5.5.3 Read the text The usa

The USA is situated in the central part of the North American continent. Its western coast is washed by the Pacific Ocean and its eastern coast by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Separating from Canada in the north and from Mexico in the south, the USA is a federal republic of fifty states and the District of Columbia. The state of Alaska is separated from the rest of the USA by Canada, and its western end is only 80 kilometers from the former Soviet Union. Hawaii, which became the fiftieth state in 1959, is in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between the continents of America and Asia.

The total area of the USA is over 9 million square kilometers.

The continental part of the USA consists of two highland regions two lowland regions. The highland regions are the Appalachian Mountains in the east, and the Cordillera in the west. The Appalachian Mountains run parallel to the Atlantic coast almost from the Gulf of Mexico into Canada. The Cordillera stretches along the Pacific coast with the Sierra Nevada in the south and the Rocky Mountains continuing into Canada and Alaska in the north. Between the Cordillera and the Appalachian Mountains are the central lowlands, calling the prairie, and the eastern lowlands, calling the Mississippi.

The five Great Lakes, between the USA and Canada, are joined together by short rivers or canals, to the Atlantic Ocean by the Saint Lawrence River, and to the Hudson River by a canal. In the west of the USA there is another lake called the Great Salt Lake.

The principal rivers of the USA are the Mississippi, the longest river in the world (7,330 kilometers), which flows into the Gulf of Mexico, the Colorado and the Columbia, which flow into the Pacific Ocean, and the Hudson River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

The climate of the USA differs greatly from one part of the country to another. The coldest climate is in the north, where there is heavy snow in winter and the temperature may go down to 40 degrees below zero. The south has a subtropical climate, temperatures as high as 49 degrees in summer. Hot winds blowing from the Gulf of Mexico often bring typhoons. The climate along the Pacific coast is much warmer than that of the Atlantic coast.

The population of the USA totals more than 210 million people, who are called Americans. Most of the people live in towns, and the population of the country-side is becoming smaller and smaller. In America there are representatives of practically all racial and national groups.

There are about 25 million Negroes in the country and a little over half a million Indians. Many of the in habitants come from Mexico and other South American countries. The life of these people is very hard because of racial discrimination.

Besides colored people there are also representatives of all the peoples of Europe and Asia. Some of these have great difficulties because of their ability of speaking their nation’s language, and the official language of the USA is English.

The USA is a federal state, headed by the President. According to the US Constitution the powers of the government are divided into 3 branches: legislative, executive and judicial.

The legislative power belongs to the Congress, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate represents the states while the House of Representatives – the population. The executive power belongs to the President and his Administration (Vice-President and Cabinet of Ministers). The judicial power belongs to the Supreme Court and the system of Federal, state and district courts.

The USA is a highly developed industrial country, and its agriculture is also mechanized.

There are coal-mines in the Cordillera Mountains, in the Kansas City region, and in the east near Birmingham and Pittsburgh. Iron is mined near the Great Lakes and in the Birmingham, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas. The USA has rich oil fields in California, Texas and other regions. It holds first place in the capitalist world for producing coal, iron and oil, and it also produces silver and gold.

The heavy industries are in the region of the Great Lakes, around Birmingham, Detroit and Chicago. The motorcar industry is highly developed especially in and near Detroit, and all sorts of machines are produced in the areas of heavy industry.

Shipbuilding is developed along the Atlantic coast and in San Francisco on the Pacific coast. The textile industry is developed in the northeast and the south.

The USA has a highly-developed railway system. It also has the best roading system in the capitalist world. The Great Lakes and the rivers, especially the Mississippi, are widely used for transporting.

Agriculture is very wide-spread, above all in the prairie regions, where wheat and other grain crops are grown. Cotton is grown in the Mississippi valley, tobacco in Maryland and Virginia. California is famous for its fruit plantations, and the best for its cattle-farming. Poultry farming is wide-spread in the country-side near all big cities.