Public holidays and celebrations in Britain — КиберПедия 

Поперечные профили набережных и береговой полосы: На городских территориях берегоукрепление проектируют с учетом технических и экономических требований, но особое значение придают эстетическим...

Адаптации растений и животных к жизни в горах: Большое значение для жизни организмов в горах имеют степень расчленения, крутизна и экспозиционные различия склонов...

Public holidays and celebrations in Britain

2017-09-26 410
Public holidays and celebrations in Britain 0.00 из 5.00 0 оценок
Заказать работу

There are some public holidays a year in Great Britain. There are days on which people need not go in to work. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday. In Scotland, the New Year's Day is also a public holiday. Most of these holidays are of religious origin, though it would be right to say that for the greater part of the population they have long lost their religious significance and, are simply days on which people relax, eat, drink and make merry.

All the public holidays, except Christmas Day and Boxing Day observed on December the 25th and the 26th respectively, are movable; they do not fall on the same day each year.

In England the New Year is not as widely or as enthusiastically observed as Christmas. Some people ignore it completely and go to bed at the same time as usual on New Year's Eve. Many others, however, do celebrate it in one way or another, the type of celebration varying very much according to the local custom, family tradition and personal taste.

The most common type of celebration is a New Year party, either a family party or one arranged by a group of young people. This usually begins at about eight o'clock and goes on until the early hours of the morning. There is a lot of drinking, mainly beer, wine, gin and whisky; sometimes the hosts make a big bowl of punch which consists of wine, spirits, fruit juice and water in varying proportions. There is usually a buffet supper of cold meat, pies, sandwiches, cakes and biscuits. At midnight everyone can hear the chimes of Big Ben, and a toast is drunk to the New Year.

Another popular way of celebrating the New Year is to go to a New Year's dance. Most hotels and dance halls hold a special dance on New Year's Eve. The hall is decorated, there are several different bands and the atmosphere is very pleasant.

The most famous celebration is in London round the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus where crowds gather and sing and welcome the New Year. In Trafalgar Square there is also a big crowd and someone usually falls into the fountain.

Those who have no desire or no opportunity to celebrate the New Year themselves can sit and watch other people celebrating on television. It is an indication of the relative unimportance of the New Year in England that the television producers seem unable to find any traditional English festivities for their programmes and usually show Scottish ones.

January the 1st, New Year's Day, is not a public holiday, unfortunately for those who like to celebrate most of the night. Some people send New Year cards and give presents but this is not a widespread custom.

XII. Questions for discussion:

1. How many public holidays a year in Great Britain can you name?

2. How do they differ from religious holidays?

3. Are the same holidays celebrated in every corner of the country? What is different?

4. How do the British celebrate the New Year?

5. Where does the most famous celebration take place?

6. Is this celebration different from the New Year in Belarus?

XIII. Read about social customs in Britain.

SOCIAL CUSTOMS IN BRITAIN

THE BRITISH, as a nation do all kinds of things in their spare time: go shopping or jogging, play darts or football, collect records or stamps, go to church or to the pub. The average working person has 40 hours of free time a week, sleeps for 49 hours, spends 45 hours at work or travelling to and from work. The remaining hours are spent on “essential activities” (food shopping, housework, child care, cooking, etc.) and of course, on some free time activities, like visiting relatives or taking driving lessons.

ACCORDING TO the latest figures, during the past year, the most popular activity of all was walking: 35 million British people regularly walked two miles or more. More energeti­cally, ten million people went to keep fit classes or took part in aerobics or yoga and half as many did some kind of weight train­ing in a gym. People go cycling play football and golf. Other popular sports are bowling, badminton, tennis and squash. Less actively, people play snooker or pool, darts and fishing.

WATCHING OTHER people playing is also a popular leisure activity: the favorite sports among TV viewers are football, horse-racing, snooker, cricket and tennis. But although mil­lions watch the matches on TV, not so many regularly go to watch football matches. 'New' television sports like American foot­ball, basketball and even darts are attracting loyal armchair experts.

THE FITNESS boom of the eighties led to a big rise in the numbers of people participating in sports. To cater for this boom and provide the up-to-date facilities people want, over 1,300 private health and fitness clubs and the same number of public leisure centers have been built during the past thirty years. These modern centers, with their swimming pools, squash courts, gyms and indoor courts for tennis and other sports, are competing with clubs, pubs and cinemas as places for people to go to spend their leisure time - and their money. Now practically every town has a leisure pool, often with a wave machine, water slides and tropical plants. Families can even spend their holidays at huge indoor water parks, where they can play or relax all day long in warmth and comfort without worrying about the weather outside. The big question, experts are asking is: should sport be taken seriously or should it be just fun?

 

XIV. Answer the questions:

1.Using the information from the text try to prove that the British is a nation of 2.sportsmen or sport armcair experts?

3.What kinds of sport are the most popular in Britain?

4.Why do people like spending time at leasure pools?

5.Find useful expressions from the text above on the topic «Social Customs».

 


Поделиться с друзьями:

Биохимия спиртового брожения: Основу технологии получения пива составляет спиртовое брожение, - при котором сахар превращается...

Общие условия выбора системы дренажа: Система дренажа выбирается в зависимости от характера защищаемого...

Особенности сооружения опор в сложных условиях: Сооружение ВЛ в районах с суровыми климатическими и тяжелыми геологическими условиями...

Историки об Елизавете Петровне: Елизавета попала между двумя встречными культурными течениями, воспитывалась среди новых европейских веяний и преданий...



© cyberpedia.su 2017-2024 - Не является автором материалов. Исключительное право сохранено за автором текста.
Если вы не хотите, чтобы данный материал был у нас на сайте, перейдите по ссылке: Нарушение авторских прав. Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!

0.009 с.