LECTURE 2 The land the people UNITED KINGDOM

LECTURE 2 The land the people UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND Plan to the lecture 1. Geographical position 2. Climate 3. The State system 4. Industry 5. The main parts of the country

1. Geographical position ENGLAND Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Irelan Lying off the north-west of Europe, there are two large Islands and over 5 ooo smaller ones. They are known as the British Isles. The two largest are Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom occupies most of the territory of the British Isles.

Geographically, the island of Great Britain is subdivided into two main regions – Lowland Britain and Highland Britain. Lowland Britain comprises southern and eastern England. Highland Britain consists of Scotland, most of Wales, the Pennines, and the Lake District. The highest mountains are in Scotland Wales: Ben Nevis is 1, 343 metres and Snowdon is 1, 085 metres.

2. Climate The weather is so changeable that the English often say that they have no climate but only weather. Therefore it is natural for them to use the comparison "as changeable as the weather" of a person who often changes his mood or opinion about something. The weather is the favourite topic of conversation in the UK. As the weather changes with the wind, and Britain is visited by winds from different parts of the world, the most characteristic feature of Britain's weather is its variability. The English also say that they have three variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains in the afternoon, or when it rains all day long. Sometimes it rains so heavily that they say "It's raining cats and dogs".

Vegetation and Wildlife The humid and mild climate of Great Britain is good for plants and flowers. Some of them have become symbols in the UK. The UK 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 smaller areas of moors. Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland in southeastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with their 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 the UK is much like that of northwestern Europe. Some 230 kinds of birds live in the UK, and another 200 are regular visitors, many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbirds, sparrows and starlings. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of the UK. The number of ducks, geese and other water fowl has diminished during recent years. Partridges, pheasants and other large and rare birds are protected by law. Gulls, geese and other sea birds nest near the coast.

3. The state system The Administrative division of the Kingdom is as the follows: it consists of four administrative-political units (historical provinces): England (39 counties, 6 Metropolitan counties and London), Wales (9 counties, 3 cities, 10 towns-counties), Scotland (32 regions) and Ireland (26 districts). The official language is English. Although they speak another 4 languages: Welsh, Irish, Gaelic and Cornish. There is a hierarchy of cities. The main cities are: Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast (the capital cities of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland); Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds and Bradford, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool.

4. Industry The UK has proved itself as a highly developed industrial country in the world which acts as a supplier of industrial products. The largest industrial monopolies are Imperial chemical industries, or ICI, Unilever, British Leyland General electric company.

5. The main parts of the country The national flag of England is white with red upright cross of St George, the patron saint of England. The national symbol of England is rose, the national colour is white.

Scotland takes the northern part of the territory of Great Britain and is not densely populated. Thistle – a symbol of Scotland. St Andrew’s cross

Wales Yellow daffodil is a symbol of Wales has its own flag called the Welsh dragon.

Northern Ireland is the smallest component of the United Kingdom. It occupies the northeast of the island of Ireland, only one-sixth of its territorry. The national symbol of Northern Ireland is shamrock.

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