Unit IV. Around the world. Part I. English- speaking countries.

THE USA.

Vocabulary:

strip of marshes [ ] – полоса болот

tableland [ ] – плоскогорье

pine [ ] – сосна

fir [ ] – ель

laurel [ ] – лавр

lynx [ ] – рысь

glutton [ ] – обжора

marten [ ] – куница

chipmunk [ ] – бурундук

rattle-snake [ ] – гремучая змея

pole-cats [ ] – хорьки

badger [ ] – барсук

gophers [ ] – колумбийские суслики

humming-birds [ ] – жужжащие птицы

rodents [ ] – грызуны

armadillo [ ] – броненосец

Ex. 1. Read and translate the texts.

A.

A period of exploration

No one knows exactly how people first came to Northern America. However, many scientists believe that America’s first settlers were hunters who came from Siberia. These hunters followed big animals over a land bridge into what is now Alaska. There is a narrow strait between the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea, which is called the Bering Strait. During the Ice Age this strait probably became very shallow. In some places it dried up completely and formed a land bridge from Asia to North America.

The scientists think that people of Asia found this land bridge between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago and moved to the unexplored continent of North America. So the first settlers were Asians which are called now Indians, as natives of America. This name was given to them by Christopher Columbus, the great explorer and first discoverer of American continent.

Christopher Columbus was born in Italy and grew up near the sea. In childhood he read the stories of Marco Polo's journey to China, where the rich of this land was described. But the route to East by land was long and dangerous. Columbus dreamt to find a quick rout to the East saling west. The way to his dream was long. He asked many European sovereigns for help and only Spain governors Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand agreed to aid him in carrying out his plans. In 1492 after a voyage of ten weeks he stepped ashore holding the Spanish flag.

Columbus thought he had reached a group of islands near the coasts of China and Indies. That’s why he called the people he saw Indians.

Columbus made three more voyages to the New World, but when adventures reached the land of their hope and found no silk, no spices, no precious stones, no gold they had been looking for, they reproached the Admiral. The Court of Spain, also, finding no return for their expenses of fitting out these expeditions, censured him. His enemies increased, and his last days were spent in disappointment and neglect. Heart-broken, he died in 1506 ignorant of the greatness of his own discovery. Eighteen years later Ferdinand Magellan proved that Columbus had been right. Ships could, indeed, reach the East by sailing west. He miscalculated the route.

Amerigo Vespucci, a native of Florence and a navigator, in 1499 skirted the coast of that is now Venezuela and northeastern South America. In 1504 it was constituted the first printed account of the mainland of New Land. Up to that time Europe, Asia and Africa were known as three parts of the world and Amerigo Vespucci proved the existence of the fourth part. A few years later it was suggested that the fourth part should be called America after Amerigo Vespucci.

B.