Card #1. What makes person educated.

Of course we get education at school. The activities of the school day afford different chances for pupil's self-perfection. They provide many opportunities for deeper study and developing our talents. But school lays only the base, the foundation of our education. Here we get only necessary knowledge and after graduating the school we can continue studying in the universities, institutes or somewhere else.
Not only school makes us educated persons. Reading books and press is also very important. It enriches our outlook, broadens the boundaries of our intellect, offers the opportunities to read the latest news and political discussions. TV also gives us wonderful and effective possibilities for education. Due to mass media we become better informed by watching documentaries, science programs and discussions.
It is the principal role of after-school activities to deepen our knowledge in different subjects. Besides regular schools there are a lot of clubs, where children get education and good habits. There are different groups, where children can succeed in the field they are particularly interested in. Art clubs, Drama and history clubs and groups, studying foreign languages, are among them. Educational excursions can be also useful in developing the pupil's intellect. Nature hikes help to explore the world around us.
To my mind if we want to be successful in our studies we must have the number of positive qualities of character. First of all we have to be attentive at the lessons. Attention always helps to acquire profound knowledge and to understand the material better. To make progress in all subjects we should be hard-working and persistent persons. Strong-willed and industrious people can stand up all difficulties and hardships and they have a purpose in life.
So if we want to be well educated, we ought to have all these qualities in ourselves, only in these conditions we can succeed in our studies.
I think that all people should be educated, because it is very useful and important. Educated persons are always ready to find a good job, they usually have a bright career. Besides, it is also much better to talk to educated, cultured and extraordinary person. I consider knowledge to be the really great power and that is why we must always increase it.

Card #2. Mass Media.

Mass media (that is the press, the radio and television) play an important role in the life of modern man and society. They inform, educate and entertain people. They also influence the way people look at the world, make them change their views and mould public opinion. Reading the newspaper you can get information about the events that have taken or are going to take place in our country or abroad. The pages of newspapers carry articles on economy, industry, agriculture and social life. Practically all newspapers also give radio and TV programs, weather forecasts. Television and radio helps you to get the latest news not after they have happened but even when they do happen.
Today Russia can be proud of the great verity of newspapers circulating though the country. One can find newspapers of all kinds: national and local, official and private, quality and popular, newspapers issued for children, teenagers, for all kinds of fans: sport-fans, car-fans, music fans, etc. The freedom of press has become actual in our days. Most of the newspapers can boast their independence, their individual styles and their peculiarities.
Every newspaper has its readers. Our family has been subscribing to "Komsomolskaya Pravda " for a long time. My parents read it from cover to cover. To tell the truth I am not a great lover of reading the press and I don't read it regularly. I find boring the information about the work of the government, political reports and current news. I prefer to read articles and social issues and pages devoted to interesting facts from the life of the stars - both music and sport. "K.P." is daily newspaper, which has Saturday supplement - "Tolstushka" as it is called. It is very interesting issue and I look it though attentively. I consider the entertainment appendix to the newspaper to be very useful because there are a lot of jokes, crosswords and quizzes. I'm keen on solving them.
Besides the newspapers there are a lot of magazines in our country. They are entertainment mostly ("Rovestnic", "TV-park", "Cool" and other) but there are also business, politics and some other magazines. Almost all magazines are printed in color and with a great amount of pictures and it makes them very interesting to read.

Card #3. Television.

Television plays a great role in our life. In the one hand television plays a positive role. It brings the world to our living-room .We see people in our country and in other lands, and learn their customs, occupations, opinions, problems. We become well informed by watching documentaries, science programs, and discussions and by learning the most important economic, social and political issues of the day. We see great events, which will pass into history. We can see outstanding people. We become more cultured people by learning more of the arts. Television helps us to relax after a hard day's work. Television programs gather great audiences. Apart from their entertainment value, they provide useful topics for conversations.
But on the other hand television plays the negative role in the life of human beings. We begin to forget how to occupy our spare time. We used to have hobbies, we used to meet our friends, and we used to go outside for our amusements, to the theatres, cinemas and sporting events. We used to read books and to listen to the music. Little by little television cuts us off from the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day glued to our sets. Some pupils do the homework in front of the TV set. Others rush their homework so they can watch television. In either case the quality of the work is affected. Some pupils are so attracted by television they do not do their homework at all. Many people do not concentrate viewing TV - so their time is largely wasted. Many boys and girls watch television on Sunday afternoon, when out-doors activities would do them so much good. Some children have made television their main leisure activity and they are not enriching their personalities by developing hobbies and visiting different clubs. Television may lead to the poor health through lack of sleep and lack of exercises. Eyestrain could be caused by watching TV for a long time. People begin to forget the art of conversation. They sit glued to the television screen instead of visiting their friends, relatives. Many children no longer read books. This will seriously affect their studying in higher forms for reading is the key to all higher study and needs constant practice.
There are so many interesting and marvelous programs such as: "What, Where, When". I like it because of its interesting questions. I am keen on solving them. I also like to watch the program devoted to computer games called "Ot vinta." And I like to watch interesting films, which are shown in the weekend.

Card #4. Sport.

People all over the world are fond of sports and games. Sport keeps us fit, makes us healthy, more organized, better disciplined. It gives us a lot of pleasure, makes us stronger, and prolongs our life. But the great amount of people - both men and women don't realize the importance of sport in their life and keep ignoring them and continue (for instance) smoking and ruining their health and, finally, their lives. Nowadays plenty of sport clubs and sections are organized in our city. All kinds of sports - tennis, badminton, track - and - field, figure skating, volleyball, basketball, football and many other are enjoyed people of all ages. During the last years shaping sections became very popular among women and girls. The effective occupation helps them to improve their figures, to become cheerful, healthy and bright. Practically all kinds of sports are popular in our country, but football, hockey, figure skating and tennis got the greatest popularity. A lot of people are fond of jogging. In the morning and in the evening we can see people running in the parks, stadiums and in the streets. Every city and town has a few stadiums and swimming pools where local competitions are usually held. Our city has few stadiums a and swimming pools too and they are visited by the great amount of people. Almost in every part of our country fishing is extremely popular. It is especially popular among elderly people. Winter fishing is extremely wide circulated in our native town because of the great continuation of the winter months. All water sports are also widespread including swimming, diving, sailing.
It's a pity but our school gives us only the opportunity to develop sport habits. I think that not much attention is paid to sports in our school, we don't have any sport club there and lack of exercise does children harm. I suggest that during our PT lessons we should go to the swimming pool especially because it is rather near. It will be also good if the sports ground, where pupils can spend their free time during the brakes and also in their spare time and on holidays because there is a lack of sport grounds in Archangel, would be built near our school. In conclusion I'd like to say that each of us ought to devote more time to sports. Only sports can keep us fit and cheer us up and if you decided to give up your harmful habits it will help you to resurrect your health.
As for me I like to go in for sports. I learned playing basketball for 4 years and before it I studied karate for 2 years. Every Sunday I play basketball with my friends and I'm successful in our PT lessons.

Card #5. London.

In 1996, in winter I went to London. This city impressed me very much. When we leaved from Archangel the weather was terrible: it was awfully cold. But when we arrived to London there were green leaves on the trees and the air was much warmer then in our city. That was the first thing that impressed me in London. We lived not in the central part of the London City, but in the suburb, and the atmosphere in that part of the city was pleasant and quiet. The streets were clean and tidy; the houses in our neighborhood were very nice. These things aroused in me pleasant emotions. London offers its visitors the great variety of scenes. The places of interest are fascinating there. Such buildings like Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and Tower of London impressed me by their beautiful architecture. They reflect the past of English people and they affected me greatly. One more interesting thing to view is The London Bridge. It looks especially effective when you cross it. But I think that the most outstanding building to view in London is Big Ben. This beautiful tower rises among the multi-storeyed buildings and it looks very exciting. Especially beautiful it looks in the evening when the lighting is on. I was also impressed by English shops. The great variety of things to buy helps you to find anything you want. Especially I was impressed by multi-storeyed shops, which we can't find in Archangel. These shops have elevators and even shop guides. It takes hours to explore them. All these things are able to impress even the man who traveled a lot and saw many interesting places. English people impressed me very much too. They are friendly and easy to talk to. When you walk in the street you see smiling faces and it is very pleasant. They are not always criticizing everything and complaining on something. But the most impressive place to my mind is Madam Tussauds museum of wax figures where you can find perfectly made figures of the most famous people of the world from Lenin and Bill Clinton to Michel Jackson and The Beatles. In some halls figures are shown in interesting scenes in some they are just sitting or standing. There are also figures of great historic people who lived long time ago. I think that London is worth visiting because of its great places of interest and because exploring of them provides a lot of minutes of pleasure. I also think that it would be very exciting to make a journey to this city for citizens of Archangel in winter because such quick getting from the northern city to the city where even in winter there is green grass and no snow makes a great affect.