Probably the most widely celebrated holidays in the United States of America are Thanksgiving, Independence Day and Christmas. Thanksgiving Day is marked on the fourth Thursday of November. On this day Americans thank their God for his blessings. Families gather together for a traditional dinner which includes roast turkey and pumpkin pie. Independence Day is marked on the 4th of

There are 22 million homes in Britain — big homes and small homes, old cottages and new buildings, houses and flats. (Americans say «apartment» but British people say «flat»). Many British people love old houses and these are often more expensive than modern ones. They also love gardening and you will see gardens everywhere you go: in towns, villages and

Mankind always dreamed of overcoming gravitation and reaching other planets. But it was only in the 1960ies that this dream was to become reality. On the 12th of April 1961 the spaceship «Vostok» was launched into space with a man on board and after orbiting our planet successfully returned to the Earth. The first man to overcome gravitation and orbit

Learning of a foreign language is not an easy task. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot of time and efforts. That is why it is very important to have a good teacher. I am very grateful to my English teacher who made me interested in this subject. She is the person I loved best at

Oscar Wilde is a famous English writer of the 19th century, Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1854. His mother wrote poetry, and she taught him to love literature. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford. Soon after leaving university his first volume of poetry, «Patience» was published. Oscar Wilde married Constance Lloyd in

St. Petersburg is a city of magic beauty, a city of white nights, broad straight avenues, green parks, countless bridges and canals. The greatest architects of the 18-th and 19-th centuries created magnificent ensembles in our city. St. Petersburg reminds some visitors of Rome, others of Paris, Vienna or Amsterdam. But actually there is no city in the world like

London is the capital of Great Britain, its political, economic, and commercial centre. It is one of the largest cities in the world and the largest city in Europe. Its population is about 8 million. London is divided into several parts: the City, Westminster, the West End, and the East End. The heart of London is the City, its financial

I love music, I think people can not live without it. The first thing I do in the morning I switch on my tape — recorder. We can hear music everywhere: in the streets, in the shops, on TV, over the radio, in the cars, in the parks, everywhere. I think it’s really doesn’t matter what kind of music you

What am I going to do after school or university? Maybe I should consider a job in the financial world. There’s a surprisingly wide range to choose from — for example, I could raise money for charities or sell famous paintings or write about economics as a financial journalist or run my own company or… Fund-raiser. There are thousands of

British religion used to be closely connected with kings, queens and politics. England was a Roman Catholic country until 1534. In 1525 King Henry VIII decided to divorce his queen, Catherine of Aragon, because he fell in love with Anne Boleyn. But when Henry asked the Pope for permission to divorce Catherine, he refused. Henry was so angry with the

Dead Sea is a salt lake, with area of 390 sq mi (1,010 sq km) is extending 45 mi (70 km) in the Jordan trough of the Great Rift Valley between the Ghor on the north and Wadi Arabah on the south, on the border between Israel and the West Bank (W) and Jordan (E). The shore of the Dead

No matter what method of job hunting you use, inevitably somebody will ask you for a resume. Most companies require a resume before seriously considering a job candidate from the outside. Resumes are sometimes also required in order to receive a job transfer within a company. The purpose of a resume is to help you obtain a job interview, not

There is an old and very good tradition among the people in the Poltava Region to have a fair in the village of Velyky Sorochintsy. This Sorochinsky fair usually takes place at the end of summer. The village of Sorochintsy is widely known in the whole world because of this fair. M. Gogol, an outstanding writer, described it in his

My native city is the city of Zaporozhye. It is very dear to me, because I was born here. Zaporozhye is situated in the south of Ukraine. It’s territory stretches for about 50 square kilometres. The city is divided by the river Dnieper into two parts. The population of Zaporozhye is approximately 900 thousand people. Our city is 225 years

Our age is so strange. We know that we are on the way to become adults. But this way is so hard. And we teenagers usually stay alone with our thoughts, because nobody even we ourselves understand what is happening around us. There are a lot of problems — that is what we know exactly. And problems are everywhere and

65 years have passed since the day of the Victory in the Great Patriotic war, but its echo till now doesn`t calm down in humans` souls. We haven`t the right to forget the horror of that war. We haven`t the right to forget those soldiers, who died for our bright future. We must remember everybody and everything. We must come

I’ve just graduated and I would like to tell you a few words about my school. I went to school in 1988. This school I studied in is a three storied building. When you enter the school yard you can see poplar trees and beautiful flowers. To the right of the school building there is a big playground. When the

Modern life is impossible without travelling. Thousands of people travel every day either on business or for pleasure. They can travel by air, by rail, by see or by road. Travelling by air is the fastest and the most convenient way, but it is the most expensive too. To my mind travelling by train is more interesting. You can see

Newspapers in Britain If you get on a bus or catch a train in Britain, especially during the morning and evening «rush hour», you’ll see a lot of people reading newspapers. The press tells us about various political views, interest and levels of education. Papers are usually divided into «quality» papers which are serious with long, informative articles and «popular»

In England and Wales compulsory school begins at the age of five, but before that age children can go to a nursery school, also called play school. School is compulsory till the children are 16 years old. In Primary School and First School children learn to read and write and the basis of arithmetic. In the higher classes of Primary