Political Structure
The United States has a federal system of government. The foundation of the government of the USA is the Constitution, written almost two hundred years ago. The head of the executive power is President. The head of the legislative power is the Congress. The president is elected fore, four-year period. He may be re-elected and serve eight years, but not longer. His powers are considerable: he appoints the cabinet, signs treaties with other governments and can suggest laws to the government.
)ngress, the parliament of the United States, is divided into two houses: late, or upper house and House of Representatives or Lower House. Each
100
state sends two senators to Congress. According to the Constitution of the United States, a senator must be at least thirty years old and must be a citizen of the United States for nine years at the time of election. The House of Representatives has 435 members (congressmen), elected for 2 years. Both Houses can introduce new laws, and the Senate must also approve or reject all appointments or treaties suggested by the president.
Each of the 50 states has its own government headed by a governor, w'hose position is similar to that of the president in the Federal Government.
Ukraine
Ore - руда; anthem - гімн; legislative - законодавчий; executive — виконавчий; the latter — останній (з двох).
Geographical Position
Ukraine is a sovereign state in the central part of Europe. Scientists once figured out that the geometrically exact geographical centre of Europe is located in the Western part of Ukraine. A monument marking “the centre of the continent” was put up during last century in Rakhiv district, Transcarpathian region
The total area of Ukraine is about 604,000 sq. km. It stretches for almost 900 km from North to South and for over 1,300 km from East to West. Its territory is greater than that of any of the European countries. Such states as Belgium, Great Britain, Austria, Albania, The Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland taken together could be placed within the borders of Ukraine. It borders on the Russian Federation, Moldova, Byelorussia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Rumania.
95% of its territory is flat, the Ukrainian Carpathians and the Crimean Mountains making up the rest 5% of its territory. It is washed by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The major rivers are the Dnieper, the Dniester, the Bug and others. The Dnieper is a ship-going river. The climate in Ukraine is rather continental. We have cold, frosty winters and, sometimes, rainy summers.
The population of the country amounts to 48 million people, most of them being Ukrainians (about 32 million). Besides, many people of other nationalities live there: Russians, Byelorussians, Poles, Jews, Bulgarians, Slovaks and others.
Ukraine has many industrial raw materials, it is rich in iron, metals, coal, oil, gas, different ores and other natural resources. It has a modem industry and rather developed agriculture. The leading industries are power engineering, machine building and chemical production. Ukraine produces planes and ocean liners, tractors and combines, excavators and cars, TV sets, computers and many
101
other goods. Warm climate and black earth of Ukraine make it possible to obtain good harvest of wheat, maize, sunflower seeds, sugar beet, and our sugar beet yield being the largest in the world.