Climate. Plant and animal life.

 

There are different climatic zones on the territory of the U.S.A. On the whole the climate of the country is conti­nental and mostly temperate but it varies from tropical in Hawaii to arctic in Alaska. There are places that are warm all the year round, and there are places covered with ice and snow where summer never comes. The greatest part of the territory of the US is situated between 30° and 49° North Latitude.  

Generally the western and southern half of the USA has an overall warmer weather, as compared to the eastern and northern half. The Eastern/Northern half is extremely cold in winters accompanied by heavy snowfall, and has pleasant summers, whereas the Western/Southern part has extremely hot summers and comparatively tolerable winters.

All four of the world’s most productive agricultural climates are found in the United States. These climatic regions display a favorable mix of rain and sun as well as a long growing season, and together, they cover more than a third of the country. Favorable climates have allowed farmers to produce vast quantities of grain for human consumption and crops to feed animals.

The dominant features of the vegetation are indicated by the terms forest, grassland, desert, and alpine tundra. A coniferous forest extends interruptedly in a narrow strip near the Canadian border from Maine to Minnesota and southward along the Appalachian Mountains. Southward, a transition zone of mixed conifers and deciduous trees gives way to a hardwood forest of broad-leaved trees. This forest, with varying mixtures of maple, oak, ash, walnut, hickory, sycamore, beech, and the more southerly tulip tree, once extended from New England to Missouri and eastern Texas. The grasslands occur principally in the Great Plains area and extend westward in to the Rocky Mountains. The alpine tundra consists principally of small plants that bloom brilliantly for a short season. The desert, extending from southeastern California to Texas, is noted for the many species of cactus, some of which grow to the height of trees, and for the Joshua tree and other yuccas, creosote bush, mesquite, and acacias.

The animal geography of the United States is far from a natural pattern. First, many species were hunted to extinction or near extinction, most conspicuously, perhaps, the American bison, which ranged by the millions nearly from coast to coast but now rarely lives outside of zoos and wildlife preserves. Second, habitats were upset or destroyed throughout most of the country — forests cut, grasslands plowed and overgrazed, and migration paths interrupted by fences, railroads, and highways. Third, certain introduced species found hospitable niches and, like the English sparrow, spread over huge areas, often preempting the habitats of native animals. Fourth, chemical biocides such as DDT were used for so long and in such volume that they are believed at least partly responsible for catastrophic mortality rates among large mammals and birds, especially predators high on the food chain. Fifth, there has been a gradual northward migration of certain tropical and subtropical insects, birds, and mammals, perhaps encouraged by gradual climatic warming. In consequence, many native animals have been reduced to tiny fractions of their former ranges or exterminated completely, while other animals, both native and introduced, have found the new anthropocentric environment well suited to their needs, with explosive effects on their populations. The coyote, opossum, armadillo, and several species of deer are among the animals that now occupy much larger ranges than they once did.

Traditional regions of the United States.

 

Americans often speak of their country as one of several large regions. These regions are cultural units formed by history and geography and shaped by the economics, literature and folkways that all the parts of a region share.

New England and Mid-Atlantic

Of all the regions of the USA, New England is perhaps the most distinctive in its imagery, culture, change of seasons, and rich history. The Northeast Corridor is the most densely populated region of the United States. It stretches north from Washington, D.C., up to the Canadian border and includes the states of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

In the 19^th century the region’s largest states, New York and Pennsylvania, became centers of heavy industry (iron, glass, and steel). As heavy industry spread throughout the region, rivers such as the Hudson and Delaware were transformed into vital shipping lanes. Cities on waterways - New York on the Hudson, Philadelphia on the Delaware, Baltimore on Chesapeake Bay - grew dramatically. New York is still the nation’s largest city, its financial hub, and its cultural centre.

Although there is heavy industry in some areas of the Northeast Corridor, the natural beauty of the northern part attracts many tourists. The interior of New England is mountainous and covered with forests. In the fall, thousands of people visit New England to see the spectacular colours of the changing leaves. Tourists also come to ski, especially to Vermont, the Green Mountain State, which has over thirty different skiing areas.

New England’s wildlife is diverse and ranges from whales and dolphins to thousands of species of birds and wild moose.Whale-watching has become an attraction along the coast. Specially designed boats take people to areas where humpback and fin whales gather to feed. The Atlantic Ocean off Cape Cod in Massachusetts is a popular place for whale-watching. Moose safaris are available in New Hampshire and Maine and are the best and most exciting way to view these shy giants.

New England is famous for seafood, especially lobster. The small coastal town of Rockland is the Lobster Capital of Maine and, each August, plays host to the Maine Lobster Festival.

Rhode Island is the smallest US state but has the longest name. Little Rhody, as it is known locally, measures just 48 miles long and 37 miles wide, however, the state’s full name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

New England is also important for the cultural contribution it has made to the nation. The critic Van Wyck Brooks called the creation of a distinctive American literature, in the first half of the 19th century, “the flowering of New England.” The cluster of top-ranking universities and colleges in New England - including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Wellesley, Smith, Williams, Amherst, and Wesleyan - is unequaled by any other region. America’s first college, Harvard, was founded at Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1636.

Popular sports, including basketball and volleyball, were invented in Massachusetts; Springfield, MA, is home to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Midwest

The Midwest is known as the nation’s “breadbasket.” The fertile soil of the region makes it possible for farmers to produce abundant harvests of cereal crops such as wheat, oats, and corn.Corn is the most important of all American crops, as basic to American agriculture as iron is to American industry.Huge farms on the Great Plains — from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains — and the central states down through Texas produce wheat, corn, and soybeans for the nation and for export abroad.

The farmers in this area have often had to struggle very hard in the past. In the 1930s, part of the Great Plains and the Midwest became known as the Dust Bowl. The rains stopped and crops failed, then the soil blew away in great dust storms. Thousands of farmers lost their farms and moved west to California to start a new life.

Millions of cows graze in the pastures of the Great Lakes region, and this area is called the nation’s dairy belt. The state of Wisconsin is the leader in dairy farming and is famous for its production of cheese. Milk from more than 25,000 farms goes to Wisconsin’s cheese-making plants to produce one-third of all the cheese made in the United States. More than three hundred kinds of cheese are made in Wisconsin. Many were brought by immigrants from different countries. Two local cheeses are Brick, which is shaped like a brick, and Colby, originally made in the town of Colby. The most popular cheeses are Cheddar, Mozzarella, and Swiss cheese. Butter, yogurt, sour cream, and ice cream are other dairy products produced in this region.

The area around the Great Lakes of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan is well-known for producing steel, cars, and other industrial products. In the 1970s and 1980s demand for these products fell, and many plants downsized. The name “Rust Belt” began to be used to describe the area. Hundreds of thousands of people moved away in search of new jobs.

A quarter of America’s steel is produced in Chicago, Illinois, and Gary, Indiana. Michigan is one of the nation’s leading manufacturing states and it leads in the production of automobiles. Detroit, Michigan’s largest city, is called the Automobile Capital of the World or Motor City. A third of US automobiles is assembled in factories in and around Detroit. One out of five workers in Michigan is employed in the automobile industry.

Today, the so-called Rust Belt is making an effort to develop new industries. More people work in the service sector, for example, in computer and technology companies. The downtown areas of big cities are being renewed. In places like Cleveland, Ohio, there are now new restaurants and stores downtown.

The West

The West of the USA occupies such states as Montana, Washington, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and California. The West has vast areas of deserts.

When people think of the West today, the first thing that often comes to mind is cowboys riding bucking broncos at the rodeo. Bronco is a nickname for a wild horse. When a bronco bucks, it kicks its back legs in the air to try and throw the rider off. The first rodeos started in the mid-1800s, when cowboys showed all the skills they used for working cattle. Today, the rodeo is a professional sport where cowboys compete to stay on bucking broncos and bulls, and lasso or rope cattle as quickly as possible. The rodeos in Wyoming and Colorado are considered the most exciting, because there are so many contests and events. While the rodeo is going on, there are square dances, fairs, and country and western music concerts.

The United States has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. The most spectacular places are preserved in America’s thirty-eight national parks. The Yellowstone National Park became America’s first national park in 1872. It covers over 3,472 square miles (8,900 square kilometers), mainly in the northwestern corner of Wyoming but also extending into Idaho and Montana. The park is in the Rocky Mountains and has an incredible diversity of natural features—waterfalls, plateaus, canyons, and more than three thousand hot springs and geysers.

There is also a wide variety of wildlife. Bears, antelope, elk, and even wolves wander throughout the park, and eagles build their nests in the forests. Camping and backpacking are encouraged at Yellowstone, but visitors must be careful. A few careless or unlucky people have been killed by angry bears.

The Southwest is full of dramatic landscapes with deep canyons and high plateaus. Both New Mexico and Arizona have very dry climates. Every year, four million visitors come to marvel at the Grand Canyon, a very large, deep gorge. The canyon began to form nearly two billion years ago. In the north of Arizona are the Painted Desert and Monument Valley, the beautiful backdrop for many western movies.The valley is full of sandstone buttes that rise high above the ground. Monument Valley is within the Navajo Reservation, home of the most populous American Indian tribe. To the south and east, lie dozens of other Indian reservations, including those of the Hopi, Zuni, and Apache tribes.

Texas is known as the Lone Star State because of its history as an independent country. At a mission church named the Alamo, 188 Texans died while fighting for independence from Mexico. Six weeks later the Texas Army won independence for Texas. It remained a republic from 1836 to 1845, when it became the twenty-eighth American state.

Oil was first discovered in Texas in 1901. It has been very important to the Texan economy ever since, and the state is the largest producer of oil in the United States. Houston and Dallas are centers of the state’s oil industry. The headquarters of the leading oil companies in America are located in these cities, creating thousands of jobs and attracting people from all over the country. Inland, there are oil wells throughout the state, especially along the southern coast. Offshore, platforms extract oil from under the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil tankers travel inland along the Houston Ship Channel to the port of Houston to fill up with oil, which they transport to other parts of the country. Houston is America’s fourth largest city and the third largest port.

Mexican-Americans, also known as Chicanos, make up a large portion of the inhabitants of the Southwest — more than 25 percent of the population in Texas and 37 percent of the residents of New Mexico. The influence of Mexican culture is present everywhere in this region. Tex-Mex food includes chili con carne, a spicy meat dish, and tamales, made with cornmeal and ground beef. Spanish style influences architecture and music. Spanish is also the second language of the region. Signs in Spanish and English can be found everywhere, and you can hear Spanish spoken in the street.

California seems to have everything — a beautiful coastline on the Pacific with beaches and mountains and a warm climate. Its largest cities, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the state capital, Sacramento, offer cultural variety and excitement.

The state motto, Eureka (Greek for “I have found it”), dates from the gold rush of 1849, which brought thousands of people, all hoping to get rich in California. Many Americans see a move to California as achance to escape from ordinary lives in other parts of America. Every year, 600,000 people come to the west coast. Some people say that the state’s main export is hope and its main import is people. More than thirty-seven million people live in the state.

California is known for its alternative lifestyles and new ideas. Artists and writers have moved to San Francisco because of its reputation for artistic freedom. Many young people move to Los Angeles because they want to become actors or get a job in some other aspect of the movie business.

California produces more agricultural products than any other state. All kinds of fruit and vegetables grow well in the temperate climate. It is especially known for its avocados and grapes. Eighty percent of all American wine is produced in California, and the Napa Valley and Sonoma County, in northern California, are the center of America’s wine-making industry. Many of these crops are grown in irrigated fields, so water conservation has become an important issue in California. The state encourages farmers to monitor carefully how much water they use, so that this valuable resource is not wasted.

As the largest center of industry in the West, California attracts all kinds of workers. The state specializes in aerospace and high-tech industries. South of San Francisco is the Santa Clara Valley. It is famous because it has so many companies that specialize in computer technology, especially chip manufacturers. In fact, the valley is better known as Silicon Valley, named for the material that computer chips are made of. There are also many research centers for computer hardware and software.

Thousands of people from the US and abroad have moved to California to work in the computer industry. There are so many people that there is a housing shortage, and rents have gone up.

The states of Washington and Oregon in the Pacific Northwest have many unspoiled landscapes. The backbone of the Northwest is the Cascade mountain range, which is 100 miles (161 km) long and has several volcanoes. Puget Sound, an inland waterway in Washington, is dotted with islands. The coastline is wild and beautiful.

Seattle (Washington) and Portland (Oregon) have become two of the most popular cities in America. Many people have moved to the area, especially from the congested cities of California. They are attracted by the natural beauty and more relaxed lifestyle. There are plenty of activities for those who live the outdoor life: hiking, skiing, mountain climbing, sailing, and fishing.

Both cities are cultural centers, with museums, ballet companies, and symphony orchestras. The region has also been called the New Silicon Valley, because of the recent growth of the computer industry. Seattle is a major center for manufacturing airplanes.

Forestry and the logging industry have traditionally been major sources of employment in Washington and Oregon since the last century. When the Northern Pacific Railroad reached Oregon in 1882, the region’s wood products could be transported all over the United States.

Forests still cover almost half of Oregon. High rainfall encourages the growth of trees like Douglas firs, hemlocks, and pines. Trees are cut to produce lumber and to be made into paper and other wood products. Environmentalists, especially those interested in forest conservation, are concerned about how much logging is being done in the Northwest. Federal laws now protect the remaining large stretches of old national forests from the logger’s saw. In addition, new trees must be planted where trees have been cut down.

The South

The original states that formed the South were Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

The South is perhaps the most distinctive region of the United States. The American Civil War (1861-65) devastated the Old South socially and economically. Slavery was the issue that divided North and South. To northerners, it was immoral; to southerners, it was integral to their way of life and their plantation system of agriculture. The scars left by the war took decades to heal. The abolition of slavery failed to provide African Americans with political or economic equality; and it took a long, concerted effort to end segregation. The “New South” has evolved into a manufacturing region and high-rise buildings crowd the skylines of such cities as Atlanta and Little Rock. The region however still has many landscapes to delight the human sense of poetry and wonder. The region is blessed with plentiful rainfall and a mild climate. Crops grow easily in its soil and can be grown without frost for at least six months of the year. Owing to its mild weather, the South has become a mecca for retirees from other regions.

The financial and transportation center of the modern South is Atlanta, the state capital of Georgia. Its airport is one of the busiest in the world, and many multinational companies have their headquarters there.

For many years cotton was the most important agricultural product in the South; it grew well in the region’s hot climate. Now major cotton-growing areas, such as Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, produce peanuts, soybeans, and tobacco. The large cotton plantations that were worked by slaves before the Civil War are gone.

Florida, the Sunshine State, was bought from the Spanish in 1819. It is the southernmost state on the mainland and has a long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Oranges grow all year round even in winter, when the weather is very cold further north.

The warm climate has made Florida an important vacation resort. More than eight million visitors come to Miami Beach every year. There are also many theme parks. The state capital is Tallahassee, but the biggest city is Miami, which has a large Hispanic community. Over half of the people who live there speak Spanish as their first language.

At the southern tip of Florida are the Everglades, where a shallow freshwater river moves slowly toward the sea. It is the home of alligators, crocodiles, many different kinds of birds, and the manatee or sea cow.

Alaska

Alaska is the largest of the American states. It officially became a state on January 3, 1959. It was purchased from Russia for $7 million in 1867 and was made a territory of the United States in 1912. Its name comes from the Aleut for “great land.” Native American people — mostly Inuit, Yupik Inuit, and Aleut — have lived in Alaska for many thousands of years. Today, they make up about 15 percent of the population.

Life in Alaska has always been difficult, but the Inuit and Aleut people learned to adapt to the harsh climate. Until recently, they lived by hunting seals, whales, caribou, and bears, and by fishing. They used sleds pulled by dogs to travel over the snow-covered land, and lived in igloos, houses made of snow, or tents made of skin, bone, and earth. Most Inuit now have a more modern lifestyle, but there are still some people who live part of the year in a traditional way.

It remained largely unexplored until the Gold Rush in the 1880s. Fur trade was the main economic activity in Alaska for more than 150 years after 1741. In the 1880s and 1890s major gold deposits were discovered. In addition, other minerals, particularly copper, tin, mercury, and silver, were also mined. During the 1940s and 1950s large military bases were built. Beginning in the late 1970s, the economy underwent a fundamental change as the state’s enormous oil deposits were exploited. The oil industry is now a major industry.

Much of the state is still wild and unspoiled. Almost a third of Alaska is north of the Arctic Circle. Alaska is not an easy place to live in. There are many places that cannot be reached by road, so people go by air. Planes are used to fly in food and other supplies. One in every fifty people in Alaska has a pilot’s license. During the winter, there are only a few hours of sunlight, and children go to school in the dark. In the summer, there is daylight even at night. At Point Barrow, Alaska’s northernmost point, the sun never sets between May and August. Tourists come to see Alaska's mountain scenery, historic coastal towns and the state’s vast areas of untamed wilderness. Mount McKinley (Denali) in the Alaska Range is North America’s highest peak at 20,320 feet and one of the greatest challenges for mountain climbers.

 

Hawaii

The name Hawaii is believed to be an English adaptation of the native word for “homeland”. First settled by Polynesians sailing from other Pacific islands between A.D. 300 and 600, Hawaii was visited in 1778 by British Captain James Cook, who called the group the Sandwich Islands. Following its annexation in 1898, Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900. Hawaii is the youngest state, joining the Union in 1959 as the 50th state, just after Alaska.

Hawaii is world famous for its pleasant climate and spectacular beauty. It has deep-blue seas, brilliantly colored flowers, graceful palm trees, magnificent waterfalls and dramatic volcanoes. Hawaii is made up of 132 tropical islands, but people only live on seven of them. The largest island is called Hawaii, while the well-known tourist resort of Honolulu is on Oahu.

Tourism is Hawaii’s biggest industry. People are attracted by its beautiful scenery and beaches. Surfers come to experience the high waves.

The people who originally inhabited Hawaii were Polynesians. Later, many other Europeans and Americans came to grow pineapples and sugarcane on large plantations, and the plantation owners brought Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Filipino workers to work for them. Croups of American missionaries came to convert the Polynesians to Christianity and impose their western values. Today, only 1 percent of Hawaii’s population is Polynesian. The rest of Hawaii’s citizens are from a variety of origins: about 40 percent are Japanese or Filipino, and about 30 percent are from mainland America.

 

Major cities of the USA

Washington

Washington, the capital of the United States, is in the District of Columbia (D.C.). This special district is not in any state, because it is the home of the federal government. The District was named in honour of Columbus, the discov­erer of America.

In 1790 the first President of the U.S.A., General George Washington, person­ally chose the site for the capital of a new nation. The General drew a circle at his well-worn map, where the Potomac River divided the Virginia and Maryland States, and wrote inside it, “District Columbia. Federal city”. Washington invited a famous French engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a supporter of the new American Republic to design the new city.

The city was founded in 1791, became the cap­ital of the United States in 1800, and was named after the first U.S. President, George Washington.

The city is divided into four sections: northeast (NE), northwest (NW), southeast (SE), and southwest (SW). In the center of the city is the Capitol, where Congress meets. Broad Pennsylvania Avenue, about a mile and a half in length, connects the Capitol with the White House, where the president lives and works. Starting from the Capitol, the streets running north and south bear the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc., while the east and west streets are named А, В, С, etc. All the diagonal avenues are named after States of the Union, and the longest and straightest of them all is Mas­sachusetts Avenue, which virtually cuts the city in half.

Washington is not the largest city in the United States, but it is one of the most beautiful and unusual cities in the country, the first carefully planned capital in the world. Washington’s only big business has been the business of Government. International organizations such as the Organization of American States and the World Bank are also based in Washington.

In and around Washington, D.C., there are many memorials to honor important people in American history like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, and soldiers who have died in wars. There are also many famous museums, including the National Air and Space Museum. Washington is a large scientific and cultural centre, where many research institutes are concentrated. The Smithsonian Institution, the National Academy of Science and the Congres­sional Library are among them.

New York

New York is one of the largest cities in the world and the leading financial, industrial, transport and trade centre of the USA.

An ex-mayor of New York, Ed Koch, called New York City “The Big Apple” in a speech, and the name stuck. The Big Apple has become a symbol for America’s largest city. New York has also been called “the city that never sleeps” because it is alive at all hours of the day and night. It has a dramatic skyline crowded with skyscrapers. New York is a city of islands connected by 60 bridges.

New York was founded in 1613 by Dutch settlers and was named New Amsterdam. When British troops occupied New Amsterdam they called it New York after the Duke of York who was commander of the English army.

Over eight million people live in the city’s five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. During the day the population grows to over 20 million, аs workers commute to the city. They come from the metropolitan area that includes the suburbs of the city and other nearby cities in New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

New York is a multinational city, called “modern Babylon”. The people of almost all nationalities and races speak 800 differ­ent languages, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world.

The city has been the gateway to the United States for many immigrants. Its most famous ethnic neighborhoods include Little Italy, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side, which was originally settled by Eastern European Jews.

The centre of New York is Manhattan Island, the heart of business and finance. The island stretches to 21 km. from north to south between the Hudson River and the East River and is only four kilometres in breadth. The longest and widest street in New York, Broadway, runs through the whole of Manhattan. Straight avenues follow the length of the island. The avenues are crossed by 200 streets numbered from south to north.

Theatres, museums, publishing houses, research institutes and famous universities, including the University of Columbia, New York University make New York one of the main cen­tres of scientific and cultural life in the country. The Metropolitan Opera, Radio City Music Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art attract many visitors.

Coming up to New York harbour you pass Liberty Island with the bronze Statue of Liberty, presented to the United States by France in 1886 to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of American independence. The statue is about 50 metres high and stands on a pedestal of almost the same height.

New York is a world city in both commerce and outlook, with the most famous skyline on earth. It also became a target for international terrorism — most notably the destruction in 2001 of the World Trade Center, which for three decades had been the most prominent symbol of the city. However, New York remains for its residents a conglomeration of local neighbourhoods that provide them with familiar cuisines, languages, and experiences. A city of stark contrasts and deep contradictions, New York is perhaps the most fitting representative of a diverse and powerful nation.

Chicago

One of the largest cities in the United States, Chicago, is on the shore of Lake Michigan. Two rivers, the Chicago and the Calumet, run through the city, and canals link them with the Mississippi River, which flows down to the Gulf of Mexico. Ships can also sail from Chicago through the Great Lakes and along the Saint Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean. Chicago is called the Windy City because of the strong winds that blow through it.

Chicago is an industrial centre. The city has always has attracted a diverse population of Americans and new immigrants in search of jobs. Its steel mills are the most productive in the world. Cattle from all over America are transported to Chicago to be turned into hamburgers and steaks. Chicago is also a railroad and trucking hub. Its airport, O’Hare International, is the busiest in the world.

During the 19th century it was regarded as exceptional for the speed of its growth and the diversity of its population, yet its interior location supposedly made it a much more “typically American” city than New York. It was the city of the humble immigrant and the new millionaire, the home of brazen criminals such as Al Capone and of great humanitarians such as settlement-house pioneer Jane Addams and child-welfare crusader Lucy Flower. The world’s first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Company, was built in Chicago in 1885.

Today, with a population hovering near 3 million, Chicago is the country’s third most populous city.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles is America’s second largest city. Geographically, it extends more than 40 miles from the mountains to the sea. Its name comes from the Spanish for “the City of Angels,” because the land was originally claimed for Spain by missionaries in 1781. It became an American city in 1850 when California became part of the United States after the Mexican-American War.

Approximately 3.8 million people live in Los Angeles. It is a popular place because of its pleasant semi-tropical climate and beautiful Pacific coast. Almost everyone drives to work on the miles of freeways that connect the different areas of this sprawling city. There are about four million private cars in Los Angeles, often backed up in long traffic jams. The level of air pollution is one of the highest in the country.

Suburbs like Hollywood, the centre of the movie industry, and Beverly Hills, where famous actors and other celebrities live, have also made Los Angeles a tourist attraction.

In recent years the population of Los Angeles has changed, so that there are now more Latin American and African-American people in the city than white people. Some parts of Los Angeles are thought of as being violent and dangerous because there are a lot of gangs and problems with racism and drugs.  

Boston

Boston is the state capital, and the largest city in Massachusetts. It is located in the eastern part of the state on Massachusetts Bay. No city in the U.S. is richer in historical associations than Boston, and no city has retained more of its original buildings as memorials to America’s past.

Boston was the centre of the struggle for independence during the American Revolutionary War.

The Boston Tea Party in 1773 was a protest by some American colonists. They protested against the high taxes the British were charging for tea by taking the tea from three British ships and throwing it into Boston Harbor. In April 1775, Paul Revere, a silversmith who had taken part in the protest, made a famous midnight horseback ride to warn everyone of a British attack. Two months later, the colonists fought against the British in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Boston is a major industrial and financial hub and has one of the finest ports in the world. The city’s banking and financial services, insurance, and real estate sectors continue to drive Boston’s economy. Boston’s other businesses are in high technology, biotechnology, software, and electronics. Boston is also a leading city in health care, with 25 inpatient hospitals and numerous community health centres.

There are many colleges and universities in the Boston area. Harvard, in the nearby city of Cambridge, is the most famous of several elite universities in the Northeast known as Ivy Leagueschools. The name comes from the ivy that grows on some of their old buildings. Other Ivy League schools are: Yale (Connecticut), Princeton (New Jersey), and Columbia (New York City).

Other leading educational institutions are Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the largest purely scientific and technical school in the country, and Boston University.

There is the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. As a musical centre Boston rivals New York.   

Philadelphia

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the fifth largest city in the US. The city was founded in 1682. In the period before the American Revolution, the city outstripped all others in the colonies in education, arts, science, industry, and commerce. It is associated with the Declaration of Independence, which was signed and approved there on July 4, 1776. Today, visitors can see the Liberty Bell, which was rung for the first time on July 8, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was read out in public. Later, the first Constitution of the United States was written in Philadelphia. The city was the first capital of the new United States and remained so until the seat of the federal government moved to Washington.

Within a half-century of the founding of the nation at Independence Hall, Philadelphia had emerged as a leader in America’s Industrial Revolution. Today the steam locomotives and hat factories of the 19th century have been replaced by diverse manufacturing specialties such as chemicals (including pharmaceuticals), medical devices, transportation equipment, and printing and publishing. The city’s harbor is one of the largest freshwater ports in the world.

The city abounds in landmarks of early American history, including Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and the Liberty Bell. Other significant tourist attractions are the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Franklin Institute Science Museum, and the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens.

 

ASSIGNMENTS

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the geographical position of Britain? 2. What is the official name of Britain? 3. What parts does the UK include? 4. What is the highest mountain in Britain? 5. What are the most important rivers in Britain? 6. Which lake in Britain is world famous and why? 7. How can you define the climate of Great Britain? 8. How will you describe in brief each part of the UK from the points of a) geographical position, relief; b) population; c) industries; d) urban centres; e) sightseeing. 9. What is the City of London? 10. What do Oxford and Cambridge have in common? 11. What is Manchester known for? 12. What is the national emblem of each part of the UK? 13. What is the nickname of the British flag? 14. Where is the United States of America situated? 15. How many states does the USA consist of? 16. What countries does the USA border on? 17. What lowlands and mountains in the USA can you name? 18. What are the largest rivers in the USA? 19. What climate has the USA got? 20. In what way is Washington, D.C. different from other large cities in the USA? 21. Why is New York called “modern Babylon”? 22. What is Los Angeles famous for? 23. What do you know about Philadelphia? 24. What historic events took place in Boston? 25. What are the national symbols of America?

 

II. Explain in English what is meant by:

Albion, the Saint George’s Cross, Lowland Britain, Highland Britain, the Lake District, Eisteddfod, Ulster, borough, the East End, the Docklands, Holyrood Palace, the Stars and Stripes, the Great Lakes, New England, the Rust Belt, the Dust Bowl, bronco, rodeo, the gold rush, Silicon Valley, the Sunshine State, Tex-Mex, the District of Columbia, the Big Apple, the Windy City.   

 

III. Choose a topic for project work or a report from those given below:

1. Patron saints of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
2. Floral symbols of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
3. Snowdon – the highest mountain of Wales.
4. The Lake District.
5. Loch Ness.
6. National parks of Great Britain.
7. London – the capital of Great Britain.
8. Edinburgh: the Athens of the North.
9. Oxford and Cambridge.
10. Manchester, Glasgow and Liverpool.
11. Washington, D.C. – the capital of the USA.
12. New York – “modern Babylon”.
13. Philadelphia and Boston – historical cities of America.
14. Chicago, Illinois.
15. Los Angeles and San Francisco – the most well-known cities of California.

 

 

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