Linguistic and Cultural Studies of English-speaking countries. Лингвострановедение. Англоязычные страны. Учебное пособие

The British people are the world’s greatest tea drinkers. They drink a qua r­ter of all the tea grown in the world each year. Tea is the national beverage. In a British home there is the early morning cup of tea, tea at breakfast, tea a t 11 o’clock in the morning, tea at lunch, then tea after lunch; there is tea for tea, tea for supper and then the last thing at night is tea. An invitation to tea is a com­mon way of keeping in touch with friends and relatives. Besides tea, there is thin bread and butter with jam, meat or fish paste and some home-made or bought cakes. On special occasion the family may go out to tea – to a tea-shop or a café and order high tea, which is a fairly substantial meal.

If you have spent a night or a weekend in somebody’s house you have to write a letter, if possible at once when you get back, a so-called bread-and-butter letter. It would be considered very bad manners not to observe this custom.

Many traditional ceremonies have been preserved since old times. Chang­ing of the Guard is one of the most popular Royal ceremonies. It takes place at Buckingham Palace every day at 11.30. The ceremony always attracts a lot of spectators.

Christmas (the 25th of December) is the most widely celebrated and merry of all bank holidays. On Christmas Eve offices close at one o’clock, but the shops stay open late. Christmas trees are decorated. Stockings are hung over the end of the bed.

In Scotland early in the morning many people go from house to house to wish their neighbours “Happy New Year”. Good or bad luck on this day depends on the first-footer. To symbolize good luck the first visitor carries a piece of coal and a glass of water.

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter when the church marks the death of Christ. On this day people eat hot cross-buns – small sweet rolls marked on top with a cross.

The famous annual Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama attracts artists and audiences from all over the world. In late Augu st and Sep­tember more than 100,000 music and drama lovers from all parts of the world come to Edinburgh. The Festival programmes include music, opera, ballet, dra­ma, films.

Queen Elizabeth I (1533 – 1603), the third of Henry VIII’s children to suc­ceed him on the throne, was the ruler after her half-sister Mary’s death. She was the last of the Tudor monarchs. Elizabeth I received an excellent education. She knew Latin, Greek, spoke French and Italian. She tried to stop religious struggle between the Protestants and the Catholics. During Elizabeth’s reign England be­came a great sea power.

The Elizabethan age was one of the greatest periods of English literature. W. Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser created their great works at that time. Elizabeth’s court became a centre of culture for English musicians, poets, scholars and artists.

Oliver Cromwell (1599 – 1658) is one of the famous political figures in the history of Great Britain. The king of England Charles I wanted to rule over Eng­land without Parliament. He needed money for wars, but Parliament refused to

The Parliamentary government came to power and proclaimed England a re­public. Cromwell got the title of Lord Protector and ruled the country. But later he became a dictator. The English Republic, the first republic in Europe, did not justify the hopes of the people and after Cromwell’s death in 1660 the newly elected Parliament invited Charles II, the son of the executing king, to occupy the English throne.

Admiral Nelson is Britain’s national hero. A tall column crowned with his statue stands in Trafalgar Square in London, in memory of this great man.

Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901) is the longest-reigning monarch in English history. She came to the throne in 1837 and reigned until her death in 1901.

Victoria married her German cousin, Prince Albert, but he died at the age of forty-two in 1861. She could not get over her sorrow at his death and for a long time refused to be seen in public.

In 1952 at the age of 25 after the death of her father king George VI she be­came the Queen of the UK.

Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) was an English physicist, mathematician, astron­omer, natural philosopher, and theologian who is considered by many scholars and members of the general public to be one of the most influential people in human his­tory. He devoted all his life to scientific experimentation. His greatest discovery was the Law of Universal Gravitation.

In 1703 he was elected the President of the Royal Society. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Charles Babbage (1791 – 1871) was an English mathematician, philosopher, in-

From the British Isles the English language spread all over the world, that’s why we can say that the United Kingdom is the major English speaking country.

The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, the States, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. It is the fourth largest country in the world after Russia, Canada and China. It was formed in 1776.

In the 17th century for years English ships sailed along the coast of what is now the eastern United States. In 1606 three small ships set sail from England and headed for North America. In 1607 they started a settlement and named it Jamestown for King James I of England. The colony faced a lot of problems: hunger, living in a wilderness; the ruling of the colony belonged to the Virginia Company which did not give the colonists freedom to do what they wanted. In 1624 the English king took control of the colony away from the Virginia Com­pany. A governor ruled the colony in the king’s name, but the settlers elected their representatives to help make laws for the colony. This self-government was very important for the further history of the USA.

In 1630 more colonies were started. Colonial towns and cities were centres of trade and government. The large farms grew food. Nine out of every ten peo­ple lived on farms or in small villages. Settlers needed new places; they moved to the west into the Indians’ hunting grounds, cleared trees and built log cabins. The Indians burned their cabins and crops, hoping to stop the settlements. This Native American population was greatly reduced.

At that time Britain was the most powerful country in the world. Tensions be­tween American colonials and the British led to the war that became known as the American Revolution or the War for Independence fought from 1775 through 1781. George Washington of Virginia was chosen to be the army’s commander. The rebel­lious states defeated the British Empire in the American Revolution. After six long years of the War a peace treaty was signed. In the treaty, Great Britain agreed that the thirteen colonies would be independent. The new nation was called the United States.