Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

   Some people think that as more and more people have television in their homes; fewer and fewer people will buy books and newspapers. Why read an article in the newspaper, when the TV news can bring you the information in a few minutes and with pictures? Why read a novel, when a play on television can tell you some story with colour, picture and action?
   Why read the biographies of famous men and women, when an hour-long television programs can tell you all that you want to know?
   Television has not killed reading, however. Today, newspapers and magazines sell in very large numbers. And books of every kind are sold more than ever before. Books are still a cheap way to get information and entertainment. Although some books with hard covers are expensive, many books published today as paperback books, which are reasonably cheap. A paperback novel, for example, is almost always cheaper than an evening at the cinema or theatre, and you keep a book forever and read it many times.
   Books in the home are a wonderful source of knowledge and pleasure and some types of books should be in every home. Every home should have a good dictionary. Every home should have an atlas of the world, with large clear maps. It might be expensive, but a good encyclopedia is useful, too, because you can find information on any subject. In addition, it is useful to have on your bookshelves other non-fiction books such as history books, science textbooks, cookery books, books about medicine and health, etc. It is equally important to have some fiction on your shelves, too. Then you can relax with a good story, or from time to time you can take a book of poems of your shelves and read the thoughts and feelings of your fovourite poems.

    Hollywood was once all farmland. By 1910, however, filmmakers began moving there. Southern California’s climate was perfect for shooting moving year-round. And the area had settings for just about any movie – it had mountains, desert, and ocean. Soon “Hollywood” came to mean “the American film industry”. Today, of the major studios, only Paramount is still in Hollywood. If you go to Hollywood looking for’ glamour and movie stars, you’ll probably be disappointed: Downtown Hollywood Looks somewhat run-down and the stars are nowhere to be found. But then you’ll get over your disappointment: Hollywood is no longer what it once was, but it still feels like Hollywood. IN Hollywood you can see two great theatres, where many movies premiered: Pantage’s Theatre and Mann’s Chinese. Mann’s Chinese (formerly Grauman’s Chinese) is famous for its cement courtyard with footprints and handprints of stars who were in – and at! – movies the theatre showed. (People say the tradition started when the theatre fist opened and an actress in the movie being premiered accidentally stepped in the still-wet cement). Even if you can’t see the stars, you can see many things associated with them. Hollywood souvenir shops are filled with autographs, old movie posters, costumes, and stills. Stills are photos of scenes from movies. You can go on a tour, for example, the unusual Grave Line Tour. On this tour, you will travel in a hearse, the vehicle that usually takes the dead to the grave. The hearse will take you to places where celebrities died. Hollywood even gives visitors a chance to become stars – on TV game shows. Several shows are based in Hollywood, and visitors can audition, or try out, to be game how participants!