THE
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
The United
Kingdom consists of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland. The capitals of these parts are London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and
Belfast. The official name of the country is The United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland. It’s too long, isn’t it? So usually people call
it the UK or the United Kingdom.
The UK is
situated in the north-west coast of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean on the
north and north-west and the North Sea on the east.
The UK has an area
of 94,249 square miles. The capital of the country is London. English is the
official language. The population of the UK is nearly 60 million people. The
population lives mostly in towns and cities. Many of them live in big
industrial cities like London, Manchester, Liverpool.
Stratford-upon-Avon
is a small town in the middle of England, but it’s very famous. It’s the town
where William Shakespeare was born. Every year 4 million tourists visit this
place. They usually come to the well- known Royal Shakespeare Theatre- one of
the biggest theatres in Britain.
Brighton is a
large town on the south coast of England. It is a popular place for holidays.
There are many
universities, colleges, libraries, museums and theatres in the country. The
most famous universities are Cambridge University, Oxford University, Glasgow
University.
The climate of
Great Britain is mild. It is not too hot in summer or too cold in winter. It
often rains in England. Many parts of the country have beautiful villages.
There are many lonely hills, quiet rivers, deep lakes and just farmlands
especially in the south of the country. There are many rivers in Great Britain.
The main river is the Thames. Many ships and barges go up and down the river.
The longest river is Severn. It is 350 kilometers long.
There are few
public holidays in Great Britain. They are: Christmas Day, Easter, Boxing Day,
New Year’s Day, St. Valentine’s Day, Guy Fawkes Day. The most popular holiday
is Christmas. Every year the people of Norway give the city of London a
present. It’s a big Christmas tree and it stands in Trafalgar Square. Central
streets are beautifully decorated. Before Christmas, groups of singers go from
house to house. They collect money for charity and sing carols, traditional
Christmas songs. On Christmas day the Queen gives her traditional Christmas
speech to the UK television.
It is common
knowledge, that the English are very fond of tea. They like to have “a nice
cup of tea” 6 or 8 times a day, sometimes even more.
On Christmas Day
a roast turkey is traditionally cooked for dinner. It is usually followed by
Christmas pudding.
THE
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Russia
is one of the largest countries in the world. It occupies about one- seventh
part of dry land. It is situated in Europe and Asia. It total area is over 17
million square kilometers. The country is washed by seas and oceans. There are
different types of climate on the territory of the country. Some parts of our
country are covered with mountains and hills. There are rivers, lakes and
forests in Russia. The longest rivers are the Volga in Europe and Yenisei and
the Ob in Asia. The deepest lakes are the Baikal and the Ladoga. The water of
the lake Baikal is the purest in the world. The Russian Federation is very rich
in mineral resources, such as oil, natural gas, coal, iron, gold and others.
Moscow
is the capital of Russia. It was founded in 1147. It is nice city. There are
many places of interest on Moscow. You can see many museums, art galleries,
theatres and monuments in our capital. People of our country are proud of the
Moscow Kremlin. There are also many big beautiful cities in Russia: St.
Petersburg, Rostov Veliky, Suzdal, Vladimir and others.
People
in Russia have their own special traditions. One of them is Maslenitsa – the
holiday, which lasts for a week, to say “goodbye” to winter. People celebrate
it at the end of February or at the beginning of March. During this holiday
they celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring. For this holiday
people always cook pancakes (blini). They invite their friends and their
nearest and dearest to see each other and eat pancakes with sour cream, caviar
or butter, sugar, honey. The other favourite holidays in Russia are New Year,
Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Victory Day and others.
The
main dishes of the traditional Russian menu are blini (pancakes), different
soups (like shchi and borshch), pirozhki, pelmyeni. Russian people eat brown
bread with nearly every meal. Russian people like to drink hot strong tea with
a slice of lemon.
Usually
tourists buy such traditional Russian souvenirs as Matryoshka dolls,
beautifully painted plates and spoons from the village Khokhloma. Some
tourists are more interested in badges, T-shirts, amber, furs, cavia and
Russian ushanka- hats.
THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
The USA is one of the largest countries in the world. It is situated in the
central part of the North American continent. The area of the USA is over nine
million square kilometers. It is washed by the Pacific Ocean and by the
Atlantic Ocean. The population of the United States is nearly 250 million
people, most of the people live in towns. The biggest cities are Los Angeles,
Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas.
People
of different nationalities live in the USA. The capital of the country is
Washington D. C. It was named in honor of the first President, George
Washington. As the USA is a large country, the climate is different in the
different regions of the country, for example, the Pacific coast is a region of
mild winters and warm, dry summers, but the eastern region is watered with
rainfall. The around the Great Lakes has changeable weather.
There are many mountains in the USA. For example, the highest peak of the
Cordeliers in the USA is 4,418 meters.
The main rivers of the country is the Mississippi. But there are many other
great rivers in the USA: the Colorado in the south and the Columbia in the
north-west, and the Missouri. There are five Great Lakes between the USA and
Canada.
The USA is the greatest capitalist country in the world. There are 50 states in
the USA. Each of them has its own government.
The people of the United States are a mixture of many different nationalities.
In the past, people from many different European countries came to the US and
made one country out of many. These different people brought to their new land
a wonderful mixture of customs and traditions. The German brought Christmas
trees. The Irish brought St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The Scots brought
Halloween.
People like to celebrate Thanksgiving Day (with roast turkey and pumpkin
pie) and Independence Day.
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