Great Britain

The UK is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244, 000 square kilometers. The population of the country is about 60 million people.

The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast respectively. Great Britain includes England, Scotland and Wales. In everyday speech «Great Britain» is used to mean The United Kingdom. The capital of the UK is London.

The British Isles are separated from the continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. The western coast of Great Britain is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.

The main rivers of Great Britain are the Severn and the Thames. The climate of the country is mild and fog is its most typical feature.

Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy. The Queen is at the head of the state but her power is limited by the Parliament which consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The country is ruled by the elected government with the Prime Minister at the head. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party in power. The main political parties of Great Britain are the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party.

The UK is a highly-developed industrial country. The main branches of British economy are engineering, mining, ship-building, motor vehicle manufacturing, textile, chemistry, electronics, and food processing. The country is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of machinery, electronics, textile, aircraft and navigation equipment.

London is the capital of Great Britain, its political, economic and commercial centre. Traditionally it is divided into several parts: the City, Westminster, the West End and the East End. The heart of London is the City, its financial and business centre. Westminster is the historic and governmental part of London. The West End is the richest and the most beautiful district of the capital, the symbol of wealth and luxury. The East End was the poorest area of London, but now it is changing rapidly.

London is famous for its sights, such as Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum, Madam Tussaud’s Museum and others.

UNIT 2. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Learn the following words and word combinations

Vocabulary List

to declare провозглашать, объявлять	industry промышленность, отрасль промышленности
independence независимость	legislative законодательный
value (to value) ценность (ценить)	executive исполнительный
privacy частная жизнь	judicial судебный
equality равенство	skyscraper небоскреб
destiny судьба	to borrow брать взаймы, одалживать
unique уникальный	headquarters штаб-квартира, главное управление
to admire восхищаться	nickname прозвище
achievement достижение	contradiction противоречие
success успех	apartment квартира
competition соревнование, конкуренция, соперничество	exciting захватывающий, волнующий
enterprise предприимчивость, предприятие, инициатива	amazing изумительный, поразительный
to discover открывать, обнаруживать	to tax облагать налогом
to arrive прибывать, приезжать	harbour гавань, порт
explorer исследователь	to distribute распределять, распространять
to appear появляться	to celebrate праздновать, отмечать
to state утверждать	to be thankful быть благодарным
to adopt принимать	glacier ледник
to sign подписывать	illegal незаконный
total area общая площадь	primaries/caucuses предварительные выборы/совещание членов партии для выдвижения кандидата в президенты

TEXT 1. Learn the info. Speak on the most fantastic facts in your opinion.