Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

   Let me introduce myself. I am Oksana Ivanenko. I am 16. I was born in Varva on May 19, 2000. I have been living in this town since my childhood.
   Now I am going to tell you about my family. We are a family of five. We are a friendly family. We are getting on all right.
   My father is 45. He works as a surgeon in a hospital. He is neither old, nor young. He is a good-looking man, handsome, rather thin with dark brown hair just beginning to get grey. He is a very sociable person. What I don’t like about my dad is that he is always busy. Very often he works overtime. He is a bread-maker in our family. He is fond of going to the country on week-ends because he enjoys working in the garden.
   My mother is three years younger than my father. She works as a teacher at a nursery school. My mother is rather slim and pretty, she is al­ways elegant and smart. In short, she is a pleasant-looking woman of about 42. She is a teacher. She always has a lot of work to do both at school and about the house. She is fond of her work and spends a lot of time there. But she has to cook the food for all the family at home. Shop­ping and cooking is nearly half a day’s work for her. But my granny and I are in a habit of helping her about the house.
   Boris is my older brother. He is six years senior to me. So he is 22 al­ready. He has graduated from the University. He is an economist. He is married. His wife is a journalist. They are three in the family. They have got a child, my nephew. He is a small boy with golden hair and dark brown eyes and a spirit that is always bright and happy, full of joy and gaiety.
   And finally a few words about my granny. To tell the truth, she is my best friend. She always listens to my endless, stories about my friends and school life. She is retired on pension now, but she worked as a teacher (she is a former teacher). I must admit, she is a very understanding person.
   It’s a custom in our family to discuss things during meals. We discuss different topics. I must say that all of us are not alike in tastes, manners, character. But as a matter of fact we get along with each other. We usually show our interest in what the others think and do. We share each other’s joy or borrow. We never remain indifferent to what happens to the others. We exchange our impressions on films or plays we have seen. We are attentive and sincere to each other and all these things unite our family. But we like humour and joking and sometimes we argue and tease each other. But it does not prevent us from being on friendly terms. Everybody is grateful to our mother, because she keeps the house, she takes care of everybody, she is also kind and generous. We try our best to treat our mother most kindly.

   It’s nice to have a lot of friends. You can enjoy many things together. All my classmates are nice children. But all of them have different charac­ters. Some are courageous, kind-hearted, curious, faithful, thoughtful of others. In my class there are no heartless and selfish children. I think it’s terrible when people are heartless, cowardly, cruel. Sometimes we can be idle and a little boastful! But we are always ready to help each other in hardships.
   We can learn about different characters from books and films. We also read different news about people in papers. All of us like amusing games and funny stories.
   A good friend is a friend in need, who is always willing to do some­thing useful for you, who can give good advice, who can keep secrets. Some of my friends are my neighbours. We live in the same street and go to the same school.
   Му friends usually obey their parents and teachers. They never com­plain of anything, they are worried about each other’s health. All of them are fond of nature. They like to take care of animals and plants. In sum­mer and in spring they help their grandparents to work in the garden or kitchen-garden: to dig the soil, to cut useless branches, sow seeds, water and weed plants. At harvest time they gather crops of corn, fruit, and vegetables. They never do harm to birds. They protect their nests, make bird-tables and put food on them.
   We have a lot of interesting conversation in our class. We discuss dif­ferent problems. Sometimes discussions are very exciting. In the evening I often talk with my friends over the telephone. When some of my class­mates are ill they have a good reason to ring up their friend and learn what their homework is. We also exchange opinions on different matters. Boys and girls get along well. They don’t quarrel. We have a lot in com­mon. A lot of my class-mates enjoy out-of-class activities and travelling. Travelling helps us to become more friendly. Besides we are always full of impressions and excitement.
   It’s good to have a friend who has fine qualities in his character: gener­osity, being reserved, reliable, intelligent, persistent in studying, straight­forward, reasonable, decent, honest, polite, punctual, kind, faithful, and warm­-hearted. You can be always sincere with such friends, you can think aloud with them. I hate selfishness, meanness, flattery, laziness, indifference, be­ing boastful, false, and greedy in people.
   The proverb says: “No man is useless while he has a friend”. But the greatest value that guides me in my life is kindness, and it’s no wonder. Usually kindness is harmoniously connected with other good qualities. If a person is not kind, if he’s selfish, if he cares only about him­self, then his other qualities — courage and will-power are worthless. You can see what a person is worth through his attitude towards others. If he is devoted to people, he is devoted to his work, to his country. Kindness is the main thing, the essence of what is best in a human-being.
   It’s unpleasant to deal with unreliable people and there is no doubt in it. Such people don’t possess the feeling of duty, they can let you down at any moment, they cannot be friends in need. When people are stubborn, it’s also bad. They don’t respect the point of view of other people, they are sure that they are always right, they don’t follow advice of other people. Some­times it’s dangerous to deal with such people, you can’t rely on their support.
   I think, it’s good to develop persistence and confidence in oneself, be­cause if a person is not reliable, he is unable to make conclusions and come to right decisions in proper time. A person can prove to be a person­ality by his deeds, not by his words. A proverb says: “Actions speak louder than words.” It’s not good to promise much by saying nice words. Let other people speak about your job, your deeds, whether they are useful or not.
 The Vocabulary list

   Ukraine has a long history and rich culture. That is why there are many places of interest there.
It is natural that the capital of the country, Kyiv, has the greatest number of them. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe. From time immemorial Kyiv has been the centre of Slavonic culture. There are many ancient cathedrals and churches, museums and monuments, beautiful streets and squares in it.
   The main street of Kyiv is certainly Khreshchatic. If you have never been to Kyiv you should start your sightseeing there. The street is only one kilometre long but very impressive.
   Kyiv is famous for its Kyivo-Pecherskaya Lavra. More than 80 buildings were constructed on its territory during 900 years of the monastery’s existence.
   Tourists always go to have a look at the monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the outstanding Ukrainian statesman and military leader. There are many other places of interest in Kyiv. One of them is the State Historical Museum of Ukraine. There are more than 50,000 exhibits on display. The exposition tells us about the history of Ukraine and its culture from antiquity to the present days.
   The Golden Gates, the Andreyevskaya Church, the monuments to Prince Volodymyr and Taras Shevchenko are worth seeing.
   Kyiv Shevchenko Opera and Ballet House, Kyiv Ivan Franko Drama Theatre are well-known all over the country.
   Any place is interesting in its own way and visiting it we come to know and love this country more.
Vocabulary:
natural— природний                                     famous— відомий
immemorial — незапам’ятний                      to construct – будувати, споруджувати

   People spend their rest in different ways. It depends on their personal interests. And personal interests are numerous. Some people are keen on music or literature. Everyone likes dancing of some kind. Perhaps you are keen on ballet: classical or modern. Or perhaps you like country and folk dancing or just moving to the rhythm of popular records. Some of the most popular hobbies are: philately, collecting view cards, coins and books. Some people are interested in modern architecture. They collect pictures showing the most interesting architectural designs of different times. My friend, for example is fond of collecting records of this sort of music or another. Whenever I come to him, he’s listening to music or looking at his collections of stamps. He has stamps showing different kinds of painting fauna, flora, spaceships, cars, sports, etc. He sits for hours admiring them.
   Others are interested in photography. They like taking photos of his­torical buildings and relics of ancient culture. They always take their cam­eras with them when they are on holidays. They keep a photographic rec­ord of family events. A useful hobby is collecting tape recordings. You may have recordings of operas, light music, folk music and jazz music. Some people like travelling and sightseeing in the town where they spend their summer vacation. They visit museums, picture galleries, theatres. As for me I like to see films, especially feature films or animated cartoons. I usually watch films on TV sometimes I go to the cinema if a good film is on. One of my hobbies is also reading and whenever I have some spare time I don’t miss a chance to read an interesting book, a paper or a maga­zine.
   Summer offers people the best resting opportunities. That’s why chil­dren look forward to their summer holidays all year round. If you have a good, rest in summer you become healthy and strong and this helps you to be strong-willed enough in studying. Going on hikes, long walks, bicycle rides, camping, swimming, mountain climbing, travelling makes all boys and girls cheerful. They always keep fit. Going on bicycle rides and hikes also gives you a lot of fresh air, you enjoy beautiful scenery, remarkable places, and you never feel bored, because you find an occupation for yourself. You get a lot of impressions and excitement, you are full of joy, you may observe many things of the surrounding world with delight. And I think, it’s a poor life if you have no time to look around attentively with curios­ity and interest, if we have no time to watch beautiful trees, woods, streams, stars in the sky. Some people prefer organised rest in camps or resting houses. Same people prefer staying in hotels, because they are com­fortable without crowds and much noise. I think camping is much better than standing in hotels. But, of course it demands good weather, because there is nothing worse than camping in rain. I like when several families go camping together. I don’t mind noise and crowds. I think the holiday is not much fun if you don’t meet other people.
   In winter I am fond of skiing and skating. Good rest is the source of spiritual enrichment, education, fostering the best qualities in your character.