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".

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 newssheets 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.TOO's. It was printed from carved wooden blocks. The first regularly published newspaper in Europe was "Avisa Relation" or "Zeitung", started in Germany in ] 609.

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.

People have always polluted their surroundings. But until now pollution was not such a serious problem. People lived in uncrowded rural areas and did not have pollution — causing machines. With the development of crowded industrial cities which put huge amounts of pollutants into small areas, the problem has become more important. Automobiles and other new inventions make pollution steadily worse. Since the late 1960's people have become alarmed with the danger of pollution.

Learning a foreign language isn't an easy tiling. Nowadays it's especially important to know foreign languages. Some people learn languages because they need them for their work, others travel abroad, for the third studying foreign languages is a hobby. Everyone, who knows foreign languages can speak to people from other countries, read foreign authors in the original, which makes your outlook wider. I study English. It's a Long and slow process that takes a lot of time and efforts. Over 300 million people speak it is as a mother tongue. The native speakers of English live in Great Britain, the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations Organization and other political organizations.

"Do you speak English?" - with this phrase begins the conversation between two people, that speak different languages and want to find a common language. It's very good when you hear: "Yes, I do", and start talking. People of different countries and nations have to get along well with the progress in world trade and technology as well as with each other. So it is very useful to learn foreign languages. Knowledge of foreign languages helps us to develop friendship and understanding among people.

English is spoken practically all over the world. It is spoken as the mother tongue in Great Britain, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A lot of people speak English in China, Japan, India, Africa and other countries. It is one of 6 official languages of the United Nations. It is studied as a foreign language in many schools. England's history helps to understand the present condition of English. Many English words were borrowed from the language of Angles and Saxons. Hundreds of French words came into English. These French words didn't crowd out corresponding Anglo-Saxon words. There exist "act" and "deed", "beautiful" and "pretty", "form" and "shape".

On the 5th of September 1977, the American spacecraft Voyager One blasted off on its historic mission to Jupiter and beyond. On board the scientists who knew that Voyager would one day spin through distant star systems had installed a recorded greeting from the people of the planet Earth. A brief message in fifty-five different languages for the people of outer space plays a statement from the Secretary-General of the United Nations an Austrian named Kurt Waldheim, speaking on behalf of 147 member states in English. The rise of English is a remarkable success story. When Julius Caesar landed in Britain nearly two thousand years ago, English did not exist. Today English is used by at least 750 million people, and barely half of those speak it as a mother tongue.