The seasons of the year

 

It's a universal truth that every season is beautiful in its own way. Isn't it wonderful to tramp down the country lanes on a frosty winter day? Everything is white with snow and it crunches under your feet. The rime sparkles on the branches and the icicles like precious diamonds hang from the roofs of the houses. It's a merry time for both children and grown-ups. They can go skating and skiing, sledging and having a fight with snowballs or making a snowman. I suppose, it is very pleasant while the frost lasts, an unpleasant time comes when the thaw begins.

Cars and buses go along streets splashing the mud and slush on the passers-by. Everyone is grumbling and scolding the weather. But soon a warm wind blows up heavy grey clouds and the sun shines brightly in the cloudless azure sky. In a few months summer will come.

Summer is the most suitable season for holidays and vacations. People enjoy bright summer days if they are in the country or at the seaside. They go bathing and swimming, and fishing and boating. But it's unbearable to stay in town on such hot and glaring days. Everybody droops and shambles and tries to hide in the shade.

Then after a good rest autumn and harvest time comes. The corn has turned golden and the farmer will reap it and put it in his barn. The air is fresh and full of the autumn fragrance of ripe apples, plums and peaches and of course, coloured asters, chrysanthemums. But the weather is so changeable in autumn, people have to wear raincoats and umbrellas if they don't want to get wet through. The dead leaves cover the ground like a thick motley carpet, the roads are slippery and wet, there are lots of puddles in the streets and again everyone is looking forward to frosty winter days and much snow out-of-doors.

It's rather difficult to say what season is the best one, however dull and nasty or charming and marvelous the weather may be.

As to me, I always look forward to summer. I am never tired of its long sunny days, warm rains with thunderstorms and hail, the buzz of mosquitoes and midges. I like to spend my summer holidays at the seaside.

In my childhood I used to enjoy playing on the beach, making castles and forts in the sands. When one becomes older one begins to notice the murmur of the sea and it's so beautiful to look at the moon's way on the water in the darkness. The air is fresh and it's easy to breathe. I like to lie in the sun getting as brown, paddle in the water or get splashed by the waves.

But it's not every year that you can go to the seaside. Sometimes I spend my holidays in the country.  I gather strawberries and flowers or swim in the river. Very often, I help my granny in the vegetable garden weeding it or gathering tomatoes, cucumbers or radishes. I like to walk in the rain or just sit indoors watching the raindrops falling down from the green leaves and blades of the grass onto the ground. When summer is over, I always feel sorry, because it is always too short.

 

People, their appearances and character

 

As you know people from different countries do not look the same. For example, people from countries such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden are usually tall. They have fair hair, blue eyes and a pale complexion.

Most people in Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece are rather short. They usually have black or dark brown wavy hair, brown eyes and light brown skin.

Most people from central and southern parts of Africa have  black curly hair and very dark skin. They have   dark brown eyes, full lips and a wide, flattish nose.

People from Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya usually have dark hair and dark brown eyes. They have dark skin.

The northern Chinese are quite short, with thick black hair and dark, slanting eyes. They have a small nose and a yellowish complexion.

Those who live in hot countries wear light clothes like shorts, T-shirts and slippers. People from northern countries such as Canada, Russia and Finland wear too much clothes in winter – coats, hats, scarves, winter boots and other warm things.

In my opinion character does not depend on appearance. So, a very beautiful girl can be angry, nervous person who hates everybody and everything. But an ugly plump person can be really nice and friendly. It can be a good friend, who can always help you. So I advise everybody not to judge people by their appearance.

 

Hobbies

Hobbies differ like tastes. If you have chosen a hobby according to your character and taste you are lucky because your life becomes more interesting.

Hobbies are divided into four large classes: doing things, making things, collecting things, and learning things. The most popular of all hobby groups is doing things. It includes a wide variety of activities, everything from gardening to travelling and from chess to volleyball.

Gardening is one of the oldest of man's hobbies. It's a well-known fact that the English are very fond of gardening and growing flowers, especially roses.

Both grown-ups and children are fond of playing different computer games. This is a relatively new hobby but it's becoming more and more popular. Making things includes drawing, painting, making sculpture, designing costumes, handicrafts. Two of the most famous hobby painters were President Eisenhower and Sir Winston Churchill.

Some hobbyists write music or play musical instruments. Almost everyone collects something at some period in his life: stamps, coins, matchboxes, books, records, postcards, toys, watches. Some collections have no real value. Others become so large and so valuable that they are housed in museums and galleries.

Many world-famous collections started in a small way with one or two items. People with a good deal of money often collect paintings, rare books and other art objects. Often such private collections are given to museums, libraries and public galleries so that others might take pleasure in seeing them.

No matter what kind of hobby a person has, he always has the opportunity of learning from it. By reading about the things he is interested in, he is adding to what he knows. Learning things can be the most exciting aspect of a hobby.

AIDS

 

AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and is thought to be caused primarily by a virus that invades white blood cells (lymphocytes) and certain other body cells including the brain.

Although treatments for both AIDS and HIV exist to slow the virus' progression in a human patient, there is no known cure. The rate of clinical disease progression varies widely between individuals and has been shown to be affected by many factors such as host susceptibility.

AIDS is thought to have originated in sub-Saharan Africa during the twentieth century and is now a global epidemic.

In 1983 and 1984, French and U.S. researchers independently identified the virus believed to cause AIDS as an unusual type of slow-acting retrovirus now called «human immunodeficiency virus» or HIV. Like other viruses, HIV is basically a tiny package of genes. But being a retrovirus, it has the rare capacity to copy and insert its genes right into a human DNA.

Once inside a human host cell, the retrovirus using its own capacities begins to copy its genetic code into a DNA molecule which is then incorporated into the host's DNA. The virus becomes an integral part of the person's body. But the viral DNA may sit hidden and inactive within human cells for years, until some trigger stimulates it to replicate.

Thus HIV may not produce illness until its genes are «turned on» five, ten, fifteen or perhaps more years after the initial infection.

During the latent period, HIV carriers who harbour the virus without any sign of illness can unknowingly infect others. On average, the dormant virus seems to be triggered into action three to six years after first invading human cells. When switched on, viral replication may speed along, producing new viruses that destroy fresh lymphocytes. As viral replication spreads, the lymphocyte destruction virtually sabotages the entire immune system.

In essence, HIV viruses do not kill people, they merely render the immune system defenseless against other infections, e.g. yeast invasions, toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus, massive herpes infections, special forms of pneumonia that kill in half of all AIDS patients.

That is AIDS. There are several types of AIDS. No one has been cured up to the present moment.

 

Healthy Way of Life

Scientists say that in the future people will live longer. With healthier lifestyles and better medical care the average person will live to 90 or 100 instead of 70 and 75 like today. When the human genome is decoded, we'll probably live up to 150. Incurable diseases will be cured and "bad" genes replaced.

But that's tomorrow. And today, we continue to stuff ourselves with fast food — chips and pizzas, hamburgers and hot dogs. We are always in a hurry. We have no time to enjoy a home-cooked dinner with family and friends. We want to eat now and we want to eat fast. What is tasty is not always healthy. Doctors say that chips and pizzas are fattening, cola spoils our teeth and coffee shortens our lives.

If we eat too much, we'll become obese, and obesity leads to heart disease, diabetes and other serious illnesses. But the world today is getting fatter and fatter. America is the world's leader in obesity, but Europe is quickly catching up.

Lack of exercise is another serious problem. We spend hours in front of our computers and TV-sets. Few of us do morning exercises. We walk less, because we prefer to use cars or public transport. Research shows, however, that young people who don't take enough exercise often suffer from heart attacks.

It's common knowledge that smoking and drinking can shorten our lives dramatically. Cigarette-smoking, for example, kills about 3 million people every year. Many of them die from lung cancer. Some aren't even smokers. They are people who live or work with heavy smokers. Yet many young people smoke and drink. Why? One answer is that tobacco and drinks companies invest enormous sums of money in advertising their products. For them cigarettes and alcoholic drinks mean money. For us they mean disease and even death.

We all know that the healthier we are, the better we feel. The better we feel, the longer we live. So why not take care of ourselves?

 

Immigration

 

Immigration has existed during the whole history of humankind. At distant times tribes roamed in search for new pastures for their livestock, new places for hunting and fishery. Today migration still takes place in the world, people are forced to change their places of living due to different natural and man-made calamities. So migration is the process which takes place when an individual or a group leaves one country for another with the intention to settle permanently down in that country.

There are many reasons which make people leave their homes and move to other places. Economic reasons have always been among the main reasons for migration. Life in poverty and despair often forces people to search a better life. The gap between the developed countries and the third world countries increases year by year, as a result people move to industrialized countries in order to have stable earnings, better employment opportunities and higher standards of living. Many people migrate because of natural catastrophes; here it is possible to mention current situation in Japan – natural disasters have forced thousands of people leave their native country in search for security. Some people change their place of living in search for political freedom; it can be migration towards political liberty and political rights or escape from government persecution. It also makes sense to name ethnic and religious reasons. Ethnic conflicts in some countries and religious intolerance often force people to look for refuge in other countries. Wars and high rate of criminality also induce people to change the countries they live in.

Immigration has both positive and negative consequences for people. After immigration people receive more opportunities for education and self-realization at work, better life standards, security and confidence in their future, more social benefits, etc. But we shouldn’t forget about reverse of the coin. Immigration has its negative consequences as well. Pretty often immigration causes dissatisfaction of native citizens: it leads to racism, increased antagonism and other social problems.

Mass Media

Newspapers, radio and especially TV inform us of what is going on in this world and give us wonderful possibilities for education and entertainment. They also influence the way we see the world and shape our views.

Of course, not all newspapers and TV programs report the events objectively, but serious journalists and TV reporters try to be fair and provide us with reliable information.

It is true that the world today is full of dramatic events and most news seems to be bad news. But people aren't interested in ordinary events. That is why there are so many programs and articles about natural disasters, plane crashes, wars, murders and robberies. Good news doesn't usually make headlines. Bad news does.

Some people say that journalists are given too much freedom. They often intrude on people's private lives. They follow celebrities and print sensational stories about them which are untrue or half-true.   The question is — should this be allowed?

The main source of news for millions of people is television. People like TV news because they can see everything with their own eyes. And that's an important advantage. Seeing, as we know, is believing. Besides, it's much more difficult for politicians to lie in front of the cameras than on the pages of newspapers.

Still, many people prefer the radio. It's good to listen to in the car, or in the open air, or when you do something about the house.

Newspapers don't react to events as quickly as TV, but they usually provide us with extra detail, comment and background information.

The Internet has recently become another important source of information. Its main advantage is that news appears on the screen as soon as things happen in real life and you don't have to wait for news time on TV.