In these games only amateurs or non-professional athletes can take part. Each country sends teams for as many different events as possible. The winners of each event are given a certain number of points. The International Olympic Committee decides where each Olympics will take place. They ask a city (not a country) to be the host.

The Olympic Games are attended by thousands and thousands of people every time they are held. They provide an opportunity for lovers of sports of all nations to meet together.

Television

Television hasn’t been with us that long, but we are already beginning to forget what the world was like without it. Before we admitted the one-eyed monster into our homes, we never found it difficult to occupy our spare time. We used to enjoy civilized pleasures. For instance, we used to have hobbies, we used to entertain our friends and be entertained by them, and we used to go outside for our amusements to theatres, cinemas, restaurants and sporting events. We even used to read books and listen to music. All that belongs to the past. Now all our free time is regulated by the “goggle box”. We rush home or gulp down our meals to be in time for this or that programme. We have even given up sitting at table and having a leisurely evening meal, exchanging the news of the day. The monster demands and obtains absolute silence and attention. If any member of the family dares to open his mouth, he’s quickly silenced.

Whole generations are growing up addicted to the telly. Food is left uneaten, homework undone and sleep is lost. The telly is a universal pacifier. It is now standard practice for mother to keep the children quiet by putting them in the living room and turning on the set. It doesn’t matter that the children will watch rubbishy commercials or scenes of sadism and violence – so long as they are quiet.

There is a limit to the amount of creative talent available in the world. Every day television consumes vast quantities of creative work. That is why most of the programmes are so bad: it is impossible to keep pace with the demand and maintain the high standard as well. We become utterly dependant on the two most primitive media of communication: pictures and the spoken word.

Television encourages passive enjoyment. We become content with second-hand experiences. It is so easy to sit in our armchairs watching others working. Little by little, television cuts us off the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day in semi-darkness, glued to our sets, rather than go out into the world itself. Television may be a splendid medium of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other. We only become aware how totally irrelevant television is to real living when we spend a holiday by the sea or in the mountains, far away from civilization. In quiet, natural surroundings, we quickly discover how little we miss the hypnotic tyranny of King Telly.

The Mobile Homes

Living in a mobile home is becoming more and more popular. These mobile homes aren't just trailers, which are perhaps fine for spending a week-end in, or for a short vacation, but rather small for a longer time. These are, in fact, real homes. Up to 10 meters long, they have to be towed by a truck. In spite of being smaller than a house, they can have up to five rooms. They are beautifully designed, air-conditioned and are fitted with all kinds of equipment —a refrigerator, toilet, bath and television, sometimes even a dishwasher and a washing-machine. Connecting water and electricity, plugging in a telephone and putting up a television antenna — all these don't take long. Then the mobile home has all the advantages of a permanent home — warm, hygienic, constant hot water — complete and comfortable.

But it has several extra advantages. The most important one is this: if you don't like your neighbours, you simply unplug everything, and tow your home to another site. This doesn't mean, however, that the people who live in these homes are permanently "on the move". Most of them stay in the same place for years. But they know that if they wanted to, they could move away the next day.

Keeping a dog is difficult for people who live in a flat. Here, you just open the door and let him out. And the children enjoy being able to play right outside the door. Living in the country is much healthier for them, too. If a man wants to change his job, he doesn't need to worry about finding a new house or flat. He simply tows his mobile home to the place where his new job is. New models come out every few years. Just like cars. If you have the money, you sell your mobile home and buy the latest model. You'll have no difficulty in selling your old one — there's a big market for second-hand homes.

Most people who live in mobile homes would prefer a permanent house if they had enough money. However, mobile homes are much cheaper to buy than houses. And yet, the low cost is deceptive as builders often use cheap materials and this means that doors, windows, paintwork and equipment soon have to be repaired. The prices of permanent houses rise over the years, but if you sell a mobile home again after five years you will not get more than half the price back. The owners often have to pay high ground rents for their sites and there may well be extra charges for connecting water, electricity and so on.

The Newspaper

The newspaper is perhaps the only truly popular mass media. Like other mass media such as networked computers and televisions, newspapers provide all the news and information one might need. Unlike the other mass media, however, newspapers are inexpensive, conveniently available, and easy to carry. For most of us, reading the newspaper has become an indispensable part of our daily routine. We can be found with our faces buried in these voluminous, word-filled pages wherever we are throughout our day, waiting for the bus, working at the office and even going to the bathroom.

The newspaper is a powerful tool, capable of alternately enlightening us and molding our opinions. The newspaper provides us with detailed information about nearly every event that has taken place around the world. It satisfies our curiosity and often helps clear the fog that hangs over many complex and sensitive issues. If one reads three different local newspapers on the same day, one can see clearly their different political agendas. All devote the front page to either praising the candidates they support and the stories they are in favor of, or to bombarding their opponents with tons of harsh words. Moreover, they do this with little regard to the effects of their biased "reporting." The fact is that a lot of controversial messages we see in newspaper headlines are eventually proved untrue.

Furthermore, people convinced by the newspaper reports blindly follow their lead, holding demonstrations and protesting against government bureaus and important private financial organizations, often leading to the collapse of the private firms and putting the whole country in great danger. Today, the function of our daily newspapers is a largely positive one, and we need them as a source of information on current events. We must be watchful, however, to ensure that they are not being used to manipulate us.

The Role of TV in Our Life

TV is one of the best inventions the man has ever made. We are beginning to forget what the world was without TV. Everybody knows what a great force TV is in the world today. Thanks to TV we get a great amount of information. It gives wonderful possibilities for education. It enriches our intellect. We also become better informed by watching documentaries, science programmes, and discussions and by learning the most important issues of the day.