My family

I am Zhilin Andrey. Andrey is my name and Zhilin is my surname. I am seventeen years old. I want to tell you a few words about my family. My family is not large. I have got mother, father and grandmother. There are four of us in the family.

First of all some words about my parents. My mother is a teacher of biology. She works in a school. She likes her profession. She is a good-looking woman with brown hair. She is 44 but she looks much younger.

My father is computer-programmer. He is forty-six. My father often sings and when we are at home and have some free time I play the guitar and we sing together. He is also handy with many things. When he was small he liked to take everything to pieces. My grandmother told me a story that ones my father tried to repair their kitchen clock but with out success. They had to give it to a repairman. But it happened a long time ago. Now he can fix almost everything.

My parents have been married for 18 ears. They have much in common, but they have different views on music, books, and films. For example my father likes horror films and my mother likes soap operas. My father is fond of tennis. My mother doesn’t go in for sports.

My parents are hard working people. My mother keeps house and takes care of my father and me. She is very good at cooking. My grandmother is a pensioner. She lives with us and helps to run the house. She is fond of knitting.

I want to become a student. I’d like to learn foreign languages. I always try to be in a good mood.

We have got a lot of relatives.

My favourite TV program

The most popular entertainment in our home life is television. We have a choice between five channels ORT, RTR and 3 commercial channels. There is also a cable TV station in our town. Television plays an important role in our life. It informs people about current events both national and international, the latest achievements in science and culture, and offers some programs, which are both interesting and stimulating. Every day we can see different tips of programs on TV. News is broadcast at regular intervals. They also present operas, ballets, music concerts and various shows. Broadcast for schools are produced on five days of the week, during school hours. In the late afternoon and early evening TV channels showed special programs for children. In the evenings and at weekends there are broadcasts of sports events. A large time of TV evening’s time is occupied by films and serials, but as for me I like quizzes. A quizzes–program is a question and an answer competition which offers money and other prizes and to the winners. Such programs as “Wonders field”, “Brain ring”, What, Where, When”, “Guess the melody” are me favorite ones, because they are both informative and interesting. But best of all I like the programs of “Travels club”, because it gives me a chance to travel of other the world with out living home. Far away countries and their customs and traditional are come into my living room.

My flat

I live in a 5-stored block of flats in Yushno – Sakhalinsk. It’s not a very picturesque plaice but we have a yard and a Kodak Express under the window.

My flat is on the third floor. It’s very comfortable and well planed. I have all modern conveniences, such as central heating, electricity, cold and hot running water and a telephone. There are three rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a balcony in it. The largest room in my flat is the living room. My family uses it as a sitting room. There is a sofa, two armchairs, a coffee table, a TV set and a VCR (video) in it.

We have two small rooms in our flat and one of them is my. It is not big but very cosy. There is a wardrobe near the wall and a desk near the window. My bad is at the left corner. I like my room wary much because it is my room.

Our kitchen is not very large but light. It’s very well equipped. We have got a refrigerator, a microwave oven, a coffee maker and a toaster. In evenings we like have tea and have rest in it.

My school

I had just left school and I would like to tell you a few words about it. I went to school in 1988. This school I studied in is a three stored building. When you enter the school yard you can see poplar trees and beautiful flowers. To the right of the school building there is a big playground. When the weather was fine we had our classes in physical training there. When you enter the school you come in to a large hall and a cloak-room, there we left our coats, rain-coats and jackets. On the ground floor where is also a school library and a gym. The class rooms, the assembly hall, the teachers room and the canteen are on the upper floors. On the walls of the corridors you can see the portraits of famous writers, poets, scientists and our school wall newspaper. It is done by the pupils of our school and has a lot of interesting things to read. I learned different subjects at school: Russian, English, maths, physics, chemistry, geography, history and some others.

My favorite subjects were Russian and English. I also liked literature. I was good at these subjects and usually got good marks in them. I worked hard at English lessons: read and translated texts, made up dialogues, did a lot of ex, but best of all I liked different tests, I was fond of grammar. But I was poor in chemistry. I always failed to learn formulas and terms properly. I liked my class, everybody was so friendly easy to get along with. I was on good terms with my class maids and we often spend our free time together.

Seasons

Winter, spring, summer and autumn are the seasons of the year. December, January and February are winter months The weather is cold usually it snows. The days are short and the nights are long. The rivers and lakes freeze and we can go skating and skiing. March, April and May are spring months. It is very nice season. The weather is fine it is warm. There are many green trees in the streets in the parks and in the yards. Some time it rains but usually the sun shines brightly. The birds return from the hot countries and make their nests. June, July and August are summer months. It is hot or warm. The days are long and the nights are short. There are many nice flowers in the parks and squares in the summer. The pupils do not go to school they have the summer holidays. June is the first month of summer. We have the longest day and the shortest night in the year on the 21st-22nd of June. July is the middle month of summer. It is hot and sun shines brightly. The sky is blue and cloudless. August is the last summer month some times it is cold in August, but it is many mushrooms, berries and fruits. September, October and November are autumn months. The weather is changeable. It often rains. You can see yellow, red, brown leaves everywhere. It is time for gathering the harvest.

Laos

Somewhat smaller than Oregon, Laos is a mountainous Southeast Asia country ruled by communists. The population of this little country is about 3 and a half million people.

One of the poorest and most underdeveloped nations of the world, Laos depends on aid from other countries to import the food and other goods its people need to survive. Most of the people are rice farmers. Few can read and write.

Over 80 percent of the country is rugged jungle terrain. The main river is Mekong River-the system of irrigate.

Now I'd like to tell you about the history of Laos. First Laotian territory was the seat of the Buddhist kingdom of Lan Xang, founded in 1353 by King Fa Ngum. Laos was invided by France in 1893 and by Japanese forces in 1941. During the World War II King Sisavang Vong proclaimed himself king of all Laos.