Some people try to read books in the original, they can learn poems by heart, others can learn definite amount of English words at a time. I personally do English tests or exercises from addi
t
ional textbooks and I listen to special cassettes. When I listen to an English song I always try to translate it into Russian and I want to admit that it is very interesting. Also I have such TV channel as BBC, that's why when I have spare time I like to
w
atch it. But I think that the best way to improve your foreign language is to go to the country where this language is spoken and spend there some time, communicating with the native speakers. I'm sure that it is not only the best way of learning the lang
uage, but also the shortest way of learning it. That's why I have a dream to go to England for a month or two.
I'm definitely sure that my future career should be connected with foreign languages, because I want to become a translator or interpreter. But to achieve my dream I should work hard And I do everything possible to make my dream come true!
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WHAT ARE BONDS AND THEIR TYPES

Well there is a way of earning money on the stock exchange by making loans to companies or to the government in the form of bonds. A bond
is a promise to repay a sum of money at a certain interest rate and over a certain period of time.
Loans made to joint-stock companies are usually called debentures while loans made to the government are called government stocks.
Unlike shareholders, debenture holders are not members of the company in question. They do not share the members' risks; they receive a regular income from their investment and take precedence over the shareholders if th
e company is liquidated - that means, debenture holders are paid before shareholders. This makes debentures a relatively safe form of investment.
Loans can be made to the government as well in order to finance its spending. Government stocks are repaid at
a fixed future date (at maturity). In the meantime, their holders receive interests on their loans. The interests received on government stocks are known as the coupon.
Why do companies issue bonds ? Let's say a corporation needs to build a new office buil
ding or needs to purchase manufacturing equipment. Or maybe a city government needs to construct a new school or repair streets. Whatever the need, a large sum of money will be needed to get the job done.
One way is to borrow this money form a bank, but a
generally less expensive way is to issue bonds. Bonds are issued by companies of all sizes. Bond-issuing companies are rated by private ratings companies such as Moody's or Standard & Poors, for example, and given an 'investment grade' according to their
financial situation and performance (AAA being the best, and С the worst, it's nearly bankrupt).
Most bonds are bearer certificates, so after being issued (on the primary market), they can be traded on the secondary bond market until they mature.
For companies, the advantage of bonds issue over shares issue is that
bond interest is tax deductible. In other words, a company deducts its interest payments from its profits before paying tax, whereas dividends to shareholders are paid out of already-taxed profits. On the other hand if debt increases financial risk also i
ncreases. Bond interest has to be paid, even if the year was without any profits from which to deduct it and the principal has to be repaid when a bond reaches maturity.
And why do governments issue bonds ? Governments, of course, unlike companies, do not ha
ve the option of issuing shares. Consequently they issue bonds to reduce the money supply, they sell bonds to commercial banks, and withdraw the cash received from circulation; to increase the money supply they buy them back.
There are different types of companies' bonds.
" Secured (mortgage) and unsecured (naked) debentures .

If a company cannot repay the loans or pay the interest, the holders of secured debentures are automatically entitled to payment from the company's assets. But holders of unsecured deb
entures are not automatically repaid from the company's assets if the company is unable to pay in the usual way. They can of course go to court to recover their money, but are not treated differently from the shareholders. An unsecured debenture is basica
lly no more than a promise to repay a loan.
" Registered and bearer debentures

The holders of registered debentures are listed in a company register. These debentures can only be transferred in accordance with certain terms and conditions, and every transfe
r must likewise be entered into the register. A bearer debenture is an unregistered debenture which can be negotiated by just handing it over to the new holder.
" Redeemable and irredeemable debentures
Redeemable debentures are repaid on a fixed date or w
ithin a certain period, often at a higher price than the issue price, which means some extra money for the holder. There is no fixed date for the repayment of irredeemable debentures; the loan is only repaid when the company is liquidated. However, holder
s of irredeemable debentures may ask the company to redeem them if it fails to keep up its interest payments.
" And there are also convertible debentures that can be exchanged for ordinary shares if a debenture holder wants.
There are also different types of government stocks that fall into three categories depending on the date of maturity:
"
Shorts : bonds to be redeemed in 7 years or less;
" Mediums
: bonds to be redeemed in a period of 7 to 15 years;
" Longs
: bonds to be redeemed more than 15 years from the date of issue.

And in the end it's necessary to say that the choice of bonds depends on readiness of an investor to risk.
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MY FAVOURITE RUSSIAN WRITER

I consider that books are with us during all our l
ife. When I was a child my parents read them to me and I was pleased to listen to the stories and tales. I learned a lot of interesting and useful things from books. Later I could read myself and books brought me a lot of pleasant moments.
In general I'm f
ond of reading and to my mind books are a source of emotional inspiration and romantic feelings. Reading means much in our life. It is very useful because books enrich our experience with that of other people, help to continue our self-education and to di
s
cover what we are. Reading is a rewarding pastime, as the time spent on a good book is never wasted. But some people think that a tempo of modern life is too fast to waste time on reading. They are sure that books have begun to lose their prestige and val
u
e. I agree that our century is the century of computers and progressive technologies, but it doesn't mean that one day books will be replaced by computers. We read love and detective stories, science fiction and historical novels for pleasure and they cre
a
te a special atmosphere. Books take us into the imaginary world of high human emotions and exciting relations. Owing to books we have the invisible contact with the writer who speaks with us from the passed centuries. I'm sure that computers are unable to

replace these things. In my opinion books are not only things which help us to wide our knowledge but they are as teachers help us in different situations and set examples. Books teach us what is right and what is wrong, to understand the world we live in
and people in it; they mould our character and at the same time they tell us exciting stories.
Unlike most of young people, who read little, I have been doing regular reading since my childhood. Today youth isn't used to reading. Reading tends to be someth
ing you enjoy more as you get older, but if you don't develop a taste for it when you are young you may never discover the pleasure of getting involved in a good book. In my opinion, the main advantage books have over all other entertainments like compute
r
games, videos or TV is that they are relatively inexpensive and portable. I mean you can take a book with you whenever you go, it doesn't break down if you get sand inside it, you don't need batteries and you can put it down and pick it up whenever you l
ike - the only equipment you need to have is a bookmark.
I should say that we have a large collection of books at home, but I never miss the opportunity to borrow some new books from the library. I have been interested in Russian and Belarusian literature s
ince my childhood. As far as Russian literature is concerned it is hard to name one favourite writer or one favourite book especially if we are talking about the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, known as the "golden" and "silver' periods in t
he Russian culture. Such giants of Russian literature as A. Pushkin, I. Turgenev, I Tolstoy, A. Chekhov and many others are known all over the world.
The writer who stands out of this list for me is Fyodor Michailovich Dostoyevsky. I think I can never forge
t my first acquaintance with him. Nearly three years ago when I came to our local library the librarian, a pleasant young lass, offered me to borrow "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky. The title of this book tells its own tale and though I have never e
n
joyed books about murders and crimes I decided to take it, as I have heard about Dostoyevsky as about one of the most seminal writers in European literature. But after reading his book, "Crime and Punishment" became my favourite book and its author came i
nto my life as my beloved Russian writer.
I look upon him not only as a great writer but a great philosopher as well. His ideas had an immense influence on the literature that followed and his deep penetration into the human soul and the motives of people's
behaviour impresses the modern reader as much as it did his contemporaries.
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