3. Read the text. Part I. The united states of america.
The USA is one the most powerful and highly developed countries of the world. The United States is a federal republic. Its area is 9,364, 000 square kilometers.
The population of the USA is about 258 million people, who are called Americans. Most of the people live in towns and the population of the countryside is becoming smaller and smaller. English is the official and predominant language of the country.
The USA is situated in the central part of the North American continent. Its western coast is washed by the Pacific Ocean and its eastern coast is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The country consists of three parts: the major part is situated on the continent, the second part is Alaska which is separated from the USA by the Canadian territory, and the third part is the Hawaiian Islands, situated in the central part of the Pacific Ocean. The USA borders on two countries only – Canada and Mexico.
The longest rivers in the world, the Mississippi and the Missouri, run to the south to the Gulf of Mexico. The Great Rocky Mountains, the Cordillera and the Sierra Nevada are in the west of the country. In the east there are the Appalachian Mountains.
There are fifty states and the District of Columbia in the USA. The states differ very much in size, population and economic development. The largest state of the USA is Alaska. It became the 49th state in 1959. But only about half a million people live there. The smallest state is Rhode Island. Its population is about a million. The most populated state of the country is California. Its territory is 400 thousand square kilometers with a population of 25 million people. The capital of California is Sacramento, but its biggest cities are Los Angeles and San Francisco.
There are many big cities and towns in the USA: New York, San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and others.
The USA is a highly developed industrial country. It has electronic and electrical engineering, transport, communication, light, food, motor-car and computer industries. Cars have become the symbol of American way of life. The country has the best network of highways in the world.
US President, elected by the whole nation for four years, is the head of the state and Government. He lives and works in the White House in Washington.
The main legislative body of the country is the Congress, which consists of the House of Representatives (435 people) and the Senate (100 senators). The Congress makes new laws.
There are two main political parties in the USA: the Democratic and the Republican.
The flag of the USA is called “Stars and Stripes”. The 50 stars – white on a blue field – represent the 50 states, 13 stripes represent 13 original English colonies, which in 1776 became independent of England.