Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

   The highest legislative body in Ukraine is the Verkhovna Rada. There are 450 people’s deputies who are elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. The deputies of the Verkhovna Rada are elected for 5 years.
   The President of Ukraine is the head of the state and speaks on behalf of it. He is elected directly by the voters for a term of five years with no more then two full terms.
   The highest body of the executive power is the Cabinet of Ministers. It is responsible to the President and is accountable to the Verkhovna Rada. The Cabinet of Ministers carries out domestic and foreign policy of the State, the fulfillment of the Constitution, as well as the acts of the President, develops and fulfils national programs on the economic, scientific, technological and cultural development of Ukraine.

1. The grave economic crisis in Ukraine greatly influences the political situation in this country.
2. Many political parties only discuss the current political situation but they are unable to improve it.
3. To my mind, they only fight for their candidates for forthcoming elections.
4. Thanks to our politicians Ukraine was recently involved in a political and economical gas war between Ukraine and Russia.
5. People from western countries suffered from the lack of gas.
6. Russia accused Ukraine of stealing gas and that’s why Ukraine had some difficulties in relations with the West European countries.
7. The rising of the course of dollar is also one of the urgent economic problems nowadays.
8. That’s why medicine, different goods, vehicles have risen in price almost in twice in Ukraine.
9. Many politicians only criticize the Ukrainian Government for its inability to solve the urgent economic problems among which are the rise of unemployment, the delay of wage payments and the falling of industrial and agricultural production.
10. The reforms of the education system and the public health services are also discussing in Mass Media.
11. The political situation in the present day Ukraine is very dramatic and unstable but I believe that it is steadily moving towards a better future.

   “East or West – Home is best”, as an English proverb says. It’s true. There is no place like home. Varva is my native town. My parents, grandparents and all my relatives live here. We are so happy to have such a great home land. It is not a very big town on the picturesque banks of the river Udai. It has a memorable history and a rich culture. There is an oil and gas plant in Hnidyntsi not far from Varva. The people of our town are proud of its places of interest. There is a park with its monument to those who didn’t come back from the World War II there. If you come to our place for couple of days I will show you my gymnasium, a new church and we’ll drop into our best café to have a snack. You will be also surprised of kindness and politeness of our people. It’s a pity we have no concert-halls or theatres but you may enjoy watching new films at our local cinema. We have a lot of opportunities to go in for sports because there is a big stadium in the centre of our town.
   Varva is especially unique in spring. It is very green and its streets turn into one blooming garden.
   To tell the truth, I am so lucky to be born in such a beautiful town.

   There is no real national press in the USA as there are more than 85 newspapers published in 34 languages. There exist two main groups of newspapers: qualities and populars. Only 2 or 3 newspapers with the largest circulation tell their readers about some rumours or crimes.
   Quality newspapers contain only reliable serious information. They may also publish cartoons. “The Wall Street Journal”, “The New York Daily News”, “The USA Today”, “The New York Times” have the largest circulation among the daily newspapers.
   The main function of press in America is to give objective informa­tion. The materials should be given in full volume and newspapers should give floor to all possible facts and opinions. There is also no secret information for the press. The information is usually taken from the News Agencies. The largest and most famous of them are: Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI). There also exist about 122 domestic and foreign news bureaus in the USA.
   There are over 4000 monthly and 1300 weekly magazines in the USA. Among them are: “National Geographic”, “Reader’s Digest”, “Cosmopolitan”, “Time”, “Vogue” and others. Women’s magazines publish all sorts of recipes, stories about local or outstanding women, furnishing questions and other items.
   Publishing books in America is rather a prosperous business. America is on the 9^th place in the world by the books, published and read. Public libraries always organize book sales. Most newspapers and magazines publish chapters from the books of young authors.

   I spent my last winter holidays in Varva. This year I did not go anywhere. Our winter holidays began on the 27th of December. On that day we had a New Year party at school. We had prepared an amateur performance with Father Frost and Snow-Maiden. There were different competitions, we played different games. Then we had a dance party. That day we had a lot of fun.
   I like winter for a number of holidays we celebrate at the beginning of a new year. First of all this is New Year Day. On the 7th of January our family celebrates Christmas. I like this holiday very much too.
   The period of the winter holidays is rich in different shows and performances. This year we chose the show in the circus. I think there is nobody in the world who can be tired of the circus. I liked the clowns most of all. Their tricks were so funny.
   But the time during the holidays flies so quickly. Certainly, I read some books which I dreamt to read but I didn’t have free time for this.
   This year the weather was really New Year’s one. It was rather snowy and one day we set off to the hill to ski. We had a nice day there.
   I liked my last winter holidays very much.