Online shopping vs.

traditional shopping: pros and cons

TRADITIONAL SHOPPING
Pros of traditional shopping:

 You can see and check the product personally

 You can ask questions about the product from the shop assistant
 You get the product immediately after you pay

Cons of traditional shopping:

 You lose a lot of time

 You are under pressure, because you want to see everything and visit every shop
 You might forget the prices you’ve seen in the previous shops, so you can’t compare
them
 You have to queue in front of the fitting room to try on clothes
 You might have to spend a lot of time in crowded places

ONLINE SHOPPING

Pros of online shopping:

 You can save time and money (that you would use for parking and petrol if you were
shopping in stores)
 You can easily compare the prices
 Variety (wide range of products)
 You can buy the product whenever you want
 You can send gifts
 You can buy the same thing you’ve seen in the local store for less money
 You have a “Shopping cart” icon that reminds you how much money you’ll spend
 You can make your own design.

Cons of online shopping:

 You can’t see the product physically

 You can’t try it on
 You have to wait for the delivery
 There is a possibility for not receiving the order because of incorrect address or some
other reason
 You are under risk of online fraud
 Celebrations
Christmas
When it’s Christmas time, we send greeting cards to our friends. We buy gifts for our
family members. On Christmas Eve we decorate the Christmas tree. We put the gifts
under the tree. We listen to Christmas music. We bake cakes and fry fish for dinner.
And we eat a lot of fondant candy. Religious people go to church to celebrate the
birth of Jesus Christ. On Christmas Day there is a family gathering, we meet our
relatives and we eat and talk together.
Birthday
I organise a party and invite my friends. My friends give me greeting cards and gifts.
My mother bakes me a cake and lights the candles. I blow the candles and wish for
something. At the party we listen to music and dance and we drink coke. We laugh a
lot and we have a good time.
Family celebrations
We hold family celebrations every Christmas and Eastern. I like family celebrations,
because then the whole family gathers, so I can meet my cousins. We have dinner
together and we eat a lot of cakes. The family celebrations take place at my
grandmother’s. My grandmother does the cooking and the baking and my mother
and my aunt lay the table. After dinner all the women do the washing-up. We chat
and laugh during washing-up. The men chat and laugh sitting in the living-room.
Many countries around the world share certain holidays, such as New Year’s Day,
Easter and Christmas, but not every country celebrates them in the same ways or
even on the same day.
We celebrate birthdays, namedays, wedding anniversaries, March 15, Easter,
Whitsun, Mother’s Day, August 20, October 23, All Soul’s Day, Christmas and New
Year’s Day.
In Hungary most people get married on a Saturday afternoon. All couples have to get
married in a registry office, and those who are religious have a church wedding, too.
In the registry office, the ceremony is led by a registrar, and the couple and their two
witnesses sign the register. The bride wears a long white wedding dress with a veil
and a train, and the bridegroom an elegant dark suit with a white shirt and a tie. The
bride holds a bouquet, and the bridegroom has a buttonniere. After the ceremony
there is a reception, which held in a restaurant, and in villages is often held in a big
tent. At the reception several kinds of dishes are served and the new couple cuts the
wedding cake. At midnight the couple change their clothes and the so-called bride’s
dance starts. All the guests dance with the bride and give some money to the couple
to contribute to their new life together.
Namedays aren’t celebrated, for example, in English-speaking countries. In Hungary
namedays are almost as important as birthdays and are celebrated in all families.
At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is a holiday full of
traditions. The most important day is Christmas Eve, December 24, when the family
comes together for the Christmas dinner. The traditional dishes are fish soup, stuffed
cabbage and poppy seed and nut rolls. The Christmas tree is decorated before the
dinner with sweets, brightly coloured lights and glass ornaments, and Christmas
presents are placed under it. At midnight lots of families go to church for the midnight
service. On Christmas Day and Boxing Day relatives visit each other and have lunch
together.
In England Christmas Eve is the time for the annual office party and many English
people go to a midnight mass, while others go to church on the morning of Christmas
Day.
 In Hungary on New Year’s Eve people usually go to parties where they eat and drink
and enjoy themselves. At midnight they drink champagne and sing the national
anthem. Then people go to the streets and watch the fireworks.
In England people go to parties or dances on New Year’s Eve. At midnight they drink
a toast to the New Year and link arms to sing Auld Lang Syne. In London thousands
of people gather to celebrate at Trafalgar Square.
At Easter we celebrate the Resurrection, that is, the rising of Jesus Christ from the
tomb three days after his crucifixion. On Easter Sunday morning we eat ham, hard-
boiled eggs and cold pork in aspic. On Easter Monday boys visit their relatives and
friends and sprinkle women and girls with perfume or water. They get chocolate or
painted eggs, and chocolate bunnies. In England many people go to church on
Easter Sunday.
The Hungarians celebrate March 15 th, the day of the Hungarian Revolution and War
of Independence of 1848-49, August 20, the day of King Stephen I. and October 23 rd,
the day of the Declaration of the Hungarian Republic.
As far as I know, public holidays in England are called bank holidays because on
these days the banks are closed. New Year’s Day, Easter Monday and Boxing Day
are bank holidays. May Bank Holiday is the first Monday in May. The British also
celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, May Day, the Queen’s birthday, Halloween, Guy
Fawkes Night and Armistice Day.
1. Valentine’s Day, February 14th, is the day of lovers.
Both Britain and the U.S.A. also celebrate some holidays which are not common in
other countries, for instance Valentine’s Day (February 14 th), April Fool’s Day (April
1st),May Day (May 1st) and Halloween (October 31st). An important Welsh holiday is
St. David’s Day (the patron saint of Wales) on March 1 st, and in Ireland, St. Patrick’s
Day (March 17th) is the day celebrating their patron saint. Midsummer’s Day (June
24th) marks the longest day of the year, and Guy Fawkes’ Day (November 5 th)
commemorates the survival of the monarchy and the King after Guy Fawkes
unsuccessfully tried to kill him in 1605.
In the United States each state has its own legal holidays but most states observe
the holidays set by the federal government. These holidays are: New Year’s Day
(January 1st), Martin Luther King’s Birthday (3rd Monday in January), Washington’s
Birthday (3rd Monday in February), Memorial Day (last Mondy in May), Independence
Day (July 4), Labor Day (1 st Monday in September), Columbus Day (2 ndMonday in
October), Veterans’ Day (November 11), Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday in
November) and Christmas Day (December 25).
As in Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is observed in America, a day when people wear
green for the Irish saint.
Many of the holidays have traditional foods and activities associated with them, and
nowadays it’s commond to send greeting cards to family and friends on many of
these days.
On Halloween children dress up as witches or in other costumes, make lanterns of
pumpkins and light candles inside them to scare the witches away. They visit houses
wearing costumes and knock at the door, and when it’s opened, they say trick or
treat. Trick means playing a joke, and treat means getting a gift, usually sweets. This
day is celebrated both in Great-Britain and in the United States.