If you want to learn the people — learn their customs, traditions. Their holidays.
Если ты хочешь узнать о народе, изучи их обычаи, традиции. Их праздники.
Knowledge of American Holidays is important for understanding their historical and social background.
Знание американских праздников важно для понимания их исторической и общественной подоплеки (происхождения).
Use this topic as an exercise. Read it aloud, write down words that you do not know and try to guess their meaning by the main sence of context.
Используйте этот топик как упражнение. Прочитайте вслух, выпишите слова, которые не понимаете. И постарайтесь угадать их значение по общему смыслу контекста.
People in every culture celebrate holidays. Although the word «holiday» literally means «holy day», most American holidays are not religious, but commemorative in nature and origin.
Because the nation is blessed with rich ethnic heritage, it is possible to trace some of the American holidays to diverse cultural sources and traditions, but all holidays have taken on a dis tinctively American flavor. The following ten holidays per year are proclaimed by the federal government.
New Year’s Day January 1 Martin Luther King Day third Monday in January Washington’s Birthday third Monday in February Memorial Day last Monday in May Independence Day July 4 Labor Day fi rst Monday in September Columbus Day second Monday in October Veterans Day November 11 Thanksgiving Day fourth Thursday in November Christmas Day December 25 In 1971, the dates of many federal holidays were offi cially moved to the nearest Monday by thenPresident Richard Nixon. There are fi ve holidays which are not necessarily celebrated on Mondays: Thanksgiving Day, Veterans Day, New Year’s Day, Independence Day and Christmas Day. When New Year’s Day, Independence Day, or Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, the next day is also a holiday. When one of these holidays falls on a Saturday, the previous day is also a holiday.
Federal government offices, including the post office, are always closed on all federal holidays.
Schools and businesses close on major holidays like Independence Day and Christmas Day but may not always be closed, for example, on President’s Day or Veterans Day.
Federal holidays are observed according to the legislation of individual states. The dates of these holidays, and others, are decided upon by each state government, not by the federal (national) government. Each state can agree on the same date that the President has proclaimed, such as Thanksgiving Day. State legislation can also change the date of a holiday for its own special commemoration.
Cities and towns can decide not to celebrate a federal legal holiday at all.
However, the majority of the states (and the cities and towns within them) usually choose the date or day celebrated by the rest of the nation.
Aren’t they strange (weird, odd), these Americans?!
КСТАТИ
В разные времена на развитие английского языка влияли разные факторы:
1900–1910 — cars (accelerator — акселератор, газ, разгон)
10s — war (gas mask — противогаз)
20s — clothes (fashion — мода)
30s — war (fifth column — пятая колонна, предатели)
40s — war (radar — радар)
50s — media (Xerox — ксерокс, копировальная машина)
60s — computer (interface — интерфейс)
70s — computer (cursor — курсор)
80s — media (cyberspace — киберпространство)
90s — politics (concensus — consent — согласие)
Догадайтесь, какие словечки принесет 2014-й?