"Do you speak English?

" - with this phrase begins the conversation between two people, that speak different languages and want to find a common language. It's very good when you hear: "Yes, I do", and start talking. People of different countries and nations have to get along well with the progress in world trade and technology as well as with each other. So it is very useful to learn foreign languages. Knowledge of foreign languages helps us to develop friendship and understanding among people. English is very popular now. It's the language of computers, science, business, sport and politics. It's spoken all over the world. It is the official language of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States of America, Canada, Australia. There are more than 750 million speakers of English in the world. Speaking a foreign language you can read papers, magazines and original books by great writers, watch satellite TV Programs. If you like travelling you can go anywhere without being afraid that other people will not understand you. English is very important to find a good job. Telephoning Telephones are today a part of our lives. Along with the invention of mobile phones, the communication between people became more convenient and speedier. It is simply and easily to use a mobile phone. It is enough to dial the number, press the right button and wait to speak. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the first electrical speech machine which now we call a telephone. Sometimes when people use the public telephone you need a telephone card. First you pick up the receiver, then you insert the card into the slot and finally you dial the number. If you dont know the number you can look it up in the telephone directory. If you cannot find it there you can call the directory enquiries. Making a call to a place far away is called longdistance call. If the phone is out order you can ring the telephone repair service to have it fixed. For most countries in Europe you can phone directly first dialing the international code number. If you dont have enough money you can ask for a person-to-person call and have the charges reversed. This means that the receiver for the call has to pay for it. When there is a difficulty with the connection the operator may tell you to hold the line. If the person we want to call is already speaking to someone, the number is engaged. When you call a friend and someone else answers the phone, you can leave a message, or it may mean that you have dialed the wrong number. When making a formal call, three rules should influence your choice of words: Be brief. Do not waste the receivers time. Be clear. Explain the background and purpose of your call. Be polite. Recognize the receivers point of view. These rules can sometimes conflict. If you are too brief, you may confuse the receiver or appear impolite. Try to balance the three rules and the telephone communication will be successful.

At the hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. In the past the hotel consisted only of a room with a bad,a cupboard, a small table and a washstand. Today they are provided with rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms and air conditioning or climate control. Additional common features found in hotel rooms are telephone, an alarm clock, a television, a safe, a mini-bar with snack foods and drinks, and facilities for making tea and coffee. In the lounge of the hotel there are comfortable settees and armchairs, where people can sit and wait. Here you can find the reception desk, the foreign exchange desk, the post office desk, souvenirs shop, a bar with different kinds of drinks etc. Luxury hotels include all convenience such as: lifts, a parking place, bathrobes and slippers, a pillow-menu, twin-sink vanities, and Jacuzzi bathtubs. Larger hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a restaurant, swimming pool, fitness center, business center, childcare, conference facilities and social function services. Hotel rooms are usually numbered to allow guests to identify their room. Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In the United Kingdom, a hotel is required by law to serve food and drinks to all guests within certain stated hours. In Japan, capsule hotels provide a minimized amount of room space and shared facilities. The hotel staff are the door-keeper that opens and closes the door, the lift boy who helps the quests to lift the luggage,the reception clerk who gives accommodations to the guests, the operator who puts you through if you want to use the phone box, the maid who cleans the rooms, the steward who brings meals into the rooms etc. At the Railway Station Railway is still the cheapest way of transporting passengers and goods over long distances. There is a great number of trains that can be seen at the railway station such as: passengers' trains, express trains, fast or slow trains, goods trains, local and long-distance trains, commuting trains etc. The station is provided with a spacious waiting room, a restaurant, an inquiry office, parcels office, where heavy luggage is labeled and registered, and the left luggage office where people can leave the luggage for long period of time, bookstalls where people can by books and newspapers and magazines to read during the journey. The passengers' compartments are very comfortable, the seats have numbers, over the seats there is a rack for the luggage. From time to time a special inspector checks the passengers' tickets. The trains have vans for different purposes such as: the driver van, engine van followed by the luggage van, the mail van, and finally the passengers' carriages with smoking and non-smoking compartment. They may also be first class and second class compartments. On the trains there may be a restaurant van, where people can eat during their trips, longdistance trains have sleeping compartments with upper and lower births provided with bed clothes where people can sleep during the night. The loudspeaker announces the trains arrivals and departures, the time-table contains the exact time when the trains have to arrive and depart.

At the Airport "Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled" 1.Millions of people all over the world spend their holidays traveling. They travel to see other countries and continents, modern cities and the ruins of ancient towns; they travel to enjoy picturesque places; 2.Nowadays people mostly travel by air, as it's the fastest means of traveling. Passengers are requested to arrive at the airport 2 hours before the departure time on international flights and an hour on domestic flights, as there must be enough time to complete the necessary airport formalities. 3. Most airlines have at least 2 classes of travel, first class and economy class. Economy class tickets are much less expensive. Generally the weight limit of the luggage is 20 kg of checked baggage for economy class economy class passengers and 30kg for first class passengers. Every passenger is also allowed one small carry-on bag, for instance, a laptop computer or small suitcase which weights 8 kg; 4. Before passengers get on board the plane, they have to register their luggage. Each passenger is given a boarding pass to be shown at the departure gate and again to the stewardess when boarding the plane. Landing formalities and customs regulations are more or less the same in all countries: while still on board the plane the passengers are given arrival cards to fill in. After the passengers have disembarked,officials will check his passport and visa.Then the passengers go to the customs for an examination of their luggage. As a rule personal belongings may be brought in duty-free. In some cases the customs inspector may ask you to open your bag for inspection. 5.Its difference between the time you are accustomsed to and the time of the place youre traveling to, especially if its far from home. At first you wont feel very well because of that difference in time, -thats called jet lag but dont worry about it, shortly youll be as good as new! At the Customs C.O. Have you got anything to declare? Mr.F. We have each bought 200 cigarettes on the boat. C.O. Thats all right. They are duty free. Mrs.F. I have one bottle of whisky and my wife has a bottle of perfume. C.O. They are duty free as well. How long did you spend abroad? Mrs.F. Two weeks. C.O. Did you buy anything else while you were there? Mrs.F. We bought a few presents for our family. Here is a list of what we bought, and the prices we paid. C.O. (Looking at list). Some chocolate, an alarm clock, a record. Id like to see the clock, please. (Mrs. Farrow shows it to him). Mr.F. Here you are. C.O. Its not expensive so you wont have to pay duty on it. Mr.F. Thank you very much. Mrs.F. I bought a pair of shoes. Ive go them on now. C.O. Thats all right Did you buy any jewelry or watches? Mr.F. No, none at all. Mrs.F. Do we have to open our cases? C.O. That will not be necessary, thank you. That is all. (He marks the cases with a cross. The porter takes them to the train)

Dining out Where do people eat around? In all large cities are plenty of restaurants, cafes, and cafeterias, canteens, bars, selfservice dining rooms, etc. All the large hotels have dinning rooms or restaurants. You can have breakfast, dinner, lunch or supper at any restaurant. every restaurant offers you dinners-"table d'hote". These meals are known as regular dinners. It means that you are served with meals of several courses, at a fixed price. "Table d'hote" is cheaper than "table a la carte". "Table a la carte" means such meals which are ordered course by course, from the menu card, each dish separately. At the restaurant each little party of guests has its own table. In the evening you can see several people dancing at the far end of the room, near the orchestra. One of the waiters is stading near the table where there are cold dishes of various kinds. He is holding a tray with two wine-glasses on it. He has put the bottle of wine into the ice-bucket to keep it cool. In summer, when it is very hot, you can also order cold, refreshing beverages, such as: soda-water, juice, lemonade or beer. In summer people also eat a lot of ice-cream. At the restaurant you can get all kinds of meals, hot dishes as well as cold ones. Take-away restaurants are very popular. It is cheaper than eating in the restaurant and you can even order by phone and have all the food brought your home. The traditional Fish and Chip shop is still popular but there are are more and more Pizzerias and Burger Bars, too. Pizza express offers a simple product. Customers are given a choice of good quality pizzas, salads and pasta dishes, plus Italian wine and beer in attractive and comfortable surroundings. Many pizza express restaurants are located in specious and interesting buildings. The "Pub" or "Public House" is part of British tradition. It is a place where you can meet people, chat, listen to music, play darts and, of course, have a drink. The most common drink served is beer, but you can also choose wine, cocktails, spirits or soft drinks. Most pubs serve food, too. USA is well known for their fast-food. There are many restaurants where you can have fast, tasteful and nourishing food. Europeans have certain criticism upon its properties but it is also very popular in Europe. The idea of fast-food appeared according to the huge industrialization. Hard workers needed to be satiated and to spend as less time on taking food as it is possible. There is one more interesting idea that is also speeded over the globe. It is so called salad bar. This term means that you can take as much food as can be placed on your plate. You pay only for the plate not for the amount of good.

Shopping In the supermarket you can buy all sorts of food or drinks. All goods are packed and you can chose anything you like. In the supermarket we buy fish, ham, eggs, sausage, frankfurters, cheese, milk and butter, wheat and rye bread, apple, juices and beverages. If you don't like to spend much time on cooking you can buy convenience food. Convenience foods are ready to cook or eat.They are sold tinned, dried or sealed in plastic bags or aluminium foil. There are also specialized shops in our city. If we want to buy sugar, salt, flour, tea, spices we go to the grocer's. Crusty, tasty bread, pastry can buy bought at the baker's. High quality veal,pork, mutton and poultry one can buy at the butcher's, fruits and vegetables are sold at the greengrocer's. Some kinds of fruit, such as apples. lemons and bananas. Fish, herring, caviar, kipper, tinned fish, shrimps, lobsters can be bought at the fishmonger's. Every day we buy butter, cream and milk at the diary shop. At the confectioner's you can buy chocolate, sweets, and biscuits. Famous Moldavian wines and cognacs can be bought in wine shops. People can buy flowers at the florists. At the chemist's we can buy medicine. At the shop we can buy cats, dogs, birds etc. At the ironmonger's people can buy working instruments. Old furniture we can buy in the antique shop. We pay for the goods at the cash desk. The central Department store in Chisinau is a four storey-building where you can buy thousands of consumer goods. On the ground floor you will find perfumery, electrical appliances, leather goods and hosiery. On the first floor there is a great variety of TV-sets, jewerly, toys and carpets. On the second floor one can buy everything for a woman dresses, textiles, hats and coats, furs. On the third floor there is eve rything for men footwear, men's haberdashery, coats, raincoats, and suits.

About Chisinau Chisinau is the capital of Moldova, the center of all the important events. Its the biggest city in the country, however its relatively small comparing to the big world cities Its a pretty, friendly place with old historical building, but also new and modern. Oficially the population of Chisinau is about 700.000 people and it doesnt feel too crowded. In the Spring through Summer its green with a lot of vegetation blossoming. Its rich history dates since 1436 when it was first mentioned in the documents. During the second world war it was almost completely destroyed, but as you will see now its back to live, more alive then ever. Visiting Chisinau you could visit a lot of entertainment places like theater, cinema, concert halls, art galleries, lots of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, spas, casinos and many others. All these are very close to each other. Its amazing how much you could do in one day just on the central Stefan cel Mare street. Thats an exemple of how convenient the city is. It has a very developed transportation system, you can marely get from anywhere to anywhere. There are 2 kinds of busses and trolleybuses. There are also taxis and car rentals. Using our transportation map for information, and thousand of busses/ or taxis (that you can call for) you would find it very easy to get around. This city is very compact, basically everything you need you can find in the center of the city. But other areas are also pretty well developed and organized. There are 5 regions in Chisinau: Centru, Ciocana, Riscani, Botanica and Buiucani. All of them are worth visiting. Talking about convenience, another thing that you would probably love about Chisinau is the telecommunications. The best part is that you can get internet on practically all the main streets, because there are lots of internet cafes all over the city. You get a computer, Internet, movies, headsets. Everything for about $0.5 an hour. What more can you wish?! The cell phone system is also very easy, similar to the Europpean one. All you need is a suitable cell phone, then anywhere in the street boutiques you can buy yourself a card with a phone number that you can use and minutes. And you are set. If you want to mail something there are offices of the international transportation companies in Chisinau, or you can mail things through a redular post office. People in the city are usually friendly and they speak several languages. The basic ones are Romanian (officially called Moldovan) and Russian that is a conversational language. Also especially the young people would speak English or French. Some people speak Italian or German languages. The places you might enjoy in Chisinau are: The Ethnological museum if you want to know more about the country, history and traditions. Central Parks Outdoor Arts and Crafts market on Stefan cel Mare Street. And there is so much more...

Money What is money? Money is what we use to buy things. Frankly speaking, it is almost impossible to imagine life of modern person without money because we need to pay practically for everything in this life except mother's love, father's guidance and friend's support. Money is medium of exchange. Many centuries ago when money didn't exist people used barter-people exchanged some goods they had for goods they didn't have. Later commodity money appeared: first fur and salt served as money, then people started to use precious metals to pay for different goods. Other early forms of money were: rice (China), dog's teeth (Papua New Guinea), shells (India) etc. The first paper money appeared in China in 1024. Today it is widely used across the world. For what purposes do people use money at present? First of all it is still a medium of exchange; when people want to buy something they need to pay for it a certain amount of money (they can pay for goods or services in cash, with the help of cashless transfers or electronic money). Money is also used as unit of account - money determines the cost of all goods and services. Owing to money each person can interpret prices, costs, profits and debts; in such a way people have an opportunity too monitor their financial situations, plan their expenses and measure their future profitability. It is also a well-known fact that money is a store of value - it means that money can be saved for future use. Money also has several characteristics. They are divisibility, portability, stability, durability and difficulty of counterfetiting. If money were easy to counterfeit people would accept it as payment and would turn to other means of storing value such as buying gold etc. Certainly it is better when money works and brings its owner profit, it's possible as well to put money to a bank and receive interest from it - in such a case a person will receive less profit but risk will be minimized.