Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

   “Except for a living man there is nothing more wonderful than a book! They teach us and open their hearts to us as brothers”, wrote Charles Kingsley, and English writer of the 19^th century.
   Books teach us to live. We learn many things by reading books. There are different kinds of books: novels, short stories, tables, poems, plays, memoirs, atlases and textbooks.
   Books can be humorous, adventurous, detective, fantastic, historical, political, and scientific. They can be interesting, thrilling, fascinating, exciting, powerful, useful, unusual, original, amusing, moving, true-to-life, well-written, unoriginal. Books are certainly one of the greatest inventions of man.

   We live in a quite normal world. We seem to have everything we need, but every day the world is shocked with new bloody crimes against humanity. They are terrorist attacks which bring destruction to mankind.
   I think terrorism is the main problem of our present world. Thus, each person has his own right to life, but he has no right to take it from the others. Life is our biggest happiness. Murder is a big crime, but when tens, hundreds and thousands of people perish – it is the murder on a large scale. I mean 11 September in the USA when unknown terrorists blew up two tallest sky-scrapes. A lot of innocent people were killed on that day. How dare the terrorists kill hundreds of people? Is murder the only way to solve their problems? Why are innocent citizens and soldiers being killed by war criminals in Iraq?
   The term “terrorism” has been used throughout the history. Let’s remember the reign of some Roman emperors, the French Revolution, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in the Stalinist era. These regimes represented domestic terrorism and brought misfortunes to their peoples.
   I think if people could understand each other, there wouldn’t be any terrorist attacks. If people could learn a lesson from historical events, our future would be cloudless, without fear, danger and death. I’d like all people not to be careless, think more about life on the Earth because everything we do or have done concerns everyone on our planet.

   Valentine’s Day comes on February. It is not a legal or a national holiday. Banks and offices do not close, but it is a happy little festival for young people. It is widely celebrated among persons of all ages by exchange of “valentines”. A “valentine” may mean a special greeting-card or a little present. It may be for the person who receives the gift.
   St. Valentine is the patron of sweethearts. February 14 is the anniversary of his death.
   The day is the time to send little gifts to those you love. Flowers and candy are favourite presents which sweethearts send to each other. Valentine candy is packed in red heart-shaped boxes and sold for this one day. Valentines are special greeting-cards. They are often coloured red have red trimmings and pictures of hearts. Some “valentines” are very fancy, they are trimmed with paper lace and little bows of paper ribbon. They have verses of love poetry printed on them. It is a good day for parties, especially by young people. The hosts trim the hall with red and white paper hearts. Refreshments are often coloured red, like red candy and punch, sandwiches and cakes are often cut in the shape of hearts. Sometimes, a King and Queen of Hearts are chosen for the evening of dance.

   If you are on holiday and spend it by a sea, it’s a pleasure for you to go on a voyage. All you have to do is to book the tickets in advance. Of course, you want a separate cabin for your family, and you ask for a firstclass cabin with three berths to be reserved for your family. On the day of your departure all your family comes to the quay because the ship you want to take is moored there. The passengers go up the gangway onto the deck; they try to find their cabins. Some cabins are aft, some are forward or amidship. After finding your cabin you are happy to settle down in it But if you want to breath the sea air and look at the busy traffic of the harbour, you may come out on deck/ Soon the steamer leaves the port and goes out towards the open sea- It sails at a high speed, land if the sea is rough, the ship pitches and rolls. There is one thing you’ve got to bear in mind-when you are on board the ship. Some people can’t stand travel­ling by sea because they get sea-sick. And if you have no problems with your health, you will enjoy travelling. You feel the deck of your steamer under your feet; you see the waves rising and falling; you feel fresh sea water drops flying and splashing in your face; you hear sea gulls crying out their song of joy and freedom. Thus if you are a roman­tic soul by nature you are sure to like it.Very soon the shore fades from view. In some time the passengers are invited to dine in the restaurant. You enjoy your meals and a splendid view of the open sea.
   By the evening the sea grows calmer and you enjoy looking at the beautiful sunset at sea. It is really worth seeing.
   But in some time your ship reaches the place of destina­tion and you are sorry to go ashore. You feel healthy and refreshed; the voyage was very useful and pleasant.
   Finally, in a few weeks’ time you get tired of relaxation and become home-sick. It’s not for nothing that they say “East or West — home is best”.