IV. Understanding the main points

A. Number the following sentences 1-8, depending on the order in which they appear in the text:

1. The Senate has 100 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms.

2. Home and workplace of the U.S. president is the White House.

3. The largest cities are New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

4. Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida".

5. The Columbia flows into the Pacific Ocean.

6. There are fifty-eight national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wilderness areas.

7. The Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791.

8. Native American population was greatly reduced by disease and warfare after European contact.

B. Make up sentences of the given words.

1. most, operated, the, for, states, its, has, two-party, history, under, a, united, system, of.

2. supreme, and, and, laws, lower, the,courts, court, overturn, federal, interpret.

3. confirmed, war, military, as, country, world, a, status, power, I, 's, the.

4. united, seaboard, along, thirteen, by, states, was, Atlantic, founded, colonies, located, the, the, British.

5. the, of, an, is, mid-Pacific, state, archipelago, in, the,Hawaii.

V. Vocabulary focus

A. Find words or phrases in the text which mean the same as the following.

1. be close to;

2. a group of islands;

3. to calculate;

4. a half of a sphere;

5. official accepting;

6. to leave;

7. to become known;

8. native;

9. continent;

10. a storm with a violent wind.

B. Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases.

1. by far (par.2);

2. explorer (par. 3);

3. forebears (par. 4);

4. Independence (par. 4);

5. defeated (par. 4);

6. permanent (par. 5);

7. commander-in-chief (par. 5);

8. deciduous (par. 6);

9. compose of (par. 8);

10. to host (par. 11).

VI. Reading. Part 2

Read the text and make sure you know the translation of the highlighted words and phrases.

The USA. Social life

1. The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled byabundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. The U.S. dollaris the world's primaryreserve currency.

2. It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. The United States is the world's top producer of corn and soybeans. Coca-ColaandMcDonald'sare the two most recognized brands in the world.

3. The United States has the highest rate of per-capita vehicle ownership in the world, with 765 vehicles per 1,000 Americans. About 40% of personal vehiclesare vans,SUVs, or lighttrucks. While transport of goods by railis extensive, relatively few people userail to travel. Bicycle usage for work commutes is minimal. The civil airline industry is entirely privately owned, while most major airports are publicly owned. The three largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are U.S.-based; Delta Air Linesis number one.

4. The United States life expectancy of 78.4 years at birth ranks it 50th among 221 nations. Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight.

5. English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common and the most widely taught second language.

6. American public educationis operated by state and local governments, regulated by theUnited States Department of Educationthroughrestrictions on federal grants. Children are required in most states to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergartenorfirst grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them throughtwelfth grade, the end ofhigh school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen. About 12% of children areenrolled in parochial or nonsectarianprivate schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.

7. The United States has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education. According to prominent internationalrankings, 13 or 15 American colleges and universities are ranked among the top 20 in the world (according to world university ranking in 2011 Harvard University is #2, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is #3, Yale University is #4, etc.). There are also local community collegeswith generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition. Of Americans twenty-five and older, 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned abachelor's degree, and 9.6% earned graduate degrees. The basicliteracy rateis approximately 99%.

8. According to a 2007 survey, 78.4% of adults identified themselves as Christian, protestant denominations accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism, at 23.9%, was the largest individual denomination.

9. Baseballhas beenregarded as the national sportsince the late 19th century, whileAmerican footballis now by several measures the most popularspectator sport. Basketballandice hockeyare the country's next two leading professional team sports.College footballandbasketballattract large audiences. Boxing and horse racing were once the most watched individual sports, but they have beeneclipsed by golfandauto racing, particularlyNASCAR.Soccer is played widely at the youth and amateur levels. Tennisand many outdoor sports are popular as well.

10. While most major U.S. sports have evolved out of European practices, volleyball,skateboarding,snowboarding, andcheerleadingare American inventions. Basketball was invented in Massachusetts by Canadian-bornJames Naismith.Lacrosseandsurfingarose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate Western contact. EightOlympic Gameshavetaken place in the United States.The United States has won 2,301 medals at theSummer Olympic Games, more than any other country, and 253 in theWinter Olympic Games, the second most.