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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.
Реферат опубликован: 9/02/2007