Dear English speakers!
We are looking for a model reading of this text. We badly need a speaker with a good British accent to provide Russian pupils with a good phonetic model and help them acquire a good English pronunciation.
WHY DO WE LEARN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?
It is necessary to learn foreign languages. That's why pupils have got such a subject as a foreign language at school. Everybody knows his own language but it is useful to know foreign languages too.
I learn English because I understand that I can use it. For example, if I go to England I'll be able to speak English there. If I go to the USA, I'll speak English too. English is used not only in Eng¬land but also in other parts of the world.
I learn English because I want to read foreign literature in the original. I know and like such English and American writers as Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll and others. I understand that I must learn English. If I know English well, I'll be able to go to the library and take books by English and American writers in the original. I like to travel but it is difficult to visit countries, when you don't know the language spoken there. If I know the language of the country I am going to, it will be easy to travel there. If I want to ask something, I can do it in English.
I like to read books and I like to read newspapers too. If I know, for example, English, I'll be able to read English newspapers and magazines. Knowledge of foreign languages helps young people of different countries to understand each other, to develop friendship among them. For example, if we have a foreign exhibition in Moscow and I know a foreign language, it is easy for me to visit this exhibition.
You can see a lot of advertisements, signboards and names in the street. They are in foreign languages. Very often they are in English. If you know English well, you can read and understand them.
Now we buy many clothes from other countries. If you know English well, you can read something about the size of this or that thing. It is clear to you what it is made of.
There are a lot of films in foreign languages. If you know them, you can understand films without any help. There are international friendship camps in the world. If you can speak foreign languages, it will be easy for you to visit such camps and speak with boys, girls, men and women who do not know Russian.
In short, I understand that I have to learn English properly and I try to do so.
I know that my Australian accent comes through, but I hope it is a help anyway.