Text 12A The International Space Station

Space exploration is of great importance for scientific and technological progress. Without it we wouldn’t have any telecommunication means or opportunities.

Not all the countries can afford space exploration because it is very expensive and demands billions dollars.

The International Space Station is the most complex and expensive structure that has ever been launched and built in space. The project of constructing the international space station involves only the most technologically advanced countries - Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil and 11 European nations.

The project of constructing the ISS would be impossible without the previous experience in operating the Russian Mir space station. Mir was a great achievement. Russia learnt how to build and maintain such complex structure in space. It proved to be an ideal training ground for the ISS. That is why it was planned that Russia would supply and deliver 12 key modules out of 36 ones.

 

London

London is the capital of Great britain . About eight million people live in it . It is the largest city in Europe and one of the largest cities in the world.

London is not only the capital of the country, it is also a very big port, one of the greatest commercial centres in the world, a university city, and the seat of the government of Great Britain.

The most important parts of London are: the City, the West End, the East End and Westminster.

The City is the busiest part of London. People do business there. Only about ten thousand people live there. The West End is the richest part of London. You can find the best shops, theatres, cinemas, museums, fine parks and squares there. Its houses and streets are the finest in the capital. The rich people live in the West End. The East End is the part of London where working people live. It is not so rich as other parts of London and there are fewer parks there. Westminster Abbey is one of the most beautiful buildings in London. There are many monuments of great men there. Many great English scientists lie buried there; among them Newton, Darwin and Watt. In the Poets' Corner some of the famous English poets and writers are buried.

 

Customs and traditions of English speaking countries Every country and every nation has it's own traditions and customs. It's very important to know traditions and customs of different people. It will help you to know more about the history and life of different nations and countries. One cannot speak about England without speaking about its traditions and customs. They are very important in the life of English people. Englishman are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. There are six public holidays a year in Great Britain; Christmas Day is one of their favorite holidays. It's celebrated on the 25th of December. There are some traditions connected with it. One of them is to give presents to each other. It is not only children and members of family. It's a tradition to give Christmas presents to the people you work with. Another tradition is to send Christmas cards. All these cards are bright and colorful. Most of big cities of Great Britain, especially London, are decorated with colored lights and Christmas trees. On Trafalgar Square, in the center of London, stands a big Christmas tree. It is a gift from the people of Oslo. It is over 50 feet high. Many families celebrate Christmas day in the open air near the Christmas tree in order to catch the spirit of Christmas. Children find Christmas presents in their stockings. The traditional English dinner on Christmas is turkey and pudding. Other great holidays are: Father's day, Mother's day, Halloween and others.

 

 

1.The united states lies in central part of north American Continent between two oceans: the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the West.
Friendly Canada to the north and friendly Mexico to the south are the only countries bordering it.
2. The USA consists of three separate parts. These are the Hawaiian Islands, situated in the central part of the Pacific ocean, Alaska separated by Canada, and the rest of the USA. The states differ very much in size, population and economic development.
3. There are many big cities and towns in the USA: New York, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles are the biggest.
4. The United States of America is a parliamentary republic. The government is divided into three branches: legislative ( the US Congress), executive ( the President and his Administration ) and judicial ( the US Supreme Court ).
5. There are two main political parties in the USA: the Democratic and the Republican. The US President is both head of state and government. He is elected for a four-year term. The Supreme Court consists of Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices who are appointed for life.
6. The Congress Of the United States is composed of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate represents the states and the House represents the population according to its distribution among the states. All states have electoral requirements of the same nature. First of all they are residence requirements.
7. Each of the fifty states of the USA is Washington. It is situated in the District of Columbia (Washington D.C.)
9. The Largest city of the country is New York, it is the financial and business center of the USA. Boston is known for its universities. Philadelphia is the first capital of the USA, Philadelphia orchestra is famous all over the world. Chicago is one of the industrial cities. Detroit is one of the biggest centers of the automobile industry. Hollywood is known as the center of the USA film business.
10. The US flag is known as “Old Glory”, the “Stars and Stripes”. Today the USA flag has 13 horizontal (7 red and 6 white) stripes and 50 white stars on blue background representing the 50 states. The red stripes proclaim courage, the white stripes proclaim liberty, the field of blue stands for loyalty.