A Letter from America (Thanksgiving Day, other holidays)

The University of Pittsburg

Pittsburg, Penn.

USA 15

November, 195L..

holidays

Dearest Mary,

There is an air of great expectation here in the US. We are just through with Halloween fancy dress balls, but the season of holidays is in full swing. Thanksgiving Day is coming. And now that we are on the subject, let me tell you more about American holidays that impress foreigners so much.

Thanksgiving Day has a special significance for Americans because it is traced back to that group of people (pilgrims) who were among the first to come to the New World in search of freedom.

Late in the year 1620, a ship named the Mayflower brought 102 English men, women and children to the rocky coast of what is now Massachusetts, one of the 50 states of the United States of America. The ship’s passen­gers were Puritans who had been prosecuted in Britain.


Vocabulary

Pittsburh  — г.Питтсбург

Penn. сокр. от Pennsylvania — Пенсильвания (штат США)

Halloween — (шотл., амер.) праздник (канун Дня всех святых) 31 октября

to be in full swing — в полном разгаре

a special significance — особое значение

pilgrims — паломники; зд. английские колонисты, поселив­шиеся в Америке в 1620 г.

in search of freedom — в поисках свободы

Massachusetts — Массачусетс (штат США)

Puritans — (ист.) пуритане

to prosecute — преследовать

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