Do you prefer to give presents or to get presents, and why?

I would like to tell you about holidays in Russia.

Russians enjoy their holidays and celebrate them with a lot of food, presents and in big companies of relatives and friends. There are three types of holidays in Russia: 1.Family holidays; 2. State or public holidays; 3. Religious holidays.

Family holidays include birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and other family celebrations. Different families have different traditions of celebrations.

State or public holidays in Russia include Constitution Day, New Year's Day, Motherland Defender’s Day, the International Women's Day, May Day, Victory Day and Independence Day. State organizations, banks and companies do not work on these days. People spend holiday time with their families and friends; they go to theatres or exhibitions, or go to city centre where there are usually folk festivals and concerts in the open air and celebrate with other people.

Russian religious holidays include Christmas, Epiphany, Easter and some others. There is also a pagan holiday - Shrovetide, Maslenitsa or Pancake Day. Special traditions are followed. New Year's Day is the major family holiday for many Russians. The celebration begins on New Year’s Eve, that’ is, on the 31st of December. On the New Year night people see the old year off and the New Year in.

Before the celebration people make some preparations: decorate a New Year tree with colorful glass balls and toys.

New Year's dinner usually includes Russian salad, dressed herring, caviar, sparkling wine and other national food. Five minutes before the clock strikes midnight people watch the president's speech on TV and raise a toast to the chiming of the Kremlin clock. After that Russians congratulate each other and exchange presents and good wishes. People believe that miracle is a must on this day. Some people go outside to set off fireworks. Others watch TV concerts, relax and have a great time.

Celebrations for children include a decorated fir tree and Grandfather Frost, who is believed to bring presents. Grandfather Frost often comes with his granddaughter, Snegurochka (Snow Girl). January 1st is now a national holiday. I enjoy this holiday because it is time for family reunion, relax and happiness.

I prefer both to give presents and to get presents because it’s a pleasure to share positive emotions. Moreover, it is a part of Russian tradition of sharing and caring.

To sum up, I enjoy holidays. Holidays are important because they commemorate some important events in the history, connect people and give them an opportunity to have fun and enjoy themselves.

The Internet B

Why using the Internet is so popular?

How the Internet can help students in their studies?

Is the Internet dangerous, and why?

It goes without saying that the Internet is popular both with adults and children for many things. To begin with, it’s an important source of information, which you can get at home any time and in no time. It’s much faster and easier to surf the net than to go to the library. Then you can communicate with people who are far away or make friends with them. Next you have on-line education opportunity. There are a lot of educational programs that can be useful, for example, in learning and practicing English. You may study wherever you like. Moreover, you can do a lot of things, such as sending e-mails, booking tickets and orders, paying taxes, doing shopping and what not. At last surfing the Net and playing games is really exciting.

Computers have become the main part of school education. Students have IT classes which help them in their studies. First, you can find all necessary information you need in the Internet. No doubt while working you broaden your mind, get a lot of knowledge. Second, preparing for a report or presentation you may illustrate you data with pictures, photos, and music. Third, it’s easy to edit. Finally, your report will be printed. So your work looks very neat, informative and presentable.

As we know the Internet has a lot of merits (advantages). But we must say that it may be dangerous. Firstly, it’s addictive. Teenagers spend hours chatting or playing games on-line and neglect their duties. Secondly, many young people find virtual reality more attractive than their everyday lives and this makes them neglected school work and responsibilities. Some of them mix virtual reality and real life. More than that, if we spend a lot of time working with computer, our eyesight gets worse. And the last but may be not the least dark side of the Internet is cyber terrorists’ activity. Hackers can attack the world comps, steal personal or state information, money and start information wars.

 But upon the whole, the Internet is our friend and if we learn how to control our computer use, then it will become an integral part of our lives.

Travelling A

Why most people like travelling?

Which season is the best for travelling in your opinion?