Traditions in our life

What is a tradition? Probably, traditions are a way of defining who people are, that's why it is very important that traditions do survive in the country. Take Great Britain, for instance. It is a unique country because it has a link with quite ancient traditions. Traditional uniforms are still preserved in Great Britain. There are also a lot of traditional ceremonies such as the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Trooping the Colour, which is performed on the Queen's official birthday, or the Ceremony of the Keys, that takes place every night at the Tower of London. The British people are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up.

People all over the world traditionally celebrate such common holidays as Easter, Christmas or New Year. But of course, each country has its own traditional holidays connected with its history. So we may say that tradition is the passing down of the beliefs, practices and customs from the past to the present.

Russia is also a country of great traditions. For example, Russian people traditionally mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring by burning straw scarecrows of winter on bonfires and eating pancakes with honey or sour cream. This long­standing tradition is still alive in many places in Russia.

There are a lot of traditions in our everyday lives, for example celebrating birthdays, holidays and traditional wedding ceremonies. The family meal is another tradition that we should try to keep up in our everyday life. Family meals reflect a country's culture and traditions. Besides, it's a good way to bring the family together and a good chance for parents and children to talk.

The oldest universities, like Oxford and Cambridge, are world-famous for their traditional practices, which have stood for hundreds of years. Student life is quite modern there, but the traditions are kept and the students are proud of them. I wish we had more traditions in our schools and universities because traditions make us feel a little bit different.

There are some old traditions in our everyday life that make me especially proud. For example, a guest in Russia should always be welcomed with the symbol of lifegiving food — bread and salt.

So, traditions are something that people keep doing for a long time. They are an essential part of our life because they join different generations together.

Notes

1. Trooping the Colour – вынос знамени

2. Ceremony of the Keys –церемония передачи ключей

3. scarecrow – чучело

City and country

There are many cities and towns in Russia. The biggest cities are Moscow and St. Petersburg. There are differences in the way of life people lead there due to the city's size, its geographical location, and economical situation, but there are undoubtedly common traits that separate it from the way of life people lead in the country.

Living in a city you usually have more choices about where to work, where to study, where to shop and where to spend your free time. Cities have public transportation systems so usually even in a big city you need not spend more than an hour and a half going wherever you need to go. Sometimes buses, trams and trolleybuses may be late in coming, but once you're in, they'll take you wherever you need to go. The big­gest cities also have subway system which is more convenient since its trains' speed doesn't depend on rush-hours. Cities have many shops, big and small, cinemas, libraries, the­atres, and other places where you can pursue your interests and spend your free time. There are more different education­al institutions and workplaces, so you have more freedom in choosing your career.

In addition, living in the city you can use many conveniences even without leaving home. City apartments have central heat­ing, running hot and cold water, garbage chute, and telephone; their TV sets take more channels and it's easier to get a good Internet connection.

Living in the country in Russia has always been more difficult than the city life. You are closer to nature and can breathe fresh air, drink clean water and eat home-grown food, but the country life is still devoid of many benefits of the city. The choice of jobs for coun­try people is limited and you have to go to a city or town for your professional training. The possibilities of buying what you want and choices of places to spend your free time are also limited. For all those reasons many Russian villages are dying. Only the old people stay there, and the young people from the countryside move to the cities to get an edu­cation and to look for a job.

Great Britain is a much smaller country than Russia, and all the distances inside the country are shorter. This might be one of the reasons why there are many villages where life isn't so different from the cities; indeed, many people working in big cities prefer to live outside of them, in charming villages, and go to work by train each day.

There are many big cities in USA, but there are also vast territories of the agricultural states, primarily in the Mid-west, where most people live in the countryside. However, there aren't really any villages there; small towns with shops, post offices and schools are surrounded by fields and farms standing far away and separate from each other.

Notes

1. trait - черта

2. once - если

Вариант 9