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The United States of America
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Physical Geography
The country naturally presents a tremendous variety in physical features (and climate), ranging from moist forest to arid desert and bald mountain peaks. Mount McKinley in Alaska at 20,320 feet (6,194 meters) is the highest point in the United States, while part of Death Valley in California is 282 feet (89 meters) below sea level.
The eastern coast of the United States is a long, gently rolling lowland area known as the coastal plains. These coastal plains, which stretch from Maine to Texas, are very flat (nowhere in Florida is more than 350 feet above sea level, for example) and often swampy. In general the soil is very poor, except in the fertile southern part, where the plain reaches many miles inland (the Cotton Belt of the Old South and the citrus country of central Florida).
At the western edge of the Atlantic coastal plain, there is a chain of low, almost unbroken mountains, stretching from the northern part of Maine southwest into Alabama, called the Appalachian Mountains. The mountains contain enormous quantities of easily accessible coal and iron (which helps explain the huge concentration of heavy industry along the lower region of the Great Lakes). The Priedmont hills, to the east of the main peaks, are the most highly productive agricultural land in the country after the Midwest.
The heart of the United States is a vast plain, broken by the Superior Upland and Black Hills in the north and the Ozark Plateau in the south, which extends from central Canada southwards to Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains westwards to the Cordillera. These interior plains, which rise gradually like a saucer to higher land on all sides, are divided into two parts: the wetter, eastern portion is called the Central Plains and the western portion the Great Plains, both of which have good soils.
To the west of the Great Plains is the Cordillera, which accounts for one-third of the USA. It is a region of tremendous variety, which can be sub-divided into various other regions. On its eastern border the Rocky Mountains, a high, discontinuous chain of mountains stretching from mountainous Alaska down to Mexico, rise sharply from the Great Plains. These rugged mountains contain many important metals such as lead, uranium and gold.
The western edge of the Cordillera is characterised by a coastal chain of high mountains, among which there are broad, fertile valleys. The most important ranges are the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades in the eastern part and the Coastal Ranges along the western coast. There is no Pacific coastal plain and between these two sets of mountains there is a large plateau region, with steep cliffs and canyons, basins and isolated ranges. Many basins are rich in resources such as oil and natural gas.
Hawaii is a chain of twenty islands, only seven of which are inhabited. The mountainous islands were formed by volcanic activity and there are still a number of active volcanoes.
The United States has several immensely long rivers. There are a large number of rivers in the eastern part of nation, the longest of which is the Missouri (3,942 km), a tributary of the Mississippi (3,760 km); the Mississippi-Missouri-Red Rock system extends for 6,176 km before entering the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans. Two other tributaries of the Mississippi – the Ohio and Tennessee – are more than 1,250 km long. In the West the Rio Grande, which forms part of the United States-Mexico border, flows for 3,016 km and only the Colorado (2,320 km), Columbia (2,240 km) and the San Joaquim-Sacramento river systems reach the Pacific.
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Population
With more than 245,000,000 inhabitants the United States is the fourth country in the world in terms of population. About 75% of the population live in urban areas and there are 170 cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants, 24 of which have population of over 500,000. Most of these urban centers lie along the Atlantic and Pacific coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. The most populous area is the relatively small Northeast, which accounts for nearly one fourth of the nation’s population.
The vast majority of the population was WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) until about 1860. Between 1860 and 1920 almost 30 million immigrants arrived from central and southeastern Europe in particular. These mainly Italian, Russian, Polish and Hungarian immigrants quickly formed their own culturally homogeneous neighbourhoods (“Little Italys”, etc) and became a second economic class behind the WASPs. The almost 12% of the population that are black are bottom of the economic and educational table, with far higher unemployment than whites, especially as a result of racial discrimination. The most rapidly growing ethnic group is the Hispanics (almost 7% of Americans), who still continue to use Spanish in their homes even though the vast majority were born in the United States. Like the blacks, they have a generally lower economic and educational level than the rest of the population. There are also almost 2 million generally prosperous Oriental Americans (predominantly from Japan, China and the Philippines), who are concentrated mainly in California. The 1.5 million Native Americans live mainly in reserves in the southwestern states in usually deep poverty and there has been little or no integration into American society.
National Production
The United States is the world’s greatest economic power in term of both Gross National Product and per capita GNP, with its export accounting for more than 10% of all world trade.
Although the importance of industrial production is falling and that of services growing (as in most of Western Europe), the US remains the world’s greatest maker of industrial goods and around 20 million Americans are still employed in manufacturing. The industrial heart of the nation is the Midwest around the Great Lakes, especially in the region stretching from southern Michigan through northern Ohio and into the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania. Another important industrial region is the Northeast, which is the home of the major computer manufacturers. Service industries are also very important in this region and New York is the country’s banking and insurance capital. The nation’s fastest growing region, however, is the Southeast, where the chemical industry and high-technology industries are now catching up with the traditional textile industry as many firms exploit the warm climate and low labour costs.
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47% of the land area of the US is farmland, of which 152 million hectares are harvested cropland and 560 million hectares are permanent pasture land, yet only 6.2 million people live on the nation’s 2,300,000 farms. The Midwest is the most important agricultural region in the United States (though California is the number one state in terms of the value of its agricultural products) and alone produces almost twice as much as the American people can consume; corn and wheat are the main crops, and livestock and dairy farming are also carried out on a large scale. Although the South is still important for traditional crops, such as tobacco, corn and cotton, there is now far greater variety, while Texas is the nation’s leading producer of cattle, sheep, cotton and rice. The West is important for cattle and wheat farming in the Great Plains area, and for fruit in the fertile valleys of the states that border the Pacific. Yet agriculture (together with fishing) accounts for less than 3% of GNP.
The Constitution
The American Constitution is based on the doctrine of the separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judiciary. The respective government institutions – The Presidency, Congress and the Courts – were given limited and specific powers; and a series of checks and balances, whereby each branch of government has certain authority over the others, were also included to make sure these powers were not abused. Government power was further limited by means of a dual system of government, in which the federal government was only given the powers and responsibilities to deal with problems facing the nation as a whole (foreign affairs, trade, control of the army and navy, etc.). The remaining responsibilities and duties of government were reserved to the individual state governments.
Article V allowed for amendments to be made to the Constitution (once passed by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and then ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states). The Constitution finally ratified by all thirteen states in 1791 already contained ten amendments, collectively known as the Bill of Rights (the freedom of religion, speech and the press, etc.), to protect the citizens against possible tyranny by the federal government. So far only twenty-seven amendments have been made to the Constitution.
The Presidency
The President (any natural-born citizen over 34) is elected for a term of four years and can be re-elected for one more term (22nd amendment – adopted after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four successive terms). The President was originally intended to be little more than a ceremonial Head of State, as well as Commander in Chief of the armed forces, but the federal government’s increasing involvement in the nation’s economic life and its prominent role in international affairs, where secrecy and speed are often essential, has increased the importance of the Presidency over Congress.
The President now proposes a full legislative program to Congress, although the President, the Cabinet and staff are not, and cannot be, members of Congress. This means that the various bills must be introduced into the House of Representatives or Senate by their members. The President is consequently completely powerless when faced by an uncooperative Congress. Given also the difficulties in ensuring that the laws passed are effectively implemented by the federal bureaucracy, it has been said that the President’s only real power is the power to persuade.
The role of the Vice-President is not very well defined by the Constitution, which gives him or her no other task than presiding over the debates in the Senate, where he may only vote in the case of a tie.
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Yet the Vice President takes over from the President in the case of death, resignation, or sickness, which has already happened on eight occasions. To try and attract able men to this otherwise unimportant, mainly ceremonial post, Vice-President has recently been given more important tasks, especially in foreign affairs.
Congress
The legislative branch of national government consists of two houses – the Senate and the House of Representatives – each with a different role, different power and a different electoral procedure.
The House of Representatives is the dynamic institution of the federal government. The states are represented on a population basis and are divided into congressional districts or constituencies of roughly equal size (around 520,000 people). There are currently 435 members, who are elected every two years. All states must by law adopt the system of single-member constituencies with a simple majority vote. Vacancies arising from death, resignation, etc, are filled by by-elections.
The chairman of the House of Representatives, the Speaker, is elected by the House and has important responsibilities, giving him considerable influence over the President. Moreover, should the President and Vice-President die before the end of their terms, it is the Speaker who becomes President.
The Senate is the conservative counterweight to the more populist House of Representatives. Each state has two senators who, since 1913 (17th Amendment), have been chosen directly by the electorate in the way decided by the state legislature in each state. Senators are elected every six years, but the elections are staggered so that one-third of the Senate is elected every two years. A vacancy caused by death or resignation is filled until the next congressional elections by the nomination of the State Governor. There are currently 100 senators. The Senate has the special privilege of unlimited debate to safeguard the rights of minorities, but this can enable a small group of Senators to prevent the passage of a bill (filibustering).
Although Congress can legislate its most important task has become that of scrutinizing the policies and actions of the executive, and upholding the interests of states and districts. Indeed, since Representatives and Senators depend on the voters in their various states or constituencies for re-election, they tend to satisfy the particular interests of constituencies and special groups rather than tackle the problems of the nation as a whole. Congress also controls the nation’s finances and its permanent specialist staff helps Congress consider and change the budget presented each year by the President.
Political Parties
Political parties or “fractions” were not mentioned in the original Constitution. Differences over the role of the federal government led to the first national parties – the Federalists and the Republicans. Since then two major parties dominated political life. The Democratic Party has existed in one form or another since the beginning of the 1800s and has been opposed in successive eras by the Federalist, Whig and Republican parties. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 and was originally the anti-slavery party.
There is very little ideological difference between the Democratic and Republican parties, as both parties defend the free-enterprise capitalist system, accepted by almost all Americans as the basis of American society. The Democrats, unlike the Republicans, tend to favour some Government intervention, but both parties have liberal and conservative wings, and in Congress the liberal and conservative wings of the two parties often side with each other against the other wing. It is broadly possible to say that poor people vote for the Democrats and wealthy people for the Republicans.
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American politics and a party will always alter its platform to try and catch the mood of the nation, the middle ground.
The Federal Judiciary
In the federal system there are 90 District Courts presided over by a district judge, which hear criminal cases involving breaches of federal law and civil cases on federal matters (disputes between states, non-payment of federal taxes, etc.).
Appeals can be made to the United States Court of Appeals, where an appeal is heard by three judges, although in very important cases all nine appeal judges sit together. In vast majority of cases this court’s decision is final and sets a precedent for future cases, although this precedent is not always binding on the Supreme Court.
Although not explicitly given the power of judicial review – the power to decide whether the actions of the President, Congress or state government violate the Constitution – this is the important role that the Supreme Court has developed in the legal system. The Supreme Court judges, of whom there are normally nine (though Congress may alter this number) are nominated for life by the President after being approved by the Senate.
The judicial systems of the states vary greatly in structure and procedures. Generally speaking, however, at the lowest level there are Justices of the Peace Courts, presided over by elected lay magistrates, which deal with minor offences. Then come the County Courts, which deal with the majority of civil and criminal cases. Appeals go to the District Court of Appeals, while the State Supreme Court has the same role as the United States Supreme Court in the federal system. The most controversial aspect of state judiciaries is that in more than two-thirds of the states judges (including those in the Supreme Court) are elected.
Irregular Verbs
Неправильные глаголы
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Participle II | Основные значения |
| Arise Be Bear Become Begin Bind Break Bring Build Buy Cast Choose Come Cut Deal Do Drink Feel Fight Find Fly Forget Get give Go Grow Have Hear Hold Keep Know Lay Lead Learn Leave Let Lose Make Mean Mislead Pay Put Read Rise Run Say See Send Set Show Sit Speak Spend Split Spread Stand Steal Take Teach Tell Think Understand Win Withdraw Write | Arose Was, were Bore Became Began Bound Broke Brought Built Bought Cast Chose Came Cut Dealt Did Drank Felt Fought Found Flew Forgot Got Gave Went Grew Had Heard Held Kept Knew Laid Led Leant, learned Left Let Lost Made Meant Misled Paid Put Read Rose Ran Said Saw Sent Set Showed Sat Spoke Spent Split Spread Stood Stole Took Taught Told Thought Understood Won Withdrew Wrote | Arisen Been Born Become Begun Bound Broken Brought Built Bought Cast Chosen Come Cut Dealt Done Drunk Felt Fought Found Flown Forgotten Got Given Gone Grown Had Heard Held Kept Known Laid Led Learnt, learned Left Let Lost Made Meant Misled Paid Put Read Risen Run Said Seen Sent Set Shown Sat Spoken Spent Split Spread Stood Stolen Taken Taught Told Thought Understood Won Withdrawn Written | возникнуть быть нести; родить стать, сделаться начать связать (с)ломать принести строить купить бросать выбрать прийти резать иметь дело делать пить, выпить чувствовать сражаться находить летать забыть получить дать идти, уходить расти иметь слышать держать хранить знать класть, положить вести учить оставить позволять терять делать подразумевать ввести в заблуждение платить класть читать подняться бежать, течь говорить, сказать видеть послать устанавливать показывать сидеть говорить тратить расщепить(ся) распространяться стоять украсть взять, брать учить рассказать, сказать думать понимать выиграть взять назад, отозвать писать |
| Contents. Part I. Grammar. § 1. To be § 2. To have § 3. Pronoun § 4. The Degrees of Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs § 5. Some, any, every, no § 6. Both… and, either… or, neither… nor § 7. There + to be § 8. English Verbs § 9. Simple Tenses § 10. Types of Questions § 11. Progressive Tenses § 12. Perfect Tenses § 13. Modal Verbs § 14. The Equivalents of Modal Verbs § 15. Participle I, II § 16. Participle Functions § 17. Absolute Participle Construction § 18. Passive Voice § 19. Sequence of Tenses § 20. Infinitive § 21. Complex Object § 22. Complex Subject § 23. Gerund Part II. Tomsk University Oxford University Cambridge University The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United States of America Irregular verbs Contents |
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