Some people read for instruction, and some for pleasure, but not a few read from habit. I belong to that company. Let us admit that reading with us is just a drug that we cannot get along without.

Books are necessary to me and I never travel far without enough reading matter. But when I am starting on a long journey, the problem is really great. I have learnt my lesson. Once I fell ill in a small town in Java and had to stay in bed for three months. I came to the end of all the books I had broughtwith me and knowing no Dutch had to buy the schoolbooks from which intelligent Javanese, I suppose, got knowledge of French and German. So I read again after twenty-five years the plays of Goethe, the fables of La Fontaine and the tragedies of Racine. I have the greatest admiration for Racine, but I admit that to read his plays one after ... Читать дальше »

Robin Hood went to Nottingham Market and sold the meat very cheap. The butchers in Nottingham were very angry with Robin Hood for selling the meat so cheap. They wanted to know where he came from. They invited Robin to a dinner with the sheriff of Nottingham. On the way to the town-hall an old butcher began to ask Robin questions. "Haven't you ever been here before?" he asked. "Haven't I?" answered Robin.

"Haven't I ever seen you before?" "Haven't you?" "Are you a new in the business? Well, I think so", said the old butcher, getting very angry. "Do you?" said Robin laughing. Soon they came to the town-hall and the butchers learned nothing about Robin Hood.

At dinner the sheriff heard about the new butcher who sold meat so cheap. The sheriff wanted to ... Читать дальше »

After Duke Wiliiam conquered England he took away lands and houses, money and cattle from the Anglo-Saxons and gave them to the Normans. Many poor Anglo-Saxons became the serfs of the Normans.

Two different peoples lived in England at that time: each spoke its own language, and each hated the other. This went on for a very long time. Robin Hood was a legendary hero of those times. He was well known and loved by the poor people of England. He was tall, strong, handsome, and his songs were heard everywhere. He was brave too and there was no better archer in that part of the country. He was also kind in never hurt the weak or the poor.

One day the Normans came with many soldiers to Robin's house. There was a terrible fight in which Robin's father was ki ... Читать дальше »

This school-year at our English out side reading lessons we had read many interesting stories about Robin Hood. The most interesting story is a story about Golden Arrow. In the 11th century England was conquered by the Normans who had come from the North of France. They began to take away lands and homes from the Saxons, the native popullation of the British Islands. The Saxons suffered very much from the Normans and hated their new masters. Many of them had to run away into the forests and become outlaws. There are many legends and songs about one of them – Robin Hood.

Robin Hood with his 300 men, so the legends say, lived in the Sherwood Forest, not far from the town of Nottingham. He often attacked the rich Normans, but he was a friend of the poor and helped them as much, as he could. The Sheriff of Nottingham wanted to catch ... Читать дальше »

Reading plays a very important role in the life of people. It educates a person, enriches his intellect. Books help to mould a person's character, from his moral values. Besides, books bring pleasure and delight. It's a wonderful way of spending spare time. Sometimes we read the same book again and again.

Thanks to books we learn to express our thoughts and feelings more exactly. The book is faithful and understanding friend. It can be put aside and taken up again at any moment. There are books which have been our favorites since childhood.

People are fond of reading different kinds of books. Some people enjoy reading detective stories, adventure stories, novels, biographies, other prefer classics. Fairy tales are enjoyed and read by children, books ... Читать дальше »

The Word library comes from the Latin word ‘liber’, meaning ‘book’. This is a place where information in print (book, manuscripts, periodicals and musical scores) and in other forms is collected.

Libraries can be found in many places. There are libraries in small towns and large cities and there are libraries at schools, universities, colleges. People go to the library to read, look, listen, search, inquire, relax, discuss, learn and think. The largest and the best known libraries in the world are: the British National library in London, the Library of Congress in Washington and The Russian State Library.

The British Library is the largest state library in Britain and is one of the finest libraries in the world. It is a rapidly growing modern researc ... Читать дальше »

Libraries play an important part in the cultural development of a country. People have a desire to learn, they seek knowledge. Books satisfy this desire.

Books should not be read only for pleasure. Reading books helps us in our education. We can find all kinds of books in the libraries: novels, biographies, fiction, short stories, books on travelling, technical books, magazines, books for children and so on. In some libraries we can find books in many foreign languages.

When a reader comes to a library for the first time he fills in his library card and the librarian helps him to choose something to read. The reader is allowed to borrow books for a certain number of days. The catalogues help the reader to find the books he needs. We should be careful ... Читать дальше »

In 1726 Swift's masterpiece "Gulliver's Travels" appeared. This work made a great sensation in Ireland as well as in England, it equally strirred the interests of those in politics as well as the readers of novels. In this work Swift intended to satirise the evils of the existing society in the form of fictions travels. It tells of the adventures of ship surgeon, as related by himself and divided into four parts of four voyages: 1. A voyage to Liliput. 2. A voyage to Brobdignag. 3. A voyage to Laputa. 4. A voyage to the country of Houyhnhnms.

The first voyage was to a strange country Lilliput. As the result of a shipwreck Gulliver finds himself in a country, inhabited by a race of people about six inches high. Everything else in this country is on a correspondent scale. Swift meant this small country with it's shallow interest, c ... Читать дальше »

I like to read books. Literature helps us to live in this world and we learn a lot from books. Lately I have been interested in English literature very much. English books teach us to understand the English language the way Englishmen speak. Such books as "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare help us to understand things which appeared to be very simple in this life. When I have read this book I have looked at these things on the other side.

I want to tell you about Agatha Christie. Agatha Christie is known all over the world as the Queen of Crime. She wrote 78 crime novels, 19 plays and 6 romantic novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. Her books have been translated into 103 foreign languages. She is the third best-selling author in the world (after Shakespeare and the Bible). Many of her novels and short stories have bee ... Читать дальше »

«Books and friends should be few but good», says an English proverb. Except a living man there is nothing more wonderful than a book! The book is certainly one of the greatest inventions of man. It is a friend and a teacher. We learn many things by reading books. Books teach people to live. The book is a faithful friend. They form our values and our characters. It gives us an opportunity to imagine the future, to look into the past. One can learn a lot by reading books.

There are a lot of libraries in our country, where we can choose any book we need. Everyone has the right to use public libraries. The librarian is always ready to help you to find a book on any subject.

Talks, exhibitions and other events take place in libraries. Except reading speci ... Читать дальше »

Books... I think that we can't live without them. I consider that books are with us during all our life. When I was a child my parents read them to me. I was pleased to listen to the stories and tales. I learned a lot of interesting things from books. I remember, I liked thick books. Later I could read myself.

I like to read books about animals, nature and children. I like to get presents on my birthday. I am happy if it is a book. It doesn't matter what kind of book it is. I like to read almost all books. If I have got time I like to spend it with my favourite book. When I was fifteen I was fond of reading too. But I preferred to read books about travels. I travelled with the heroes of the stories. I saw many interesting places and learned a lot of important facts about other countries and people. Now I like to read books on sci ... Читать дальше »

A book is one of the greatest wonders of world. Why are so many people fond of reading? The world of books is full of wonders. Together with the characters of books you can find yourself in different and countries, have a lot of adventures. The book is a faithful friend. They form our values and characters. We try to look like the characters of your favourite books: to be brave, honest, not to be silly and greedy, to be real friends. We enjoyed the beauty and wisdom of fairy-tales and fables when we were babies and Granny read them. They taught us to be kind, clever, hardworking, to understand other people and help them. They teach us to understand the beauty of nature, take care of it, to love our homeland.

Books have been with us since childhood. Who hasn’t read "Alice in the wonderland", "Mowgli"? Who hasn’t travelled with Mar ... Читать дальше »

I usually take books from school library. The library is helpful when I have to make a report, when I need information on some subjects. The choice of books in our school library is very good. There are many short stories and novels, textbooks and reference books, dictionaries and encyclopedias there. All books are arranged in alphabetical order. I pay attention to the cover of the book, its illustrations, the name of the author, the title of the book and the contents. When we take a book, we mustn't do dog's ears, we mustn't write anything on the pages, and we must return books to the library in time. I think it is necessary to follow these rules.

I'm extremely fond of reading. I often read for pleasure and sometimes for information. So I'm interested in different kinds of books. I like to read stories about heroes, great travel ... Читать дальше »

Contemporary life is impossible without reading. The influence of literature on people's mind is great. Regular reading enriches your knowledge of the world and helps to form your entire personality. If a book appeals to you, it arouses lots of feelings and emotions in your heart. If you take to reading, the world of other people's ideas and problems becomes familiar to you.

The process of reading demands lots of thinking on the part of the reader because reading exists not only for entertainment. When you are taken away by a thrilling plot and by author's vivid imagination or by his humorous remarks or by the way he portrays people, you can't help reading the book from cover to cover, when the life of a literary character is similar to yours, you take events described close to heart. If you feel that you lack information, knowle ... Читать дальше »

Many, many years ago a town crier ran through the streets and shouted out all the news. But now we live in the Atomic Age. Too many things happen too quickly for us to learn about them in the old-fashioned way. That is why we have to read more and more in order to find out what is happening in the world. Reading is rarely a waste of time.

Have you everthoughtaboutthe kind of books people used long ago? It is only in the last 500 years that books have been printed on paper. Before that time the only way of making books was to write them out by hand. No one knows when writing first began, but we have found drawings on the walls of caves and scratchings on bones which are at least 25,000 years old.

The invention of paper played a very important part in ... Читать дальше »