Education

(The British or American system of education)

British system:
From 3 to 5 years children can visit nursery school or kindergartens as in Czech Republic. Children from 5 to 7 years go to infant schools where they must attend this school; it’s given by the law. At 7 years they go to primary schools called junior schools. Children go there to 11 years. They learn there writing, reading and counting (počítání).  From 12 to 16 they attend secondary school called comprehensive (všeobecná). The children are divided into groups called streams according to their abilities. They are allowed to study only the subjects they are interested in. At the age of 16 they leave the school and do the O-level exams in 10 subjects (no subjects are compulsory -povinný). Then they decide whether (zda) they want continue or not. If yes, they study 2 or 3 years in sixth form college and then they must pass the A-level exams in 3 or 4 subjects. Then they have open door to university eventually to postgraduate. In Britain are about 47 universities. The most known are Oxford and Cambridge. University usually lasts 3 or 4 years, medicine 5 or 6 years. Students can get a degree of bachelor and they could study further to get a degree of master. In contrast to Czech Republic in University in GB, students usually have their own teacher who helps them, it called tutorial system.
Marking in GB students aren’t marked by number but by letters from A to E. In Britain students are supposed to wear uniforms (to prevent discrimination against poorer).
Also exist there private schools, students are admitted according to their abilities. There is a possibility get a scholarship. The student cannot pay tuition fees.
U. S. system:
Children go to nursery schools or kindergartens to 5 years as in GB. Then they go to elementary school which has 6 grades as in GB system. At the age of 12 they go to middle school. They stay there to 13 years. For next 4 years there is a high school. At the age of 18 they go to college. The students of each grade have special name: freshmen, sophomore, and junior, senior. They are there for 4 years. There are no entrance exams, the students go to school of their district (oblast). During this studying are very popular some activities as sport. There is no exam to graduate. In the end of studying, students get H. S. Diploma. People who want a higher education can be attended to university (graduate school). Studying of university or college can pass from 2 to 5 or 6 years. Students can get AA degree, BA or BS degree, Master’s degree and Doctoral degree. Most important subject is called major and second most important elective (volitelný) subject is called minor.
The most prestigious US universities are Yale, Harvard or Princeton.

Sports

Sports are one of the most popular leisure time activities

Czech Republic
The most popular sports in the Czech Republic is football in this collective game two teams of 11 members play with a ball on a grass playing field, the purpose is to kick the ball so as to get it into the opposite goal
In our country is also very popular ice-hockey  the highest ranking ice hockey competition called The Extraliga, the national team won their first Olympic Gold at the 1998 in Nagano – famous hockey players are: Jaromír Járg and Dominik Hašek, national team won six-times Ice Hockey World Championship
Other famous sports are: athletics, tennis, basketball, volleyball, skiing, swimming, cycling
Famous sportsmen are: Roman Šebrle (decathlon), Jan Železný+Barbora Špotáková (javelin), Tomáš Berdych (tennis), Petr Čech (football), Martina Sáblíková (speed skating)

Great Britain
The British are great lovers of competitive sports. England was also the first home of many popular modern games among these, football is the most widespread , in Britain there are a great number of clubs (Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea) and in London is one of the biggest football stadiums the Wembley Arena
Rugby football is also very popular – in this game the ball is oval
English national game is cricket and golf is of Scottish origin
In Great Britain is also very popular rowing race between Oxford and Cambridge, which is held on river Thames
For tennis season its peak every year at the Wimbledon tournament, which is played in London in early June
For relaxation squash is also played

USA
Sports in the United States is an important part of American culture
The four most popular team sports are:
1) baseball - Baseball has a long tradition in the United States
2) American football -  final match of the National Football League called Super Bowl
3) basketball - the highest ranking basketball competition called National Basketball Association (NBA)
4) ice hockey - The Nationall Hockey (NHL)  league is the major professional hockey league in North America

Canada
Most popular sports in Canada are: ice hockey, swimming, skiing, curling, baseball and lacrosse is national sport

Australia
Most popular sports are: baseball, cycling, golf, horse racing and cricket is national sport

English literature

-Old English  is old form of English. This English is written in the Anglo-Saxen language 
                            (10th century)
    Aelfnic-author of old English prose
    Beowulf-anonyms, is the oldest heroic poem
 -the main hero-a young , who lived in Scandinavia. He lead the fight with a horrible monster ,Grendel´ and he killed it in a kingshall. Then he had to kill monster´s mother in under the sea and he started rulling people. Later he had to destroy dragon, he killed it, but died himself. The poem ends with his funneral.
-Middle English is English of the middle ages (5th-15th century)
    Geoffrey Chaucer-father of English poetry
                              -Canterbury Tales- it is a series of 23 poems (stories), it is about Pilgrims, who travelled from London to Canterbury, Pilgrims are people of all social groups (knight, housewife, cook, sailor, mill, lawyer,..)
-Renaissance especially William Shakespeare, then Christopher Marlowe, John Lyly, Ben     
   Jonson, Edmund Spenser
-17th century – it was very harsh, hard time, because this century was full of fights-Monarchy
  (Charles I., Church of England)×Republic (Oliver Cromwell, Puritans) -> it lead to Civil war and it lasted nearly ½ a century (40 years) -> 1660 restorations started - O. Cromwell was leader of war, he beheaded Charles I., but in the end, people beheaded Cromwell too, so Charles II. come from France and started with restoration
John Milton-Paradise Lost-poem is about losing ideas and illusions
-18th century –the century of inventimes, of industry, of stability. It is the time of literary Greaters.It´s named Golden Age of prose
 Henry Fielding-novel History of Tom Jones
 Daniel Defoe-Robinson Crusoe
 Jonathan Swift- Gulliver´s Travels – the main hero is Gulliver, who shipwracked on
  his voyage and met different creatures-little ones and big ones
-British Romanticism- the sekond half of 18th century
    Sir Walter Scott- Ivanhoe, Waverley-historical theme-he thought his countrymen to be
proud of Scottish history and language
Robert Burns-he was born on 21/1 and today this day is national holiday
                  -poem A Red, Red Rose, Auld long syze (Večírek na rozloučenou)-theme of folk traditions
 Lord George Gordon Byron-Childe Harold´s Pilgrimage-theme of ancient history
 William Wordsworth-theme of nature (especially the Lake District)
 Percy Bysshe Shelley-he was anarchist--theme of revolt
                               -poem The Mask Of Anarchy
                               -his wife Mary Shelley written short story Frankenstein
 John Austin-theme of love and position woman in society
                  -novels Pride and Prejudice, Emma,  Sense and Sensibility
-19th century: -the time of Victorian´s reign, time of realism, Great Britain became a very
   rich country, because of colonies and industry
   Charlotte Brontë-Jane Eyre
   Emily Brontë-Wuthering Heights
   Carrol- Alice in Wonderland
 Oscar Wilde- fairytales The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose and his plays
                The Picture of Doryan Gray, The Importanceof Being Earnest
 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-he created a literatury figure Sherlock Holmes and captain Watson

Charles Dickens-the greatest author of realism and social critism (he came from a very
poor family), all his work is about poor people, novels Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club
    Rudyard Kipling-The Jungle Book
-20th century: -century of two world wars and politoval changes in all countries   
 (hippie movement, immigration waves)
-Angry young men-they were angry with society
 John Osbourne-play Look Back in Anger
 Salman Rushdie-Sataniet Verse
 Kingsley Amis-novel Lucky Jim
 Agatha Christie-play Mousetrap
 Virginia Woolf-novel To the Lighthouse
 George Bernard Shaw-Pygmalion
 Samuel Beckett-Waiting for Godot
 William holding-Lord of the Flies
 George Orwell-novel The Animal Farm
 J.R.R.Tolkien-The Lord of the Rings and  Rowling´s Harry Potter

The British writers who were awarded the Nobel Prize for literature:
    1907-R. Kipling
    1923-W. B. Yeats
    1925-G. B. Shaw
    1932-J. Galsworthy
    1948-T. S. Eliot
    1950-B. Russell
    1953-W. L. Churchill
    1969-S. Beckett
    1981-E. Canetti
    1983-W. Holding
    1995-S. Heaney
    2001-V. Surray (Nailpaul)

My Town

Our town is called Havlíčkův Brod and it is situated on the both banks of the river Sázava in the centre of Czech-Moravian Highlands which is a potato region. It is said we are in the heart of Europe.
   
    The first settlement was founded on the bank of river Sázava near the Vojtěch’s church. It was on the important merchant route Haberská stezka. The reason for founding town here was that the merchants could cross the river here because there was a ford. This settlement was founded in the twelfth century.
    The original name of our town was Brod. During the centuries the town was several times renamed. In the thirteenth century it carried the name Smilův Brod after Smil z Lichtenburka who founded the first settlement.
In the fourteenth century the name of our town was changed to Německý Brod because many German miners lived here. After the Second World War the town was finally renamed after Karel Havlíček Borovský. He was a famous Czech writer and journalist who lived in our town.
   
    One of the most important events for the town was the right to build the town walls. This right our town got in 1297. The town walls were built from stones so the town became safer and the centre of trade and crafts developed here. The town spread and flourished.
    The biggest development and flourishing of our town was in the fourteenth century.
In the surroundings there were silver mines so our town was quite rich.
It was interrupt in the fifteenth century by Žižka’s army. They destroy completely and burned off the town. The life returned here after a few years and the town was flourished again especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth century.
   
    There are several legends about our town. I know some of them and I would like to tell you one of them which says about one townsman who betried our town. In the past there were troubles between Brod and town Jihlava. One day in the morning women from our town went to the river to wash clothes and they saw many people with weapons in front of the gate of our town. They immediately ran back into the town and say it to all people. The town gate was closed in this moment but one man his name was Hnát opened it to people from Jihlava to could go into our town and obtained it. Hnát was stoned to death for his betrayal. His skeleton was shown above the door of town hall. The skeleton is there till now but the present skeleton is made from wood.
   
    A big influence on local educational and cultural life had founding of grammar school – it was in 1734. After that many famous people came to tour town to study here. There were composers, journalists, painters,
for example Bedřich Smetana, Josef Václav Stamic, Karel Havlíček Borovský, Josef Dobrovský, and Jan Zrzavý.
Karel Havlíček Borovský owned a house in the square where he lived with his family but unfortunately he was arrested and taken to exile in Brixen. Nowadays there is a museum in his house. Karel Havlíček Borovský was very important person for Havlíčkův Brod because he gave the name to our town so there were made a statue of him. It is situated in local park. The author of this statue was Bohumil Kafka.
   
    Nowadays Havlíčkův Brod is quite small town which has about twenty-five thousand inhabitants.
   
    The present life in our town is quite modern and comfortable.
There are several schools here (nursery, basic and secondary), new shops and supermarkets are built here, for example Hypernova, Plus, Lidl and Kaufland should been built here.
Our town has some new hotels for example The Gold Lion in the square, The Brixen and The Sun.
There were established important firms and factories here like Pleas – it produces underwear and Futaba which is run by Japanise and it produces car parts.
In our town we have quite develop sports. We have a sports area Kotlina which includes a winter stadium where you can find an ice-rink, a swimming pool, a sauna, a court for squash, fitness and a gym for aerobic.
A few years ago our sports hall was rebuilt, here you can do almost all indoor sports. In its surroundings there is a football field with an athletic oval, tennis courts and playgrounds for handball and beach volleyball.
Transport in our town is as well quite good because there are both railway, and bus station here. The bus station is reconstructed in these days.
    Our town offers many sights and places of interest to visitors.
In the middle of town there is a historical Havlíček’s Square which is surrounded by nice houses in Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles. These houses have very deep cellars. The Malina’s house is considered to be the finest house of them. The houses were reconstructed, they got a new painting and nowadays there are shops, banks, pharmacies and museums in these houses.
Next to the Havlíček’s house which I mentioned earlier you can visit the town gallery.
In Hanusovský House there is a regional museum.
Our town has two town halls-old and new one. Both of them are situated in the Havlíček’s square. In the old town hall there is a library, concert and exhibition hall and a wine cellar.
In the middle of the square there is Koudela fountain and plaque Marian column.
Near to the Havlíče’s square there is another square which name is Smetana’s square. Originally there were beautiful old house but there were pulled down in 1970s so new blocks of flats were built there.
Visitors can also go to our park Budoucnost which is near the square. This park is more than one hundred years old. It is clam place in the town to relax there are many benches and trees there, but you can also see there remnants of the town walls, Štáfl’s Bastion, statue of historical persons like Karel Havlíček Borovský and Bedřich smetana who was a famous musician.
In the surrounding of the Havlíček’s square there are many churches:
•Vojtěch’s church in Romanesque style with an old Jewish churchyard. In the last years it was rebuilt and nowadays the concerts are held here.
•Our biggest church is the Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary. It is a dominant of the town. It has tall tower with a view point to the town. On the top of the tower there are three belles-William, Václav and Barbora. The bell William is the oldest one the central Europe it was made in the thirteen century. This church was originally built in gothic style but in 1422 it was destroyed by fire (by the Hussites). In 1707 a new church building was built in baroque style.
•The church of saint Catherine is situated by the river Sázava. Saint Catherine was a patron of miners. Originally  one part of the church was a hospital for poor miners.
   
    The surroundings of the town is interesting too.
In a small town Lipnice nad Sázavou – maybe it is a village - you can visit a castle and a museum in Jaroslav Hašek’s house.
The other interesting place is Havlíčkova Borová which is a birthplace of Karel Havlíček Borovský.
You can also visit two natural resorts- Doubravka and Stvořidla.
   
    I think Havlíčkův Brod is small but very beautiful town, you can see here both modern supermarkets and old historical houses.

Travelling

People travel for different reasons. I think nearly everybody travels every day or only uses some means of transport. An everyday form of travelling may be commuting to work or school, going shopping or visiting friends. The travelling forms for several days can be business trips and going to holidays.
There are two possibilities how you can travel. You can use your own means of transport for example your car or a bike or you can travel by public transport for example by bus, train, underground and so on. The own means of transport is more comfortable than the public one but if you drive must be careful and you can’t have a rest. If you use a bike you are great because you make your health better and you save our environment.
People and goods can be transported by land, air and water.
It is says that the water transport is relatively cheap but also slow. That’s why the rivers, seas and oceans are filled with ships and it is very dangerous because it pollutes the water and that’s why many water animals die. I think not so many people use water transports because they are afraid of sea-sick.
Air transport is expensive but very fast and comfortable. But I think that a big disadvantage of travelling by plane is that you have to be in airport about two hours before your departure. But some people can’t travel by air because they hate or they are afraid of highs.
Most of people travel by land. As I mentioned earlier they can use their own means of transport or they can use public one. We can use car, bus, train, underground, taxi, bike or motorbike.
    Travelling by car or by motorbike is quite expensive because the prices of petrol are so high. But is very pleasant because you can go nearly everywhere and you can go when you want. But in big cities is better travel by public transport. It is often overcrowded but it is faster than travelling by car. Because in large cities can be traffic jam an you can wait there several hours.
   
In my everyday life I use especially car and bus because I live in suburb of our town so I must commute to school. Nowadays I can travel by car because in Autumn I got a driving licence. It isn’t easy – at first I had to attend driving lessons and after them I had to pass a driving test. I like driving a car. In spite of I have a driving card I spend several minutes in a bus every day. In the morning it is about ten minutes but in the afternoon sometimes it is twenty minutes. The time depends on number of bus because each number has different route. If I travel somewhere with my friends we usually use trains. I like travelling by train I think it is very comfortable and it isn’t so expensive for students.
    A love travelling at all but the most I like travelling to abroad. I usually go abroad during the summer holidays and my journey is usually to the sea. If I travel abroad I like travel by plane. My farest destination was to Egypt. I was there twice I visited both Asia and African part of the country. It is very exciting country but I wouldn’t live there because women have no privileges there. But I can recommend to you for your holidays because there is beautiful life under the water and the nature isn’t typical for our climate conditions. I like the country.
    If you travel abroad you usually have book some accommodation. It can be for example hotel. Staying in the hotels is very pleasant and comfortable. The staff of hotels take care of you, it give all services what you want.

Shopping

Nowadays shopping is a modern kind of leisure time activity especially during the weekends.
Originally it was only necessary activity to buy some foods. Nowadays if we say shopping we usually have on our minds shopping of clothes. Especially in big cities the shops are still crowded.

    People in Czech Republic usually like shopping and they also usually want buy something new and save money so they do their shopping in periods of sales – it means after Christmas and in the end of each year’s season.
Opposite that British people don’t like shopping very much. They are going shopping because they must. So in Great Britain people usually buy only food and they do it only once a week when they do a big shopping (only fresh milk is delivered every day to their homes).

    People can do the sopping in supermarkets, department stores or in small shops.

SUPERMARKETS AND DEPARTMENT STORES
In the last years were built many supermarkets and department stores. They were usually built in suburbs of towns and cities. In these supermarkets you can buy everything what you want and need under one roof – it means that department stores save our time. In these big shopping centres there are more goods than in small shops, the goods are also cheaper but sometimes its quality isn’t too high. Disadvantage of doing shopping in supermarkets is commuting in it (because as I mentioned earlier they usually aren’t in centres of cities) and they are nearly always crowded. In these big supermarkets and department stores people usually do their big shopping once a week or sometimes they can go here to have a fun – for example to the cinema.

SMALL SHOPS
We can also doing our shopping in small shops. They are usually concentrated in centres of towns. Each shop specialize on some kind of goods it means there exist many types of these small shops. For example in
green grocer’s you can buy vegetables, in butcher’s meat, in stationary some exercises-books, pens or papers, florist’s specializes on flowers and plants and so on. In these small shops the goods usually have higher quality but there is usually smaller choice of the goods. I think that the shopping in small shops is more pleasant than the shopping in department stores where the shop assistants are sometimes impolite to customers. In small shops the salesmen are usually more helpful too.

    I am a teenage girl so I love shopping, especially shopping of clothes. I like going shopping to large cities like Praha because the shopping conditions in our town aren’t too good. Our town is quite small and there are only several shops situated in the square but they are expensive and they usually have little goods. If want buy some modern clothes I go for a trip to Prague or to some other city and I buy it in department stores specialized on clothes. I can do my shopping the whole day – I don’t mind it – I like it. In the department store you mustn’t only doing shopping you can sit in a café and have a rest for a while or you can go to the restaurant or fast-food to have a lunch or you can also visit the cinema.
In suburbs of our town there are several supermarkets where my family does the usual shopping. We always go by car there. It is comfortable for us because we live in an opposite suburb of the town than the supermarkets are built.

There are two possibilities how you can pay in the shops. It means paying by cash or by credit card. I usually pay by cash because I think that paying buy credit card lasts longer. But my mum pays more often by credit card. The biggest advantage of credit card is you needn’t have money in your purse you must have only one card – credit card.

At the doctor

People should take care of their health. For example they can do sports, eat healthy food which should consist of a lot fruits and vegetables it is very good for health because it contains many vitamins. If you want to be really healthy and feel well you shouldn’t of course smoke, eat so much to not be obesity and drink a lot of alcohol. But a little alcohol can be healthy for example in beer there vitamins and red wine is good for blood pressure. Some people also bath in icy water and visit sauna to have healthy heart.
I do my best to be healthy – for example I eat lots of vegetables and fruits and do many sports. Sports are my hobby number one.
But sometimes everybody fall ill. It is very unpleasant because you shouldn’t nearly anything. If you are ill you feel exhausted very often. And you should immediately visit you GP (general practitioner).
    In our country everybody must be insurance with some medical insurance company. We have several different these companies in the Czech Republic however the most popular is the General Medical Insurance Company. If you become a member of some insurance company you get its card which you must always show to a doctor at your visit.
    There exist two kind of medical care in our country. It means a state and a private care. Each citizen can choose from these possibilities which one he want use.
If you decide for the state care you don’t usually pay anything for the medical help. But if you decide for the private one you must usually pay for everything.
As I mentioned earlier people who feel that they fall ill they should visit their GP. I think that’s better to call to the ordinary and book before the visit because you shouldn’t wait so long for the examination. If come to a waiting room you must wait for a nurse who usually wants you to give her your insurance card. Later she calls your name and invites you in the ordinary. In ordinary there is your doctor who examines you and usually asks you some questions. After that he decides for some treatment. When your illness isn’t serious he usually prescribes you some medicaments like pills, drops or ointment and recommends you to stay at home in your bad for a few days. With the prescription you must go to the pharmacy and buy your medicaments. Some medicaments you must pay some of them are free of charge. If your illness is more serious the doctor sent you to some specialist or to a hospital for more detailed examination or special care. It can mean x-ray, operation, special injections and so on.
    I think I have a big luck because I am not often ill. Sometimes I catch a cold or some flu, sometimes I have a headache or toothache but I think it isn’t too serious diseases. Of course when I was a child I suffered from typical children diseases – for example I had chicken-pox. Every child must go to regularly check-ups when they are for example vaccinated against tuberculosis, tetanus and whooping cough.  I am happy and lucky that I shouldn’t visit doctor very often because both my mother and my father are doctors.
    I think people in each country suffered from some typical diseases. In our country it is especially obesity, high blood pressure and heart-attack which are connected with bad eating habits. More people still suffered from cancer of different kind.  Unfortunately cancer is very often fatal diseases.
People especially in countries of “third world” suffered from AIDS.
Nowadays many illnesses and diseases disappeared thanks to the vaccination but there appeared new ones which are difficult to cure today.
    In the case of an accident people should be able to provide the first aid to keep the injured people alive and they should immediately call an ambulance. The phone number of the ambulance in our country is 155. The first aid is taught from basic schools to secondary ones.

Weather, seasons, time

The earth is divided into four climate zones. It means the artic, moderate, subtropical and tropical zone.

    In artic zone the weather is very cold. There are hard frosts so there is lots of snow. For this zone are typical only two seasons – very long winter and very short summer. Winter takes almost nine months. Summer isn’t too warm it is as well cold. The artic zone isn’t too right for life because the day lasts half
a year and the night also lasts half a year, so many people suffer from psychical diseases. The country is still covered by snow so there aren’t live many animals and there aren’t plant a lot of vegetation.
   
We live in moderate zone. I think we can be lucky we live in it because it means that we have
four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. The flora and the fauna in moderate zone are very rich. The moderate zone has the best conditions for the life. Many animals live here and the vegetation is really beautiful and fresh.
Now I will describe the year’s seasons. I will start with spring.
    Spring begins on the twenty-first of March. In spring snow melts and the nature wakes up from winter sleep. The days get longer and the nights are shorter and shorter. In spring the weather is usually unpredictable because sometimes sun shines but sometimes can awful thunderstorms or floods come from the snow. After spring comes summer.
    Summer begins on the twenty-first of June. It is a period of long holidays. It is the warmest season in moderate zone. The temperature always rises above twenty-five degrees and the sky is often clear and bright. Rain and storms usually come after this dead calm. Summer is usually warm sometimes also dry but sometimes very rainy. In the morning there is always dew.
The end of summer is called Indian summer. It is very beautiful season when the sun still shines and the nature is especially coloured. Indian summer is a period of fruit harvest. It is a beginning of autumn.
    Autumn begins on the twenty-third of September. The nature is still coloured. The leaves from the trees fall down, the grass get yellow and so on. It is usually rainy or only showery season with awful wind. Sometimes in the morning they can be fogs. Days in autumn get shorter and it gets dark soon. Autumn is typical season for mushrooming.
    Winter starts on the twenty-first of December according the calendar but the first frosts usually come earlier. In winter everything is covered by white snow and the lakes ponds and streams are frozen over. For children it is very nice season – they can make snowballs and skating on ice and so on. But for drivers I think winter is the worst season – the roads are cover with snow and ice, along the roads are piled up the snowdrifts and it is very dangerous. In winter are very often cars accidents.
    If I would have to say my favourite season I can’t do it because love all of the. I try to explain it. In summer I like the first sun shining and fresh flowers. In summer I love the high temperature and bathing in ponds, rivers, likes or sea. I like autumns because everything is coloured and I have my birthday in autumn so I get some presents. In winter I love snow and winter sports.

    Subtropical zone is much warmer than our moderate one. There aren’t so sold weather but there is rainy weather especially during the winter period. This zone is famous for growing subtropical fruits. The temperature in winter is about twenty degrees high without snow. Summers are very warm and dry.
    Tropical zone is typical for long, very hot and dry summer. It lasts all year. The countries in tropical zone suffer from draughts which changes with periods of heavy rains. This zone is the zone of often natural disaster for example hurricanes or tropical thunderstorms. There live many tropical animals here. There are regions of tropical jungles but also regions of deserts.

    Both our country and Great Britain are situated in moderate zone. But the weather is very different in these two countries because The Czech Republic is influenced by the continent and Great Britain is influenced by the ocean and by the Golf Stream. It means we have big differences between summers and winters (as I mentioned earlier) while in Great Britain it is completely different. The average temperature is about fourteen degrees above zero. There aren’t too big differences between summer and winter. For Britain is typical rainy and misty weather.

    In Europe we have two times. The basic time is measured from Greenwich. In Britain they have one hour little than we have. If we have eight o’clock a.m. they have seven o’clock a.m.
   

Food

At first I will tell you something about my eating habits. I usually eat five times a day. The first meal of my day is my breakfast which I make every day. I am used to have breakfast at seven o’clock during the schools days. I like to have for it something light and healthy. Most often I have cereals, fruit and honey in cottage cheese or in milk. Sometimes I prepare porridge with fruit.
The second meal I make at home in the morning but I have it till at school during a break at ten or eleven o’clock. I usually have a slice of brown bread and cheese and some fruits or vegetables.
At about two o’clock p.m. I have lunch at school canteen. Our school canteen is about five minutes of walking far from the school. I can choose from two meals. I like a lot chicken meat and rice or some sweat dish like dumplings with fruit and cottage cheese.
Next meal I have at home when I am hungry. It is usually at about five o’clock. At this time I like eating some pasta and a lot of cheese or pizza, some toast or some bread and vegetables.
For last meal of my day I usually have some yoghurt and fruits. I have it at about eight o’clock.
I haven’t got any favourite meal because I like a lot of meals.
    If  I have a taste for something I usually can cook it or I read a recipe in a cookery book. Cooking is my hobby. I will give you a recipe for tasty but very easy meal – potatoe cakes.
        You need potatoes, flour, garlic, bread, eggs, oil, marjoram and salt.
        At first peel and grate the potatoes. Then put them in a bowl, squeeze out the water and add                 the others ingredients – eggs, flour and bread, mashed garlic. Finally sprinkle salt, marjoram                and everything mix. Now the batter is ready. Prepare a pan, pour some oil on it and heat it. On the hot pan,  pour potatoe batter and fry it on the both sides. Now I can tell you only “Enjoy your meal!”
    Now I would like to say something about our national dish and typical Czech cuisine.
Our national meal is roast pork and dumplings (they can be bread or potatoe) and cabbage or caver crowds. The national drink especially for this meal is beer. I think Czech beer is known all over the world. The other typical dish is beef sirloin in cream sauce and bread dumplings. It is usually decorated by a slice of citron, cranberries and cream. Typical old Czech cuisine is very unhealthy. You can find there only fat pork meat, a lot of flour and no vegetables. Nowadays Czech cuisine is similar to British cuisine. It consists more of lean meat like chicken and fish and more vegetables.
    If I were compare eating habits in Great Britain and in Czech Republic I would say that British one are still healthier. British people are used to eat five or six times a day. Some Czech people eat only once or twice a day. In Great Britain they are never in a hurry when they eat. Typical English breakfast is very famous. They start every day with a glass of juice and then they make eggs, bacon, sausages, toasts and tomatoes or spicy beans in one pan. They usually continue with dried buttered toast and citrus jam.
The second meal of the British day is elevenses in the middle of the morning. It is consists of cup of strong black tea or coffee and some biscuits.
At weekends when they get up late they have brunch. It is a combination of breakfast and lunch.
Midday dish is called lunch and it is light, for example sandwiches, pizza, hamburgers or soup.
It is very different from Czech lunch which is main dish of the day and very often we have it at school or work canteens or in a restaurant. It is consists of three courses-soup, main course and some dessert.
At about four o’clock British have teatime. Traditional tea means thin slice of buttered bread and cheese, fish or ham and vegetables, cakes, pies or biscuits and of course tea. Tea and coffee is drunk wit milk to not to be so strong.
Hot dinner is served around seven o’clock. It has four courses-soup or some other starter, main dish, dessert and finally cheese and biscuits. For the main course British usually have meat and vegetables. They prefer beef, mutton, fish and chicken to pork meat.
Later in the evening they can eat sandwiches, bread or cakes and biscuits as a supper.
    National meal in Great Britain is mutton chop and potatoes and Brussels sprout in a mint sauce. As national dessert they eat Yorkshire pudding and onion sauce.
    I would like also compare British and Czech Christmas meals. At Christmas in Czech Republic we eat fried carp and potatoes salad, somebody eat fish soup. British eat roast turkey with chestnut stuffing and potatoes.
    In the present fast food restaurants are very popular. You can have there meal during a short while. But meal which is prepared there is unhealthy and everything tastes similar. Typical meal for fast food restaurants is hamburger and chips. Sometimes I also visit some fast food restaurant, especially if I am somewhere in large town and don’t have much time to have lunch. I prefer going to classis restaurants especially pizzerias to fast food restaurants.
   

School and educational system

Schoul systém in Czech Republic

    Educational system in Czech Republic has for stages:
1.    pre-school education
2.    primary school
3.    secondary school
4.    tertiary education.
Now I tell you something more about these stages.
Pre-school education is for children from two to six years. It is provided by nursery schools and kindergartens. I think most of children attend crèches and kindergartens before their compulsory attendance at primary school.
Attendance from six to fifteen at primary school is compulsory. Most pupils attend state schools where education is free of charge. There are also private and church schools in Czech Republic but at these types of schools you must pay for your attendance. Children in our school system needn’t wear uniforms.
After finishing primary school students can find a job and start working but most of them choose some secondary school and continue in their school attendance. I our country there are three types of secondary schools: 
grammar school
special school
     vocational school. Secondary education lasts three or four years it depends on the type of school and it is finished with school leaving examination. This examination is held from four subjects at grammar and special schools. Two from them are compulsory it is Czech and one foreign language. The others two are elective. The exam is consists of written and oral tests. If you pass the both tests you get School-Leaving Certificate.
The last form of education is provided by universities and colleges. It lasts four or six years it depends on type of school. Each secondary graduate can apply as many colleges as he wants but he musts pass an entrance tests if he wants start with studies. The oldest university in our country is Charles university in Prague which was founded by Charles the fourth in 1348. Others universities are for example in Brno, Olomouc, Ostrava, Zlín and České Budějovice.
    School year starts on the first of September and it is divided into two terms. The first term starts in September and it finishes in the end of January. The second term is from beginning of February and it ends on the last day of June. In the end of each term students get their School report. After the second term pupils and students have holidays which are two months long.
    Classes begin between eight and eight fifteen. School day is different at different types of schools but one thing must be same - one lesson lasts forty-five minutes. Breaks between the lessons are ten or twenty minutes long.
    Pupils and students are evaluated by marks from one to five. Mark one is the best and mark five is the worst.


Now I attend grammar school in Havlíčkův Brod which is named after a famous Czech writer KAREL  BOROVSKÝ who was living in Havlíčkův Brod. School was founded by Kateřina Barbora Kobzinová in 1734. School is situated nearly the centre of the town. A building of a school has a cellar, ground floor, the others two floors and an attic. In the cellar there are two gyms. In the attic you can find atelier for arts and a classroom for singing.
My classroom is situated on the first floor. It is equipped with sixteen desks and thirty-one chairs for students, one cathedra an a chair for our teachers, a blackboard, a small board, two cupboards, a basin, a mirror and so on.
At our school there are some special classrooms for example a classroom for computer and language lessons, laboratory of chemistry and physique.
I like my school but now I am looking forward to university where I would like to continue in my studies.

British system of education

    If  I compare our system of education and the British one I like more the Czech one.
In Britain children start primary school at the age of five. At eleven they go to secondary school and attend it to the age of sixteen. School attendance is compolsory from five to sixteen. At sixteen pupils take GCSE which means General Certificate of Secondary Education. After these exams about thirty percents of students leave school, the others study three subjects for two others years. After this two years they take
“A” Levels. About twenty percents of eighteen-years-old go to university.
    Classes starts at nine o’clock and finishes at about four o’clock. After morning lessons students have a break of an hour for lunch.
    At most of secondary schools students must wear uniforms.
    British schools are usually states it means they are free of charge.

American system of education

American system of education is very similar to British one. There are only small differents for example in USA compulsory school attendance is from six to seventeen.

American literature

American literature hasn’t so long history as for example the British literature. But of course it is also full of excellent writers and poets. We can divide it into four main parts or periods.
The first period is called COLONIAL  PERIOD. The first writers of this time were the Englishmen. They described the exploration and colonisation of America. These authors were influenced by the Indians and their legends.

The second period is usually called REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. It is the period of War to Independence. The writers are called “Founding fathers”. They wrote especially essays. The best known piece of the literature of this time is DECLARATION  OF  INDEOPENDENCE whose main author is THOMAS  JEFFERSON. Another well known representant of the revolutionary period was for example BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.

The third part is THE  PROSE  AND  THE  POETRY  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. One of the best authors was JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER. He wrote about thirty novels. His famous work is I think THE  LAST  OF  THE  MOHYCANS. The others famous writers of this period are for example Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and Mark Twain. 
EDGAR  ALLAN  POE is a founder of detective story, horror and sci-fi. His best works are THE  PIT  AND  THE PENDRLUM,  THE  FALL  OF  THE  HOESE  OF  USHER, THE  MASK  OF  RED  DEATH or THE  RAVEN which is a poem and if you read it you should hear the raven’s beak hitting the door.
HERMAN  MELVILLE had a tragic view of the life – he was a pessimist. He divided the world into two sides – good and evil. His master piece MOBY  DICK is about a great white whale and a captain Ahab who wanted kill the whale so he attacked the whale but his ship was destroyed and he dies.
MARK  TWAIN is one of the greatest representants of American humour in literature. Maerk twain is his nick name – his real name was Samuel Clemens. He comes from family of a lawyer but his family was quite poor so Twain didn’t get very good education. He left school very soon and he took different jobs for example he was a pilot on the steamboat on the river Mississippi and he used a terminology from the boat as his pseudonym. Many of his books reflect his own experiences from his life. He became famous with a short story called THE  CELEBRATED  JUMPING  FROG. It is about people in a mining camp where ordinary men cheat a frog racer. They fill the frog with small metal balls. His best known stories are called THE  ADVENTURES  OF  TOM  SAWYER, LIFE  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI and THE  ADVENTURES  OF  HUCKLBERY  FIN. Mark Twin is also considered to be a master of short story. I read his story called DOG.
WALT  WHITMAN was an excellent poets, his most famous piece is called THE  LEAVES  OF  THE  GRASS.

The last period is PERIOD  OF  THE  TWENTIETH CENTURY. In this period we can find a group of authors called lost generation. These authors write about World War. The member of this group was for example ERNEST  HEMINGWAY. He was a reporter, soldier, short-story writer, novelist, playwright and fisherman. Ernest Hemingway came from six children of a small town doctor. He was active in sports and he was an excellent hunter and fisherman. His parents wanted him to be a doctor too but after his graduation from high school he began his writing career as a sports reporter. When the USA entered the first world war  Hemingway left his job and  became an ambulance driver in Italy. In the war he was badly wounded so he spent several weeks in hospital in Milano. This experience hw describes in his piece. He is usually called a man of adventures because he liked adventures very much an a master of short story writing. He is the author of several world known pieces: 
A  FERWELL  TO  ARMS where he describes love story during the First world war. It is about a young nurse and a young soldier who is wounded. Novel FOR  WHOM  THE  BELL TOLLS tell about Spanish Civil War. Hemingway also liked travelling and hunting the animals – his experiences he described in a piece called GREEN  HILLS  OF  AFRICA. THE  OLD  MAN  AND  THE  SEA is his very famous short story, slim book about an old fisherman who wanted to catch a big fish during his life so everyday he went to the sea in his small boat. One day he caught the fish of his dreams but during the journey home the smaller fishes ate his big fish and the old man brought home only its skeleton.
During the last years of his lifeHemingway suffered from depression and finaly he commited suicide.

The representants of the poesy of the twentieth century in American literature are called beat generation. The memberes of this generation were influenced by oriental philosophy and they loved drinking alcohol, taking drugs, sex and fast conversation. They were concentrated in San Francisco. To this group belong for example JACK  KEROAC  and  ALLAN  GINSBERG who visited Prague in nineteen nineties.

British literature

The British literature has very long and rich history full of excellent authors. The literature reflects important events happening in the British society. The history of British history can be divided into several periods:

The first period goes back to the EIGTH CENTURY which was an Anglo-Saxon period.
In this time come into being BEOWULF. It is the oldest poem from unknown writer. It describes the conflict between the good and the evil. The main hero is Beowulf represents good so he fights the monster.

The second period is made by the literature after the Battle at Hastings. The authors were the French and the main hero of legends and romances was King Arthur.

The third period is the literature of FOURTEENTH CENTURY. It is a period of Renaissance and Humanism which was a time of big development of literature in Britain. The literature was written at Royal court, in aristocrat’s houses, monasteries, churches and in the cities.
The best known representatives of this period was JOHN  WICLIFE and GEOFFREY CHAUCER who is supposed as the real father of English poetry. His most famous piece CANTERBURY TALES tells about thirty pilgrims who tell the stories on their journey from London to Canterbury (they travelled to grave of Thomas Becket). The book isn’t completed.

The biggest personality of British Renaissance is WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. He is considered to be the greatest dramatist. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in England. He had one sister and one brother – he was the youngest from them. He attended local grammar school. Later he married and had two daughters. In 1592 he came to London and joined a group of actors called Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Later he bought the Globe Theatre. At first he helped adapt or re-write older plays but later he started to write his own plays and he was very successful. William Shakespeare is buried in Trinity Church in Stratford.
He is the author of poems, sonnets and plays (history plays, comedies and tragedies). His plays are very popular till now. His plays are especially about questions of human life.
His best known tragedies are: ROMEO AND JULIET. It is about unhappy love. HAMLET is about hesitation. OTHELLO is about jealousy, MACKBETH,
KING LEAR is about loyalist.
The best known comedies are named: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, AS YOU LIKE IT, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.
In his historical plays he wrote about English kings: HENRY IV, HENRY V, HENRY VI, RICHARD III, RICHARD II, JULIUS CAESAR.
I have read several pieces from William Shakespeare and I would like to retell one of them, for example King Lear.
    King Lear had three daughters. He decided to divide his kingdom among this daughters so he
    asked them to tell him which of them loved him best. The two eldery ones (already married) said
    that they loved him above all, but it wasn’t the truth. Cordelia, the youngest daughter who
    really loved her father tell him the truth. She said that she would divide her love among her
    father and her future husband. The king became very angry so Cordelia had to leave her home.
    All to late king Lear recognized that his two daughters told him lie and later he went mad.
    The youngest daughter Cordelia who had married the king of France came back to England to
    help her old father. But unfortunately both she and her father were made prisoners by the eldery
    girls. Cordelia was put to the death. It broke heart of King Lear  and he died too.

The other period is in the SEVENTH CENTURY. It is a period of Civil war in England. There were fighting King’s army and Oliver Cromwell’s people. In this time wrote JOHN MILTON his poem PARADISE LOST.

The fifth period is in the EIGHTEETH CENTURY which is characterised by development of novel. The famous writer of this period is JONATHAN SWIFT the author of GULLIVER’S TRAVELS. This work is a satire on British society it tells about people who never existed or about animals who behave like human beings.
The other famous author of eighteenth century is DANIEL DEFOE who is well known for his book called ROBINSON CRUSIOE.

PERIOD OF ROMANTISM is the sixth period. Romantic literature is literature of the end of eighteenth century. There are many important writers like GEORGE GORDON BYRON, WILLIAM BLAKE and SIR WALTER SCOTT who is the author of historical novel IVANHOE. William Blake is famous poet. He was influenced by French revolution. He is admired for his two collections of sonnets: SONGS OF INNOCENCE and SONGS OF EXPERIENCE.

The other period is PERIOD OF AESTHETICISM which is especially represented by OSCAR WILDE. Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in Ireland. He came from quite rich family – his father was a famous surgeon and his mother was a successful writer. Young Oscar decided to study classical literature at Trinity College in Dublin. Later he studied at Oxford University in England. His writing career began when he win the Newdigate Prise for his poem RAVENNA. AFTER COLLEGE HE MOVED TO London and published his first book called POEM.
In 1882 Wilde went to America to New York where he married and had two sons. During the time he wrote many stories for them, for example THE HAPPY PRINCE and THE CANTERVILLE GHOST.
He is the author of four comedies; I would like to mention two from them: AN IDEAL HUSBAND,
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.
Oscar Wilde wrote only one novel, its name is THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY. It tells the story about man who loves himself so much that he doesn’t grow old and instead of him his portrait grows old.
He also wrote a play called SALOMÉ.

VICTORIAN AGE. It means a period of the rule of Queen Victoria. In this time the writers described English society. The most famous writer is CHARLES DICKENS who is considered to be one of the greatest British novelists and story-teller. He came from poor family. When he was nine his family moved to London where his father got into debt so they had to go to prison. Later his father inherited some money so they could leave the prison and Charles could return to school to become a newspaper reporter. In his twenty-five he became famous and he married and had seven sons and two daughters.
He enjoyed life but he hated the social system. In his novels he describes bad schools, government, bad prisons, dirty houses and so on. He usually write about poor and hungry children as he was, thieves, men in debt and so on. His most famous novels are: DAVID COPPERFIELD, OLIVER TWIST.
Charles Dickens love Christmas so he wrote a story about Christmas time called CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Canada

Canada is situated in the north of the continent of North America. It borders on the USA in the south and it is surrounded by the oceans – the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Arctic Ocean in the north.
    Canada is the second large country in the world. It covers almost ten million square kilometres.
    In the west of the country there are the mountains called the Cordilleras with the highest mountain Mount Logan. The prairies and planes spread in the central part. The lowlands are situated around the Hudson Bay.
Canada is very rich in lakes, for example it is Great Bear Lake, Great Have Lake, Winipack Lake and Ontario with the famous Niagara Falls. In Canada there are as well several important rivers. The most important and famous from them are the Saint Lawrence River, the Columbia and the Youcon.
    In the north there is an arctic climate and along the borders there is a mild climate. The coasts are influenced by the oceans.
    The original populations of Canada were Indians and Eskimos. The Indians live in reservations today while the Eskimos still occupy the northern part of the country. Nowadays the population of Canada consists of the English, French and others minorities. Together there live about twenty-eight million people. The density is very low. People mostly live in the large cities in the east.
    Economy of the country is very good. Canada belongs to the richest countries in the world. It has big natural sources like natural gas, uranium, cadmium, gold, silver and coal.
Industry is concentrated in the large cities for example in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. The main branches of industry are wood and papery industry, food, engineering and mining industry.
Canada has also very good agriculture. It is known especially for growing wheat. In Canada there are many green houses where the vegetable is grown.
    The capital of Canada is Ottawa. It isn’t too large city. It is the seat of the government and parliament. The Canadians parliament has two parts – the House of Commons and the senate. The official head of the country is the British queen who represented by the gouverner general. The real politic power is in the hands of Prime Minister and his cabinet. Canada is divided into English and French part and it is consist of ten provinces and three territories. It means that Canada is the bilingual country so it has two official languages – English and French. Most of the French people in province called Quebec; the second largest French city is Montreal.
Canada was discovered in 1497 by JOHN CABOT who was English seamen. The first settlers of Canada were the French in the seventh century. Later came the English and Canada became the British Colony. In 1867 Canada Became the First dominium in the British empire.

New york and washington d.c.

NEW YORK

New York is situated on the each coast of the United States and on a few islands. It lays on the river Hudson and East. The city is divided into five parts (boroughs), they are Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Broncos and Richmond (Staten Island).
New York is the biggest city in the USA. It has about eighteen million people together with its surroundings. It is as well very important city because it is also busy port, industrial city, the commercial, financial, educational, cultural… centre not only of the USA but of the world.
Originally the city was called New Amsterdam the Doge made there their settlement in a part of Manhattan in the seventh century. They bought this area from the Indians who gave the Brittan’s some trinkets which had a value of twenty-four dollars and some alcohol. Later the Indians wanted to get the area back and they struggled with the Dodge so the Dodge built a high wall in one part of the island. This wall protected them from the Indians. Today there is a famous Wall Street. Forty years later New Amsterdam became the. British town and it was renamed to New York after duke from York. New York was and it is still very important centre of trade, port …
The most important part of New York is Manhattan where we can see the famous sky-scrapers and some sights, for example the tourists can admire the Statue of Liberty which is situated on Liberty Islands and it became one of the symbols of New York and the USA. This statue was a gift from the French who always admired American freedom and democracy.
Not far from Liberty Island the tourists can visit Ellis Island with a museum of emigration.
Then the tourists can finally enter Manhattan which is famous for many sky-scrapers – the oldest one is the Empire State Building which was for a long time the tallest building in the world. Later there were built Twin Towers which was the world trade centre. These towers were the highest sky-scrapers in New York but unfortunately they were destroyed by terrorists attack on the eleventh of September in 2001.
There you can go for example to Time Square. It is one of the best known squares in New York and it is called after the New York Times which is a famous newspapers.
Very famous street in New York is Wall Street. It is the financial centre of New York and of the world because there are situated banks and of course the stock-exchange.
Another famous street is Broadway. It is the cultural centre of New York. There you can find theatres, cinemas museums, galleries, concert halls for example the Metropolitan Museum of art, the Guggenheim Gallery, Carnegie Hall which is a concert hall.
New York is as well important educational centre. The famous university in New York is the University of Columbia and New York University.
In New York there are many beautiful parks and gardens however the best known one is Central Park.
The streets and avenues in New York are numbered but Wall Street and Broadway are exceptions.
    New York is often called as a meeting pot because there are living many different nationalities.
There are two official languages – English and Spanish. In New York there are some parts where you can find different minorities, for example China Town (it has about one million people), Jewish Neighbourhood, Little Italy, Latin Quarter and Germany neighbourhood.

WASHINGTON  D.C.

It is the District of Columbia – it means the city is situated in special territory which doesn’t belong to any state. It lies on the bank of the River Potomac from the sight of the state Maryland. This place was chosen by the first American president George Washington who lived not far from here.
It is the federal capital but it is relatively small. It has only one million people (three quarters of them are black). Washington D.C. is the seat of the president, the government and the parliament.
The president lives in the White House. It is called white because its walls are white. The first who use this name was Theodore Roosevelt. The parliament and the government are placed in the Capitol.
There is no industry in Washington D.C. but there are many places of interests, museums and galleries there.
The city was designed by a French engineer Pierre L’Enfant.
The tourists can visit several interesting monuments for example:

The Washington Monument which was planned at the end of the eighteenth century but it was built till during the nineteenth century. There are nearly nine hundred steps to the top (exactly eight hundred and ninety-seven). But unfortunately you can’t walk these steps – you must use a lift.
The Jefferson Monument. I would like to remember Thomas Jefferson who was one of the authors of The Declaration of Independence and he was the third president of the USA.
The Lincoln Memorial. Abraham Lincoln was the president of the USA during the Civil War (1961-1965). He died in interesting way because he was shut in theatre. This monument has thirty-six marble columns because when Abraham Lincoln ruled the USA had thirty-six states. And it has fifty-six steps because he died in age of fifty-six.
The tourists can also see The Arlington National Cemetery where are buried famous people and soldiers and heroes from different wars.

The USA

The United States of America are situated in the continent of North America. It borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south (Alaska, Hawaii Islands) and they are surrounded by the oceans – it is the Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Pacific Ocean in the west.
    It is very large country – it covers an area of over nine million square kilometres.
    The surface of the USA is formed by the mountains called the Cordilleras in the west and the Appalachian Mountains in the east. The highest mountains are Mount Mitchell in Appalachian Mountains and Mount Whitney in the Cordilleras. In Alaska it is Mount Mc Kinley. In the middle part of the USA spread large planes. The lowlands can be found along the Mexico Bay. In the Cordilleras there is Grand Canyon which is formed by the river Colorado.
The USA has a few important rivers for example the Saint Laurence River, the Mississippi, the Misury, the Colorado, the Rio Grande and Youcon in Alaska. In the north-east part of the country lei the famous lakes – Ontario, Ohio, Michigan, Superior, Huron and Salt Lake City. On the lake Ontario are situated the Niagara Falls.
    The USA is so big country that it has all climate zones. The Arctic zone is in the north in Alaska. The mild zone is along the borders with Canada, the subtropical zone is in the south part of the USA and the tropical zone is in Hawaii Islands. The coasts are influenced by the oceans. Some states of the USA suffered from natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakest. There are several national parks in the USA where you can see beautiful nature and wild animals, for example Death Valley in California, Yellow Stone and Yosemite National Park.
    The originally population of the country were the Indians. Today most of people are of the English, French and Spanish origin but of course there live many others nationality and races. In Alaska still live the Eskimos. We san say that the USA are a big mixture of races and nationalities. There live more than a hundred nationalities and ethnic groups; there live both black, white and Asian people. Together there live over two hundred and eighty – nine million people. The highest density is along the coastline and the lowest density is in the mountains areas.
The official language is American English but somewhere also Spanish. The main differences between English and American English is spelling (color - colour), vocabulary (pick-up - van) and pronunciation (somebody, somebody).
    The USA is highly developed industrial country. The USA is the leading industrial country. There are many large industrial cities for example Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The USA is rich in raw materials like gold, oil, iron and uranium. The main branches of industry are food, textile, car, military, chemical and engineering.
The agriculture is concentrated in southern states. They grow cotton, corns, citrus (lemons and oranges), potatoes, sugar wheat and so on. They breed cattle and picks.
    The USA is a federation of fifty states. The federal capital is Washington DC. It isn’t too large city and industrial country. It has about only one million people. Beside the federal capital each state has its own capital and gouverner.
    The official head of the country is president who is elected for four years. He lives in White House in Washington DC.  The American parliament is called congress and it consists of two parts:
House of Representatives and the Senate. House of Representatives has four hundred and thirty-five members who are called the law-makers. Senate has one hundred members.
In the USA there are two main political parties – the Democrats and the Republicans. Nowadays rule the Republicans with the President George Bush.
The American flag has three colours – white, blue and red. It is divided into two oblongs. One Oblong is blue with fifty white stars (because the USA has also fifty states). The other oblong is divided into fourteen stripes – six of them are white and seven of them are red. The fourteen stripes symbolize fourteen original colonies which refused to pay taxes to Britain.
    The continent of North America was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
Later began the colonisation of the continent. The first colonists were the French and Spanish.
The English colonist came in 1620 and settled in Jane’s Town. In the beginning their life was very difficult – lots of them died during the first winter but the Indians helped them a lot. In 1621 they had their first crop and they celebrated the first Thanks Giving Day.
The first colonists founded the first fourteen colonies on the east coast. Later they had to go to the west and they settled in the midlands and in the west – they pushed the Indians.
Originally all these colonies belonged to Britain but they weren’t satisfied by the government to Britain – they had to pay high taxes to Britain so they started the war for independence. This war began with the event called the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and ended with the victory of the USA on the fourth of July in 1776 when was signed the Declaration of Independence. It means the USA was officially founded.
The first president was George Washington. The authors of the declaration are called as Fathers of foundation – they were for example Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton.
Later the development of the USA was different in the south and in the north. The northern states were more industrial and the southern ones were agricultural. In the south there was slavery – the slaves from Africa worked there on plantages. These differences between south and north resulted in the Civil Warm. The war began in 1863 and ended in 1865 when the slavery was abolished. The president during this period was Abraham Lincoln – he was the thirteenth president of the USA.
The USA took part in the both World Wars.

Holidays, feasts and festivals

Each nation has its own traditions, customs, holidays, feasts and festivals. Many of them were established for historical, religious or cultural events. People welcome all these Mary makings because they bring a change in every-day life. Some holidays are celebrated by many people and many nations while others are typical only for one country or one nation.
    The best loved holidays are Christmas and Easter which are celebrated by people both in English speaking countries and by people in the Czech Republic.

CHRISTMAS
    Christmas are celebrated from religious reason, we celebrate a birth of Jesus Christ.
    In Christian calendar it takes three days.
It starts on the twenty-fourth of December which is called as Christmas Eve. This day is still a working day only in the evening people prepare Christmas stockings and hang them on their beds. After midnight Christmas father in England and Santa Claus in USA came home through the chimney and put the presents into the stockings. It was Christmas Eve in English speaking countries.
Now I will describe the Czech one. In the morning we decorated Christmas tree. We usually stay at home, watch fairy-tales, sing or listen to carols, eat Christmas cookies and enjoy us together. During the whole day we shouldn’t eat any meat to see a gold pick in the evening. In the evening we have traditional supper which is consist of fish soup, fried carp and potato salad. After the dinner we unwrap our presents under the Christmas tree.
In England and USA people unwrap their presents in the morning of Christmas Day on the twenty-five of December. They enjoy their presents the whole day. At noon they have Christmas dinner which is consist of roast turkey with chestnut stuffing and roast potatoes in Britain and mashed potatoes in USA. As a desert British eat Christmas pudding with a coin hidden in it. Against it Americans have Plum pudding.
The last day of Christmas is called Boxing Day it is on the twenty-six of December. The name of this day comes from a custom when people gave small boxes (usually with money) to their servants and trade men.
    He traditional plants of Christmas are Christmas tree and mistletoe. Mistletoe is usually hanged in the door and people kiss under it.

    The first holiday after Christmas NEW  YEAR’S  DAY when we celebrate a coming of new year. It is celebrated from the last of December. We usually meet friends and stay up till midnight when we open a bottle of champagne and often celebrate to the morning.

SAINT  VALENTINE’S  DAY
    Saint Valentine’s Day is celebrated on the fourteenth of February. This day is also called as lover’s day. On this day especially young people send Valentine postcard to person of the opposite sex who they love. The symbols of this holiday are red heart and a sentence “I love you”.

EASTER
    Easter is celebrated in April. During this holiday we commemorate crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It takes a few days. The most interesting day for us is Easter Monday when girls wait for boys and give them paint eggs.

MAY  DAY
    May Day is celebrated on the first of May. It is a political day when are held processions and public meetings. 
HALLOWEEN
    It is celebrated on the thirty-first of October. This day was the last day in an old Celtic calendar and it means the end of the year and the beginning of winter.
    I think it is very popular especially for children – they dressed up in Halloween costumes it means mask of witches, ghost and goblins and they carry baskets or bags with a legend “trick or treat”. People give to children sweets or money to not children play trick on them.
    Typical custom of Halloween is making a jack- o’-lantern from a pumpkin. There are holes for mouth, eyes and nose in pumpkin and inside it there is a candle.
THANK’S  GIVING  DAY
    It is a national holiday in USA and it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. This holiday was first celebrated in 1624 by the Pilgrim settlers of Plymouth Colony on their first harvest.
Nowadays it is celebrated by a traditional dinner – roast turkey.


    Czech holidays are similar to British and Americans ones but from our holidays I would like to mention foundation of our republic on the twenty-eight of October.

Great britain

The official name of this country is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
    The country spreads on many islands in the north-west Europe. The biggest islands are Great Britain and Ireland but there are many others smaller islands for example The Isle of Man, The Isle of Wight, The Hebrides Islands, The Orkney Islands and the Shelter Islands. Great Britain is separated from Europe by the English Channel. The country is surrounded by the sea for example the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
    Great Britain isn’t too large country. It covers about two hundred and forty-five thousands square kilometres.
    The kingdom is divided into three parts: Scotland, Wales and England.
    The most of the surface is flat. Only in Scotland, Northern England and Wales there are hills which are about a thousand meters high. Two highest hills are Ben Nevis and Snowdon.
Britain has several interesting rivers but they are mostly short and not very deep. The most important is the river Thames which is navigable and so London is the biggest British port. The names of others rivers are Avon, Tweet, Severn and Tine.
In the hilly countryside in Wales and Northern Ireland you can find beautiful lakes. The most famous is Loch ness which is known for Loch ness monster.
    Britain is situated in moderate zone but the weather is influenced by ocean and by the Golf stream.
The average temperature is about fourteen degrees above zero. There aren’t too big differences between summer and winter. The warmest part of Great Britain is Cornwall.
    Britain is dankly populated country. It has about sixty million people. Most of them are the English origin then the Scottish, the Walsh and the Iris. But there are as well many minorities – especially from British ex-colonies. So Britain is a big mixture of the races and the nations.
    This country is highly developed industrial country with very good agriculture.
Industry is concentrated in the large cities and its surroundings like London, Birmingham, Manchester,
New Castle and Glasgow. Britain is specialized on food, textile, chemical and pharmacy industry but there is as well car industry, electronic, engineering and so on.
Agriculture is based on the private farms but very few people work in agriculture – it is only about one and half per cent of the whole population. Important part of agriculture is fishing. Britain has really big production of food. They grow potatoes, wheat, barley, adds, sugar beats, strawberries and raspberries. They breed sheep, picks, horses, poultry and cattle.
    The capital of Great Britain is London. It is the largest city and port of the country.
    Great Britain is the constitutional monarchy but they haven’t a written constitution. The official head of the country is the Queen Nowadays it is the queen Elizabeth the Second. Real political power is in the hand of Prime minister, his cabinet and in the hand of the parliament. The parliament has two chambers called the House of Lords and the House of Commons. In Britain there are two political parties – the liberal party and the conservative party. In these days they have liberal government with the Prime Minister Tony Blair.
    The history of the country is very long and very rich. Originally the country was settled by the Celts. The most famous tribe of the Celts was the Britains who gave a name to the country.
 In the first century before Christ Britain was occupied by the Romans. They stated here until the fourth century a.d. however they didn’t capture the whole country because of the strong resistance of the Celts. So the Romans had to build Hadrian’s Wall in the Northern part of England as a protection against the northern tribes. After the Romans started the invasions of Germany tribes of the Anglos and the Saxons. They pushed the Celts in the north and in the west – it was in the fifth century when the King Arthur ruled.  Later came the Jutas, Danes and Vikings from the north.
British history is full of good kings and queens however I began with William Conqueror. He won the battle at Hastings in ten sixty-six and later he made from Britain a powerful feudal state.
Another important king in history was Henry the eight who ruled in sixteenth century. He separated Britain from Rome and established the English church and became its head. After Henry his daughter
Elisabeth the first meant a big progress for Britain. During her rane Britain developed and flourished. She made from her country the biggest sea power. Against it queen Victoria established from Great Britain the biggest colonial empire.
Britain took part in both world wars
Since the Roman times it has never been occupied however during the Second World War the country was seriously damaged by the Nacist bombing.
Today the queen of Great Britain is Elisabeth the second who is an excellent queen but she has no political power.

Prague

The city is situated on the both banks of the river Vltava in the centre of our republic. Prague is our largest city. It covers about five hundred square kilometres and it is divided into ten districts.
The oldest and most famous districts are for example The Old Town, The New Town, the Lesser Quarter, Vyšehrad and Hradčany.

    Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic. It is a centre of political, economic, financial, educational and cultural life.
It is a seat of the president, government and parliament.
You can find many banks In Prague. There were established a lot of new firms and factories. You can also visit many theatres, galleries, cinemas and museums there. In Prague there is situated our oldest University which was founded in 1348 by the Czech king Charles the fourth. It is the oldest one in Central Europe.
   
    The history of the city goes back to Celtic times when the area was settled by the Celts. In the sixth century came the Slaves. This period is connected with the legend of princess Libuše from Přemyslid dynasty. Libuše was the youngest of three daughters of Krok. She was very nice and she had a gift of prophecy. One day Libuše looked down into a valley and she prophesied the foundation and the glory of Prague. She sent her servants into the valley. They found there a man who was building his house. At that moment he was making a threshold which means práh in Czech. That is the reason why is our capital called Praha.
If I am talking about the history of Prague I must mention two important and very famous Czech kings –Charles the fourth and Rudolf the second. Charles the forth ruled in the fourteenth century and he did many important things for Prague. For example he founded University as mentioned earlier, new squares: the Horse market which is nowadays Wenceslas square and the Cattle market which is Charles square now. He also promoted the construction of Saint Vitus Cathedral and Charles Bridge.
The other very famous king of our country was Rudolf the second who ruled in 16th century. He supported especially the science. During the rule of these kings the city developed and flourished.
After the First World War in 1918 Prague became a capital of the independent Czechoslovak Republic and in 1993 it became a capital of the Czech Republic.
   
    Prague is visited by many millions of foreign tourists every year who especially admire the old charm of sights:
Their tour of the city can start at the Prague castle.
    It was founded after 880 by the first Přemyslid Prince Bořivoj.
    There they can visit for example Saint Vitus Cathedral which was founded by Charles the fourth   
    but it was finished after one thousand years. In the cathedral you can see Saint Wenceslas chapel     with a coronation chamber with our coronation jewels. In the cathedral there is also a royal crypt.At the castle you can also go to the Saint George Basilica which is built in Romanesque style.
    The Prague castle is surrounded by the Strahov and Petřín hill where is situated famous watchtower     and mirror labyrinth.
The other famous castle in Prague is Vyšehrad. It was built in the eleventh century and for some time it was a seat of Czech rulers. Nowadays we can visit the National Cemetery here.

From the castle tourist can continue to Golden lane where everybody can admire very small houses         of craftsmen who worked at the castle. Today there are souvenir shops and some museums there.

From this place I recommend to continue through the Neruda Street to Saint Nicolas church (it is a jewel of baroque style in the Lesser Town Square)

Then you can go on and cross the Charles Bridge which is decorated with many statues. Some of these  statues are made by Mathias Braun. On the Charles Bridge you can buy souvenirs from the vendons because the bridge is always full of them.

From the Charles Bridge you can get to the Old Town Square where is situated the famous town hall and astronomic clock.  The astronomic clock was made by mister Hanuš who was blinded by counsellors after finishing the clock. They wanted mister Hanuš to not to be able to make the same clock for another town. In the square you can visit the Týn Church with a grave of Tycho de Brahe. One of the dominant of the square is the John Hus Monument and not far from here is the Bethlehem Chapel where he preached.

The Old town square you can leave through the Paris Street where you can stop in the Old-New Synagogue and the Jewish cemetery.

At the end of Paris Street turn right and the river leads you to the National Theatre.Now I would like to mention some basic date of the theatre. It was founded in 1968 but it was destroy by fire very soon. It was rebuilt and reopened again. For rebuilding after the fire Czech people make     a collect of money. It is built in late renaissance style. The best artists of the nineteenth century decorated this theatre – they were Mikoláš Aleš and Václav Hynais.
In Prague there are situated many other theatres for example the Smetana Theatre, the Tyl Theatre, the Vinohrady Thetare, the Semafor and also many clubs for young people.

Through the Národní Street you can came to Wenceslas Square which is the most famous in Prague.     It is the centre of the city. It is about seven hundred and fifty meters long and sixty meters wide.         The square is full of hotels, shops, restaurants and so on. In the upper part of the square was installed a statue of Saint Wenceslas who is sitting on the horse back. Saint Wenceslas is a patron of our     country.
    Behind the statue there is a big building of the National Museum. The visiting of the museum is for long hours.
   
I would like to mention National Gallery too. It hasn’t its own building it spreads out in various Prague spots like Saint George Church, 3ternberk and Saint Agnes Monastery.

    Beside the old centre Prague also has new modern centres, buildings and shopping parks. It is large city but you can find there several parks and gardens, for example Petřín.    
 In our capital tourists and citizens can use many different means of transport –underground, buses, and trains and so on. In Prague there is one of the busiest airports in Europe called Ruzyně.

Many world personalities lived in Prague or they spent some time in our capital - for example Mozart, Beethowen, Čajkovskij, Descartes, Dostojevskij, Einstein, Kafka and Gingsberg.

The czech republic

The Czech republic is situated in central Europe. The Czech Republic is surrounded by four neighbours. It borders on Germany in the west, Austria in the south, Slovakia in the east and Poland in the north.
    Our country is about seventy-nine square kilometres large.
    The surface of Czech Republic is so variety. You can find here both mountains and lowlands.
Czech mountains are spread mostly on the border. They form the natural borders of our country. The most famous are the Giant Mountains where is situated our highest mountain which is named Sněžka. It is one hundred six thousand and two meters high. The others famous mountains are for example Šumava, Beskydy and Jeseníky.
Lowlands spread especially along the rivers, for example along the river Elb and Moravia.
Our town Havlíčkův Brod is situated in the Czech-Moravian Highlands which is a potato region.
There are several important rivers in our country for example the Vltava, the Elb, the Morava and I needn’t the Sázava because it goes through our town. On some of these rivers were constructed dams. On the river Vltava you can find several dams for example Orlík, Slapy and Lipno.
 In the south of Bohemia there is an area with artificial ponds. The largest of them is Svět and Rožmberk.
    We have continental moderate climate. It means differences between winter and summer. Winters are very cold with lots of snow. Opposite that summers are hot and dry. For this climate four seasons are typical –spring, summer, autumn and winter.
    The Czech Republic has more than ten millions people. The most of them are of Czech origin but there are as well a few national minorities like Germany and Slovakia. All minorities live in border areas.
    We are industrial country with developed agriculture. The industry is mostly concentrated in the towns. In our country is especially food, textile, chemical and car industry. The agriculture flourishes in the lowland and in the highlands. Czech agriculture is based on private farms. We grow potatoes, corns, sugar cane and in southern Moravia grapes and fruits. We breed picks, cattle and poultry.
    The capital of the Czech Republic is Prague. It is our largest city. Prague is situated in the centre of  the Czech Republic on the both banks of the river Vltava.
    We are constitutional democracy. The head of our country is president Václav Klaus. He should only represent our country he hasn’t real power. The politic power is in the hands of our prime minister and our government. The Czech Republic became a member of the European Union and the NATO.
    The history of our country goes back to the fifth century a.d.
Originally our country was settled by Celts. The tribe of the Celts living in our area was named Bojové. Our country is named Bohemia after this tribe.
The Slavonic came to our country in the fifth century a.d.  Later in the seventh century they founded Sámo’s empire which was the first Slavonic state. In the ninth century there was established here the Great Moravian Empire.
The most important dynasty in our early history was a dynasty of Přemysels.
We have a lot of important kings during the history but I would like mention Charles the fourth. He ruled in the fourteenth century. During his rule our country developed and flourished. It became rich and famous in Europe. Charles the fourth also founded university in our country in 1348.
Another very famous king was Rudolf Habsburský who ruled in sixteenth century. He supported the science. Our country was a part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. In 1919 we became an independence state. Unfortunately in 1939 we were occupied by German and in 1948 the power in our state was taken by Communists. It was finished in 1989 by revolution. Since that we are democratic country. Our first democratis president was Václav Havel.

Our world

So we can talk about people, animals, living in a town or in a village, environment, nature and pollution of it ,an about protection of environment and I would like to say something about global problems.

PEOPLE  AND  ANIMALS

People have a responsibility to protect animals. It is very often that people have some pets but it is also very often they don’t look after them properly. But some people love their pets more than their family and another people. Every pet needs your care, love and time for example if you have a dog you have to do the exercises with him, go for a walk with him, he needs a lot of space and so on. Having a dog is a great fun, you don’t feel lonely and I also think if you are in a dangerous your will protect you.
Sometimes people abandon their pets –it is usually when the pets grow up. These pets and animals must to survive on streets, they are starving and they suffer from many diseases.
People also protect animals in the ZOOs but sometimes they are kept in small cages and look very miserable.

LIVING  IN  A  VILLAGE  OR  IN  A TOWN

If you live in a village you can have more pets (and of course domestic animals)     than in a town. Living in a village is an opposite of a living in a tow. Both town and village have many advantages and disadvantages. Now I will tell you some of them.
Living in I village
Villages are peaceful and calm places. You can feel more free and safer than in towns. They aren’t so crowded, dirty and noisy as towns. You shouldn’t feel stressed there. If you are living in a village you can have a large garden and spend your free time with working in it, plant there fruit and vegetables, you can also breed domestic animals.
But as AI mentioned earlier there are also some disadvantages of living in a village for example you must commute to work, school, doctors and so on.
Living in a town or in a city
The life in a city is busier and more exciting than the life in a village. There are many possibilities how you can spend your free time, there are taken place cultural events in towns. But there are a lot of traffic, the life here is more dangerous and stressful than the life in a calm village. And you must to breathe much polluted air. In towns there are concentrated industry which pollute and destroy our nature and environment.

ENVIRONMENT

     Man is changing the world environment. Develompent of technologies can improve our life
(it makes it easier) but it can damage our nature and even life on our planet. The pollution effects water, air, woods, forests and plants, animals, people and of course soil. Nowadays the environment is seriously damaged and the situation is getting worse every day.
    The destruction started when the number of population was growing. People hadn’t to live anywhere, to eat anything and so on. They wanted to change their life, the wanted it easier and they thought off new inventions which pollute and destroy the environment and whole our planet.
    The pollution of the Earth is caused by industry, agriculture, traffic and households. The factories give their waste into the atmosphere, rivers, seas and oceans. The waste consists of harmful chemicals, smoke, dust, vapours and other elements. Agriculture farms use chemicals, pesticides, insecticides which are very bad for the nature. Traffic produces harmful emissions, needs more and more oil and petrol. However households mean a big problem for the world because people use various detergents for cleaning their house, kitchen utensils as a fridge and freezer work on the base of Freon which is a harmful gas which is dangerous especially for the Ozone-layer. All these chemicals and processes effect air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution and noise.
    I would like to mention something more about air pollution. The biggest problem with air is in large cities, especially in regions with heavy industry where are lots of factories and heavy traffic. The facts which cause the air pollution are cars and lorry exhausts and smoke from factory chimneys.
This pollution leads to climate changes. It can be as an acid rain which damages plants, trees but also water and buildings. It is very dangerous for us because trees are very important –they produce oxygen which is necessary to breathe. Trees are often called
“the lungs of the Earth”. Oxygen is produces especially by rain forest which are destroyed in the present. The largest one is Amazonia Rain Forest which produces about fifty per cents of oxygen on our planet.
The temperature of the air is still higher and higher. If the temperature rise the icecaps melt and it effects that the sea level will rise which causes world floods. The result of this rising temperature is green house effect. Man made emissions can destroy the ozone layer. It protects our planet from penetrating ultra violet rays. The ozone layer is getting thin and thin and now there are some holes in it. These holes mean big dangerous for us, animals and plants. We can get some diseases especially skin cancer.
    Of course all these changes influence not only people but as well animals and plants. I have read that animals living higher in the mountains go blinds because many ultra violet rays can go through the ozone layer.
     But there are several possibilities how we can protect and save our nature. They are especially in transport and at homes. We should use less our cars and more walking, go by bike or use public transport. If you need your car you should use unleaded petrol. At home we can sort the waste. We could have several special bags for glass, paper and plastic. The waste can be recycled and reused in another form. As I mentioned earlier we shouldn’t use harmful chemicals for washing and cleaning. In agriculture and in the gardens we shouldn’t use any fertilizers because they can damage soil and water in it. We should plant trees and bushes and everybody should take care of their house and its surroundings. We should accept 3Rs if we want save the environment. It means reduce energy, reuse glass paper and so on and recycle.

GLOBAL  PROBLEMS

In the world there aren’t only problems connected with nature and environment but there are also global problems like starving, overcrowded world, a lack of natural sources, wars and terrorism, incurable diseases, obesity, alcohol and drugs, crime, abortion and euthanasia.
    Millions people in the world are starving especially in development countries which are often called “countries of the third world”. I have on my mind for example Africa, China and India. These parts are usually overpopulated too. In the whole world live about six billion people. Scientists predict that in 2050 there will live more than ten billion people in the world. We will run out of sources of minerals, drinking water, food, land and so on. Some states are still warring. I think everybody is afraid of terrorist attacks especially after the 11th of September 2001 when terrorists destroy twins buildings in USA.