Vocabulary
amber янтарь
to shed излучать, распространять
thee = you,
thy = your
lead свинец
fertile плодородный
tributary приток
Ex.1. Answer the following questions:
1. Where is the country situated?
2. What parts does it consist of?
3. What makes the USA the fourth largest country in the world?
4. Why is it called a country of geographical extremes?
5. How can the geography of the West be characterized?
6. What part of the USA is compared with a saucer? Why?
7. What are the main natural resources of the country?
8. What attracts people to the Grand Canyon?
9. Which river is the longest one in the USA?
10. What other US rivers can you name?
Ex.2. Discuss the following:
1. Using the text, explain the poetic description of the USA as the country of 'mountain majesties above the fruited plain'.
2. How do you understand 'brotherhood from sea to shining sea'?
3.Using your background knowledge, tell your fellow students everything you know about the geographical position of the USA.
4. Compare the geographical characteristics of the USA and Russia.
Ex.3. Render the text into English, using the words below:
vast – обширный
diverse – разнообразный
rich – сочный (о красках)
great – великий
grand – большой
immensity – необъятность
Земля Америки – обширная, плодородная и разнообразная. Её природные краски – яркие и сочные. В географическом словаре Штатов прилагательные ''великий'' и ''большой'', пожалуй, самые употребительные слова. Bеликие озёра. Великие равнины. Большой каньон.
Главное впечатление – необъятность этой страны. Она простирается от берегов Атлантического океана до Гавайских островов в Тихом океане, от холодной, заснеженной Аляски на севере до солнечной, жаркой Флориды на юго-востоке. Кроме России, нет на земле государства, где бы так далеко друг от друга отстояли границы востока и запада, севера и юга.
National Symbols
You can see this statue from miles away. It dominates New York city though it is not in its centre. The statue is located on Liberty Island in New York. It is 93 metres high, the hand being 5 metres long and the index finger 2 meters long. For more than 120 years the statue of ‘Liberty Enlightening the World’ has symbolised America for millions of eager newcomers and embodied the idea of their future happy life in the land they have chosen to live. It is worth mentioning that only between 1892 and 1924 more than 20 million immigrants arrived in the USA through Liberty Island in New York.
B
eing
the work of the French sculptor Frederick Auguste Bartholdi, this
colossal symbol of freedom was intended to commemorate the centenary
of the United States and is a gesture of friendship from France to
America. The statue was officially presented to the USA in Paris on
July 4, 1884. It was then carefully taken apart and shipped to
America.
While the statue itself was paid for by French contributors, the money needed for the construction of the pedestal had to be raised in the all-American campaign. The iron framework of the pedestal was designed by Gustave Eiffel, the author of the famous tower bearing his name.
The female statue is holding a torch in her right hand and a book in her left hand. The book symbolises the Declaration of Independence. The words inscribed on the base of the statue are famous and well known to most Americans. They are closing lines to the poem ‘The New Colossus’ written by Emma Lazarus, an immigrant herself:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest – tossed to me!
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Stars and Stripes, the national flag of the USA, has undergone many changes since 1777 when it was officially accepted and first used. Only the three colours of the flag have always been the same. In 1782 the Congress proclaimed that red stood for hardiness and courage, white symbolised purity and innocence, and blue meant justice, vigilance and perseverance.
I
n
1818 the Congress set the final design of the flag: stripes would
represent 13 original colonies and the number of stars would grow as
other states joined the union. From then on a new star was added for
each new state – on the 4th
of July following the accession of a new state. The last such
Independence Day celebration was in 1960, after Hawaii had become the
50th
American state.
Nowadays the US flag consists of 7 horizontal red stripes and 6 white ones, the colours alternating, and 50 white stars against a blue field placed in the upper left corner.
In the US the national flag is very important and people are expected to treat it with respect. Many people put a flag in front of their houses on the Independence Day and on Flag Day (June 14). After the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, flags were put on houses and along the streets to show people’s support for their country.
There is a flag in every school classroom, and children are shown how to fold the flag correctly. They are taught that the flag may not be flown when it is raining or snowing, and that it should be taken down before dark each day. Every morning schoolchildren stand looking at the flag and putting their right hand over their heart say the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ which is a promise to respect the US and be loyal to it: ‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all’.
Poets, patriots and composers have given different names to the National Flag. The best known are Old glory, the Stars and Stripes, Starry Flag and the Star-Spangled Banner. The latter is also the name for the national anthem of the USA.
Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, wrote the words of the anthem after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland by British ships during the war of 1812 in which the USA was an ally of the Napoleonic France and fought against Great Britain. Francis Scott Key was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort at dawn after the attack that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title 'Defence of Fort Mc Henry', the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the tune 'To Anacreon in Heaven' (may have been written by John Stafford Smith, a British composer born in 1750). The Star-Spangled Banner was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931. It is known for being extremely difficult to sing. The song has 4 stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today:
O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
T
he
history of another symbol of the nation, Uncle
Sam, dates back to the same period of
the Napoleonic wars. The name probably originated with ‘Uncle Sam’
Wilson, a businessman who provided beef to the American army. The US
stamp on his barrels, meant to indicate governmental property, came
to be associated with his nickname. ‘Uncle Sam’ began to appear
on posters asking people to join the army. He was shown pointing his
finger and saying ‘Uncle Sam needs you!’ His top hat and clothes
were always decorated with the Stars and Stripes from the US flag. In
time ‘Uncle Sam’ came to symbolise the USA and the US government.
For almost 200 years this cartoon symbol has represented the country
and its government in the mass media.
The bald eagle is probably the most spectacular national symbol of the USA. It was officially adopted as the emblem of the country in 1787. The bird was chosen for its long life, majestic looks and due to the fact that this strong and courageous species could be found only on the continent of North America.
T
he
bald eagle is depicted on the backs of most coins, paper money, many
US stamps and on the Great Seal of the
USA which is printed on important
documents. The Great Seal shows an eagle, having on his breast a
shield with 13 red and white stripes, surmounted by a blue field with
the same number of stars. In his right talon the eagle holds an olive
branch (a symbol of peace), in his left a bundle of 13 arrows (a
symbol of war) and in his beak he carries a scroll inscribed with the
motto: ‘E pluribis unum’1.
There is a crest above the eagle’s head with a cluster of 13 stars
surrounded by bright rays.