Britain has recent by been described as a “leisure society.” This is because there are a great variety of leisure pursuits. Young people generally go out on Friday or Saturday nights to a disco, to a concert or to a pub. In recent years going out for a meal or getting a take-away meal have become popular too. During the past years there is a great increase in keeping fit and staying healthy. A lot of teens started running, jogging and going to different fitness clubs in their spare time. Aerobics classes and fitness clubs opened in every town, and the number of recreation centres greatly increased. Indoor pools, with their wave-making machines, water slides and tropical vegetation, have became very popular.
The same is true in Russia. A lot of teens go in for different kinds of sport. Sport helps them to feel as fit as a fiddle. In both countries there are special programmes for problem teenagers, such as a high-risk activities, for example they are taught to jump out of aeroplanes. But despite the increase in the number of teens participating in sport, the majority of young people still prefer to be spectators. They prefer to be couch potatoes. Watching sports on TV is a popular leisure activity, as is going to football matches on Saturday. Cinemas have been redesigned with four or more screens, each showing a different film at the same time, and a lot of teens like going to the cinemas too.
The young generation is fond of communication. There are many available methods of communication nowadays, and the most popular one is computers. A lot of teenagers spend plenty of time working on computers. The Internet seems really good fun. You may send e-mails to friends from different countries and get their answers instantly. You even may talk to them. It is easy and quick. A lot of teenagers have mobile telephones, so they can always be contacted, if they keep their telephone switched on, at any time of the day or night, or tend text messages.
1. How my family and I see The New Year in: I like the New Year's Day, it is my favourite holiday. The 1st of January is a winter holiday and it is the first day of the New Year. The 1st of January is in the middle of winter. The weather is usually fine and there is a lot of snow everywhere. As the 1st of January is a holiday I don't go to school and my parents don't go to work.
We usually have a very interesting New Year's party at school. We have it on the 28th or 29th of December.
Our family prepares for the New Year's holiday beforehand. My father buys and brings home a beautiful New Year's tree at the end of December. Our family has a tradition to buy it. We don't like artificial synthetic trees. I like to decorate the New Year's tree with toys, little coloured lights, sweets and a beautiful star on the top.
My mother and grandmother prepare our holiday supper and make a nice cake. I help them to lay the table.
All the members of our family clean the flat before the holiday and then each of us try to get dressed well. We like to see the New Year in at home with our relatives. They come to see us by 9 or 10 o'clock in the evening.
At 12 o'clock we sit at the festive table and we are glad to see the New Year in. There are a lot of delicious things on the table and we begin to celebrate the holiday. We say, to each other, "Best wishes for the New Year!" We begin to eat, to joke, to sing songs, to dance to music, to listen to the president's festive speech on TV. Then we watch the holiday salute and sometimes we go to the central square where there are a lot of people welcoming the New Year in!
I hope that the next year will be better than the last one.
The New Year's Day is always connected with our new hopes and dreams.
It is a pleasant moment to get presents on the New Year's Eve.
I usually get many nice useful things from my parents and relatives.
My parents put their presents under the New Year's tree.
We don't go to bed till morning, we continue to watch TV, dance, eat tasty things and make jokes.
I enjoy this holiday very much.
