Clothing

Clothing is very important in people’s lives. In Hungary, we have to wear

different clothes in different seasons because the weather is variable. For
example, in winter, we have to wear caps, gloves, scarves, warm sweaters
and trousers, winter coat and winter boots. In spring, the weather is warmer
so people don’t have to wear warm clothes but a pullover is needed. In summer,
it is enough to put on a summer dress or a T-shirt with shorts or a skirt. On
the beach, women wear a bathing suit or a bikini while men wear swimming
trunks. In autumn, the weather is cooler and it rains a lot so people have to wear
a raincoat or always bring an umbrella with themselves.
Clothing differs not only because of the weather but because of the occasions. If
you have to go to an official place – for example, an entrance examination
(felvételi vizsga) – you have to wear Sunday best clothes. It means that men
wear a shirt, a pair of trousers, a tie and a suit. Women wear blouses, black
skirts or dresses and a pair of nylon tights. On the other hand, at home or in
everyday situations, people wear clothes which represent their style for example,
on an average day, I like wearing colourful clothes. I like wearing jeans too
because they never go out of fashion. They are very popular with young people in
all colours.
Choosing a career
Choosing a career is a very important step in everybody’s life. Most children and
some students don’t have clear ideas about their future job. Boys usually want to
be pilots, astronauts, designers,
architects, soldiers. Girls on the other hand dream about becoming actresses,
singers, ballet – dancers, dressmakers, nurses or teachers. Some children want to
follow their parents or parents want their children to work in the same line as
they did.
When I was a small girl I dreamed about becoming a vet. I was interested in
animals and I like them very much. It was my dream to open a clinic in my
hometown. Now I would like to be a psychologist. I want to continue my studies
at a good university in Debrecen. It is very difficult to be admitted. Today
studying isn’t cheap. There can be talented students who don’t have enough
money so they can’t afford to continue studying but those who have money and
aren’t not so talented can study further. But it is my dream, to help people who
have got mental problems. Besides it’s a very interesting profession. Fortunately,
my parents help me in all fields of life. I can count on them. My school lets
students concentrate on the field that suits their abilities and interests the most.
It provides us with the best possible facilities, such as the library, and
computer and language labs, so that we could get the most recent information
on any issue that we are interested in. They also help us with making this
decision. I visited open classes at some colleges to get more information. It is
very useful experience. Meanwhile I am taking part in optional courses to prepare
for the school leaving exams. I think job satisfaction is one of the most important
things at work. This means that it’s not enough to be good at what you do, but
you should enjoy it as well. I would like to find a challenging and motivating job in
the future.
Communication / keeping in contact
Nowadays communication is very important, not just between us and our friends,
family, etc., but between
companies, cities and even countries. If there would not be the Internet, the
telephone or the letter, there could
not be the big variety of food, clothing, household appliances and other things in
the shops, because the
companies are keeping in contact with each other, that’s why we can eat
bananas, oranges and food like these in
Hungary.
To help these great systems going, there are a lot of interpreters, translators and
language courses available for
everyone, not just the kids in the schools.
These days almost everything we can write to somebody else, from a single
thank you note through a letter for
an old friend to official documents are typed in the computers. It is much easier,
because others can get our
messages almost in a minute, and don’t have to wait a week or so, for a
traditional letter to arrive. Some people
say that it is not a good thing, since it is less personal and alienates us from each
other. But even if there would
not be the Internet to send our messages, there definitely would be less
successful companies, as the replies to
important questions may arrive later, or if there would something bad happen, it
would take at least one week to
send a message asking for help from the directorate for the subsidiary, which
would need some more money, but
if it arrives later, it might be too late and that part of the company may bankrupt.
An other important thing about the Internet is the fact that it is absolutely
multilingual, so everyone can use it,
even if they don’t speak any other language except from their mother tongue.
And also, it gives excellent
opportunities to learn other languages, because there are many free software,
programs and courses that are
running on the worldwide web which are available for everybody, who have
Internet access. Of course, you can
even practice your language’s dialects and similar old languages which are
spoken in other parts of your country,
or may be in use somewhere else. In addition, you can still find languages which
are on the edge of extinction, or
are already extinct, but are still in use somehow, like Latin. In my opinion, it really
is a great thing, because I can
speak on more languages with my international friends with the help of the
Internet, since there are specific
translator programs, where you can type something, and the computer translates
it in no time. Unfortunately,
these resolutions are not always good, but there can be found very nice programs
on the Internet.
Even if your language is not as well-known as like English or Chinese, you can still
find your favorite websites
and pages on languages that you know. Just to mention an interesting thing:
English is currently the most
widely /széles körben/ used language on the Internet, but some people say that
as the number of Chinese people
is constantly /folyamatosan/ increasing, in a few years Chinese language, more
precisely /pontosabban/ the
mandarin dialect will take control over the web. This is how the cultures spread
/kiterjed/ here.
The e-mails are really easy to type and send, not only because the correction
/javítás/ of one’s mistakes, but
because if someone’s handwriting is not the prettiest, everyone can read it,
because it’s clear. A big advantage
/előny/ that if once you finished your e-mail, the addressee /címzett/ will get it
approximately /körülbelül/ in 10
minutes, independently /függetlenül/ from where he or she lives, while if you
write a traditional letter, or on its
other name, a snail mail, it takes two days to arrive, even if the person you’ve
sent the letter to lives only 10
kilometers away.
Also, there is an other solution /megoldás/, the fax. This is kind of like when you
take a picture of what you
would like to show or send to someone and send the photo itself. There are
special kinds of printers which can be
used for scanning and faxing. You put your sheet face up or face down inside of
the machine, then you send the
fax message to a phone number, which is in connection with a printer, and that
printer prints your fax out. This
way both of you, the sender and the receiver /vevő/ will get a copy from the
paper. In Hungary the fax had no
long lifetime, because the fax and the Internet appeared /megjelent/ at almost
the same time, and people chose
the easier way to communicate with the others. Sending messages and
documents with the help of the Internet is
definitely much faster than in the traditional way, but I can tell from personal
experiences that it is much more
less personal and kind. I have some penpals from other countries. And it is very
interesting they prefer snail mail.
I think it is so humourous to see handwriting habits of other nations.
Daily routine
On weekdays, I wake up at half past 6. I never get up as soon as I wake up. I need
some time to relax a little bit. After I have had my morning cappuccino, I’m really
awaken. My mum makes it for me. I go to the bathroom to have a shower and to
brush my teeth. Then I put on my clothes and I get my things ready for school, I
always make my bed and listen to music. After it, I make some sandwiches for
myself. Unfortunately, sometimes I oversleep. Being a heavy sleeper I can hardly
hear the alarm clock ringing. After breakfast – generally a slice of bread with
butter, jam or honey – I go to school. I have to be there by 7:50. I go on foot.
Usually, I’m at school till 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I arrive home about
quarter to 5 o’clock. If I have, I make my homework, and then I go for a walk with
my friend and her dog. In winter I go to the National Park to skate 6-7 times a
week. I work there as a hostess, so I don’t have to pay for it.
Sometimes, if my mum asks me, I go to the supermarket and I do the washing
up. At the weekend I help a little bit more because I have more time. At the
weekend I wake up at 9 or 10 o’clock. I go to do the weekly shopping with my
mother and my brother. On Saturdays I don’t learn, I relax, or go for a walk. On
Sundays I learn a bit.
At the weekend my cousins and their parents are going away, and I take care of
the children. We play a lot because they are very little. The older is 2 years old,
and the younger is 1 year old. I can tell that I’m happy with the way of life I’m
leading. Of course, sometimes I have problems like anybody else, but I think it’s
normal in life. I try to live together with them or to try to find solutions.
Environment
Pollution is caused by various pollutants.
Nowadays environmental protection became one of the main problems. Due to
the development of technical knowledge, we are used to using more and more
synthetically materials. Often we want only to make our life easier, but we don’t
think of the kickback. We can find for example a fridge in every flat, using them
leads to “holes” in the ozone layer and the increase of the average temperature
in the whole world. We are used to a comfortable life, but many articles and
gadgets cause pollution and destroy our health. In the city, the children can’t play
in the parks because they are dirty. In some countries, people are not allowed to
drink the running water, because it is polluted by sewage, chemicals, and oil-spill.
The air is full of toxic air pollutants, such as dust, smoke, exhaust fumes of
vehicles, carbon monoxide, etc. However, technically, we could filter these
dangerous poison gases, we continue polluting our Earth.
In agriculture, we use too many chemical fertilizers, and we don’t think that we
eat it and animals too. Not only the continents but the seas and oceans hide
some risks. More and more tankers transport oil from one continent to the other
one. During transportation, the tanker can spring a leak and their content can
cover the surface of the water. Fish can’t get enough oxygen and the wings of
birds are covered with oil, and therefore they can not fly.
People destroy the rain-forests for making more paper-based articles, they only
think of profit and they don’t deal with new plantations.
Eating out
In Hungary, everybody can decide where they want to eat. Of course, it
sometimes depends on the money. More than half of the Hungarian population
can’t afford to go anywhere to eat because of high prices. There is much choice
of eating out in different kinds of restaurant. You can find fast-food restaurants
which are cheaper but not very healthy. In fast-food restaurants, you eat junk
food. There are a lot of restaurants in Budapest and in all over the country with
lover prices and you can eat healthy and high quality food. In self-service
restaurants, you can choose from meals from the counter and you pay after you
had chosen your meal. The richest people go to expensive restaurants for
instance Gundel in Budapest. But they can go to hotel restaurants where they get
the best food in high prices. In Hungary, you can find Chinese restaurants or
Turkish and Italian restaurants too. They are very popular with Hungarian people.
I have never been to a foreign restaurant, but I wish I am.
Education
When I was the age of 3, I went to a nursery school, which I liked very much
because I could play with a lot of children and there was lots of interesting
playground equipment. My favourites were the jungle gym.
I was 6 years old when I started a primary school which it was in my hometown. I
went to the secondary school in IT. Now I’m a third year student there. I
especially good at English and history. What I really hate is physics and math. In
the school we regularly write tests in every subject. I prefer written tests because
speaking in front of the whole class makes me nervous. The received grades are
entered in the children’s report book which are signed by the parents regularly.
If somebody fails a subject, he/she has to go to a second examination in the
summer but if he/she failed it again, he/she has to repeat that year fortunately. It
is true that most students hate exams, saying that they are unable to remember
thing because they are too nervous and they can’t concentrate under stress. On
the other hand, psychologist say that exams that are carried out professionally
don’t harm but help children develop their abilities and prepare them for life. If a
person misses a class, he/she has to have a medical certificate. In our school it is
compulsory to learn English and German language. The St. László Catholic School
is a big modern two-storey building. It has a big yard with trees and well-
equipped gym with all the necessary equipment.
We also have a school homepage too. In here, you can find beautiful pictures of
our school and school events, a short story of our school and the name of the
teachers.
We don’t wear uniforms on weekdays, just on specific days like the opening
ceremony, on the national holidays, such as the twenty-third of October and the
fifteen of March.
Family types
One child family
Pros:
 the kid gets all the attention and love, no sharing in anything
 parents are in a better financial position, they have to take care of just one
kid
Cons:
 the undivided attention can be a little bit much for some kids
 the parents want their one child to succeed and it comes with a lot of
pressure
 being an only child can be boring and one can feel alone
 the kid may have socialization problems
Family with more children
Pros:
 children have the capability of sharing and helping
 the social skills can be improved much faster and easier
 children with siblings have someone they can confide in if they don’t want
the parents get involved
 siblings can give moral support
Cons:
 difficulties can occur in the financials, more children – higher expenses
 the parents have a hard time giving the children attention and love equally
 sharing things like clothes or even a room can be annoying

 Free time activities, hobbies


 People can do many things today if they have free time. When
children finish school, they go home, have lunch and do the
homework first. Later they go out and meet their friends. In the
evenings they like playing computer games, chatting with their
friends and watching films. But many teenagers don’t like sitting in
front of the computer for hours. They can do sports or go to the
gym. Only few teenagers like reading, collecting stamps, drawing or
playing a musical instrument.
 At the weekend teenagers go to parties, go to the cinema or go on
trips. They rarely go to the theatre or museum, but they sometimes
go bowling, play pool or go swimming.
 I don’t listen to music so often. I like rap, pop, rock and classical
music too, so I’m an ,,omnivorous”.
 I usually stay at home, because I don’t like going out and parties.
 When the whole family is together, we always have fun. We talk,
watch a film or a series, play board games etc. We often go to the
cinema or the theatre.
 don’t go to concerts. I don’t remember the last one, which I went to.
 Our class went to Aquincum, which is a museum in Budapest and we
are going to go to the Museum of Fine Arts.
 I like romantic films and thrillers. I don’t like horrors, because of my
belief and also I’m afraid of these. I prefer true stories and dramas
too. My favourite actors are Jim Carrey and Matthew McConaughey.
They are very talented.
 If I can’t do anything at my place, I often go for a run. I live in _____
and there is nice landscape, where I can go.
 Health
 What you eat is very important for your health. Many people today
have an unhealthy diet. They eat too much fast food and processed
 food. A healthy, balanced diet should include proteins,
carbohydrates, fats, fresh fruit and vegetables.
 If you are overweight you can go on a diet to lose weight, for
example avoiding food with too many calories. Many people today
are vegetarians and don’t eat any meat. This is a healthy diet if you
make sure eat enough protein from eggs and cheese-
 To be healthy you should eat healthy food, such as chicken, fish,
vegetables, fruits, cheese, yoghurt, and cereals, exercise regularly
and try to avoid stress.
 A regular way of life is very important to good health. Have you
meals at regular times, sports in the fresh air and sunshine. Many
people who feel unwell or nervous are just exhausted, overworked
and need a good rest.
 I try to live in the healthiest way possible. I eat heathy food, thai is,
little fat and sugar an lots of vegetables and fruit. I take exercises at
home three times a week and walk a lot with my friends every day.

 Hobby
In this running world not everyone has the time they would need to chill out
/lehiggad/, but we still have our
interests in sports, art and other relaxing opportunities. I would say that almost
everybody has a hobby that he or
she really likes to do. For some, this hobby is their work, for others, their hobby
begins after work time, or at the
weekends.
A lot of the hobbies are based on old traditions and their practice, like painting,
martial arts /harcművészetek/
and singing. For me, I have a lot of hobbies, but mostly based on old, traditional
ones, such as drawing, painting
and writing. Writing is not just a hobby for me. It is lifestyle. I write short stories,
novels and poems. ” When I
start to write in 2010, I was also writing Twilight fanfictions. Fanfiction is when
someone takes either /egyik/ the
story or characters (or both) of a certain /bizonyos/ piece of work, whether /akár/
it be a novel, tv show, movie,
etc. /et cetera/, and create their own story based on /alapul vmin/ it. I publish my
writings on my website and a
couple times a year in anthologies. Unfortunately, in Hungary it is almost
impossible to live off writing.
Also, there are exclusive hobbies, such as golf, horse riding, scuba diving and
others, which are not practiced by
every second or third person, since they need very special equipment /képesség/
and personality /személyiség/,
too.
I rarely ride a horse. I adore it, but I unfortunately I can’t do it regularly. Horses
can be a real passion
/szenvedély/ to us, since these animals look at us as their partner, not as their
boss, like dogs, and not as their
servant /szolga/, as cats. They are not pets, but partners. I don’t know who can’t
imagine to ride freely in a grassy
area /füves terület/, full of beauty, trees, song of the birds, scent /illat/ of the
freshness. It really is a pleasure
/öröm/ for the riders, and for the horses, too, as they like to be free and simply
run out of the grey everydays.
At one time I tried scuba diving. It was amazing, dive in the water and see the
beautiful underwater life. It can be
a breathtaking /lélegzetellátító/ experience /tapasztalat/, while you swim with
colorful and interesting fish, see
the outside world from under, you don’t even feel your own weight, just the
easiness of your body. Like you
would be flying.
For a lot of people who are really into their hobbies, which is their true and only
passion, they might /lehet/
choose it as their profession. Humans like to do what they love to do, not obeying
/engedelmeskedve/ the rules of
the society. There are many people who became famous because they did what
they wanted.
There are two ways for a hobby to become someone’s job. The first is when you
do something and you love it so
much that you would like to live off money or benefit you can make out of it.
The other way is when you take something up /vmilyen tevékenységbe kezd/, like
painting or singing as a
profession, and later you start to love it more and more, so this becomes even
your hobby, and you do it even at
home or vacation, not just in work time.
Of course, we should make a difference between obsession /megszállottság/ and
passion, as obsession sometimes
may not be as pleasant /kellemes/ as it can easily turn into something that can be
harmful /káros/ or make a fool
out /kiakaszt/ of the obsessed people. Those ones can easily hand out /szétoszt/
money on things that are
connected with their obsession, and they do it without any control. But this is just
the financial side, as they
might take greater risks /veszélyek/ than they could overcome /leküzd/.
Housework

I often help at home: I sweep, take the trash out, do the vacuum-cleaning and
water the plants. My brother and I usually clean our own rooms and I sometimes
help my mom in the kitchen. If something breaks down, my dad fixes it. We have
2 dogs, a rabbit and an African white hedgehog. The rabbit and the hedgehog live
in separate cages. My mum or I clean those twice a week.
The chores that are usually done by teenagers are tidying their room, vacuum-
cleaning and dusting the furniture, but young people often don’t help at home,
because of the technology or because of the lots of homework they have to do.
Men usually do the gardening, they plant trees, tinker or fix something. Women
cook, bake, wash up the dishes, clean the house etc.
The jobs that should be done every day are the following: taking the trash out,
sweeping, cooking, tidying up, feeding your animals and washing the dishes. And
the chores that should be done every week is tidying the house for example.
There are some household machines, for example vacuum cleaner, washing
machine, dish-washer etc.
Media
As this age is considered /megfontolt/ to be the age of information, media plays a
very important role in our daily
lives. The television, the radio, newspapers and the Internet are just a few
examples of communication.
When we wake up in the morning, we turn on the TV, watch the news or the
weather forecast /előrejelzés/. While
having breakfast, a lot of people like to read their favorite newspaper, and when
they set off to work, they turn on
the radio in their car. At their workplace, or after they got home, they use their
computers to surf the Internet.
Of course, we can’t stay out of the current political topics or not be influenced
/befolyás/ by one of the parties, as
every single form of media reflects /reagál/ the interests of one party, at least.
None of the tools /eszközök/ of the
media can be considered to be objective, though /bár/, we still keep using them,
as we form our opinion based on
our own ideas, interests and needs, not really on what others may say.
In Hungary, I would say that the most used form of media is the Internet, as it is
available almost everywhere, it
is fast and by the time /amikorra/ we get the daily newspaper in our hands, there
are already at least five updates
about the same topic we read in the morning. The more people use the web to
search for information, the age of
printed news is about its end, because we can choose what we want to be
informed about, and what is out of our
interest. That probably is the reason why there is a significant difference in the
number of newspaper ordering
between these days and a decade /évtized/ ago.
This is not the same with the TV, as it was and still is very popular. As soon as we
get home, turn it on, we can
listen to music, watch a film or sit down in front of fascinating /lebilincselő/ series.
According to our own taste
/ízlés/, we can choose whether we would like to watch something on a public or a
commercial /kereskedelmi/
channel. The main difference between them is that the public channels run on
the money of the government and
are mostly available for everybody, while the commercial channels use the
commercials for their living. The
highest price of a commercial is at the time when a channel gets a punishment
for something, like the program
proved /bizonyul/ to be harmful /káros/ for younger kids, or the age mark
/korhatár/ at the corner /sarok/ is not
good. It has a psychological reason: when people hear that there will be a break
at programs, they switch the TV
to that channel and watch the clock counting /számol/ back. The first seconds
and minutes are very
influencing /hatásos/ when everything starts again, as people see those
advertisements /hirdetés, reklám/ first.
An other great source /forrás/ of income /bevétel/ are the reality shows and other
programs, which are based on
the viewers /néző/ votes. People sit down in front of the screen and send text
messages to keep their favorite
characters in the game or competition /verseny/ they are watching. Sometimes
the money we spend on sending
those messages can be incredibly /hihetetlenül/ much, and this money goes only
to the founders /alapító/, and the
show runs on /folytatódik/. We should think about that it could me much more
useful if we would send that
money to a charity /jótékonyság/, but as it’s a human habit, we like to spend
money what entertains /szórakoztat/
us, not on things that would be good for others, like orphans /árvák/, too.
Also, while we are await /várakozik/ the show to go on, there are other long
commercials, which are usually very
boring and annoying /bosszantó/ for an average /átlag/ person, but this is the
price of our favorite programs to
run. During the five or ten minute long advertisement /reklám, hirdetés/ time we
switch to an other channel, and
watch the news, which is usually about the bad things that happened in the
world. We rarely hear about the
opening ceremony of a new school or hospital, because not everybody thinks it to
be important, but likes to hear
more about natural disasters and other sad things, like protesting /tiltakozás/
ended up in catastrophe. Also, we
can’t hear a lot about the current political issues, though it is sure that all of the
channels, writers and speakers
have their own opinion and tell the stories from their viewpoints /álláspont/,
sometimes influencing our decisions
and feelings about the political parties.
When somebody decides /(el)dönt/ to work as a writer, reporter /riporter,
tudosító/ or editor /szerkesztő/, they
have to participate /részt vesz, közreműködik/ in different style classes and
practice a lot of different styles. I’ve
heard from one of my acquaintances /ismerős/ that she worked for a television
channel for a short time, and they
had to write articles /(újság)cikkek/ in the styles of specific newspapers for
practicing. In Hungary, we can easily
tell apart which newspaper, website or TV channel reflects /reagál/ which political
party’s interests. That’s why I
say there is no objectivity /tárgyilagosság/, and it can never be, as people may
try not to take their personal
feelings, interests and thoughts in a report or an opinion-piece as hard as they
can, but yes, there still is at least a
tiny /apró, pici/ piece of it in their products.
The government always takes control over public channels, just for an example,
HírTV is for the right wing,
ATV is for the left wing party. I found it a dirty thing to take advantage of our
everyday habits and influence us through daily routines, like reading, listening to
radio or watching TV. They use our time of relay /közvetít/ for
their own interests.
I don’t watch news or other programmes like that. I watch a lot series. One of my
favourites is Supernatural. This
television drama is about two brothers, Sam and Dean, who were raised /felnevel/
by their father, John, to hunt
and kill all things that go „bump in the night” /az éjszaka rejtélyes/félelmetes
zajai/. The two leading men are
Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. Jensen is very attractive and handsome. I
know about him he is married and
he has a daughter, because I heard or read it, but honestly I don’t care. Many
people want to know everything
about their favourites. In my opinion they should care about their life not others.
That’s way celebrities can be.
They are ridiculous. Personally I think that we are a too small country to this
many celebrities.
Stars are maybe different or maybe not. But I think some singers, actors, authors
etc. are very different from
celebrities. They try to move to your heart by their songs, movies or books, not
their scandals /botrány/.
Partnership
People are living together in families, groups of friends, working or studying in
the
same atmosphere, they are making different societies of themselves. They make
partnerships with each other.
Sometimes we can make so different connections between us. Basically there are
people who have a partner and there are people who haven’t. If somebody is
alone it
can be because currently he or she doesn’t have anybody, or their partner died,
they are
divorced or they are separated which means that they are not divorced yet, but
they are
not living together. If somebody has a partner, they can be just partners, lovers,
they
can be married, be in an open relationship or be engaged.
It mostly depends on what people want, but sometimes there can be different
obstacles
to be together with the person you chose, like the distance or family problems, or
sometimes one of the partners is married and doesn’t want to get divorced.
If we talk about partnership, we must mention other forms of it, because our
personal
and closest relations are not all under the meaning of this word. There are
different
nationalities living together. As the world is developing, it is becoming more and
more
opened for the other cultures and people from further places. I mean that a
country is
not just for itself, but because travelling and business connects us, we start to
discover
the whole world, meet new friends, and also, we are moving away from our
places.
For example, an American man has to move to an other country, one in Europe,
because of his job. Then, there he meets a woman, who is from an other country,
but is
there because of her job, too. They fall in love and decide to move away, to a
fourth
country, which probably is closer to their original countries.
So, in a country there are a lot of people who have other nationalities or were
born
somewhere else but were raised there. Let’s see the case of Hungary. Basically,
we
would say that there are not many immigrants, but people can be surprised if
somebody tells them that there much more minorities than they could ever
imagine.
Actually Hungary has thirteen minorities. Just for examples, there are German,
Greek,
Polish, Romanian and Ukranian people. There are minorities in every country all
over
the world. A lot of people immigrating into England to work, who genuinely do
want
to work.
The people from different cultures have their different religions. It causes ethnic
tensions between people who were born and bred in their country and people
who
immigrated to that country. There are thousands of cultures on the edge of
extinction,
but due to the human’s creativity, there always are and always will be new ones
to
replace the lost ones.
There are people who believe in more gods, the polytheists, like the ancient
Greek
people, monotheists, like the Christian religions and the atheists, just to mention
the
Taoists or the Buddhists. Nowadays the numbers of the atheist are increasing,
probably
because the people are having other interests. Mostly our parents’ will
determines our
religion, because they can raise us up in their own religions or decide they don’t
want to christen us. Of course, as the children are growing, they are getting more
educated
about the world and the different things to believe in, and they can change their
parents’ will, and choose an other faith which suits them better.
Here, in Hungary, most of the people are Roman Catholics. Based on a two
thousand
and nine (2009) census, their number is around fifty-two percent, and this was
followed by the reformathics with sixteen percent. It is a significant difference.
This whole religion thing mostly depends on our parents, but as we get older, we
can
change it. No matter, how we decide, one thing is sure: we can change almost
everything, except for the family we were born in.
Shops
I love window-shopping. I like walking up and down in front of shop windows and
looking around especially in the new boutiques. I don’t have to buy every day,
because my mum does the shopping in her lunchtime. She buys bread, rolls, milk
and some cold cuts. Everybody is doing their big shopping at weekends, so shops
are crowded and full of customers. I prefer shopping in super- or hyper-markets,
because I can get almost everything under one roof. They have lower prices than
small shops too. The largest hypermarkets in our town are Tesco and Auchan. The
selves are well-stocked with wide choice of attractively packed goods, from deep
frozen to washing powder. There are a lot of counters for example fruit and
vegetable, bread and cake, milk and diary produce, grocery and wine counter.
Smaller shops are privately owned and their number is growing from month to
month. These shops are bakers, butchers and greengrocers.
Housewives like going to the marketplace because fruit, vegetables are much
cheaper than in any shops. At the stands, private farmers sell their own
homegrown, onions and other kind of vegetables and fruits. There are a lot of
department stores in Budapest. For example Westend City Center, technical and
electrical shops.
Sport
Sport is a very important thing is one’s life. It can protect our health, our body,
refresh the mind, strengthen
/megerősít/ us inside and outside, not to talk about the reduction /csökkenés/ of
the daily stress. As we are
different, we can’t all be in just one specific sport, so during the centuries and
millenniums /ezredév/, people
invented /feltalál/ several kinds of sports with different moves, rules,
equipment /képesség/ and requirements
/követelmények/. Some are dangerous, some are not, your choice may depend on
your physical abilities
/képességek/ and the fact that how adventurous /vakmerő/ you are. There are
extreme sports for the adrenaline
lovers, like hiking /túrázás/, windsurfing, scuba diving or parachuting
/ejtőernyőzés/, slow sports which need
more concentration and more use of your brain, like chess and golf, there are the
martial arts /harcművészetek/
and their branches /ágazatai/, and the list could go on for long pages.
For me, I tried lots of sports as a hobby and/or a form to keep fit, folkdance,
Zumba, running, horse riding etc.
As I see it, women might like doing sport more than men, as we are considered to
be more worried about our
health and shape, so small wonder that we have at least the same number of
girls as boys on each training. Men
are said to be lazier /lustább/ and I would say we can see less men running on the
streets alone.
Health problems can be a cause why people take up /belekezd/ different sports,
like jogging against obesity
/túlsúlyosság/ and heart problems. Sports can do wonders for our health, by
strengthening /megerősítés/ our
muscles, bones, heart and lungs /tüdők/. An other cause why we choose them as
our free time activities is that the
fact that it reduces the daily stress and the chance of getting a heart attack.
In Hungary soccer /labdarúgás/ is definitely /kétségtelenül/ one of the most
popular sports, besides handball,
which shows increasing statistics. I would say that a very big percentage, about
80% of the young boys play
soccer regularly, and if we ask a little boy what would he like to become, he
would answer: soccer player. A lot
of boys practice it as their favourite activity during their scholar years, but when
they finish their schools, they
give it up and find a suitable /testhez álló/ job.
Some boys still keep running after their dreams and they become soccer players
until they can. As a player, you
won’t be able to be on the pitch /pálya/ until the end of your life, because as a
forty-year-old man, you are
considered to be a veteran, a very old player. When you get too old, you quit the
team and have to find another
job, which is a very unlucky situation, unless you would make a good leader
/vezető/ and teacher, and a team
would need your help as a couch /edző/.
For women, it’s usually not the same, though we really do like sports. There are
many exceptions /kivétel/ that
show, we can be even better than the males. Just for an example, the first
Hungarian world champion in karate
was a female, not a male. Even, there are the very famous chess-player girls, the
three Polgár sisters. Their father
taught them how to play chess at a very young age and they become so great
professionals that they and their
father had to invent /feltalál/ other, more difficult ways to play this black and
white, but not at all boring game.
And once if we talk about chess, we should also mention some idiot sports, like
chess boxing. I’ve first heard
about it a few years ago. It is made up of several turns, one game of chess, and a
box match. The player who
wants to win has to be very fit both in body and mind.
Also, there is the so famous wife-carrying competition, which was invented in
Finland as has the basic idea that
the husbands have to carry their wives on /folytat/ their back at the fastest speed
they can, through several
obstacles /akadály/. Who is the fastest and doesn’t hurt, drop /eldob/ or leave his
wife wins.
An other idiot sport which spreads /elterjed/ around the world with the speed of
light /fénysebesség/ is the cell
phone throwing. You just have to toss /dob/ it in the air, the goal is that it has to
fly a long distance /nagy
távolságok/ up /felrepül/ so high, and land at the furthest point. Sometimes I can’t
see a clever point in a game or
its rules, but it still can be very enjoyable /élvezetes/ for someone.
Transport
Vehicles include buses, bicycles, ships, subways, trams, cars, trains and
airplanes.
I always go to school by bus. I haven’t got a driving licence yet. I think the most
comfortable vehicle is the car, because it’s door to door, you can travel when you
want and you can take as many bags as you want. The airplanes are comfortable
too. The quickest way of travelling is by airplane. An airplane can be quicker, than
the sonic speed. The cheapest vehicle is the bicycle I think, because it’s cheaper
to produce and it doesn’t need any fuel. People say that airplanes are the safest
vehicles, because these are technically the best.
In big towns there are bad public roads and public lighting. I would spend money
to make them right. There is noise. I should force people to use buses after 7 p.m.
There is air pollution, a lot of litter and homeless people, accidents, crimes and
criminals. There are traffic jams.
In a big town I prefer travelling by car.
People get angry and impatient when they get stuck in a traffic jam. The most
common causes of accidents are fast driving, people often use their phones while
driving or they fall asleep.
Public transport
In Hungary public transport means buses, trains, trams and the underground. The
underground travels in Budapest. Trams travel in big cities. I travel by bus when I
go to work or school. The buses are old, cramped and smelly. I would like new
and spacious buses. The trains are old and dirty, but they are spacious. The
underground is fast and clean, but it is dark and frightening. The trams are new,
but cramped. They travel in the daylight and that’s good.
Travelling by train or by car
Trains are cheap and environmentally friendly. But they are slow, uncomfortable
and dirty.
You can only travel with a few suitcases.
Cars are fast and comfortable and clean. You can travel with many suitcases. You
can start your journey when you want. You can stop for a rest. But, petrol is
expensive and bad for the environment. And traffic jams are problems.
Weather
Hungary has a continental climate. This means that the weather is quite easily
predictable (megjósolható) and there are big differences between the weather in
the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Hungary is protected from
the extreme weather by the mountain ranges encompassing (bekerít) it from
almost all sides. Temperature above 30 degree Celsius may occur in July and
August but generally do not last long. January and February are the coldest
months but even then the average temperature does not fall below minus 5
degree Celsius.
England has a maritime climate (also known as oceanic), which means that
the weather is wet and rainy there. It is usually very changeable and it is difficult
to forecast with certainly even for a day. It rarely snows and if it does, it melts
when it reaches the ground. Summers are cool and damp too. Possibly because it
is so unpredictable, English people are always prepared to discuss the weather.
My favourite season is summer because in summer we don’t have to go to
school, and the weather is sunny and hot so we can go on holiday and swimming,
or we can go on excursions too. However, autumn is the rainiest season of the
year and the days are getting colder and colder but leaves are falling down from
the trees, so I like this season too as this is the most colorful one.
Weekends
On Saturdays and Sundays the whole family get up late, but sometimes we get
up early. My granny makes some food, some soup and some second course. My
mother, my brother and I do the shopping. On Saturdays I don’t learn, I rather
meet my friends, and relax a lot. On Saturdays I get up at seven or eight o’clock,
because I go to work to the National Skate Park. We work with children. At
weekends we usually stay at home, and some friends come round to have lunch.
My mother doesn’t work at the weekends, but sometimes she has to go to her
workplace, but it doesn’t take a long time. Every second weekend we clean up
the flat. These days my grandma and her younger brother go away for a walk.
Sometimes we get in the car, and go to our cottage in the country. When I was a
little child, we went there a lot. I like this very much. Sometimes we visit our
relatives in Miskolc or Nyírmada. I enjoy these visits, because I see rarely my
cousins. My brother and I usually go have parties at different places with his
friends, and my friends. If my grandma has some time we cook some cakes.
Especially, when we are in our cottage in the country. We are talk to each other a
lot. My mum and my granny think it is important. They like listening to my
brother’s and mine opinion. They always ask our opinion. They grow up us so.
Holidays
There are some days in the year when adults don’t have to work and children
don’t have to go to school. These days are called holidays. One of the most well-
known holidays is Christmas. Christmas is celebrated in most parts of the world.
On the days of Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ so it is
a Christian (religious) holiday. Christmas is held in December. The celebration
of Christmas happens usually in the same way: people decorate their house and
buy a pine tree which is decorated with Christmas ornaments, this is called
the Christmas tree. People on Christmas day give presents to each other.
Children believe that Santa Claus delivers the presents and goes to houses
through the chimney. He is a fictional old man in red-suit with a long, white
beard. Another famous Christian holiday is Easter Monday when we celebrate
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is celebrated in March or in April but
the date is always different. Egg painting is an important tradition on Easter
Monday. In some countries painted eggs or chocolate eggs are hidden and
children have to find them. According to the traditions the Easter
Bunny delivers these eggs.
However, some holidays (for example Christmas) are celebrated in more
countries but some of them are celebrated by a specific nation only. For example,
one of Hungary’s national holiday is 15th March, Revolution Day. On
Revolution Day, the bravery of Hungarian people is celebrated
who rebelled against the Austrian power in 1848. Unfortunately, the revolution
was a failure but it was an important event in Hungary’s history and it is an
important day in the lives of Hungarian people. On 15th March people wear a
cockade with red, white and green colours and different speeches and events
are given in connection with the revolution. Other nations also have their own
independence day, for example, the Independence Day of the United States is
held on 4th July and it is celebrated with fireworks.