Do you trust the weather forecast and why?

There are four seasons in a year: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Every season has 3 months. It’s a universal truth that every season is beautiful in its own way.

But my favourite period is late spring and I’d like to tell you why. To begin with I have my birthday at the end of April, just before May holidays. I look forward to meeting it. Next, spring is the season of hope, happiness and love. It’s the time when nature awakens from her winter sleep: the ice is broken, the grass is beginning to shoot and the tree buds are bursting into leaves. I am fond of smelling fresh air after spring rains. There’s the atmosphere of hope and joy everywhere. Birds come back from the warm countries; they make nests and twitter in the trees. The people clean their yards, streets and parks. Everything looks neat, clean and ready to meet summer.

 I’m sure that many people share this opinion with me.

 I should say that our climate has been undergoing great changes nowadays. We can notice the global warming, ice melting and greenhouse effect. Winters are not so frosty and summers are boiling hot. Some lands suffer from drought others from rainfalls. Technical progress improves people’s lives but at the same time it causes numerous problems in nature damaging. People’s daily activity pollute water, land and air. All these influence our climate in the wrong way. Many flora and fauna species have died. Others are very rare so they are in the Red Book. Some people’s activities are a kind of suicide for humans. Environment protection is of primary importance today. We must keep and protect our planet.

Long time ago our ancestors forecasted the weather watching the nature: clouds, sunsets, animals, birds and insects. Everything was predictable for them then. As for us these methods don’t work now because the climate has changed greatly. Nowadays modern technologies and equipment are use to forecast the weather. But in spite of all these it doesn’t work. We are not sure in every day weather forecasting. It is not always true. You can have the radio weathercast about fine weather but it turns to be wrong. So I can trust it only80-90 per cent.

That’s what I think about it.

Public holidays in Russia

What public holidays are celebrated in Russia?

What is your favourite public holiday and why do you like it?

How is your favourite public holiday celebrated in your city?

Every country has its own national holidays/ but there are holidays that are common for many countries. People all over the world know New Year's Day, Christmas and Easter. In Russia New Year's Day is the most popular holiday, but in the West people pay more attention to Christmas.

State or public holidays in Russia include Constitution Day, New Year's Day, Motherland Defender's Day, the Women's Day, May Day, Victory Day and Independence Day.

State organizations, bank and companies do not work on these days. People spend holidays time with their families and friends.

In my opinion it is very important that traditions survived in our country. That's why a lot of people follow old traditions and celebrate Russian holidays.

Personally I enjoy celebrating holidays. I think it's a good way to bring the family together besides it's a good chance to meet all your friends and relatives.

The holiday that makes me especially proud is the Victory day. It commemorates the victory of our country in the Second World War.

It is the day when we remember the heroic deeds of our grandfathers during the Great Patriotic war. The holiday is celebrated all over the country. There are patriotic films on TV; you can also see the demonstration of combat machines in Red square and the parade of the veterans on this day we give them presents and flowers. In the end I can say that every holiday is nice.

Photography

• 1. Why do people like taking pictures?

•2. Why taking photos is more popular today than it was in the past?

•3. What is the best photo you have ever taken?

We can't imagine our life without photography. We all have a love for photography. It's that love that drives photographers to keep shooting pictures. So 1 guess the real question is, why do we love it?

Here are some of my reasons.

If you like me you probably turned through the pages of the photo album and re-lived some of the memories you saw in the pictures. The photos did the job of capturing those memories.

Then photos capture moments as well. Moments happen all the time and they can happen fast. A photo freezes these moments so we can take the time to enjoy them. No doubt, photos can tell us different stories, they can be happy, sad and any number of other emotions. Think of photos of Olympic medalists at the moment of victory.

Taking photos has become a part of our life. As you know, there are a lot of people who are fond of photography. It is more popular today than it was in the past. It's easy to explain, everyone has got camera in his/her mobile phone and it gives an opportunity to take photos everywhere, whenever you want.

My hobby is taking photos. Not those selfies, but serious professional photos. Of course, I'm far from being a professional, but I try. I read books, take part in the Internet exhibitions and contests. I haven't won any prizes yet. But I think the day will come and I'll be a good photographer.