As the years go by the tree stands firmer and firmer on the ground and if it is strong enough it will survive all the storms and winds, but to help it we should take care of it and love it.

In my opinion lucky are the people who have real friends. As for me I'm happy to have lots of friends, some of them are close, some are less, but all of them make my life interesting and enjoyable and I can't imagine my life without them, because friendship means very much for me. Being friends means making allowances for the other person's faults, being tolerant to each other moods. The most important thing about friends for me is being able to share secrets, to tell each other your problems and share your worries, to help each other out.

As I've said before a real friend is the gift from the God. In my opinion an ideal friend should posses such qualities as honesty, sincerity, faith, tolerance and respect in attitude to you. A friend is a person who can help you in no time, lend you a hand, whom you can wake up in the middle of the night just to say you feel worried or who is eager to do everything for you waiting nothing in return, who supports you in all your beginnings and who will never betray you. To my mind really close and devoted friend can be not only the same sex as you. It doesn't matter your best friend is a girl or a boy. I think that her or his soul, character and attitude to you are considerably more important. I disagree with people who say that boys are better friends than girls. Such people think that a boy-friend can never spread false stories about you or tell your secrets to the entire world, but to my mind it depends on his moral qualities. I knew one boy who began to spread stories about me, saying I was dishonest, unreliable and impudent, when we broke our relations, but I still actually believe in friendship between fellows and girls, that's why I have equal amount of boys and girls among my close friends.

But in my opinion it isn't an easy thing to be a true friend and before somebody can name you his best friend you should prove your friendship. To my mind everyone can have only one or two true friends, because a friend to all is a friend to none. I believe that faithful friend can brighten your life and make it more interesting, vivid and enjoyable. You are interested in your friend with all his positive and negative traits of personality and your friend in his turn can understand and forgive you everything. You shouldn't tell a lie to your friend, there mustn't be hypocrisy in your speech and even in thoughts. Before telling your friend something, before doing anything you should think a lot and guess what kind influence it will render on him and on his life. So I think that it is difficult to be a real friend, but to my mind all of us try to achieve the ideal of a true friend.

I'm sure you will agree that nowadays there are various ways of acquaintance. Some people make friends when they are in guests or on weddings, others prefer to find friends with the help of newspapers or the Internet. Somebody can get acquainted with his future friend when he even doesn't expect it, for example, when he simply walks in a park or goes anywhere by public transport.

What about me I have known my best friend Natasha almost all my life, but 1 can never forget our first meeting. It was in summer when our families decided to rest in the south together. When we drove up to their house my attention was attracted by a little tidy girl in a rose dress, who was sitting to squat and playing with her long blond curl, but I can't say that my first impressions were the same as my opinion about her now, because meeting people for the first time we always make a judgment based on their appearance though the proverb tells us not to make such a mistake. At first she seemed to me so correct, obedient and shy that I didn't like her, but when we began to communicate closer I understood I was mistaken. I think it makes sense to say that when we returned home we were loyal friends.

Today she has changed a lot but we are still best friends and now I think Natasha is a very charming and pretty seventeen-year-old girl. She isn't tall and I can't even say that she is of average height but she is always smart and elegant. Natasha has an attractive face which is broaden with open and frank features. She is the owner of a blunt nose, large expressive green eyes and radiant smile that immediately makes people smile in return. Her blond hair and sort voice make her similar to a little beautiful princess from a fairy-tale.

My friend likes casual clothes. Natasha hates skirts and formal blouses, but adores tight-fitting trousers and casual T-shirts. She prefers low-heeled shoes to high-heeled, because they are more comfortable to her mind.

I believe that Natasha is a very amazing girl, because she differs from other people. When she was about twelve she became a real tomboy, she communicated only with boys except me, she liked to play rough and boys' games and she even decided to go to the army when she would come of age. All her friends and relatives tried to dissuade her and at least she agreed, but frankly speaking. I can't understand her desire even now, though in general we are very alike. It's true that Natasha is a very enthusiastic and active person, you can hardly find her sitting at one place without doing anything but in spite of it she constantly has no free time. My friend is a gregarious person and an optimist; she is never bored but always smiles and laughs, that is why I like her fascinating smile very much. I should say I can never be bored it my friend keeps company for me, because she is so cheerful and joyous. She is responsible and original, I think. Such friends like she can be characterized as devoted. frank and careful, because she can never refuse if I need support or a piece of advice, she is always eager to help me and to calm me with the help of a tender word. To my mind Natasha is an intelligent, skillful and diligent girl, that's why her success in study is brilliant. Now she studies at gymnasium number 56 in physics-mathematics class. I'd like to add that she is a great daydreamer, because she has always got her head in the clouds and she is always dreaming about something.

But like other people she isn't an ideal. Sometimes she is too lazy and stubborn and I dislike it a bit. She is rather impatient, because she can't wait for long. But these features of her character don't matter much for me; I try not to pay attention to them because in general she is a wonderful person, whom I worship a lot.

Though Natasha is a busy girl and she doesn't have much free time, she always tries to find spare time for her hobbies and interests, because she has a lot of them. Most of all she likes to play computer games and solve various problems on it. She says she can't imagine her life without this machine. When Natasha relaxes she likes to look through different interesting magazines and newspapers but she doesn't like to read books, especially large books like "War and Piece" by Tolstoy. Sometimes she can write poems about love. It happens rarely but I'm always the first person who reads her poems and gives an objective mark. Natasha is fond of sport but this year she has very little time for it, because she is very busy with her studying, because she enters the university this year.

And unfortunately that is the main reason why we see each other quite rarely, but we phone each other almost every day, we try to meet on our days off and that's why we don't feel separation from each other. Though I can't see Natasha every day I think about her all the time.

At these rare times when we see each other we like to attend cinema or central park, but most of all we like to speak. When we meet our mouths are never close because we can speak for hours, I can discuss with my best friend such problems that I can't discuss with my parents. We speak about fellows and our relations with them, we discuss our problems with parents and share our thoughts and dreams. It doesn't mean that I can't say about all these things to my mother, but I know that nobody can understand me better than Natasha. I know that only she can support me and help me in everything, because we are very alike, we think in the same way and our points of view often coincide, but in spite of it I can't say that nothing worries me in our relationships, though also I can't say there are some real problems or misunderstandings between us. We see each other rather rarely, because we live in different districts and she is too busy even on days off and I dislike it a lot. I consider she is a bit disorderly and she can't plan her day off in a right way, that's why she doesn't manage to do everything she wants. Natasha often has troubles and problems with her parents and it is another thing that worries me. I know her parents very well and to my mind they are wonderful people, but sometimes my friend can be rude to them and as a result they quarrel, when she tells me about such quarrels I can't take her side because I don't approve her behaviour, that's why I prefer to keep silence in such situations. Sometimes her flippant attitude to some things worries me very much. In my opinion she is too flippant in her attitude to preventive words of others. But I believe that all these things can't destroy our friendship, though they influence it a bit.

And of course in some cases our points of view can differ, for example, sometimes our opinions can be different in clothes, music or films. In such situations we freely express our points of view, we can even argue but we never suppress each other. To my mind thoughts, opinions and habits of your friend can influence you a lot, but they should not destroy your own personality, they shouldn't influence you if you don't want it. I'm happy that both of us understand it.

I believe that friendship should be sincere and. In my opinion your friend should be attentive to you, he or she should be reliable, honest and he or she should trust you, because, I think, trust probably the most important feeling that exists between friends, but it never appears by itself, it is the result of a long friendship.

As for our friendship, I'm sure it is strong enough because we trust each other as ourselves, we always share the same joys and troubles together and we support each other at difficult times. And it goes without saying that I like Natasha with all her positive and negative features of character and admire her a lot.

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MY HOUSEHOLD CHORES

There are certain things in life which you have to do whether you like it or not. One of such things is household chores, doing which is a necessity. It is what someone in the family has to do every day in spite of his or her wish and desire. You can hardly find a person who doesn't like comfort, delicious food, clean and tidy clothes. But these things need somebody's attention and doing them is called housework.

To my mind housework is boring and besides it takes a lot of time with a hardly visible result. In my opinion it is not a bad idea to have a kind of subdivision of labour at home when each person knows his own daily household jobs. If every member of the family does his bit about the house then keeping it isn't difficult or boring and proves the proverb: "Many hands make light work". For example, the children should keep their own rooms tidy, make their beds, lay the table for meals, clear away the dishes and wash up. The mother could then concentrate on the more specialized jobs of cooking, ironing and mending. Shopping at the supermarket could be a kind of family outing. The father should do more difficult physical work. This is an ideal variant for me how to keep house.

In many families the problem of clearing up the flat or house becomes a generation gap. Usually children don't want to clean up their rooms and their parents make them do it. In most of the cases children consider that their parents have these old-fashioned ideas about making beds in the morning, washing the dishes after every meal, etc. They think that new generation shouldn't care about things like that. On this ground many conflicts develop. Sometimes children promise to help and then fail to do their jobs so parents have to make them do what they don't want to do or repeat in an angry voice to make the bed or to pick up toys from the floor. It seems you strange but my parents have never made me do anything. They only ask me to do something. I've always been a conscientious girl so if they asked me to do the house, to wash the dishes or other things I didn't like doing I couldn't refuse to help them.

To avoid conflicts many families engage a domestic servant. She cooks meals, goes shopping, does the house in one word she keeps house. But as for me, I wouldn't like anyone to command my own things. I think you are always able to manage your housework even if you are busy because to hire a servant is not a way out of this situation.

I'm happy that the problem of cleaning up our flat has never been a generation gap in our family. Of course sometimes we quarreled with my brother when we had to clean our room, but then we decided to make a schedule and cleaned the room in turn. Now as we all are busy people: our parents work, I and my brother spend most of the time in our educational establishments, each of us clean up the house when he or she has some spare time. On Saturday we usually have a big clean. We try to follow the rule of subdivision of the housework. Everyone has his two or three rooms to clean I usually clean the bathroom, our room and parent's room. I get out the vacuum cleaner and clean the carpet, then sweep the dust off the floors with a broom. After that I take a wet cloth and wipe the dust off every surface in the room. In the bathroom I usually scrub the sink and a bath with a washing powder Then I wash the floor. By the way I can not stand washing floor. I dislike it because your hands are rude and disgusting after doing it.

My brother usually clean the kitchen as it is the most difficult work, I think. The floor and the cupboards cover with dust and fat very quickly and sometimes you should even scrub the dust off. He also cleans the living room and the entrance hall. While we are doing the house my mum and dad go shopping. After they return home with large bags full of tasty food we begin cooking dinner. I should say I like cooking very much especially if it is a holiday dinner. My grandfather has had birthday recently, and we decided to cook a delicious dinner for him. So me and my mother garnered in me kitchen, switched on our tape recorder and began to cook. You know, we had a lot of fun, we were chatting and laughing. It seemed to me that we remembered all the jokes we had known. Our excellent mood helped us to cook very tasty dinner. Everyone was satisfied.

Household chores are the things which I can't avoid. Every day I make my bed, wash up the dishes, wipe the dust of the furniture and take out me rubbish. But I share my household chore with my brother. It is a great thing, to my mind. If I had no brother I have to clean up the flat on my own, but it is an awful thing. I don't like to draw my mother in doing the house because she usually has to do a lot of other things like cooking, washing, ironing and mending and it is enough for her I think. It is also my duty to buy bread and milk every day. I usually go to the baker's after my classes. I buy some white and brown bread, biscuits and cakes there. The shop is not far from our house and it doesn't take me a lot of time to do everyday shopping. But as I am busy with my studies I have no time to do it constantly. My parents understand it and sometimes it's my mother who buys bread.

When my mother is ill or away from home my father do the cooking, the buying of food and the planning of meals, but I do the washing up and ironing. There is one thing which I like doing about the house. It is ironing. May be it sounds fanny, but it is very interesting, I think. While ironing I'm having а rest. I turn on the music and iron the clothes and linen. Then I fold them neatly and put away. Ironing makes me think housework is not such an awful thing. Another thing I like a lot is looking after our indoor plants. My mother has a green thumb so we have a great amount of indoor plants at home. I enjoy looking after the flowers as it makes me feel relaxed and calm. More often I do it together with my mother. We water the flowers, then wipe them with a wet cloth or sprinkle with a sprayer. My mum always teaches me how to plant and look after the flowers. I try to take her advice as I want my own house to be full of such beautiful plants that we have now.

Now I'd like to mention the role of technical progress in making housework easier. In the XXI century it is almost impossible to imagine our life without automatic or electronic appliances which make the housework better and faster. As for me I can't imagine my life without a fridge and an electric iron. Fridge is necessary for freezing and saving food. I think food freezing is the easiest, safest and most natural way of preserving food. Practically all food can be successfully frozen and can be kept for long periods of time. Provided you use a freezer wisely, it can help to make significant savings on your household budget, particularly if you have a large enough garden to grow your own vegetables and fruit for freezing. We have a house in the countryside, where we grow vegetables, fruit and berries. In summer we freeze berries and vegetables. Then it is very pleasant to eat them in winter. In addition, food freezing saves you from frequent visits to shops. With a freezer you wouldn't be short of food when unexpected visitors arrive. Electric iron is very important as well because I can't go out when my trousers or shirt are crumpled. On TV they advertise a lot of things for making housework easier from washing powders to washing machines and vacuum cleaners. That's all very well but not all families can afford them as the majority of things of high quality are really expensive.

Generally I like the order, but there are people who keep all their things in a mess. They put empty soft drink cans on their desks, leave the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink and only do the washing up when there isn't a clean plate to be found in the house. In the 4th form I visited Italy. When I came into the room of my hostess's child I was amazed by the mess. There were clothes on the floor, the bed wasn't made and the dust was on every surface of the room. I was shocked as I have never had such a mess at home. To my mind it is not comfortable to leave in such conditions. Besides it is not healthy. Many serious diseases can be caused by the dust and dirt. I want to add that it is not very pleasant to receive guests in such a room. My mum has always said to me that the way you keep the house shows what kind of person you are. I agree with her completely. Untidy people usually associate with irresponsible, absent-minded, indifferent and careless people. But when you come to somebody's house and see the order you will probably think that the host is punctual, responsible and conscientious.

I must admit that when I was nearly 7 years old I used to leave all my books, toys and colour magazines in a mess. But you won't believe, my parrot taught me to be orderly. That day my mother bought me new colourful magazines. All the day I was reading them. They seemed to me very interesting and exciting. There were a lot of crosswords, quizzes and games in them. When I had finished reading I put them on my desk and was ready to go for a walk. My mum let me know before going out that they could be spoilt by my parrot if I left them on the desk, but I didn't pay attention to her words. When I had returned I saw only scraps of paper on the table. My parrot tore one of my magazines into pieces with his strong beak. I was really disappointed. Since then I've always kept my thing in order.

So you see keeping house in order is important to me. It brings me as minutes of boredom so moments of joy and pleasure. I think I spend enough time on keeping the house and hope that such little but nevertheless necessary things like household chores will never become the reason for quarrels and conflicts in our family.

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SEASONS OF THE YEAR

In my opinion a person's life depends to a certain degree on the climate conditions he or she lives in. Weather influences our emotions and even the physical state.

According to the dictionary weather is the general condition of the atmosphere at a particular time and place, with regard to the temperature, moisture, cloudiness, etc. Air, fire, earth and water are the elements of the weather according to the ancient Greek philosophers... Substitute the Sun for fire and we have the essential components of the weather machine. Without air warmth and water the Earth couldn't support life, but without any single one of those elements weather wouldn't exist. The air is the medium in which all weather happens, heat from the Sun provides the energy that drives the weather machine, and water provides much of the variety of our day-to-day weather.

Weather changes according to the seasons. Every season has its specific features of the weather, which are different. In general a season is one of the four periods of the year. Each season lasts about three months and brings changes in temperature, weather, and the length of daylight.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the climatic seasons differ by about six months. This hemisphere has summer when the Northern Hemisphere has winter. Some regions don't have all four climatic seasons. In parts of the tropics, for example, temperatures change little, but the amount of rainfall varies greatly, so that these regions have a wet season and a dry season. The Polar Regions, on the other hand, have a light season and a dark season. In these parts of the world the sun shines almost all the time in summer and almost never during winter.

The changing of the seasons is caused by the changing position of the Earth in relation to the Sun. Astronomers can tell exactly from the Earth motion around the Sun when one season ends and the next one begins. The dates used for the first day of each season mark the beginning of the astronomical seasons, but the beginning and the end of the climatic seasons vary from these dates from place to place and from year to year. Spring is the first season of the astronomical year. It is a transitional period between the extreme temperature cycles of winter and summer. Spring profoundly influenced the ancients and played an important role in mythology, folklore and art. Ancient painters and sculptures often depicted spring as a female figure carrying flowers. The early Christians regarded the seasons as symbolic of the course of human life, seeing spring as rebirth or resurrection after the death that winter seemed to symbolize. The season is marked by all kinds of beginnings: seed planting, graduations and weddings. For many people spring starts when British Summer Time begins and the clocks are put back by one hour. This normally takes place at the end of March and it adds an extra hour of daylight to the day. But it is in nature, that the real spring changes take place. At the beginning of spring it is cold, but at the end of March the snow melts. The weather gets warmer and the rooks, the first spring birds, have come back from the warm countries and are making nests in the trees. The air is fresh. It smells of the dump earth and the buds of trees. The first flowers like snowdrops appear. These flowers bring the first bright colours to the landscape; the grass sprouts and shoots up visibly. The buds gradually burst into young leaves, and light breeze stirs them. And here is the first butterfly. One can't help admiring this wonderful sight. Spring is the season when nature reawakens, and the world looks renewed, fresh and filled with joy. People's behaviour changes with the season, and they come out of their houses to enjoy the weather, life returns to streets and public places. Spring offers the best of everything: the weather is warm and pleasant; and the countryside is at its best.

Spring is followed by summer. This season is said to begin when the sun enters the zodiac sign of Cancer. Like the other seasons it influenced the development of mythology and folklore. For instance, Midsummer was an especially important festival in ancient and medieval times and continues to be celebrated with bonfires and special traditions even today. Summer is a favourite season of holiday-makers. I also like to lie in the sun and bathe in the river. As for the weather, it gets still warmer and sometimes it is very hot. The sky is blue and cloudless. But the weather is not always fair and sunny in summer. Sometimes the wind blows up. Suddenly black clouds cover the sky and it becomes stuffy. A thunderstorm begins. Gusts of wind stir the trees and it lightens and thunders. On a day like this we usually say it's raining cats and dogs. There are a lot of puddles everywhere and streams of water run down the road. After the storm the sun usually comes out. After the rain everything looks fresh and lovely again. The sun shines brightly and sparkles on the water. In general summer is the best and the happiest season for the majority of people.

Astronomically the start of the third season of the year, which comes after summer, can be pinpointed precisely. The season of autumn has always played a vivid role in the life of farmers. As the period of harvest and fruit gathering it has left an imprint not only on day-to-day living but also on the development of art and folklore. The season was often personified as a female figure bearing grapes. As for the weather, autumn is a rainy season, the sky is covered with grey clouds and the weather is mostly dull. Gradually the days become shorter and shorter. The air becomes colder and the sun seldom shines. Thick mists rise from bodies of water when autumn has set in. The streets are wet and people pick their ways between the puddles. It is terribly wet and dirty. Many people think that autumn is gloomy season, but yet there are many who like it. They try to look at the bright side of this season. They see autumn as the time of golden leaves, when the nature is quite and attractive. Poets of all nations have sung autumn as the most beautiful time of the year. Golden autumn, they call it, and it's really fantastic when the Indian summer sets in. I love that short spell of dry sunny weather when the sky is blue and cloudless, the trees around are golden, the air is transparent and it is still warm. Lord Byron unlike Pushkin, didn't like autumn. So once he said: "I like the weather when it isn't raining. That is, I like two months of every year. They are certainly not autumn months". So on the one hand autumn is a season of rain and drizzle, but on the other hand it is colourful and bracing, even in the rain.

Autumn is followed by winter. It begins at its respective solstice, which is situated between autumn and spring equinoxes. Winter is the season of snowstorms and ice, of frozen rivers and ponds. .As a rule it begins in December. In winter the sun shines rarely, its rays are pale, it sets early and rises late. The winter days are short and the nights are long. It often snows and the snow lies deep. The rivers and lakes are frozen and covered with ice, it is very cold, the air is frosty and trees are covered with frosts. In winter people have the most wonderful holidays - New Year and Christmas. It is one of the best seasons for sports - skating, skiing, sledding and playing hockey. And in general this season brings a lot of fun.

So I can't really say what season is my favourite, because every season has something special, and we are usually looking forward to it. I can also prove it with the poem written by Russell:

 O, DO YOU REMEMBER  WHEN SPRING TIME WAS HERE,  THE SNOWDROPS AND CATKINS,  THE BIRDS SONGS SO CLEAR?  OH, DO YOU REMEMBER  THE LONG SUMMER HOURS,  THE HUM OF THE BEES  AND THE SCENT OF THE FLOWERS?  AND DO YOU REMEMBER  WHEN AUTUMN CAME ROUND,  HOW LEAVES RED AND YELLOW  LAY THICK ON THE GROUND?  BUT NOW IT IS WINTER,  THE BRANCHES ARE BARE;  THERE'S ICE ON THE PUDDLES  AND FROST IN THE AIR.  I PLAYED IN THE SUNSHINE,  I PLAY IN THE SNOW,  AND WHICH IS MY FAFOURITE?  I REALLY DON'T KNOW! Here I'd like to say that the weather in Belarus depends greatly on the climatic conditions in the eastern part of the European continent. Climate in our country is moderate continental and in comparison with British climate it is more favourable for human settlements. As for the British climate and weather it is very changeable: a fine morning may change into a wet afternoon and evening. Conversely, a miserable morning may give place to a glorious afternoon. In Belarus we don't talk much of the weather; we just take it as it is. On the contrary no conversation ever starts in England without a comment on the weather. It is almost a formality like shaking hands. A popular greeting is "Lovely weather for the time of the year" or, if the weather is bad "Isn't this weather awful!" You will often hear people add "weather permitting" when they say they plan to play golf, garden or put out the washing.

So we can't say that weather is only the state of the atmosphere, it is something that affects our lives every day in numerous ways.

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SPORT IN MY LIFE

Sport is probably as old as the humanity itself. It has been developing with the developing and growth of the mankind. To my mind we can hardly overestimate the meaning of sport in our life and day-to-day activities, because its main purpose is to bring up the harmoniously developed generation - the generation of strong and healthy people. Sport makes our bodies strong, quickens our reaction, and shapes the wits. It also prevents us from getting too fat, gives us so valuable practice in making eyes, brain and muscles work together and makes us more self-organized and better disciplined.

I'm absolutely sure that doing sports is the best way to keep fit. There is always a kind of sport which will suit you and there are many different kinds to choose from. If you like team games, try hockey, football, volleyball or basketball. Games for you to play with a friend include badminton, squash and tennis, and if you enjoy doing things on your own, you may take up swimming, riding, golf or athletics.

I'm sure you know an axiom: "Sport makes people healthy". No doubt, that's true, but frankly speaking one knows that there are some kinds of sport which you cannot go in for if you are not healthy enough. Say, body-building. If you have a heart decease or other sickness, attending the body-building trainings will bring you nothing but harm. And also, going in for sport is always connected with a great risk, because any athlete can get an injury. And we know many examples, when an athlete got trauma at the beginning of his sports career and in the prime of his life had to leave professional sport. But it doesn't mean at all that people shouldn't go in for sports. I only want to say that they should be careful and remember that the health is given to a human being only once, so, do your best not to lose it.

An important attraction of sport is also its competitive and challenging nature. Men have always wanted to prove who is the strongest, the quickest, and the highest. The roots of men's desire to display their physical health and beauty go back to ancient times when the idea of the Olympic Games first appeared.

The original games began in ancient Greece in 776 ВС. These games were the part of the festival held every four years in honour of the god Zeus, at a place called Olympia. The festival included contests that tested the skills of soldiers. It included such kinds of as: boxing, running, wrestling, etc. The winner was given a branch of wild olive and that was the greatest honour. After nearly 300 Olympiads they were stopped by the Roman emperor Theodosius. who felt that they had pagan meaning.

The modern Olympics, revived in 1896, owe a lot to one man, Baron Pierre de Coubertain who was convinced that sport is an essential part in an individual's development. I agree with him completely and I think that international matches and tournaments unite nations; they play an important role in establishing good relations between countries. As the President of the International Olympic Committee. Juan Antonio Samaranch says: "The Olympic idea means friendship, fraternity and co-operation among the youth of the world. The Olympic movement proves that real peace can be achieved through sport".

Belarusian athletes took part in the Olympics in 1952 for the first time and have become their active participants since then. The greatest Olympic achievements have been gained by Belarusian sportsmen in gymnastics and athletics. The greatest success was achieved by gymnast Olga Korbut more than twenty years ago; she impressed the world with the complexity and novelty of her performance. Outstanding results were shown by Alexander Medved. a heavy-weight wrestler, three-time Olympic champion. And of course we all are proud of our runner Julia Nesterenko who won the gold medal at summer Olympic Games in 2004.

Recently I got to know about Paralympics - it is Olympic Games for disabled people. Many of athletes who take part in these games have suffered accidents and illnesses which would be enough to make most of us want to give up. But they are pushing back the barriers which until recently kept the disabled from taking part in sports. These people compete in various kinds of sport like swimming, sailing, basketball. The disabled are the ones who are catching the public eye and imagination, changing people's perceptions of what "disability" means and what extraordinary abilities the so-called disabled actually possess. As we see sport can makes wonders. That's why at present sport in our country is paid a lot of attention to by the government and much is being done to set up all necessary facilities for its development. Physical education is an essential part of the school and university curricula. Extra-class activities at our lyceum include a wide range of different sporting events and competitions. Any pupil can join a sports section. In my opinion PT lessons are important, because at these lessons pupil's mind has an opportunity to relax and at the same time pupil has some exercises, which are necessary to keep the body in good shape. Attending of these lessons is usually a great fun, because our teacher always invents something interesting, for example, unusual exercises or interesting games. And even if we play ordinary games like football, volleyball of basketball it always brings us a lot of pleasure.

For pupils who want to attend sport besides PT lessons all necessary facilities are created. In our town there is a great amount of swimming pools, gyms for aerobics and fitness, stadiums, there is even an Ice Palace. So everybody has an opportunity to go in for some kind of sport if he or she wants it.

What about me, I like sport. I'm sure you don't need to be good at sports to enjoy them - according to the Olympic motto it is the participation and not winning, that matters. 

I personally can't imagine my life without sport. In summer I go jogging every morning, when I nave free time I attend swimming pool and sometimes I play badminton with my best friend.

But when I was youngerI1 did sports professionally. My parents always dreamt of making an athlete out of me and when I was five years old my father took me to the gymnasium for the first time. As far as I remember. I had been going in for gymnastics for about five years and these five years were magic time for me. Since than gymnastics has become my beloved sport. You don't need any special equipment for this kind of sport, but if you want to take it seriously you should be enduring, adroit, strong and persistent. It goes without saying that gymnastics is one of the most beautiful and fascinating sports, it teaches you to be brave, try to do everything to achieve your goal and to overcome the difficulties in your way. That's why gymnastics even became a sense of my life for some period of time, but later I had to leave it because of decease and at present I am a simple amateur of sport.

As a fan I do have my favourite sport which is figure-skating. I have never done it myself, but I like watching world and European championships. I am always fascinated by the grace, speed and skill of the skaters and how well they can dance on the ice. I like figure-skating, but honestly I like gymnastics much stronger, because the most pleasant moments of my childhood are connected with this kind of sport. And I'm sure it isn't a surprise that my favourite sportsmen are gymnasts.

My favourite gymnast is Olga Korbut who has been called many things including the "first of the pixies", "a circus act" and "the queen of gymnastics". Despite a wide range of opinions about her the fact is that Olga Korbut changed women's gymnastics forever. Olga was born on May 6th. 1955 in Grodno. She had not been a strong pupil at school, but her teacher noticed her agility during physical exercises and recommended that she enroll in one of the gymnastics schools run by the State Sport Committee. At the age of 11. Korbut began her gymnastics training at such school in Grodno. Unlike her grim-faced teammates, she burst upon the 1972 Olympics with a dazzling smile, a youthful enthusiasm, and an exuberant presence that was unprecedented in Soviet athletes. Her joy of life along with her astonishing gymnastics skills took the Olympics by storm. At that time, the Soviet gymnastic team was the best in the world, but Olga was not considered one of the stars and was unknown in the West. Her run in tears after she made two errors on the uneven parallel bars made for great TV and endeared her to millions of viewers. Olga went on to win two individual gold medals in the '72 Olympics аnd one silver. She was the sports newest star. Olga quickly became a household name and the world's most popular female sports performer. She was named the top athlete of 1972, and "Sports Illustrated" featured her on the cover of the magazine's March 1973 issue. Olga did more than any other single performer to popularize sport and make gymnastics a top-draw event for the Olympics. She was 17 when her balance beam and floor exercise routines in Munich captured the gold. She was the first gymnast ever to do a back flip on the balance beam. Four years later, at the age of 21, when competing against the up-and-coming 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci, she took the silver for her work on the balance beam at the '76 Olympics in Montreal. She retired from competition after '76 and eventually became a gymnastics instructor. At present Korbut has a gymnastics school of her own in Atlanta, where she now lives with her family. Olga Korbut certainly belongs to those Belarusian sportsmen who are famous world wide.

I know it for sure that it's very difficult to become a good and successful sportsman. To be a sportsman means constant hard work, lack of free time and almost absence of private life. Frankly speaking, if you want to achieve something in the sphere of professional sport, it has to become a style of life and even a sense of it.

And in conclusion I'd like to say that either as a player or merely as a spectator almost every person likes sport, because it is an essential part of our lives. It creates, so to speak, a healthy body for a healthy mind.

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