A. S. Pushkin is the greatest Russian poet. But I hope no one is challenging the view that he occupies an outstanding place in Russian literature and culture.
Every summer in June, thousands of people visit the Pskov land. They come here to the village of Mikhailovskoye to the wonderful festival of poetry, to see the places where he lived and worked.
Pushkin is always alive for us, he is the man we all know and love, the greatest of poets. Generations come and go, but Pushkin still remains. We are all grateful to Pushkin for each line of his works. Pushkin is not only a great poet for us. He is the perfect man combining brilliant talent with civil courage. His name is associated with our love for the Motherland, and the best in our life.
Hundreds of new concepts, hundreds of new words have appeared in the language in the years that have passed since his death, but not a single word of his poetry has become obsolete. Everything written by Pushkin continues to live. It has not become something of the past, it does not need any corrections and hardly needs commentary. His feelings and his views still correspond to our own feelings and views.
We admire the great world of Pushkin's poetry as a whole, each of us finding some special lines for ourselves, lines showing his sympathy and respect for his people. The reader cannot imagine his inner world without him.
We decided to have a special celebration of Mother's Day. We thought it a fine idea. It made us realise how much Mother had done for us for years, and all the efforts and sacrifices that she had made for our sake. So we decided that we'd make it a great day, a holiday for all the family, and do everything we could to make Mother happy. Father decided to take a holiday from his office, so as to help in celebrating the day, and my sister Ann and I stayed home from college classes, and Mary and my brother Will stayed home from High School. It was our plan to make it a day just like Christmas or any big holiday, and so we decided to decorate the house with flowers. We asked Mother to do it, because she always does it. The two girls thought it would be a nice thing to dress in our best for such a big occasion, and so they both got new hats. Father had bought silk ties for himself and us boys. We were going to get Mother a new hat too, but it turned out that she liked her old hat better than a new one. After breakfast we decided that we would hire a motor car and take Mother for a beautiful drive away into the country. But on the very morning of the day we changed the plan a little bit. We all felt that it would be nicer to have a definite purpose. It turned out that Father had just got a new rod the day before, and he said that Mother could use it if she wanted to: in fact, he said it was practically for her, only Mother said she would rather watch him fish than fish herself. So we got everything arranged for the trip. Mother cut up some sandwiches and packed all up in a basket for us. When the car came to the door, it turned out that we couldn't all get in. Father said that he could stay at home and work in the garden. The girls said that Mother had only to say the word and they’d gladly stay t home and work. In the end it was decided that Mother would stay at home and have a lovely restful day round the house. It turned out anyway that Mother didn't care for fishing and also it was just a little bit cold and fresh out-of-doors, though it was lovely and sunny, and Father was afraid that Mother might take cold if she came. We had the loveliest day. Father and the boys fished, the girls met quite a lot of people. We all had a splendid time. It was quite late when we got back. We sat down to dinner. It was grand. When it was over all of us wanted to help clear the things up and wash the dishes, only Mother said that she would really much rather do it. When we all kissed Mother before going to bed, she said it had been the most wonderful day in her life and I think there were tears in her eyes.
Every summer in June, thousands of people visit the Pskov land. They come here to the village of Mikhailovskoye to the wonderful festival of poetry, to see the places where he lived and worked.
Pushkin is always alive for us, he is the man we all know and love, the greatest of poets. Generations come and go, but Pushkin still remains. We are all grateful to Pushkin for each line of his works. Pushkin is not only a great poet for us. He is the perfect man combining brilliant talent with civil courage. His name is associated with our love for the Motherland, and the best in our life.
Hundreds of new concepts, hundreds of new words have appeared in the language in the years that have passed since his death, but not a single word of his poetry has become obsolete. Everything written by Pushkin continues to live. It has not become something of the past, it does not need any corrections and hardly needs commentary. His feelings and his views still correspond to our own feelings and views.
We admire the great world of Pushkin's poetry as a whole, each of us finding some special lines for ourselves, lines showing his sympathy and respect for his people. The reader cannot imagine his inner world without him.
So we decided that we'd make it a great day, a holiday for all the family, and do everything we could to make Mother happy. Father decided to take a holiday from his office, so as to help in celebrating the day, and my sister Ann and I stayed home from college classes, and Mary and my brother Will stayed home from High School.
It was our plan to make it a day just like Christmas or any big holiday, and so we decided to decorate the house with flowers. We asked Mother to do it, because she always does it.
The two girls thought it would be a nice thing to dress in our best for such a big occasion, and so they both got new hats. Father had bought silk ties for himself and us boys. We were going to get Mother a new hat too, but it turned out that she liked her old hat better than a new one.
After breakfast we decided that we would hire a motor car and take Mother for a beautiful drive away into the country. But on the very morning of the day we changed the plan a little bit. We all felt that it would be nicer to have a definite purpose. It turned out that Father had just got a new rod the day before, and he said that Mother could use it if she wanted to: in fact, he said it was practically for her, only Mother said she would rather watch him fish than fish herself.
So we got everything arranged for the trip. Mother cut up some sandwiches and packed all up in a basket for us.
When the car came to the door, it turned out that we couldn't all get in. Father said that he could stay at home and work in the garden. The girls said that Mother had only to say the word and they’d gladly stay t home and work.
In the end it was decided that Mother would stay at home and have a lovely restful day round the house. It turned out anyway that Mother didn't care for fishing and also it was just a little bit cold and fresh out-of-doors, though it was lovely and sunny, and Father was afraid that Mother might take cold if she came.
We had the loveliest day. Father and the boys fished, the girls met quite a lot of people. We all had a splendid time.
It was quite late when we got back. We sat down to dinner. It was grand. When it was over all of us wanted to help clear the things up and wash the dishes, only Mother said that she would really much rather do it.
When we all kissed Mother before going to bed, she said it had been the most wonderful day in her life and I think there were tears in her eyes.