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Language activity. 1. answer the questions. 2. Complete the sentences. 3. Match the beginning and the end of the sentences and translate them.
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LANGUAGE ACTIVITY
1. Answer the questions.
1. What is the difference between Great Britain and the UK?
2. What is the difference between England and Great Britain?
3. Are Scotsmen and Welsh British?
4. Are the English British?
5. How many countries is the UK made up of? What are they? Make use of Figure 1.
6. What is the full formal name of the country?
7. When and why was the word “great” added to “Britain”?
8. What are the two large islands the UK consists of?
9. What is the size of Great Britain?
10. What separates it from the coast of France?
11. What are the capitals of the four parts of the UK?
12. Look at the map and say where England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are geographically situated.
13. Is England more mountainous than Wales and Scotland?
14. What distinct regions does Scotland consist of?
15. Why is the Highlands sparsely populated?
16. What sea must we cross to get to Ireland?
17. What kind of landscape does Northern Ireland have?
18. What is the largest lake in Northern Ireland?
19. What do you know about the climate of the UK?
2. Complete the sentences
1. Britain is often … to mean the UK, though, it is not perfectly correct.
2. The word “great” was added to “Britain” in the ….
3. Four countries … the UK.
4. It consists of a group of … – 2 large ones and several hundred smaller ones.
5. The English Channel separates the UK from the … of France.
6. There is some mountainous … northwest of England.
7. Wales lies to the West of England having a coastline … to the Irish Sea.
8. The Highlands region is sparsely ….
9. … Ireland is a separate country, the Republic of Ireland.
10. The climate on the British Isles is fairly … and … to much of northern Europe.
3. Match the beginning and the end of the sentences and translate them.
| (1) The UK is made (2) North is Scotland which consists of two very distinct regions known as the Highlands and the Lowlands. The Highlands is sparsely (3) Wales is more (4) The English Channel separates it (5) Winds from the southwest tend to | (a) from the coast of France. (b) populated. The Lowlands region is home to most of Scotland’s population (c) mountainous than England, particularly in North and Mid Wales. (d) bring to the country frequent spells of mild but wet weather from the Atlantic Ocean. (e) up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. |
4. Read the text about London and do tasks below.
LONDON, THE CAPITAL OF ENGLAND,
THE CAPITAL OF GREAT BRITAIN
Once the biggest city in the world, London today is one of the biggest in Europe. It is a city with a very long history, so it can offer visitors a fascinating journey through centuries. You can “walk through ages” exploring different parts of London.
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The oldest buildings in London include the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, which are almost a
thousand years old.
Though the Tower was always a part of London, Westminster Abbey was once over a mile from the capital city. For centuries, " London" just covered the area corresponding more or less to the Roman city. Today, this part of London is still called the City of London, and is the heart of the bigger " London". Until recently, " the City" had been home to hundreds of thousands of people; but today its population is actually less than ten thousand! Today the City is the heart of London, its financial district, full of bankers and businessmen by day, almost deserted by night. It has its own historic delights such as the 15th century Guildhall and churches designed by Sir Christopher Wren (e. g. St Paul`s Cathedral).
Back in the Middle Ages, the City was already becoming too small. In the 11th century, monks built a big new abbey at Westminster, and King Cnut began to build a palace beside it. King Ethelred, his successor, then decided to move his court from the city of Winchester, to the palace of Westminster. Westminster has been the seat of the English, then British parliament ever since then.
While the parliament was established in Westminster, the City's growing population kept spreading to other villages all round. Villages like Chelsea and Hackney eventually became swallowed up by the metropolis which kept growing and growing.
Today, Westminster, which contains Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and London's most famous shopping district, is part of Central London. Nearby Chelsea is an expensive residential area, and Hackney is a working-class district: they are all parts of London. Like almost every big city, London has its prosperity and its poverty. Most tourists visit the " West End", with its shops, cinemas, theatres and monuments. This is London's front window, where the streets are clean and most people, including the tourists, have jobs, and money to spend. Harrod's store, in Knightsbridge, claims to be the most famous shop in the world. In theory you can buy anything there, from an elephant to a pencil (though naturally, they would have to order the elephant specially for you, there are none on the shelves! ) In the small streets behind Regent Street, there are all sorts of specialist shops, selling high-quality products to people who can afford them, e. g. " Gentlemen's tailor since 1788".
Two miles to the north east of Regent Street, the scene is very different. Here you are in the " inner city" district of London, where many of the streets are dirty, the shops look cheap, and the people do not look rich. Few tourists visit Islington, Bethnal Green, Brixton and London's other depressed areas. A lot of the inhabitants here are from ethnic minorities – mostly West Indian or Asian – and many of them are unemployed. Those who do have work are often in unskilled jobs which are not paid well: bus conductors, dustmen, shop assistants.
So, London gives the impression of a fantastic city where you are never far away from the past. The traditional and well-loved double-decker buses, the old-fashioned red telephone boxes and numerous London pubs where a visitor may ask for a pint of bitter are all pieces of its history. But the capital is not a historical theme park. It is a lively and exciting metropolis which is well-known for its business life, popular culture, music, clubs, street fashion and modern arts.
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VOCABULARY
| abbey afford bitter claim correspond to delight depressed deserted district dustman establish ethnic minorities eventually explore fascinating Guildhall heart high-quality impression journey metropolis monk pay (paid) poverty prosperity pub scene Sir Christopher Wren spread successor swallow up unskilled West Indian | аббатство, монастырь позволить себе темное пиво претендовать, утверждать соответствовать восторг, удовольствие подавленный, угнетенный пустынный район трубочист основывать, учреждать этнические меньшинства в конечном счете исследовать очаровательный Гилдхолл – лондонская ратуша, в которой с XV века было сосредоточено управление городом сердце высококачественный впечатление путешествие центр деловой или культурной жизни, метрополия, столица монах платить, оплачивать бедность, нужда благосостояние, процветание паб, пивная картина, зрелище Сэр Кри́ стофер Рен – архитектор и математик, который перестроил центр Лондона после великого пожара 1666 г.; создатель национального стиля английской архитектуры распространять наследник, преемник поглощать неквалифицированный житель Вест-Индии (традиционно-историческое название островов Карибского моря) |
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