21. Kyiv

Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River.

By the ancient legend Kiev was founded by three brothers Kiy, Schek, Khoriv and their sister Lybid. They were surprised by the beauty of Dnieper’s hills, stopped to settle here and called the town in honour of the eldest brother-Kiev. A monument to the founders was erected at the Dnieper embankment in our days.

Kiev is one of the oldest Slavic centres; “Mother of Russian touns” so it was called in olden times, its age is more than 1500 years. In order to consolidate Kiev Russ and to increase its international influence the prince Vladimir baptised the Russ in 988. Christianity and became that impulse for further development of written language and culture.

Today Kiev is an important industrial, scientific, educational and cultural centre of Eastern Europe. It is home to many high-tech industries, higher education institutions and world-famous historical landmarks. The city has an extensive infrastructure and highly developed system of public transport, including the Kiev Metro.

The capital of Ukraine has got great cultural potential. There are more that 30 museums, about 200 unique architectural monuments, 33 theatres, a lot of active art exhibitions. Kiev is one of the greenest cities of the world, it has more that 60 parks. In spring and summer the city resembles one huge park.

There are many historical places in Kiev. For example, St Sophia Cathedral, this was built in the 11th century. Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra that was founded in the 11th century. Saint Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, which was ruined and completely restored. St. Andrew’s church in baroque style.

The monument to Taras Shevchenko, the great Ukrainian poet, is in front of the University, named after him. The monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky, famous hetman of Ukraine, stands in the square opposite to St Sophia Cathedral.

Kiev is the centre of cultural life of Ukraine. Fans of theatre, cinema, music, painting and other arts can find there many interesting for themselves. There are lots of museums in Kiev: the Museum of Ukrainian Arts, the Historic Museum, the Taras Shevchenko Museum, the Lesya Ukrainka Museum, the museum of M. Bulgakov and others.

is derived from - походить від; was erected - був побудований; embankment – набережна; Slavic - Слов'янський; baptised – охрестив;

22. Great Britain

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles. Which consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands.

The UK is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast respectively. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales and doesn’t include Northern Ireland. But in everyday speech “Great Britain” is used to mean the UK.

The capital of the UK is London. The surface of the British Isles varies very much. The north of Scotland is mountainous and is called the Highlands; while the south, which has beautiful valleys and plains, is called the Lowlands.

There are a lot of rivers in Great Britain, but they are not long. The Severn is the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and the most important one.

The UK is a highly developed industrial country. It’s known as one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of machinery, electronics, textile, shipbuilding, aircraft and navigation equipment. The main industrial centers and at the same time the largest cities of the country are London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow.

The UK is a constitutional monarchy. The Head of the state is the Queen or the King. In practice, the monarch reigns but doesn’t rule. Elected Government with the Prime Minister at the head, rules the country. The British Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Common.

Two characteristic of the British Constitution confuse most foreigners: there is no written constitution; it is not contained in any single document.

Some of the British national traits are resulting from the British way of life. The British are known as a people self-assured, absolutely confident in their national sense of superiority. Deep down the British still fell pretty satisfied with themselves.

The history of the UK is in its museums. There are about 2000 museums and galleries in Britain.. Most cities and towns have museums and other treasures devoted to arts, archaeology and natural history.

Respectively – відповідно; reigns – панує; national traits - національні риси; self-assured – самовпевнений; confident – впевнений; sense of superiority – чувство превосходства; deep down - у глибині душі;