21. London

London, the capital of Great Britain, is a big city. It covers more than 600 square miles and consists of 33 separate boroughs, including the City, the West End, the East End and houses over 12 million people.

They say, big cities are not always different. Modern buildings, modern shops and stores, hotels and cinemas look alike in today's cit­ies. But some things you can only see in London. What are they?

In London you find Beefeaters and Pearly Kings and Queens. You find Covent Garden and Madam Tussaud's.

Britain has more living symbols of its past than many other coun­tries, and its capital boasts many ancient buildings like the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, or St. Paul's Cathedral.

London is a royal city. The British king or queen has a palace there - Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth lives there now. Tourist can see the everyday ceremony called "the Changing of the Guard". Every day a new guard of thirty guardsmen marches to the palace and take the place of the "old guard".

The Tower of London, built in 1078 by William the Conqueror to protect the city, is an interesting place with its Beefeaters and the| Crown Jewels.

The Imperial State Crown is one of the Crown Jewels in the Jew el House in the Tower of London. It has 3000 stones in it: diamonds, re rubies, blue sapphires, and beautiful pearls. The queen wears it on state occasions. Then it goes back to the Tower. The Beefeaters guard Tower and the Crown Jewels, and they help visitors.

Every year there are historical ceremonies, for example, the State opening of Parliament, when the Queen reads a speech from the throne in the House of Lords, or the Lord Mayor's Show, in which the newly elected Lord Mayor travels in a golden coach along the streets.

London is a city, but to Londoners 'the City' is a place in London. The banks and big companies have their head offices there. City offices are in tall modern buildings, or in old buildings on narrow streets.

The office people do not live in the City, they come to the City every day, from Monday to Friday.

Five important streets meet at Piccadilly Circus in London's 'West End'. The cars, the tourist coaches, the red London buses, and the taxis go round a statue there. It is not a statue of a famous man or woman. People don't remember the statue's real name. They say: 'It's Eros, the Greek god of love'.

Piccadilly Circus is a very busy place. It is busy day and night. People come here to the shops in the day time, and at night they come for a night out. They can eat in one of the restaurants in the West End near Piccadilly Circus. They can get food from twenty different coun­tries in West End restaurants.

Londoners, and visitors, can go to a theatre in the West End, or to a concert, to an opera or a ballet. And there are fifty cinemas near Piccadilly Circus. West End hosts museums and galleries, among them are the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the British Museum.

The 'East End' is the area of London where people from abroad have come to find work. It is especially famous as the centre of the clothing industry in London and as a market place. Every Sunday morn­ing it becomes one of the sights of London.

London is packed with interest and it's all in colour. So whether you're new to the city, or you've visited it before there will be some­thing exciting in London.

22. THE USA

The United States of America is situated in the central and southern part of the North American continent. The present territory of the USA consists of three separate parts: two of them the USA proper and Alaska, are situated in North America. The Hawaiian Islands, situated in the central part of the Pacific Ocean, are the third part. Administratively the country is divided into 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has an area of 540.939 square miles. It is bounded by Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. The country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Gulf of Mexico in the south. The population of the country is 239 million people, who are called Americans.

The official language of the United States is American English.

The continental part of the USA consists of the highland regions and two lowland regions. The highest regions are the Appalachian mountains in the east and the Cordillera in the west. Between the Cordillera and Appalachian Mountains are the central lowlands which are called prairie and the eastern lowlands are called the Mississippi valley. The highest top in America situated in Alaska is Mac-Kinly, it is 6.194 metres high, in the Cordillera - Witny is 4418 metres high, in the Appalachian Mountains the highest top is Michel, it is 2.037 metres high.

As for the Grand Canyon, it stretches over 347 kilometres long, and its depth is more than 1500 kilometres. It is impossible to describe its wonderful play of colours.

The chain of Great Lakes situated between the USA and Canada is known as the Great Lakes. The region of the five Great Lakes includes Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. The Great Lakes contain about half the world's total supply of fresh water.

The USA is a very large country, so it has some climatic regions. The coldest regions are in the north where much snow falls in winter. The south has a subtropical climate. The temperature may go down to -40°C in the northern part in winter; in the South the temperature is as high as +49°C in summer.

There are 32 national parks in the USA. The most interesting among them is Yellowstone park, where you can see a lot of wild animals such as the elk, bizon, bear, deer, small animals and birds. Nearly 10 thousand geyzers, wonderful lakes, hot springs, cliffs and waterfalls can be found there. Every year 2. 5 million tourists from different countries enjoy the beautiful nature of the park.

Speaking about American character it is necessary to tell that the Americans are very energetic and are proud of their independence, their right to make up their own minds. At the same time they are considered sentimental. They can laugh at themselves and their country, they can be self-critical, remaining intensely patriotic.

The capital of the country is Washington D. C. (District of Columbia). It was named in honour of the first president. Washington is the beautiful administrative city with practically no industry.

The main seaports of the USA are New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles. The USA is a federal state of fifty states and the District of Columbia. The basic law of the country is the Constitution, adopted in 1787. According to the Constitution the Federal Government is divided into three main branches: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. The executive branch includes the President, Vice-President. The President's Cabinet is responsible for administrating and executing the laws. The President and Vice-President are elected for four years. President elections are held every leap year in November. President of the USA is also Commander-in Chief of the Army and Navy of the USA.

The legislative branch of the government is the Congress. It consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 states, elected by the population for a period of 6 years. The House of Representative consists of 435 members, their number is determined by the population of each state. The members of the House of Representatives are elected for two years. Congress makes laws and finances the operation of the government.

Cabinet gives the advice to the President, it consists of the heads of 13 departments.

Judicial branch consists of Supreme Court which decides which law or bill of the Congress or order of the President is constitutional or not.

The seat of the Government of the United States is the Capitol. There are two main political parties in the USA: the Democratic (its symbol is a donkey) and the Republican (its symbol is an elephant).

The flag of the USA consists of 13 alternate stripes: seven red and six white. It is called ”The Stars and Stripes". The 13 stripes represent the 13 original English colonies, which in 1776 declared themselves free and independent of England. The fifty pointed white stars, representing the present number of states in the Union (from 1959) are placed in nine horizontal rows alternately of six and five against a blue field in the upper left corner of the flag.