Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

   “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.

   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.