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Vegetation and wild life of Britain

Britain was originally a land of vast forests, mainly oak and beech in the Lowlands and pine and birch in the Highlands, with great stretches of marshland and smaller areas of moors. In the course of time, much forest land was cleared and almost all Lowlands outside the industrial areas were put under cultivation. Today only about 6 per cent of the total land area remains wooded.

Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland and in south-eastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with thin soil are largely moorland with heather and grasses. In the cultivated areas that make up most of Britain there are many wild flowers, flowering plants and grasses.

The fauna or animal life of Britain is much like that of north-western Europe, to which it was once joined. Many larger mammals such as bear, wolf have been hunted to extinction, others are now protected by law. There are many foxes. Otters are common along rivers and streams, and seals live along much of the coast. Hedgehogs, hares, rabbits, rats and mice are numerous. Deer live in some of the forests in the Highlands of Scotland and England.

Some 230 kinds of birds live in Britain, and another 200 are regular visitors, many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbirds, sparrows and starlings. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of Britain. The number of ducks, geese and other water fowl has diminished during recent years.

There are many threats to wildlife and ecological balance around the coast. The biggest threat to the coastline is pollution. Even much-loved Black pool is not officially safe. More than 3.500 million tons of industrial waste is pumped into the North Sea every year. “We cannot continue to use our seas as a dustbin and expect our coastline to survive,” says Greenpeace. Many other ecological problems may be caused by privatization of the coast. Many of the rivers are ''biologically dead'', i.e. unable to support fish and wildlife.

 

 

 

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Text 8

Washington

Washington, the capital of the United States of America, is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. The district is a piece of land ten miles square and it does not belong to any separate state but to all the states. The district is named in honour of Columbus, the discoverer of America.
The capital owes much to the first President of the USA – George Washington. It was George Washington, who chose the place for the District and laid in 1790 the corner-stone of the Capitol, where Congress sits.
Washington is not the largest city in the USA. It has a population of 900000 people.
Washington is a one-industry city. That industry is government. It does not produce anything except very much scrap paper. Every day 25 railway cars leave Washington loaded with scrap paper. The city main output are laws and government decisions. Besides, Washington is the residence of the President and the Congress of the United States.
The White Hall is the President’s residence. All American presidents except George Washington (the White House was not yet built in his time) have lived in the White Hall. It is a two-storiedbuilding which was built in 1799.
Not far from the Capitol there is the Washington Monument, which looks like a very big pencil. It rises 160 meters and is hollow inside. A special lift brings visitors to the top in 70 seconds from where they can enjoy a beautiful view of the whole city.
The Jefferson, who was also the author of the Declaration of Independence. The memorial is surrounded by cherry-trees.
The Lincoln Memorial is devoted to the memory of the 16-th president of the USA, the author of Emancipation Proclamation, which gave freedom to Negro slaves in America.
On the other bank of the Potomac lies the Arlington National Cemetery where President Kennedy was buried. American soldiers and officers, who died in World War I and II are buried there too.
Washington is a large scientific and cultural centre. There are five universities, a lot of research institutes, the National Academy of Sciences and the Library of Congress.
Among its well-known buildings is Pentagon, the residence of the US Military department.



 

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Text 9 At the Doctor


If your health is good, you are always in a good mood. You have “A sound mind in a sound body”, as the old Latin saying goes. Taking medicines is an unpleasant thing, of course, and if you want to avoid it, you should keep yourself fit. There is no doubt, if a person doesn’t take exercises, he can easily catch an illness. Certainly the progress of science is a wonderful thing, and I want to speak about the achievements of medical science. A hundred years ago there was no medicine for diphtheria, measles, scarlet fever, whooping-cough and other infectious diseases.
A lot of people suffered from pain and nobody could help them. But nowadays the situation has changed and our medicine has succeeded in treating patients for contagious diseases. You can always go and see a doctor, and you are sure he will examine you and give an advice. And if you have to have an operation he will send you to a hospital where they have all the necessary equipment.
If your teeth need attention, filling or extracting, or if you need false teeth, then you go to the dentist.
If your eyes need attention, you go to the oculist, who will examine them, test your sight to see whether you are suffering from short-sight or long-sight, and will write out a prescription, which you take to an optician, who will then make the necessary glasses for you.
Once my friend came to school (University) as usual, but in two hours his unusual paleness attracted attention of his fellows. It was obvious that something was wrong with him. We advised him not to risk his health and see a doctor at once.
The doctor asked my friend what was the matter with him. My friend complained of a headache and sore throat. He took his temperature, and it proved to be high. Having examined my friend, the doctor found he had a bad cold, wrote out a prescription and told him to go home and stay in bed to avoid complications. My friend followed the doctor’s instructions and in a week he felt much better and the doctor said he had fully recovered.

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Text 10

Sport and Games

People all over the world are fond of sports and games. That is one of the things in which people of every nationality and class are united. All kinds of physical exercises are very useful to make our bodies strong enough to keep ourselves fit and healthy. The most popular outdoor winter sports are shooting, hunting, hockey, in the countries where the weather is frosty and there is much snow – skating, skiing and toboggaging. Some people greatly enjoy figure-skating and ski-jumping. It’s so nice to go to the skating-rink or to the forest on a frosty sunny day!
Summer affords excellent opportunities for swimming, boating, yachting, cycling, gliding and many other sports. Among outdoor games football takes the first place in public interest; this game is played in all countries of the world. The other games that have firmly established themselves in favor in different countries are golf, lawn-tennis, cricket, volley-ball, basket-ball, and so on. Badminton is also very popular.
All the year round many people indulge in boxing, wrestling, athletics, gymnastics and track and field events. Scores of young girls and women go in for calisthenics. Over the last few years aerobics has become popular with young girls. It helps them to be slim, healthy and strong. The founder of this kind of sport was a well-known American actress Jane Fonda. Being a great enthusiast of aerobics she has been trying to initiate many young women all over the world into this sport.
Among indoor games the most popular are billiards, table-tennis, draughts and some others, but the great international game is chess, of course. The results of chess tournaments are studied and discussed by thousands of enthusiasts in different countries.
So we may say that sport is one of the things that makes people kin. To cut the long story short, I should admit that everyone must do all he can to be healthy. Physically inactive people get old earlier than those who have plenty of exercises. If you do daily exercises you feel refreshed, have a good posture, and that makes you feel good. I can add that good health is better than the best medicine. You have “A sound mind in a sound body,” as the old Latin saying goes. The English proverb “Sickness in the body brings sickness to the mind” expresses a similar idea, but from a different point of view.

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Text 11

American Holidays

Independence Day. Fourth of July is the American nation’s birthday. It honors the day in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence, which cut the tie with England and established the United States of America, was adopted.
On that memorable day the Liberty Bell called the people of Philadelphia (the capital) to the State House to hear the Declaration of Independence read out. Communities, large and small, celebrated the day with speeches, parades and fireworks.
Each city and town now organizes its own ceremony – a parade, speeches by public officials, guided tours through historic monuments, outdoor stage shows, boat-races and evening fireworks displays. Families, clubs and civic organizations, all hold daylong picnics. There are baseball games, water-melon eating contests, folk dancing, and lots of lively music.
Memorial Day. Memorial Day is observed in May 30th. It is also known as Decoration Day. Its origins go back to 1868 when the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic issued an order to decorate the graves of soldiers who fell in the Civil War. Now it is also the day for honoring the memory of members of the armed forces killed in war. Memorial Day is a legal holiday in most of the states and in territories and is also observed by the Armed Forces.
Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated only in the United States on the last Thursday in November. The day’s most important event is the traditional midday meal. Favorite thanksgiving food is turkey, pumpkin pie and other home-cooked specialties.
Thanksgiving was first celebrated in 1621 by English settles of the Plymouth colony. The Plymouth colony was founded in 1620 by English settlers who have come to be called Pilgrims. They left their native England and sailed to America on the “Mayflower”. After a two-month voyage they landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. During their first winter over half of the settlers died of hunger or from epidemics. But when April came the survivors began their planting, struggling with the rocky soil as they had struggled with the bitter climate. When, finally, the fields produced a rich harvest they decided to celebrate it. But it did not become an official holiday until 1863 when President Lincoln made his “Thanksgiving Proclamation”.

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Date: 2015-12-18; view: 778


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