TRADITIONS & CUSTOMS OF GREAT BRITIAN.
Every nation and every country has its own customs and
traditions.In Britian traditions play more importaint part in the
life of the people than in some other countries. Englishmen
are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. It has
been the law for about three hundred years that all the theatres are
closed on Sundays no letters are delivered only a few Sunday papers are
publshed. To this day English families prefer cotage houses with
gardens to flats in a modern house with central heeting.English
people like gardens.Sometimes the garden in front of the house is a
little square covered with cement
painted green (in imitation of grass) and a box of flowers.
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.Fire places are decorated with
woodworks,there is a painting or a mirror over it.Above the fire
there is usually a shelf with a clock and some photographs.
Holydays are especially rich in old traditions and are different in
cotland,Wales and England.Christmas is a great english national holyday
and in Scotland it is not kept at all exeept by clerks in banks,all
the shops and factories are working.But 6 days later on the New
Year’s Eve the Scots begin to enjoy themselves.People invite their
friends to their houses and sit the old year out and the new year
in.In England on new Year’s Eve a
lot of people go to Trafalgar Square,at midnight,they all cross their
arms join hands and sing.People have parties too,they drink toarts
to the New
Year Children are happy to have presents.
Four times a year the offices and banks in Britain are closed on
Monday. These public holidays are known as Bank Holidays.The British
like to spend
holidays out of the town in the open air.They go to the sea-side or
to amusements parks. Londoners often visit the Zoo,outside
London they take their families to Hamsted Heath [‘himstid’hi@] a
large natural park too.There is usually a big fair with many
different amusements for children merry-go-round,swings puppet
shows,bright baloons.
One must also speak about such holidays ass All Fools
Day,Hallowe’en Bonfire Night,St.Valentines Day and such tradition as
Eisteddfod (a festival
of which culture).
SCIENCE IN OUR LIFE
Today we see the world in which social,industrial and political
order has been greatly influenced by science.The development of
science has increased man’s know-ledge of nature. Modern
experimental science began about 400 year ago.Man learned to use the
energy of fire water.Later man made steaw serve him.Nowdays man uses
thermonuclear energy and that of autimatter. I’d like to
dwell on electronics as not a day passes without the apearnce of a
new eletronic device.The first great progress in electronics came with
the invention of the vacuum tube or valve in 1904.it made broad casting
possible.the development of electronics during World War II gave us
radars
and electronic computers. The first general purpose computer
for scientific use was invented in
1949.Today computers have become common they can do fantastic
things. Computer can condukt experiments in places which are too
dangerous for
people.Some computers are used in carves and mines to replace
workers.Besides thay can be designed for special purposes. Thay
can solve mathimatical
problems,make bank aubuts,play chess.New supercomputers solve
problems in many branches of industry,science and culture.They are
videly used in submarine navigation and in modern hospital.Now much
is being done to create artifical intellect.Science has brought in
to being a new atomic technologies.Elektric enginearing and radio
enginearin have been created in the some way.
Science and technology have acheeved great progress in spase
research.There have been space flights,the launching of
interplanetary stations in the
direction of Mars, Radar contacts with the planets Mercury and
Venus.Science enters own flats.Many people have already forgotten
what the world was like
before television.several generations of children have grown up with
TV as a baby-sitter,teacher and companion. A lot of kitchens
in our flats are so well equipped that they look like a control
room.We are so used to all these that we can’t (emmigenc) our life
without science.
The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on
the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands,
Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousands small islands. Their
total area is over 244 000 square kilometres. The United Kingdom is one
of the world’s smaller countries. Its population is over 57 million.
About 80 percent of the population is urban. The United Kingdom is made
up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Their capitals are London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast respectively.
Great Britain consists of England , Scotland and Wales and does not
include Northern Ireland. But in everyday speech Great Britain is used
in the meaning of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. The capital of the UK. is London. The British Isles are
separated from the Continent by the North Sea and the British Channel.
The *western coast of Great Britain 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. The South, which
has beautiful valleys and plains, is called the Lowlands. The north and
west of England are mountainous, but the eastern, central and south-
eastern parts of England are a vast plain. Mountains are not very high.
Ben Nevis in Scotland is the highest mountain (1343 m). There are a lot
of rivers iri Great Britain, but they are not very long. The Severn is
the longest rive?, while the Thames is the deepest and the most
important oae. The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters of
the Gulf Stream influence the climate of the British Isles. It is mild
the whole year round. The UK. is a highly developed industrial
country. It produces and exports machinery, electronics, textile. One
of the chief industries of the country is shipbuilding. * The UK is a
constitutional monarchy with a parliament and the Queen as Head of
State.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is the most famous example of the **American dream».
Many Americans think that in their country a man may rise from the
lowest to the highest position in th*irland. That was exactly
what Lincoln did. He was born in 1809 in a small farm in Kentucky. When
Abraham was quite young, the family moved to the wild forest land of
Indiana. He
hardly had any education; he only learned to read and write and do
simple arithmetic. In 1830 Abraham left his father’s farm and went to
Springfield, Illinois. There he became a clerk in a store and worked
hard to improve his education. In 1836 he became a lawyer.
He entered politics, too, and in 1834 became a candidate to the
Parliament of Illinois. He soon became a force in the political life. In
1847 he went as a Congressman to the National Assembly (National
Parliament).
Slavery was then becoming a burning questions American politics. Many
people in the Northern states wanted to abolish it, the Southern states
opposed the abolition. The Southerners said that it would mean economic
ruin for them. The reason was that the prosperity of the South was based
on
cotton-growing, and only Negroes worked there. The
Southerners threatened that if the North didn’t cease its fight against
slavery, the Southern states
would leave the Union. They wanted to form an independent
«confederacy»*. In 1860 Lincoln was elected President of the USA. In
1861 seven
states left the Union and elected their own President, Jefferson Davis.
The Confederacy was formed.
Lincoln was strongly against slavery and even more strongly against the
break-up of the Union. In 1862 the American Civil War between the North
and the South began. At first the war went badly for the North. The
Southerners headed by General Robert Lee and Colonel Jackson won some
brilliant victories. But Lincoln did not lose courage. On April, 9
General Lee
surrendered. The Civil War was over. Lincoln tried to convince former
enemies that they should live in peace.
On April, 14 the President and his wife visited a theatre in Washington.
During the performance Lincoln was shot by an actor who supported
Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln died next morning. People admire Lincoln
for political moderation. They admire him
because he tried to preserve the nation. He is a symbol of American
democracy.
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