Most 18 and 19 year-olds in Britain are quite independent people. Relationships within the British family are different now. Children have more freedom to make their own decisions.
For example, children aged 13 may be employed part time in Great Britain. Aged 16 they can leave home, marry with "parents' consent". Age 18 can vote, get married, drink in pubs.
Education is a very important part in the life of British youth. One can't become an independent person without it....
British nation is considered to be the most conservative in Europe. It is not a secret that every nation and every country has its own customs and traditions. In Great Britain people attach greater importance to traditions and customs than in other European countries. Englishmen are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. The best examples are their queen, money system, their weights and measures.
There are many customs and some of them are very old. There is, for example, the Marble Championship, where the British Champion is crowned; he wins a silver cup known among folk dancers as Morris Dancing. Morris Dancing is an event where people, worn in beautiful clothes with ribbons and bells, dance with handkerchiefs or big sticks in their hands, while traditional music- sounds...
Have you ever been to Great Britain? If you have, it will be much easier for you to imagine what a real British pub is. Anyway, I'll acquaint you with all the peculiarities of this extraordinary place.
A pub is a short word for "public house". It is a unique place not only because there are no similar bars or cafes in other countries, but because you won't find any public place like pub in Britain itself. It is not one of those restaurants with rather formal atmosphere. No, it will sooner be compared with a fast-food restaurant where all people are equal and there is no need to follow high manners. However, there is an essential difference — pub is not a place to come for a hamburger to satisfy one's hunger. A British pub is a place like home where you come to meet people, to learn latest news and just chat. A pub is the only public place where you won't be told off for noise, exclamations and even shouting. All this hubbub and dim make the atmosphere so unique. There are over 60 000 pubs in Great Britain. The local pub plays an important role in almost every neighbourhood....
There are many museums in London. One of them is the Tate Gallery in Millmank, which presents modern masters of England and France. There are some fine examples of modern sculpture. Its collection of French Impressionists is marvellous. There is the Victoria and Albert Museum in Brompton Road. It has an outstanding collection of the applied arts of all countries and periods.....
Great Britain gave the world a lot of talented people. Many famous writers and poets were born and lived in Great Britain.
One of the best known English playwrights was William Shakespeare. He draw ideas for his tragedies and comedies from the history of England and ancient Rome. Many experts consider Shakespeare the greatest writer and the greatest playwright in English language. William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays which may be divided into: comedies (such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), tragedies (such as "Hamlet", "Othello", "King Lear", "Macbeth") and historical plays (such as "Richard II", "Henry V", "Julius Caesar", "Antony and Cleopatra")....
There are 22 million homes in Britain — big homes and small homes, old cottages and new buildings, houses and flats. (Americans say "apartment" but British people say "flat"). Many British people love old houses and these are often more expensive than modern ones. They also love gardening and you will see gardens everywhere you go: in towns, villages and out in the country.....
Some people criticize English food. They say it's unimaginable, boring, tasteless, it's chips with everything and totally overcooked vegetables. The basic ingredients, when fresh, are so full of flavour that British haven't had to invent sauces to disguise their natural taste.....
There was little pictorial art in England until the great miniaturists of the Tudor epoch. There were portraits on a large scale, but they were in the main, of foreign origin, notably Dutch like Holbein. Then came Hogarth, the first great native painter born at the end...
Mankind long believed that, whatever we did, the Earth would remain much the same. We know now that is untrue. Nature is under threat. One country's pollution can be every country's problem. So we all need to work together to safeguard our environment....
Several animal species such as the bear, wolf, and beaver were exterminated in historic times, but others such as the fallow deer, rabbit, have been introduced.
More recently birds of prey have suffered at the hands of farmers protecting their stock and their game birds.
