•Past perfect - exercise 7 - fill the gaps• When I   (be) 18 years old I   (decide) to spend some time in America.
I   (think) about it for a while, but I   (not tell) anybody until I   (save) enough money.
My mum   (be shocked), because we   (never be) abroad. But I   (write) to my penfriend in Vermont for nearly three years and I   (want) to see her.
My English was better and better as I   (study) it since I was nine.
Before I   (start) to write to Wendy, it   (never come) to my mind that I could go to the States on my own.
But when I   (decide) to set off I   (dream) about it for one or two years. ​

Nowadays people do not pay much attention to family. They prefer a successful career to a lovely family. Is family still important? Can people live without it? 
In my opinion, family is the most valuable thing that people have. Family members support each other. For some reason, a person can feel unconfident or depressed. Relatives will be there for him/her to help to get through hard times.  They respect each other's decisions and forgive all flaws.
That is why, family is the most important institution.

Thanksgiving is probably the most favorite American holiday. The history of the holiday started in colonial time. In 23. B. 1620  a group of English people who were unhappy with the way the Church of 24. C. England was organized set sail from Plymouth on a ship called the 25. A. Mayflower. They wanted to found a new church in America. 

After six weeks at sea, the 26. A. Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. They had a hard winter and nearly half of them died. But the local Indians provided seeds for the corn, which the Europeans had never seen before. They also helped the English settlers to hunt and fish.

Fortunately the first year’s harvest was good. The English settlers wanted to thank both God and also the Indians. So the governor declared a feast and invited the Indians to join in. About ninety Indians brought along fish, deer meat, 27. B. turkey, corn and pumpkin. They feasted with the English settlers for three days.

The next year no Thanksgiving celebrations were held, and it didn’t become an annual event until the 1780s. It was made a national holiday in 1863 by President 28. A. George Washington. At that time the country was in the middle of 29. B. the Civil War, and the president thought that the establishment of a national holiday would help to unite American people.

Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth 30. C. Thursday of November with much of the same food as had been eaten at the first Thanksgiving.