The united kingdom

The UK (short for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is situated on two large islands called the British Isles. The larger island is Great Britain, which consists of three parts: England,' Scotland and Wales, and the smaller is Ireland. Southern Ireland, now called Eire or the Irish Republic, is independent of the UK.

The country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Irish Sea, which is between Great Britain and Ireland.

If you travel to England from the Ukraine, it will take you two days to pass through several countries on the Continent by train, and six more hours to cross the English Channel by boat. You can also fly there, and then the journey will only take you three and a half hours.

There are mountain chains in Scotland, Wales and North-West England, but they are not very high. North-West England is also famous for its beautiful lakes.

The longest river in England is the Severn, and the deepest is the Thames, on which stands the capital of England, London.

The UK is a highly-developed industrial country. She exports machinery, vessels, motors and other goods. One of her main industries is the textile industry and a lot of British textiles are exported. The UK buys more goods than she sells because she has to import food products and raw materials from many countries of the world including the Soviet Union.

London fogs

The fog is one of the most typical features of London because of its geographical position in a deep river valley.

The fog spreads everywhere, it is in the streets and creeps into the houses. Cars move along slowly, but still street accidents are frequent in the log. People cannot see each other. They creep along the houses touching them with their hands not to lose their way or not to be run over by a car.

The worst of these fogs happened in December 1952 and the same thing happened in December 1962. All traffic was forced to a standstill as visibility fell to nil. Before long everything has stopped. Drivers left buses and cars. People had to take the underground but there were so many people that the entrances had to be closed to prevent crushing.

At Covent Garden a performance of "La Traviata" had to be stopped after the first act because there was so much fog in the building that the audience could no longer see the singers. It was a terrible fog and it caused the death of some 4,000 people in London.

This kind of fog is called "smog" by Londoners. It is a mixture of smoke and fog together. You get it only in industrial cities and towns where there is much smoke, which contains different chemicals from factories.

THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. The head of the state is Queen Elizabeth II. The queen reigns, but does not rule. A Cabinet of government officials, called ministers, actually rules the country. These ministers normally belong to the political party that has a majority in the House of Commons, which dominates in Parliament, the country's lawmaking body. They are responsible to Parliament, which, in turn, is responsible to the people.

The Constitution of the United Kingdom is not one document, as are the constitutions of many other countries. Much of it is not ever in writing, and so the country is often said to have an unwritten constitution. Some of the written parts of the Constitution come from laws passed by Parliament. Some written parts come from such old documents as Magna Carta, which limited the king's power. Other written parts come from common law, a body of laws based on people's customs and beliefs, and supported in the courts.

The monarchy is over 1,000 years old. The throne passes from a king or a queen to his or her oldest son or daughter. The crown symbolizes the British monarch's supreme power/ For hundreds of years, the monarch held most authority. But as Parliament's power grew, the monarch's power declined. Parliament makes the laws of the United Kingdom. Parliament consists of the Queen, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Queen must approve all bills passed by Parliament before they can become laws. Although the Queen may reject a bill, no monarch has done it since the early 1700s.

The country is ruled by the elected government with the Prime Minister at the head. The British Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Four groups of people sit in the House of Lords: archbishops, bishops of the Church of England, the law lords, hereditary peers and life peers. The House of Lords is the final court of appeal in civil lawsuit and, in special circumstances, in criminal cases. When it sits as a law court, only law lords attend. The House of Commons is made up of 651 elected members known as Members If Parliament (abbreviated to MPs), each of whom represents an area (constituency) If the United Kingdom. They are elected either at a general election, or at a by-election following the death or retirement of an MP. The Queen, Lords and Commons all have to agree to any new law which is Billed. In reality, the House of Commons is the only one of the three which has true power. The Prime minister is usually the leader of the political party that has the most «teals in the I louse of

Commons, The monarch appoints the Prime minister after each of general election. The monarch asks the Prime minister to form a government that II, to select ministers to head governmental departments and to hold various offices. The Prime Minister selects about 100 ministers. From them, the Prime Minister picks a special group to make up the Cabinet. The Cabinet decides what the government shall do and how it shall be done. The Prime Minister chairs the Cabinet, 'which usually consists of about 20 ministers. Mr. Blair, the leader of the Labour Party, became Prime Minister in May 1997. The United Kingdom has 110 Ministry of Justice. Responsibility for the administration of the judicial

system in England and Wales is divided between the courts themselves. The Lord Chancellor is responsible for the composition of the courts, civil law, parts of criminal procedure and law reform in general. The Home Secretary is responsible for the prevention of criminal offences, trial and treatment of offenders and for the prison service.

ENGLISH SCHOOLING

Education is compulsory from the age of five to sixteen, and there is usually a move from primary to secondary school at about the age of eleven, but schools are organized in a number of different ways.

Schools Maintained by the State. No fees are charged to parents of the children at maintained schools, and books and equipment are free. Schools supported from public funds are of two main kinds in England and Wales: county schools and voluntary schools. County schools are provided and maintained by Local Educational Authorities wholly out of public funds. Voluntary schools, mostly established by religious denominations, are also wholly maintained from public funds but the governors of some types of voluntary schools contribute to capital costs. Primary Schooling. Compulsory education begins at five when children in England and Wales go to infant schools or departments; at seven many go on to junior schools or departments. The usual age of transfer from primary to secondary schools is 11, but a number of Local Educational Authorities in England have established "first" schools for pupils aged 5 to 8, 9 and "middle" schools covering various age ranges between 8 arid 14.

Secondary Schooling. The publicly maintained system of education aims to give all children an education suited to their particular abilities. A few areas especially in the south of England still have selective exams at the age of eleven, but about 90 per cent of secondary schools in Britain are now comprehensive. They take pupils without reference to ability or aptitude and provide a wide range of secondary education for all or most of the children from their local area. Independent Schools. Most parents choose to send their children to free state schools financed from public funds but an increasing number of secondary pupils attend fee-paying independent schools outside the school system. Many of these are boarding schools, which provide accommodation for pupils during term time. They are sometimes confusingly referred to as "public schools" ' in England and Wales. Today the term is becoming less frequently used but refers to the mainly boys' schools (which are increasingly admitting girls). Preparatory schools prepare children for the Common Entrance Examination to senior schools. The normal age range is from seven plus to 11, 12 or 13, but many of the schools now have pre-preparatory departments for younger children.

Examinations. Since 1988, most sixteen-year-olds have taken the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in five, ten or even fifteen subjects.

Pupils going on to higher education or professional training usually take A' level examinations in two or three subjects. These require two more years of study after GCSE, either in the sixth form of a secondary school, or in a separate sixth-form college. Other pupils may choose vocational subjects such as catering, tourism, secretarial or building skills. Subsidized courses in these subjects are run at colleges of further education.

FURTHER EDUCATION

Many people decide to leave school at the age of sixteen and go to a Further Education (FE) College. Here most of the courses are linked to some kind of practical vocational training, for example in engineering, typing, cooking or hairdressing. For those 16 year-olds who leave school and who cannot find work but do not want to go to FE colleges, the Government has introduced the Training Credit Scheme. This scheme allows young people £2 000 to buy training, leading to a National Vocational Qualification from an employer or training organization that participates in the scheme. Because the young people pay for their own training it encourages employers to give them work. It also gives the trainee valuable work experience. Only about one third of school leavers receive post-school education, compared with over 80 per cent in Germany, France, the United States, and Japan.

Full-time courses are provided in universities, polytechnics, Scottish central institutions, colleges of higher (HE) and further (FE) education, and technical, art and agricultural colleges. Oxford and Cambridge, founded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries respectively, are easily the most famous of Britain's universities. Today 'Oxbridge', as the two together are known, educate less than one tenth of Britain's total university student population. But they continue to attract of the best brains, and to mesmerize a greater number, partly on account of their prestige but also on account of the seductive beauty of many of their buildings and surroundings. Scotland boasts about four ancient universities: Glasgow, Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Aberdeen, all founded in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. With the expansion of higher education in the 1960s many more plate-glass universities were established, some named after counties or regions rather than old cities, for example Sussex, Kent, East Anglia and Strathclyde. After some initial enthusiasm for them, they had become less popular by the 1980s than the older institutions. University examinations are for Bachelor of Art, or Science, (BA or Bsc) on completion of the undergraduate course, and Master of Arts or of Science (MA or Msc) on completion of post­graduate work, usually one - or two-year course involving some original research. Some students continue to complete a three-year period of original research for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Thirty polytechnics in England and Wales provide a range of higher education courses, up to doctoral studies. But their real purpose was to fill the gap between university and further education work, providing an environment in which equal value was placed on academic and practical work, particularly in order to improve Britain’s technical and technological ability.

SPORTS IN GREAT BRITAIN

The British are known great sports-lovers, so when they are neither playing, nor watching games, they like to talk about them. Many of the games we play now have come from Britain. One of the most British games is cricket. It is often played in schools, colleges universities and by club teams all over the country. Summer isn't summer without cricket. To many Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behavior.

But as almost everywhere else in the world, the game, which attracts the greatest attention, is Association football, or soccer. There are plenty professional and amateur soccer clubs over Britain. International football matches and the Cup Finals take place at Wembley. Rugby football is also very popular but it is played mainly by amateurs. Next to football, the chief spectator sport in British life is horse-racing. A lot of people are interested in the races and risk money on the horse, which they think, will win. The Derby is perhaps the most famous single sporting event in the whole world.

Britain is also famous for motor-car racing, dog-racing, boat-racing, and even races for donkeys. The famous boat-race between the teams of Oxford and Cambridge attracts large crowds of people.

A great number of people play and watch tennis. Tennis, tournaments at Wimbledon are known all over the world.

The British also like to play golf, baseball, hockey, and grass-hockey. Various kinds of athletics, such as running, jumping, swimming, and boxing are also popular. You can sometimes hear that there are no winter sports in England. Of course, English weather is not always cold enough to ski, skate or toboggan, but winter is a good season for hunting and fishing.

HOLIDAYS IN GREAT BRITAIN

There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are: Christmas Day, HoxluO Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank Holiday. Public, boll days in Britain are called bank holidays, because the banks as well as most of the offices and shops are closed.

The most popular holiday is Christmas. Every year the people of Norway give the city of London a present. It's a big Christmas tree and it stands in Trafalgar Square.

Before Christmas, groups of singers go from house to house. They collect money for charity and sing carols, traditional Christmas songs. Many churches hold a service on the Sunday before Christmas.

The fun starts the night before, on the 24th of December. Traditionally this is the day when people decorate their trees. Children hang stockings at their beds, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys and sweets. Christmas is a family holiday. Relatives usually meet for the big Christmas dinner of turkey and Christmas pudding. And everyone gives and receives presents. The 26th of December, Boxing Day, is an extra holiday after Christmas Day. This is the time to visit friends and relatives or perhaps sit at home and watch football.

New Year's Day is less popular in Britain than Christmas. But in Scotland, Hogmanay is the biggest festival of the year.

Besides public holidays there are some special festivals in Great Britain. One of them takes place on the 5th of November. On that day, in 16 55, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James 1. He didn't succeed. The King's men found the bomb, took Guy Fawkes to the Tower and cut off his head.

Since that day the British celebrate the 5th of November. They burn a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, in a bonfire and let off fireworks. This dummy is a «guy» (like Guy Fakes).