23. 10. 2017 You have a pen-friend living in another country and he/she is curious to learn about the major news items in your country. Write a letter to your pen-friend. In your letter: • Greet your friend and say why you are writing. • Briefly describe a v.2

Dear John, I am writing to continue our conversation about our countries. You have asked me to share with you some pieces of news that I consider to be interesting. So, below I present you the most interesting and important news that has happened in the motherland. To begin with, Russian Federation has significantly increased its expenditures on the development of military technology. The biggest part of the finances is being spent on modernization of existing armed vehicles and creation of novel tanks and intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs with multiple warheads. Reforming the system of the school education is another item of major news. Although the Soviet Union seized its existence more than twenty-five years ago, the way children are taught at school has no been properly reorganized. So, this reform is aimed at designing a curriculum that will satisfy the requirements of tomorrow’s society. Those news stories are so crucial because they will impact lives of millions of citizens. To illustrate, investing money in the military hardware will speed up state’s economy because this kind of work may be fulfilled only inside the borders. So, the money will be poured into the local economy and about one-third of the total population will explicitly or implicitly benefit from it. The Infamous school reform is so important because about 98 percent of Russian families have progeny and all mothers, fathers and grandparents want their offspring have the best life possible and the majority of them thinks the implementation of the proposed program could destroy the future of the young people. Sincerely yours, Eugene Dubinchuk