Answer the following questions. What had a Persian Prince a great fancy for?
What had a Persian Prince a great fancy for?
Where did he see a fine steed?
Who was selling the horse?
Did the prince decide to buy it?
Was the prince overjoyed with his bargain?
Great Britain.
The island of Great Britain (British Isles), together with the neighbouring minor islands and the northeastern part of Ireland, constitute the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The country is usually called Great Britain.
The total area of the United Kingdom is 244,000 sq. kms. It consists of 1) England (the southern and middle part of the island of Great Britain). 2) Wales (a mountainous peninsula in the west). 3) Scotland (the northern part of the island), and 4) Northern Ireland.
The capital of Great Britain is London.
Great Britain is separated from the European continent by the North Sea and the English Channel, the narrower part of which is called the Strait of Dover. The southeastern part of England lies quite close to the continent, the Strait of Dover in its narrowest part being only 33 kms wide.
At one time the British Isles formed an integral part of the mainland. They became segregated in consequence of the sinking of the land surface. It was already in the epoch when man had come into existence that this segregation took place. The very structure of the sea bottom indicated that the British Isles were connected with the mainland: the islands rise from the sea on a kind of submerged continent projection. The sea around the Isles is shallow. If the sea-level had become lower by 70-80 metres, the bottom of the whole southern part of the North Sea would have emerged from the water and become land surface, linking the British Isles with continent.
The climate of Great Britain is typically maritime with frequent rains, cloud-covered skies, continuous fogs and strong winds; the close proximity of the Gulf Stream makes the winter extremely mild; frosts are very rare; it seldom snows and snow covers the ground but for a short time(mountain regions excepted); the summer is cool and rainy.
These climatic conditions are typical of the Western coast.
The population of England emerged from an amalgamation of a number of different peoples. In the epoch of the Roman rule, which began in 55 B.C., the British Isles were inhabited by Celts. Later (in the sixth and seventh centuries) South Britain was invaded by the German tribes of Angles and Saxons. The Celt were driven into the Highlands, while a part of them mixed with the newcomers. In the eight, ninth and tenth centuries a new wave of invasions swept over East England, this time the invaders were the Danes. In 1066 England was conquered by the Normans. These were the last invaders. They brought their language and customs which differed from those of the conquered Anglo-Saxons. Only a few centuries later the Normans took up the English language, i.e., the language of the Anglo-Saxons, who, in their turn, received a large number of words from Old French – the language brought by the conquerors. Thus one can understand why words of different origin (French, German and Latin) exist in the English language, which is spoken in many countries including the United States of America and Australia. Many excellent novels, stories, poems and verses have been written in English.
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Many scientific articles and books written in English are part of the world’s treasures of intellect and thought.
Answer the following questions:
What does Great Britain consist of? 2. What is the total area of the United Kingdom? 3. What city is the capital of Great Britain? 4. What sea separates Great Britain from the European continent? 5. What is the width of the Strait of Dover in its narrowest part? 7. What tells us that the British Isles were an integral of the mainland many centuries ago? 8. What climate has Great Britain? 9. Why are winters mild and frosts rare in Great Britain? 10. What language is spoken in Great Britain? 11. What English writers do you know? 12. What English writer do you like best? 13. Is Mark Twain an English or an American writer? 14. What language is spoken in Australia? 15. Have you any English books? 16. Have you read many English books? 17. Have you seen any English films? 18. What English films have you seen?
Translate the following sentences into Russian:
The North Sea is especially rich in fish. 2. The rivers of Great Britain have a slow current and never freeze in winter. 3. Byron could not forget the cloud-covered skies of England. 4. Bath is the name of an English town named after the hot spring there. 5. The foot is a measure of length. It is equal to twelve inches. 6. Is there any difference between the words “metre” and “meter”? The pronunciation of both words is the same. – Yes, there is a difference. A “metre” with “tre” at the end is the unit of length in the metric system. Thus, one metre equals about forty inches. On the other hand, a “meter” with “ter” is an instrument that measures. For instance, a gas-meter, an electric-meter, a taxi-meter, a water-meter and so on. 7. No English author, except perhaps Shakespeare, has been translated into so many different languages
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Britain’s Government
Britain is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of State. The country is governed in the Queen’s name by the Government although she performs certain important acts of government on the advice of her ministers. The Queen is also head of the Commonwealths and is head of State in 14 of its 41 member countries. She is temporal head of Church of England.
Parliament consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, together with Queen in her constitutional role. The Queen formally summons and dissolves Parliament, and opens each new session with a speech setting out the Government’s broad program. She also gives formal assent to laws passed by Parliament.
The House of Commons, which plays the major part in law-making, consists of 635 elected members of Parliament (MPs), each representing an area in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. MPs are elected either at a general election, (which must be held at least every five years) or at a by-election held when a seat falls vacant because of the death or resignation of the member. The minimum voting age is 18, and the voting is by secret ballot. The Government is formed by the political party which can command majority support in the House of Commons. Its leader is the Prime Minister, who chooses a number of ministers, of whom or so are in the Cabinet, which is collectively responsible for all Government decisions. The second largest party becomes the official opposition with its leader and “shadow cabinet”. The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker, an impartial member acceptable to the whole House.
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The House of Lords is made up of hereditary and life peers peeresses, including the law lords appointed to undertake the judicial duties of the House, and the Lords Spiritual (two archbishops and 24 bishops of the Church of England). The House is presided over by the Lord Chancellor who is head of the judiciary in England and Wales.
Legislative measures are introduces into Parliament as Bills, usually by ministers bun also by other MPs. Bills are considered both by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The debating procedures of the two Houses are broadly similar, and Bills approved at all stages receive the Royal Assent and become Acts of Parliament. The House of Lords may delay certain Bills but cannot finally Veto them.
The work of Government is carried out through the various government departments, each directly or indirectly responsible to a minister and staffed by members of a politically neutral Civil Service – a change of Government does not involve a change in the civil servants staffing a department.
Local government is carried out by democratically elected councils (local authorities) which deal with planning and housing, education, personal social services, police, fire brigades and many other services in their areas. Local authorities are given their powers by Parliament and are largely free to govern local affairs in their own way. They levy rates – a form of local property tax – and in this way finance about a third of their current expenditure.
Three fifth of current expenditure is met by grants from the central Government and the rest by rents and other forms of income. Capital expenditure is financed mainly by borrowing.
Throughout most of the country there are two tiers of local authorities. As a rule one tier provides large-scale strategic services, while the other is responsible for more local ones. The division is broadly between counties (regions in Scotland) and districts, expert in London where it is between the Greater London Council and the London boroughs (including the City of London).
Britain’s industry and trade
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Britain lives by industry and trade. Her 57 million people provide one of the world’s biggest markets for food and raw materials. In return, British manufactured goods of every kind are sent all over the world. They make up about an eighth of the world’s total exports of manufactures. Invisible exports – shipping, insurance, aviation, tourism, etc. – earn nearly as much as commodity exports.
Just over 200 years ago the first industrial revolution began in England with such epoch making inventions as the steam engine and the first machinery for weaving textiles. Later, British inventors and engineers gave the world the first railways, steamships, pneumatic tyres, miner safety lamps, mechanical reapers, matches and many other things that are now familiar everywhere.
Today in a new age of modern technology, Britain has made important advances in such new industries as electronics and telecommunications equipment, in aircraft and aircraft engines, in plastics and synthetic materials, radio-isotopes and new drugs – all major exports. At the same time Britain has harnessed traditional craftsmanship to modern methods to continue to produce those items for which she is justly famous, such as pottery glassware, woolen and leather goods.
Engineering industries produce many leading exports: electrical machinery, cars, tractors and commercial vehicles, bicycles and precision instruments of many kinds make up nearly half the goods exported.
Britain is the world‘s the third largest trading nation, accounting for about 11 per cent of international trade in manufactured goods. Over a quarter of total exports go to Commonwealth countries, and over a third to Western Europe. The United States, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand and Germany are among Britain’s chief trading partners.
Britain’s role as a trading nation and as centre of the Sterling Area which holds a quarter of the world’s population, including a vast network of financial services, centered on the City of London. With its many famous institutions, such as the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and Lloyd’s, and its international markets for commodities such as rubber, metals and tea, the City has for over a century held a place of first importance in world trade.
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