2. Traditions and customs

Every nation and every country has its own customs and traditions. In Britain traditions play a more important part in the life of the people than in other countries.

Englishmen are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. Foreigners coming to England are struck at once by quite a number of customs and peculiarities in English life. Some ceremonies are rather formal, such as the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Trooping the Colour, the State opening of Parliament.

To this day an English family prefers a house with a fireplace and a garden to a flat in a modern house with central heating. Most English love 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. They love flowers very much.

English holidays are also part of their traditions. Christmas for instance is a church festival which is kept on December, 25. It is a day of special gifts and greetings. The usual salutation is "A Merry Christmas to you" and the reply - "The same to you". There is a custom amongst English children of hanging up stockings at the foot of their bed on Christmas Eve. They expect them to be fiiied with toys and sweets in the morning. Christmas trees are not always seen in English families, but an enormous fir-tree stands every winter in Trafalgar Square, in front of the National Gallery. It is brightly decorated. At home rooms are decorated with holly, ivy and misletoe. The Christmas festivities and tea-parties go on until January, 6, known as Twelfth Night.

Another traditional holiday is February, 14 known as St. Valentine's Day. It is customary on the day to send a Valentine, a card to someone you love, or to your best friend. You don't sign your name and for a person whom you send this card it is interesting to guess who has sent the card. Of course young people look forward to Valentine's Day, because they hope to receive many cards.

Vocabulary

custom	обычай
to be proud	гордиться
to be struck	удивиться
peculiarity	особенность
fire place	камин, очаг
central heating	центральное отопление
to be covered	покрыться
cement	цемент
church	церковь
gift	подарок
greeting	приветствие
the same to you	и тебя так же
to hang	вешать
stocking	чулок, носок
eve	канун
to expect	ожидать, надеяться
fir-tree	ель
holly	остролист
ivy	плющ
festivity	веселье, празднование
to be customary	быть обычным
to sign	подписывать
to guess	предполагать
to receive	получать, принимать

3. Naberezhnye chelny

Naberezhnye Chelny is second in size only to Kazan. Its population is half a million. People of more than sixty nationalities live here. The city has two parts: the old and the new. The history of Naberezhnye Chelny is interesting and romantic. In the sixteenth centuries these territories belonged to the khan. In 1552, Kazan was conquered by the army of Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible. As time passed the bank of the River Kama became covered with settlements of Russian migrants. Many of those settlements were called Chelny, which means "canoes" - "Canoes on the Bank". Now we see a modern whitestoned city.

Naberezhnye Chelny is a large industrial, cultural and educational center. As an industrial centre it has a lot of factories, they produce many things: food, clothing, building constructions motor-cars and so on. About half of its population is engaged in industry.

The cultural life of the town is rich. Some museums, clubs, cinemas, the Russian and Tatar Drama Theatres, Puppet's theatre open their doors to all those who want to visit them. Many famous singers, actors come to our town with their shows.

In Naberezhnye Chelny there are many colleges, institutes where you can receive professional training.

The town is very nice, especially in summer, when there are many green trees, a great deal of flowers. In the town there are some parks. Here you can see some monuments. There is the Cenotaph and Eternal Flame in memory of those who were killed in Great Patriotic and Civil Wars, the memorial to Musa Jalil, the famous Tatar writer, Phoenix, a symbol of eternity and revival, which personifies the Mother land.

People living in the town are friendly and hospitable. The average age of the inhabitants is 38.