Your friend has come to see you and you are discussing the role of mass media in people’s life

- what kind of mass media you know and what kind you use in your life;

- which your favourite programme is;

- what newspapers and magazines you read;

- whether we can trust all the information we get from mass media.

We live in a fast moving world and if we want to be an up-to-date person we have to be interested in the events and the news of it. I believe that we should absorb a lot of information to succeed. The helpful hand for us is, of course, mass media which include the press, radio, television and the Internet.

As for me, I mostly use the Internet to gain some necessary information but I also watch television. Frankly speaking, I never buy newspapers because I consider them to be boring but I often look through some magazines to get to know something new.

Speaking about television I should admit that I watch it practically every day. I have some favourite TV programmes but ‘ Fight of people with extrasensory perception ’ is my favourite one. I don’t really believe in everything I watch but I like to understand that people can have some extra skills and inner forces which they can develop in themselves.

As I have told, I never buy newspapers but I like to read some magazines. ‘Ideas for your house’ and ‘My cosy flat’ are my favourite ones. I am fond of design of houses and flats and always try to know all the latest news about it. I am not sure yet but one of my dreams is to become an architect.

To conclude, I’d like to say that mass media play an important role in keeping us informed about everything we need but I wouldn’t totally believe all the information they give. In my opinion it is better to compare the information from different sources and to believe your own eyes more.

 

Card 12

Imagine that you are participating in the Summer language camp activities. The people from different countries are among you. Tell them about the history of your city/town, the main historical landmarks and the places worth visiting in your city/town.

To begin with, I’d like to say that everybody loves the place where he or she was born, spent his childhood and had a lot of pleasant moments. For me Lugansk is such a place.

My city is not very old – it is 220 and it was built by the order of the Russian Empress Katherine II as a settlement for workers of the foundry (литейный) plant. It started its history from the territory where Kambrod district is now. It became bigger and bigger year by year. Today it has four districts for about 400 000 people who live in Lugansk.

If you want to learn the history of my native place, it is necessary to visit the Regional Museum of Local Lore, where you will learn some interesting information about the birth of our place and what is more amazing what links Lugansk has with Great Britain. In 1795 an Englishman, Carl Gaskoin (from Scotland), established the first iron-works (чугунный завод) here. It supplied the Black Sea fleet and the southern fortresses with guns. The "godfather" of Lugansk foundry plant was a commander-in-chief of the Black Sea fleet, Admiral Nickolai Mordvinov, and the "godmother" was Empress Catherine II, who signed in 1795 the edict (['i:dɪkt] указ) on the settlement of the foundry plant on the river Lugan.

The most first street of the city was English Street. At that time many engineers from Scotland came to work at the foundry and they settled there. On the same street, in the family of a factory physician ([fɪ'zɪʃ(ə)n] – врач), Vladimir Dal, the author of “Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language”, a close friend of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, was born in 1801. The House-Museum of Vladimir Dal is situated there. Now it’s a small one-story house and nearby we can see the monument to Dal.

It’s a fact that many churches were built in Lugansk. But the only church that has survived is Peter and Paul church in the oldest part of the city, in Kamenny Brod district. St. Vladimir Cathedral was founded in 1993.Today it has enough space for three thousand believers.

The statue of Virgin Mary and the church in the centre of Lugansk are very beautiful. Near the Regional Museum of Local Lore you can see two unique British tanks Mark-5 “Ricardo”, which are the part of the memorial complex “Monument to Revolutionary Fighters”. Both tanks were produced in the United Kingdom in 1917-1918. During the Civil War the tanks were supporting the fighting troops (войска) of Denikin. Now the tanks are used as historic monuments.

Among the historical landmarks of my city I’d like to mention our Heroes Square which is in the centre. It was built to hounor the solders who lost their lives in the World War II. Our city has some more very interesting places which can tell you a lot of interesting facts about Lugansk and its citizens.

But as people say “Seeing is believing.” And I invite you to visit Lugansk. This place is worth visiting

 

 

Card 13