Cultures
Our world is really a small world. Modern transport facilities make it possible to reach any part of our planet within a few hours. People have to communicate and solve common problems in all the spheres of political life, economy and culture. Communication is an interaction of cultures. The knowledge of each other's culture and traditions is very often important for successful business and political talks. We, Russians, very often surprise our foreign partners by our behavior and manners.
Some Russian traditions seem strange to foreigners. For example, we are fond of receiving guests and try to cook as much food as we can. We actually make people eat even if they refuse. In the West it is not usual to feed guests in this way. People very often eat in the restaurants and order what they prefer and usually pay for themselves even girls when they are invited by young people. It is often a shock for Russian girls. Russian people are said to drink too much alcohol. Frankly speaking those foreign people whom I met drank not less than Russian people. It is not usual for people in the West to tell other people-especially strangers about their private life. They try to keep their troubles to themselves and always say that they are fine. We, Russians, on the contrary prefer telling everybody that we have many problems and everything goes wrong. We are fond of complaining, but in general Russian people are open - hearted.
People of every nationality have their peculiar features. English and German people, for example, are very punctual, reserved, they are not very quick to make decisions, they dislike off-hand manners, and they try to follow very strict norms of behavior. People from Norway, Finland, Sweden are even more reserved and emotionless and not so quick to make friends. Italian and French people, on the other hand, are very emotional. All these things should be taken into consideration when we go to this or that country either on business or just as tourists. Certainly, the knowledge of the language of the country helps a lot. Of course it is impossible to know all languages existing on the Earth. They say there are about 6.000 languages on our planet. Fortunately, those who study English are lucky enough because English is becoming the language of international communication. The English language spreads together with new high technologies and technical achievements. The English language is the language of the United Nation Organization and of most scientific international conferences and political talks. Without English you cannot be a success neither in business, nor in politics, nor in public relations. Thanks to crosscultural communications people get to know each other much better, the more we communicate, the less is the danger of wars and other unfriendly feelings. I hope that Internet, traveling and international business will soon turn our planet into one big country with very friendly people understanding each other perfectly well.
Today's world is often called the computer world. We cannot imagine our life without computers. The first computers were developed during the Second World War. They were used to break the codes, used to send secret information.
Unemployment is a very urgent problem today. Years ago when a man left school he learnt some job and did this job all his life. He could be sure that his job would be needed to his dying day. Nowadays he couldn't be sure. Your work may look like a very good job at present, but it may not be needed in 10 years.
Drug addiction is a big problem today. Even 5 years ago this problem did not exist in small towns. We read about drug addicts in the USA and other countries of the West. This problem existed in big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. Today different drugs are sold in our city and what is worse they are bought and taken by people, mostly young people. Drugs are ruinous for health and they destroy the personality of those who take them.
We can't call today's world a safe world. Many dangers come from nature, I mean floods, earthquakes and so on. But people are also dangerous for each other. Unfortunately, there are some people who don't stop at anything to achieve their aims. They even think 'the more victims the better'. Our country was one of the first to have terrorist attacks. I mean the attacks in Moscow when two apartment houses were destroyed. There were acts of terrorism in all parts of the world at the end of the 20th century: in Japan, in England and in France.
I'd like to tell you about my native town. Izhevsk is very large industrial town locted in the European part of Russia between the Volga River and the Ural mountains. It has a population of about 700.000. Izhevsk was founded in l760 as a settlement. The industrial development f the history began with the construction of an iron works. In 1918 Izhevsk became a town and since 1921 it has been the capital of Udmurtia.
Science is finding out about things around us. How do you find out about things? One way is to ask questions about them. But suppose no one knows the answers. Then you have to think of ways to find the answers yourself. This usually means doing something to the «thing» to see what happens. Doing something to see what happens is called experimenting. Scientists ask questions about things around us.
The Udmurt Republic is a sovereign republic within the Russian Federation. It is situated in the Western part of the Middle Urals between two great rivers the Kama and the Vyatka. In 1991 the republic became open for foreign visitors. Since that time Udmurtia has had close and friendly relations with many countries of the world in the fields of culture, education, trade, sport and tourism. The Government of the republic is very much interested in the development of local tourism.
When you get up in the morning, you have breakfast and usually listen to the weather forecast. Some of us think it's unnecessary, but some tend to do it.
Fashion and My style of clothes
Fashion is a thing that we have to keep up with, whether you like it or not. Anyway it’s important to look attractive. But it doesn’t mean that you should be a fashion-conscious. It may turn to a waste of money. If a person doesn’t have good taste he is not able to put things together. Trendy people want to stand out in a crowd, but sometimes they don’t look stylish.
Although much has been written about this subject, whenever we are puzzled about it. We ask the question: What is love? Love means different things to different people. Children regard love from their point of view, while they are very young. As we grow older, love grows into different dimensions with our maturing. Love changes constantly, because we change from day to day.