One of the world-wide known museums is the Hermitage. The word "Hermitage" means "a place of solitude". This name was given in the XVIII century by Catherine П to her private museum housed in a small building adjacent to the Winter Palace and accessible only to the chosen few. In the course of time, the Hermitage grew into one of the greatest museums of the world. At the present, the collections take up five interconnected buildings. The museum retains its old name.

Moscow is replete with art galleries and museums. Yet there is one gallery that remains a symbol of Russian art. It is the world-famous Tretyakov Gallery. The founder of the gallery was the entrepreneur Pavel Tretyakov (1832—1898), who was from the merchant class. Beginning in 1856, Tretyakov had a hobby of collecting works by the Russian artists of his time. He was a famous patron of the arts who helped to support the "peredvizhniki" (a movement consisting of realistic painters in the second half of the 19th century). Toward this goal, he intended to purchase a collection from a St. Petersburg collector, Fyodor Pryanishnikov, and, having added his own collection, created a museum. The government bought Pryanishnikov's gallery in 1867, but Tretyakov gradually acquired an excellent collection, exceeding all other collections in Russia in its volume and quality.

I love music, I think people can not live without it. The first thing I do in the morning I switch on my tape — recorder. We can hear music everywhere: in the streets, in the shops, on TV, over the radio, in the cars, in the parks, everywhere. I think it's really doesn't matter what kind of music you prefer: rock, pop, classical, jazz. A lot of people are fond of music. They buy tapes, go to the concerts, visit Concert Halls and Opera Theatres.

Theatre is a place where you can see a play staged. It is also one of entertainments. A theatre consists of two parts: the stage and the hall. They are separated by a curtain and the orchestra. Actors and actresses perform on the stage and public occupies the hall, the pit, the dress-circles, the boxes and the gallery. If we made up our mind to go to the theatre we should go to the box-office to buy tickets. Seats can be reserved beforehand.

Kevin Costner, a famous american actor, was born in Los Angeles. He spent his childhood often on the move, changing schools frequently, owing to his father's job at the regional electricity company. As a teenager, he developed a keen liking for football, baseball and basket-ball and was also interested in singing and writing poetry.

As you know, the 3-hour-14-minute film "Titanic" is no mere disaster movie. It's an epic love story about a 17-yearold American aristocrat who is betrothed to a rich and hateful suitor but falls in love with a free-spirited artist, who won his third-class passage in a card game. It's "Romeo and Juliet" on a sinking ship and has become an international sensation. "Titanic" is also a movie about money and its evils. With fine irony, Cameron has spent more dollars than any other filmmaker to make a film that denounces the rich

Lots of people find watching films one of the best ways of spending their leisure time. Due to numerous video facilities, which have emerged in this country over the past years, we have a chance to watch the most popular and new films. Sitting in a comfortable armchair one can enjoy watching detective stories and westerns, horror films or screen versions of books. As for me, I am like all my friends always impressed by films screened after a book. Moreover, I find it enjoyable to reread the book which I don't remember very well to be able to compare it with the screen version.

Television now plays an important role in our life. It is difficult to say if it is good or bad for us. It is clear, that television has advantages and disadvantages. But are there more advantages than disadvantages? In the first place, television is an entertainment. But it is not only a convenient entertainment. For a family of three, four or five, for example, it is more convenient and less expensive to sit comfortably at home than to go out to find entertainment in other places. They don't have to pay for expensive seats at the theatre or cinema.

Once I read an article about various kinds of entertainment. According to it TV, radio and cinema have made great changes in the entertainments with which people fill their free time. There was a time when people knew what to do to enjoy themselves: they played games, sang, played musical instruments, went out shooting. Nowadays we can get entertained by the TV, the radio, the theatre or the cinema. Cinema is available no matter where you live. You can always find the film you like among horror films, thrillers, westerns, detective, love, musical films or comedies.