Card #6. Books.

The role of books in our life is great. Books help us to understand and the people surrounding us better. Devoting much time to reading for information we become better informed and more educated. Reading plays a great role in my life. It develops my literary tastes, it makes me think over the important questions, that have to worry everybody. Reading develops my speech and helps me express my views, thoughts, ideas in clear simple words. It also develops my outlook and my attitude to the life.
Reading different books I came across a lot of powerful episodes, which aroused different emotions in me: sympathy, admiration, fear, and joy, sorrow. When I read a book and I like it I can't stop reading until I finish it. Truly speaking if I have to read some book I do not always do it, for if I read the book without interest and pleasure, I do not get any joy or information.
Sometimes reading a book, at first I don't like it but when I've read 50 or more pages I understand the plot of that book and I become interested and try to read this book till the end as soon as I can. I think that I'm not a patient reader, but I think that it will come to me with time.
The real lovers of reading books have advantages over those who are not fond of reading because they can understand more details and get more complex knowledge of life, certainly, by means of books. Readers can see wonderful nature and take part in different adventures sitting at home and reading a book. Knowledge which readers get from the books is very useful because using this knowledge a man can understand most important events, taking place in the world. Those who read books look cleverer and it is pleasant to communicate with them and they can answer most questions.
There are many kinds of books such as: non-fiction, science -fiction, fantasy, adventure, mystery, spy, novels, books of poetry and many other. I prefer to read fantasy and adventure books. I like them because of their thrilling plots and of heroic characters, which always defeat evil.

Card #7. Shakespeare.

Who was that William Shakespeare of Stratford? More has been written about him than about any writer that ever lived. But while reading any biographical books about Shakespeare, we may be surprised of a large number of such sentences as "It's possible that...", "We have no trace of what Shakespeare did during this years", and so on.
The facts are very few. Shakespeare was probably born on the 23-rd of April 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon. His father was a respectable shopkeeper, and dealt in wool, skins, leather and gloves. His mother, Mary Arden was a farmer's daughter. William was the eldest of eight children. We know that when Shakespeare was 18, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years older than himself, that in 1853 Susanna, their first child was born and that twins Hamnet and Judith followed in 1585. At the age of 22 Shakespeare left Stratford alone, for London. We know that in 1593 and 1594 he wrote two early poems, Venus and Adonis and Lucrece.
Later, he became a member of the company known as "Chamberlain's men" which played at the "Theatre"; and he wrote for the company. He was already reaching the height of his fame when the Globe Theatre was built in 1593. He often acted at court, and retired, about 1611, to Stratford.
The day of his death was the 23-rd of April 1616, fifty-two years exactly after the supposed day of his birth. That is all we know about William Shakespeare.
That has been a good deal of debate about the extent Shakespeare's learning. It's true that he never went to the university or traveled abroad. Some romantics declared that an illiterate could never have written such poetry -therefore someone else must have done it instead. Such reactions are unnecessary. Shakespeare learned grammar, logic and Latin at the grammar school, and he had enough education to develop his literary skill.
Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, among them comedies (The Taming of Screw, Twelfth Night), tragedies (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello), historical plays (Henry 6,Richard 3).
Shakespeare possesses some special merit for every generation and almost every person in turn. Whether he is writing of history, or love, or tragedy, or comedy, things have meaning and value. It was his genius that gave the world poetry of a deathless beauty.

Card #8. School.

I've been studying in my native school since the first form. Our school is considered to be one of the best in our city and I fully agree with that statement. I find both the skill of our teachers and the quality of education that we get high enough. That's why a lot of parents want their children to enter our school. It is much easier to get to some universities after you've finished our school because of the good quality of education. Bright examples of it are the graduates of our school who have archived the great results in different fields of science. I think that the level of education also depends on a person's will to get it. English is considered to be the major subject and takes the main part of the curriculum. It's due to our English teachers that we have a good knowledge of foreign language. One of the greatest advantages of our school is that all the tenth forms are divided into three grades, so that all pupils could choose the form the deeper studying of the subject he is interested in, which he considers to be of a vital importance for him.
Our school is one of the oldest in our city and we have celebrated the 70-th anniversary lately. It was a great holiday for all schoolchildren, graduates and teachers. Especially to the anniversary the new gym was built and the old one was repaired. Though the school is old it's well equipped and it has all necessary facilities for studying: two computer classes, chemistry, physics, English labs, but I can't say that our school has no disadvantages. I wish all classrooms were modified with modern equipment, instruments, tables, schemes and models. During the course of tuition we often have to make different reports and revues for our lessons. Of course the reading halls of our city libraries are at our disposal, but it would be more convenient if we had our own school reading hall with all reference books and dictionaries which are necessary for our work.
I suggest that sport club should be organized on the base of our new school gym. I suppose that it would be very useful for all school children because interesting out school activities attract pupils.

Card #9. In our school.

It has become a tradition to make exchanges of students every year and almost each time they visit our school and want to find out more about its customs and traditions. If a group of students came to our school first of all I would tell them some things about the history of our school. It was founded in 1927 and in 1932 it was named after the great Russian writer Gorky. It is a specialized English-speaking school so the knowledge of English of our leavers is high. For many of us it is a very significant thing because our future can depend on our knowledge of English.
After it I'll show our school to guests. I think it would be better to begin the excursion from the ground floor where our school workshop is situated. The girls of our school have their handicraft lessons there. The most important problems of our school are solved in the office of our principal, V. D. Ivanov. It is also situated on the ground floor. Our school canteen is also there.
On the first floor some primary school classrooms are situated. Two well-equipped computer classes are the pride of our school. On the first floor there is also a teachers' room. Our school museum is on the opposite side .The museum gives a full coverage of our school history and the meetings with famous people are sometimes held there. Our school library, which is also on the first floor, offers the pupils a lot of books, newspapers and magazines, which are useful in our studies.
On the second floor we can also see primary classrooms and labs of different subjects. The science rooms are situated here. Two of them are for physics and one is for chemistry lessons. They are well equipped and prepared for different experiments. A great amount of tables and schemes is of great help during the lessons. Educational films and slides are also helpful in our studies.
The biology lab is situated on the third floor. Everybody can recognize it by great amount of flowers, stuffed animals and birds and aquarium with nice fish. Pupils of the school gather together in the Assembly Hall to celebrate some traditional holidays, such as Halloween, Valentine Day, New Year and sometimes the birthdays of great writers.
On each floor of our school one can see small classes where English lessons are held.
And it is impossible not to say about our two new gyms. Our school can be proud of them and I think that they will impress foreign students very much.
I think that after that short excursion I'll try to find out an information about their school and its equipment. I'll ask them to tell about their school and out-of-school activities. I would like to find out whether they are of some importance for them or give them a lot of pleasure. I'd like to find out what traditions they keep and what way they celebrate their holidays.

Card #10. "No man is useless while he has a friend"

"No man is useless while he has a friend" - that statement describes our life most truthfully, which is full of hardships and difficulties, and where only your real friends can help you to be or to become someone, who is nothing, but a strong personality.
People can't live without communication. And that is why all people must have friends - people, who are willing to help them, who can help to overcome hardships. To my mind, generosity is the essence of friendship. And true friends are quiet free from selfishness, envy, meanness, indifference to your friends, sufferings, etc. I wish people were more kind, generous to each other. If you were a kind person and were willing to help your friend in a trouble you would have a great amount of friends.
To my mind, a real friend is a person, who never leaves you alone in you troubles, whom we can fully rely on, whom we can trust as ourselves, and who never say unpleasant things, which can hurt friend's feelings.
The famous poet said: "Change your pleasure, but not your friends". A person can meet a real true friend once or twice in his life. That's why friendship is the most valuable thing in the world. If you feel bad or if you want to tell somebody about your thoughts, you may come to your friend, who understands you, your problems, your thoughts, who will help as he can.
I have a lot of friends. I am sure that I can rely on them and I can trust them as myself. They are willing to help in my troubles as if they helped themselves. I consider myself to be a good friend, because my friends treat me rather good and it means that they want me to be their friend.
And really, while man has at least one real friend he will be more useful, than the person, who hasn't friends. And the strength of friendship is in giving people opportunities to become better then they are now. If you don't have friends, you should better make friends. And remember - if you have the real friends you have a powerful support from them.