Ela Borowiec Independence Day

Julianne, 13, New York City

When I think of the Fourth of July, I see hanging out withhanging out with [hang out with]hanging out with my family and eating lots of food. Every year, we go to the Hamptons where my grandparents have a summer house. We always have a family reunionfamily reunionfamily reunion on Independence Day. My grandma decorates the house and the garden with red, blue and white ribbonsribbons [ribbon]ribbons and balloons.  It is the day of national pridenational pridenational pride and patriotic displayspatriotic displays [patriotic display]patriotic displays so grandpa hangs the American flag on the roof. My parents, my aunts and uncles make a big barbecuebarbecuebarbecue. We all spend time together talking and eating. There are hot dogs and hamburgers as well as cheese cakescheese cakes [cheese cake]cheese cakes and apple piesapple pies [apple pie]apple pies. In the afternoon, we all have a baseball game. There are three generations of players: grandparents, parents and children. In the evening, we all go to the beach to watch beautiful fireworksfireworks [firework]fireworks. That is our tradition.

Beal, 14, Washington D.C.

There is always the biggest paradeparadeparade in the U.S. in the morning. People come here from all over the country to take part intake part intake part in it, as well as watch it. There are usually marching soldiersmarching soldiers [marching soldier]marching soldiers, bands and drummersdrummers [drummer]drummers, dancers, cheerleaderscheerleaders [cheerleader]cheerleaders, platformsplatforms [platform]platforms with singers and scenes from important moments in our history. I play the flute in my school band and I usually march in the second row. We wear uniformsuniforms [uniform]uniforms in our national coloursnational colours [national colour]national colours which are red, blue and white. You may not know that, but we, Americans, love the parades. When you don’t take part in the parade, you go to watch it. We all like wearing red, blue and white clothes and accessories like hats or funny sunglasses. We celebrate 4th July to show how much we appreciateappreciateappreciate our freedom. It is also called Independence DayIndependence DayIndependence Day because it was the day when American colonies declared independencedeclared [declare]declared independence from Great Britain. That is why my favourite moment is when we all sing the Star‑Spangled BannerStar‑Spangled BannerStar‑Spangled Banner, which is our national anthemanthemanthem.

Marcus, 13, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

My city is home tois home to [be home to]is home to the famous Liberty BellLiberty BellLiberty Bell. On the 4th of July, the tradition is to taptaptap the bell 13 times in honour of the 13 colonies. The ceremony masterceremony masterceremony master always says the words ‘Let freedom ring’ because the bell is our national symbol, the symbol of American freedom. There is a large crackcrackcrack on the bell and no‑one really knows where it comes from. You can find the bell in the Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia. Why do I know so much about it? Well, both my parents work there. That is why our 4th July is a festival that we spend together preparing Independence Day celebrationscelebrations [celebration]celebrations. That is also why I never watch parades. We are busy preparing for the bell ceremony. After the official celebrations, we always go for a picnic in the park where we meet our friends and relativesrelatives [relative]relatives. Everyone is relaxed and laid‑backlaid‑backlaid‑back. We have hot dogs and hamburgers. In the evenings, we go to the fireworks showfireworks showfireworks show.

1 Źródło: Ela Borowiec, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.