робот60

08.03.2022 05:26 •  Английский язык

Переведите текст i remember my first flat. i shared it with three friends and we barely had enough money to eat, let alone pay the rent. we were coming home late one night from the bars and my roommate sees this rotten old tree next to the bins. he suddenly has the bright idea that this was going to be our tree and that it would be the perfect centrepiece for a party the next day. we dragged the sad looking tree home and decorated it with cd covers and takeaway leaflets that we often ordered from. the next day we invited some friends over for a party, with one rule: they had to bring something for the tree. i tell you, that was the strangest looking tree ever! 2. my parents always made a big deal out of putting up the christmas tree. my father thought it was a crime to cut down a real, live tree for something like this, so we had this artificial tree that looked like something you used to clean glasses. at least it looked like that until it was decorated. sometime after thanksgiving, we could haul out the christmas box from the basement and start putting up the tree. my brother and i would always fight over who got to help my dad figure out which lights worked and which ones didn’t. once we replaced all of the burnt out lights, we would string the lights around the tree and start decorating it. my mother would always insist on putting up homemade decorations and would only allow a certain number of store-bought ornaments. we would have strings of popcorn and others with different pasta shapes. we would of course have to put up the things my brother and i had made at school and, then, finally, we would all make a star for the top together. back then, i couldn’t wait to get the tree up because it meant that the presents would soon go under it. now that i look back, i think i can understand why my parents insisted on the ritual. 3. when my wife and i first got married, we were living and working abroad in the developing world – mauritania, to be exact. being a muslim country, christmas isn’t exactly one of the most popular celebrations and, therefore, it was impossible to find a tree and, being in the sahel, there aren’t many trees around. as christmas approached the first year we were there, we were wondering what we were going to do for a tree. for me, there is just something about having a tree and putting gifts underneath it that conjures up the christmas spirit. one day, after an unsuccessful search through the markets for anything that would serve as a tree, my wife had a great idea. we went home and she asked me to wait outside. it must have been about an hour later when she finally came out and got me. she insisted that i walk in blindfolded and i reluctantly agreed. when i finally got in, she took off the blindfold and shouted, ‘surprise! merry christmas! ’ there, in front of me, was a lamp that she had decorated with ribbons and aluminium stars with the three or four presents that she had bought all nicely wrapped and placed at the base of the lamp/christmas tree. it might not have been much for anyone else but it was the best ‘tree’ i had ever seen! 4. my most vivid memory of a christmas tree isn’t necessarily about a beautiful one from my childhood or anything like that. one year, when i was coming home from work, i saw smoke pouring out of my neighbour’s house. she was standing at the front door shouting, ‘help, help! someone, please help! ’ i ran up the steps and looked inside and saw that the christmas tree had caught fire and was starting to burn the curtains near the window. i asked her if she had an extinguisher and she said that she didn’t. so i ran next door to my house and got the extinguisher that we keep in the kitchen and ran back to my neighbour’s house. by the time i got back, the fire had begun to spread and, without thinking twice, i started to spray the foam all over the place. just as i put out the last bit of fire, the firemen arrived and rushed in. unfortunately, my neighbour had lost all of their christmas presents and some curtains, although they really were ugly anyway. but i learned something that day. the best present isn’t necessarily under the tree but under the kitchen sink!