Almost in every culture in the world there is a celebration of thanks for rich harvest. The American Thanksgiving began as a feast of thanksgiving almost four hundred years ago.

Americans play tennis, hockey and most other international sports but they do not play football in the same way as the rest of the world. The players can run with the ball, touch and push each other.

Our youth is mostly similar to the youth abroad in many aspects of life. Numerous youth organizations have been formed since the Second World War, uniting young people from all classes and sections of the population.

Hobbies are & great British and American tradition. A hobby is a special interest or activity that you do in your time off. A "hobby" is usually something that a person does alone.

Many British people don't think about clothes very much. In Britain, as well as in the USA, men in of f icesusually wear suits and ties and women wear dresses or skirts (not trousers). Doctors, lawyers and business people wear quite formal clothes.

Canada is the second largest country in the world. Only Russia has a greater land area. Canada is situated in North America. Canada is slightly larger than the United States, but has only about a tenth as many people.

The Great Barrier Reef on the coast of Queensland is a garden under the sea. There are 1,400 different kinds of fish, and more than 300 kinds of coral. Tropical fruit and flowers grow on the beautiful islands.

Most Australians have been dreaming of a white Christmas for centuries. But the traditional European Christmas is just a myth for Australians. Santas wearing thick woollen clothes don't fit with Australia's thirty-degree heat.

There are many animals in Australia that you cannot see anywhere else. Did you know that? Of course, you did! I personally divide Australian animals into three categories: the good, the bad, the ugly. I think, it's reasonable.

A lot of Australians think you shouldn't worry too much about life. But some things in life are really important, and to many Australian men, one of these things is sport. It's something they don't joke about. Sport matters.

New Zealand is an island country in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1 600 km southeast of Australia and about 10 500 km southwest of California. New Zealand belongs to a large island group called Polynesia.

Way of Life New Zealand have a high standard of living. New Zealanders eat more butter and meat per person than do the people of any other country. The government's medical program provides excellent health care.

William Turner, a great romantic English landscape painter, was born in Devonshire in 1775. He lived with his uncle in Middlesex, where he began to attend school.

William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens remain two of the most popular and widely known British writers all over the world. Dickens began his writing career as a journalist, and all his novels were first published serially in periodicals.

Perhaps the best known of the Russian writers is Leo Tolstoy. He was the son of rich landowner. His parents died when he was 9. He spent his time drinking and gambling and not caring about anything but pleasure.

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564. His father was a rich citizen whose business was making and selling leather gloves. His mother was the daughter of an important farmer. When he was nineteen, William married Anne.

Stratford-on-Avon, where Shakespeare was is now one of the most popular tourist centres. But it was not so many years ago.

Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, was born on January 25, 1759 in Scotland. His father, William Burns, was a poor farmer, There were seven children in the family, and Robert was the eldest.

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on October 16, 1854. His father was a famous Irish surgeon. His mother was well known in Dublin as a writer of verse and prose. At school, and later at Oxford, Oscar displayed gift for art and the humanities.

In the history of English literature Jerome K. Jerome occupies a modest place. He cannot be compared with Dickens, Thackeray, or Bernard Shaw, but he is well known as a writer-humorist not only in his country but in another countries too.

Charlotte Bronte was born in a small town in England in 1816. Charlotte and her sisters, Emily and Ann had a very hard life, from early childhood they knew poverty and very hard work.

Lewis Carroll was the pen-name of Charles L. Dodgson, the man who wrote a famous book for children "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Charles L. Dodgson was born in England in 1832. He got his early education at a public school.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American writer born in Salem, grew up with his widowed mother and his books. He attended college and returned to Salem with intentions to be a writer. He published his first novel in 1828, and was disappointed by its failure.

O'Henry was born in Greensboro, a little town in North Carolina in 1862. His real name was William Sydney Porter The works of this writer reflect a specific period in American literature - the turn of the century.

Popular American writer John Galsworthy was born in 1853. He attended a big school because his father wanted John to be a lawyer. So John went to the Oxford University.

Mark Twain was born in the state of Missouri in the United States in 1835. His father was an unsuccessful lawyer. The family seldom lived more than a year or two in the same town.

Jack London was born in 1876 in San Francisco. His real name was John Griffit. His father was a farmer. The family was extremely poor and the boy had to earn his living after school.

Many years ago a young doctor began to write stories about a man who was a detective. Readers liked his stories because they were very interesting and the doctor decided to become a writer.

James Aldridge was born in 1918, in the town of Swanhill, in Australia. His father was a journalist and writer. His parents came to Australia from England only a few years before James was born.

Jules Verne was born in 1828 in Prance. Young Jules was interested in machinery, sailing and writing. Together with his brother Paul, he explored the river near their home in an old sailboat.

It would be a platitude to say that A. S. Pushkin is the greatest Russian poet. But I hope no-one is challenging the view that he occupies an outstanding place in Russian literature and culture. Every summer in June, thousands of people visit the Pskov land.

Vincent Van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853. Before becoming a painter he was a teacher. He started painting when he was twenty-seven.

Wolfgang Mozart is a famous Austrian composer. Mozart was born in X 756 in Salchburg, Austria. His father, a violinist and a composer, noticed wonderful talent of his son and taught him how to play musical instruments and to compose.

Mikhail Lomonosov was born in 1711 in Archangelsk province. His fatherwas a fisher and young Mikhail liked to help him. He always strove for knowledge and liked reading books. As he was 19 years old, he decided to study in Moscow.