The modern world is becoming smaller all the time. Every day distances between different countries seem less. For this reason it's becoming more and more important to know different languages, especially English.
One billion people speak English today. That's about 20% of the world's population. 400 million people speak English as their first language. For the other 600 million people it's either a second language or a foreign language.
English is the first language in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand. It is one of the official languages in Canada, the Irish Republic and the Republic of South Africa.
As a second language English is spoken in more than 60 countries. It is used by the government, businessmen and universities.
English is the language of politics and diplomacy, science and technology, business and trade, sport and pop music. 80% of all information in the world's computers is in English. 75% of the world's letters and faxes are in English. 60% of all international telephone calls are made in English. More than 60% of all scientific journals are written in English.
To know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every good specialist. Learning a language is not an easy thing. It's a long and slow process that takes a lot of time and patience. But it's a must.
English is taught throughout the world and a lot of people speak it quite well. In our country English is very popular: it is studied at schools (sometimes even at nursery schools), colleges and universities.
Everyone will speak English soon — I'm sure of it. We all need to understand each other. To do that we need an international language, and that's English.
My name is Serafim. I’m fifteen years old and I study at the ninth form of the state secondary school. I was born and raised in Krasnoyarsk. It’s a large city and administrative center situated in Central and Eastern Siberia on the Yenisei River.
The city is notable for its natural landscapes and I’m very proud of that. Many people who have visited it state that it’s one of the most beautiful cities of Russia and certainly the most interesting city in Siberia. It is also an important junction of Trans-Siberian Railway. The total population is almost one million, at the moment perhaps even more. I love my home city very much for its beauty and abundance.
There are so many interesting places to visit: museums, theatres, exhibition halls, architectural sights, etc. One of the places I recommend for visiting is the national nature reserve called “Stolby”. Its striking beauty leaves a lasting impression. It is full of forest paths, rocks for climbing, nice promenades. In the summer I like walking at the bank of the River Yenisei. Apart from being picturesque, it has lots of useful functions, for example, ferry and barge crossings.
Many outstanding Russian people grew up in Krasnoyarsk, among them Vasily Surikov, Viktor Astafyev. The city is an ideal place for students, as there are lots of educational institutions. The locals call it “the city of fountains” for their presence nearly in every district. Krasnoyarsk is especially picturesque during the holidays. For example, at New Year it is illuminated by thousands of electric lights.(Сори не считал сколько предложений но попытался про себя написать заранее сори, если что-то не так напиши я увижу)