Text 3 My Last Summer Holidays

I always look forward to my summer holidays. In my opinion, there’s nothing like the Russian countryside. We’ve got a small country house in a very picturesque place not far from Zagorsk. There’s a river and a lake there. My friends and I often go swimming and boating there. I’m also fond of lying in the sun.

There’s a lot of fish in the lake, so I sometimes go fishing. I like to sit in silence for a while waiting for a fish to get caught and listening to the birds singing in the trees. When I happen to catch a fish I set it free at once, because I do fishing just for pleasure.

When it’s very hot I usually go to the forest. The air is cool there. I like to walk in the shade of trees and pick mushrooms and berries. I’ve got a dog called Jack. He becomes so happy when I take him with me to the forest. Jack likes to run after butterflies or dragonflies.

But last summer my parents decided to go to some other place for a change. They made up their minds to go to the Crimea. I think it was the greatest mistake they had ever made. This, in a nutshell, is what happened.

To begin with, it was very difficult to find a place to stay. We rented a room in a house a long way from the sea. It was the only place we managed to get. It took us about half an hour to get to the beach. But it didn’t matter, as it turned out a few days later. Suddenly our happy sunny days were over. It started to rain. It occasionally cleared up for a while but then the rain went on again. All we could do was to spend all our time in the cinema or in a café. It was impossible to leave because we had made reservations beforehand and we had to spend another week there.

I had never seen so many films in my life. By the end of the week I got very tired of the cinema and I could only lie on the bed reading books or staring at the ceiling.

At last the happy day of our departure came. You can’t imagine how astonished we were. The sun began to shine early in the morning. It seemed to me that it was laughing at us.

After that holiday we decided to spend every summer in the country.

Answer these questions:

1. Where do you usually spend your summer holidays? 2. Do you always look forward to your summer holidays? 3. What do you usually do in summer? 4. Do you like to go swimming (boating)? 5. Are you fond of lying in the sun? 6. What do you usually do in hot weather? 7. Are you fond of fishing? 8. What do you enjoy doing in the evenings? 9. Have you ever been to the Crimea? 10. Where did you spend your last summer holidays?

Text 4 Summer Holidays

The English are quite right when they say: “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”. I’m sure all students like summer holidays best of all, because they are the longest. During these holidays we can go to the country to walk in the woods, pick berries and mushrooms or go to the seaside to swim and to lie in the sun.

I’d like to tell you about my last summer holidays. First we went to the country. My elder sister and I spent two months there, June and July. There is nothing like our village. It is situated not far from the city. It took our family about an hour to get there by car. Our family has got a small country house there. Our grandparents live in the village and sometimes they come to the city. There is a large river there. We often went boating and swimming in the river. The weather was always fine, and we liked to be outdoors. Every day there was something that was fun to do. We went for long walks to the woods, picked flowers, gathered mushrooms and berries. We watered the plants in the garden, took care of the domestic animals and helped our grandmother about the house.

My sister is fond of lying in the sun. The weather was often hot, so she became sunburnt spending much time on the beach.

We had a nice time in the country. Then August came and our family went to the seaside. Several years we dreamt of spending some weeks at the seaside. We decided to go to Sochi. We got there by plane. It was fantastic! Our parents rented a room in a house not far from the sea. It took us about ten minutes to get to the beach. The weather was wonderful! We spent a lot of time at the seaside swimming in the sea, playing volleyball on the beach and lying in the hot sun. The water in the sea was always warm.

I think spending holidays at the seaside is a great rest.

We returned to the city at the end of August, because our parents had to go to work and my sister and I had to go to school. And now I am looking forward to my next summer holidays.

Answer these questions:

1. Did you go to the country last summer? 2. How did you get to your village? 3. With whom did you go there? 4. Where is your village situated? 5. How long did it take your family to get there? 6. Has your family got a country house? 7. Is it small or big? 8. Is there a river, a lake or a pond there? 9. Did you go boating or swimming last summer holidays? 10. What was the weather like last summer? Was the weather usually cold or warm? 11. Did you spend much time outdoors? 12. Did you go to the forest? 13. How often did you go to the forest to gather mushrooms? 14. How did you help your grandmother about the house? 15. Do you like to go to the seaside? 16. How did you get there? 17. Did you stay at a hotel or rent a room in a house? 18. How did you spend time on the beach? 19. When did you return to the city?

Great Britain