На этой странице находится топик по английскому по теме GREAT BRITAIN
ТОПИК 1
Britain, Great Britain, the United Kingdom (UK for short), England, the British Isles — these different names are sometimes used to mean the same thing, and they are frequently used wrongly. Strictly speaking, England, Great Britain and the British Isles ought to be used as geographical names, since England is only a part of Great Britain. Great Britain does not include Northern Ireland, but the British Isles include Great Britain and the whole of Ireland, that is both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Eire.
Foreigners usually call the British people «English», but the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh do not consider themselves to be English. The English are Anglo-Saxon in origin, but the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish are not. They are Celts; descendants of the ancient people who crossed over from Europe to the British Isles centuries before the Roman invasion. It was these people’ whom the Germanic Angies and Saxons conquered in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D.
These Germanic conquerors gave England its name — «Angle» land. They were conquered in turn by the Norman French, when William of Normandy landed near Hastings in 1066. It was from the union of the Norman conquerors and the defeated Anglo-Saxons that the English people and the English language were born. The Danes, the Vikings, who invaded Britain in the 8th century also made influence on the people and the language.
As the English are such a mixed people, local customs and accents in England vary a great deal. The closer one gets to London, the less one notices such differences, for London is a melting-pot. It smoothes out strong accents and provincial customs.
Foreigners have been settling in Britain since the beginning of the century. Black and Asian people are now a familiar sight in every city. Great Britain has a multi-racial society. But racial as well as class distinctions are still important in the society.
ТОПИК 2
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland consists of four formerly independent countries. They are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh, the capital of Wales is Cardiff, the capital of Northern Ireland is Belfast and the capital of England is London. The country is surrounded by seas on all sides and is separated from the continent by the English Channel and the Strait of Dover. The British Isles consist of more than 5,000 small islands. The biggest of them is Great Britain. The geographical position favoured the development of the United Kingdom as a great sea country. It’s famous for great geographical discoveries and glorious victories of the British fleet.
The country, occupies an area of over 242,000 sq miles. It is a densely populated country. The population is about 57 million people. About 80 per cent of the population live in town.
The scenery and the landscape of Great Britain are very diverse. There you can find flat valleys and high land, forests and lake areas. The highest mountain peaks are Ben Nevis in Scotland and Snowdon in Wales. The rivers in Great Britain are not long. The Thames is the most important waterway in the country, though the longest river is the Severn. The Mersy is another long river which once played an important role in British trade and commerce.
As for the climate of Great Britain it is moderate and mild due to the influence of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. The summers are usually cooler than on the continent. There is a lot of rain in autumn and winter. The weather in Britain is very changeable and the English even say they have no climate but only weather which through centuries has become a favourite topic of conversation with the British.
The United Kingdom is a highly developed industrial slate. Historically British industry started chiefly as heavy and textile industry. There are hardly any coal mines in Britain today, but textile industry is still prospering. The United Kingdom produces and exports iron and steel products, machinery and electronics. The biggest industrial centres are London, Glasgow, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham and Manchester.
The British say that they grow most of the food they consume, but of course some of the food like coffee, tea, fruit and wine is imported. The chief agricultural crops are wheat, barley, oats, potatoes and fodder grasses.
The United Kingdom is a parliamentary monarchy and the Queen is the head of the state. But in practice it is ruled by the government formed by the Parliament or, to be more exact, by the political party which is in power at this or that stage. The Parliament consists of two Chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Labour party is in power at present and its leader Tony Blair heads the government.
The UK is a prosperous state with high living standards. But of course each country has its own problems and the UK is not an exception. The country is burdened with the long-lasting conflict in Northern Ireland which occasionally manifests itself in violence and disorder.
I have always been interested in the history of Great Britain, its world famous literature and music, rock music in particular. I hope that one day I’ll be able to visit this country and see its sights with my own eyes.
