SEASONSThe four seasons of the year are: winter, spring, summer and autumn. The weather depends on the season and the climate of the country: it changes with the change of the season. Winter is the coldest season of the year. The sun rises late and sets early. Its rays are pale. The air is frosty, it often snows. The ground is covered with a white sheet. The snow lies deep. Sometimes it’s slippery and we must be very careful out of doors. Rivers and lakes are frozen over, they are covered with ice. When violent North winds blow the weather is nasty. Towards the end of winter the temperature grows milder. Spring comes on the first of March. Under the bright sunrays the snow begins to melt. The icy sheet on the rivers and lakes cracks and melts as well. The sky becomes blue, the air is fresh and fragrant, the birds come back from the warm lands and twitter in the trees. Spring is the revival of Nature. April showers bring May flowers. Everything looks fresh and joyous. By and by the sunrays become hotter, the days become longer and the nights – shorter and warmer. Summer has come. The sky is cloudless but sometimes the thunder crashes and drops of rain fall on the dusty grass. The rain cools the air and lays the dust. Summer is followed by autumn. It’s a rainy season and the weather is mostly dull. But there may be a spell of sunny weather in late September, which we call INDIAN SUMMER, when the sky seems high, the sun shines and the earth is covered with bright fallen leaves. But sunny days are rare. There is either a continuous rain called drizzle or it pours and the English say: It’s raining cats and dogs. The days rapidly shorten and winter sets in. We can’t influence the weather but we are always anxious to know what it is going to be like.
12. TRAVELLING The desire to get away from everyday trouble and tension is so great today. Tourism is the best way to satisfy it. Travel gives you an opportunity to relax, to do some sightseeing; it broadens your mind and world outlook. So, everybody is on the move in the summer months.
Travelling can be considered as an entertainment and as a rest. It can be very useful and it also can give us a lot of interesting and curious information.
A great number of travelling companies and agencies offer us organized tours. The employees of such firms will help you to select the most suitable trips, excursions, hotels and so on, according to your possibilities. In a travelling company you will be answered all the questions you are interested in, about the accommodation, meals, the journey. A brief video-film about a planned trip can be demonstrated, you also can look through the price-list. They will advise you the most convenient kind of transport. In summer period fast and cheap charter planes trips have a wide circulation. If you are going to visit a foreign country, you should appeal to a tourist agency beforehand. The inhabitants of our republic should receive a special sanction called a visa to enter many countries. For obtaining a visa you should fill in a special form, a kind of a questionnaire, an employee of the firm will help you to make it, if it is necessary. If you wish to travel within the CIS, you can organize your rest independently: plan the route, provide the transport, assure an accommodation, take care of your luggage and provide yourself with food. You can select any kind of transport you like best: a car, a bus, a train, a plane. The fastest is the plane, but it is also the most expensive one. Therefore most people prefer travelling by train or by bus. If you are going to have a rest in summer, you should reserve the tickets in advance, because you simply won't be able to get them. A ticket can be reserved by telephone or directly in an advance booking office It is also necessary to think about a return ticket. After that you can reserve a room in a hotel of the town, where you are going to spend some time. You can reserve a single, a double room or apartments. If I had an opportunity, I would visit Great Britain and the USA with great pleasure. China also attracts me very much. I think that some day my dream will come true.
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