in all countries world-wide. They are: Christmas, New Year, Easter and St.
Valentine's day. Christmas comes but once a year. Christmas is a
traditional family reunion day. On this day, many people attend a church
service, open their presents and eat a Christmas dinner. In Britain,
Christmas is the most important public holiday of the year. It combines the
custom of giving gifts with the tradition of spending this day with the
family. Every year a huge Christmas tree, the gift of the Norwegian people,
graces Trafalgar square. In Russia Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of
January. On this day people celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. New
Year is a public holiday but it is not marked with any particular custom in
Britain and America, yet it has a joyful celebration in Russia. People stay
awake until after midnight on December 31st to watch the Old Year out and
the New Year in. Many parties are given on this night. Theatres, night
clubs and streets are crowded. Easter is one of the most important
Christian holiday. It is traditionally associated with Easter eggs and with
the coming of spring, and most churches are specially decorated with
flowers for the service held on Easter Day. There are also some special
holidays which are usually celebrated in a particular country. Let's start
with the traditional British holiday Pancake day. But people don't only eat
pancakes on this day, they run with them. In many towns in England pancake
races are held every year. These races are run by housewives. The most
American holiday is Thanksgiving day. It was first celebrated in early
colonial times by Pilgrim Fathers after their first good harvest.
Thanksgiving is a day when the family eats a large traditional dinner,
usually with turkey and pumpkin pie. In Russia we celebrate Women's day on
the 8th of March. On this day men are supposed to do everything about the
house and cook all the meals. I think it is very important to follow
special traditions, because they untie people. n Britain traditions play
more important part in the life of the people than in some other countries.
English are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. There is
a big difference of people between America and Britain. An Englishman in
America is respected, Americans love his accent and his country. An
American in England is thought to be a little strange because of his
behavior and his language. To the English their private lives are
important, their holidays are important, their garden are important, their
animals are important. For American the work is the most important thing in
life. And in England you can hear the most extraordinary excuse not to go
to work, for example "My dog's got a cold". In English houses the fire-
place has always been the centre of interest in a room. For many months of
the year people like to sit round the fire and watch the dancing flames.
Above the fire there is usually a shelf with a clock and some photos. The
English are a nation of stay-at-homes. There is no place like home. The
Englishman is never tired to say "My house is my castle". The Americans are
different. I think they are more open, they speak their minds, so if they
don't like something, they actually tell it directly. Not like the British,
who might think one thing and say another. Americans start conversations
with people in the street, in the subway; they are more enthusiastic.
American customs underline independence and freedom of the nation. Russia
is the country of the dramatic beauty. To my mind, the main traits of the
real Russia character are hospitality, "open heart", "golden hands", wise
Russian fairytales reflect their wisdom. The Russians are a very talented
nation. Russia gave the world beautiful names of Pushkin and Lermontov,
Tchaikovsky and Repin, thousands of names of world famous poets, writers,
composers, scientists. Every country is also known for its food. England is
noted for its pudding, bacon, marmalade, porridge and five-o'clock-tea.
America is the country of Coca-Cola, hamburgers and chewing gum.
Traditional Russian cooking is worldfamous for such dishes as okroshka,…
|Sports. Sport is probably as old as the humanity itself. It has been
developing with the development and growth of the mankind people all over
the world. If you want to feel fit you'd better go in for one kind of sport
or another. I should admit that everyone must do all he can to be healthy.
Good health is better than the best medicine, as the old Latin proverb
says. All kinds of physical exercises are very useful to make our bodies
strong and to keep ourselves fit and healthy.
Sport not only helps people to become strong and to develop physically but
also makes them more organized and better disciplined in their daily
activities. It makes for a healthy mind in a healthy body sport helps
people to keep in good health. We all need to exercise. Even if you don’t
plan to make a career in sport you still have to practice. Regular
exercises give you more energy. That is why many people who suffer from
general tiredness should take more exercise than more rest. Exercise makes
you feel and look better. The best exercise is one, which is involved, in
repeated movements: walking, jogging, and swimming. Bending and stretching
will add flexibility and feeling of lightness.
As for me I try to take all these things into consideration and as a
result of it I go in dancing studio, play badminton and sometimes
volleyball, ride bicycle and swim. I think that dancing is better than
sport if you just want to keep feet, but not make a sport career. Because
sometimes sport is dangerous if you don’t know how to do exercises
properly. For example, if you run too much your calves can become too big
or you even can get injury. So you better go to a sport clubs where
experienced instructor will help you to achieve good results.
I like to dance very much and I think it’s a best way to be healthy and to
keep feet for girls. Because dancing develops all groups of muscles and
helps to keep good deportment. Besides it makes one feel confident and
helps to overcome shyness. So I am in good form and hope to be in future.
My favourite holiday. Many great holidays and anniversaries are celebrated
in our country. On the 1st of May there is May Day — the holiday of spring
and labour. On the 8th of March there is Women's Day — the holiday of all
women and girls. We celebrate Day of Independence of Russia on the 12th
June and Day of Russian Constitution on the 12th of December. Now people
celebrate some religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter. But my
favourite holiday is New Year's Day, of course. It is a really wonderful
holiday. People get ready for this holiday long before it. They buy New
Year trees and decorate them. Every year a fairy-tale comes to every house
and every family on New Year's Eve. Children and even grown-ups wait for
this day because they believe that all their wishes and desires come true
and different wonderful miracles happen on that day.
On New Year’s Eve people get together to see “the old year out and the new
year in”. They eat tasty food, drink champagne, dance and have a good time
together. They wish each other happiness and good luck in the new year and
put the presents under the New Year tree. Children like this holiday very
much. They wait for New Year presents, which, they believe, Father Frost
brings to them. Everybody is merry on that day and wishes the next year to
be good and happy and all one's troubles and disappointments to remain in
the past.
Great Britain is situated on the British Isles. It consists of England,
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and is one thirtieth the size of
Europe. Great Britain is surrounded by seas on all sides and is separated
from the continent by the North Sea and the English Channel.
There are many rivers in Britain. They are not long but some of them are
deep. The longest river is the Severn. There are many mountains in the
north of England and in Scotland but they are not very high. The highest
mountain in Great Britain is Ben Nevis. There are many lakes in Scotland.
The most beautiful is Loch Lomond.
Great Britain has a very good position as it lies on the crossways of the
sea routes from Europe to the other parts of the world. There are many
countries which are connected with Great Britain by sea. Thanks to Gulf
Stream the climate of Great Britain is mild. It is often foggy and rainy.
The summer is not very hot and the winter is not very cold.
Great Britain is a highly developed industrial country. It lives by
manufacture and trade. Its agriculture provides only half the food it
needs, the other half of its food has to be imported. Britain is one of the
most highly industrialised countries in the world: for every person
employed in agriculture, eleven are employed in mining, manufacturing and
building. The main branches of British economy are engineering, mining,
ship-building, motor vehicle manufacturing, textile, chemistry,
electronics, fishing and food processing. The industrial centres of Great
Britain are London, Manchester, Eirmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and
others.
The United States of America is another important English-speaking country.
It consists of fifty different states and the District of Columbia joined
together under one government.
The USA covers an area of almost 9400000 square kilometres and is twice as
large as all the countries of Europe combined. It is placed in the middle
