headmaster and a teacher of Geography. I have relatives all over European
Russia: near St. Peterburg, near Volgograd, near Orenburg and more.
We live in medium flat now. My hobbies are: sports, computing ( especially
playing games), music. My favorite music band is Mumiy Troll. My favorite
kinds of sports are football, basketball, tennis and a lot more. My sign of
the zodiac is Saggitarius. I am a bright represantative of this sign. As
all saggitariuses I am very friendly, optimistic and very funny boy.
Sometimes I laugh too much and have problems with discipline in school. I
like animals and littile children because all are very stupid. I don't know
who I'll be in the future, but it surely will be a job I like.
Holidays in Great Britain,
There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European
countries. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Good
Friday, Easter Monday. May Day, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank
Holiday. Public holidays in Britain are called bank holidays, because the
banks as well as most of the offices and shops are closed.
The most popular holiday is Christmas. Every year the people of Norways
give the city of London a present. It's a big Christmas tree and it stands
in Trafalgar Square. Central streets are beutifuly decorated. There are
lots of traditions and customs dedicated to the Christmas day.
People decorate ther trees on the 24th of December. Children hang
stockings at the end of their bed, hoping that Father Christmas will come
down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys and sweets.
Christams is a family holiday. The 26th of December, Boxing Day, is an
extra holiday after Christmas Day.
New Year's Day is less popular in Britain than Christmas. But in Scotland
Hogmanay is the biggest festival of the year. Besides public holidays there
are some special festivals in Great Britain. On that day British burn a
dummy, made of straw and old clothes, on a bonfire and let off fireworks.
This dummy is called a "guy" (like Guy Fawkes and children can often be
seen in the streets before the 5th of November, saying, "Penny for the
guy." If they collect enough money they can buy some fireworks.
There are also smaller, local festivals in Britain.
Great Britain
The United Kingdom of G.B. and Northen Irelands is situated on the British
Isles. The British Isles consists of two large islands, G.B. and Ireland,
and about five thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244,000
square kilometres.
The UK is made up of four countries:England, Wales, Scotland and Northen
Ireland. GB consists of England, Scotland and Wales and doesn't include
Northen Ireland. The capital of the UK is London.
The British Isles are separated from European continent by the North Sea
and the English Channel. The western coast of GB is washed by the Atlantic
Ocean and the Irish Sea.
The surface of the British Isles varies very much. The north of Scotland is
mountainous and is called the Highlands, while the south, which has
beautiful valleys and plains, is called the Lowlands.
There are a lot of rivers in GB, but they are not very long. The Severn is
the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and the most important
one.
The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters if Gulf Stream
influence the climate of the British Isles. The weather in GB is very
changeable. A fine morning can change into a wet afternoon and evening and
the wrong side out. The english people say:"Other countries have a climate;
in England we have weather." The English also say that they have three
variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains in the
afternoon or t\when it rains all day long.
The weather is the favourite conversational topic in GB. After they greet
each other they start talking the weather.
The best time of the year in GB is spring(of course, it rains in spring
too). The two worst months in britain are January and February. They are
cold, damp and unpleasant. The best place in the world then is at home by
the big fire. Summer months are rather cold and there can be a lot of rainy
days. So most people who look forward to summer holidays, plan to go abroad
for the summer.
The most unpleasant aspect of English weather is fog and smog. This is
extremely bad in big cities especially in London. The fog spreads
everywhere so cars move along slowly and people can't see each other. They
try not to be run over by a car but still accidents are frequent in the
fog.
The Russian Federation
The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It occupies
about one-seventh of the earth's surface. It covers the eastern part of
Europe and the northern part of Asia. Its total area is about 17 million
square kilometres. The country is washed by 12 seas of 3 oceans:the
Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic. In the south Russia borders on China,
Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In the west it borders
on Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Belorussia, the Ukraine. It also has
a sea-borders with the USA.
There is hardly a country in the world where such a variety of scenery and
vegetation can be found. We have steppes in the south, plains and forests
in the midland, tundra and taiga in the nirth, highlands and deserts in the
east.
There are two great plains in Russia:the Great Russian Plain and the West
Siberian Lowland. There are several mountains chains on the territory of
the country: the Urals, the Caucasus, the Altai and others. The largest
mountain chain, the Urals, separates Europe from Asia.
There are over two million rivers in Russia. Europe's biggest river, the
Volga, flows into the Caspian Sea. The main Siberian rivers- the Ob, the
Yenisei and the Lena- flow from the south to the north. The Amur in the Far
East flows into the Pacific Ocean.
Russia is reach in beautiful lakes. The world's deepest lake is Lake
Baikal. It is much smaller than the Baltic Sea, but there is much more
water in it than in the Baltic Sea. The water in the lake is so clear that
if you look down you can count the stones on the bottom.
Russia has one-sixth of the world's forests. They are concentrated in the
European north of the country, in Syberia and in the Far East.
On the vast territory of the country there are various types of climate,
from arctic in the north to subtropical in the south. In the middle of the
country the climate is temperate and continental.
Russia is very reach in oil, iron ore, natural gas, copper, nickel and
other mineral resources.
Russia is a parliamentary republic. The Head of State is the President. The
legislative powers are exercised by the Duma.
The capital of Russia is Moscow. It is its largest political, scientific,
cultural and industrial centre. It's one of the oldest Russian cities.
At present, the political and economic situationn in the country is rather
complicated. There are a lot of problems in the national economy of the
Russian Federation. The industrial production is decreasing. The prices are
constantly rising, the rate of inflation is very high. People are losing
their jobs because many factories and plants are going bankrupt.
But in spite of the problems Russia is facing at present, there are a lot
of opportunities for this country to become one of the leading countries in
the world. I'm sure that we, the younger generation, can do very much to
make Russia as strong and powerful as it used to be.
Holidays in Russia.
There are many holidays in Russia, when people all over the country do not
work and special celebrations.
The major holidays are: New Year's Day, Women's Day, May Day, Victory Day,
and Independence Day.
The first holiday of the year is New Year Day. People see the new year in
at midnight on the 31st of December. They greet the New Year with champagne
and listen to the Kremlin chimes beating 12 o'clock.
There are lots of New Year traditions in Russia. In every home there is a
New Year tree glittering with coloured lights and decorations, Children
always wait for Father Frost to come and give them a present. Many people
consider New Year's Day to be a family holiday. But the young prefer to
have New Year Parties of their own.
A renewed holiday in our Country is Christmas. It is celebrated on the 7th
of January. It's religious holiday and a lot of people go to church servies
on that day.
On the 8th of March we celebrate Women's day when men are supposed to do
everything about the house and cook all the meals.
The greatest national holiday in our country is Victory Day. On the 9th of
May, 1945, the Soviet Army and its allies completely defeated the German
fascists and the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War ended. Few
years ago we celebrated 50th year anniversry of this great event.
Independence Day is a new holiday in our country. On the 12th of June,
1992, the first President of Russia was elected.
We also celebrate Day of the Defender of Motherland on the 23rd of
February, Easter, Day of Knowledge and lots of professional holidays which
are not public.
