It occupies only one square mile in the centre of London.

There are many ancient buildings within the City, such as famous St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London which was built nine centuries ago. This Tower was used as a royal palace, a fortress and a political prison. Now it is a very popular museum.

Whitehall is the palace of many government offices. Not very far from Whitehall the Houses of Parliament ace situated. Big Ben, the famous clock on the clock Tower, is known in all the countries in the world.

London is the centre of the cultural life in Britain. There are many muse­ums, theatres, cinemas and art galleries, the Tate Gallery and the Portrait Gal­lery are known everywhere in the world. The British museum is the biggest museum in London. It has a big collection of different things- paintings and drawings, coins and statues. The British Museum has a very rich library. Near the British Museum one can see the University of London.

London is also a big port and the industrial centre of Great Britain. But when speaking of London one always thinks of Westminster Abbey. Westmin­ster Abbey is famous not only for its architecture, Westminster Abbey has its world's famous Poet's Corner where many greatest English poets and writers are buried: Charles Dickens, Tennyson, Kipling and others. Here there are memorials to Shakespeare, Burns, Walter Scott and to the great American poet Longfellow.

There are many great and wonderful sights in London. But a visit to Lon­don's great museum is a “must” for any visitor to Great Britain. When Madarne Tussaud was only 9 years old she helped her uncle to open the first exhibition of life-size wax portraits in Paris. It was in 1770. When she was 17 she made a wax portrait of many famous people in France. She came to England in 1802, travelling with her exhibition for thirty years before settling down in London.

Тема №5 «сша»

The united states

The United States proper (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) stretches across North America from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, from Canada in the north to Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Gulf of California in the south. The USA is an extremely large country in North America. In size, the United States ranks fourth among the nations after Russia, Canada, and China. It possesses many islands in the Pacific Ocean and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the Atlantic. It has military bases scattered all over the globe.

Features: The United States proper (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) consists of the Atlantic coastal plain, the Appalachian highlands, a vast interior plains region, the Rocky Mountains belt, the basin and plateaus west of the Rockies, and the mountains and valleys of the Pacific borderland. Alaska's main physical division are the Pacific mountain system, the Central Plateau, the Arctic mountain system, and the Arctic Slope. Hawaii consists of a 1,610 mile long chain of 122 islands, which represent the peaks of a chain of mountains of volcanic origin and largely submerged in the Pacific.

Chief Rivers: Mississippi, Missouri, Rio Grande, Yukon, Arkan­sas, Colorado, Ohio-Allegheny, Red, Columbia.

The USA has several different climate zones. The northern borders of the USA correspond to the line of Paris — Vienna — Volgograd, while the southern ones correspond to the northern part of the Sahara desert. New York lies in the same latitude as Naples. But the climate in North America is, much colder than in Europe and the average annual temperature of New York is 11 °C, five degrees lower than that of Naples.

In the East the principal trees are spruce and fir, and in Min­nesota, spruce, poplar, and birch. The northern Appalachians and the upper Great Lakes region are dominated by mixed forests of birch, beech, maple, hemlock, and pine. The northern coastal area is of predominantly oak-pine forest. Much of southern Florida (the Everglades) and the lower Mississippi River valley are covered by marsh grasses. On the southern tip of Florida the marshes give way to mangrove swamps.

The Pacific Northwest has dense coniferous forest with Douglas fir, hemlock, fir, and spruce among the principal trees. Northwestern California has dense stands of giant redwoods (sequoias) along the coast.

The animal population of the United States was both numerous and prolific in aboriginal times, despite the dependence of the Indian upon for food and raw materials. Since the advent of the white man in overwhelming numbers, with his firearms and with his need of land for agriculture, the animal population has been greatly reduced. Whole species have been exterminated, or preserved in other than the wild state.

The Interior Plains had vast herds of grazing animals, especially bisons (“buffaloes”) and antelopes. Other denizens of the plains included the burrowing owl, the prairie dog, and the badger. The higher mountains of the West were the home of the mountain sheep, mountain goat, grizzly bear, marmot, and rod rabbit.

The deserts have a highly specialized world, equipped to heat and reduce water losses to a minimum, like the sidewind rattlesnake, which keeps much of its body off the ground t( avoid contact with that searing surface. Of special interest is the poisonous Gila monster, a lizard found in Arizona. History. North America may have been discovered in about 1;00( A. D. by Vikings under Leif Erickson, but Europeans did not know of its existence until Columbus sailed there in 1492. The first permanent English settlement in America was Jamestown, Virginie (1607). Although, effective colonization in New England beggar in 1620 when the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Government. Head of state and government: President, elected for four years.

Legislative body: Congress (bicameral), consisting of the Senat and the House of Representatives. The Senate consists of 101 members — two from each state — chosen by popular vote for i six-year term; a third of its membership is renewed every twice years. The House of Representatives has about 450 member elected by popular vote every two years; each state is entitled to at least one representative, with 4he total number determined periodically according to population.

Local government: 50 states, each with a popularly elected governor and legislature. Below the state level, local self-government is usually conducted through municipalities, townships, am counties

Тема№6 «Россия»