Part II the united states of america Unit 1. Geography and climate

1. Read and memorize:

prairie	прерия
valley	долина
miner	горняк, рудокоп
decide	принимать решение
truth	правдивость
doubt	сомневаться
protect	защищать
geyser	гейзер
erupt	извергать (-ся)
delight	восторг
beg	просить
handout	подаяние
passer-by	прохожий
entirely	полностью
rush	устремляться
roar	реветь
distance	расстояние
navigable	судоходный
increase	возрастать
diminish	уменьшаться
flow	течь, литься
pour	вливаться
soil	почва
boundary	граница
flood	поток
mutual	взаимный
benefit	польза

2. Remember the pronunciation of the following words:

North America

Atlantic Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Gulf of Mexico

Canada

Mexico

District of Columbia

Appalachian Mountains

Rocky Mountains

Cordilleras

Sierra Nevada

Yellowstone National Park

Wyoming

Great Lakes

Lake Superior

Lake Michigan

Lake Huron

Lake Erie

Niagara

Lake Ontario

Great Salt Lake

Utah

Mississippi

Missouri

Ohio

3. Read and translate the text:

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF THE USA

The United States of America occupy a large area over 9,400 million square kilometers. The USA is situated in the central and southern parts of the continent of North America. The USA is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Gulf of Mexico in the southeast and by the Pacific Ocean in the west. In the north it borders on Canada and in the south - on Mexico. The USA consists of 50 states and the District of Columbia.

If we look at the map of the USA, we can see lowlands and mountains. The areas in the middle of the country are called the prairies and the eastern lowlands are called the Mississippi valley. In the east there are the Appalachian Mountains. In the west there are the Rocky Mountains, the Cordilleras, the Sierra Nevada.

When the first miners and hunters returned from the Rocky Mountains, they brought home such tales about the natural beauty that a group of scientists decided to test the truth of these stories. The doubting scientists who visited the Rockies in 1870 wrote reports that sounded more like poetry than like science. Within the Rocky Mountains there are many national parks where trees, plants and birds are protected. The largest of them is the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, with its great Geysers, but the most famous being Old Faithful, which erupts regularly from 30 to 60 meters into the air many times each day to the delight of thousands of visitors. Yellowstone is also known for its brown bears, which like to come down to the roadside and beg for handsout from a passer-by.

The main lakes in the USA are the Great Lakes in the north. The largest of them is Lake Superior, which is the highest above the sea. To the south of it is Lake Michigan, entirely in the US territory; to the east is Lake Huron, from the southern end of which the St. Clair River leads into Lake Erie. From Lake Erie the Niagara River rushes over the famous Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario. Niagara is an Indian word which means "roaring waters". Indeed, the roar of the falling water can be heard within a distance of 25 km. All the lakes are connected by canals or navigable channels, but the Lakes can be used only between months of April and December, as they freeze in winter.

The Great Salt Lake is in the northwest of the state of Utah. It is so salty that the human body cannot sink in it. Its present area is much smaller than the ancient lake. The saltiness of the lake has increased as its area has diminished, and today it is about six times as salty as the ocean. For a long time it was thought, because of the lake's saltiness, that it must be an arm of the Pacific Ocean.

The Mississippi is one of the world's great continental rivers. The waters of the Mississippi are gathered from two-thirds of the United States. Together with the Missouri River, the Mississippi flows some 4,000 miles from its northern sources in the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi has been called the "father of waters".

Where the Missouri River pours into the Mississippi, from the west, it colours the river deep brown with small pieces of soil. Farther downstream the waters of the Ohio River join the Mississippi, where the two rivers join, evidence of the difference between the dry west and rainy east is already apparent. For miles, the waters of the two rivers flow on side by side, without mixing. Those from the west are brown because they wash away the soil in areas where few plants grow. The waters from the east are clear and blue; they come from hills and valleys where plentiful forest and plant cover has kept the soil from being washed away.

The two great rivers of the Pacific side are the Colorado and the Columbia. In the dry western country, both rivers are important and necessary sources of life.

The Rio Grand forms a natural boundary between Mexico and the USA, which together have built irrigation and flood control projects of mutual benefit.