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 American's two
most popular and famous Presidents were both born in February.
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The United States
of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states. Each
state has its own government («state government*). In some ways
the United States is like 50 small countries. |
There are two
major political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican
Party. Other parties have occasionally challenged these two but
without permanent success. One reason for their failure is that
in order to win a national election, a party must appeal to a
broad base of voters and a wide spectrum of interests. |
The United States
is rich in the variety of its native forest trees, some of
which, as the species of sequoia, are the most massive known.
More than 1,000 species and varieties have been described, of
which almost 200 are of economic value. |
Most visitors to
Los Angeles, California, come to see Beverly Hills. This is
where are situated the homes of the movie stars. But Beverly
Hills is not Los Angeles. It is a small city next to Los
Angeles. |
Philadelphia is
situated in the east of the USA. It is one of the few large
cities in the United States to have an old and well-preserved
city centre. |
The first voyages
along the coast of modern South and Central America were made by
Amerigo Vespucci. That is why, in the 16th century German
cartographer named this fourth part of the world after the
explorer. At the beginning of the 17th century European colonies
were founded on the territory of the modern USA. |
Nowadays USA is
world's third-largest country by size (after Russia and Canada)
and by population (after China and India). The total territory
of the USA is 9,630,000 sq km. It is about half the size of
Russia or lightly larger than China or Brazil. |
New York is the
largest city in the USA and the biggest seaport. It is the
business centre of the United States. New York is situated in
the mouth of the Hudson river. In comparison with such ancient
historical cities as, say, Rome, London, Moscow or Paris, New
York is quite young. It was founded in 1613 by Dutch settlers. |
I am going to
tell you about Los Angeles. Los
Angeles spans a widely diverse geographic area. Primarily a
desert basin, the area is surrounded by the San Gabriel Mountain
range and divided by the Santa Monica Mountains. Los Angeles
County has 81 miles of coastline. There are such rivers as the
Los Angeles, the Rio Hondo, the San Gabriel and the Ventura
rivers. |
Ice hockey is one
of the most action-paced of sports, demanding skillful skating,
expert stick-handling, and masterly puck control. The game
developed in the frozen expanses of North America, and a hundred
years ago became the national winter sport of Canada.
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On July 4 the
Americans celebrate their national holiday — Independence Day.
The United States gained independence as a result of gradual and
painful process. |
There are a lot
of holidays in the USA. Many of them are associated with the
history of the nation. The main holidays of the USA are New
Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving
Day and Christmas. |
There are about
3,000 colleges and universities, both private and public, in the
United States. They are all independent, offering their own
choice of studies, setting their own admission standards and
deciding which students meet those standards. The greater the
prestige of the university, the higher the grades required. |
Halloween is a
festival that takes place on October 31. In the United States
children wear costumes and masks and go trick-or-treating. Many
of them carve jack-o'-lantens out of pumpkins. Fortunetelling
and storytelling about ghosts and witches are popular
activities. |
There are two
types of jobs: full-time and part-time work. A full-time job is
usually 35-40 hours a week. A part-time job is 15-28 hours a
week. |
Florida is one of
the USA states. It is located in the south-eastern part of the
USA. It is a peninsula territory. The capital of the state is
Tallahassee. The total population of Florida is about
16,000,000. It occupies the 4th place in the USA according to
the number of citizens. |
US
Constitution includes some general provisions on the franchise.
It sets forth certain requirements for candidates running for a
post of a president, vice-president, senator or member of the
House of Representatives. Requirements usually concern age,
residence and citizenship. |
Education is not
mentioned in the Constitution, nor is there any federal
department of education, so the matter is left to individual
states. Education is free and compulsory in all states, however,
from the age of 6 till 16 (or 18). |
The legislative
branch of national government consists of two houses — the
Senate and the House of Representatives — each with a different
role, different powers, and a different electoral procedure. |
The USA is the
fourth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada and
China. Including the states of Alaska and Hawaii, the US covers
an area of 9 millions square km. |
The USA is
situated in the central part of the North American Continent. It
is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, by the Pacific
Ocean in the west and by the Gulf of Mexico in the south. The
climate varies from moderate to subtropical. Along the Pacific
and Atlantic coasts it is oceanic. |
The United
States
of America is a very diverse country.
Its nature, climate, population varies from the East Coast to
the west, from the northern border to the southern. |
Christmas is
Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. For
millions of Christians throughout the world it is the happiest
and the busiest time of the year. No one knows the exact date of
Christ's birth but most Christians celebrate Christmas on
December 25. |
There is a
huge
city in the northeastern part of the USA near Lake Michigan. In America,
there
are many large cities, but I would like to tell about Chicago. |
The history of
the USA dates back only to the 15th century. In the 15th century
there was no USA at all. The present territory of the USA was
divided among some countries. |
The animal
geography of the United States, however, is far from a natural
pattern, for European settlement produced a series of
environmental changes that grossly altered the distribution of
animal communities. |
The American flag
is often called "The Stars and Stripes", it is also called "Old
Glory". It represents the growth of the nation. It has 13
horizontal stripes,7 red and 6 white which stand for the
original 13 states. In the top left hand corner there are 50
white stars on a blue background: one star for each state. The
national anthem of the United States is "The Star Spangled
Banner". |
The majority of
Americans live in or near large cities, but small living-town is
still widespread. A suburb (a small community near a big city)
offers the advantages of safer, more intimate small-town life
with the recreational and cultural activities of the big city
nearby. |
The governments
of the 50 states have structures closely paralleling those of
the federal government. Each state has a governor, a legislature
and a judiciary. Each state has its own constitution. |
дебную власть федерального
правительства возглавляет Верховный Суд, который трактует
значение конституции и федеральных законов. Он состоит из девяти
судей (включая главного судью), которые назначаются на
пожизненный срок Президентом с согласия сената. |
The legislative
branch of the government is the Congress, which has two houses:
the Senate and the House of Representatives. Powers granted
Congress, under the Constitution include the power to levy
taxes, borrow money, regulate interstate commerce, declare war,
seat members, discipline its own membership, and determine its
rules of procedure. |
The US.
Constitution defines a federal system of government in which
certain powers are delegated to the national government; other
powers fall to the states. |
Good and bad
manners make up the social rules of a country. They are not
always easy to learn because they are often not written down in
books. For example, British women didn't go into pubs at the
beginning of this century because it was not considered
respectable behaviour for a woman.
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England
has
existed as a unified entity since the 10th century. The Union
between England and Wales was enacted under the Statute of
Rhuddlan in 1284. In the Act of Union of 1707, England and
Scotland agreed to permanent union as Great Britain; the
legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented
in 1801... |
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