Рад вам представить прекрасные уникальные топики по английскому языку. Я знаю, что многим ищут топики, но некоторая информация очень коряво написана. Вам предоставляется возможность скачать English Topics с темы sources of information — Books in Our Life, Libraries, Magazines … совершенно бесплатно. Данные топики использовались мной при поступлении в институт и естественно, во время обучения. Думаю, вам эти темы для изучения тоже пригодятся.
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Books in Our Life
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Books
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Libraries
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Magazines
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Mass Media (1)
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Mass Media (2)
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My Favourite English Writer
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Newspapers
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Television
Books in Our Life
Nowadays it’s almost impossible to imagine our life without books. Perhaps, there are more books on our planet than men alive. Long before the invention of printing people valued books as treasure troves of the human knowledge and experience. Hand — written manuscripts took months of writing and were collected by and kept in monasteries with utmost care. We can distinguish books between three classes of them. Firstly, books on different branches of knowledge, works by brilliant minds of mankind. Secondly, textbooks, reference books and numerous dictionaries. And at last, books of all kinds and genres to read at leisure.
Classics should be taken a little at a time. One’s understanding of books by Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, Mopassan and Balzak depends on one’s age and experience. Serious books are to be read conscientiously and maybe more than once. To a thinking reader they will provide new food for thought every time he rereads it. Many people indulge in reading science fiction, fantasy or detective stories. Of course, there are some advantages and disadvantages of this kind of literature, often reffered to as «easy reading*. As for me, good science fiction and fantasy develop imagination, logical thinking, broader one’s outlook. The same could be said in favour of detective stories. They reveal such minute details of everyday life in. this or that particular country that are of greatest interest for a curious reader. The masterpieces of this genre by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and others, show the depths of psychological analysis, the insight into the human nature.
As an old saying goes, man cannot live on bread alone. Books are the source of knowledge and the means of self — perfection. Sometimes it is difficult to solve some problems in life. I think that books can help us. Books mustbe our friends during all our life.
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Books
Many, many years ago a town crier ran through the streets and shouted out all the news. But now we live in the Atomic
AgeT Too many things happen too quickly for us to learn about them in the old-fashioned way. That is why we have to read more and more in order to find out what is happening in the world. Reading is rarely a waste of time.
Have you ever thought about the kind of books people used long ago? It is only in the last 500 years that books have been printed on paper. Before that time the only way of making books was to write them out by hand. No one knows when writing first began, but we have found drawings on the walls of caves and scrafcchings on bones which are at least 25,000 years old.
The invention of paper played a very important part in the development of books.
In the 11th century the art of papermaking reached Europe but no trace of printing was found in Europe until 1423. It is known that Johann Gutenberg secretly tried out ways of printing in Strasbourg, Germany, in 1440.
The knowledge of the methods of printing spread so quickly over the Continent of Europe that by the year 1487 nearly every country had started printing books.
Later people began to learn how to make paper more quickly and cheaply and of better quality.
As a result of this, books became much lighter and smaller.
The first person to print books in the English language was William Caxton, in Russia — Ivan Fedorov.
The first book printed in the Russian language appeared in Moscow on the first of March, 1564. Up to that time there were only handwritten books in Russia. The house built for printing books was not far from the Kremlin. At that time it was one of the best buildings in the Russian capital.
Ivan Fedorov and his assistants were the first to use Russian letters.
By the 16th century books looked very much as they do today and since then very little change has been made in their appearance.
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Libraries
Libraries play an important part in the cultural development of a country. People have a desire to learn, they seek knowledge. Books satisfy this desire.
Books should not be read only for pleasure. Reading books helps us in our education. We can find all kinds of books in the libraries: novels, biographies, fiction, short stories, books Dn travelling, technical books, magazines, books for children and so on. In some libraries we can find books in many foreign languages.
When a reader comes to a library for the first time he fills In his library card and the librarian helps him to choose something to read. The reader is allowed to borrow books for a certain number of days. The catalogues help the reader to find the books he needs. We should be careful with the aooks and not damage them in any way. We should not make notes in library books or dog’s-ear the pages. Reading rooms are open to all who wish to work there. Besides books we can get periodicals, newspaper files and magazines to read there. Readers come to reading rooms to study and prepare material for their reports or for their scientific work.
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Magazines
Magazine is one of the major mass media. Magazine is a collection of articles and stories. Usually magazines also contain illustrations.
The earliest magazines developed from newspapers and booksellers catalogs. Such catalogs first appeared during the 1600’s in France. In the 1700’s pamphlets published at regular intervals appeared in England and America. They were literary publications. One of the first British magazines «The Gentleman’s Magazine» was published from 1731 to 1914. The first American magazine was called the «American Magazine*, or «A Monthly View».
Magazines provide information on a wide range of topics such as business, culture, hobbies, medicine, religion, science, and sports. Some magazines entertain their readers with fiction, poetry, photography or articles about TV, or movie stars.
Magazines are designed to be kept for a longer time in comparison to newspapers and that is why they are printed on a better paper and have covers. Magazines, unlike newspapers, do not focus on daily, rapidly changing events.
There are specialized magazines intended for special business, industrial and professional groups, and consumer magazines intended for general public. There are several kinds of consumer magazines.
Children’s magazines contain stories, jokes, articles on subjects especially interesting for children and instructions for making games or useful items.
Hobby magazines are intended for collectors of coins, stamps, and other items; people interested in certain sports or games; photography enthusiasts.
Intellectual magazines provide analysis of current cultural and political events. Many of them publish fiction and poetry as well.
Men’s magazines focus on such topics as adventure, entertainment, men’s fashion and sports.
Women’s magazines deal with child-raising, fashion trends, romance. They offer ideas on cooking and home decorating. Many of the monthlies with big circulations are women’s magazines.
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Mass Media (1)
Mass media or mass communications are the press, radio and television.
Every day we read newspapers and magazines, listen to radio and watch TV. Nowadays there are so many newspapers and magazines, radio stations and TV channels that we have to be very -selective and give preference to some of them.
What newspapers and magazines do I prefer to read? I like to read the following newspapers: «Komsomolskaya Pravda» («Komsomol Truth*), «Nezavisimost» ^Independence*), «Ar-gumenty i Fakty* («Arguments and Facts*).
Several periodicals are available in English. As far as newspapers are concerned they may be daily, or weekly. Magazines may be weekly, monthly and quarterly.
The newspapers and magazines I read are the most readable and have a large readership or circulation. For example, «Argumenty i Fakty* has a circulation of more than 23 000 000. It is the largest in the world. The newspapers contain and give coverage of local, home and foreign affairs. Their publications deal with very burning problems of our history, latest events and forecasts for future. They also touch upon cultural, sport news. I like the way they present different points of view, approaches to the problems. My parents and I subscribe to some periodicals, so we are subscribers. We buy some of newspapers and magazines in a kiosk.
I often listen to radio, especially in the morning before I leave for school. I prefer to listen to «Melodiya» («Melody») or «Promin» («Ray») programmes. They broadcast much news and music. I like to listen to weekend programmes, some of them are very amusing and entertaining.
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Mass Media (2)
Mass media are one of the most characteristic features of modern civilization. People are united into one global community with the help of mass media. People can learn about what is happening in the world very fast using mass media. The mass media include newspapers, magazines, radio and television.
The earliest kind of mass media was newspaper. The first newspaper was Roman handwritten newssheet called «Acta Diurna» started in 59 B.C. Magazines appeared in 1700’s. They developed from newspapers and booksellers’ catalogs. Radio and TV appeared only in last century.
The most exciting and entertaining kind of mass media is television. It brings moving pictures and sounds directly to people’s homes. So one can see events in faraway places just sitting in his or her chair.
Radio is widespread for its portability. It means that radios can easily be carried around. People like listening to the radio on the beach or picnic, while driving a car or just walking down the street. The main kind of radio entertainment is music.
Newspapers can present and comment on the news in much detail in comparison to radio and TV newscasts. Newspapers can cover much more events and news.
Magazines do not focus on daily, rapidly changing events. They provide more profound analysis of events of precee-ding week. Magazines are designed to be kept for a longer time so they have cover and binding and are printed on better paper.
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My Favourite English Writer
It’s said that none of the British writers of our age enjoyed such popularity all over the world »s Agatha Christie did. Her works were translated into many languages, and cores of films were made using them as the script.
The name of Agatha Christie is a synonym for high-class detective story, as well as Pele is a symbol of football, and Marilyn Monroe is an embodiment of femininity.
According to Agatha Christie herself, she began to write just to imitate her sister whose stories had already been published in magazines. And suddenly Agatha Christie became famous as if by miracle.
Having lost her father at an early age, the prospective writer didn’t receive even fairly good education. During the First World War she was a nurse, then she studied pharmacology. Twenty years later she worked in a military hospital at the beginning of the Second World War.
The favourite personages of the queen of detective story are the detective Hercules Poirot and the sedate Miss Marple who carry out investigations in noisy London and delusive quiet countryside.
The composition of her stories is very simple: a comparatively closed space with a limited number of characters, who are often plane or train passengers, tourists, hotel guests or residents of a cosy old village. Everyone is suspected!
Murders in the books of Agatha Christie are commited in most unsuitable places: in the vicar’s garden or in an old abbey; corpses are found in someone’s libraries being murdered with the help of tropical fishes, a poker, candelabra, a dagger or poison.
Once Agatha Christie wrote: *Some ten years will pass after my death, and nobody will even remember me…». The writer was mistaken. Agatha Christie’s novels are very popular now. People of all continents read and reread «The Oriental Express*, «Ten Little Negroes*, «The Bertram Hotel*, «The Corpse in the library* and other of her novels time and again, enjoy films made by her works, and one can hardly find a country where people do not know her name.
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Newspapers
Newspaper is a publication that presents and comments on the news. Newspapers play an important role in shaping public opinion and informing people of current events.
The first newspapers were probably handwritten news-sheets posted in public places. The earliest daily newssheet was «Acta Diurna* («Daily Events*) which started in Rome in 59 B.C. The first printed newspaper was Chinese publication called «Dibao» («Ti — pao») started in A.D.700’s. It was printed from carved wooden blocks. The first regularly published newspaper in Europe was «Avisa Relation* or «Zei-tung», started in Germany in 1609.
Newspapers have certain advantages over other mass media — magazines, TV and radio. Newspaper can cover more news and in much detail than. TV or radio newcast can do. Magazines focus on major national and international events of the preceeding week. But newspaper focuses on local news as well and provides information and comments faster than magazine can do.
There are about 1 700 daily and 7 500 weekly newspapers in the US. The circulation of some weeklies is no more than a few hundred of copies per issue and the circulation of some dailies is over a million of copies.
There are daily newspapers and weekly newspapers. Daily newspapers print world, national and local news. Many dailies are morning papers, others are afternoon papers. Sunday issues of the dailies are usually larger than the weekday ones. They may include special sections on such topics as entertainment, finance and travel or Sunday magazine, a guide to TV programmes, colored comics. The major dailies in the US are «Christian Science Monitor*, «New York Times*, «USA Today*, «Wall Street Journal*, «Washington Post*.
Weekly newspapers serve usually for smaller areas. They are printed in small communities where people know each other and are interested in activities of their friends and neighbours. Weeklies report of weddings, births, deaths and news of local business and politics. Most weeklies do not print world or national news.
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Television
Television, also called TV, is one of our most important means of communication. It brings moving pictures and sounds from around the world into millions of homes.
The name «Television* comes from Greek word meaning «far», and a Latin word meaning «to see», so the word «television* means «to see far».
About three-fourths of the 1 500 TV stations in the US are commercial stations. They sell advertising time to pay for
their operating costs and to make profit. The rest are public stations, which are nonprofit organizations.
Commercial TV stations broadcast mostly entertainment programs because they must attract larger numbers of viewers in order to sell advertising time at high prices. These programs include light dramas called situation comedies; action-packed dramas about life of detectives, police officers, lawyers and doctors; shows featuring comedians, dancers and singers; movies; quiz shows; soap operas; cartoons. Commercial TV broadcasts also documentaries and talk shows. Documentary is dramatic, but nonfictional presentation of information. It can be programs about people, animals in faraway places or programs on such issues as alcoholism, drug abuse, racial prejudice. On talk shows a host interviews politicians, TV and movie stars, athlets, authors. There are also sport programs and brief summaries of local, national and international news. Advertising is an important part of commercial TV. Commercials appear between and during most programs. They urge viewers to buy different kinds of products — from dog food to hair spray, and from cars to insurance policies.
Public television focuses mainly on education and culture. There are programs on wide range of subjects — from physics and literature to cooking and yoga. Public TV also broadcasts plays, ballets, symphonies as well as programs about art and history. Public TV attracts less viewer than commercial TV.
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