N. Kryazheva - The United States and the United Kingdom. Past and Present (pdf), страница 20

It is aday for jokes and tricks. All jokes are very old, but still they make people laugh.In some places tricks are played only in the morning of April 1st. Then, if anyone tries to fool someonelater that day, or on the next he is met with these words: ''April Fool is past, and you are the biggestfool at last!"Hallowe'en is celebrated on the 31st of October. You are expected to meet witches and ghosts thatnight. Halloween is an old word for "Hallows Evening", the night before "All Hallows or All Saint's Day".Guy Fawkes' Day is marked on November 5th. All over the country people build wood fires, or"bonfires", in their gardens.

People make guys with straw, old clothes and newspapers. On top of eachbonfire is a guy. That's a figure of Guy Fawkes. Who was Guy Fawkes? On November 5th 1605, he triedto kill King James I, but he was caught and beheaded in the Tower of London.Every August, Edinburgh in Scotland has the biggest art festival in Europe. There are plays, concertsand exhibitions from countries all over the world. That's the official festival.

Hundreds of artists ofinternational reputation from all parts of the world are invited to the Festival. It has risen after World WarII.The Shakespeare Festival in Stratford was held in 1769. It had no particular chronologicalsignificance, but it was to become the prelude to all the festivals that followed. A wooden amphitheaterwas built, two wagons arrived with fireworks, and medals were issued in copper, silver or gold withShakespeare's likeness on one side. There were ringing of bells, firing of cannons, breakfast in the TownHall, Speeches, Oratoria in church and so on for three days. Only in 1864 it was decided to produceShakespeare's plays. Now in the Festival season from April to September people flock to Stratford topack its theatres.May 1 was an important day in Middle Ages. In the very early morning young girls went to the fieldsand washed their faces with dew.

They believed this made them very beautiful. Also on May Day theyoung men of each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows. People danced round themaypole. This holiday has nothing in common with May 1st (International Day of Solidarity of Workers).Words and Phrases:rite - обряд, ритуалfeast - празднествоto go back - восходитьwreath -венокmistletoe - омела белаяWhit Monday - духов деньhaggis - бараний рубецscone - пшеничная лепешкаbun -.сдобная булочкаghost - приведениеbonfire - фейерверкprelude - вступлениеfire-work -фейерверкto issue - выпускатьcannon - пушкаto flock - скапливатьсяdew - росаmaypole - майское "дерево"Tasks:1.

Answer the following questions:a. What is the most popular holiday in Great Britain ?b. What is your hobby?c. What is your favourite holiday?2. Ask your group-mate about any holiday he(she) likes.3. Make up short dialogues about English holidays.4. You are given 5 minutes. Look through the text and speak about the holidav you are fond of.THE WEEK-ENDMost people in Britain work for five days a week from Monday to Friday. Schools, colleges anduniversities are closed on Saturday and Sunday.

The week-end consists of Friday night, Saturday, andSunday. People who stay at home at the week-end try to relax, enjoy themselves.Week-end starts on Friday evening when people leave work and wish each other a nice week-end.Those who work away from home may go home. Some people go away for the week-end. They stay in ahotel or boarding house in the country or at the sea. On Friday night people like to go to a bar for thehappy hour, or the theatre. Nowadays it is not "in" to go to all-night parties, they get up early on Saturdaymorning. Saturday morning is the time for cleaning the house, washing the car, doing the laundry.Women usually do housework, sewing and gardening. Saturday morning is a busy time for shopping.

Onweekdays shops close between 5.30 and 6 p.m. (They are closed on Sundays.) The shops in the centreof big cities usually close at 1 p.m. in the afternoon.At about one o'clock people go out for lunch. After lunch they go for a walk or do some sports. OnSaturday afternoon sporting events take place - football, horse-racing, rugby, cricket and other sports.People either go and watch or sit and watch the sport programmes on television.Saturday evening is the favourite time for going out: parties, dances or theatre, may be pictures.

Somepeople like to go to watch a band.Church bells are a typical feature of an English Sunday morning. On Sunday morning most peoplestay in bed till 9 o'clock. Then they have a cup of tea or coffee. They look through the newspapers.Reading Sundays papers is one of the numerous traditions in Britain.

There are quite a number of paperswhich are published weekly on Sundays.After breakfast most people go for a walk or to the local pub. Usually men go to the pubs alone andtheir wives and children prepare for brunch*.At one or 1.30 people have brunch. It is a good time for all the family, when grandparents, parents andchildren go out to some restaurant and spend an hour or two over brunch. Brunch is a huge meal. Theyhave all sorts of salads, vegetables, chicken, cold meat, pies, fruit, coffee, pudding.Sunday evenings are rather quiet. Most people prefer to stay at home and watch television or just getready for Monday. So, they usually have an early night.___________________________* brunch - поздний завтрак.PUBS IN BRITAINMost countries have a national drink.

In England it is beer, and the "pub" is a peculiarly Englishinstitution.The pub is the place where people can meet and talk in a friendly atmosphere. It is quite different frombars or cafes in other countries. In cafes people drink coffee and get out. The atmosphere is ratherformal. But in pubs there is a general atmosphere of warmth and cosiness.Every pub has a sign outside with its name. ("The Pig and Whistle", "The Red Lion", "The Duke ofCambridge", etc.). All pubs have one distinctive feature: there is no waiter service there, if you | wantsomething you have to go and ask for it at the bar.

People usually sit at tables to chat in a small room,called the "bar", but the same term is used for great counter of wood, where people stand and have theirdrinks.English people are proud of their traditions, that's why even modern pubs look as if they were severalhundred years old. In ealier times people were served only drinks in pubs. Today you can get wine, coffeeand some food in them.The staff of the bar usually knows the regular customers and chat with them. The customers may playdifferent games (the most popular is the game of darts) or just watch TV. Some pubs organize a pub quiz.Nowadays nearly all pubs are owned by brewery*. The person who runs a pub (he is called "landlord")is employed by the brewery. But in earlier times all pubs were privately owned (they were called "inns"),and people could stay there for the night.There are two important peculiarities about pubs.

One is that they have strictly limited hours ofopening. Pubs are usually open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Each local government authority has power to fixits on "licensing hours".The second peculiarity is that most pubs are divided into at least two separated bars: the public barand the saloon one.The difference between them is that the saloon bar is less comfortable.Children are not allowed inside a pub if the pub, has no children's certificate.TELEVISION IN GREAT BRITAINTelevision is the most popular entertainment in British home life today.

In London people have four TVchannels:ВВС I, ВВС II, ITV = Independent Television (Channel III and Channel IV).The BBC is known for its objectivity in news reporting. The BBC is financed by Payments which aremade by all people who have TV-sets. People have to pay the licence fee.In 1932 the BBC World Service was set up with a licence to broadcast first to Empire and then to otherparts of the world. There is no advertizing on any BBC programme.ITV started in 1954. Commercial television gets its money from advertizing. The programmes on thischannel are financed by different companies, which do not have anything to do with the contents of theseprogrammes.________________________________* brewery - пивоваренный завод.ITV news programmes are not made by individual television companies.

lndependent Television Newsis owned jointly by all of them. So it has been protected from commercial influence.There are different types of TV programmes in Great Britain. BBC and ITV start early in the morning.One can watch news programmes, all kinds of chat shows, quiz shows, soap operas, different children'sprogrammes, dramas, comedies and different programmes of entertainment on these channels.News is broadcasted at regular intervals and there are panel discussions of current events.

Broadcastsfor schools are produced five days a week during school hours. In the afternoon and early evening TVstations show special pro-grammes for children.Operas, music concerts and shows are presented at various times. A large part of TV time is occupiedby serials.Britain has two channels (ВВС II and Channel IV) for presenting programmes on serious topics, whichare watched with great interest by a lot of people. These channels start working on early weekdaymornings.

But they translate mostly all kinds of education programmes.Week-end afternoons are devoted to sport. Sport events are usually broadcasted in the evening.These are the main channels in Great Britain. Only about a fifth of households receive satellite or cable.LEISUREThe British may be conservative about the times at which they take their holidays.

Holidays are muchconcentrated in the period between mid-July and mid-August. State schools and universities usually havesix-eight weeks off in summer from July to the end of August. Industrial workers and employees have twoor three weeks holidays, most professional workers have a month or more.Coasts are the most popular objectives of English people for their annual holiday. But many families areready to go to new places.

They have always been pioneers in travelling far away. Now foreign travel iswithin reach of most working people and they become familiar with some parts of continental Europe.Many take their cars often with tents or caravans, others travel in groups. As to every day leisure theEnglish are great lovers of competitive sports. Many games are English in origin and they have beenadopted to other countries, but cricket has been seriously adopted only in Great Britain.