Топик: Зачетные темы по английскому языку для школы /english/

Nowadays travelling by air is one of the dangerous means of travelling. There are a lot of air crashes and many people die in them. And I think people prefer safety to comfort on board a ship.

Though we all seem to agree that the future belongs to air transport, other means of travelling are still popular today.

Holidays

Holiday is a day set apart for religious observance or for the commemoration of some extraordinary event or distinguished person, or for some other public occasion.

National holidays are days set aside by official government proclamation to celebrate different occasions.

The U.S. has no national holidays. Legal holidays – days on which banks, schools, or other public institutions and most places of business are closed.

Memorial Day is a legal holiday, observed annually on the last Monday in May in most of the United States, It honours the nation's armed services killed in wartime. The holiday, originally called Decoration Day, is traditionally marked by parades, memorial speeches and ceremonies, and the decoration of graves with flowers and flags. Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868, on the order of General John Alexander Logan for the purpose of decorating the graves of the American Civil War dead. It was observed on May 30 until 1971, when most states changed to a newly established federal schedule of holiday observance.

Independence Day is an annual holiday commemorating the formal adoption by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia. Although the signing of the Declaration was not completed until August, the Fourth of July holiday has been accepted as the official anniversary of United States independence and is celebrated in all states and territories of the U.S.

The Fourth of July is traditionally celebrated publicly with parades and pageants, patriotic speeches, and organised firing of guns and cannons and displays of fireworks. Family picnics and outings are a feature of private Fourth of July celebrations.

Thanksgiving Day, a legal holiday in the U.S., was first celebrated in early colonial times in New England. The actual origin is probably the harvest festivals that are traditional in many parts of the world. After the first harvest was completed by the Plymouth colonists in 1621, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving.

In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a day of thanksgiving, and since then each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, generally designating the fourth Thursday of November as a holiday.

New Year's Day is the first day of the year, January 1 in the Gregorian calendar. In the Middle Ages most European countries used the Julian calendar and observed New Year's Day on March 25, called Annunciation Day and celebrated as the birth to the Son of God. With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, Roman Catholic countries began to celebrate New Year's Day on January 1.

The custom of visiting friends, relatives and neighbours on New Year’s Day is one of the Old World traditions that has taken on a new form in the United States. A favourite place to see the old year out is New York City’s Time Square.

Christmas is an annual festival, held on December 25, to celebrate the Nativity, or birth of Christ. The Christmas tree, an evergreen trimmed with lights and other decorations, is derived from the so-called paradise tree, symbolising Eden.

Saint Valentine's Day, a holiday honouring lovers, is celebrated on February 14. There is a custom of sending greeting cards or gifts to express affection. The cards, known as valentines, are often designed with hearts to symbolise love. The holiday probably derives from the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalis (February 15). The festival gradually became associated with the feast day (February 14) of two Roman martyrs, both named St. Valentine, who lived in the 3rd century. St. Valentine has traditionally been regarded as the patron saint of lovers.

Washington

Washington is the capital city of the United States. It is located on the north bank of the Potomac River.

George Washington, the first President of the USA, after whom the city was named, selected an area for the capital. A hundred square miles were taken from states of Maryland and Virginia. It was called the District of Columbia. The city is divided into four sections: NW, NE, SW, and SE. Numbered streets run north and south: First Street, Second Street… Lettered streets such as A-street, B-street run east and west. Bear in mind that every section has an independent street system. If you’re looking for Third Street, you need to know what section of the city it is in.

Washington is one of the most beautiful and unusual cities in the United States. It has little industry, and only one million people. One reason Washington looks different from other cities is that no building in the city may be more than 40 metres tall. There are no skyscrapers, because they would hide the city’s many monuments from view. One can easily find a park, a square or an open area there. The most impressive and the best-known ones are the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

The heart of Washington is the Capitol, which is connected with the White House by Pennsylvania Avenue. It dominates the city of Washington. All the tourists begin sightseeing from the Capitol and see the Senate Chamber, the Hall of Representatives, the Statuary Hall and some others.

Thousands of tourists visit Washington every day. People from all parts of the United States come to see their capital and the monuments to those who in past centuries struggled for the independence of their country. The Washington Monument, the tallest stone structure in the USA, is in the Potomac River. It was opened to the public in 1888. It is 555 feet tall, is called the “Pencil” because of its shape. It is three blocks south of the White House. There is an elevator, which will carry you to 500-foot level observation windows. The Lincoln Memorial is in the west of the Washington Monument. It is designed like a Greek temple. The dominant figure is the realistic figure of Abraham Lincoln seated in the centre of the open temple. The Jefferson Memorial is worth seen, too. It is situated south of the Washington monument near the Potomac River. The Library of Congress contains millions of books and manuscripts. People are also interested in churches and cathedrals. The Washington Cathedral is on Massachusetts Avenue, and the Arlington National Cemetery is outside the city limits just across the Potomac River near the Pentagon in Virginia. The famous Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is visited by millions of people every year.

Washington is the place where mass demonstrations take place against unemployment and racism, for democracy and civil rights.