Реферат: Countries and cities

RUSSIANFEDERATION (RUSSIA)

Russia is one of the largestcountries in the world. It occupies about one-seventh part of dry land. It issituated in Europe and Asia. Its total area is over 17 million squarekilometres. The country is washed by seas and oceans. There are different typesof climate on the territory of the country. It is very cold in the North evenin summer. The central part of the country has mild climate: winters are cold,springs and autumns are warm or cool, summers are hot and warm. In the Souththe temperature usually is above zero all year round, even in winter. Summer isreally hot, the climate is very favourable. The climate of Siberia iscontinental: summers are hot and dry, winters are very cold.

Some parts of our country are coveredwith mountains and hills.

There are many rivers in Russia, thelongest rivers are the Volga in Europe and the Yenisei and the Ob in Asia. Thedeepest lakes are the Baikal and the Ladoga. The water of the lake Baikal isthe purest in the world.

The Russian Federation is very richin mineral resources, such as oil, natural gas, coal, iron. gold and others.

Russia borders on many countries.Among them are Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Poland, China, Mongolia, Korea.

Moscow is the capital of our country.It was founded in 1147. It is a nice city. There are many places of interest inMoscow. You can see many museums, art galleries, theatres and monuments in ourcapital. People of our country are proud of the Moscow Kremlin. There are alsomany big beautiful cities in Russia.

The population of Russia is about 150million people. 83 per cent of the population are Russians. 70 per cent of thepopulation live in cities.

MOSCOW

(Tex-1)

Moscow is the capital of Russia. It is one of the biggest and mostbeautiful cities in the world. Moscow is a modem centre now. The population ofthe city is about 9 million people. Moscow is a political centre, where thegovernment of our country works.

Moscow was founded in 1147 by YuriDolgoruky. The total area of Moscow is about nine hundred square kilometres.

We say that Moscow is a port of fiveseas, as the Moscow-Volga Canal links Moscow with the Baltic, White, Caspianand Black seas and the Sea of Azov.

Moscow is an industrial centre too.There are many factories and plants in it. One of the best known plants isLikhachev Automobile plant, which produces many lorries.

Moscow is a cultural centre. One cansee the Kremlin and Red Square in the city. There are a lot of theatres,museums, libraries and cinemas in Moscow. The Bolshoi Theatre is one of thefamous theatres all over the world.

If you are fond of painting you cango to the Tretyakov Art Gallery or to the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum and see alot of interesting portraits and landscapes there. We say the Tretyakov ArtGallery is a treasure-house of Russian art.

Young people like to visit theCentral Military Museum. There are many tanks, guns and war documents there.

There are many fine buildings, widestreets, green parks, large squares and monuments in Moscow.

It is necessary to mention suchfamous monuments as monuments to the great Russian writer Alexander Pushkin andto the first Russian printer Ivan Fedorov. Visiting the capital a lot of foreignersfrom all over the worid come to see these monuments.

One of the highest buildings inMoscow is the State Moscow University. It was founded in 1755 by the greatscientist Mikhail Lomonosov.

Transport». Moscow is a very big cityand its transport must be comfortable and fast.

One can see a lot of cars, buses,trolley-buses, trams in the streets of our city. The Moscow metro began itswork on the 15th of May, 1935. There were 13 stations at that time. Now it has151 stations. Our metro is a beautiful and convenient one.

There are nine railway stations inMoscow and some airports around the city.

There are many stadiums in Moscow.The Central  Stadium  is in  Luzhniki.  Many competitions and football matches areheld there.

The Olympic village was built for the22nd Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. It is a big complex for sport games.

MOSCOW

(Text-2)

Moscow is the capital of our country.Moscow was founded in 1147 by Prince Yuri Dolgorukyi. Now Moscow has become thelargest political, economic and administrative centre of the country. It is oneof the world's cultural, scientific and art centres.

Moscow is situated on both sides ofthe Moskva river. The heart of Moscow is Red Square and the Kremlin. Thehighest towers of the Kremlin are crowned with ruby stars. The main and tallestof the Kremlin towers is the Spasskaya tower. People all over the countrylisten to the Kremlin Chimes on the Spasskaya Tower. The Bell Towers of Ivanthe Great built in the 15th century have twenty-two large bells and over thirtysmall ones. Thousands of tourists admire the majestic beauty of the red-brickwalls and towers of the Kremlin, the fantastic beauty of St.Basil's Cathedral,a masterpiece of ancient Russian architecture. In front of the Cathedralthere's a monument to Minin and Pozharsky. The cathedrals, palaces andbuildings of the Kremlin are remarkable museums containing unique col­lectionsof rare things.

In fact, Moscow is famous all overthe world for its museums and galleries. Among them most well-known is thePushkin Museum of Fine Arts which houses a wonderful collection of worldpainting and sculpture and the Tretyakov Picture gallery with its mastespiecesof Russian pictorial art. In Moscow there are a lot of exhibition halls,palaces of culture, libraries and theatres. Among the world famous BolshoiTheatre, Taganka Theatre, The Kremlin Theatre and others are numerous studioesand amateur theatres which have gained popularity among the spectators. Manytourists enjoy the magnificent building of the University which is situated onthe Lenin Hills. The Moscow Metro is not only a comfortable, rapid and economicmeans of travelling but also one of the tourists' attrac­tions. It's rightlyconsidered to be the most beautiful in the world.

THE UNITEDKINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

(Text-1)

The United Kingdom is situated in thenorth­west coast of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean on the north andnorth-west and the North Sea on the east.

The U.K. includes Great Britain andNorthern Ireland.

Great Britain, the largest island inEurope, contains England, Scotland and Wales.

The United Kingdom has an area of94,249 square miles. The capital of the country is London. English is theofficial language.

The population of the U.K. is nearly60 million people. The population lives mostly in towns and cities and theirsuburbs. Four out of every five people live in towns. Over 46 million peoplelive in England. Over 3 million — in Wales. A little over 5 million — inScotland. About 1,5 million in Northern Ireland. London's population is over 7million people. The British nation consists of the English, the Scots, theWelsh and the Irish. There are many people of all colours and races in theUnited Kingdom.

The climate of Great Britain is mild.It is not too hot in summer or too cold in winter. It often rains in England.Rain falls in summer and in winter, in autumn and in spring. Snow falls only inthe North and West of the country. The surface of England and Ireland is flat,but Scotland and Wales are mountainous. Many parts of the country havebeautiful villages. There are many rivers in Great Britain. The main river isthe Thames. Many ships and barges go up and down the river. The longestriver is Severn. It is 350 kilometres long.

There are many universities,colleges, libraries, museums and theatres in the country. The most famous universitiesare Cambridge University, Oxford University, Glasgow University.

The U.K. is a parliamentary monarchy.The British Parliament consists of two Houses: the House of Lords and the Houseof Commons. The Prime Minister is the head of the government. The mainpolitical parties of Great Britain are the Labour Party, the Liberal Party, theConservative Party. The Communist Party of Great Britain was founded in 1920.It is a party of the working people.

The United Kingdom has few mineralresources. Coal and oil are the most important of them. The United Kingdom isone of the world's most industrialized countries. The main industrialcentres   are   Sheffield,  Birmingham   and Manchester. Thelargest cities of the country are London, Birmingham,  Cardiff,  Manchester. Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin.

Agriculture takes an important sectorin economy of the country. The British people grow wheat, fruit, vegetables,oats.

THE UNITEDKINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

(Text-2)

The United Kingdom of Great Britainand Northern Ireland is situated on two large islands and about 5 thousandsmall islands, called the British Isles, to the North-West of Europe.

The larger island is Great Britainwhich consists of three раrt.

England, Scotland, and Wales, and thesmaller is Ireland. Southern Ireland now called Eire or the Irish Republic, isindependent of the United Kingdom. The British Isles cover an area of about 95000 square miles. Great Britain is separated from the continent by the EnglishChannel, the narrower part of it is called the Strait of Dover.

The country is washed by the AtlanticOcean, the North Sea, the Irish Sea. The shallow waters of the North and theIrish Seas provide good f ishing grounds. Fishing therefore is very important.

Mountains are an important featyre ofthe geography of the country. There are mountain chains in Scotland, Wales andNorth-West England, but they are not very high. North-West England is alsofamous for its beautiful lakes.

The rivers of Great Britain are notvery long but usually deep and never freeze in winter. The longest and deepestrivers are the Severn and Mersey, the Thames on which stands the capital ofGreat Britain — London.

Lying in the middle latitudes andsurrounded by waters Britain has a mild and temperate climate. The climate ofthe British Isles is generally classified as cool, temperate, though in theHighlands of Scotland it is severe. The best season for the English people isspring when everything is in full bloom, there is much sunshine and it israther warm. Autumn and winter are famous for their fogs and rains. In bigindustrial cities fog turns into «smog» (smoke + fog). It is a veryunpleasant time. The usual tempera­ture in winter very seldom falls below 3-5degrees Centigrade. The weather in Great Britain is very changeable, there maybe all kinds of weather within orte day, that is why practically every talk theEnglish people begin with comments on the weather.

Britain is a state with a highlydeveloped industry. It is one of the most poweerful capitalist countries inEurope. Great Britain is also one of the largest exporters of manufacturedgoods. At the same time it imports metal, oil, grain, meat, fruit, tea andother raw materials and foodstuffs.

The largest cities and most importantindustrial centres of Great Britain are London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool,Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh.

London, the capital, is one of themost important industrial centres. Lots of things such as clothes, foodstuffs,cars, aircrafts, instruments, medical equipment are produced in and aroundLondon. It is also the biggest port.

Birmingham is the centre of theproduction of machines, lorries, TV sets, radios, computers, steel industry,heavy engineering.

Manchester in the North-West ofEngland is the centre of the cotton textile industry, one of the Britain's mostimportant producers of com­puters and electronic equipment, chemicals.

Ship-building is an importantindustry in the United Kingdom. The main ship-building centres are London,Glasgow in Scotland, Belfast in Northern Ireland and some others.

Oxford and Cambridge are not bigindustrial centres but they are famous all over the world as educationalcentres. The oldest and most famous universities of Great Britain are situatedthere. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge date from the 12th and 13thcenturies and the Scottish Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh from 15th-16th centuries.

Oxford is international becausepeople from all over the world come to study there. Physics, chemistry,medicine, literature, biology, geography, agriculture are studied there.

The United Kingdom of Great Britainand Northern Ireland is a par-liamentary monarchy. Legislative power belongs tothe Queen (formally) and the Parliament, which consists of the House of Commonsand House of Lords. Officially the Head of the State is the Queen (from 1952-Elizabeth II). But the actual power belongs to the parliament and the rulingparty. The powers of the Queen are limited by the constitution.

There are three main parties on thepolitical scene of the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party, founded in 1867is the party supported traditionally by the rich: the monopolists andlandowners. This party serves the interests of big business. The supporters ofthe Liberal Party are small traders and middle class people.

The Labour Party was founded in 1906.It mostly consists of workers, but its activity and political tactics show thatit is a bourgeous party.

The Communist Party of Great Britainwas founded in 1920 as a fusion of the British Socialist Party. The Party fullyrepresents the interests of the working class.

LONDON

(Text-1)

London is the capital of Great Britain. It is a very old city. It is twothousand years old. London is not only the capital of the country, it is also ahuge port.

London is situated upon both banks ofthe Thames. There are 17 bridges above the river.

The population of London is about 9million people. London has three parts: the City of London, the West End, theEast End.

The City of London is the oldest partof London. You can see narrow streets and pavements there. There are manyoffices, firms and banks in this part of London. The City of London is thefinancial centre of the United Kingdom.

The West End is the centre of London.There are many places of interest in the West End. They are: the Houses ofParliament with Big Ben. It is interesting that the clock «Big Ben»came into service in 1859. Big Ben is the biggest clock bell in Britain. Itweighs 13,5 tons.

The other interesting place isWestminster Abbey, which was founded in 1050. It is situated in the centre ofLondon. Many great Englishmen were buried in the Abbey: Newton, Darvin andothers.

The official London residence of theQueen is Buckingham Palace. It was built in the 18th century.

There are many nice squares inLondon. Trafalgar Square is one of them and it is in the centre of the WestEnd. One can see a statue of Lord Nelson in the middle of this square.

There are many museums, libraries andgalleries in London. The Tate Gallery is one of the well-known galleries inLondon. Henry Tate was a sugar manufacturer. He was fond of paintings andcollected many pictures.

The British Museum is a veryinteresting place in London. It was founded in 1753. The library of this museumhas a lot of books.

The East End of London is thedistrict for the working people. There are many factories, workshops, docksthere.

There are many cars and buses inLondon. There is a tube (an underground) in London too. It is a nice one.

One can say that the City is themoney of London, the West End is the goods of London, the East End is the handsof London.

LONDON

(Text-2)

London is the capital of GreatBritain. The population of London is over 8 million people. It is one of thelargest cities of the world and the largest city of the United Kingdom. Londonis situated on the river Thames about forty miles from the mouth and is dividedinto two parts by the river: north and south. Fourteen bridges over the rivercarry heavy traffic from one side to the other.

The history of London goes back toRoman times. Due to favourable geographical position a small town soon becamean important trade centre. Actually, London can be divided into several parts.First there is the City of London. It is the financial and business centre ofGreat Britain. Only a few thousand people live there, but in the day-time it isfull of people: as about half of million people come to work there. The biggestBanks and offices are concentrated in the City. The East End, lying eastwardsfrom' the City is very large, poor and crowded. The working class of London isconcentrated there. It is a district of docks, factories, poor little housesand narrow streets. This district of London suffered greatly during World WarII but carried on its work.

The West End makes a great contrastto the working district of London. It is full of richest hotels, largestsuper-markets, best cinemas and concert-halls. There are a lot of beatifullhouses and gardens. Only well-to-do people can live there.

Another important district of Londonis Westminster, where most of Government buildings are situated. WestminsterPalace is the seat of the British Parliament. The Towers of the Houses ofParliament stand high; above the city. On the highest tower there is thelargest clock in the country which is known to the whole world as Big Ben. Onecan hear Big Ben strike every quarter of an hour.

Not far away is Westminster Abbeywith its Poet's Corner. Many English outstanding statesmen, painters, poetswere buried there. Among them Geoffrey Chaucer, the first English nationalpoet, world famous scientists I.Newton and Ch.Darwin, Tennison and others.

There in London one can find placeswith the names of W.Shakespeare, who lived and worked there for more thantwenty years, Karl Marx, who was buried in Highgate cemetery.

Every year many tourists come toLondon to see the places of interest. They make sightseeing tours of the City,visit the Trafalgar Square, the British Museum, the National Gallery. They alsovisit the most ancient historic monument dating back to Roman times: the Towerof London, which had been a fortress, a prison and a royal palace. Now it isone of the most interesting museums.

NEW ZELAND

New Zealand is an independent state.It has a total area of 269,000 square kilometres. It is (situated to south-eastof Australia. Nearly 3,5 million people live in the country. The capital of NewZealand is Wellington. (It has been the capital since 1865). The officiallanguage is English. The climate of New Zealand is moist. New Zealand isrich in minerals. There are some main industries in the country, for example,iron and steel industry. The country has gas and petroleum. There are manymountains in New Zealand. The highest is Mount Cook (12349 feet).  There are many rivers in the country. Thechief rivers are the Waikato and the Wairu. You can see many lakes in it. Youhave heard about the native animals in the country. One of them is the kiwi.This interesting bird lives in the wet parts of the thick bushes. In the daytime the bird does not go out It comes out only at night to find food. Kiwiscan not fly. Many years ago kiwis were hunted for food. Now the government doesnot permit the hunting of kiwis. The kiwi is now the symbol of the New Zealandpeople. Small children are often called kiwis.

New Zealand is a self-governingstate. The Parliament consists of one House only, the House of Representatives.The Prime Minister is the head of the government

There are some political parties inNew Zealand. They are: the Labour Party, the National Party, the Party ofSocialist Unity and others.

New Zealand has heavy industry. Thereare many plants in the country. Paper and rubber industries are developed too.New Zealand exports apples and honey.

There are some big cities such asAuckland, Wellington,  Christchurch,  Dunedin, Nelson. Auckland, Dunedin, Wellington are the main ports of the country.

The capital of the country isWellington. It is a financial centre too. The city was founded in 1840.

There are some educational andcultural institutions in Wellington. They are  the University of NewZealand, Victoria University College and others. Victoria University wasestablished in 1897.

New Zealand is a very interesting andbeautiful country.

THE UNITEDSTATES OF AMERICA

The USA is one of the largestcountries in the world. It is situated in the central part of the NorthAmerican continent. The area of the USA is over nine million square kilometres.It is washed by the Pacific Ocean and by the Atlantic Ocean.

The population of the United Statesis nearly 250 million people, most of the people live in towns. People 'ofdifferent nationalities live in the USA.

There are a lot of rich people in theUSA. But the life of most coloured people is very difficult Some Americans livein poverty, many people can't get work.

The official language of the countryis English.

The capital of the country isWashington. It was named in honour of the first President,. George Washington.As the USA is a large country, the climate is different in different regions ofthe country, for example, the Pacific coast is a region of mild winters andwarm, dry summers, but the eastern continental region is watered with rainfallThe region around the Great Lakes has changeable weather. There are manymountains in the USA. For example, the highest peak of the Cordilliers in theUSA is 4,418 metres.

The main river of the country is theMississippi. But there are many other great rivers in the USA: the Colorado inthe south and the Columbia in the north-west. There are five Great Lakesbetween the USA and Canada.

The USA produces more than 52% of theworld's corn, wheat, cotton, tobacco.

There are many big cities in thecountry. They are Washington, (the capital of the country), New York (the cityof social contrasts, financial and business centre of the capitalist world),Boston (there are three universities in it), Chicago (one of the biggestindustrial cities in the USA), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia,Detroit (one of the biggest centres of the automobile industry), Hollywood (thecentre of the US film business).

The USA has an Academy of Sciences.There are many scientific institutions, museums, libraries, theatres and otherinteresting places in the country.

The USA is a highly developedindustrial country. The USA is rich in mineral resources, such as aluminium,salt, zinc, copper, cement and others. The country is rich in coal, naturalgas, gold and silver too. It holds the first place in the capitalist world forthe production of coal, iron, oil, natural gas.

Such industries as machine-building,ship­building are highly developed in the country.

American agriculture produces a lotof food products: grain, fruit, vegetables. The USA is the greatest capitalistcountry in the world. The USA is a federal republic, consisting of fiftystates.

Each of these states has its owngovernment. Congress is the American parliament which consists of two Chambers.

The president is the head of thestate and the government He is elected for four years. There are two mainpolitical parties in the USA. They are the Democratic Party (was organized inthe 1820s) and the Republican Party (was organized in the 1850s). The Communistparty of the USA was founded in Chicago in 1919. The youth movement is animportant factor in the political life of the USA.

WASHINGTON

Washington is the capital of theUnited States of America. The city is on the left bank of the Potomac River.The city was named after the first  President  George   Washington.  The population of the city is nearly three million people. There aremany beautiful parks and gardens in Washington. It is interesting to see thefamous cherry trees. These trees are the gift from Japan in 1912. There aremany libraries, museums, art galleries in the city, for example, you can seeThe National Gallery of Art. It was opened in 1941. It has a lot of artcollections by the great masters from the 14th to the 19th centuries. It is oneof the finest picture galleries in America. The NASA Museum is devoted to theUS Achievements in the exploration of Space.

The Capitol is the centre of thecity. The Capitol was built according to the ^lans of William Thomton. He wasan amateur architect. It was made of stone and marble and contains 540 rooms.It is situated on Capitol Hill. Capitol Hill is the highest place in the city.Topping the dome is the 19th foot bronze statue of Freedom. There is a law thatforbids to build houses higher than the Capitol. The Capitol is the seat ofCongress.

Congress consists of two Chambers:The Senate and the House of Representatives. From the  Capitol to the  White  House runs Pennsylvania Avenue used for all processions and parades. The WhiteHouse is the place where the President of the USA lives and works. It is theofficial residence of the USA presidents.

This house was first occupied in1800. George Washington (1732-1799) died in 1799 and he did not live in thatHouse. John Adams was the first President who lived in that House.

The White House has 132 rooms.

The Metrorail system is an up-to-dateone in Washington. If you want to go by metro, you have to find the letter«M». The fare in metro is connected with the time of a day and thedistance of your travelling.

There are a lot of interesting placesin Washington. It is difficult to find a park or a square without a monument ora memorial. The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument are the most -famousand nice ones.

The Lincoln memorial was dedicated onMemorial Day — May 30, 1922. It was built in the style of a classic Greektemple. It has 36 columns. Each column represents the state in the Union at thetime of Lincoln's death. But the dominant feature of the building is therealistic figure of Lincoln.

The Washington Monument is one ofthe city's most impressive sights. It is situated in Potonic Park. It waserected to the memory of the first President of the USA in 1888. It is called«The Pencil», because it is one of the tallest stone constructions inthe world and the tallest stone structure in the USA. This monument is over 555feet high. There is The Pentagon in Washington. It is a building and it wasbuilt between 1941-1943. Now it is the US military centre. A lot of people workthere.

Washington is a city almost withoutindustry.

PHILADELPHIA

One of the main cities of the UnitedStates of America is Philadelphia. It is situated in the east of the USA.

Now Washington is the capital of theUSA, but Philadelphia was the first capital of the United States of Americafrom 1790 till 1800. Many people consider that Philadelphia is an importantpolitical centre of the USA, because the USA constitution was the first writtenconstitution in the world adopted in this city in 1787 and the Declaration ofIndependence was proclaimed in 1776.

Philadelphia is a seaport and ashipping centre of the country too. It is an important manufacturing centre.Some branches of industry are developed in the city.

There are many places of interest inPhiladelphia, for example, the Independence National Historical Park. You cansee many monuments in it. If you want to leam the history of America you haveto leam something about the Liberty Bell. Now the Liberty Bell is a symbol offreedom. The sound of this Bell told the people about the first public readingof the Declaration of Independence. It was in July, 1776.

Philadelphia is one of the culturalcentres of the country. The Parkway is the cultural centre of Philadelphia. Youcan see the Philadelphia Museum of Art (great art museum of the world), Collegeof Art, Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Fine Arts there.

There are many hotels, theatres,shops and museums in Philadelphia.

There is the Pennsylvania Universityin Philadelphia. This University has an interesting and big library.

Philadelphia is a beautiful city withmany skyscrapers in it.

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