First of all let me introduce myself. My name is Taras. I'm seventeen years old. I'm at 11-th grade. There are two more kids in the family besides me my elder brother Oleg and my younger sister Marija

At Library. My School Library (2)
Libraries make an important part of the world culture. There are infinite number of books in the world. We can not buy all the books we like and would like to read. When we have to write a report on some subject or to learn in details about some phenomenon there is no other way out for us but to use a library.
There are a lot of reading-halls: special halls for scientific reference work, for current periodicals, for music and art, for foreign languages, and others I visited it several times but most often I take books from there. To enter the library one should have a reading card. A lot of people go to libraries on weekends. I like reading. What books do I like'? I can not read one and the same sort of literature for a long time. I prefer to alternate short stories with the novels, love stories with books on history, poems with plays. There is a not big library in my shool. I must admit it is not bad at all. It is a big light room, very clean and cosy, on the first floor. There are a lot of bookcases and bookshelves there. You can find there books of adverture stories, historical novels, collection of short stories. Two very nice librarians can help you to find the book you need. Pupils go to the library to read and take books, to look through some new magazines and newspapers. Many teachers go to the school library too.
Questions: 1. Is there a library in your school? 2. Do you like to read books? 3. How often do you go to the library? 4. What kind of books do you like to read? 5. Why do a lot of people visit library on weekends?


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 Age. 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 scratchings 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 llth 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.
Questions: 1. Why do we have to read more and more? 2. What was the only way of making books 500 yeas ago? 3. What played a very important part in the development of books? 4. When did the art of papermaking reach Europe? 5. What did people begin to learn later? 6. Wrho was the first to print in the Russian language?