. You have received a letter from your English-speaking pen friend Da-vid who writes: …At school we are doing projects about types of families in different coun-tries. How does a typical Russian family look like? Do you have a lot of relatives? How does your family spend time together? You will help me a lot if you could tell me about the lifestyle in Russia. By the way, my elder brother got married last month…

Write a letter to David. In your letter:

– answer his questions

– ask 3 questions about his brother’s wife

Write 100–140 words. Remember the rules of letter writing

New Year  is a very popular family holiday in Russia. It is celebrated on January 1.

Now all Russians don’t work from the 31th of December to the 8th of January. It is so called winter holidays.  The most popular New Year symbols is a New Year's Tree. You can see a lot of decorated trees in streets and in every house. Another popular tradition is the arrival of Father Frost and his granddaughter the snow girl. They bring in New Year presents for the good children and keep them under the New Year's Tree. Children tell poems  to get a present. The main New Year celebrations begin from night of December 31.
My  family tries to  get-together. We decorated our flat. We decorated a tree. I helped my mother to clean all flat. Then we use of fireworks and   eat delicious meals etc. We give each other presents. We play games. We drink  champagne, eat the traditional salad Olivje, listen to the New Year Speech of the President. If the weather is fine we go for a walk. All  members of my family are happy.My family  likes this holiday. 

Nowadays we are often told that young generation is absolutely impolite and disorganized. As for me, I partially agree with this opinion as there are various facts that support it.

To begin with, teenagers are reluctant to listen to their parents` advices because teens are absolutely convinced that they are always right and consequently do not need any help. They feel like looking independent and confident but, of course, in fact they can neither live on their own nor manage with all difficulties themselves. Moreover, teenagers are often very selfish and self-absorbed. They think, they are much better than other people. They do not understand thatthe way you treat people - you will be treated by them. In addition, I strongly believe that teenagers` behavior is influenced by mass media. Today most of young people have TV-sets as well as computers with permanent Internet connection in their bedrooms. Therefore, despite the fact that a lot of TV programmes are inappropriate for teens they watch them because few parents actually check up what their children watch. So, programmes containing offensive language, scenes of violence and loud screeches influence teens badly. It is really difficult for children to determine the difference between the reality and the fantasy. Hence, they start imitating the violent behaviour they see in their favourite programmes.

However, there are people who oppose this view. They suppose that teens seem to be rude and selfish due to their age. Their character is changing, they are growing up and have to take responsibilities and responsibility for their actions. It is very difficult for them to cope with these problems, that is why they become aggressive.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that a lot depends on parents and the way a child is bringing up. If a teenager has the common sense, then he or she will be able to solve any problem and improve his or her behavior.