The pronunciation of collocation "can always" Hello, I've just heard a women speaking words can always like [kæn ɔweɪz ], so, I can't here the [l] sound. I'm just wondering if it's a common reduction and she really didn't pronounce it or I've misheard ? The recording is on the site of British Council, 1:13 https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening/advanced-c1/an-interview-about-two-books

Halloween in Russia. In Russia Halloween is officially not banned. There are many talks of prohibition of the holiday and local officials in some regions have prohibited the festivity in schools. There are some reasons for it. It comes from the West. So, people can be less patriotic during the celebration of Halloween. Also Russian church consider Halloween as pagan holiday glorifying death. According to many surveys held in Russia, around 90% of respondents have heard about Halloween but don not celebrate it because they do not believe in superstitions. Many people don’t even know the exact date of Halloween. The holiday is popular only amongst young people (18-24 y.o). But there are many thematic parties in clubs on 31 of October. However no one knows the history of the holiday. For young Russian people Halloween is just the reason to have fun with friends. Personally, I don’t mind if people celebrate Halloween. I realize that the feast brings commercial benefit of the organizers and people who popularize it. But there are not so many fun in our bleak life so we shouldn’t deprive people an extra opportunity to feel themselves a little bit happier.

Have your ever used job agencies? Do many people use agencies where you live? I suppose that in our country many fly-in/fly out employees, for example people who work In the North, use job agencies. Job agencies also provide people with temporary jobs. But from what I saw Russian companies usually have their own personnel services. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a job agency? Advantages: Job agents are experts in their field and can also offer helpful guidance. They can give you an objective feedback on your application and how to promote yourself They may have excellent contacts in organizations that could be very helpful in getting a job. Some organizations don’t publish their vacancies in open sources because they don’t want to have crowd of applicants in their offices. That’s why using of job agencies is the only way to get a decent job. Disadvantages: Candidates really don't know if the agencies will even send their resumes to employers. So sometimes it takes more time to take a job through the agency. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find genuine recruitment agencies. We mostly find agencies which are profit motivated or those which scam the needy. They sometimes charge a high fee from the candidates. Though they get paid from the employer, they ask the applicants to pay fees under the name of registration, deposit, etc. , thus doubling their profits. Have you or people you know ever used a job agency? Personally, I haven’t used job agencies. There are many other ways to find a job. I remember that my father used a job agency ones. But he was deceived. And I’ve heard many stories about people who had paid for the job agency services, went far from home and didn’t find any signs of the company they supposed to be working for. Therefore I reckon that people should use job agencies only if they going to find an exclusive job or they want to go abroad. On my opinion, talking about a usual job, it’s better to use another sources of information like friends, relatives, newspaper ads and the Internet. (I've taken some sentences from the internet. But still most of the answers were written by myself)

Should we legalize marijuana smoking? There would be both advantages and disadvantages to legalizing of smoking pot. Overall, however, I think the disadvantages are greater. Some people say that smoking pot improves their mood, relaxes they body and eases headaches. But consequences of smoking are unpredictable yet. There for I don’t think people should be allowed to sacrifice their health just for pleasure. The influence of marijuana to people’s health is still unclear. Obviously, comparing with smoking of tobacco, it’s less dangerous. However, there are some evidences that smoking pot is related to some hard diseases, especially cancer. It also can provoke mental diseases like schizophrenia. Moreover, pot smokers can be dangerous for other people when they are driving a car. I suppose that if the smoking pot is a kind of drug, it can be reason of addiction. By and by a smoker is getting used to smoking and eventually he wants to have stronger feelings. So, he started consumption of harmful thigs like heroin and other artificial drugs. Nevertheless, there’s evidence of certain health benefits from marijuana, such as easing chronic pain. I suppose that in this case some stuff like marijuana can be legalized but only if there are no other alternatives. Government have to do a deep research before involving marijuana in official medical practice. On the whole, I suppose that at the current moment we shouldn’t legalize smoking pot because we don’t have enough information in this sphere. And the main problem is that people became inadequate and their reaction is slower while smoking. I can accept that some drugs may be allowed for using for medical purposes. But as long pot smoker can be dangerous for me and my relatives I can’t agree with legalizing such kind of stuff.