Speaking. 12. Study the following texts and say what in your opinion the advantages and disadvantages of each season are

12. Study the following texts and say what in your opinion the advantages and disadvantages of each season are. The phrases given below will help you to express an opinion of your own or ask for somebody else's opinion.

Asking for an opinion

Well? What do you think?

Do/Don’t you agree?

What’s your view?

How do you see it?

Let’s have your opinion.

What’s your opinion of …?

Expressing your own opinion

I think that

In my opinion

In my view

I feel that

As I see it

My view is that

To my mind

A. In my opinion the pleasantest season is spring. In May the weather is fine and all nature is lovely. The trees put forth little buds and new leaves; the meadrws grow green again; the flowers begin to bloom. The collective farmers till the soil and sow the seed. The nightingale, swallow, cuckoo and other birds come back from Italy or Africa and build their nests all the while singing their merry songs. Meanwhile the new crop is shooting up, and if there are no sharp frosts during the night, nature looks full of promise, and the corn-fields are make bright by blue cornflowers and red poppies.

Spring flowers! The lilacs unfold their pale hearts. There shines the wild daffodil-soft, slim, yellow; there is the starry narcissus, the hyacinth almost lost in the herbs; among them stand tulips-the red bubbles of dark wine; the yellow, more cup-like, the large parli-coloured gold and red; noble and sombre.

B. - I, for one, like (the) summer, in fact, I prefer it to any other season. By the end of June, when the days become considerably warmer, summer has come. If the heat gets too oppressive, we can go and bathe in running water. And many people enjoy a game of tennis in summer. In the summer the hot sun ripens the corn and fruit, and the farmer gets ready for the harvest. There are plenty of strawberries, apricots, peaches, plums and blackberries, which are ripe and afford a treat for the old and the young. And what pleasure can compare with that of watching the glorious sunrise and sunset! Clouds? Rain? Well, well, it isn't always cloudy and there is no such thing as perpetual rain.

C. Strange as it might seem, I like (the) autumn. There are some draw backs, I admit,- the shorter days and longer nights for instance. The weather also leaves much to be desired. But is there anything more beautiful than an Indian summer - when we have one! We miss the songs of the birds, you say. Well, I can and do enjoy the sparrow, bluebird, crossbill and the few others than remain with us. Oh, I know what you want to say. The November fogs, and mist, and sleet are not pleasant things. But what should we do without apples, pears, walnuts, grapes, which get ripe in September and October and may be picked. I, for one, could not get along without fruit or nuts, and for the sake of these I'm willing to put up with same discomforts.

D. - When autumn is over and winter sets in, I don't mind it at all. I know it is the season of snowstorms, and of ice, of frozen rivers and ponds, and of slippery streets. But think of skating onthe ice, or skiing in the country, and the sledging. In snowy weather, tobogganing is my favourate pastime. Then I think of the joy of the children. At the first heavy snowfall, they are out making snowmen, building snowhuts, and pelting one another with snowballs: Of course, if the winter is severe, one must take care not to get frostbitten. To me, winter has its own peculiar interest and beauty, and there is no reason to feel bored to death when there are interesting books, theatres and concerts, and the cinema.