6.Nowadays technology is used to keep a close watch on our every move. What are the forms of surveillance? Which of these seems the most scary for you? Give your reasons.

Governments are increasingly using technology that monitors online activity and intercepts electronic communication in order to arrest journalists, and dissidents. Around 180 netizens worldwide are currently in prison for providing news and information online.

As you go about your business today, you may think you enjoy a relative anonymity and privacy. Not so. Along with the government’s ability to track its citizens as they move about the Internet, computerization seems develop the ability to track people in the material world. Moreover, it can be done cheaply and almost invisibly. We have a wide range of surveillance devices used to safeguard the public. The most successful are: I’ve seen your face before … In 1998, the London borough of Newham connected the US firm Visionics’ software to cameras covering one shopping area. The face recognition software was reported to decrease crime rates relative to other boroughs, achieving a dramatic drop in street robberies and burglaries.  The system tries to match faces on Newham’s cameras to a ‘watch list’ of nearly 100 active criminals, chosen by a Metropolitan Police committee. The software shows probable matches to a Newham employee who is (8-decide) if the match is valid and whether or not (9-contact) the police. Such a system costs from Ј15,000 a single camera feed and uses standard surveillance cameras.  I know your number … Automatic number place recognition appeared in the UK in 1997, when the City of London police installed cameras that scan the plates of every vehicle entering and leaving the Square Mile. A police spokesperson says: “We are not interested in monitoring people’s movements; we are supposed to provide them with a safe environment.” The traffic information provider, Trafficmaster plc, owns a far more widespread plate-reading system, with 8,000 cameras on roads that monitor traffic speeds.  I know where you are … There is even a simpler way to track citizens: examining location data sent out by mobile telephones. When switched on, each unit transmits its identity. As a result, your network always knows roughly where you are.  Base-station data is already used to provide traffic news.

You could find yourself getting text messages advertising shops you are passing; meantime your network will be keeping a keen eye on your movements. Are you in a trap like a mouse in just one click?

7. You talk with your foreign friend about religious and public holidays which are observed in Ukraine, Great Britain and USA. What do these holidays have in common? Are there any differences in celebration in these countries?

A public holiday in Ukraine is a holiday typically established by Ukrainian law makers and is normally a non working day during the year. The public holidays in Ukraine are often days of a famous event (Independence day), or may be a religious celebration for instance Christmas. 

The Ukrainian National Day is a specific date on the 24 August (1991) to observe the Independence Day of Ukraine.  Often this public holiday in Ukraine is not called as National Day. However, the banks, schools along with other public buildings would be closed.  Public Holidays in Ukraine

New Year’s Day - January 1. In addition to the traditional celebrations the Old New Year’s Day, a folk symbol of tradition and originality, is marked on January 14.

Ortodox Christmas Day - January 7

International Women’s Day - March 8

Easter - movable: May 5, 2013; April 20, 2014; 

Labor Day - May 1 and 2 (2 days)

Victory Day - May 9

Holy Trinity Day - movable:  June 23, 2013; June 8, 2014; 

Constitution Day - June 28

Independence Day - August 24

Except Ortodox Easter and Svyata Triytsia, all the above holidays are celebrated on a fixed day. Ortodox Christmas Day and Velykden’ (Ortodox Easter) are celebrated in accord to the Orthodox Old Calendar.

Important notice: In Ukraine, if a holiday falls on a weekend, there will be a day off on the following Monday.

Public holidays in the United Kingdom are the public holidays observed in some or all of the countries of the United Kingdom. Most businesses and non-essential services are closed on public holidays, although some of retail businesses do open on some of the public holidays.

The United Kingdom has no national day holiday marked or celebrated. The lack of a formal founding date and no constitution may be the reason for the lack of a national day.

 The statutory minimum holidays are currently 5.6 weeks a year (including any bank holidays or public holidays that are taken. 

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, public holidays are commonly referred to as bank holidays, and the two terms are often used interchangeably, although there is a difference.

Bank holidays are holidays when banks and many other businesses are closed for the day. Public holidays are holidays which have been observed through custom and practice.

When a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the holiday is normally postponed to the next following working weekday, which is then referred to as a 'substitute public holiday' or the date on which the public holiday is "observed". This is normally the next following Monday, but if that day is itself already a public holiday or a substitute public holiday, then it may be the following Tuesday. Most commonly this happens when Christmas Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, in which case the following Monday will be a substitute public holiday for Christmas Day, and the Tuesday will be a substitute holiday for Boxing Day; whereas if Christmas Day falls on a Friday, then it will be observed on the Friday, but Boxing Day (falling on the Saturday) will be observed on the following Monday. In this way, public holidays are not 'lost' on years when they coincide with weekends. (Note that, unlike the USA, where public holidays falling on a Saturday are sometimes observed on the preceding Friday, British public holidays are always moved backwards, not forwards.)

Increasingly, there are calls for public holidays on the patron saints' days in England, Scotland and Wales (Northern Ireland already has St Patrick's Day as a holiday). An online petition sent to the Prime Minister received 11,000 signatures for a public holiday in Wales on St. David's Day; in England there are calls for a public holiday on  St. George's Day.

For constitutional reasons, the United States does not have national holidays in the sense that most other nations do, i.e. days on which all businesses are closed by law and employees have a day off.

NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

New Year's Day - January1

Martin Luther King Day - third Monday in January President's Day - third Monday in February

Memorial Day - last Monday in May

Independence Day – July 4

Labor Day - first Monday in September

Columbus Day - second Monday in October Veterans Day – November11 Thanksgiving Day - fourth Thursday in November Christmas Day - December 25

In a strict sense, there are no national holidays in the United States. The above ten holidays are proclaimed by the federal government as holidays for federal government employees (commonly called legal or public holidays).