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GREAT BRITAIN (без картинок).doc
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Great britain

G

The flag of the United Kingdom, known as the Union Jack, is made up of three crosses. The upright red cross is the cross of St. George, the patron saint of England. The white diagonal cross is the cross of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. The red diagonal cross is the cross of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

reat Britain is situated on the British Isles. It consists of three parts. Their names are England, Scotland and Wales. Scotland is situated in the north of Great Britain, Wales - in the south-west and England - in the south-east. The United Kingdom consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Unof­ficially, the country as a whole is often referred to as Eng­land.

Great Britain surrounded by seas on all sides is separated from the continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. It lies on the crossways of the sea routes from Europe to the other parts of the world. Thanks to the Gulf-Stream the clima­te of Great Britain is mild. It's often foggy and rainy. The summer is not very hot and the winter is not very cold. Winter temperature seldom falls below zero.

The rivers in Great Britain are not long, but many of them are deep. The Severn is the longest British river. Many of the rivers have been joined one to another by means of canals, so that it's quite possible to travel by water from one end of the country to the other. The shallow waters are important because they provide breeding ground for fish. The capital of Great Britain, London, is situated on the Thames River. There are many lakes in Scotland. The most beautiful is Loch Lomond. In the north of England and in Scotland there are many mountains, but they are not very high. The highest mountain is Ben Nevis.

The total area of the country is 93.5 thousand square mi­les. The population numbers over 68 million people. The En­glish are reputed to be cold, reserved, rather haughty people who do not yell in the street or change their governments as often as they change their underclothes. They are steady, easy-going and fond of sport.

The English are a nation of stay-at-homes. “There is no place like home”, they say. “The Englishman's home is his castle», is a saying known all over the world. It's true that English people prefer small houses, built to house one family, perhaps with a small garden. The fire is the focus of the English home. For the English it's the open fire, the toasting fork and the ceremony of English tea.

Great Britain lives by manufacture and trade. Its agricul­ture provides only half the food it needs, the other half of its food has to be imported.

Britain is one of the most highly industrialised countries of the world: for every person employed in agriculture, eleven are employed in mining, manufacturing and building. The UK exports machinery, vessels, motors and other goods. One of its main industries is the textile industry. The industrial centres of Great Britain are London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and others.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. The head of the state is a King or a Queen. Elizabeth II is a queen from 1952. The supreme legislative body is the Parliament. It has two Houses - the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The highest executive power is the Cabinet. The Cabinet consists of the Prime Minister and 18 ministers of the first rank. The Prime Minister and ministers of all ranks form the Government.

The main political parties are: the Conservative Party (Tories), the Labour Party and the Liberal Party.

NAMES:

Great Britain ['greIt'brItn] Великобритания

British Isles ['brItIS'aIlz] Британские острова

England ['INglqnd] Англия

Scotland ['skOtlqnd] Шотландия

Wales [weIlz] Уэльс

the United Kingdom [jH'naItId 'kINdqm] Соединенное Королевство

Northern Ireland ['nLDqn 'aIqlqnd] Северная Ирландия

North Sea ['nLT 'sJ] Северное море

English Channel ['InglIS 'Cxnl] Английский канал

Gulf-Stream ['gAlf 'strJm] Гольфстрим

the Severn ['sFvq(:)n] Северн

the Thames River [tFmz 'rIvq'] Темза

Loch Lomond ['lOk 'loumqnd] Лох Лоуменд

Ben Nevis ['ben 'nevis] бен Невис

London ['lAndqn] Лондон

Manchester ['mxnCIstq'] Манчестер

Birmingham ['bWmiNqm] Бирмингем

Leeds [lJdz] Лидс

Liverpool ['lIvqpHl] Ливерпуль

Sheffield ['Sefild] Шеффилд

Queen Elizabeth II [I'lIzqbqT] Королева Елизавета П

the Conservative Party [kqn'sWvqtIv] Консервативная Партия (Тори), основана в 1667г.

the Labour Party ['leIbq] Лейбористская Партия, основана в 1900г.

the Liberal Party ['lIbqrl] Либеральная Партия, основана в 1877г.

the House of Commons ['kOmqnz] палата общин (нижняя палата парламента, играет главную роль в осуществлении его законодательных функций)

the House of Lords [lLdz] палата лордов (верхняя палата парламента, невыборное учреждение, обладает правом отлагательного вето в отношении законопроектов, принятых палатой общин)

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