BOOKS AND TV
Some people think that as more and more people have televisions in their homes; fewer and fewer people will buy books and newspapers. Why read an article in the newspaper, when the TV news can bring you the information in a few minutes and with pictures? Why read a novel, when a play on television can tell you same story with colour, picture and action?
Why read the biographies of famous men and women, when an hour-long television programs can tell you all that you want to know?
Television has not killed reading, however. Today, newspapers and magazines are sold in very large numbers. And books of every kind are sold more than ever before. Books are still a cheap way to get information and entertainment. Although some books with hard covers are expensive, many books are published today as paperback books, which are reasonably cheap. A paperback novel, for example, is almost always cheaper than an evening at the cinema or theatre, and you can keep a book forever and read it many times.
Books at home are a wonderful source of knowledge and pleasure and some types of books should be in every home. Every home should have a good dictionary. Every home should have an atlas of the world, with large clear maps. It might be expensive, but a good encyclopedia is useful, too, because you can find information on any subject. In addition, it is useful to have on your bookshelves other non-fiction books such as history books, science textbooks, cookery books, books about medicine and health, etc. It is equally important to have some fiction on your shelves, too. Then you can relax with a good story, or from time to time you can take a book of poems off your shelves and read the thoughts and feelings of your favourite poets.
8 КЛАС
READING COMPREHENSION TEST
I Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right
1. ...an articlea) a book that is used to study a school subject
2. ...an atlasb) a publication that comes out weekly or monthly
3. ...a biographyc) a book with maps of the world
4. ...a noveld) usually a cheap book with a soft cover
5. ...a textbooke) a story about a real person
6. ...a dictionary f) a piece of writing in a newspaper
7. ...a poem g) a book of word definitions
8. ...a paperback h) usually a short piece of writing expressing a deep
feeling or thought
9. ...a magazinei) a story about people who are not real
II Choose the best answer according to the information in the passage
1.Which is easier to get the news from?
a) a newspaper
b) the television
2.Which is usually quicker?
a) to read a biography of a famous person
b) to watch a television programme about a famous person
3.Which is usually cheaper?
a) a paperback
b) an evening at the cinema
4.Which is usually cheaper?
a) a paperback
b) a hardcover book
5.Which is it most important to have in your home?
a) non-fiction books, such as a dictionary and an encyclopedia
b) fiction, such as novels, short stories and books of poems
c) a mixture of both good non-fiction and your favourite fiction.
III Which of the following are non-fiction and which are fiction? Put the words into the two columns
Atlas, novel, short story, textbook, play, dictionary, encyclopedia, poem.
