Oral topic № 3
ORAL TOPIC №4 +
Geographical position, natural resources.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It comprises the island of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and the northeastern island of Ireland (Northern Ireland), together with many smaller islands. The UK comes within 35 km of the northwest coast of France, from which it is separated by the English Channel. Northern Ireland shares a 360 km international land boundary with the Republic of Ireland. The Channel Tunnel ("Chunnel") bored beneath the English Channel, now links the UK with France.
The total area of the United Kingdom is 245,000 square kilometers. England is the largest country of the United Kingdom.
The UK has a variety of natural resources including coal, petroleum, natural gas, limestone, chalk, gypsum, silica, rock salt, china clay, iron ore, tin, silver, gold, lead.
Its coal, natural gas, and oil reserves are large; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation.
Over 400 million tonnes of proven coal reserves have been identified in the UK. North Sea oil and gas have supplied much of the UK's energy needs in recent decades.
Due to the island location of the UK, the country has great potential for generating electricity from wave power and tidal power. Great Britain is expected to launch the building of new nuclear reactors to replace existing generators and to boost UK's energy reserves.
State and Government structure and the main bodies.
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy: Queen Elizabeth II is the official Head of State. The Queen rules symbolically; in reality, power belongs to Parliament. The Constitution of the United Kingdom consists mostly of a collection of written sources, including statutes, judge-made law, and international treaties. The Parliament of the United Kingdom that meets in the Palace of Westminster has two houses: an elected House of Commons and an appointed House of Lords. The House of Lords is made up of people who have inherited family titles and those who have been given titles because of their outstanding work in one field or another. There are 675 members of the Lords
Political parties. The UK's three major political parties are the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Democrats.
The Labour Party (Tony Blair) emphasized social justice, equality of opportunity, economic planning and the state ownership of industries and services. It was supported by the trade unions, the working class and some of the middle class.
Currently the Conservatives (David Cameron) are the largest opposition party in the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom. It emphasizes personal, social and economic freedom, individual ownership of property and shares and law and order.
The Liberal Democrats are the third-largest party in the UK Parliament, behind Labour and the Conservatives.
The UK economy: past and present. The UK was the first country in the world to industrialize in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, by the late 19th century, the Second Industrial Revolution in the United States meant the US had begun to challenge Britain's role as the leader of the global economy. The extensive war efforts of both World Wars in the 20th century also weakened the UK economy in global terms. After a mild recession in the early 1990s, there followed the longest period of sustained economic growth Britain had seen for more than 150 years, achieving growth in every quarter between 1992 and 2007, one of the highest economic growth rates of major developed economies during that time. This boom ended in 2008 when the United Kingdom entered a recession brought about by the global financial crisis. Today the United Kingdom is one of the world's most globalized countries.
The main sectors and industries, current trends in the economy. The United Kingdom is a major developed capitalist economy. It is the third largest economy in Europe after Germany's and France's in nominal terms, and the third largest after Germany's and Russia's. The main sectors and industries are:
• Manufacturing
• Heavy industry:
-audio and optical equipment
- motor industry
- civil and defence aircraft production
- chemical and pharmaceutical industry
• Service sector
- financial services
- Tourism
- Transport
• Agriculture
- fishing industry.
The city of London. The capital, London, is a major financial centre for international business and commerce and is one of three "command centres" for the global economy (along with New York City and Tokyo). The British economy is made up (in descending order of size) of the economies of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The United Kingdom is also a member of the G8, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade organization, and the European Union.
London is the world's largest financial centre, with financial services based around two districts: 'The City' (the City of London) and the Docklands (particularly around Canary Wharf).
Great Britain and European integration. The UK has had good relations with the rest of Europe since World War II. It became a member of the G8, the Commonwealth of Nations, the organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade organization, and the European Union.
ORAL TOPIC №5+
The USA geography. The USA is one of the most powerful and highly developed country in the world. It is situated in the central part of the North American continent. Its western coast is washed by the Pacific Ocean and its eastern coast is washed by the Atlantic.
Government structure: branches, their bodies and function. The USA is a federal republic and consists of 50 states and the District of Columbia. Capital of the country is Washington. The basic law of the United States is the Constitution, adopted in 1787. The state power divided into legislative, executive and judicial.
The executive power is vested in the President, who holds his office during four years. The President is the head of the state and the Government. The President may also veto any bill passed by the Congress.
The administrative business of the country is conducted by secretaries who form the Cabinet. Cabinet secretaries are heads of different departments.
Legislative authority is exercised by the Congress of the United States which has two elective houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 100 senators, two for each state. Members of the House of Representatives are elected for two-year terms.
The judicial power is the third branch of the US Federal Government. It consists of a system of federal courts and is headed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Political parties. In the United States there are two major political parties: the Democratic and the Republican. The present-day Democratic Party was founded in 1828, representing Southern slave owners and part of Northern bourgeoisie. The Republican Party, established in 1854, united those who opposed the expansion of slavery. The Democratic Party is considered to be more liberal, and the Republican is more conservative.
National symbols. The American flag is often called “The Stars and Stripes”. It has 13 horizontal stripes which stand for the original 13 states. In the top left hand corner there are 50 white stars on a blue background.
Every state has its own flag, its own emblem and its own anthem too.
The national symbol of USA is eagle. The Statue of Liberty is the symbol of American democracy.
The main public holidays. There are some federal holidays in the United States. Each of the 50 states has its own holidays. The most popular federal holidays are New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas. The most popular traditional holidays, which are nonofficial, are St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter and Halloween.
The role of government in the economy.
In the United States the government plays an important role in the national economy. It provides services and goods that the market cannot provide effectively, such as national defence, assistance programs for low-income families, and so on. The government can encourage the production and consumption of certain types of products.
The main sectors of the American economy: manufacturing, agriculture, services.
The United States is an industrial country. The main branches of heavy industry are mining, metallurgical, automobile and chemical industries and engineering. Many branches of light industry are also developed; among them are textile, food and woodworking industries.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector includes establishments primarily engaged in growing crops, raising animals, harvesting timber, and harvesting fish and other animals on a farm and ranch.
The private non-good producing industries make 70% of total economic activity in the US. These industries include financial services, retail trade, entertainment, tourism, etc.
The US service sector is the largest sector in the economy and accounts significant share of GDP. In the US the service sector is a dynamic component of economic activity and growth. It includes a wide variety of businesses: Truck Transportation, Messenger Services, Health Care and Warehousing. Government services play a major role in the economy.
Oral topic № 6+
Ecological problems caused by the development of civilization. The main ecological problems caused by the development of civilization are pollution of water environment, air pollution, shortage of fresh water, climate change, resource depletion and many, many others. Most of those problems are concerned with the irrational use of environment. Another reason of those issues is growing population, especially in such countries as China, Japan and Arab countries. Pollution is may be the most widespread kind of ecological problems. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. It can influence on our health, environment health and assists in atmosphere destruction. That’s why it’s very important to control pollution from different enterprises, plants and so on.
The consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Chernobyl disaster is one of the most significant and destroying disasters in the human history. This disaster has brought with it a lot of human injures and death. Because of timely evacuation and correct actions of the Ministry of Emergency Measures we have avoided more significant consequences. But nevertheless the consequences were really impressive. A lot of radioactive substances have been thrown out. In a result of this disaster a 30km zone of estrangement has been created around the Chernobyl. Nearly 70 % of our country has been polluted.
International efforts in solving environmental problems. International efforts in solving environmental problems are concerned with the creation of different organizations that try to find solutions to these problems. The most famous are Greenpeace, European Environmental Agency, Helcom and others. So, United Nation’s Bruntland Comission marked the beginning of the sustainable development concept.
The idea of sustainable development. the idea of sustainable development has become increasingly popular in the contemporary world. The field of sustainable development can be divided into three parts: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and social-political sustainability. Environment protection is concerned with the preservation of our natural environment and resources. Environmental sustainability means resolving the conflict between the various competing goals environmental quality and social equity. An “unsustainable situation” occurs when natural capital is used up faster than it can be replenished.
The Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 in Kyoto. Under this protocol industrialized countries will reduce their collective emission of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990.
But during the same time China, India and other developing countries weren't limited in emissions because they were not the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions during the pre-treaty industrialization period.