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Текст 3. Women's Day. Правда или неправда?. Mother's Day. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time to. It is a vacation for. Christmas in Britain is all about nice food, presents and family reunions. Or is it? An alarmingly large number of British people woul
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Текст 3
Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. Countries around the world celebrate IWD to give credit to the economic, political and social achievements of women and to show respect to their contributions in the development of their countries. The IWD was first celebrated on 19 March 1911 in Germany following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. It's only in the beginning of the 20th century that the day was officially and internationally acknowledged due to the rapid industrialization and the social protest that it accompanied.
On this day women are usually given flowers and small gifts. It is also celebrated as an equivalent of Mother's Day in some countries. Children also give small gifts to their mothers and grandmothers. In countries like Portugal, it is customary, at the night of 8 March, for groups of women to celebrate the holiday with women-only dinners and parties. In 1975, the United Nations gave official sanction to and started financing International Women's Day.
Although, women are becoming more powerful in business, entertainment, politics and many more areas, there are still a lot of inequalities around the world which call for the mobilization of everybody to grant women the proper status they merit.
Ответьте на вопрос:
When was the first IWD celebrated?
Правда или неправда?
Social unrest and industrialization were some of the causes that led to IWD
Выберите правильный вариант:
The IWD is celebrated _____ around the world
· Similarly
· Differently
Women still need to fight…
· For more equality
· For higher wages
Текст 4
Mother's Day
The modern Mother's Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March, April, or May as a day to honor mothers and motherhood. In the UK and Ireland, it follows the old traditions of Mothering Sunday, celebrated in March/April.
Historically, the celebration has it origin in ancient customs and traditions. The ancient Greeks kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno (an ancient Roman goddess), though mothers were usually given gifts on this day. In Europe there were several long standing traditions where a specific Sunday was set aside to honor motherhood and mothers such as Mothering Sunday which is a Christian festival celebrated throughout Europe that falls on the 4th Sunday in Lent. One of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the United States was the " Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe. Written in 1870, the Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.
Today the holiday has become very popular around the world. People take the day as an opportunity to pay tribute to their mothers and thank them for all their love and support. There is also a tradition of gifting flowers, cards and other gift to mothers on the occasion.
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Согласитесь или не согласитесь:
· Mother's Day is celebrated on the same date around the world.
· The celebration's origin is ancient.
· Mothering Sunday is observed in the United States.
· In the USA, Mother's Day was initially related to the feminists demands to recognize the importance of women.
Текст 5
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is celebrated in the USA and Canada. In The USA, it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November every year. The Canadians celebrate it on the second Monday in October. It is associated with giving thanks to God. In the beginning people expressed gratitude for the harvest they reaped. It used to be a religious holiday but now it has become a secular celebration.
The most important part of the celebration is the dinner which includes the customary turkey served with cranberry sauce, and pumpkin. A lot of business goes on during this holiday. For example, restaurants take advantage of the holiday to sell turkey dinners
Families and friends usually get together for a large meal or dinner during Thanksgiving and have a lot of fun. That's why, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is considered one of the busiest travel periods of the year. Students are given a four-day or five-day weekend vacation. Thanksgiving is also a paid holiday for most workers.
Выберите правильный вариант:
The origin of the name " Thanksgiving" comes from:
· thanks given to God
· thanks given for the help the early settlers got from each other.
Thanksgiving is a time to
· worship God
· Thank god, eat and have fun.
It is a vacation for
· Everybody
· a lot of people
The main food that is prepared in this celebration is:
· cranberry sauce, and pumpkin
· turkey
Текст 6
CHRISTMAS
Christmas in Britain is all about nice food, presents and family reunions. Or is it? An alarmingly large number of British people would say that there is a lot more to Christmas than meets the eye (of a foreigner, of course).
Shopping.
Officially Christmas and New Year celebrations run from the 24th of December to the 2nd of January. However, for many Brits the Christmas marathon starts as early as the beginning of October with the first festive adverts on TV. By the end of November shops are so packed that only the gloomy realization that Christmas is looming and there is nothing you can do about it can make you swap the comfort of a soft sofa and nice cup of tea for big crowds of panic-stricken people.
The idea of Christmas shopping is that you spend as much money as you can on anything you cast your eyes on, preferably something neither you nor your family (friends, pets etc. ) will ever use. An average British family spends £ 670 or more around the Christmas period. The money is spent on a Christmas tree, presents, and essential food such as a huge turkey, hundreds of mince pies, Christmas cake, ham and lots of nibbles. Another big source of spending is Christmas cards with an average British person buying 46 greetings per year!
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Some people just cannot stop spending. It is very easy to spend more money than you actually have as most people have a number of credit cards. Buying on credit is increasingly becoming part of British culture as people are constantly encouraged by banks and advertising to buy more. It is not unusual for someone to turn Christmas spending into paying debts for the rest of the year. And, of course, there are also January sales. Hung-over and exhausted the whole population of the British Isles rushes to shops to hunt for bargains and next year’s Christmas presents!
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