Our school is very big. It’s a modern three storied building of typical design.

We do quite a lot of subjects at school. They are: Physics, Math­ematics, Biology, Literature, Rus­sian, English, History of this country and many other subjects. It is rather difficult to go to school when a school-leaver, we have so much to do. I know that all the subjects are important and they all must be paid much attention to, but still I didn't like exact sciences. I spend much time on doing them at home. How­ever hard I tried all those formulas and definitions were mixed up in my head and I couldn't make it out af­ter all. So I had nothing to do but sit for two or three hours swotting Physics, Chemistry and Maths. My favourite subjects are Lite­rature, History, English. Most of all I like English. I read English books, try to translate some articles from the newspaper "Moscow News" from English into Russian and vice versa. I have some English books and they are of great help to me when I study English grammar and do some exercises. At our English lesson we read quite a lot of dull texts from our textbooks. But in my view, written texts and text­books are not important. The best way to improve your language skills and habits is to work at a language laboratory. I spend plenty of time listening to the tapes, imitating the sounds and intonations of the na­tive speakers of English. I am working hard at my pronunciation because my teacher said that it was my weak point. I decided to take my entrance exams to the Institute because I want to know English. Nowadays it's im­possible to do without forcing lan­guages. Besides one can't be a learned and well-educated person if one doesn't know at least one foreign language.

Protection of Environment

Since ancient times Nature has served Man, being the source of his life. For thousands of years people lived in harmony -with environment. But with the development of civi­lization man's interference with na­ture began to increase.

Large cities with thousands of smoky industrial enterprises appear all over the world today. They pol­lute the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we live in. Many cities suffer from smog. Vast fo­rests are cut and burn in fire.

As a result some rare kinds of animals, birds, fish and plants disap­pear forever, a number of rivers and lakes dry up.

Environmental protection is a universal concern. That is why serious measures to create a system of ecological security should be taken.

Some progress has been already made in this direction. As many as 159 countries — members of the UNO (Union of Nations Organizations) — have set up environmental protection agencies.

Numerous conferences have been held by these agencies to dis­cuss questions of ecologically poor regions including the Aral Sea, the South Urals, Kuzbass, Donbass, Semipalatinsk and Chernobyl. An international environmental re­search centre has been set up on Lake Baikal. The international organization Greenpeace is also do­ing much to keep the environ­ment.

The Earth is our home. We must take care of it for next generations and ourselves.

Russian holidays

There are dates and events in the life of this our country that are memorable to every Russian citizen. The dates of this kind are: Victory Day, May Day, Constitution Day, the Women'sDay, Independence Day. These are national holidays, people do not work on these days. The most memorable date is the Victory Day which is kept on the 9-th of May. On this Day we celebrate the anniversary of the victory over fascism in the World War II. May Day is regarded as the day of solidarity of the workers of the world. This day commemorates the tragic events of the years 1884— 1888 in Chicago when workers were fighting for their rights. The Women'sDay, celebrated on the 8-th of March, is like Mother'sDayin Great Britain. On this day you can see many men buying or carrying flowers. Children give their moth­ers presents, or send them postcard if they are away from home. Recently new national holidays have appeared. They are of religious origin. They are: Christmas and Eas­ter. In Russia Christmas is cele­brated on the 7-th of January. In Eu­rope and in the USA it is marked on December 25. 0n Christmas people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Easter symbolizes the Resur­rection of Jesus Christ. Children like this holiday for traditional brightly painted boiled eggs and special Easter cakes. Easter cakes are sold at every bakery, but home-made ones are always much tastier.

There is one more holiday which is loved by everybody: chil­dren and adults. This is New Year's Eve. People decorate New Year trees with toys and lights and believe that a miracle is a must on this day. 0n the New Year night people go to dancing, visit their friends or stay at home and watch TV. It's my favourite holiday.

Sport in Our Life

People all over the world are fond of sports and games. Sport makes people healthy, keeps them fit, more organized and better dis­ciplined. Some people go in for sports for their health and some for professional aims.

There are many stadiums, sport grounds, swimming pools, foot­ball fields in each town. Practi­cally all kinds of sports are popular in this country but football, figure-skating and tennis enjoy the great­est popularity. A lot of people are fond of jogging. In the morning and in the evening we can see people jogging in the parks, stadiums and even in the streets. In every school pupils spend much time going in for sports. First of all they have their physical training lessons. And when school is over they may train at different sports clubs and sections in different kinds of sport.

Professional sport is also paid much attention to in this country. Every year there are a lot of sport competitions, sport day and Olympiads. 0nce in four years the Olympic Games take place in dif­ferent countries.

There are Summer and Win­ter Olympic Games. This is a great sport competition of the best sportsmen in the world.

As for me I go in for table tennis (Ping-Pong). It needs mo­bility, liveliness and much energy. It keeps a person in a good form. I have been playing tennis for five years, but the more I play the more I like it.

Moscow, the Capital of Russia

Moscow is the capital of Russia. It is the a main political, economic, educational and cultural centre of this country. Moscow is the seat of our Government. President of Russia lives and works there.

Moscow is situated on the Moskva river. The city was founded more than 800 years ago by Yuri Dolgoruki. There are many places of inte­rest in our capital. The heart of Moscow is Red Square. The Mos­cow Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathe­dral are masterpieces of Russian ar­chitecture. For those who are fond of art the best place to visit is the Tretyakov Gallery or the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. .The Gal­lery contains hundreds of master­pieces not only of Russian art but also of many other countries.

Moscow is proud of the Bolshoi, Maly and Art theatres. Moscow is a scientific centre, too. The Academy of Sciences of Russia, the oldest university, many schools of higher education, colleges and sci­entific institutions are located there.

Moscow is a very beautiful city. It has a great number of green parks, large squares and "wide streets. There are lots of museums and the­atres, cinemas and exhibitions in Mos­cow. Many concerts, shows, festi­vals, presentations take place every day in our capital.

Moscow is the largest city in Russia and one of the largest cities in the world. More than 8 million people live and work there. There are very many plants and factories in Moscow that produce motor cars, TVsets, watches, toys and other goods.

Four airports connect Moscow with other parts of our country and many other countries of the world.

There are 9 railway stations in Moscow. People from all parts of the world want to visit this beauti­ful city. I have been to Moscow many times and I am proud of my capital.