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Ағылшын тілі
9-сынып емтихан тапсырмалары
Жалпы білім беретін мектептерге. ІІІ нұсқа
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The tradition of Christmas cards
Christmas cards are a big tradition in the English-speaking world. In 2017, people in
Britain sent and received about 900 million cards. That is an (0)
average
of about twelve cards
for every person, from tiny babies to the oldest grandparents.
The number of cards that are sent around Britain causes an annual (1)
headache
for the
postal service. Each year, the postal service has to (2)
take on
seasonal staff to help with the
extra mail, and postal sorting offices
are stretched to their maximum capacity and sometimes
beyond
it.
In 1994, the service handled about 1.6 billion cards – about 25 cards per person in Great
Britain, including children. In spite of advertisements telling people to "Post Early for
Christmas", few people get round to sending off their cards before December 10 and from that
point on, and the postal service slows down.
Until the age of faxes, emails and social media, the pre-Christmas period often caused a
lot of problems for firms and industry, as "(3)
urgent
" letters and documents took several days to
reach their destination by post, slowed down by the mass of Christmas mail.
During the month of December in Britain, a house with no Christmas cards is like a pub
with no beer; it just does not exist except possibly at the home of a few radical non-Christians.
For the most part, however, people of all (4)
faiths
and of no faith join in the tradition of
celebrating Christmas as a festival, whether they do so for religious reasons or not. Christmas
cards are an important part of the celebrations, and virtually any British home one goes into
around Christmas time is merrily decorated not just with holly and (5)
mistletoe
and paper
decorations, but also with a display of Christmas cards, received from friends, family, neighbors,
employers and a variety of other people.
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