Напиши пересказ на текст по Английскому на 12 предложений earliest books were written on tablets of wood or pieces of bark. In Greece and Rome the tablets of wood were covered with wax (waks), and writing was impressed upon them with a small stick called "stylus". These tablets were held together on one side with thin strips of leather or metal rings. In Assyria [a'sina] and Babylonia [,bæbilaunia) clay tablets were used for writing, and the words were drawn with a piece of wood. After baking the tablets were kept on shelves just like books are kept today. Although the clay tablets didn't look very beautiful, they were long-lasting and some of them survived until the present day. The earliest books of the ancient world were written on papyrus [pa'paires] and skins of young animals. These books took the form of a long strip rolled from one cylinder to another. These writings were known to the Romans as volumen from which comes the word volume. Though paper has been known in China since the first century, the secret of papermaking came to Europe much later. quite common in ancient Rome: we know that there were many booksellers and the first public library was founded there about 39 B.C.' Only the rich could buy books or make their slaves copy books from important libraries. By the time of the Middle Ages all books were handwritten and often beautifully decorated. Libraries used to chain books to the shelves so that they could not be removed from the building. But very few people could read them. The invention of printing was a really great event in history. The first people to invent printing were the Chinese. In Europe there were several people who can be called inventors of printing. The best-known is Johann Gutenberg [dev'æn 'gutenba:g] from Germany. Printing spread quickly over Europe and by the end of the 15th century there were more than 200 presses. The early printers were not only craftsmen, but also editors, publishers and booksellers. The first printing press in England was set up by William Caxton ['kæksten] at Westminster in 1476, and the first printing press in Russia - by Ivan Fedorov in Moscow in 1564. Printed books soon reached a very high standard and the craftsmen were rightfully proud of their work. Eventually there were more and more people in Europe who could read and they wanted more and more books. That led to opening more Early libraries were used only by scientists and were few. By and by they grew in number and began to be used by the public. The 19th century saw the appearance of a proper system of public libraries. Now most countries have their own national libraries. Many old university libraries have rich collections of books: Oxford and Cambridge in England, Harvard and Yale ljerl] in the United States. Among the great libraries of the world we can name the British Museum Library (the British Library) in London, the Library of Congress in the United States, the Beijing' Library in China, the State Public Library in Moscow, Bibliotheque [biblin'tek] Nationale [nasjo:nal] in France. The world's largest is the US Library of Congress. It holds about 90 million items - books and manuscripts [manjuskripts]. The library was founded in 1800 in Washington, DC for the use of Congress and later became a public library. Bibliotheque Nationale dates back to the 17th century and the British Museum Library was set in the 18th century. The State Public Library in Moscow was founded in 1862 and has unique lju'ni:k] collections of books. Modern libraries do their best to help people get information as quickly as possible. They use computers and electronic catalogues ['katalogz]. Probably the most difficult problem for any library is to keep their books, journals ['d:nlz] and films. How they do it is a new story.