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THE GREAT BRITAIN.

The geographical position.

The Great Britain or England as they often call the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles in the European continent of the world. They include two big islands - the largest is Great Britain and the other – Ireland and more than 5 thousand small islands around them.

T
he territory of Great Britain occupies the island Great Britain and the northern part of the island Ireland. The country consists of four parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

There are no high mountains and very long rivers in the U.K. The highest mountain is in the north, in Scotland, its name is Ben Nevis. Its height is a little more than 1 thousand meters high. The longest river is the Severn, 350 meters long. The U.K. is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by the Northern Sea in the east and between them there is the Irish Sea.

The population.

Nearly 60 million people live in the U.K. The most populated part of the Great Britain is its central part - England, where 46 million people live, the densely populated, only 5 million live there – Scotland, which is situated in the north of the country. In Wales, the western part of the Great Britain only 3 million people live. All people in the Great Britain use English language as their state one and of course they can speak their native languages: in Scotland – Scottish, in Wales – Welsh, in Northern Ireland – Irish.

Who rules Britain?

The Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy. The official Head of the country is the Queen Elizabeth now. But the real power belongs to the Government and Parliament. The Parliament has two Houses – the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords is not elected by the people, but the House of Commons is elected once in 5 years officially.

All Englishmen love their country and respect their native flag the Union Jack, as they call it. The symbol of England is the rose, of Scotland is the thistle, the leek symbolizes the Wales and the shamrock is the symbol of Irish.

The capital and large cities.

The most of Englishmen prefer living in cities or their suburbs in own cottages with small gardens of their own.

The capital of the U.K. is London. It is a very old city. It was born more than 2 thousand years ago. It stands on the river Thames. More than 7 million people live in it. This is the place of the Government and the Parliament. And Buckingham Palace is the official residence of English Royal family. The city contains three parts: the City, the financial center, the West End and the East End. The West End is the most beautiful and fashionable part. Here the theatres, big shops, restaurants and of course places of interest are concentrated. The most famous museum – the British museum is also here. The Westminster Palace or the Houses of Parliament is situated along the river Thames. We can see there the main clock of Britain together with the biggest bell Big Ben, which struck every quarter. The famous park is Hide-park. It is popular with its Speaker’s Corner, where everybody can speak on different themes he likes. London’s metro is called the Tube because it looks like a tube perhaps. The main square of London, Trafalgar Square attracts many tourists from different corners of the world. Besides London there are many other big cities: Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh; Cardiff is the center of Wales. Such cities as Oxford and Cambridge are famous for the fact that they are the first university-cities in the country.

The great people and the traditions.

The U.K. is rich with well-known people. Everybody in the world knows the name of the great novelist Charles Dickens who wrote the book about poor English boy Oliver Twist. And who doesn’t know the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns! And of course we all love the great English dramatist William Shakespeare and his works, such as Romeo and Juliet, the King Lear, Othello and others. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon in 1564. Now everybody knows his name and many tourists come to see his native town.

Among our favorite heroes is Robinson Crusoe, who lived alone for a long time on the island and we read about his adventures with great interest. And when we were little children we listened with great interest to our parents reading us the tales: The Cinderella, The Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Tom Thumb and others.

Englishmen are the people who keep and love their traditions. The favorite theme of their discussion is the weather because it is very changeable and nobody knows what it will be in a moment. One of their traditions is every day’s tea at 4 o’clock. Englishmen consider tea their national drink and they are really proud of this fact. They love their home and always say: East or West- home is best.