Of course there are. I’ve gained more of them than I had before. Cruelty and hatefulness are the main of them. I’ve also become lazier than I used to be a couple of years ago. I can even say that I’ve become asocial comparing to what I used to be and that is not very good if I want to make something of myself and get along with other people.
How would you say your national character is different from that of the British?
Different from the British, Belarusians are able to adapt to any circumstances — not to change the circumstances but to change themselves, to accept these circumstances, to live them naturally, in harmony and even with pleasure. Speaking about Englishmen I may note that they're reserved, tradition-loving, courteous, honest, extremely nationalistic and so on. To my mind, they have a specific sense of humor. They say that they can't understand our jokes and anecdotes not only because of the different meanings of the words, but because of their humor is more delicate. Looking at these features of the Belarusians and the Englishmen it is not hard to mark out the differences. The Englishmen are reserved, but the Belarusians are open-hearted and communicative. The Englishmen are tradition-loving and the Belarusians, to my mind, don't keep their traditions so well. To sum up, Belarusian features of character are: tolerance and a lack of temper. We are kind, soft and soulful. We are easy to be ruled and hard-working. Whereas the British are not so easy to be ruled, like to speak about their rights and quite withdrawn (замкнутый).
How much truth is there in stereotyped national characteristics?
A nation is a group of people who share common history, usually, a language and live in the same area, but not always. Culture can be described as our everyday life: how we communicate, what makes us happy and sad. It also includes our language, religion, traditions, behavior, way of life – in other words, what we do every day. People that belong to various nations may differ and they always differ from one another.
For example, the Germans are regarded as scientifically-minded and industrious, they're always considered solid, intelligent and mathematical. And, for instance, jewish are believed to be mercenary, industrious, shrewd, loyal to family, religious. There is a big amount of examples we can list about national character of different people. All of these and the above mentioned proves that the National Character exists. It is not a myth, it's a reality. But the National Character doesn't describe the character of each person, it describes the character of people of one nation in general.
Health and medicine.
What are the health hazards (опасность/угроза для здоровья) of modern life?
The world’s health greatly improved in the past century. Major killers such as smallpox and polio have been eliminated or contained. A large part of the world’s population has access to clean water and better sanitation. Medicine can cure or improve many conditions that crippled or killed people only decades ago. Nonetheless, human health continues to confront serious threats, as demonstrated by the recent outbreak of the Ebola virus. 1. Pandemic Risk. Before the onset of the 2014 Ebola epidemic, most people, including policymakers, seldom thought about pandemics (worldwide epidemics)—which explains why the risk of contagion is undermanaged and the Ebola crisis is here at all. 2. Environmental Hazards. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2014), indoor and outdoor air pollution is responsible for 7 million premature deaths a year—one-eighth of global mortality. Pollution kills because people inhale particulates small enough to penetrate their lungs and bloodstream, increasing the prevalence, for example, of cardiovascular and respiratory conditions. 3. Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Disorders. Mental disorders and other noncommunicable diseases (неинфекционное заболевание) — mainly cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory illness—claim many lives prematurely, cause massive ill health, and compromise human and economic development. In 2011, about 15 million people died prematurely (before age 70) from such diseases. The mounting burden imposed by noncommunicable diseases and mental health problems has many causes, including aging populations, rapid and unplanned urbanization, and lifestyle choices such as consumption of unhealthful food (partly because of irresponsible marketing and low risk awareness). Many people suffer from such diseases because of tobacco use and consumption of foods high in salt, fat, and sugar. 4. Antibiotic Resistance. Antibiotics have transformed the practice of medicine. However, a massive scale-up in their use has resulted in an increase in drug-resistant strains of disease-causing bacteria and a global decline in antibiotic effectiveness.