Long ago ancient Greeks often waged wars. Small states suffered and lost much even if they did not take any side and stayed out of wars. The ruler of such a small state, Elis, wanted to live in peace with all neighbours. He was a good dip­lomat because his negotiations were successful and Elis was recognized a neutral state. To celebrate this achievement, he organized athletic games.In the beginning this feast lasted one day, but later a whole month was devoted to it. All wars and feuds were stopped by special heralds who rode in all directions of Greece.

Millions of people all over the world spend their holidays travelling. They travel to see other continents and modern cities. It’s always interesting to discover new things, different ways of life, to meet different people, to try different food. People like to go to a big city and spend their time visiting museums and art galleries. Most travelers take a camera with them and take pictures of mountains, lakes, waterfalls, forests. People travel by train, by plane, by boat, by car, by bike and on foot. Travelling by train is slower than by plane, but you can see more interesting places of the country. Modern trains have very comfortable seats. There are also sleeping cars and dining cars which make the longest journey enjoyable. Speed, comfort and safety are the main advantages of trains and planes. Travelling by sea is popular mostly for pleasure. It is very pleasant to see the rise and fall of the waves, to feel the fresh sea wind and hear the cry of the seagulls. Many people like to travel by car. It is interesting too, because you can stop when and where you like, you do not have to buy tickets. The best way to study geography is to travel, and the best way to get to know people is to meet them in their own homes.

The mass media play an important part in our lives. Newspapers, radio and especially TV inform us of what is going on in this world and give us wonderful possibilities for education and entertainment. They also influence the way we see the world and shape our views. The main source of news for millions of people is television. People like TV news because they can see everything with their own eyes. And that's an important advantage. Seeing, as we know, is believing. Besides, it's much more difficult for politicians to lie in front of the cameras than on the pages of newspapers. It's the window on the world which gives us an opportunity to "travel" all over the world, to "meet" different people and learn about their customs and traditions . It has the power to educate and broaden our minds. It helps us to relax after a hard day's work and escape from reality. There's always a great variety of programmes on TV: news and sports programmes, talk shows and TV games, documentaries and feature films, concerts and theatre performances... Of course, not all programmes are good. But many are made in good taste and with great professional skill. Some people argue that television is a terrible waste of time. It makes us lazier. We stay at home instead of going out. We read less. We think less. We even talk less. It's true that some TV addicts spend hours in front of the "box" watching whatever's on — from second-rate Mexican soap operas to silly commercials. The trick is to learn to control television and use it intelligently. The ideal is to turn on the TV-set only when there's a really interesting programme. Violence on TV is another problem that worries people. As George Mikes once said, TV teaches us "how to kill, to rob, to shoot and to poison." But the same can be said about computer games and many films and books.

ENGLISH TODAY The modern world is becoming smaller all the time. Every day distances between different countries seem less. For this reason it's becoming more and more important to know different languages, especially English. One billion people speak English today. That's about 20% of the world's population. 400 million people speak English as their first language. For the other 600 million people it's either a second language or a foreign language. English is the first language in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand. It is one of the official languages in Canada, the Irish Republic and the Republic of South Africa. As a second language English is spoken in more than 60 countries. It is used by the government, businessmen and universities. English is the language of politics and diplomacy, science and technology, business and trade, sport and pop music. 80% of all information in the world's computers is in English. 75% of the world's letters and faxes are in English. 60% of all international telephone calls are made in English. More than 60% of all scientific journals are written in English. To know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every good specialist. Learning a language is not an easy thing. It's a long and slow process that takes a lot of time and patience. But it's a must. English is taught throughout the world and a lot of people speak it quite well. In our country English is very popular: it is studied at schools (sometimes even at nursery schools), colleges and universities. Everyone will speak English soon — I'm sure of it. We all need to understand each other. To do that we need an international language, and that's English.

Cinema plays an important role in the life of any society. Cinema has become a part of the modern way of life.. Its possibilities are unlimited. There are a lot of different kinds of films: thriller films, popular science films, mystery films, documentaries, theatrical films, horror films, and animated cartoons. Besides films may be color or black-and-white, full-length or short, sound or silent, dubbed in mother tongue, three-dimension or wide screen. The 20th century made great changes into the theatre. Cinema, radio, television, video altered the course of the major performing arts and created the new ones. But still there are hundreds of puppet theatres, conservatoires and philharmonics, musical comedy theatres, drama theatres and opera houses where the audiences are excited at the prospect of seeing a play and the actors are most encouraged the warm reception.
We go to the theatre to see a play, that is to say, a performance given by actors and actresses. A play of a serious character, dealing with important human problems is called a tragedy. A play of a humorous, lighter character is a comedy (or a farce). Dramatists are called playwrights nowadays and there are no longer such great dramatists as Shakespeare or G.B.Show.
But before going to a theatre you should book a ticket at a box-office. The most expensive seats are in the stalls, boxes and dress-circle. The seats in the balcony, pit and the upper circle are less expensive, they are cheap. Then at the entrance to the theatre the attendant tears your theatre ticket in half. He gives you your half back so that you can find your seat by its number. Another attendant shows you to your seat and sells a programme that will tell you which parts the actors are playing and how many acts there are in the play. Then you take your seat and may enjoy the play.

Music is very important for people’s life. It plays an important role in people's life. It forms people's internal world, helps correctly understand occurring events and bring up taste. Everyone understands the role of music by different ways: Superficial or deep and of cause different types of music: Serious and thoughtless. Nowadays that kind of music called «POP music». It includes such styles of music as jazz, rock, rap, disco and so on. Such music is necessary to the man, it lifts mood, and also it is easily remembered. Music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chaykovsky, Grig, Schubert, Rachmaninov — is classic music. it is necessary to learn, to understand it and it is quite accessible to everyone. Millions of people like music and can't imagine their life without it. Music affects the emotions in different ways. It gives people new energy and optimism, besides music is a wonderful rest, a good way to remove from tiredness and tension, it may just clam a person make him think of some think. In less than ten years, video, compact discs and computers all became important in the pop industry. Thanks to compact discs, the quality of record sound is better than ever. Thanks to computers it is possible to play and record thousands of new sounds. As for me I love music, I think people can not live without it. The first thing I do in the morning I switch on my tape — recorder. We can hear music everywhere: in the streets, in the shops, on TV, over the radio, in the cars, in the parks, everywhere.

Millions of people all over the world spend their holidays travelling. They travel to see other continents, modern cities and the ruins of ancient towns, they travel to enjoy picturesque places, or just for a change of scene. It’s always interesting to discover new things, different ways of life, to meet different people, to try different food. Those who live in the country like to go to a big city and spend their time visiting museums and art galleries. City-dwellers usually like a quiet holiday by the sea or in the mountains. Most travelers and holiday-makers take a camera with them and take pictures of everything that interests them - the sights of a city, old churches and castles, views of mountains, lakes, valleys, plains, waterfalls, forests. People travel by train, by plane, by boat, by car, by bike and on foot. Travelling by train is slower than by plane, but it has its advantages. You can see much more interesting places of the country you are travelling through. Modern trains have very comfortable seats. There are also sleeping cars and dining cars which make even the longest journey enjoyable. Speed, comfort and safety are the main advantages of trains and planes. Travelling by sea is popular mostly for pleasure trips. On board large ships and small river boats people can visit foreign countries and different places of interest within their own country. It is very pleasant to see the rise and fall of the waves, to feel the fresh sea wind blowing and hear the cry of the seagulls. Trips on the Volga, the Dnieper, the Yenisei, the Black Sea are very popular today. Many people like to travel by car. It is interesting too, because you can stop when and where you like, you do not have to buy tickets or carry your suitcases. People travel to have a holidays or to have business. If people have business trips they choose the fastest transport. They often travel by plane or by train. It is very expensive but it is very fast. And if people want to have a rest they choose traveling by boat, by car, on horseback and etc. All means of travel have their advantages and disadvantages. And people choose one according to their plans and destinations. If we are fond of traveling, we see and learn a lot of things that we can never see or learn at home, though we may read about them in books and newspapers, and see pictures of them on TV. The best way to study geography is to travel, and the best way to get to know and understand people is to meet them in their own homes.

Since ancient times Nature has served man, being the source of his life. For thousands of years people lived in harmony with environment and it seemed to them that natural riches were unlimited. But with the development of civilization man’s interference in nature began to increase. Every year world industry pollutes the atmosphere with about 1000 million tons of dust and other things. As a result some rare species of animals, birds, fish and plants disappear forever. Many cities suffer from smog. Large cities with thousands of smoky industrial enterprises appear all over the world today. The by-products of their activity pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we grow vegetables. The pollution of air and the world’s ocean, destruction of the ozone layer is the result of man’s careless interaction with nature. Environmental protection is of a universal concern. That is why serious measures to create a system of ecological security should be taken. Some progress has been already made in this direction. As many as 159 countries - members of the UNO - have set up environmental protection agencies. Numerous conferences have been held by these agencies to discuss problems facing ecologically poor regions including the Aral Sea, the South Urals, Kuzbass, Donbass, Semipalatinsk and Chernobyl. An international environmental research centre has been set up on Lake Baikal. The international organization Greenpeace is also doing much to preserve the environment. But these are only the initial steps and they must be carried onward to protect nature, to save life on the planet not only for the present but also for the future generations.

Canada is an independent federative state. It is one of the most developed countries. Canada consists of ten provinces and two territories. It is situated on the North American continent. In size Canada is the second in the world after Russia. Its area is almost 10 million km2. The capital of Canada is Ottawa, which is situated on the bank of the Ottawa River. It is famous for its beautiful parks. It is also known as the city of bridges. Canada is very rich in forest, minerals and fur-bearing animals. It holds the first place in the world in the amount of forests. It is rich in the following natural resources: non-ferrous metals, uranium, oil, natural gas, coal. Canadian industries produce cars, airliners, locomotives, sea vessels, snow-removal machines, and agricultural equipment. The most developed industries are timber, mining, chemical, meat and milk and food industries. Canada grows wheat, barley, flax, potatoes, vegetables and fruit. Fishing is also one of the prosperous industries. Official languages of Canada are English and French. Nearly 60 percent of the population speak English and 27 percent speak French. The rest speaks other languages, such as Eskimo, Indian, German, Ukrainian and Italian. Canada is a founding member of the United Nations. It has been active in a number of major UN agencies.

Science is important to most people living in the modern world for a number of reasons. In particular, science is important for world peace and understanding, for understanding of technology, and for our understanding of the world.
Science is important for world peace in many ways. On the one hand, scientists have helped to develop many of the modern tools of war. On the other hand, Scientists have helped us understand the problem of supplying the world with enough energy; using energy of the sun and of the atom. Scientists have also analyzed the world's resources. Scientists study the Universe and how to use its possibilities for the benefit of men.
Scientists are also important for everyone who is affected by modern technology. Many of the things that make our lives easier and better are results of advances in technology. In some cases, such as technology of producing salt from ocean water, technology may be essential for our lives on Earth.
Scientists are learning to predict earthquakes, to study many other natural events such as storms. Scientists are also studying various aspects of human biology and the origin and development of the human race. The study of the natural world may help improve life for many people all over the world.
Basic knowledge of science is essential for everyone. It helps people to find their way in the changing world.