Даний розділ за темою «Great Britain. Великобританія» призначений для продовжуючих і допоможе закріпити і поглибити раніше здобуті знання. Перед кожним розділом ви знайдете питання. Постарайтеся відповісти на них, перш ніж читати текст. Якщо вам важко відповісти, прочитайте статтю «Great Britain. Основні факти для початківців».
Отже, продовжуємо вивчення теми «Great Britain. Великобританія» за планом нижче:
1. Географічне положення Великобританії
2. Клімат
3. Природа Великобританії
4. Населення, національність і мова
5. Британський національний характер
6. Найвідоміші міста і визначні пам’ятки
7. Політична система
8. Історія Великобританії
Вивчення теми «Great Britain. Великобританія»
(в рамках підготовки до іспиту з англійської мови та розширення країнознавчих знань про країну мови, що вивчається)
1. The Geographical Position of Great Britain
Answer the questions based on the information you have learnt:
1) What is the official name of Great Britain?
2) What countries does Great Britain consist of and what are their capitals?
3) Why is the UK called an island state?
4) Where is the UK situated? What separates Great Britain from the continent?
5) What are the names of two main islands of the British Isles?
6) What do we call the narrowest part of the English Channel?
Згадайте слова: consist of, include, be made up of.
Закінчите пропозиції:
1. Great Britain consists of …
2. Great Britain doesn’t include …
3. The UK is made up of …
Згадайте англійські слова по темі: «A Country. Its geographical position» lie, be separated by, be washed by, be surrounded by.
Переведіть пропозиції:
1. An island is a part of land that is surrounded by water on all sides.
2. Great Britain is an island state and is surrounded by seas on all sides.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lies on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands – Great Britain and Ireland and about 5 thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244.000 square kilometers. On the island of Great Britain you can find England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland lies on the island of Ireland.
The British Isles are separated from Europe by the English Channel and the North Sea. In the west their coasts are washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.
Great Britain is the largest islands in the British Isles. It is also the largest island in Europe and the seventh largest island in the world.
The UK is one of the world’s smaller countries. It is twice smaller than France and Spain.
2. Climate of Great Britain
Answer the questions based on the information you have learnt:
1. What is the British climate like?
2. What is the British weather like?
The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters of Gulf Stream influence the climate of the islands. It is mild all the year round. It means that it’s never too hot or too cold. Winters are extremely mild. Snow may come but it melts quickly. The coldest months are January and February, the warmest ones are July and August. But the climate is not the same in all parts of England. The western part is warmer than the east. It also has more rain. The North is colder than the South, but in winter the coldest districts are the eastern ones. There is much humidity in the air of England. It is well-known as a foggy country.
If climate is mild, it is warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Also we can say that the climate on the British Isles is temperate and humid.
Nowadays the climate is changing and there are fewer fogs and more sunny days in Britain, it also rains less.
In the past, most Londoners had open fireplaces in which they used coal. The result was that there was a tremendous concentration of smoke and soot in the air. It was the cause of dense and heavy fogs.
While a heavy fog hung over a big English city for days, only a few miles away in the country, the sky might be cloudless and the sun shining brightly. In London today, however, there are no open coal fires. As a result, there are fewer fogs and the air is clean.
The weather is so changeable that the English often say that they have no climate but only weather. They use the comparison “as changeable as the weather” of a person who often changes his mood or opinion about something.
The English also say that they have three variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains n the afternoon or when it rains all day long. The weather is the favourite topic of conversation in the UK. SOON
Answer the questions:
1) Why is the British climate mild? What influences it?
2) Does it vary?
3) Which districts are the coldest in Britain?
3. The Nature of Great Britain
Answer the questions based on the information you have learnt:
1. What are the names for two types of landscape in Great Britain?
2. What is the most picturesque place in England?
Запам’ятайте:
The main characteristic of British landscape is that it changes very often.
The Scottish scenery is amasing.
Типово англійський пейзаж — рівнини (the Lowlands). Фото автора
The surface of the British Isles залежить від very much. Geographically, the island of Great Britain is divided into two main regions: Lowland Britain (the Lowlands) and Highland Britain (the Highlands). The Lowlands include central, southern and eastern England. They have beautiful valleys and plains.
The Highlands consist of Scotland, most of Wales, the Pennines and the Lake District. It is mountainous part of Britain, but the mountains are not very high. The highest mountain is Ben Nevis in Scotland (1343m).
Шотландія. Бен Невіс — найвища точка Великобританії. Фото автора
Scotland is separated from England by the Cheviot Hills, running from east to west. The Pennine Chain extends (stretches) southward from the Cheviot Hills into the Midlands, plain regions with low hills and valleys.
Запам’ятайте:
Долина в Шотландії. Фото автора.
There are a lot of rivers in Great Britain, but they are not very long. The Severn is the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and the most important one. The river Avon is famous for the town of Stratford-on–Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. The swiftest river in the British Isles is the Spey. The swift rivers flowing down from the hills into valleys are called “dales”.
Різниця між словами valley (долина) і plain (рівнина):
Дізнатися більше про природу Великобританії — The British Nature
There is a district in Great Britain which is widely known for it association with the history of English literature and the name of William Wordsworth (1779-1859), the founder of the Lake School of poets. This district is called The Lake District.
The Lake School – «Озерна школа» — літературне співробітництво поетів-романтиків початку 19 століття, названа по Озерному краю, де жили поети Вільям Вордсворт і Семюель Кольрідж.
Answer the questions and check yourself:
1. What is typical of British landscape?
2. Where are the mountains in Britain?
3. What river does London stand?
4. What British rivers do you know?
5. Which is the highest point in the UK?
6. Which river is associated with the name of Shakespeare?
7. What is the longest river in the UK?
8. What is the Lake District known for?
4. The Population, Nationalities and the Language
Answer the questions based on the information you have learnt:
1) What do we call people who were born in Britain? In Scotland? In Wales?
2) Do people in these countries speak the same” English?
3) English Is the only language spoken in the UK?
The Population
Запам’ятайте дієслова: populate — населяти, заселяти, inhabit — жити, проживати, населяти; settle – поселитися.
Переведіть пропозиції:
1. The UK is inhabited by the English, the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish.
2. London, the south and the southeast are the most densely populated areas.
Перекладіть іменники: population, inhabitants, settlers
The population of the UK is over 57 million people. The population lives mostly in towns and cities and their suburbs. The biggest cities are (… try to remember 8 cities) but except them the most well-known cities are Oxford, Cambridge, Stradford-upon-Avon.
The nationalities of the UK:
the English – англійці (46 mln)
the Scottish – шотландці (5 mln)
the Welsh – валлійці (уродженці Уельсу) (6 mln)
the Irish – ірландці (1,5 mln)
the British – британці (more than 57 mln)
The Language
English is the official language of the UK. But some people speak Gaelic in western Scotland and Welsh in parts of northern and central Wales.
Welsh is a Celtic language and it is very different from English. For example, «Welcome to Wales» is «Croesu i Cymru» in Welsh. Before the 16th century everybody in Wales spoke Welsh, but after Wales was united with England in 1536, Welsh was banned. It started declining, only 500,000 out of 3 mln of population spoke until it 1960s. It was not taught at school and the people thought that their language was dying out. The situation changed only few years ago. Nowadays Welsh is spoken in the government and there is a Welsh TV station. The Welsh are proud of their language.
Уэйльс. Фото автора.
The most known English-speaking countries are the USA, then Canada, Australia, New Zealand. People in these countries speak variants of English, so called American English, Australian English. It slightly differs from the British English in grammar and pronunciation.
5. The British National Character
Although the British live on the same island, they are very different. Ii is right to say that the English are not like the Scottish, Irish or Welsh (or the other way around). Of course, they have something in common. For example, it is true that British people often talk about the weather, especially if they don’t know each other very well. It is true that they are more reserved than Russian people: they don’t like to show their emotions and they don’t make friends easily with strangers. It also seems to be true that the British are not very good at learning foreign languages.
However, there are certain things that make an Englishman different from an Irishman or a Welshman from a Scotsman. If you want to get them to know better, go to Great Britain and explore yourself! Or read the text about the British character.
6. The British Places of Interest, Cities & Towns
Answer the questions based on the information you have learnt:
- What famous cities & towns of Great Britain do you know?
- What places of interest can you name?
Every year more than eleven million tourists visit Britain. In fact, tourism is an important industry, which enjoys thousands of people. Most visitors come in summer months when they can expect good weather. Usually they spend a few days in London, then they go to other well-known cities. Perhaps the least відвідали places in England are old industrial towns like Birmigham or Manchester. Below you will find the information about the most visited places of interest in Britain.
Stonehenge
If you go to Great Britain you will probably be planning to visit Stonehenge. It is a group of Celtic stones in the south of England. Stonehenge is situated right on a major road, about 12 kilometers from the town of Salisbury. If you really want to feel the magic and mystery of this ancient place, go there early in the morning to see the sunrise. It is worth it.
Рівнина Солсбері, Стоунхендж. Фото автора
Read the text «How they built Stonehenge»
Hadrian’s Wall
It is one of the britain’s greatest monument. The wall is 73 miles long and was built by Romans to protect the conqured England from the wild Scotts. The trail called the hadrian’s Wall Path goes along the Wall through the hills and moors of the north of England.
Mazes
England is famous for its mazes. One of the best mazes is situated at the Hampton Court, a royal palace near London. It consists of one kilometer of paths and it takes 20 minutes to reach the center … if you are lucky.
Найвідоміший лабіринт у резиденції Генріха VIII (Hampton Court)
River Trips
If you want to have a river trip, go to Oxford or for Cambridge punting. A punt is a type of boat that you move by planting a long pole in the river bed and pushing the boat along. The best place to go punting is the river Cam, which runs through the ancient university. You will enjoy the incredible views of the old colleges and the scenery.
Катання на човен по річці Ким. Фото автора.
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