THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR. MY FAVOURITE SEASON (1)

         It’s a universal truth that every season is beautiful in its own way. Isn’t it wonderful to tramp down the country lanes on a frosty winter day. Everything is white with snow and it crunches under your feet. The rime sparkles on the branches and the icicles like precious diamonds hang from the roofs of the houses. It’s a merry time for both children and grown-ups. They can go skating and skiing, sledging and having a fight with snowballs or making a snowman. I suppose, it is very pleasant while the frost lasts, an unpleasant time comes when the thaw begins.

         Cars and buses go along streets splashing the mud and slush on the passers-by. Everyone is grumbling and scolding the weather. But soon a warm wind blows up heavy grey clouds and the sun shines brightly in the cloudless azure sky. In a few months summer will come.

           Summer is the most suitable season for holidays and vaca­tions. People enjoy bright summer days if they are in the coun­try or at the seaside. They go bathing and swimming, and fi­shing and boating. But it’s unbearable to stay in town on such hot and glaring days. Everybody droops and shambles and tries to hide in the shade.

       Then after a good rest autumn and harvest time comes. The corn has turned golden and the farmer will reap it and put it in his barn. The air is fresh and full of the autumn fragrance of ripe apples, plums and peaches and of course, coloured asters, chrysanthemums. But the weather is so changeable in autumn, people have to wear raincoats and umbrellas if they don’t want to get wet through. The dead leaves cover the ground like a thick motley carpet, the roads are slippery and wet, there are lots of puddles in the streets and again everyone is looking forward to frosty winter days and much snow out-of-doors.

        It’s rather difficult to say what season is the best one, how­ever dull and nasty or charming and marvellous the weather maybe.

         As to me, I always look forward to summer. I am never tired of its long sunny days, warm rains with thunderstorms and hail, the buzz of mosquitoes and midges. I like to spend my summer holidays at the seaside.

         In my childhood I used to enjoy playing on the beach, ma­king castles and forts in the sands. When one becomes older one begins to notice the murmur of the sea and it’s so beauti­ful to look at the moon’s way on the water in the darkness. The air is fresh and it’s easy to breathe. I like to lie in the sun get­ting as brown, paddle in the water or get splashed by the waves. But it’s not every year that you can go to the seaside. Some­times I spend my holidays in the country. Most of my time I spend in the woods gathering strawberries and flowers or at the river bathing and swimming in it. Very often, I help my granny in the vegetable garden weeding it or gathering toma­toes, cucumbers or radish. I like to walk in the rain or just sit indoors watching the raindrops falling down from the green leaves and blades of the grass onto the ground. When summer is over, I always feel sorry, because it was too short and was too quick to pass.

 

 

 

QUESTIONS:

1.  When is everything white with snow?

2.  What sparkles on the branches?

3.   Is it wonderful to tramp down the country lаnеs on a frosty winter day?

4.   What can children and grown-ups do in winter?

5.   When does an unpleasant time come?

6.   What do cars and buses splash on the passers-by?

7.   What season is the most suitable for holidays and vaca­tions?        

8.   When is it unbearable to stay in town in summer?

9.    What fragrance is the autumn air full of ?

10.   What do people have to wear in autumn?

11.    Is the weather changeable in autumn?

12.    What is your favourite season?

13.    What do you like summer for?

14.    Do you like to spend your summer holidays at the sea­side?

15.    What do you do if you spend your holidays in the co­untry?

 

 

 

VOCABULARY:

universal truth — истина

diamond — бриллиант

roof — крыша

merry — веселый

heavy — тяжелый

suitable — подходящий

to enjoy — получать удовольствие

to bathe — купаться

to swim (swam, swum) — плавать

unbearable — невыносимый

glaring — палящий, ослепительный

in the shade — в тени

harvest time — время уборки урожая

corn — зерно

to turn — превращаться, становиться

barn — амбар

fragrance — аромат

ripe — спелый

peach — персик

pear — груша

aster — астра

plum — слива

chrysanthemum — хризантема

changeable — изменчивый

to get wet through — промокнуть насквозь

motley — пестрый

slippery — скользкий

puddle — лужа

out-of-doors — наулице

dull — мрачный

nasty — ужасный

marvellous — прекрасный

charming — очаровательный, прелестный

thunder storm — гроза

buzz — жужжание, гул

to spend — проводить

castle — замок

fort — крепость

sand — песок

murmur  — шум

moon — месяц, луна

to breathe — дышать

to paddle — плескаться

to splash — брызгать, плескаться

strawberry — земляника

granny — бабушка

vegetable garden — огород

radish — редис

raindrop — капля дождя

the blade of the grass — стебелек травы