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 pl
anet, 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 an
d 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-r
o
om 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 larg
e
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 com
e
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 organi
zed; 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 kno
wn 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 firs
t 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 n
otes, 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 on
e 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 scho
ol 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 chi
ldren 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 wel
l as possible in their exams and help them to develop their personalities and characters. So, Summerhill is a plac е
that gives the children not only some skills or knowledge, but teaches some social things the pupils need to know when they leave school. An
d 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.
-------------------------------------------------------
MY ENGLISH STUDIES
According to a legend, originally the world only had one language. One day the people decided t
o 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 ear
th.
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 co
lonies. 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 h
i
s 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 dip
l
omacy 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
l
iterature, 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 tha
t 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 lang
uage. 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 a
t 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 sp
e
cialist 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 the
m
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, b
ecause 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 Englis
h 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
i
n 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 interna
tional 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 la
nguages 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 neutr
a
l 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
E
nglish 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
f
ew 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 tau
ght 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 Engli
s
h. 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 t
he 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 cour
se 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 ,tha
t
'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 s
e
ven 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 t
o
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 culture
s
, 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 di
ctate 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 t
h
an 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
p
ay 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 al
l 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 organi
ze 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 probl
e
ms 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 t
h
ese 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 b
u
s 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 har
d 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 wh
ere 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 addi
t
ional 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
w
atch 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 lang
uage, 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!
----------------------------------------------------
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 th
e 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 buil
ding 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 i
ncreases. 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 ha
ve 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 deb
entures 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 basica
lly 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 transfe
r 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 w
ithin 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, holder
s 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.
---------------------------------------------------
MY FAVOURITE RUSSIAN WRITER
I consider that books are with us during all our l
ife. 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 f
ond 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 di
s
cover 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 val
u
e. 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 cre
a
te 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 someth
ing 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 compute
r
games, videos or TV is that they are relatively inexpensive and portable.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
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 pl
anet, 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 an
d 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-r
o
om 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 larg
e
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 com
e
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 organi
zed; 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 kno
wn 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 firs
t 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 n
otes, 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 on
e 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 scho
ol 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 chi
ldren 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 wel
l as possible in their exams and help them to develop their personalities and characters. So, Summerhill is a plac е
that gives the children not only some skills or knowledge, but teaches some social things the pupils need to know when they leave school. An
d 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.
-------------------------------------------------------
MY ENGLISH STUDIES
According to a legend, originally the world only had one language. One day the people decided t
o 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 ear
th.
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 co
lonies. 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 h
i
s 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 dip
l
omacy 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
l
iterature, 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 tha
t 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 lang
uage. 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 a
t 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 sp
e
cialist 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 the
m
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, b
ecause 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 Englis
h 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
i
n 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 interna
tional 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 la
nguages 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 neutr
a
l 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
E
nglish 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
f
ew 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 tau
ght 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 Engli
s
h. 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 t
he 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 cour
se 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 ,tha
t
'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 s
e
ven 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 t
o
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 culture
s
, 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 di
ctate 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 t
h
an 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
p
ay 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 al
l 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 organi
ze 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 probl
e
ms 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 t
h
ese 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 b
u
s 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 har
d 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 wh
ere 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 addi
t
ional 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
w
atch 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 lang
uage, 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 th
e 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 buil
ding 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 i
ncreases. 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 ha
ve 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 deb
entures 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 basica
lly 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 transfe
r 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 w
ithin 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, holder
s 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 l
ife. 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 f
ond 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 di
s
cover 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 val
u
e. 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 cre
a
te 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 someth
ing 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 compute
r
games, videos or TV is that they are relatively inexpensive and portable.
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