The American flag

The "Stars and Stripes" is a popular name for the red, white and blue flag of the United States. Another popular name is the "Star Spangled Banner". This is also the name of the National Anthem of the United States.

Every country has its own flag. In 1776 the thirteen colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. So the United States were born.

George Washington was a general of the American Army. He decided that the United States also needed a flag. There is a story that General George Washington asked Betsy Ross to make the flag. She used three colors: red, white, and blue. The red color was for courage, white was for liberty, and blue was for justice.

She sewed thirteen red and white stripes and thirteen white stars in a circle on a blue square. The thirteen stars and stripes stood for the number of states at the beginning of the United States. On June 14, 1777, the Congress confirmed this flag as the National Flag.

Later new states joined the United States. And in 1818 the Congress made another law about the flag. The thirteen stripes stayed the same, but for each new state there was a new star. Today there are fifty stars on the flag. Hawaii Island was the last star in 1959.

Union Jack’ or Union Flag

It is called the Union Flag because it symbolizes the administrative union of the countries of the United Kingdom.

When the 'Union Flag' was first introduced, in 1603, it was known simply as 'the British flag' or 'the flag of Britain'.

Note that the red diagonals mean that the flag has a right side up: it’s easy to accidentally fly it upside down. To check it’s correct, in the top left hand corner, the broad portion of the white cross should be uppermost. The 'new' British flag is not symmetrical because of the counterchange.

*Название «Юнион Джек» происходит от английского названия гюйса — флага, поднимаемого на военных кораблях – по-английски гюйс раньше назывался как раз Джеком.

23. The United Kingdom

Geography. The UK is situated on two large islands, called the British Isles. The larger island is Great Britain, which consists of three parts: England, Scotland and Wales, and the smaller one is Ireland. Southern Ireland now called Eire, is independent of the UK.

Great Britain is separated from Europe by the North Sea and the English Channel. Now there is the underground way in the narrowest part of the Channel which is called the Strait of Dover.

The surface of England and Ireland is flat, but Scotland and Wales are mountainous. The country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, which is situated between Great Britain and Ireland.

The climate. The country is known for its typically maritime climate with frequent rains strong winds and continuous fogs. The climate of the British Isles is damp but rather mild. It’s not very cold in winter and very hot in summer. As a rule, there is no ice on the lakes and rivers in winter, and snow never lies on the ground for long. All parts of the British Isles get a lot of rain in all seasons.

The political system. Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy – a kingdom. But the King’s or the Queen’s power is limited by the Parliament. It consists of two chambers: the House of Lords (over 800 members) and the House of Commons (over 600 members). Members of the House of Commons are elected every five years. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party that has a majority in the House of Commons. All the matters of the state are conducted in the name of the Queen (or King) but really the Prime Minister is the head of the state.

The industry. The UK is a highly developed country. It exports vessels, motors, iron and steel products, machinery and electronics, chemicals and textile, aircraft and navigation equipment. One of the chief industries of the country is shipbuilding. The UK is rich in coal and iron. The country has also some other resources such as copper, lead, zinc, tin, chalk and clay.