See also: Topic 4 – My School

Learning a foreign language is not an easy thing. It's a long and slow process that takes a lot of time, efforts and patience. Most of us learn English because we want to get a good job and because it is useful when we travel, especially in Britain or the USA. Some of us want to read and enjoy English literature and a few of us learn English because they want to understand the words of pop songs. You know, nowadays English has become the world's most important language in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. In a number of speakers (400 million) it is second only Chinese. At the same time it is the most widespread language in the world. It is the official language of the UK, of the USA, Australia and New Zealand. English is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Irish Republic. It is also spoken as a second language by many people in India, Pakistan, numerous countries in Africa. The number of second language speakers may soon exceed the number of native speakers, if it has not happened so jet. Even more widely English is studied and used as a foreign language. In this respect it acquired an international status. It is the language of aviation and international sport, commerce and business, pop-music and international aid, and computer technology.

 Everybody can see now the importance of English, listening to the radio and music, watching films on TV. As for me I have wanted to study English deeply since I began learning it at school. I had a very strict and enthusiastic English teacher who inspired in me an interest of the language and the culture of Great Britain. My English lessons were always very interesting and I liked them most of all at school. We started learning English with the alphabet, transcription and sounds. I got to know that English has the largest vocabulary (500 000 words and 300 000 technical terms), it has 20 vowel sounds and only 6 vowel letters. Then we learned some English words, conversational phrases and dialogues by heart, read and translated easy texts. The only problem we had was that we didn't do enough oral work because we always concentrated on our written language while my favourite part of learning a language is being able to put all my vocabulary into practice and speak it. Of course, sometimes we worked in the language laboratory listening to the recorded tapes and doing laboratory exercises, but that was not enough.

 From lesson to lesson we improved our knowledge learned more and more new words, grammatical structures and put them into practice of speaking. Soon we were able not only to read, and translate text but to discuss their contents in English, to communicate with one another. Our teacher always told us, that it is very helpful to listen as much as possible to different English educational programmes on the radio and on TV. I've got a lot of English cassettes at home and try to listen to them almost every day.

 To my mind, English is not an easy language to learn. There is a big problem of speaking, pronunciation, a large number of exceptions to any rule. This language is very idiomatic and the prepositions are terrible. English is one of those languages which may seen easy in the beginning but then the bridge between basic knowledge and mastery takes a long time to cross. But if you ( do ) cross this bridge it will give you great satisfaction. Even now the ability to speak to foreigners in their native tongue gives me great freedom and satisfaction. It's important also to read foreign authors in the original ( as much as you can ), which makes our outlook wider. It is not surprising that many intellectuals know several foreign languages. Besides, learning a foreign language opens great opportunities nowadays. You certainly know that with the development of international contacts hundreds of joint ventures appear in every city, every industrial and cultural centre. They need specialists who know one or two foreign languages. Also foreign businessmen, delegations and missionaries keep coming to our country, and they all need interpreters. Our tourists and businessmen go abroad. So many people study foreign languages in every possible way. Teachers of foreign languages are in great demand. Such teachers needn't fear they may remain unemployed.

I am sure, English is really worth learning. To know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every good specialist.

Topic 14: Nature Protection

Nature protection certainly is everyone’s concern, because we all live in this world & in our own way we are slowly destroying the natural environment around us. We must take care of nature because we can not live without it & we don’t have right to destroy it because it has existed much longer than we have. Since ancient times Nature has served Man, being the source of life. For thousands of years people lived in harmony with environment & it seems to them that natural riches were unlimited. But with the development of civilization man’s interference in nature began to increase.

People have always hunted valuable animals for their skins, their fur & also for meat. People themselves have destroyed wildlife. Different animals, birds & fish began to disappear one after the other.

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 grain & vegetables on. Every year world industry pollutes the atmosphere with about 1000 million tones of dust & other harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Fires are also destroy the work of Nature. Vast forests in many places are cut & burnt in fire. Their disappearance upsets the oxygen balance. As a result some rare species of animals, birds, fish & plants disappear forever, a number of rivers & lakes dry up.

There are many forms of pollution in our world today, for example oil in the sea from disasters at sea, nuclear waste, chemical waste & air pollution. Air pollution is one of the most important examples & is a result of many factors. The main reason why there is such a high level of air pollution in large cities is because of car exhaust gases & smoke from factories. Nuclear explosions on the ground cause great chances in the chemical composition of the upper atmosphere.

Life on the earth is impossible without ozone. This gas creates an ozone shield, which protect life on the planet from deadly impact of harmful, ultraviolet radiation from the sun. So nuclear explosives cause the destruction of the ozone layer.

The most horrible ecological disaster befell Belarus & its people in the result of Chernobyl tragedy in April 1986. About 18 % of the territory of Belarus were polluted with radioactive substances. A great damage has been done to the republic’s agriculture, forests & people health. Radioactive pollution increases the causes of diseases, raises the cost of medical services. Many people from the most contaminated regions of Belarus were evacuated from their homes after accident. They have to live far from their homes & can’t even hope for coming back. Most of their children have thyroid problems or immune deficiency. A lot of liquidators who cleaned up after the accident, have died.

Really the consequences of this explosion at atomic power station are tragic for the Belarusian nation.

So the pollution of air & world’s ocean, destruction of the ozone layer is the result of man’s careless interaction with nature, a sign of ecological crises. Now many people understand that they have wasted their riches, & try their best to protect Nature.

In most countries today there are laws for the protection of nature but not all the people obey these laws. People should clearly understand that the nature is what makes our planet a beautiful place to live in & if we continue to destroy it we’ll destroy the beauty of our planet as well as many resources which nature provides us.

We all have a responsibility to take care of nature, but perhaps those who are in a position to do more about it, for example, governments & factory managers & car manufactures, chemical companies have a greater responsibility. They are the people who can influence others & influence what sort of production we put back into nature to make sure that they are safe. As technology continue to increase we should have new means of protecting the environment &, moreover, we should take serious measures to create system of ecological security.

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 this agencies to discuss questions of ecologically poor regions. The international organizations ‘Green Peace’, ‘Friends of the Earth’, ‘The Greens’ are also doing much to preserve the environment.

‘Think globally but act locally’- this is the motto of these organizations.

But there are only initial steps to protect nature. It is important that everyone is aware of the problems of pollution, that we continue to find alternatives to the products that harm the environment & that many people do what they can to protect nature because we have to protect it for the sake of the future generation & the world.

Ecological Problems

With the development of civilization Man's interference in nature has increased. This has led to various changes in environment - massive pollution of soil, air and water.

Ecological changes have become a global problem. It is regarded as one of most pressing problems facing mankind. The scientists have estimated that 35 per cent of the world's land surface is in various stages of desertification and 850 million people live in these areas.

The ecological situation is the worst in the developing countries of Africa and Asia. Environmental problems are very acute in heavily populated and industrially developed Europe. Serious concern acquires the state of the environment on the American continent. Air pollution, for instance, in Mexico City remains one of the worst. Some people say the air in the city is so bad that breathing it is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. And the inhabitants of the Tokio, especially in the central districts, have to use respirators.

The Republics of CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) need urgent ecological measures too. The state of things is getting worse and worse in ecologically poor regions like Donbass, Kuzbass, the Aral Sea, South Urals regions, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone and so on. Unthinking industrialization and rapacious economic management are especially dangerous now for the fragile nature of the North of Russia.

Due to the extreme significance of the problem people all over the world put forward suggestions about creating a system of international ecological security. They demand a change from our present consumer economy to a conserver economy, where waste is minimized and finite resources are taxed to ensure their wise and essential use. Some progress has been made in this direction.

An international environmental research center has been set up on Lake Baikal. Discussions are going on the international cooperation in reviving the Aral Sea and in environmental protection and rational development of the areas of the Far North. But these are only initial steps, of course, they must be carried forward.

Topic 15: Minsk
See also: Topic 16 - Belarus

Every man has a native place that is undoubtedly the dearest to his heart. Such a place for me is Minsk.

Minsk is the capital of Belarus, its political, economic, scientific & cultural center. It is one of the oldest & most beautiful cities in our country.

Minsk is situated on the river Svisloch & occupied an area of 200 square kilometers. Its population is about 1.8 million.

Minsk has a long history. More than 900 years ago on the banks of Nemiga & Svisloch rivers came into existance the city of Minsk or Mensk as it used to be called before. The name of the city is believed to be associated with the river Menka that flowed into lake Ptych not far from the city. But the legends say that the city derives its name from the word ‘mena’ as in the ancient times there was a barter market in the newly-founded settlement on the right bank of Svisloch.

Mensk was first mentioned as a town in the Principality of Polotsk in a chronicle in 1067 in connection with the battle on the Nemiga (between Prince Vseslav of Polotsk & a Prince Yaroslav’s sons Vzyaslav, Vsevolod & Svyatoslav). As a result of this battle Mensk was ruined with all men killed, women & children taken to prison.             

In the 12-th century the Polotsk Principality was divided among Prince Vseslav’s sons & Mensk became the center of the independent principality. Then, a century later, the Principality of Mensk became part of the Great Duchy of Lithuania.

 Mensk was renamed into Minsk in the late 16^th century, when the Lithuanian Princes united with Polish Kingdom & formed a joined state Rzeczposplita. Later, in the late 18^th century, Belarus joined the Russian Empire & was turned into a province with Minsk as its center. Minsk rapidly grew & developed.

Its’ true to say that our city suffered greatly from many destructions. Fires caused great damage to the city. It was burnt several times. Since then only stone & brick buildings have been constructed in the center of Minsk.

In the 20^th century the foreign invaders not once occupied the Belarusian capital: in 1918 it was occupied by Germany, in the 1918-1920 by Poland. But the most horrible disaster befell the city of Minsk in the years of the Great Patriotic War. When World War II started it took patriots about tree years to clear Minsk of the fascist invaders. It was destroyed almost completely.

In post-war years the city was rebuilt anew. For outstanding courage & heroism displayed by Minsk people in their struggle against the fascists the city was honored with the title of ‘Hero-City’.

Today Minsk strikes a visitor with singularity & unity of the architectural design & favorable lay-out. Its are tidy & green with trees. Modern Minsk is a city of numerous plants & factories, modern buildings, beautiful parks & gardens. The Botanical garden is the most beautiful garden in Minsk, I think with numerous sorts of rare plants, contained there. Minsk is also a big traffic center with a large network of railways, roads, airlines & two metro lines.

Minsk has a developed industry. There are hundreds of big industrial enterprises & small joint ventures, which produce tractors & automobiles, motor-cycles & bicycles, TV-sets & radio-sets, watches & refrigerators, electronic computers, textile, footwear, food & other goods. Our Belarus tractors & MAZ trucks enjoy a high reputation both in our county & abroad.

Minsk is also known as a city of science & students. There is the Academy of Sciences, a lot of research institutes, numerous higher educational establishments, the biggest of which are the University & Polytechnical Academy. Besides there are many technical secondary schools in Minsk, with train skilled specialists not only for the country needs. Many young people come to Minsk from different countries to study in various fields of knowledge.

The cultural life of people in the Belarusian Capital is varied & interesting. In Minsk there are ever 10 theaters, a number of concert halls, a circus, dozens of cinemas, many places of culture, libraries & clubs. The most famous which are the Opera & Balley Theatre, The Yanka Kupala State Academic Theatre, The Gorky Russian Drama Theatre, various dance & song companies are well-known all over the country.

Among the most interesting museums I must mention the Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, the Art Museum & Yanka Kupala & Yakub Kolas museums.

The citizens of Minsk are proud of their city. As I was born in Minsk & have lived all my life here, I like my native town very much & it seems to me beautiful at any time of the year, so a lot of tourists from our country & abroad come to see its sights: The Catholic Cathedral of St. Simon & St. Helen in independent square, built in 1910, The Main Cathedral in Nemiga Street, The Palace of Arts in Kozlov Street, Masherov Avenue, Skarina Avenue. The Troitzkoe Suburb - restored, but looks quite like old.

Topic 16: Belarus
See also: Topic 5 - History Of Belarus; Topic 9 - Famous People Of Belarus; Topic 15 - Minsk