A (Very) Brief History of the English Language

A Treasure House of Literature

We can find all kinds of books in libraries: novels, biographies, fiction, short stories, books on traveling, technical books, books for children, magazines and so on. In some libraries we can find books in many foreign languages.

When readers come to a library for the first time they fill in their library card and the librarian helps them to choose something to read. The readers are allowed to borrow books for a certain number of days. The catalogues help readers to find the books they need. Reading rooms are open to everybody who wishes 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 reports or for scientific work. Sometimes libraries are called the treasure house of information because books enrich our experience with that of the other people.

I enjoy books of different genres: adventure and detective stories, science fiction and fantasies. I would like to tell you about my favorite book – Harry Potter.

It is one of the most amusing book I‘ve read during the last few years. I am sure that everybody agrees with me that this is the most enjoyable, entertaining and fascinating book which is read with great interest by children and adults as well.

I think this novel is very popular among children because it consists of several parts. In each part HP, the main character of the novel, becomes older and older and the young reader grows up with him while reading the book chapter by chapter. In fact HP is a boy of our age.

This is the story of ordinary children having extraordinary adventures.

The life of the author has much in common with the life of her hero – It was not always easy. J.Rowling was born on the 31 of July 1965 in a small town near Bristol, England. This is the same date of birth as HP has.

After divorce she lived on a public assistance in a tiny Edinburgh flat with her infant daughter. Then she wrote her first book named “HP and the Philosopher’s stone” and it was HP that rescued her from poverty. The first book was a hit for both - children and adult readers.

The Scottish Art Council gave her a grant to finish the book. HP won the British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year and many other prizes on both sides of the Atlantic. Book rights were sold to England, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Holland, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Russia and many other countries of Europe.

J.Rowling is the novelist whose science fiction fantasy HP series originally intended for young readers has crossed generational boundaries and has many adult fans.

A Visit to a Sick Friend

I always try to follow this rule. Fortunately, my friends don’t fall ill frequently. But I remember such a case that happened about 12 months ago. One of my best school friends fell ill with a hard form of flu. Soon I went to his place to see him. I took some things that, as I was expecting, were interesting for him. Among them I brought a videotape with the best game moments of National Basketball Association. He was very happy about this present and soon we were both enjoying the outstanding games of the strongest basketball league in the world. Then I told him all the latest school news and everything about the material we had passed when he was absent. Then we tried to entertain ourselves and started to solve crosswords in the newspapers, watch TV, so we began doing all the things that everybody does when they don't know what to do. To my surprise, I lost the feeling of time and it was late in the evening, when I understood, that it was time to go home. When I was leaving, my friend promised that he would be all right soon and he kept his word. Two days later he came to school and started to study various subjects with new energy. Sometimes a short break is useful for a person.

Modern medicine helps us a lot in treating illnesses. It also gives us a lot of advice how not to fall ill. Please follow these recommendations, and don’t be sick.