Mexican – American Wars

Largest parts of new territories such as Louisiana, Alaska and Florida were bought; however, the United States used not only dollars, but swords.

The United States annexed a Mexican province of Texas in 1845. Two months of forceful combats and hopeless battles allowed the US to seize Texas. Easiness of capturing new lands of the Mexican territories provoked another lame excuse and the American troops invaded another Mexican province of California and occupied the largest towns of San Diego and Los Angeles. Occupation of California provided the United States with an outlet to the coasts of the Pacific Ocean.

Three years of the Mexican-American wars led to further expansion of the United States which gained 2.3 million square kilometers of land, and Mexicans lost half of its lands. Since that time Mexicans like saying “Poor Mexicans, you’re so far from the God, but so close to the United States”.

Exercise № 18. Translate these sentences in English.

1. К началу 19 века Мексика входила в состав вице-королевства Новая Испания. 2. Испанцы использовали Мексику в качестве поставщика драгоценных металлов, какао и сахара. 3. Независимость Мексики была провозглашена в 1821 году. 4. США имеют огромное влияние на Мексику. 5. В 1835 году США установили контроль над Техасом, а 1845 году Конгресс США одобрил аннексию Техаса. 6. В результате войны 1846-1848 годов США получили контроль над Верхней и Нижней Калифорнией.

Developing Your Oral Speech Skills

Exercise № 19. Organize your thoughts and answer to the following questions:

1. What modern Americans States did the Lewis and Clark expedition go through?

2. What is the first name of the President Roosevelt?

3. What is the seat of government of the USA?

4. Where does the Russian government seat?

5. Who’s the State Secretary of the US nowadays?

6. Who’s the State Secretary for Economy in the Russian Federation?

Start your answers with one of the suggested starting phrases:

List of phrases:

1. I’m absolutely certain that …

2. I suppose …

3. As far as I’m concerned …

4. To my mind, …

Exercise № 20. Form adverbs from the following adjectives. Use them in sentences of your own. The sentences should be linked with the Westward expansion in America.

Busy, lazy, gay, sly, heavy, dry, happy, merry, shy, ready, lucky, easy, tidy, angry, strong, desperate, industrious, professional, stubborn.

Exercise № 21. Put all the sentences in the right order accordingly to the time happenings. Use logical connectors: First, Soon, Then, Next, Later, Some time later, After a while, At last.

1. The first president of the United States became George Washington, who could manage to settle lands of Ohio and Indiana despite of a strong resistance of Native American tribes.

2. Thomas Jefferson initiated the expedition of Lewis and Clark aiming at exploring new territories of the west.

3. During the presidency of James Monroe the United States enlarged its area by Alabama and Missouri admittance to the Union as well as acquiring of Florida from Spain.

4. James Madison approved Henry Clay’s Plan to unite North and South.

5. Louisiana territory purchase was the most expanding deal ever made by the Union

Writing practice:

Linking words and phrases play a vital role in modern English. They actually serve to link two or more separate sentences together, and it rather seriously assists to sentences to sound better and express more detailed and exact idea. This unit will show you how mighty linking words and phrases are.

Exercise № 22. Join the following sentences using conjunctions as, since, because, so that

1. We didn’t expect you to come to St. Lois. You didn’t let us know you were coming. 2. The ships were pretty packed. We had to wait for a man with school ties at the port. 3. You didn’t conceive the question. The captain ought to repeat it once again. 4. It is raining cats and dogs. I shan’t go out. 5. I didn’t tell him anything about Native Americans. I was afraid of hurting his feelings. 6. You had better to stay out of it. I have a lot of work to do. 7. We should go home. The sun has already set down. 8. She has bought a pretty car. It will be easier for her to get to her office. 9. I didn’t go to the theatre. I couldn’t get tickets beforehand. 10. The semi-final game against German football team was lost. The South Korean team could not recover from tiredness and nervous stress.

Exercise № 23. This time join the sentences using so …that, such …that where necessary. Then make up three sentences of your own using so…that, such …that.

1. Jessica was much glad of seeing me. She asked me to stay over the night. 2. She was tired. She could not get up in time in the morning. 3. I have a number of friends abroad. I can not write letters to all of them. 4. He is an interesting personality. It’s a pleasure to listen he is talking about his pastime. 5. it’s a good film. It would be pity to miss it. 6. She was very angry. She refused to talk to him. 7. He is a shy person. He dislikes talking to strangers.

The rules for the use of articles seem to be complicated to understand, therefore, just remember these three golden rules:

1. First, do not use the ( with plural and uncountable nouns) to talk about general things, for instance: Life is hard ( Mistake: The life is hard)

2. Second, do not use singular countable nouns without articles: a car; the car; but not ‘car’

3. Third, use article (a, an) to say what people’s professions or jobs are: She’s a bank manager ( mistake: She’s bank manager)

Most mistakes with articles are made by breaking any of these golden rules.

Exercise № 24.Study the use of articles in the following sentences, and give your own examples.

Model: There is an article in today’s paper. It’s the article on modern American and Russian architecture. It’s a very interesting article. You definitely have to read it.

Exercise № 25. Study the use of articles again, and rewrite the sentences according to the model.

Model: This is a new Russian airplane. The airplane is designed by the Russian Sukhoy company. It is a very comfortable and modern airplane.

1. Sri Lanka is …country. It’s …small country situated in Asia. 2. ‘Is there …movie theatre near by? ‘Yes, there is. We have …theatre by the Hudson River. 3. This is …difficult matter to solve without prior preparation. 4. Have you seen …Meet Joe Black film? Yes, I’ve seen …film three times, but each time was like the first one. It’s …very interesting film, I admit.

People in Russian expansion.