There are many festivals in Russia. They are New Year, Christmas, International Women's day in March when you give flowers to the women in your life (odd numbers of flowers only), Maslenitsa, which represents the end of winter, Easter, Victory Day in May which celebrates the end of WWII, called the Great Patriotic War in Russia and others. My favourite festival is New Year`s Day. Its symbols are New Year tree, Grandfather Frost and Snegurochka. I like decorating New Year tree with colourful lights, tinsels and toys. It’s wonderful. And I love getting presents.
John was not surprised to see that nobody had met him at the station. The weather (was) awful — it was windy and it was raining hard. His (FEET) got wet in seconds. His old jacket (COULD NOT) defend him from the rain or the wind. “If I don't find a shelter and a warm drink, I (WILL GET) a cold, and no one will benefit from my coming here,” John said to (HIMSELF) and went back inside the railway station. It was the (ONLY) time the seventeen-year-old John had ever left his home village where he lived with his mother and two sisters. A letter from his uncle was a surprise but not a pleasant one. His uncle had written that his health was getting worse and that he (NEEDED) someone to help him in his grocery shop. John's mother decided that he (SHOULD GO) to the town to work in the shop. He was far from feeling delighted about it but he was the (OLDEST) child in the family and it was his duty to help his mother and to support his sisters.
