The United States of America

     The United States of America.

     The United States of America is the fourth largest country in the world (after Russia, Canada and China). It occupies the southern part of North America and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. It also includes Alaska in the north and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The total area of the country is about nine and a half million square kilometres. The USA borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. It also has a seaboarder with Russia.

     The USA is made up of 50 states and the District of Columbia, a special federal area where the capital of the country, Washington, is situated. The population of the country is about 250 million.

     If we look at the map of the USA, we can see lowlands and mountains. The highest mountains are the Rocky Mountains, the Cordillera and the Sierra Nevada. The highest peak is Mount McKinley, which is located in Alaska.

     America's largest rivers are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Rio Grande and the Columbia. The Great Lakes on the border with Canada are the largest and deepest in the USA.

     The climate of the country varies greatly. The coldest regions are in the north. The climate of Alaska is arctic. The climate of the central part is continental. The south has subtropical climate. Hot winds blowing from the Gulf of Mexico often bring typhoons. The climate along the Pacific coast is much warmer than that of the Atlantic coast.

     The USA is a highly developed industrial country. It is the world's leading producer of copper and oil and the world's second producer of iron ore and coal. Among the most important manufacturing industries are aircraft, cars, textiles, radio and television sets, armaments, furniture and paper.

     Though mainly European and African in origin, Americans are made up from nearly all races and nations, including Chinese and native Americans.

     The largest cities are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco and others.

     The United States is a federal union of 50 states, each of which has its own government. The seat of the central (federal) government is Washington, DC. According to the US Constitution the powers of the government are divided into 3 branches: the executive, headed by the President, the legislative, exercised by the Congress, and the juridical. The Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are two main political parties in the USA: the Republican and the Democratic.

     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 18 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 words written during the Anglo-American war of 1812-1814 and set to the music of an old song. Every state has its own flag, its own emblem and its own anthem too.

     The eagle became the national emblem of the country in 1782. It has an olive branch (a symbol of peace) and arrows (a symbol of strength). You can see the eagle on the back of a dollar bill.

     The Statue of Liberty is the symbol of American democracy. It stands on Liberty Island in New York. It one of the first things people see when they arrive in New York by sea. This National Monument was a present  form France to the USA. France gave the statue to America in 1884 as a symbol of friendship. Liberty carries the torch of freedom - in her right hand. In her left hand she is holding a tablet with the inscription "July 4,1776" - American Independence Day.

     The Congress of the United States is composed of two houses: Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate presents the states and the House represents the population according to its distribution among the states. Each state is guaranted at least one representative in the House. The remainder are apportioned among the states according to their population. The Senate of US is composed one of the hundred members – two being elected from each state. Senators are chosen for six years, one-third retiring or seeking is re-elected every two years. Two senators from the same state never finish their terms at the same time, one of them is called "Senior Senator" and the other - "Junior Senator".

     The presiding officer of the senate is the Vice-President of the United States, The Vice-President is not a member of the chamber over which he presides and he sometimes is not a member of the party in power.

     Americans are very fond of sport. The most popular sports in the USA are football, which is played from April to October , baseball, played from September to December, basketball, played from October to April and ice hockey, played in most nor then cities from October to March.

     American football derives from the English game of rugby. It started at Harvard University in the 1870's. It is a game for two teams of eleven men on the field. The object of the game is to have the control of the ball and to score points by carrying it across the goal-line.

     Baseball is a team game derived from the English game of cricket. It is played with a bat and ball by two teams of nine players each, on a field with four bases. Baseball is the national game in the USA and it is very popular in Canada too.

     Basketball is a game which nowadays is popular all over the world. It was invented in 1891. During the ’20s the first US league championship was organized. In the ’70s  American Championship was divided into two leagues: the ABA (American Basketball Association), which does not exist any longer and which played with a blue, red and white ball and the NBA (National Basketball Association).

     There are more activities which Americans take part in such as golf, swimming, tennis, aerobics, wrestling, etc.

     The beautiful city of Washington D.C. is the capital of the  United States and the centre of its government. The capital was named after the first president George Washington and was founded in 1790. It is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. Washington is not the largest city in the USA. It has a population only 900000.

     Washington D.C. has nothing characteristically American in it, as its conception is purely French. It has long wide avenues, gardens, beautiful parks and no skyscrapers at all. Washington is the residence of the President and the Congress of the USA. The White House is the President’s residence, the Capitol – the seat of the American Congress. The largest and the tallest among the buildings is the Capitol with its great House of Representatives and Senate Chamber. There are no skyscrapers because no other building must be taller than the Capitol. All american presidents except George Washington (the White House was not yet built in his time) have lived in the White House. It was built in 1799.

     Washington is a large scientific and cultural centre, where there are many research institutes, five universities, the National Academy of Science and the Library of Congress.

     There is one more well-known building in Washington – Pentagon, the residence of the US Military department. It is situated in the suburbs to the south of the Potomac.

     The Pentagon is a building in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. It has the offices of the U.S. Department of Defense. The Department of Defense includes the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard.

     The word pentagon comes from the Greek penta, which means “five”. A pentagon is a figure with five sides. The Pentagon has five rings. The rings are inside each other. Each ring has five sides. How tall do you think the Pentagon is? The answer is easy. Each ring is five stories tall.

     The Pentagon is the largest office building in the world. It has seventeen miles of halls. People can get lost in the Pentagon. So the walls on each floor are a different color (brown, green, red, gray, and blue). This helps people to know where they are. There are also many maps in the halls.

     The Pentagon is so big that it is like a city. Almost 30,000 people work there. The Pentagon has its own doctors, dentists, and nurses. It has its own banks and stores. It has a post office, a fire department, and a police department. It also has an important center for communications. This center guards the country. It is hundreds of feet under the ground. The Pentagon even has its own radio and TV stations.

     New York is one of the largest cities in the world and the biggest seaport. It's the financial capital of the country. It’s the business centre of the United States. The city is situated in New York State, at the mouth of the Hudson river. It’s population is over eight million. In early times the New York area was populated by Indians. It is here in Wall street many business offices, banks and world famous New York stock exchange are situated.

     New York is an industrial and cultural centre of the country. The most important branches of industry are those producing vehicles, glass, chemicals. New York is also a great cultural centre. It has many museums, art galleries, theatres, ballet. There are two world-famous streets in New York – Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Broadway is the centre of the theatres and night life. Fifth Avenue is the great shopping, hotel and club avenue.

     The Empire State Building is at Fifth Avenue. It's a 102-storeyed building, was built in 1931. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is at Fifth Avenue. It includes hundreds of world famous masterpieces and attracts many visitors.

     The Statue of Liberty is the symbol of American democracy. It stands on Liberty Island in New York port. Liberty.

     Today New York City is informally called “The Big Apple”, The origin of this name is unknown , but it is popular all over the world.

     There are no national holidays in the United States. Each of the 50 states has jurisdiction over its holidays. In practice, however, most states observe the federal (“legal”) public holidays, even though the President and Congress can legally designate holidays only for federal government employees.

     Ten holidays per year are proclaimed by the federal government. They are as follows:

     New Year's Day (January 1)                        

     Martin Luther King Day (third Monday in January)   

     George Washington’s Birthday (third Monday in February)

     Memorial Day (last Monday in May)

     Independence Day (July 4)

     Labour Day (first Monday in September)

     Columbus Day (second Monday in October)

     Veteran's Day (November 11)

     Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November)

     Christmas (December 25).

     There is no many traditional holidays, observed by a large number of Americans, which are neither legal nor official. Among these are Valentine’s Day, St. Patric’s Day, Mother’s Day and Halloween (the last day of October).

     Valentine’s Day has had a long and romantic history. February 14 was the Roman date of the festival, where were games and dancing and then each young man drew from an urn the name of the girl who would be his sweetheart for the coming year. In the seventh century the festival began to be called St. Valentine’s Day.

     Valentine’s Day is the sweet-hearts holiday when people in love express affection for each other in different ways. The young people can do it though a small gift or a card.

     On October 31, Americans celebrate Halloween. Halloween means "holy" (hallow) “evening” (een). This is the evening before the Christian holiday – All Saints Day. On All Saints Day, Christians remember the saints. But Halloween is even older than Christianity.

     Before Christianity, people in Europe believed that on October 31 ghosts of dead people came back. To scare the ghosts, people dressed like devils and were very noisy. They also made big fires to keep the ghosts away. Later, people did not believe in ghosts, but they kept the day of Halloween for fun.

     Immigrants came from Europe to America and brought with them the custom of Halloween. Halloween has some strange symbols. One symbol is the jack-o'-lantern in the window. The jack-o’-lantern is to scare the ghosts. People cut the pumpkin, throw away all of the inside, and cut a face in it. Then they put a candle inside of it. Jack-o’-lanterns usually look scary, too.

     Today, in the United States, Halloween is very popular with children. They wear masks and special costumes. They want to look like skeletons and ghosts. Then they go from house to house and say, “Trick or treat!” People give them candies, cookies, or fruit. When people give nothing, the children sometimes play tricks on them.

     On July 4 the Americans celebrate their national holiday – Independence Day. The United States gained independence as a result  of gradual and painful process. By the mid 1700’s,it became difficult for thirteen British colonies in the New World to be ruled by a king 3.000 miles across the ocean. The British empire imposed high taxes upon the colonies.

     In 1774, the First Continental Congress drew up a list of grievances against the British crown. This document was the first draft of the document that would formally separate colonies from England. In 1775, the Revolutionary War began July 2,1776, the Second Continental Congress presented a second draft of the list of grievances. On July 4 the Continental Congress  approved the Declaration of independence.  But the War of independence lasted until 1783. After the war Independence Day became an official holiday.

     On July 4, Americans have holiday from work. People have day-long picnics with favorite foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans. Lively music is heard everywhere. People play baseball or compete at three-legged races or pie-eating or water-melon-eating contests. Some cities have parades with people dressed as the original founding fathers who march to the music of high school bands. In the evening people gather to watch firework displays. Wherever Americans are around the globe they will get together to celebrate Independence Day.

     In1620, a  religious community sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in the New World. They settled in what is now known as the state of Massachusettes. Their first winter in America was difficult. They arrived too late to grow a rich harvest. Moreover, half the colony died from desease. The following spring the Iroquois Indians taught them how to grow corn. Indians showed them also how to grow other crops and how to hunt and fish.

     In the autumn of 1621 they got a beautiful harvest of corn, barley, beans and pumpkins. The colonists had much to be thankful for, so they planned a feast. Local Indian chief and ninety Indians were present. The colonists learned from Indians  how to cook cranberries and dishes of corn and pumpkins.

     In following years many of the colonists celebrated the harvest with a feast of thanks. After the United States gained independence, Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole country. Later, George Washington suggested  the date November 26 as Thanksgiving Day. Then, after the civil war, Abraham Lincoln suggested the last Thursday in November to be the day of thanksgiving.

     On Thanksgiving Day, family members gather at the house of an older relative, even if they live far away. All give thanks for everything good they have. Charitable organization  offer traditional meal to the homeless.

     Food, eaten at the first thanksgiving, have become traditional. The traditional thanksgiving mean consists of roast turkey stuffed with herb-flavoured bread, cranberry jelly, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie. Other dishes may vary as to region: ham, sweet potatoes, creamed corn.

     Christmas is Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. No  one knows the exact date of Christ’s birth but most Christie celebrate Christmas on December 25. People  in the United States decorate their homes with Christmas trees, wreaths and ornaments. City streets are filled with colored lights; the sound of bells and Christmas carols can be heard everywhere.

      Children write letters to Santa Claus and tell him what presents they would like to get. Many department stores hire people to wear a Santa Claus costume and listen to children’s reguests. People send Christmas cards to relatives and friends.

     A Christmas tree is one of the main symbols of Christmas in most homes. Presents are placed under the tree. On Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, families open their presents. Some children hang up stockings so Santa Claus can fill them with candy, fruit and other small gift.

     In many parts of the United States groups of people walk from house to house and sing Christmas carols. Some people give singers money or small gifts or invite them for a warm drunk.

     Many people attend church services on Christmas Eve or Christmas moning. They listen to readings from Bible and singing Christmas carols.

     A traditional Christmas dinner consists of stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and a variety of other dishes. Some families have ham or roast goose of turkey. Pumpkin pie, plum pudding, and fruitcake are favourite desserts.

     To sum up, USA is a country, which worth visiting. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     Соединенные штаты Америки.

     Соединенные Штаты Америки являются четвертой  по величине страной в мире (после  России, Канады и Китая). Они занимают южную часть Северной Америки и простираются от Тихого до Атлантического океанов. Они также включают Аляску на севере и Гаваи на Тихом океане. Общая площадь страны составляет около девяти с половиной миллионов квадратных километров. США граничит с  Канадой на севере и с Мексикой на юге. Она также имеет морсую границу с Россией.

     США состоит из 50 штатов и округа Колумбия, специального федерального округа, где находится столица страны – Вашингтон. Население страны составляет около 250 миллионов человек. Если мы посмотрим на карту США, мы видим низменности и горы. Самые высокими являются Скалистые горы, Кордильеры и Сьерра-Невада. Высокий пик – гора Мак-Кинли – находится на Аляске.

     К крупным рекам Америки относятся  Миссисипи, Миссури, Рио-Гранде и Колумбия. Великие озера на границе с  Канадой являются самыми крупными и  глубокими в США.

     Климат  страны разнообразный. Холодные регионы на севере страны. Климат Аляски арктический. Климат центральной части континентальный. На юге субтропический климат. Суховеи, дующие с Мексиканского залива, часто приносят тайфуны. Климат Тихоокеанского побережья значительно теплее, чем у Атлантического.

     США высоко развитая индустриальная страна. Она является ведущим в мире производителем меди и нефти и второй в мире производителем железной руды и угля. Среди наиболее важных отраслей промышленности выделяют самолеты, автомобили, текстильную промышленность, радио и телевизоры, вооружения, мебельную и бумажную промышленность.