The Few Words About Britain
The official name for the country whose language we study is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In every day use, however, the word Britain is quite possible.
The United Kingdom, populated by 56 million men and women, consists of the following part England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The first 3 parts make up Great Britain. There are also several small islands which are subject to the Crown, such as the Isle of Man (in the Irish Sea), Guernsey (in the English Channel) and others.
The state system of the Country may by defined as a constitutional monarchy, though Britain has no' any written constitution as one act and the monarchy is a mere formality. English kings reign but do not rule
The supreme legislative authority in Britain is Parliament consisting of two chambers the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The normal life of the Parliament is fixed at five years. It sits for 160 days a year.
About 900 peers sit in the House of Lords. They are not elected by voters. Their seats in the chamber arc, as a rule, hereditary. The House of Commons is an elected assembly, and is considered more important
There arc three main political parties in Britain: they arc the Labour, Conservative and Liberal parties. The party Which wins the majority of seats at a General Elections forms the cabinet. The leader of the majority party is appointed Prime Minister.
Britain is a highly developed industrial country. Its main industries arc coalmining, machinery textile and clothing, shipbuilding vehicles metal manufacture, electronics, chemicals, etc. Commerce and transport arc essential to the English economy. The main industrial centers are as follows: London Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds. Newcastle, Liverpool and others.
English agriculture is also a highly developed industry, but because of lack of cultivated lands it cannot supply the country- with sufficient food products. Britain has to import grain, meat, wine and other foodstuffs.
Britain heads the so-called British Commonwealth of Nations, whose members, among other are Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The USA
The USA occupies a large territory. It’s area is 9,4 million square kilometres, including the states of Alaska and Hawaii. ‘It is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the east and by the Pacific Ocean in the west. In the north the USA borders .on Canada, in the south - on Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. Almost any kind of climate can be found here but the country lies mostly in the Temperate Zone. The northeastern part of the US is the region of the five Great Lakes (Lake Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario), that are connected by channels. In the west of the USA there is another lake called the Great Salt Lake. The main river- is Mississippi, "father of waters" as the American Indians called it. It is the second largest river in the world after the Nile.
Once the USA was an English colony. In the War of Independence (1776 - 1783) it freed itself from British sovereignty and became independent. The US was founded on July 4, 1776. At that time it consisted of 13 states. Now the United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and the District of Columbia as the seat of the national govemment. The flag of the USA is called "Stars and Stripes". Stars represent states and stripes represent 13 original English colonies.
The Constitution of the country was written in 1787. Over the years only 26 amendments have been added to it, but the basic document hasn't been changed. The Constitution outlines the structure of the national government and specifies it's powers and activities. Other governmental activities are the responsibility of the states, which have their own constitutions. Each state has it's own elective government. The Constitution divides the powers of the government into 3 branches:
1) the Executive (headed by the President),
2) the Legislative (includes both Houses of Congress - the Senate and the House of —" Representatives),
3) the Judicial (headed by the Supreme Court).
The President is chosen in a national election for a 4-year term of office and may be reelected for a second term.
The USA is a highly developed-industrial and agricultural country. The main-branches of / industry are metallurgical, machine-building, chemical, electrical, aircraft, shipbuilding, textile, etc.