When I want to go to the cinema, I usually see in the programme what films are on. Then I phone my friends and we discuss what films to see. We prefer feature films but also enjoy cartoons and popular science films. To see a good love story, musical or detective film is a very pleasant way of spending free time. If I want to go to an evening show, I usually book tickets in advance. But for matinee performances I always buy tickets just before the show.

Cinema plays an important role in the life of any society. It is an available popular form of art. Lots of people find going to the cinema one of the best ways of spending their leisure time. The movie audience is predominantly a young one. Due to numerous video facilities, cinema attendances have declined sharply. But there is no denying the fact that the cinema-going habit is still a strong one. No matter how large the place you live in is (whether it's a big city or a small provincial town, or even a settlement) there's most likely to be a cinema there.

Some people read for instruction, and some for pleasure, but not a few read from habit. I belong to that company. Let us admit that reading with us is just a drug that we cannot get along without. Books are necessary to me and I never travel far without enough reading matter.

My favourite literary character is Elisa Doolittle. Elisa is the main character of Bernard Shaw's famous comedy "Pygmalion". Elisa is eighteen, she has a strong Cockney accent. She comes from the lowest social level. She makes money by selling flowers in the streets of London. Once Elisa meets Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics. Elisa and Higgins begin to work hard at the girl's pronunciation and manners. Higgins makes an agreement with his friend Pickering that he will pass Elisa off as a duchess in six months. At last, before six months are over, she is well prepared to be introduced into society. Pickering and Higgins take her to a dinner party and the Queens dancing party.

My favourite book is "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe. D. Defoe (1660—1731) was a great master of realistic detail. The novel "Robinson Crusoe" was written in 1719. The novel is praise to human labour and the triumph of man over nature. Defoe shows the development of his hero. At the beginning of the story we see an unexperienced youth, a rather frivolous boy, who then becomes a strong-willed man. Robinson Crusoe's most characteristic trait is his optimism. His guiding principle in life become "never say die" and "in trouble to be troubled is to have your troubles doubled". He had confidence in himself and in man. He believed it was within the power of man to overcome all difficulties. Crusoe was an enthusiastic worker and always hoped for the best.

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.

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 on travelling, technical books, magazines, books for children and so on. In some libraries we can find books in many foreign languages.

The newspaper printing is a rather unusual activity since each day the newspaper material is prepared anew. Newspaper includes editorial board work the following functions: getting the right news, writing it in the form of an article, selection of the best items for the print, and displaying the selected copy in the paper. All these tasks are performed by journalists, editors and rewrite men, photographers and make-up editors responsible for the issue of the paper. Thus, the newspaper reporting starts with collecting information for the paper. However, journalism does not stop here. Newspapers and magazines publish a great deal of stories, not only news items or political stories, for example, stories of humorous or some other type. Such essay-type articles may be called human interest stories. Besides, newspapers carry many items on sports, personalities of today as well as stories on science, art and technology. Rather popular are also the reports about the flights of astronauts and space research matters in general.

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 "tele vision" 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.