Místní Studie. Velká Británie. USA 1998

Т. Б.
Определьоннова
Т. Б. Определьоннова
КРАЇНОЗНАВСТВО
Великобританія. США
Навчальний посібник
з країнознавства для шкіл
з поглибленим вивченням англійської мови
Донецьк
1998
ББК 81.432.1-922
О 62
Рецензенти:
Лисаревська Н. М ., старший викладач кафедри англійської філології
Донецького державного університету.
Бондаренко Л . М ., учитель-методист СШ № 115 з поглибленим ви
вченням іноземних мов, учитель англійської мови.
Определьоннова Т. Б.
О 62 Країнознавство. Великобританія. США. Навчальний посібник
з країнознавства для шкіл з поглибленим вивченням англійської
мови. — Донецьк: Центр підготовки абітурієнтів, 1998. — 136 с.
ISBN 9 6 6-7 1 7 7 -0 3-3
Посібник являє собою країнознавчий матеріал по Великобританії й США.

У книзі дається хронологічний опис найважливіших подій в історії цих країн
з найдавніших часів, розповідається про розвиток економіки, про зміни в
суспільному та господарському устрої, про вплив різних історичних подій на
розвиток національної англійської мови. Посібник знайомить читачів з деякими
рисами національного характеру, політичним, культурним і суспільним життям
англійців та американців. У ньому висвітлюються певні особливості побуту,
пояснюється походження ряду традицій і звичаїв.
Книга може використовуватися як навчальний посібник з курсу “Країно
знавство” для шкіл з поглибленим вивченням англійської мови, а також буде
корисною абітурієнтам, студентам вузів і всім, хто вивчає англійську мову.
ББК 81.432.1-922
ISBN 96 6-7 1 7 7 -0 3-3 © Центр підготовки абітурієнтів, 1998

© Определьоннова Т. Б. 1998
CONTENTS
Передмова.............................................................................................7
P arti
The United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
1. The United Kingdom....................................................................................8
Rivers and Lakes..................................................................................10
Relief................................................................................................... 10
Climate................................................................................................ 10
Population.............................................................................................11
Key Facts..............................................................................................11
2. The Earliest M en...................................................................................... 12
3. The Celts.................................................................................................. 12
4. The Roman Conquest of Britain................................................................. 14
5. Traces of the Roman Rule inBritain........................................................... 16
6. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain.......................................................... 18
7. The Anglo-Saxons and How They Lived..................................................... 21
Arable-farming...................................................................................... 21
Cattle-breeding...................................................................................... 22
Natural Economy.................................................................................. 23
8. An Anglo-Saxon Free Community...............................................................23
9. Peasants Begin to Lose Their Freedom........................................................24
10. Changes in Administration...........................................................................25
11. Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.......................................... 26
12. Unification of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms................................................... 28
13. Danish Raids on England............................................................................. 28
14. Strengthening of the Kingdom in the Reign of Alfred the Great (871-899).... 29
15. Further Consolidation of the Anglo-Saxon Monarchy in the 10th Century .. 31
16. New Attacks of the Danes...........................................................................31
17. The Peculiarities of the Development of Feudalism in England
in the Early Middle Ages 32
18. The Normans..............................................................................................33
19. The Norman Invasion.................................................................................. 34
20. Subjugation of the Country......................................................................... 35
21. The Bayeux Tapestry.................................................................................. 35
22. The Strengthening of the Royal Power......................................................... 36
23. How the Norman Conquerors Lived in England............................................37
24. Effects on the Language............................................................................... 38
25. Villages after the Norman Conquest.............................................................40
26. The Peasant's Struggle Against the Feudal Lords.......................................... 41
27. Rise of Towns in England in the 11th -12th Centuries................................. 43
How Towns Appeared.........................................................................43
Medieval Towns................. ...... .........................................................44
28. Crafts in the Medieval Town......................................................................46
29. Development of Trade in England in the 13th -14th Centuries.....................48
Markets...............................................................................................48
Fairs.....................................................................................................49
30. The Magna Charta..................................................................................... 50
31. The Hundred Years W ar.............................................................................. 51
32. The Wars of the Roses................................................................................ 51
33. The Tudors................................................................................................ 52
34. The Church of England................................................................................52
35. Elizabeth 1.................................................................................................. 54
36. The Stuarts and the Civil W ar..................................................................... 55
37. The Industrial Revolution...........................................................................56
38. Imperialism................................................................................................ 58
39. World War 1................................................................................................ 58
40. England...................................................................................................... 59
41. Scotland..................................................................................................... 61
42. Wales..........................................................................................................62
The Welsh Language..............................................................................62
History................................................................................................ 62
43. Ireland........................................................................................................64
History................................................................................................ 64
Northern Ireland....................................................................................65
Gaelic................................................................................................... 66
44. London.......................................................................................................67
History of London................................................................................67
Museums............................................................................................. 67
45. British Institutions......................................................................................69
Parliament............................................................................................ 69
The Monarchy..................................................................................... 69
The House of Lords.............................................................................. 71
The House of Commons....................................................................... 71
The Political Parties.............................................................................. 71
The Prime Minister...............................................................................72
46. Religion...................................................................................................... 73
47. Education in Britain....................................................................................74
Higher Education..................... ............................................................. 75
48. Transport in Britain....................................................................................76
Transport in London.............................................................................76
49. British Mass Media................................................................................... 77
The Press............................................................................................. 77
Radio and Television.............................................................................78
50. Traditional British Food............................................................................. 79
British meals........................................................................................79
Pubs....................................................................................................80
51. From History of English Painting................................................................81
52. British Music.............................................................................................83
The Beatles....................... .................................................................. 83
53. British Sports.............................................................................................85
Cricket.................................................................................................85
Rugby..................... ............................................................................85
Football............................................................................ ...................85
G olf.................................................................................................... 85
Lawn Tennis........................................................................................86
54. Public Holidays and Celebrations................................................................87
New Year in England.............................................................................88
St. Valentine’s Day - February 1 4 ........................................................89
Pancake Day........................................................................................ 89
Mothering Sunday (Mother’s Day)...................................................... 89
Easter.................................................................................................. 90
April Fool’s Day.................................................................................. 90
Late Summer Bank Holiday.................................................................. 91
Guy Fawkes Night (Bonfire Night) - November 5 ................................ 91
Remembrance Day (Poppy Day)......................................................... 91
Christmas Celebrations..................................................................... 92
55. National Emblems of UK....................................................................... 94
Part II
The United States of America
56. The United States of America..................................................................... 96
Rivers and Lakes...................................................................................96
The Stars and Stripes............................................................................98
Key Facts............................................................................................ 98
57. New York City........................................................................................... 99
The Big Apple..................................................................................... 99
Manhattan..........................................................................................100
58. The Northeast and the Great Lakes Regions.............................................. 102
Washington D.C...................................................................................102
59. The Midwest and the Interior West........................................................ 104
Hannibal, Missouri............................................................................. 104
South Dakota......................................................................................104
Colorado............................................................................................ 105
Wyoming............................................................................................ 106
60. The Southwest and the South................................................................... 107
Arizona, Grand Canyon...................................................................... 107
Atlanta, Georgia..................................................................................107
Florida.................................................................................. ,...........108
New Orleans, Louisiana...................................................................... 108
61. The Pacific Coast, Alaska and Hawaii....................................................... 109
Los Angeles, California....................................................................... 109
Hawaii................................................................................................ 109
Alaska................................................................................................ 110
San Francisco, California..................................................................... 110
62. American History..................................................................................... 111
The New World................................................................................... 111
Christopher Columbus........................................................................ 112
The Colonies.......................................................................................113
The Pilgrims........................................................................................114
The American Revolution................................................................... 114
The Gold Rush...................................................................................116
World W a rn .......................................................................................117
United States foreign policy since 1945...............................................118
63. Institutions in the USA............................................................................. 120
The President...................................................................................... 121
Congress.............................................................................................121
Elections........................... ................................................................. 122
64. Education in the USA................................................................................ 122
Higher Education........................................................ .........................123
65. Mass Media in the USA........................................................................... 124
Cinema............................................................................................... 124
The Press............................................................................................125
Television............................................................................................126
66. Festivities and Traditions in the USA........................................................127
Thanksgiving Day............................................................................... 127
Independence Day.............................................................................. 127
Columbus Day.................................................................................... 128
Halloween...........................................................................................128
67. Food in the USA.......................................................................................129
68. Music in the USA.....................................................................................130
69. Sport in the USA...................................................................................... 132
Baseball.............................................................................................. 133
American Football............................................................................... 133
Soccer................................................................................................. 133
Basketball...........................................................................................133
Література.........................................................................................135
ПЕРЕДМОВА
Посібник включає навчальний матеріал з країнознавства, при
значений для учнів середньої школи з поглибленим вивченням
англійської мови.
При вивченні іноземної мови і для доброго її розуміння необ
хідне не тільки засвоєння структури мови, а й ознайомлення з
історією, звичаями, звичками, поняттями, які існують у країні.
Головна мета даного посібника — дати учням саме такого роду
додатковий матеріал до підручників, якими вони користуються у
процесі навчання.
Посібник знайомить учнів з деякими рисами національного
характеру, традиціями у політичному, суспільному та культур
ному житті Великобританії й США. В ньому висвітлюються
певні особливості побуту, пояснюється походження ряду тра
дицій та обрядів і даються певні відомості з історії мови.
Тексти написано різною за стилем мовою. Сюди увійшли ма
теріали з книг, статей, брошур, довідників, періодичної преси.
Посібник можна використовувати для різних видів робіт у класі:
читання, переказ, обговорення. Він також може служити мате
ріалом для самостійної робота (робота з лексикою, датами тощо).
Оскільки у невеликій за обсягом книзі неможливо показати
всі сторони життя країни, автор прагнув спинитися тільки на тих
явищах, які, як їй здається, найхарактерніші для кожної з даних
країн.
Посібник укладено у відповідності з “Програмою середньої
загальноосвітньої школи з поглибленим вивченням іноземної
мови”. Курс розраховано на 136 годин (8-11 класи). Посібник
можна розділити на три частини: “Історія Англії (8-9 класи);
“Англійські традиції, політична система, освіта, суспільне та куль
турне життя Великобританії” (10 клас); “Історія США, суспіль
не та культурне життя, традиції тощо” (11 клас).
Після кожної теми дано питання й завдання для виконання в
класі або вдома. Завдання допомагають краще засвоїти мате
ріал і дають певні навички в усній та писемній мові. Учням реко
мендується завести словник для нової лексики, яка зустрічаєть
ся у тексті, і зошит для виконання письмових завдань. Автор
щиро вдячний всім, хто допоміг йому в роботі.
7
The United Kingdom
of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
1 The United Kingdom

Hie British Isles is a geographical term that refers to the great
number of islands that surround and include Great Britain and Ireland.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a
political term which includes Great Britain, the largest island of the
British Isles, and Ulster or Northern Ireland.
Great Britain is made up of three countries: England, Scotland and
Wales. Many years ago these were separate countries, each with its
own language and government, but now they are united and English is
spoken everywhere. Great Britain is the largest island in Europe. It is in
the north-west of Europe and separated from the Continent by the North
Sea and the English Channel which at its narrowest, is only twenty-one
miles across. Between Great Britain and Ireland lies the Irish Sea. Each
country ofthe United Kingdom is divided into counties:
England: 46 counties. Capital: London.
Scotland: 33 counties. Capital: Edinburgh.
Wales: 13 counties. Capital: Cardiff.
Northern Ireland or Ulster: 6 counties. Capital: Belfast.
Each country includes several small islands, e.g. the Isle of Wight
(England), Anglesey (Wales) and the island groups of the Hebrides,
Orkneys and Shetlands (Scotland).
8
Rivers and Lakes
The most famous English river is the Thames. It is 215 miles long.
The Severn, the longest river in the United Kingdom, is 240 miles
long. Other important rivers are the Trent, Merse, Tyne, Tees, Firth
and Clyde.
Lakes can be found in the north of England (Lake District), in
Scotland and Ulster. The most beautiful lakes, like Loch Lomond and
Loch Katrine, are in Scotland and the Lake District, where the most
famous are Windermere and Derwentwater.
Relief
British mountains are low; the highest, in Scotland, is Ben Nevis
(1.343m) followed by Snowdon in Wales (1.085 m).
Other ranges are the Grampians in Scotland and the Cambrian
mountains in Wales. The Highland areas lie in the north and west and
constitute most of Scotland and Wales. The Pennine chain is a region
of low mountains extending from the Cheviot Hills to the River Trent.
Climate
There are no extreme contrasts in temperature in Britain because
of the current of warm water flowing from the gulf of Mexico called
the Gulf Stream. The climate is mainly temperate with variations
between the highlands and the lowlands: much of Scotland is cool in
summer and cold in winter compared with most of England.
Average British temperatures do not rise above 32°C in summer
and do not fall below -10°C in winter. Britain has a reputation for
being rainy; actually the total national rainfall average is over 1.100
annually, March to June tend to be the driest months, September to
January the wettest, and drought conditions are infrequent, although
they do occur and can cause problems for agriculture.
10
Population
In 1988 the population ofthe United Kingdom was about 57 million
inhabitants, the total of England with its population of 47.536.000,
Wales with 2.857.000, Scotland with 5.094.000, and Northern Ireland
with 1.578.000. These figures give a population density of600 persons
per square mile (234 per. sq. km). England has an average density of
some 930 persons per square mile (364 per. sq. km), and this average
does not reveal the even higher densities in some areas of the country,
such as parts of the south-east. Within Europe only the Northerland
has a higher population than England. Even if foreigners often call all
British people «English», and sometimes have difficulty in appreciating
the distinctions, the component nations of the United Kingdom are
well aware of their own individual characteristics the Scots, Welsh
and Irish regard themselves as largely Celtic peoples, while the English
are mainly Anglo-Saxon in origin-and British society as a whole does
not have a uniform cultural identity.
Key Facts
Population: 57.065.000
Capital City: London
Major Cities: London, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford,
Manchester and Bristol in England. Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen
in Scotland. Cardiff, Swansea and Newport in Wales. Belfast in Ulster.
Main Languages: English (official).
Also Welsh, Scottish, Gaelic.
Highest Point: Ben Nevis (Scotland) 1.434 m
Longest Rivers: Severn (354 km) and Thames (346 km).
Largest Lake: Loch Lomond, 70 sq. km.
Economic activities: farming, forestry and fishing (2%), industry
(33%) and services (65%).
11
Q The Earliest Men
About three thousand years B.C. many parts of Europe, including
the British Isles, were inhabited by a people, who came to be known
as the Iberians because some of their descendants are still found in
the north of Spain (the Iberian Peninsula). We do not know much
about these early people because they lived long before a word of
their history was written, but we can learn something from their skele
tons, their weapons and the remains of their dwelling which have
been found. The Iberians used stone weapons and tools. The art of
grinding and polishing stone was know to them, and they could make
smooth objects of stone with sharp edges and points.
0 The Celts
During the period from the 6th to the 3rd century B.C. a people
called the Celts spread across Europe from the east to the west.
More than one Celtic tribe invaded Britain. From time to time
these tribes were attacked and overcome by other Celtic tribes from
the Continent. Celtic tribes called the Piets penetrated into the moun
tains on the North; some Piets as well as tribes of Scots crossed over
to Ireland and settled there. Later the Scots returned to the larger
island and settled beside the Piets. They came in such large numbers
that in time the name of Scotland was given to that country. Powerful
Celtic tribes, the Britons, held most of the country, and the southern half
of the island was named Britain after them. Today the words «Briton»
and «British» refer to the people of the whole of the British Isles.
The Iberians were unable to fight back the attacks of the Celts
who were armed with metal spears, swords, daggers, axes. Most of
the Iberians were slain in the conflicts; some of them were driven
westwards into the mountains of what is now Wales and the others
probably miAed with the Celts.
The Greeks were the first to mention the British Isles. It is from
the Greek books that we know about the Phoenicians, who were
great sailors and traders even before the Greeks and who travelled
12
as far as the shores of Britain. The ancient Greek historian Herodo
tus who is called the Father of History wrote that in the 5th century
B.C. the Phoenicians used to come to the British Isles for tin which
was used in making bronze. They called the British Isles the Tin
Islands.
The earliest writer from whom we have learned much about the
country and its inhabitants was Julius Caesar, the famous Roman
general, statesman and writer. In his «Commentaries on the Gallic
War», a book written in Latin, Julius Caesar describes the island and
the Celts against whom he fought. He tells us that the Celts were tall
and blue-eyed. They wore long flowing moustaches but no beards.
The Celts had no towns, they lived in villages. They were ac
quainted with the use of copper, tin and iron and they kept large
herds of cattle and sheep. They also cultivated crops especially corn.
Some of the Celtic tribes were quite large and fighting was com
mon among them. In war-time the Celts wore skins and painted their
faces with a blue dye to make themselves look fierce. They were
armed with swords and spears and used chariots on the battle-field.
The Celts worshipped Nature. They imagined the sky, the moon,
the sun, the earth and the sea to be ruled by beings like themselves
but much more powerful. They also believed in many nameless spi
rits who lived in the rivers, lakes, mountains, thick forests. They sac
rificed not only animals, but also human beings to their gods. The
Celts believed in another life after death. They were taught by priests
called druids that their souls passed after death from one body to
another. The druids were very important and powerful, sometimes,
more powerful than the chiefs. The Celts believed in their magic
power. The druid could give the orders to begin a battle or to put
down the arms. The druids were also teachers and doctors for they
were wise than the other tribesmen.
NOTES AND MEANINGS

1. Ancient civilization - the level of economic and cultural develop
ment characteristic of slave society.
2. Before Christ (B.C.) - we begin to count the years of our era with
the legendary birth of Christ. This is why «before Christ» means
before our era. The abbreviation is B.C.
13
3. A.D. - our era. The abbreviation of the Latin words Anno Domini
which mean «in the year of Christ», after the 1st century B.C.
comes the 1st century A.D.
4. Phoenicians - Phoenicia was on the coast of Syria, at the eastern
end of the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians were the first people
to sail ships (Hi the seas in Europe.
5. Herodotus - a Greek writer who lived in the 5th century B.C.
QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

FOR REVISION AND DISCUSSION
1. How did we get our information about primitive men?
2. What do we know about the Iberians?
3. What do we know from Caesar’s «Commentaries on the Gallic War»?
4. Prove that the Celts were at a higher stage of social development
than the Iberians.
5. Explain the origin of the names «Scotland» and «Britain».
6. What do you know about Celtic religion?
0 The Roman Conquest

of Britain
Two thousand years ago while the Celts were still living in tribes
the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. Roman
society differed greatly from that of the Celts. It was a slave society
divided into antagonistic classes.
The Romans conquered all the countries around the Mediterrane
an Sea. One of the last countries to be conquered by Rome was
France, or Gaul as it was then called. The war against the Gauls,
who were Celtic tribes, lasted for eight years. Julius Caesar was
appointed Head of the Roman army which was sent to conquer Gaul.
In the coiir^- of his campaigns Caesar reached the Channel and that
was how the Romans came to see the white cliffs of the land of the
British Celts.
hi 55 B.C. a Roman army of 10.000 men crossed the Channel
and invaded Britain. The Celts made a great impression on the Ro-
14
The Roman civilization spread over Britain.
mans, who saw them for the first time in battle. With loud shouts they
attacked the Romans and one of the greatest generals of that time
had to return to Gaul.
In the next year, 54 B.C., Caesar again came to Britain, this time
with larger forces (25.000 men). The Celts fought bravely for their
independence but they were not strong enough to drive the Romans
off. The Romans who had better arms and armour and were much
better trained defeated the Celts in several battles. Some of the chiefs
submitted and promised to pay tribute to Rome.
Although Caesar came to Britain twice in the course of two years,
he was not able really to conquer it. The promised tribute was not
paid and the real conquest of Britain by the Romans was not begun
until nearly a hundred years after Caesar’s visits to the island.
In 43 A.D. a Roman army invaded Britain and conquered the
South-East. Other parts of the country were taken from time to time
during the next forty years. The Romans were unable to conquer the
Scottish Highlands and the province of Britain consisted only of the
southern part of the island. From time to time the Piets from the
North managed to raid the Roman part of the island, bum their cattle
and sheep.
To defend their province the Romans stationed their legions in
Britain. Straight roads were built so that the legions might march
quickly, whenever they were needed, to any part of the country. These
roads were made so well that they lasted a long time and still exist
today. Besides, to guard the province against the Piets and Scots
who lived in the hills of Scotland a high wall was built in the North. It
was called «Hadrian’s Wall» because it was built by command of the
Emperor Hadrian.
0 Traces of the Roman Rule

in Britain
Early in the 5th century (407) the Roman legions were recalled
from Britain to defend the central provinces of the Roman Empire
from the attacks of the barbarian tribes. They did not return to Bri
tain, and the Celts were left alone in the land.
16
During the 5th century the Germanic tribes overran the empire
and settled in all parts of it. The fall of the Western Roman Empire
meant the end of the slave-owning system in Western Europe.
There are today many things in Britain to remind the people of the
Romans. The wells which the Romans dug give water today, and the
chief Roman roads are still among the highways of Modem England.
Long stretches of Hadrian’s Wall, the ruins of public baths and parts
of the Roman Bridges have remained to this day. The fragments of
the old London wall built by the Romans can still be seen. Often,
even now, when men are digging in England they find Roman pot
tery, glass, tiles, statues, armour, coins and other things that were
used by the Romans in those old times. Many of these remains may
be seen in British museums.
Besides, many words of Modem English have come from Latin.
The words which the Romans left behind them in the language of
Britain are for the most part the names of the things which they
taught the Celts. For example, the word «street» came from the La
tin strata which means «road», «port» from the Latinportus, «walb>
from vallum.
The names of many English towns are of Latin origin too. The
Roman towns were strongly fortified and they were called castra
which means «camps». This word can be recognized in various forms
in such names as Chester, Gloucester, Doncaster, Lancaster. Any
English town today with a name ending in «Chester», «cester» or
«caster» was once a Roman camp or city. The town-name Lincoln
comes from the Latin word colonia which means a «colony»; and
Colchester (that is, Colne-chester) from both colonia and castra.
The city of Bath was an important Roman watering-place although it
has lost its Roman name.
NOTES AND MEANINGS

1. Roman province - a country under Roman domination.
2. Tribute - a payment which the victors exacted from the conquered
people.
3. Legion - a body of warriors in the Roman army. It included
cavaliy as well as infantry and numbered about 6.000 men.
4. Hadrian - the Roman Emperor who reigned from 117 A.D. till
138 A.D.
17
5. Barbarians outside the Roman Empire. In History the word
«barbarian» is used to define the level of social development of
the Germanic tribes in the first century A.D. In the modem
language the word means an «ignorant, rude, cruel person».

1. How did the way of life of the Roman Empire differ from the life
of the Celts in the 1st century A.D.
2. Give an account ofthe Roman invasion ofBritain in the first century
B.C. and in the 1st century A.D. Compare the results.
3. By what means did the Romans secure their position in Britain?
4. Why was so much importance attached to the roads?
5. What traces are there of Roman rule in Britain?
6. Name some English words of Latin origin which reflect the rule of
Rome in Britain.
6 The Anglo-Saxon Conquest

of Britain
The fall of the Western Roman Empire, the largest slave-owning
in the ancient world, is regarded as the end of ancient history. The
historical period between ancient times and modem times is called
the Middle Ages.
The Middle Ages lasted for twelve centuries, from the end of the
ancient world in the latter half of the 5th century till the beginning of
modem history in the middle of the 17th century.
Slavery predominated in the ancient states. In the Middle Ages a
new social system - feudalism became predominant. It took six cen
turies to become predominant in Western Europe. This chapter tells
us about the gradual establishment of feudalism in Britain in the Ear
ly Middle Ages (5th - 11th centuries).
After the Roman legions left Britain the Celts remained independent
but not for long. From the middle of the 5th century they had to
defend the country against the attacks of Germanic tribes from the
18
By the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th
century several kingdoms were formed on the territory
conquered be the Germanic tribes.
Continent. In the 5th century, first the Jutes and then other Germanic
tribes - the Saxons and the Angles began to migrate to Britain. The
Saxons came from the territory lying between the Rhine and the
Elbe rivers which was later on called Saxony. The Jutes and the
Angles came from the Judand Peninsula.
In 449 the Jutes landed in Kent and this was the beginning of the
conquest The British natives fought fiercely against the invaders
and it took more than a hundred and fifty years for the Angles, the
Saxons and the Jutes to conquer the country. It was only by the
beginning of the 7th century that the invaders managed to conquer
the greater part of the land.
In the course of the conquest many of the Celts were killed, some
were taken prisoners and made slaves or had to pay tribute to the
conquerors. Some of the Celts crossed the sea to the North-West of
France and settled in what was later on called Brittany after the
Celtic tribes of Britons. Descendants of the ancient British Celts can
be found in Brittany today.
By the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century several
kingdoms were formed on the territory of Britain conquered by the
Germanic tribes. (This territory later on became England proper).
Kent was set up by the Jutes in the South East. In the southern and
the south-eastern parts of the country the Saxons formed a number
of kingdoms - Sussex (the land of the South Saxons), Wessex (the
land of the West Saxons) and Essex (the land of the East Saxons).
Farther north were the settlements of the Angles who had con
quered the greater-part of the country. In the North they founded
Northumbria, which has left its name in the present county of North
umberland; Mercia was formed in the Middle, and East Anglia - in
the East of England, north of the East Saxon kingdom. These king
doms were hostile to one another and they fought constantly for su
preme power in the country.
The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles were closely akin in speech
and customs, and they gradually merged into one people. The name
«Jute» soon died out and the conquerors are generally referred to as
the Anglo-Saxons.
As a result of the conquest the Anglo-Saxons made up the ma
jority of the population in Britain and their customs, religion and
20
languages became predominant. They called the Celts «welsh» which
means «foreigners» as they could not understand the Celtic language
which was quite unlike their own. But gradually the Celts who were
in the minority merged with the conquerors, adopted their customs
and learned to speak their languages.
At first the Anglo-Saxons spoke various dialects but gradually the
dialect of the Angles of Mercia became predominant. In the course
of time all the people of Britain were referred to as the English after
the Angles and the new name of England was given to the whole
country. The Anglo-Saxon language, or English, has been the princi
pal language of the country since then although it has undergone
great changes.

1. Where did the Jutes, Saxons and Angles live before their migration
to Britain?
2. Imagine that you are a 5th century dweller in a tiny village on the
coast of Britain. Tell how the Anglo- Saxon invaders landed and
burnt your home.
3. What was the fate of the Celts as a result of the Anglo-Saxon
conquest?
4. Who are the Welsh? In what other parts are there Celtic - speaking
people living today?
0 The Anglo-Saxons
and How They Lived
Arable-farming
Most of the Anglo-Saxons settled far away from the Roman towns.
They would find a suitable place in the valley of some river, where
the soil was good and there was a good water supply. They often
used the lands round the Roman villas, but as a rule they lived neither
in the villas themselves nor in the Roman towns - they were essen
tially an agricultural people.
21
The Anglo-Saxon villages were small. A village which had
twenty-five families was considered a large one. Nearly all the vil
lagers were engaged in cultivating the land.
Great stretches of forest separated one village from another. Each
village with the land belonging to it was surrounded by a thick hedge.
The names of the Anglo-Saxon villages meant as a rule either their
new «home» or a «protected place». A great number of village-names
in England today are of Anglo-Saxon origin. Many English towns are
called by the old Anglo-Saxon names too. For example, the word ton
was the Saxon for «hedge» or a place surrounded by a hedge. Thus
there are Northampton, Southampton, Brighton, Preston and others.
Burh or bury was the Saxon for «to hide». There are many village -
and town-names derived from these words. Such as Salisbury, Can
terbury, Edinburgh, Middlesbrough- The Anglo-Saxon ham, the old
English form of the word «home», can also be found in such names
now as Nottingham, Birmingham, Cheltenham. The same is true of
the wordfield meaning «open country», in names such as Sheffield,
Chesterfield, Manfield, etc.
All the arable land of the village was divided into two or, some
times, three very large fields. In most places land was cultivated
under the two-field system so that it did not lose its fertility. In a few
villages the Anglo-Saxons used the three-field system.
Cattle-breeding
Besides arable-farming, the Anglo-Saxons continued their old
occupations of cattle-breeding, hunting and fishing. Oxen, sheep and
goats belonging to the villagers grazed on the common pastures, and
poultiy (hens, geese, ducks) fed there too. Pigs were turned into the
woodland to feed on nuts and acoms.
The animals were much more smaller than those of today, and
they did not weigh as muck They lived by grazing during summer,
and after the harvest they were allowed to roam over the arable land
as well. But in winter they could get little from the common pasture.
In autumn the Anglo-Saxons had to kill most of their animals and salt
the meat.
22
Natural Economy
Each village was self-sufficient, that is, most of the necessities of
life were produced in the village itself. The needs of the villagers woe
few and simple. Food, clothing and shelter were their basic needs.
Arable-farming and cattle-breeding satisfied the needs of the people.
There was very little trading in that time. There were no shops -
the village artisans produced goods only to order; the farmers were
not skillful, their crops were very poor, and they had not much to sell.
The villagers had little or no money, and very little need of it, since
they themselves produced most of what they wanted. Yet, there were
some things which the villagers could not produce. Iron and salt had
to be brought in from outside.
Roads were very poor, there was seldom anything better than a mud
dy track between one village and the next People did not travel very
much. It is veiy likely that a person bean in a village, lived in it all his life
and died in it without ever having once left it They knew nothing ofwhat
was going on in the world The village was the world to them.

1. Describe the Anglo-Saxon village.
2. Give several English place-names which have come down from
Anglo-Saxon times. Explain their Anglo-Saxe® origin.
3. What woe the main occupations of the Anglo-Saxons?
4. What can you say about the labour productivity of arable-farming
and cattle-breeding in Anglo-Saxon times? Why was it necessary
to kill so much cattle in autumn?
5. Prove that each Anglo-Saxon village was self-sufficient in the Early
Middle Ages. Why was there so little trading?
ф An Anglo-Saxon Free
Community
The peasants of the village formed a litde society - a community.
The land of the village belonged to the whole community and each
23
villager had a right to a share of it. However, harvest, cattle, imple
ments of labour and the house with a garden round it was the villa
ger’s private property.
Arable land was held by separate families. It was passed by in
heritance to the members of the family but it could not be sold or
handed over to another family.
All the disputes of the community members were settled at the
folk-moots. These were the meetings of the villagers who lived in
one district called the «hundred». The free community members them
selves or their representatives gathered at the moots and settled
matters of common interest.
The Anglo-Saxons used to have what was called Trial by Ordeal.
The usual trial was as follows. When a man was accused of a crime
he took an oath to say that he was innocent and he got twelve well-
known people to say that he was probably speaking the truth. If he
could not find twelve such people he was sent to the ordeal. The
accused would have to put his bare hand and arm into boiling water,
or to cany a piece of red-hot iron a certain distance. Then the hand
was tied up, and at the end of four days it was untied and looked at
by the elders. If it was healing, the man was considered innocent, if
not, he was pronounced guilty and was punished.
The community united the peasants as they used the pastures,
meadows and forests in common, cultivated the land in one and the
same way according to the old customs and tackled all other pro
blems in common.
0 Peasants Begin to Lose

Their Freedom
But not all the members of the community were equal. Inequality
had already appeared among the Anglo-Saxons before the conquest
of Britain. The tribal nobility, that is, military leaders and elders, pos
sessed more land and cattle than other tribesmen. Their land was
cultivated by prisoners of war who were their slaves.
24
The effect of the conquest of Britain was to increase the wealth
of the Anglo-Saxon nobility. The tribal nobility took possession of
large tracks of land and became great landowners. They had such
large estates that they were unable to cultivate them by themselves.
First they made their slaves to work their fields. Gradually the posi
tion of the slaves changed. Since slave labour was of very low pro
ductivity, their owners gave them small plots of land for their perso
nal use. Now the slave was more interested in his labour because,
though he had to spend much of his time working for the lord, he
could cultivate his own plot the rest of the time.
In the 7th- 9 th centuries gradual changes were taking place among
the members of the community too. The arable land which had been
held by separate families now became their private property. It could
be not only inherited by the members of one family as before but it
could be sold or presented or given in return for debts to another
owner. As a result inequality among the members of the community
was becoming more pronounced.
Frequent wars and crop failures ruined many peasants. Most of
the community members were becoming poorer and poorer. A poor
peasant had to ask a rich man for a loan. If he failed to pay his debt
back in time, the rich man took his cattle or his plot of land. Those
poor peasants who had lost their land were obliged to ask the rich
landowners for a plot of land. The land they were given never be
came their property. In return for the land these peasants would work
a part of their time on the landowner’s estate and would give him a
certain portion of the com they grew on their holdings. In this way
many peasants fell into bondage.
ф Changes in Administration
By the beginning of the 9th century changes had come about in
Anglo-Saxon society. There were now big landed estates with bond
peasants working on them for the owners. With the development of
feudal relations great changes were taking place in administration
too. Rich landowners were given great power over the peasants.
25
At first after the conquest of Britain, folk-moots at which the
members of the free community gathered were held periodically.
The hundred-moots presided over by an elected elder were held once
a month. At the hundred-moots the men who were elected were
soit as representatives to a shire-moot (a larger district than a hun
dred). The shire-moots were presided over by shire-reeves, or she
riffs and were held two or three times a year.
Soon afterwards the moots lost their importance and now it was
the great council of the most powerful men in the country, known as
Witenagemot (Witan), that gave advice to the king on all important
matters. The Anglo-Saxon kings declared war and made peace, they
passed laws and imposed taxes. But they always consulted «the wise
men», that is, the greatest landlords of the country.
11 Conversion of the Anglo-

Saxons to Christianity
The Christian Church also influenced the growth of the new feu
dal relations a great deal. The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to
Christianity began at the end of the 6th century (597) and was com
pleted, in the main, in the second half of the 7“ century.
Before this the Angles, Saxons and Jutes had been pagans, That
is, they believed in many gods. One of their gods was Tu, or Tuesco
- the god of Darkness..Another was Woden - the great god of War.
The red - bearded Thor was the god of Thunder. Freya was the
goddess of Peace and Plenty. The Anglo-Saxons named the days of
the week after their gods. Thus Sunday meant the Sun’s Day, Mon
day - the Moon’s Day, Tuesday - the day of the god Tuesco; Wednes
day was Woden’s day, Thursday was Thor’s day and Friday - Freya’s
day; Saturday was named after Saturn, a Roman God.
In 597 the Roman Pope sent about forty monks to Britain to con
vert the Anglo-i>axons. The monks landed in Kent and it became the
first Anglo-Saxon kingdom to be converted. The first church was
built in the town of Canterbuiy, the capital of Kent, that is why the
Archbishop of Canterbuiy is now Head of the Church of England.
26
The spread of Christianity was of great importance for the growth
of culture in Britain. The Roman monks brought many books to Bri
tain. Most of them were religious books and they were all written in
Latin and Greek. The church service was also conducted in Latin.
Latin was of international importance at that time, as it was used by
learned men in all countries.
The learned men lived and wrote their books in monasteries. They
wrote in Latin and some of their books were well known in Europe.
The most famous writer was the monk named Bede who lived from
673 to 735. He wrote «Ecclesiastical history of the English People»
which was studied carefully by educated people in Europe as it was
the only book on Anglo-Saxon history.
The spread of Christianity promoted a revival of learning. Such
English words of Greek origin as «arithmetic», «mathematics», «the
atre» and «geography», or words of Latin origin, such as «school»,
«paper» and «candle» reflect the influence of the Roman civilization,
a new wave of which was brought about in the 7th century by Chris
tianity.
The Christian religion had a tremendous influence over men’s minds
and actions. It controlled the most important events of their life -
baptism, marriage and burial.

1. Prove that right after the conquest of Britain the survivals of the
communal way of life were very strong among the Anglo-Saxons.
2. Imagine that you are a member of an Anglo-Saxon community.
One of your friends is accused of a crime. Describe the trial
showing how he was found guilty.
3. In what ways did the free peasants begin to lose their land and
freedom?
4. How did the administration of the Anglo-Saxons change in the
9th century?
5. How did the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity
influence the cultural development of Britain?
6. What did the English names of the days of the week mean in
early times?
27
12 Unification of the Anglo-Saxon
Kingdoms
The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms waged a constant struggle against
one another for predominance over the country. From time to time
some stronger state seized the land of the neighbouring kingdoms
and made them pay tribute, or even ruled them directly.
The greatest and most important kingdoms were Northumbria,
Mercia and Wessex. They continued the struggle for predominance
and at last at the beginning of the 9th century Wessex, was acknow
ledged by Kent, Mercia and Nortumbria. This was really the begin
ning of the united kingdom of England, for Wessex never again lost
its supremacy and King Egbert became the first king of England.
Under his rule all the small kingdoms were united to form one king
dom which was called England from that time on.
The political unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms was sped
up by the urgent task of defending the country against the dangerous
raids of the new enemies. From the end of the 8th century and during
the 9th and the 10th centuries Western Europe was troubled by a
new wave of barbarian attacks. These barbarians came from the
North - from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and were called North
men. In different countries the Northmen were known by many
other names as the Vikings, the Normans, the Danes. They came to
Britain from Norway and Denmark. But more often the British Isles
were raided from Denmark, and invaders came to be known in Eng
lish history as the Danes.
ф Danish Raids on England

The Danes were of the same Germanic race as the Anglo-Saxons
themselves and they came from the same part of the Continent. But
the Danes still lived in tribes. They were pagans. At the end of the
8th century they began to attack Britain just as the Anglo-Saxons
had done themselves four centuries earlier.
28
The Danish raids were successful because the kingdom of Eng
land had neither a regular army nor a fleet in the North Sea to meet
them. There were veiy few roads, and large parts of the country
were covered with forests and swamps.
Help was a long time in coming. It would take the king or the
noble another few weeks to get his fighting men together and go and
fight against the enemy.
All England north of the Thames, that is, Northumbria, Mercia
and East Anglia, was in the Danish hands.
Only Wessex was left to face the enemy.
ф Strengthening of the Kingdom

in the Reign of Alfred the Great
(871-899)
In 871 the Danes invaded Wessex. Wessex had united the small
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and under the reign of Egbert’s grandson,
King Alfred (871-899) who became known in English history as Al
fred the Great, Wessex became the center of resistance against the
invaders.
Alfred managed to raise an army and to stop the Danes. He made
new rules for the army, in each every free man had to serve and to
come provided with the proper weapons.
During the reign of Alfred the Great the first British Navy was
built and a war fleet of ships larger and faster than those of the
Danes protected the island.
As a result of all these measures, the Anglo-Saxons won several
victories over the Danes. In the treaty which followed in 886 the
Danes promised to leave Wessex and a part of Mercia. They setded
in the north-eastern part of England, a region which was from that
time called the Danelaw, because it was ruled according to the law
of the Danes.
29
Alfred the Great took measures to improve the laws in the inte
rests of the great land owners and to raise the standard of culture
among them King Alfred knew not only how to write and read - an
uncommon thing even for princes in those days - but he was well
versed in Greek and Latin. He read a good deal. The king sent for
artisans, builders and scholars from the Continent. The monasteries
and churches which had been burnt by the Danes were rebuilt and
schools were set up in the monasteries for the clergy.
A school was started in the palace itself where the sons of the
nobles learned to read and write. Alfred himself sometimes taught
there. The books which were translated from Latin taught men mainly
about the history and geography of the Continent. Alfred ordered
that the learned men should begin to write a history of England. Thus
was written a history of England called the «Anglo-Saxon chronicle»
which was continued for 250 years alter the death of Alfred. It is
mainly from this book we get the information of the events of English
medieval history.
King Alfred ordered that the old customs and laws followed by
the Anglo-Saxons before him in Wessex and Mercia should be col
lected. New laws were added to the collection, and «Code of English
Law» was drown up. Everybody had to follow the laws of the kingdom.

1. Why was the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into one
kingdom in the 9th century necessary?
2. Name the three peoples who conquered Britain and settled there
before the Danes. In what centuries did the earlier conquerors
come to Britain?
3. What territory of Britain did the Danes manage to conquer? What
were the conditions in England at the end ofthe 8th and the beginning
of the 9th century that favoured the Danes in their raids?
4. What measures were taken by Alfred’s governments
a) to strengthen the defense of the country;
b) to raise the icvel of culture in the country?
5. What were the conditions of the treaty concluded in 886?
6. What is the «Anglo-Saxon Chronicle»?
Of what importance is it?
30
15 Further Consolidation
of the Anglo-Saxon Monarchy
in the 10th Century
In the second half of the 10th century under the rule of Alfred's
descendants the Saxon monarchy was further consolidated. The
Anglo-Saxons won several victories over the Danes, took away the
Danelaw and ruled over the whole England.
The Danes influenced the development of the country greatly.
They were good sailors and traders and they favoured the growth of
towns and the development of trade in England. They were skilful
shipbuilders. The Danes used a large iron axe to large stretches of
virgin land.
Many Scandinavian words came into the English language at that
time and are even used today. Such adjectives as «happy, law, loose,
ill, ugly, weak», such verbs as «to take, to the, to call», nouns like
«sister, husband, sky, fellow, law, window, leg, wing»are examples of
Scandinavian borrowings. The Danes gave their own names to many
of the towns they built. In the region where they used to live many
town-names end in «by» or «toft», for these were the words mean*
ing Danish settlements. For example, Derby, Grimsby, Whitby, Lowes
toft and others.
The general moots did not assemble in the united kingdom and the
king ruled the country with the help of the Witenagemot, a council of
the most powerful landlords. The power of the Church increased
greatly during this period and the archbishop and bishops began to
play an important role in the government.
16 New Attacks of the Danes

At the end of the 10th century the Danish invasions were re
sumed. At the beginning of the 11th century England was conquered
by the Danes once more. The Danish King Canute (1017-1035) be
came king of Denmark, Norway and England. He made England the
31
centre of his power. But he was often away from England and so he
divided the country into four parts called earldoms. They were
Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia. An earl was ap
pointed by the king to rule over each great earldom. Besides, Canute
tried to win the support of the big Anglo-Saxon feudal lords. He
promised to rule according to the old Anglo-Saxon laws. He usually
chose Anglo-Saxon nobles for the high posts of earls and other royal
officials.
Canute himself became a Christian and he sent monks from Can
terbury to convert his subjects in Scandinavia to Christianity too. He
was the protector of the monasteries and learning that developed
there. Supported by the Anglo-Saxon feudal lords Canute ruled in
England till he died. After the death of Canute his kingdom split up
and soon afterwards an Anglo-Saxon king came to the throne (1042)
and the line of Danish Kings came to an end.
ф The Peculiarities of the

Development of Feudalism
in England in the Early
Middle Ages
During the Early Middle Ages (the 5th—11th centuries) Feudal
relations were developing in England like in all the other countries of
Western Europe. A serf class was gradually appearing. Most of the
serfs were descendants of the slaves and of the peasants who had
once been free members of the community. As the big feudal landed
estates grew, the free peasants were gradually losing their land and
freedom and were becoming serfs.
The development of feudalism was a slower process in Britain.
During three centuries after the Anglo-Saxon conquest (the 7*-8л
centuries), the bulk of uis population of Britain consisted offree pea
sants while among the Franks who had setded on the Continent the
majority of the peasants had already become serfs by the beginning
of the 9th century.
32
The process of turning the free peasants into serfs, which had
begun after the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain, was not completed
by the 11th century. On the Continent the majority of the peasants
had become serfs by the 10th-l1th centuries, whereas in England
many peasants were still free.

1. How did the Danish settlers in England influence the development
of the country in the 10th-11th centuries?
2. How was the united kingdom of England governed in the 10th-11th
centuries?
3. How did the Danish king, Canute, secure his power in England?
4. Prove that the Anglo-Saxon monarchy in the 10th- llth centuries
was a feudal state.
5. What was the peculiarity of the feudal development of Britain in
the Early Middle Ages as compared with the countries on the
Continent?
6. Give some English place-names ending in:
a) - Chester, - cester, - castra;
b) - ton, - bury (or - burgh), - ham, - field;
c) - by, - toft.
And explain their origin.
ф The Normans
In the 9th century while the Danes were plundering England an
other branch of Northmen who were related to the Danes were do
ing the same along the Northern coasts of France. They came to be
called the Normans, a variation of the word «Northmen». The Nor
mans settled down on land conquered from the French king - a ter
ritory which is still called Normandy after these Normans.
Many changes came about in the life of the Normans and the
Danes after the 9th century. By the 11th century the Danes had final
ly settled down as subjects of the English kings. As time went on
they gradually mixed with the Anglo-Saxons among whom they lived.
They retained their Germanic language and many of their customs
33
that were very much like those of the Anglo-Saxons. But the Nor
mans who had settled down in France were now quite different from
their Germanic forefathers. They lived among the French people,
who were different people, with different manners, customs and lan
guage. They had learned to speak the French language, and, in many
ways, they had become like the French themselves.
The Normans lived under the rule of their own duke. By the 11th
century the dukes of Normandy had become very powerful. Though
they acknowledged the king of France as their overlord, they were
actually as strong as the king himself, whose domain was smaller
than the Duchy of Normandy. Like other French dukes and counts
they made themselves practically independent. They coined their own
money, made their own laws, held their own courts, built their own
castles. As a well-armed and well-trained cavalry, the Norman knights
were the best in Europe.
These descendants of the Northmen who had settled in northern
France in the 9th century became, the new conquerors of England.
ф The Norman Invasion

In 1066 William, the Duke ofNormandy, began to gather an army
to invade Britain. The pretext for the invasion was William’s claims
to the English throne. He was related to the king who died in 1066.
According to the English law it was the Witenagemot that chose the
next king. If the late king left a grown up son he was almost sure to
be chosen; if not, the King’s Council of wise men would offer the
Crown to some other near relative of the dead king. The king who
died in 1066 had no children and Duke William cherished the hope
that he would succeed to the English throne. But the Witan chose
another relative of the deceased king, the Anglo-Saxon lord, Harold.
William ofNormandy claimed that England belonged to him and he
began preparations for a war to fight for the Crown.
William sent messengers far and wide to invite the fighting men of
Western Europe to join his forces. He called upon all the Christian
warriors of Europe to help him gain his rights to the English throne.
No pay was offered, but William promised land to all who would
34
support him. William also asked the Roman Pope for his support. He
promised to strengthen the Pope’s power over the English Church.
And the Church with the Roman Pope at the head blessed his cam
paign and called it a holy war.
William mastered a numerous army which consisted not only of
the Norman barons and knights but of the knights from other parts of
France. Many big sailing-boats were built to cany the army across
the Channel. William landed in the south of England and the batde
between the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons took place on the 14th
of October 1066 at a little village in the neighbourhood of the town
now called Hastings.
20 Subjugation of the Country

The victory at Hastings was wily the beginning of the Conquest
It took several years for William and his barons to subdue the whole
of England. Soon after the victory at Hastings the Normans encir
cled London and the Witan had to acknowledge William as the lawful
king of England. Thus the Norman duke became the king of England
- William I or, as he was generally known, William the Conqueror.
He ruled England for 21 years (1066-1087).
In 1071 the subjugation of the country was completed. All the
uprisings were put down and the rebels were punished severely.
William’s knights raided the villages bunting and slaying fir and wide.
After several uprisings in the North, William who was a fierce and
ruthless man, determined to give the Anglo-Saxons a terrible lesson.
The lands of Northumbria were laid waste.
0 The Bayeux Tapestry

In the Norman town of Bayeux, in the museum, one can see a
strip of canvas about 70 metres long and half a metre wide embroi
dered with veiy well defined pictures which tell the whole story of
35
the Nonnan Conquest That is the famous Bayeux Tapestry. It is
said that William’s wife and the ladies of the court made it to hang
round the walls of the cathedral.
The Bayeux Tapestry shows the preparations made for the inva
sion of England - men felling trees or having and shaping the rough
timber into ship, scenes depicting the subjugation of the country and
other details pertaining to the battle of Hastings, the armour and
weapons used, are all very well represented. The tapestry is of great
interest to specialists in history and art. It gives us very valuable
information about the life of the people at that time.

1. In what ways did the life of the Danes and Normans differ in the
11th century?
2. What was the reason and the pretext for the Norman invasion?
3. What facts prove that the Norman army was greatly superior to
the Anglo-Saxon army?
4. What was the purpose of devastating a great part of the country?
5. What is the Bayeus Tapestry? Why is it considered a valuable
historical document? What can we learn from the study of its
pictures?
ф The Strengthening
of the Royal Power
William was now not only the duke of Noimandy but the king of
England as well and he received great incomes from both Normandy
and his rich domain in England.
The Conqueror declared that all the lands of England belonged to
him by right of conquest. The estates of all the Anglo-Saxon lords
who had supported. Harold or acknowledged him as king were con
fiscated. One-sevenu >f the country was made the royal domain.
The other lands the king granted to the Normans and Frenchmen
who had taken part in the Conquest and to the Anglo-Saxon land
lords who supported him.
36
Each baron received with the grant of land the promise of the
king’s protection, but in return he had to render military service to his
overlord bringing a number offully armed knights with him in time of
war.
In 1086 at a great gathering of knights in Salisbury, William made
all of them take a special oath to be true to him against all his ene
mies. In England the rule «My vassal’s vassal is not my vassal» was
broken now and it became the duty of all the landlords, great and
small, to support the king against all his enemies, both foreign and
domestic.
William I abolished the great earldoms - Northumbria, Mercia
and Wessex, that had been established in the reign of the Danish
King Canute. Now the country was divided into shires, or counties,
as the Normans called them. William I appointed a royal official in
each shire to be his «sheriff».
To make himself stronger than any ofhis nobles, William the Con
queror ordered that many casdes should be built in different parts of
the country. They were nearly all royal casdes. No other person was
allowed without the king’s permission.
William I replaced the Witan by a Great Council, made up of bi
shops and barons. The bishops and barons met together to talk over
governmental problems and to give their advice to the king. One of
the functions of the Great Council was to act as the king’s Supreme
Court and it presided over all serious trials.
The king’s laws were in force everywhere. Only the king had the
right to have money coined. Nobles were not allowed to make war
an one another; all men had to keep «the king’speace».
ф How the Norman Conquerors

Lived in England
The new masters were strangers in the country. They had dif
ferent maimers, customs and laws from those of the conquered
people. They spoke a foreign tongue and the Anglo-Saxon peasants
could not understand their speech. The conquerors were few in number
but they were harsh and cruel rulers.
37
The Anglo-Saxons felt great hatred towards their new masters.
The Normans did not feel safe in the conquered country for they
could be attacked at any time. They were compelled to build large
thick stone-walled castles for defence where they lived with their
families and vassals.
The Norman castle was often built on a hill or rock so that it could
not easily be attacked. The castle was as a rule a square stone tower
with very thick walls and it was surrounded by a thick stone wall
wide enough for the archers to walk along.
The chief tower where the baron and his family lived, was called
the keep. This was the strongest part of the building. Between the
keep and the outer massive wall there was a court where stood the
stables for horses and houses for the servants. Later the keep in the
Norman castle was surrounded by two or even three stone walls.
Some of the massive strong towers built by the Normans can be
seen in England today, like the white Tower of London, Tower or the
keep of the castle at Colchester which was the largest Norman
castle in England. Some, such as Windsor Castle, are still used as
residences. But most of the old Norman castles are ruins which can
still be seen in various parts of England.
The Norman noble considered war his chief occupations. Each
noble was a knight, or a fully armed mounted warrior. The armour of
a Norman knight consisted of mail, which fitted close to the body.
The head was covered with a helmet and each knight carried a shield.
His horse was also protected by armour. Nobles were trained from
their childhood. It was honourable to be a knight and the sons of
nobles were trained to become good knights. They were not taught
to read and write. They spent their childhood in military training and
as they grew up they spent their time in wars or feasting with the
guests in the halls of their castles.
ф Effects on the Language

The victorious Normans made up the new aristocracy and the
Anglo-Saxon people became their servants. The Norman aristocra
cy spoke a Norman dialect of French, a tongue of Latin origin, while
38
the Anglo-Saxons spoke English, a tongue of Germanic origin. Thus
(here were two languages spoken in the country at the same time.
Norman-French became the official language of the state. It was the
language of the ruling class spoken at court; it was the language of
the lawyers, and all the official documents were written in French or
Latin. The learned clergy whom the Normans brought into the coun
try used Latin for the most part. The richer Anglo-Saxons found it
convenient to learn to speak the language of the rulers. But the pea
sants and townspeople spoke English.
But the conquerors who settled down on English estates had to
communicate with the natives of the country and they gradually
learned to speak their language. Many of them married Anglo-Saxon
wives and their children and grandchildren grew up speaking Eng
lish. In a few generations the descendants of the Normans who had
come with William the Conqueror learned to speak the mother tongue
of the common people of England. In some time English became the
language of the educated classes and the official language of the
state.
At the time when the two languages were spoken side by side the
Anglo-Saxons learned many French words and expressions which
gradually came into the English language. Many synonyms appeared
in English, because very often both French and English words for the
same thing were used side by side.
Words of Germanic origin make up the basic vocabulary of Mo
dem English. The Anglo-Saxons spoke the simple countryman’s lan
guage and in Modem English simple everyday words are mostly
Anglo-Saxon, like «eat, land, house» and others. But as there were
no English words to describe the more complicated feudal relations
many words were adopted from the French language: «manor, noble,
baron, serve, command, obey»; or words relating to administration
and law, such as «charter, council, accuse, court, crime»; or such
military terms as «arms, troops, guard, navy, battle, victory» and
other words characterizing the way of life and customs of the Nor
man aristocracy.
The two languages gradually formed one rich English language
which already in the 14“ century was being used both in speech and
in writing. Gradually the Normans mixed with the Anglo-Saxons and
the Danes and from this mixture the English nation was formed
39
1. Prove that William the Conqueror became the greatest feudal lord
of England.
2. How did William the Conqueror reward the barons who had helped
him to conquer England?
3. What were the functions of the sheriff and what powers did he
possess in the reign of William I?
4. Prove that as a result of the Norman Conquest of England it was
mainly the Normans who made up the new aristocracy that ruled
the country.
5. Describe the way of life of a Norman noble.
6. What made it possible for William to strengthen his royal power so
greatiy? Who were his allies?
ф Villages after the Norman

Conquest
At the end of the 11th and at the beginning of the 12th century
England had a population ofabout 1.500.000 people. More than nine-
tenths lived in villages and were engaged in agriculture.
The church was the centre of the village. The Anglo-Saxon church
would be made of stone, with very thick walls and a tower. In the life
of the villagers the church was of great importance. The church bell
told men when to begin work and when to come home from the
fields. The villagers spent their time for the most part in church. The
religious services were held not only on Sundays, but also on all feast
or holy days. The people did not work on these days, and that is how
a «holy day» became a «holiday».
The church was used not only for the worship of God but also as
a storehouse, sometmi" as a prison. As the church was the strong
est building in the village, in times of danger it was used as a fortress.
The houses clustered round the church. Fifty houses were con
sidered a very large village. The largest dwelling in the village be
40
longed to the lord of the manor and was called the manor-house. The
most important Norman nobles lived in castles from which they ruled
the village.
The castle dominated over the small miserable dwellings of the
peasants. They were rough little huts with thatched roofs. They were
dark, cold and uncomfortable. The only light came from the door
when it stood open, and from very small windows that had no glass in
them. The peasants’ huts were very smoky because they had no
chimneys. The smoke of the fire could get out through the doors or
windows, or through holes in the thatched roofs. The peasants kept
their livestock in their houses. Sometimes the whole family lived and
slept in one room with their hens, pigs, dogs and all. Inside these
houses there would be veiy little furniture, a wooden table, one or
two stools, a few earthen pots, and on the floor, some straw or dead
leaves for a bed.
ф The Peasant’s Struggle

Against the Feudal Lords
Life under harsh and cruel Norman kings and barons was always
full of dangers for the peasant. The Normans treated England as a
conquered country. Especially in the north hundreds of peasant farms
were ruined, most of the homeless people died of starvation. Hun
dreds of peasant’s huts were pulled down to make hunting-grounds
for the king and his barons. For the ruined peasants hunting was
often the only way to keep themselves alive. But the cruel Forest
laws forbade hunting in the forests. The punishments for breaking
the Forest Laws were terrible. A man who killed a deer in the forest
would have his hand cut off, or he would be blinded, or even put to
death.
The peasants looked with hatred at the high towers of the castles
which were the scenes of cruelty and tyranny of the Noiman lords.
41
The position of the serfs worsened as time went on. The king, his
officials, the feudal lords and the clerical lords lived on the fruits
of the peasant’s hard labour. The feudal courts punished the disobe
dient peasants severely and forced them to perform their duties. The
bravest peasants ran away from their manor-lords. They lived in the
forests or mountainous regions, and they fearlessly hunted game in
the royal forests.
Many popular ballads express the peasants’ hatred for the ex
ploiters and their determination to fight against the feudal lords and
take revenge on them for all the sufferings. The most popular and
favourite hero of the English ballads was Robin Hood. On holidays
people sang or recited ballads about his life and adventures. The
ballads describe Robin Hood as a strong brave and skilful archer.
Robin Hood was always just to the poor people and helped them in
their troubles. Like all the peasants in the Middle Ages Robin Hood
believed in «the kind king».
History doesn’t have exact information about Robin Hood and
probably the man who is described in the popular ballads never exist
ed. But the English peasants believed that Robin Hood was a free
Saxon and he actually lived in the 12th century when the country was
ruled by the Norman conquerors. The name of Robin Hood encou
raged the English peasants in their struggle against the cruel land
lords, the king’s officials, and against the unjust royal laws. Robin
Hood was their hero, a real hero.

1. What role did the church play in the life of the villagers?
2. Explain the origin of the word origin?
3. Describe a peasant hut.
4. What was the cause of the constant struggle between the feudal
lords and the serfs?
5. Imagine that you ar* an Anglo-Saxon peasant living in the year
1090. Give your opinion of your new masters.
6. How do English ballads characterize Robin Hood? Why can he be
called a real hero of the English people?
42
ф Rise of Towns in England
in the 11th -12th Centuries
How Towns Appeared
In the course of the Anglo-Saxon conquest (5th- 7th centuries)
the few Roman towns and villas that had been built in Britain were in
the main destroyed. Since then the Anglo-Saxons lived in villages
and each village was self-sufficient. When the villagers did not work
in the fields they were busy spinning and weaving in their huts. Wool
was spun into yam on the spinning-wheel by the women, and the
yam was woven into cloth on a hand-loom by the men; the hides of
the cattle were worked into leather from which footwear and har
nesses were produced. The village black-smiths, wheelwrights and
other skilled men were also engaged in agriculture. Only in their spare
time they could work at their crafts and produce goods for them
selves, their lords and other villagers.
During the Early Middle Ages both agriculture and crafts gradu
ally developed and became more productive. By the 11th century the
heavy iron plough was being used everywhere. In many places the
three-field system of crop rotation began to replace the two-field
system. The peasants also learned how to produce better implements
of labour and armour, better footwear and cloth. As a result, both
agriculture and crafts required much more time and special know
ledge and skills.
In the 10^-11th centuries handicrafts began to separate from ag
riculture. Carpenters made ploughs, rakes and the rough furniture
for the house. Tanners turned hides into leather. Thatches mended
roofs. Smiths worked at the forge. These craftsmen could spend
very little time on agriculture. They devoted most of their time to
their crafts. As they improved their crafts they became more pro
ductive. The peasants paid them in kind, hi return for his work the
craftsman would be given a sack of flour, butter and eggs and other
agricultural products. The serf craftsmen wanted to make goods to
order and for sale and some of them left their native villages. Some
times they got the lord’s permission to leave the manor but as before
43
they were to pay the quit-rent with their articles. They strolled from
one village to another in search of customers. Handicrafts were their
main occupation now. Many serf craftsmen ran away from the manor
and settled in places where they could sell their articles and buy raw
materials, foodstuffs, and other necessities of life. The settlements
of runaway serfs gradually grew into towns.
Such towns sprang up at crossroads where markets would be
held and people would come from the surrounding country-side to
buy and sell their animals and foods and merchants would come from
far and wide to sell their goods. The runaway peasant craftsmen
working with wood, metal and leather also settled near a monastery
or a famous cathedral or near a feudal castle. Towns grew up at
places like Bury St. Edmunds, Canterbury and Durham where there
were great monasteries, cathedrals or castles.
It is interesting to note that almost all the towns were built on
rivers which supplied the inhabitants with water and were an impor
tant means of communication. The town was built at some distance
from the mouth of a river: a river - port was safer from attack than
a port on the coast. Dover, Southampton, Plymouth, Boston grew up
as ports.
Grimsby, Scarborough and Yarmouth grew up as fishing centres.
Many towns sprang up near bridges, like Bristol which grew up
near a bridge over the Avon. But there were very few bridges and
people had to cross a river by a ford or by a ferry. Near these places
towns sprang up too. Horseferry Street, a street in London, marks
the place where once there used to be a great ferry. The same is true
of many English towns the names of which end in «ford». Take Ox
ford for example, a town which grew up near a great ford for oxen
driven for sale to the town. Such towns as Cambridge, Hereford,
Bedford and many others grew up at places near big bridges or fords.
Medieval Towns
By the end of the 10th century new towns had sprung up in Eng
land. Such old towns as London, Winchester, York which had be
come small trading setdements, after the Romans had left Britain,
44
also grew into centres of trade and crafts. In the 11th -12th centuries
the towns were very small. London had only 20.000 people but it
was considered a large centre of population.
By the 13th century there were already more than 160 towns in
England. By the 14th century London had 40.000 people, York and
Bristol had 12.000. Some other towns had only a few thousands of
people, like Oxford, for example, with a population of 5.000 men.
Most of these early towns did not differ very much from the vil
lages. They were surrounded by walls which had a number of gates,
guarded by gate - keepers, who opened them at dawn and locked
them at sunset.
London was then the largest city in the country. But many dis
tricts which are now in the heart of London were then separate vil
lages or forests. Even Westminster area where many Government
offices and the Houses of Parliament are situated today was not a
part of London.
The medieval town grew in the small area within its walls. This
growth was not planned. The buildings were crowded together and
the streets were often very narrow. Many houses had two or three
stories. There were many dark corners and backyards where rob
bers could lurk. The streets were not lit at night and the robbers
would attack any passer-by who dared to be out late. It was the duty
of the watchmen to go through the streets at night and ring a bell,
calling out the time and state of the weather.
Nearly all the houses in the town were made of wood and fre
quent fires destroyed whole districts. Special orders were issued to
secure the safety of towns. With the last stroke of the church bell in
the evening all the townspeople had to put out their fires and lights
and the town used to sink in darkness.
The shops where different goods were sold were on the ground
floor. As a rule all the shops of one trade were next to each other,
and this is still reflected in the names of such London streets as Milk
Street, the Poultry, Fish Street and Haberdasher’s Row. Com was
for sale on Comhill, meat in Butchers’ Row, and hay in the Haymar-
ket.
There were no pavements at the sides of the street. Along the
street ran a gutter into which people threw their mbbish. There was
45
ф Development of Trade
in England
in the 13th -14th Centuries
The separation of crafts from agriculture and the growth of towns
brought about great changes in the economy of the country. The
town artisans produced commodities, that is, goods made for sale;
they sold their goods for money and bought foodstuffs and articles of
other craftsmen for themselves, and raw material for their work
shops. In this way there gradually grew up in the towns a system of
payment by money instead of by. services, as was the case under the
manor system. As a result of the development of commodity produc
tion both in towns and in villages trade began to develop in England
<mi a larger scale than before.
Markets
People from the country came to the town markets to sell their
surplus products and to buy the townsmen’s goods. The town market
was held, as a rule, on a certain day of the week. On market-day
stalls were put up in the market-place, which was in any open space
near the centre of the town. The king’s permission was needed be
fore a market could be held.
Before the market opened the quality of goods and their prices
were announced. Then the church bell rang and that was a sign that
business might begin.
Judges sat in a special court all day long ready to hear complaints
and setde disputes. Special officials would go round to see that all
was well. If a London baker sold a faked loaf of bread, empty inside,
he was driven through the city in a cage with a loaf hanging from his
neck, so that everyone could see that he had deceived the towns
people. Every market-piace had its stocks in which the guilty one
were forced to sit and a pillory in which a man was compelled to
stand with his head and arms fixed, while people threw mud, stale
eggs or rotten onions at him.
48
Fairs
Far more important and exciting than the weekly markets were
(he fairs. Fairs were held once a year and they lasted a week, or
even two or three weeks.
English merchants from all parts of the country came to the fair.
Some of the fairs were veiy famous, not only in the British Isles but
in foreign countries as well, and merchants from overseas came here
to trade. The merchants from other towns and countries brought to
the fair goods which were in high demand and sold them wholesale.
Among the best known were the fairs in London, Boston and Win
chester. At these fairs one could meet many foreigners: merchants
from Flanders with fine cloth, merchants from the Baltic ports with
furs, wax, iron and copper, merchants selling wines from Spain and
France, silk and velvets from Italy, and most exiting of all, perhaps,
were the merchants who brought goods from the East, spices (pep
per, cloves, nutmeg and ginger), silk, pearls, and even monkeys.
Some fairs were specialized. There were horse fairs, cheese fairs,
cloth fairs, wool fairs and others. And at every fair there were all
sorts of amusements: puppets and dancing dolls amused the children,
clowns and juggler sent the crowds into roars of laughter, acrobats
and performing animals were always a great attraction.

1. Why could the peasants sell a certain part of their produce in the
13*Ь-і4Л centuries?
2. Why did the peasants have to sell part of their produce?
3. Imagine yourself a citizen living in a medieval town. Describe a
market and a fair.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

You have acquainted yourselves with the ancient and early
medieval history of Britain as well as with the Norman Conquest and
the growth of towns, crafts and trade in the 12th-14th centuries.
49
You have also learned many new words and you are able now to
make topical reports in English.
Use the information you have received from these lectures and
recollect what you learned at your history lessons in Russian to answer
the questions given below and to prepare reports.
1. Make a report on the history of the conquests of Britain from the
earliest times to the 11th centuries.
2. Characterize the first three stages of social development, that is,
primitive society, slave society and feudal society.
3. Speak about the life of the main classes in feudal society - the
feudal lords and the serf peasants?
4. How was England governed in the early period of its history up to
the 11th century?
5. Speak about the Christian Church in England from the 6th to the
11th century and say what part it played in feudal life.
6. Make a report on medieval courts and punishments.
7. Speak about the development of economy in England from ancient
times to the 12th century. Make short reports on the development of.
a) arable-farming;
b) crafts;
c) trade.
8. What important changes began to take place in the feudal economy
of England in the 12“ -14th centuries?
9. Sum up eveiything you already know about the history of the
English language and prepare a short report.
10. Sum up what you know about the origin of some English town-
names and make a report on «Early Britain in Town-names».
ф The Magna Charta

John became king in 1199, when his brother Richard, called «the
Lionheart», died. He 1c->* most of his lands in France and gained the
name of «Lackland». When he increased taxes and began to ignore
the law, the nobles became angry. They refused to obey him unless
he agreed to give them certain rights and privileges. In 1215, John
50
met the nobles in the meadow of Runnymede, where they forced
him to sign the Magna Charta, or Great Charta.
The Magna Charta lessened the king’s power and increased that
of nobles. A king could no longer collect taxes without the consent of
the Great Council. A freeman accused of a crime had the right to a
trial by his peers. The king had to obey the laws.
Although the Magna Charta was written by nobles for nobles, it
came to be viewed as an important step towards democracy. It brought
to the government the new idea that even a king is above the law.
ф The Hundred Years War

In the early 1300s, the English still held a small part of south-west
France. The kings of France, who were growing more powerful,
wanted to drive the English out. In 1337 the English king, Edward Ш,
declared himself king of France. This angered the French even more.
In 1339, the French and English fought the first in a long series of
battles known as the Hundred Years War.
The Hundred Years War began when the English defeated the
French fleet and won control of the sea. The English then invaded
France. They defeated the French at the battle of Crecy in 1347 and
again at the Battle of Agincourt in 1417. By 1453, the English held
only the French seaport at Calais, and the war came to an aid.
0 The Wars of the Roses

Peace did not come to England after the Hundred Years War. In
1455, two noble families, York and Lancaster, began a struggle for
the throne which lasted many years. The York’s symbol was a white
rose, and the Lancaster’s symbol was a red rose. For this reason the
struggle between York and Lancaster was called the Wars of the
Roses.
51
ф The Tudors
When the struggles of the Wars of the Roses ended in 1485, a
family called the Tudors, who fought on the Lancastrian side, took
over the English throne. The first Tudor king, Henry VII, prepared
the way for the Renaissance. He strengthened the monarchy and
encouraged trade, which made England peaceful and prosperous.
His efforts were continued by his son, Hemy VIII, who became
king in 1509. Henry VIII enjoyed and encouraged art, literature, music,
hunting and festivities. He even composed his own music. Under his
rule, English nobles and merchants began to look to Renaissance
Italy for guidance in politics, diplomacy and behaviour.
ф The Church of England

The reformation of the church of England was led by the mo
narch. It started as a political quarrel between the Tudor king, Henry
VIII, and Pope Clement VII in 1526. At that time Hemy was mar
ried to Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella
of Spain and the aunt of the German emperor Charles V. Hemy and
Catherine had one child, Maiy. Now that Catherine was older, Hen-
іу feared she could not longer have children, and Henry wanted a
son to succeed to the throne. At the same time Hemy had fallen in
love with Ann Boleyn, a young woman of the court. He wanted the
Pope to end his marriage to Catherine so that he could many Anne
and hopefully have a son. When the Pope refused, Hemy declared
that the Pope no longer had power over the Church of England. In
1534, the English Parliament passed a law known as the Act of Su
premacy, stating that the king was the head of the English Church.
Any English church leader who did not accept the law would stand
trial as a traitor. One of the most famous men executed for opposing
the king’s policy was Thomas More. Hemy divorced Catherine and
married Anne Boleyn. A few years later he had her executed for
treason. Anne’s only child had been a girl, Elizabeth. Henry then
married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after giving Hemy the son
he wanted.
52
1. Write six sentences about Alfred the Great using the following
verbs in the past tense: to be, to build, to become, to sign, to have,
to want.
2. Finish the sentences:
a) Edward ПІ declared himself King of France ...
b) The French and English fought long series of battles ...
c) Two noble families fought the Wars of the Roses ...
d) Heniy VIII led the Reformation of the Church of England ...
e) The English Parliament passed the «Act of Supremacy» ...
3. In the chart below there are some words taken from the text; say
which class they belong to (adjective, noun or adverb), isolate the
suffixes and say how they are formed. Choose five of the words
and write a sentence for each.
Word Class formation

Inhabitants noun, inhabit + ant
Germanic
Gradually
Settlements
Leadership
Feudalism
Powerful
Guidance
Hopefully
Reformation
Prosperous
Famous
e.g. The Celts were the first inhabitants of Britain.
4. Add the correct years to these sentences.

a) Harold became king in ...;
b) William the Conqueror was crowned King of England on
25th December, ...;
c) Richard the Lionheart died in ...;
d) King John signed the Magna Charta in ... .
53
When Henry VIII died in 1547, after marrying three more times,
his 9-year-old son became King Edward VI. Since Edward was too
young and sick to rule, a council of Protestant lords governed Eng
land for him. When Edward died in 1553, Henry’s first daughter Mary
became queen. She was Catholic and accepted the Pope as head of
the English Church. She persecuted the Protestants and the people
began to call her «Bloody Mary».
Mary died in 1558 without a child to succeed her. Her half sister
Elizabeth, who was 25, became queen. Elizabeth I was Protestant
and, with the help of Parliament, ended the Pope’s authority over the
English Church.
Elizabeth and Parliament decided that the English Church should
be Protestant, but with some Catholic features. The monarch would
be head of the Church, but, at the same time, bishops would handle
daily affairs as they did in the Catholic Church.
Most English people were pleased with the blend of Protestant
belief and Catholic practice. The few groups of Catholics, who
were not pleased, remained outside the English Church. Some
groups of Protestants also opposed Elizabeth’s Church. As they
wanted to purify the Church of Catholic ways, they became known
as Puritans.
Under Elizabeth I, England became the leading Protestant power
in Europe. Spain, under Philip II, remained the leading Catholic power.
In order to defeat England, Philip ordered the building of the Spanish
Armada, a fleet of 130 ships. In the spring of 1588, the Armada
sailed towards England. Elizabeth had the English fleet reorganized.
A new navy of 134 fighting ships and merchant vessels was formed.
Expert sailors handled the English ships with a great deal of skill.
One sailor, Sir Francis Drake, was famous for his overseas voyages
and his capture of Spanish ships.
The English were able to fight the Spanish ships successfully one
by one. Only half of the Armada survived.
54
36 The Stuarts and the Civil War
In 1603 Queen Elizabeth I died. The Crown passed to a distant
relative, James VI of Scotland, a member of the Stuart family. He
became James I of England. James I believed in rule by divine right.
When Parliament objected to some of his actions, he dismissed it and
ruled without legislature for ten years.
When James I died in 1625, his son Charles I became king. Charles
I held the same beliefs about the monarchy as his father. In 1628, he
was forced to call a meeting of Parliament to approve new taxes to
pay for the war with France and Spain.
In 1629 Charles I dismissed the Parliament.
In 1642 civil war broken out between the Crown and Parliament.
Those who backed the Crown were called Cavaliers. They were
mostly wealthy Roman Catholics and Anglicans. Those who backed
Parliament were called Roundheads because they wore their hair
short. They were mostly middle and lower-class Puritans and other
Calvinists.
Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan leader, who backed Parliament set up
a New Model Army. In 1649, the New Model Army defeated the
King’s army and ended the war.
Cromwell and his supporters put Charles I on trial and, in 1649,
beheaded him.
Cromwell took over the rule of England, now called the Common
wealth.
He finally did away with Parliament and governed as a military
dictator for the Puritan minority. Many Puritans were very strict.
They disapproved of dancing, theatre-going, sports, and other po
pular amusements. They believed that people should spend all their
free time praying and reading the Bible. Despite this, Puritan rule
was not completely gloomy. Cromwell himself was fond of music
and horses and allowed women to act on stage for the first time.
After Cromwell died, his son Richard took over. But by 1660 Parlia
ment decided that England needed a monarch again. The choice was
Charles П, Charles I’s son, who was living in France.
55
1. Insert the appropriate verb in the right tense:
a) After Gromwell... , his son Richard ... over.
b) The English fleet... by Elizabeth I.
c) Puritans ... people should spend all their time ... and ...
the Bible.
d) Henry.........Catherine of Aragon.
e) Hemy wanted the Pope ... his marriage to Catherine.
f) Jane Seymour died after ... Henry the ... son he wanted.
g) In 597 A.D. the pope ... a mission of monks to England.
2. Change the following sentences into the indirect form:
a) Hemy VIII said: «After my death, my son Edward will
become king».
b) Mary said: «I will accept the Pope as the head of the English
Church».
c) Elizabeth said: «The bishops will be allowed some power».
d) James I said: «I will rule without Parliament».
e) Charles I said: «I will do as my father did».
f) Cromwell said: «The Commonwealth will be ruled by me
alone».
3. Write one sentence about each of the following:
a) Elizabeth I ...
b) The Puritans ...
c) The Spanish Armada ...
d) The Cavaliers and the Roundheads ...
e) Oliver Cromwell...
ф The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the textile in
dustry. In the 1600s and early 1700s, cloth was made by a domestic
system. Most of the work was done in the workers’ cottages, where
families worked together. Travelling merchants brought the workers
raw wool and cotton and picked up the finished cloth to sell. The
domestic system could not meet the growing demand for cotton.
56
The first major change came in 1733 when the flying shuttle was
invented. It reduced the time needed to weave cloth by half. In 1764
the spinning jenny was invented. The jenny made it possible for one
person to spin many threads at the same time. When ways were
found to use the power of falling water instead of hand power to run
the textile machine, the factory system began. Workers still lived in
their cottages, but they came to the factories to work. In some time,
towns grew up around the factories. In 1769, a Scottish engineer
named James Watt perfected the steam engine. Steam soon replaced
water as the major source of power. Now factories of all kinds could
be set up near raw materials and markets. The Industrial Revolution
caused changes in society. In England, until the Middle Ages, there
had been two major social classes - the nobles, who were the upper
class, and the peasants, who were the lower class. Then a middle
class of rich merchants developed. During the Industrial Revolution,
the middle class increased in numbers and grew richer. Many facto
ry, railroad and mine owners became as wealthy as the nobles. They
began to keep company with the members of the upper class and to
gain political power. They also gained the right to vote and to be
represented in Parliament.
The Industrial Revolution also created an industrial working class.
Most members of this class were peasants who could no longer sup
port themselves by farming. Since they had no property of their own
to sell, they had to sell their labour in order to live. In the early years,
members of the working class did not benefit from the Industrial
Revolution. They worked 12 to 16 hours a day, six days a week, for
low wages. Working conditions were difficult, dirty and dangerous.
Many people were killed or injured by unsafe machinery. The work
ing class did not have job security.
Most children of the working class did not have time to go to
school or to play. Instead they worked in factories and mines along
with the men and women. They were paid less than the adults. Be
cause their bodies were still growing, children were sometimes crip
pled by the work. Another change brought by the Industrial Revolu
tion was the growth of the cities. Before the Industrial Revolution,
less than 1 percent of the people in Great Britain lived in cities. By
1900 the number had reached 75 percent. Indeed, 10 percent of the
people in the whole country lived in London.
57
Soon the cities became overcrowded. Houses could not be built
fast enough. Sometimes, a dozen people had to live in one room.
Many moved into damp basements and rooms with no windows.
Epidemics of cholera, typhoid, and tuberculosis were common. The
death rate among the working class was more than twice that among
the middle and upper classes. Many people in the middle and upper
classes were indifferent to the suffering of the workers, but some of
the members of the middle and upper classes, however, believed that
higher wages and better working conditions could still produce good
profits. The reformers began by starting schools, orphanages and
hospitals for poor. Improvements were slow, but gradually life be
came better for the working class.
ф Imperialism
The long reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) was marked by
imperialism. The Queen was named Empress of India in 1877 and
held this tide for 25 years. There were many reasons for imperia
lism. One was the Industrial Revolution. The factories of the indus
trialized countries needed raw materials ( rubber, cotton, oil, tin cop
per, etc.) and there was a great demand for tea, sugar and cocoa.
Both raw materials and food could be found in undeveloped areas,
such as Africa, Asia and Latin America. Other reasons for imperial
ism were nationalism and the idea that western countries had a duty
to «civilize» the «backwar6> peoples of the world. The British poet
Rudyard Kipling called this mission «the white man’s burden».
ф World War I
World War I started between Serbia and Austria - Hungary in
1914, but grew so large that 31 countries, with 61 million soldiers,
took part. Although most of the batdes took place in Europe, they
58
also fought in the Middle East and Africa. Naval warfare took place
all over the world. There were also new weapons. Machine guns
fired bullets one after another at rapid speed. Giant guns fired shells
more than 75 miles, or 120 kilometres. Airplanes carried bombs be
hind the enemy lines and dropped them on enemy cities. Submarines
attacked ships at sea. Poison gases were used. Tanks and flame
throwers were introduced. And both sides tried to starve the other
civilians. Much of the fighting in World War I took place on the West
ern front, fighting zone between France and Germany. There, the
opposing armies dug themselves into the earth in trenches protected
by barbed wire. This kind of fighting is called trench warfare. In
1917 the United States declared war on Germany and sent 2 million
troops to Europe. On 11 November 1918 Germany agreed to an ar
mistice World War I was over. It had cost the lives of 10 million
soldiers and 13 million civilians.

1. Make a sentence using each of the words:
a) jenny;
b) merchants;
c) water;
d) conditions;
e) shuttle;
f) demand.
2. Read the chapter «The Industrial Revolution» and find out 5 verbs
in the passive voice.
3. What were the reasons for the Industrial Revolution?
4. How many reasons for imperialism can you find?
40 England
England is the largest and richest country of Great Britain. For
the most part its territory is flat or undulating. There are upland re
gions in the north and in Devon and Cornwall. The capital ofEngland
59
is London, but there are other large industrial cities, such as Birming
ham, Liverpool and Manchester. Other very interesting and famous
cities are York, Chester, Oxford and Cambridge.
Stonehenge is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the
world. This ancient circle of stones stands in Southwest England. It
was built between 3.000 and 1.500 B.C. and it measures 30 metres
across. It is made with massive blocks of stone up to 4 metres high.
Why it was built is a mystery. Some people think it was used for
pagan religious ceremonies. Not far from Stonehenge stands Salis
bury Cathedral. It is a splendid example of an English Gothic Cathe
dral; it has the highest spires in England and was built in the 12th
century. Inside the cathedral there is one of four copies of the Magna
Charta and also the oldest clock in England.
Chester is a very important town in the north-west of England. It
has about sixty thousand inhabitants. In the past it used to be a Ro
man fort. In Chester there is a famous toy museum which contains
over 5.000 ancient and modern toys, and a dolls’ hospital where dolls
and teddies are restored and repaired.
Oxford is the home of the oldest university in England. Most of
the oldest colleges are situated just a short walk from each other in
the centre of town. The most famous college is Christ Church. It has
a great hall dating from the reign of Henry VIII and its chapel has
become the Cathedral of Oxford.
Cambridge is the home of Britain’s second oldest University. It is
situated on the river Cam. A beautiful way to visit it is from the river,
hiring a punt and going under its beautiful bridges.
York was the capital of Northern England. It is one of the best
preserved medieval cities in Europe. It was built by the Romans,
conquered by the Anglo-Saxons and ruled by the Vikings. If you are
in York you cannot miss the Shambles, a medieval street where the
buildings are very close together, and York Minster, the largest Goth
ic Cathedral north of the Alps.
The Lake District is a lovely region of lakes and mountains in
Northwest England, in a region called Cumbria. England’s largest
lake, Windermere, and the highest mountain, Scafell Pike, are here.
The Romantic poets Wordsworth and De Quincey lived here and
were called the Lake Poets.
60
1. State whether these statements are true or false:
a) Oxford University is older than Cambridge University.
b) People know why Stonehenge was built.
c) The oldest clock in England is in York Minster.
d) Wordsworth lived in the Lake District.
e) Chester was built by the Romans.
f) York Minster is the largest Gothic Cathedral north of the Alps.
2. Write a sentence about each of the following:
a) Shambles ...
b) Cumbria...
c) The River Cam ...
d) Stonehenge ...
e) Chester ...
f) Salisbury Cathedral...
3. Ask questions and answer them using the following words:
a) important cities / England;
b) old college / Oxford;
c) well preserved medieval city / Europe;
d) large Gothic Cathedral / Alps;
e) famous prehistoric site / world;
f) high and old spires / England.
ф Scotland
Scotland is the country in the north of Great Britain, beyond Hadri
an’s Wall, and is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland. Scotland is divided into three natural regions: The
Southern Uplands, the Central Lowlands and the Highlands and is
lands. A lot of places in Scotland are a natural paradise, still un
touched by man. Scotland’s landscape is very attractive with glens
(narrow, deep valleys), wild mountains and deep locks. The capital
of Scotland is Edinburgh, well known for its castle and for the Edin
burgh International Festival which is held every August. Glasgow is
the industrial capital of Scotland. It lies on the River Clyde and is the
third largest city in Great Britain. The typical products of Scotland
61
are timber, whisky, salmon, bagpipes and tartans. Golfis the Scottish
national sport and it seems to have originated in this country. Scot
land is also the land of myths and mysteries; every castle has its
ghost. Glamic Castle is said to have nine of them, including Macbeth,
and who has never heard of the Lock Ness Monster.
ф Wales
Wales, or Cymru in Welsh, is a country in the west of Great Bri
tain. It is mainly a mountainous land with a chiefly agricultural eco
nomy and an industrial and coal-mining area in the south. The land
scape is beautiful and many English people move to Wales when
they retire, attracted by the mild climate of the coast. Cardiff a large
city in the south, on the Bristol Channel, was chosen as capital of
Wales in 1955, mainly because of its size. Since 1536, Wales has
been governed by England and the heir to the throne of England has
the title of Prince of Wales, but Welsh people have a strong sense of
identity: there is a Welsh Nationalist party which wants indepen
dence from the U.K. and the Welsh language is still used in certain
parts of the country.
The Welsh Language

Welsh is an ancient Celtic language similar to Breton, spoken in
Brittany, France. In the ‘ 60s Welsh was given equal status with
English as an official language and is used in the law courts. Road
signs are bilingual, it is taught in schools and some TV programmes
are broadcasted in Welsh. However, only about 20% of the popula
tion speak Welsh, mainly in the rural north and west.
History
Together with the people from Cornwall, Western Scotland and
the Isle of Man, the Welsh are the original Britons. In fact, the Celts
62
were inhabitants of Britain long before the invasion of the Romans,
Anglo-Saxons and Normans. They came from the Iberian Peninsula
and are shorter, darker and stockier than the Anglo-Saxons. Wales is
a land of legends - their heroes are famous for fighting the Saxon
invaders. William the Conqueror did not attempt to conquer Wales
though he gave the border lands to his lords and invited them to build
castles and help themselves to Welsh lands. Edward I finally con
quered Wales in the 13th century. Their king, Lewellyn, was killed
and Edward promised them a Prince of Royal blood, with spotless
character who spoke neither English nor French. In fact he named
his oneweek-old son the first Prince of Wales! The tradition con
tinues today. Rebellions continued unsuccessfully and peaceful union
did not come until the reign of Henry VII (15th century) who was
Welsh by birth and education and was proud of the arts and history
of his people. He and his son Henry VIII brought peace and order to
the land of their fathers. When Elizabeth I became queen, she had
the Bible and prayer book printed in Welsh but the Welsh people kept
out of the religious quarrels of the next centuries. Their Free Church
opened schools to read the Bible.

1. Write a sentence about each of the following, giving some useful
information for visitors to Scotland.
a) Edinburgh...
b)Golf...
c) Nessie ...
d) The Highlands ...
e) Whisky...
2. Complete the sentences filling the blanks:
a) The Welsh name for Wales is ... (Cmyru, Cymru, Cmruy).
b) Wales is to the ... from England (east, south, west).
c) Cardiff... the capital since 1955. (is, has been, was).
d )... speaks English, (everyone, a small percentage, no-one).
e) Welsh is ... important as English, officially, (more, less, as).
3. Write in your own words how the Prince of Wales was chosen.
63
4. Write the events which took place at the following times:
a) 1200s...
b) 1400s...
c) 1336...
d) 1955 ...
e) 1960s ...
ф Ireland
The Gaelic name for Ireland, an island in the north-west of Eu
rope, is Eire. It is part of the British Isles and is separated from
Britain by the North Channel, the Irish Sea and St. George’s Channel.
A central flat land is surrounded by mountains, the highest, Car-
rantouhill (1.040 m) being in Kerry, a county in the south-west of the
island; there are several lakes and rivers - the longest river is the
Shannon (370 km). The climate of Ireland is temperate; winters are
never very cold and summers are mild.
Most of Ireland is occupied by the Republic of Ireland, a parlia
mentary democracy divided into 26 counties. The Irish Parliament is
made up of two houses: the Dail and the Seanad.
The Head of State is the President and the Head of Government
is the Prime Minister, who has the executive power.
History
In the fifth century B.C. Ireland was invaded by the Gaels and
the Celts, two peoples speaking the same language and with a similar
culture but divided into a lot of small clans, always fighting one against
the other.
In the fifth century A.D. St. Patrick and other monks brought
Christianity to Ireland -~nd the country became the cradle of Europe
an monasticism. In the Middle Ages Irish monks founded monas
teries all over Europe: St. Gall is Switzerland; StColumba in Bobbio,
Italy; St. Killian in Wurzburg, Germany and many others.
64
From the 8th to the 10th century Ireland was attacked by the Vi
kings. In 1002 King Brian Bora defeated the Vikings and became
king of Ireland, but peace did not come. There were many small
kingdoms and they fought continuously.
In 1167 the Anglo-Normans came to Ireland to make peace and
were assimilated by the local population. They brought the English
parliament, law and system of administration to the island.
In 1541 Henry VIII declared himself King of Ireland. Irish lands,
especially in Ulster, were confiscated and colonised by Protestant
English and Scottish people, who, because of religious differences,
were never assimilated into the native population and began to fight
against the Irish. Eventually, in 1601, the army of Elizabeth I defe
ated the Irish and the island was governed by the English Parliament.
In 1800, with the Act of Union, Ireland came under direct British
rule.
A devastating potato famine in the 1840s killed thousands of Irish
and forced millions to emigrate, mainly to North America.
The Irish had never accepted the Act of Union and there had
been sporadic armed rebellions in the 19th century. In 1916 an armed
rising was put down, but with the elections of 1918 the first parlia
ment (Dail) was established.
In 1921 the Irish Free State was founded, but Ulster, after a civil
war and by means of a referendum remained in the United Kingdom.
In 1949 the Irish Free State declared itself the Republic of Ire
land.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland, also known as Ulster, is still a part of the UK. It
is made of six counties. One third ofthe population lives in and around
the capital, Belfast, which is also the most important port and indus
trial and commercial centre. Most of Northern Ireland’s trade is with
Great Britain. Some parts of the region have remained mainly rural.
Northern Ireland has a strong cultural traditions: songs, dances, li
terature and festivals. It has its own Arts Council, and there are
orchestras, fteatre, ballet and opera companies.
65
Gaelic
Irish or Gaelic is a Celtic language close to Scottish Gaelic, Welsh
and Breton. It used to be the language spoken by the majority of the
population until 1800.
Nowadays the two official languages in Ireland are English and
Gaelic. 11% of the population is bilingual and Irish is spoken as the
first language in areas called Gaeltacht, situated mainly along the
western coast.

Complete the following with the most correct word or phrase:
1. Sinead O’Connor became famous
a) for her shaven head;
b) for singing a song by Prince;
c) for being a daughter of Ireland.
2. Irish Gaelic is similar to a form of
a) German;
b) English;
c) French.
3. The Irish who speak Gaelic are
a) more than half the population;
b) less than half the population;
c) a small minority.
4. Gaelic is more widely spoken in
a) inland areas;
b) coastal areas;
c) northern areas.
5. The Republic of Ireland
a) is an independent state;
b) has a special treaty with the United States;
c) has a special treaty w i ththe British Parliament.
6. In 1921 Ulster remained in the United Kingdom because
a) the majority of people wanted it;
b) the ruling government decided to;
c) Ireland did not want them.
66
44 London
As well as being the capital of England, London is the capital of
the UK. In the eighteenth century Dr. Samuel Johnson, a great man
of letters, said: «А man who is tired of London is tired of life». This
sentence is still true. London is a great political centre, a great com
mercial centre, a paradise for theatre-goers and shoppers, but it is
also a very quiet place with its parks and its ancient buildings, and a
capital of culture with its museums and libraries.
History of London
London was founded by the Romans in 43 A.D. and was called
Londinium. In 61 A.D. the town was burnt down and when it was
rebuilt by the Romans it was surrounded by a wall. That area within
the wall is now called the City of London.
When William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066 he made
London his base. He built the Tower of London and was crowned at
Westminster Abbey. During the Middle Ages many churches and
monasteries were built. Merchants and craftsmen lived inside the
City walls and worked in particular areas. During the Tudor period
(16th century) London became an important economic and financial
centre. The Londoners of the Elizabethan period built the first thea
tres. 1666 was the year of the Great Fire of London, which destroyed
most of the city. After the fire many buildings were built in a much
safer way. During the Victorian period (19th century) London was
one of the most important centres of the Industrial Revolution and
the centre of the British Empire. Today London is a cosmopolitan
city and its population is almost 7.000.000.
Museums
The British Museum is the largest and richest museum in the
world. It was founded in 1753 and contains one of the world’s richest
67
collections of antiquities and the British National Library. The Egyp
tian Galleries contain human and animal mummies. Some parts of
Athen’s Parthenon and the Rosetta Stone, which enabled us to deci
pher hieroglyphic texts, are in the Greek section. In the Manuscript
section are the originals of the Magna Charta, of many famous books
and also the original manuscripts of some Beatles songs.
The National Gallery stands on the north side of Trafalgar Square,
it contains a collection of paintings from the 13th century to this cen
tury.
The Tate Gallery used to be a branch of the National Gallery, but
in 1955 it became an independent institution. It contains famous paint
ings by Turner, Blake, Hogarth and the Pre-Raphaelites.
Madame Tussaud’s is an exhibition of hundreds of lifesize wax
models of famous people of yesterday and today. The collection was
started by Madame Tussaud, a French modeller in wax, in the 18th
century. Here you can meet Cassius Clay, Marilyn Monroe, Hum
phrey Bogart, Elton John, Picasso, the Royal Family, The Beatles,
Adolf Hitler and many other writers, film-stars, singers, politicians,
footballers and so on.

1. Give definitions for the following:
a) A museum;
b) A gallery;
c) A wax work museum;
d) A manuscript;
e) Hieroglyphics;
f) Mummies.
2. Put the following sentences in the correct chronological order:
a) The Industrial Revolution increased the importance of
London.
b) London was William the Conqueror’s base.
c) The Great Fire destroyed most of the city.
d) Many places of worship were built.
e)The Romans rebuilt London.
68
ф British Institutions
Parliament
Parliament is the most important authority in Britain. Parliament
first met in the 13th century and its powers developed gradually. Bri
tain does not have a written constitution, but a set of laws.
1215: the nobles forced King John to accept Magna Charta;
1264: the first parliament of nobles met;
1689: Declaration of Rights. Mary I and William ПІ became the
first constitutional monarchs. They could rule only with the support
of the Parliament; since then the power of Parliament has grown
under a number of Acts of Parliament. Technically Parliament is
made up of three parts: The Monarch, the House of Lords and the
House of Commons.
The Monarchy
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which means
that the sovereign reigns but does not rule. The continuity of the
English monarchy has been interrupted only once from 1649-1659
during the Cromwell republic. Succession to the throne is hereditary
but only for Protestants in the direct line of descent. The monarch
has a number of roles and serves formally as head of state, head of
the executive, head of the judiciary, head of the legislature, com
mander-in-chief of the armed forces, and «supreme governor» of
the Church of England. The monarch is expected to be politically
neutral, and should not make political decisions, and in fact, he acts
only on the advice of political ministers and cannot make laws, im
pose taxes, spend public money or act unilaterally. In this sense con
temporary Britain is governed by Her Majesty Government in the
name of the Queen. Nevertheless the monarch still performs some
important executive and legislative duties including opening and dis
solving Parliament, signing bills which have been passed by both
Houses ( the Royal Assent), holding audiences with the Prime Mi
nister and fulfilling international duties as head of the state.
69
The monarch is a permanent part of the British political system,
unlike temporary politicians, and therefore often has a greater know
ledge of domestic and international politics. The present sovereign is
Queen Elizabeth II who was crowned in Westminster abbey in 1953.
Arguments against the monarchy as a continuing institution in British
life maintain that it is out-of-date, too expensive and nondemocratic,
while arguments in favour suggest that it has developed and adapted
to modem requirements and that it demonstrates stability, is not sub
ject to political manipulation and performs an important ambassado
rial function in Britain and overseas. The British public in general
shows considerable affection for the Royal Family over and above
its representative role.

1. State whether the following statements are true or false and correct
the false ones:
a) The UK is an absolute monarchy.
b) The first child of the monarch automatically becomes
king / queen on his/her death or abdication.
c) The Royal Assent means that the monarch is not present
d) Cromwell’s republic lasted ten years.
e) Britain’s Constitution was written down in the 13th century.
f) Magna Charta was created by the nobles.
2. Write four arguments for or four arguments against the monarchy
in Britain. What is your personal opinion?
3. Why do you think most British people are fond ofthe Royal Family?
4. Which other countries can you think of that have a monarchy?
5. What are the following dates important for?
a) 1215;
b) 1264;
c) 1689;
d) 1649;
e) 1066;
f) 1558.
70
The House of Lords
The House of Lords comprises about 1.200 peers including he
reditary peers, life peers, lords of appeal, archbishops and bishops.
The house is presided over by the Lord Chancellor.
The House of Lords has no real power but acts rather as an
advisory council for the House of Commons. In fact, the Lords can
suggest amendments to a bill proposed by the Commons but after
two rejections they are obliged to accept it. As well as having legis
lative functions, the Lord is the highest court of appeal. Many people
think that the House of Lords should be abolished.
The House of Commons

The House of Commons consists of Members ofParliament (MPs)
who are elected by the adult suffrage of the British people in general
elections which are held at least every five years. The country is
divided into 651 constituencies each of which elects one MP who
then holds a seat in Parliament. The Commons, therefore, has 651
MPs, of whom only 6.3. per cent are women. The party, which wins
the most seats, forms the Government and its leader becomes Prime
Minister. The functions of the House of Commons are legislation and
scrutiny of government activities. The house is presided over by the
Speaker who is appointed by the Government after consultation with
the leader of the Opposition. The government party sits on the Spea
ker’s right while on his left sit the members of the Opposition. Unlike
the members of the House of Lords, all members of the House of
Commons are paid a salary.
The Political Parties

Thanks to the British electoral system there are few political par
ties in Britain. The main ones are: the Conservative Party, the La
bour Party and the Liberal Democratic Party. In recent years the
Green Party has gained a good number of votes but very few seats.
Other smaller parties such as the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymiy
71
(the Welsh National Party), the Protestant Northern Irish parties and
Sinn Fein (the Catholic Northern Irish Party) also have some repre
sentation in the House of Commons.
The Conservative Party mainly represents the middle and upper
classes, but a sizeable percentage of skilled ,and unskilled workers
have always voted Conservative. Its support comes mostly from
business interests and it upholds the values of tradition, free enter
prise and privatization.
The Labour Party has traditionally gathered its support from the
Trade Unions, the working claps and some middle class backing. Its
policies are nationalization and the welfare state.
The Prime Minister

When the leader of the party who wins the elections is made
Prime Minister, his first job is to choose his cabinet consisting of the
most important ministers in the government. The Prime Minister usu
ally sits in the Commons, as do most of the ministers, where they
may all be questioned and held accountable for government actions.
Much depends on the personality of the leader. The Prime Minister
usually takes policy decisions with the agreement of the Cabinet
The Prime Minister’s official London address is No. 10, Downing
Street.

1. Make questions for the following answers (referring to the text).
a) Every five years;
b) 651;
c) One;
d) Three.
2. Which party would you probably vote for if ...
a) you lived in Brighton?
b) You lived in Birmingham?
c) You lived in Glasgow?
d) You were а Catholic in Belfast?
3. What are the three main differences between the two houses?
72
46 Religion
There is complete religious freedom in England today, and a per
son can belong to any religion or none. Only the monarch must be
long to the Church of England.
The Church o f England was founded in 1534, when king Hemy
VIII broke away from the supremacy of Rome and declared himself
head of the new Church. It is not a state church, since it receives no
financial aid from the state. The Church of England is sometimes
referred to as the Anglican Church, in the sense that it is part of a
worldwide communion of churches whose practices and beliefs are
very similar. The larger Anglican Communion comprises an estimat
ed membership of 70 million people in the British Isles and abroad,
such as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA.
The Church o f Scotland was created in 1560 by John Knox,
who was opposed to Episcopal rule and believed that the English
church had not moved sufficiently far from Rome. The Scottish
Church followed the teachings of Calvin and developed a rather se
vere form of Presbyterian Protestantism.
The Roman Catholic Church virtually ceased to exist in Britain
in the sixteenth century, after the Reformation. Today Catholicism is
widely practised throughout the country and enjoys complete religious
freedom, except for the fact that no Catholic can become monarch.
The Free Churches are composed of those Nonconformist Pro
testant sects which are not established like the Churches of England
and Scotland. The Methodist Church, the largest ofthe Free Churches,
was established in 1784 by John Wesley, after Church of England
opposition to his Evangelical views obliged him to separate and form
his own organization. Other Free Churches we can mention are the
Baptists, the United Reformed Church, the Religious Society of
Friends (Quakers), the Unitarians, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Se
venth Day Adventists, the Mormon Church, the Christian Scientists
and the Spiritualists.
The first group of Jews came to Britain in the time of the Norman
Conquest, and they were involved in finance and commerce. But the
present community has only been established since the middle of the
seventeenth century. Today it has about 330.000 members and is
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estimated to be the second largest Jewish population in Europe. Im
migration into Britain during the last fifty years has resulted in a sub
stantial growth of non-Christian communities. There are now some
1.5 million Muslims and large Sikh (500.000) and Hindu (300.000)
religious groups.

Write a sentence about each of the following:
a) The Church of England ...
b) The Church of Scotland ...
c) The Roman Catholic Church ...
d) The Methodist Church ...
47 Education in Britain
In England and Wales compulsory school begins at the age of
five, but before that age children can go to a nursery school, also
called play school. School is compulsory till the children are 16 years
old. There are two systems of state school, depending on the country:
System A: Primary School from 5 to 11;

Secondary School from 11 to 16/18.
Primary school is usually divided into two sections: Infant school
(ages 5-7) and Junior school (ages 7-11).
System B: "First School from 5 to 8
Middle School from 8 to 13
Secondary School from 13 to 16-18.
In Primary School and First School children learn to read and

write and the basics of arithmetic. In the higher classes of Primary
School (or in Middle School) children learn geography, history, reli
gion and, in some schools, also a foreign language. Physical educa
tion is usually done twice a week. Outside the normal time-table
there are many activities in which students may take part: sports,
drama, table tennis and so on.
74
The majority of secondary schools continue to provide education
until the age of 18. The vast majority of pupils attend state schools,
which are absolutely free. According to the recently introduced Na
tional Curriculum three subjects are made compulsory - English,
Mathematics and science. Such foundation subjects as technology,
history, geography, music, art, physical education and a modem
foreign language must be included in the curricula of all pupils.
After a two year course, usually from 14 to 16 years of age, most
pupils take their General Certificate of Secondary Education
(G.C.S.E.) or «О - leveb> (Ordinary level). After sitting G.C.S.E. or
«О - levels» students can either leave school and start working or
continue their studies in the same school as before. Pupils obtaining
at least five passes at G.C.S.E. can specialize for two years (from
16 to 18) in two or three subjects, in which they take the General
Certificate of Education Advanced level (А-level) examination. This
is used as an entrance qualification for university and other types of
higher education, as well as for many forms of professional training.
Some parents, only 6% choose independent schools for their chil
dren. These are very expensive but considered to provide a better
education and good job opportunities. The stages of education in in
dependent school are called in a different way: children from 5 to 8
attend a preparatory school; between the ages of 8 and 13 they at
tend a public school; but only if they pass an examination called Com
mon Entrance. The oldest and most exclusive Public Schools are
Eton College, founded inn 1440, Harrow, founded in 1571, and
Rugby, founded in 1567.
Higher Education
In England there are 47 universities, including the Open Universi
ty which teaches via (by way of) TV and radio, 32 polytechnics and
350 colleges and institutes of higher education. The oldest universi
ties in England are Oxford and Cambridge, founded at the end of the
twelfth century for the training ofpriests. Generally, universities award
two kinds of degrees: the Bachelor’s degree, usually after a three
year course, and a Master’s degree, usually one or two more years
of study after the Bachelor’s degree. In England and Wales the head
of the university is called Chancellor, the principal academic body is
the Senate and each faculty is headed by Dean.
75
ф Transport in Britain
You can reach England either by plane, by train, by car or by ship.
Now, the fastest way is by plane; you can leave from an Italian
airport, usually Milan or Rome, and you can reach London in a
couple of hours, but with the Channel Tunnel it will become much
quicker by train, too. London has three international airports: Heath
row, the largest, connected to the city by underground; Gatwick, south
of London, with a frequent train service; Luton, the smallest, used
for charter flights. If you go to England by train or by car you have to
cross the Channel. There is a frequent service of steamers and
ferry-boats which connect the continent, mostly France, to the south
east of England.
The organization which operates passenger service between
France and England is called SEALINK. The Chunnel (tunnel under
the Channel) was started recently. It is a 31-milelong tunnel linking
France and England. It was opened in the spring of 1993. Double-
decker trains will cany cars, lorries and coaches. Trains will depart
every 15 or 20 minutes and driving a car in Britain.
People in Britain drive on the left and generally overtake on the
right. If you are walking, be sure to look to the right when starting to
cross a road!
Drivers and passengers sitting in front must wear a seat-belt.
The speed limit is 30 mph (50 km/h) in towns and cities; 50 mph
(80 km/h) on normal roads; 70 mph (110 km/h) on motorways (mph
—mile per hour).
Transport in London
When you are in London you can choose from four different
means of transport: bus, train, underground or taxi. The typical bus in
London is a red double-decker. Travelling on the upper deck gives
you the opportunity of seeing London’s best sights. The first London
bus started running between Paddington and the City in 1829. It was
a horsedrawn coach called «omnibus», a Latin word meaning «for
alb>. It carried 40 passengers and cost a shilling for 6 km. The next to
76
arrive were the trains; now there are twelve main railway stations in
use in London. The world’s first underground line was opened bet
ween Baker St. and the City in 1863. Now there are ten under
ground lines and 273 underground stations in use. The London under
ground is also called the Tube by Londeners, because of the circular
shape of its deep tunnels.
Here are some words you must be able to understand if you fly:
boarding card: you are given this when you check in and you must
present it when you board the plane;
check in: when you show your ticket and they know you are present;
duty-free: all goods beyond passport control are free from taxes;
fasten your seat-belts: on the plane you must put on your seat-belt
before the plane takes off;
gate: exit;
to land: when the plane touches the ground;
to take off: when the plane leaves the ground.

1. Compare the transport in Britain and in your country.
2. What are the speed limits in Britain?
3. What is a double-decker bus?
49 British Mass Media

The Press
The British are great newspaper readers. Newspapers are the
oldest of the mass media; they started in Britain at the end of the
seventeenth century. The daily press in Britain is divided into two
distinct groups: the quality press and the popular press. Quality pa
pers are thick and serious and are intended for few well-informed
readers. They are well-written, and speak about politics and current
affairs. The most important quality papers are The Times, Britain’s
oldest newspaper, The Guardian, The Independent and The Tele
11
graph. Popular papers have millions of readers. They address the
lower classes, have fewer pages and shorter articles with big head
lines and lots of illustrations. They speak about sports, fashion, sex
and crimes. They are also called «tabloids» (small size papers). The
most important popular papers are The Sun, The Daily and The
Daily Mirror. Some papers come out only onSundays and are known
as Sunday papers. The most important are The Observer and the
Sunday Times. These papers usually give information about national
and international events. They have special sections with reviews of
books, plays, films, art events, business and sport news. Many week
ly, monthly and quarterly magazines are also published in Britain;
they cover many different interests, activities and hobbies such as
astrology, finance, computer science, sports and so on.
Radio and Television

The BBC, i.e. the British Broadcasting Corporation has provided
television and radio broadcasting services since 1927. After the war,
in 1954, a commercial television company was set up: the Indepen
dent Television Authority (ITA or simply ITV, i.e. Independent Tele
vision). There are four nationwide radio stations operated by the BBC:
Radiol broadcasts pop music and programmes aimed at a young
audience.
Radio2 broadcasts light listening programmes for all age groups,
it is especially aimed at housewives and workers.
Radio3 broadcasts almost only classical music.
Radio4 broadcasts news, current affairs, discussions, dramas,
serials and quiz programmes.
At present there are four television channels in Britain; two be
long to the BBC and are BBC1, which broadcasts a wide range of
programms, and BBC2, with a heavy accent on educational pro
grammes. The BBC channels have no advertising. The two Inde
pendent Television channels are ITV, broadcasting programmes with
a popular appeal, and Channel 4, a recent channel with artistic and
cultural interests, whicfi was established in 1980. Now there are se
veral satellite channels specializing in films, sports, etc.
78
1. What are the quality and the popular papers? Explain the difference.
2. What is the meaning of the following:
a) weekly newspapers;
b) monthly newspapers;
c) daily newspapers.
3. How many radio stations are there in Britain and what does each
of them broadcast.
4. How many television channels are there in Britain? What is the
structure of television in Britain?
50 Traditional British Food

Even if Britain has a very bad reputation for food, there are some
dishes which are really good: meat pies, roast beef and Yorkshire
pudding, Cornish pasties and cheeses are excellent. Welsh lamb has
a world-wide reputation and Scotland is well-known for its haggis,
made of sheep’s liver, oatmeal and suet.
British meais
Traditionally English people have three meals a day: breakfast,
lunch and dinner. Breakfast is served in the morning; it used to be a
very large meal with cereal, eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and
tomatoes. Such a large breakfast takes a long time to prepare and it
is not very healthy. Today, Britain’s most popular breakfast consists
of a lighter meal of cereal and toast and marmalade, fruit juice and
yogurt with a cup of coffee or tea. Lunch is a light meal. Most people
have no time to go back home for lunch; children eat at school, work
ers in the factory canteen, in self-service cafes, called cafeterias, in
pubs or in fast-food restaurants. In summer, when the sun is shining,
a lot like to go out and eat their lunch in the open air. The main meal
is dinner, which is usually eaten between 6 and 7 p.m. A typical
evening meal is a meat dish with vegetables and a dessert. Fruit juice
79
or water is drunk and coffee or tea is served at the end of the meal.
The most important meal of the week is Sunday dinner, which is
usually eaten at 1 p.m. The traditional Sunday dish used to be roast
beef, but nowadays it is expensive, so pork, chicken or lamb are
more common. On Sunday evenings people have supper or high tea.
The famous British afternoon tea, served with cakes and small sand
wiches is becoming rare, except at weekends.
Pubs
The pub or «public house» belongs to the British tradition. It is a
place where you can meet people, chat, listen to music, play darts
and of course have a drink. The most common drink served in pubs
is beer (ale, bitter, stout or large), but you can also have wine, cock
tails, spirits and soft drinks. If you are hungry you can order food.
Most pubs serve very good food and variety is very wide. Children
under 14 are excluded from the «bars», i.e. where alcoholic drinks
are sold, but they are allowed where food is served or in the pub
garden. Teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18 are allowed in
pubs but cannot drink alcoholic beverages.

1. Why do the British prefer to have a lighter breakfast these days?
2. Where do children and working people have lunch?
3. Do the British drink wine with their meals?
4. What are the rules for going into a pub?
5. Give four different names for beer.
6. Write a dialogue between two young persons in a pub. Include the
following words: drink, bitter, pint, hungry, barman, how much,
charge, age, garden
7. Read the following British recipe.
APPLE CRUMBLE
Ingredients: Vt kg. Apples, walnuts, raisins, 2-3 cloves
200 gr. flour
150 gr. butter/margarine
100 gr. sugar.
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Method: Place the flour in a bowl and add the butter in small
pieces. Rub the butter gently into the flour. Add the
sugar and continue to rub until the mixture forms veiy
small lumps, like breadcrumb. Peel and slice the apples
and place in a greased oven-proof dish with chopped
nuts, raisins and cloves to flavour. Sprinkle the flour
mixture evenly over the top without pressing down too
much. Bake in a moderate oven for 30-40 minutes. Serve
hot or cold with cream or custard.
8. Now write your own favourite recipe (remember to use the
imperative form).
ф From History of English

Painting
Some of the greatest foreign masters were attracted to England
where honours and titles of nobility were conferred upon them. Hol
bein, Antonio Mor, Rubens, Van Dyck were almost English painters
during a longer or shorter period of their lives. Van Dyck lived the
most part of his life and died in London. He is really the father of the
English portrait school.
Not until William Hogarth (1697-1764) can we find a painter truly
English, Hogarth was a curious observer of men and manners. His
first works date from 1730. For more than a century England was to
see a brilliant succession of geniuses: Reynolds, Gainsborough, Law
rence, Constable and Turner. No country has had so strongly marked
a love of the portrait.
Reynolds (1723-1792) is one ofthe outstanding British portraitists
and an important influence on his contemporaries. By the age of
twenty he had set himself up as a portraitist in his native town. In
1749 he went to Rome and stayed there three years. He returned to
London and within a short time had achieved a considerable suc
cess. In 1755 he did 120 portraits. His works included the socially
prominent people of the time and when the Royal Academy was
81
founded in 1768, be naturally became its first president His portraits
are effective because their expression is related to the type of sitter.
His colours are difficult to judge today because they were not scien
tifically applied, so many paintings have cracked and faded.
Thomas Gains borough (1727-1788) also succeeded and succeed
ed brilliantly, as a portrait painter. Society went to him for portraits,
and his insight into the phases of womanhood made him essentially
the woman’s painter. Gainsborough was an artistic person. One of
his greatest friends was Sheridan, the dramatist; and his portraits of
actors and actresses are among his most famous. Yet it was land*
scape which had his heart.
In the evolution of the art of painting Gainsborough’s method of
putting on paint is an important step. His method consisted of putting
tiny touches of pure colour on to the canvas so that the colour-mixing
takes place not on the palette. The result is pure colour, which seems
made of light itself. Nearly a century later this method of painting
became a formula in the hands of the great impressionists.
If portrait painting is one ofthe glories ofEnglish art, landscape is
another.
John Constable (1776-1837) was the first British painter to paint
landscape. He considered it a primary and essential task to make
sketches direct from nature at a single sitting. He discovered the
exuberant abundance of life in the simplest country places.
The name of Joseph Mallord Turner (1775-1851) is famous above
all other landscape painters. His first exhibited oil painting was «The
Fishermen at Sea, off the Needles» in 1796. It is typical of Turner to
have begun by attacking the difficult problem of moonlight.
Turner’s love of the sea was fundamental. He had been concen
trating on waves and storms upon clouds. Turner alone by constant
observation and by a thorough knowledge of wave forms has given
to his seas mass and weight as well as movement.

1. Now work in pain. Ask questions about Gainsborough and Reynolds
using these words: to be, to achieve, to found, to crack and fade;
women’s painter; landscape, scientifically applied, the first
president
82
a) Joht Constable was the first... .
b) Constable discovered ....
c) It is typical of Turner ....
d) The greatest Turner’s love was... .
ф British Music
British music has spread all over the world. Singers and musi
cians are the new idols of thousands of young people, who try to
copy them in the way they dress, walk, cut their hair and even in the
way they sing. The names «pop», «rock», «punk» and «acid rock»
music (Acid rock - type of rock music characterized by electronical
ly amplified instrumental effects. «Acid» is a slang name for RSD.)
are well-known to everybody and they are of English origin. Among
the most popular English pop and rock stars are the Beatles, The
Rolling Stones, The Genesis, the Police, The Pink Floyd, David Bowie,
Boy George, Phil Collins and many other famous names.
The Beatles
The four boys from Liverpool, known to everybody as the Beatles
or better «the fabulous Beaties», gave the start to English pop music.
They were a symbol for the young generation of the 60’s, who were
rebelling against the old traditional ideals. The members of the group,
who started in 1961, were John Lennon (rhythm guitar and vocals),
Paul McCarthey (bass guitar and vocals), George Harrison (lead
guitar and vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums and vocals). With their
records and their concerts, attended by thousands of yelling young
fans, they became millionaries and also received an award from
Queen Elizabeth П for their contribution to exports, fa 1967 their
manager, Brian Epstein, died and the group started to have problems.
In 1970 they split up and each member continued playing separately
but still successfully. In 1980 John Lennon, who was then living in the
States, was assassinated by a mad man in Central Park, New York.
83
In the last years of his life John Lennon took very strong positions
against war and for peace. One of the most famous songs he wrote
on this subject is «Imagine», the lyrics talks about a dream of peace
and brotherhood.
«Imagine»
Imagine there’s no heaven,
It’s easy if you try.
No hell below us,
Above us only sky.
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there’s no countries,
It isn’t hard to do.
Nothing to kill or the for,
And no religion too.
Living life in peace...
Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can.
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of men.
Sharing all the world...
You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us,
And the world will be as one.

1. Which is your favourite English group? Write an interview between
the leader of the group and a journalist who wants to know all
about the group’s origins, the different members, their hit records
and their plans for the future.
Begin like this:
Journalist: When did _>ou start playing together?
2. Tell about your favourite English singer. Prepare a short report
about him (her).
84
ф British Sports
British people are very fond of sports and organized games are
part of normal school life.
The two most popular games are football or soccer and cricket,
but there are many other sports such as rugby, golf, tennis, rowing,
swimming, horse-racing and the traditional fox-hunting.
Cricket
Cricket is considered to be the English National game. Its rules
are very complicated: it is played by two teams of eleven men each,
the players wear white shirts and white flannel trousers and one
player at a time tries to hit the ball with a bat. Outside Britain cricket
is very popular in India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and the
West Indies.
Rugby
Rugby originated in the town of Rugby in England in 1823 when
during a football match, a student at Rugby public school picked up
the ball and ran to score a goal.
There are fifteen men in a rugby team, the ball is oval and leather
- covered and the aim of the game is to score points either by earring
the ball across the other team’s goal line and putting it down or by
kicking the ball between the upper part of two goal posts.
Football
Football, also called soccer, is the most popular sport in the U.K.
as it is in Italy. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have
their own Football Leagues (FL) and national teams. Games are played
on Saturday afternoons from August to April. In addition to the FL
games there is a competition called the Football Association Cup.
85
The Cup Final is played at Wembley Stadium (London) in May. The
most negative aspect ofBritish football is hooliganism. Hooligans are
the violent supporters of a football team. On the occasion of the most
important matches the hooligans of opposite teams meet and fight.
The saddest event we remember happened at Heysel Stadium in
Brussels in 1985, before the start of the European Soccer Cup Final
between «Liverpool» and «Juventus»: 38 people were killed and 257
were badly injured.
Golf
Golf is the Scottish national game. It originated in the 15th century
and the most famous golf course in the world, known as the Royal
and Ancient Club, is at St. Andrew’s and dates back to 1754. A
small rubber ball is hit with any of 14 clubs (woods or irons) from a
platform tee into a series of 18 holes, usually about 275 metres dis
tant, round a landscaped course. The main fair-way has short grass
and the green surrounding each hole is almost manicured, but sand
bunkers or water at strategic points provide obstacles to progress,
and the ball is more difficult to extricate from long grass at the edges,
called the «roughs». A golf course measures 5.500 metres. The aim
is to take fewer strokes than an opponent. Miniature golf courses are
often found at seaside resorts.
Lawn Tennis
Lawn Tennis was first played in Britain in the late 19th century as
a grass court version of the original French game which dates back
to the 12th century. The most famous British championship is Wim
bledon, played annually during the last week of June and the first
week of July. Some of the most well-known Wimbledon champions
are Bjom Borg (1977-’=30), John McEnroe (1981,1983,1984), Jimmi
Connors (1982), Boris Becker (1985,1986,1989), Martina Navrati
lova (1978, 1979, 1982-1987, 1990) and Steffi Graf (1988, 1989).
The winners of 1991 were Michael Stich and Steffi Graf.
86
1. Do you know which of the following is used with which sport?
Match diem:
Oval ball cricket
Oar tennis
Club rugby
Racket rowing
Bat golf
2. State whether the following are true or false:
a) In Great Britain there is only one national game.
b) Soccer is the American name of football.
c) Some golf clubs are made of wood and some of iron.
d) The main difference between lawn tennis and tennis is that
the former is played on grass.
e) Becker has been Wimbledon champion as many times as
Borg.
3. Now write a short paragraph about your favourite sport giving
the following information:
Say whether you practise it or just watch, say why you like it, say
when you first started practising/following it, say:
a) how good you are at it, how often you play, where and with
whom or;
b) how often you watch it, live or on TV, who your favourite
players are.
4. Do you know Wimbledon champions of the last years? Name
them.
ф Public Holidays
and Celebrations
There are only six public holidays in a year in Great Britain, that is
days on which people needn’t go in to work. They are: Christmas
Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday
and Late Summer Bank holiday. In Scotland, the New Year’s Day is
87
also a public holiday. Most of these holidays are of religious origin,
though it would be right to say that for the greater part of the popula
tion they have long lost their religious significance and are simply
days on which people relax, eat, drink and make merry. All the public
holidays, except Christmas Day and Boxing Day observed on De
cember 25th and 26th respectively, are movable, that is they do not
fall on the same day each year. Good Friday and Easter Monday
depend on Easter Sunday which falls on the first Sunday after a full
moon on or after March 21st. The Spring Bank Holiday fells on the
first Monday of May or on the first Monday of June, while the Late
Summer Bank Holiday comes on the last Monday in August or on
the first Monday in September, depending on which of the Mondays
is nearer to June 1st and September 1st respectively.
Besides public holidays, there are other festivals, anniversaries
and simple days, for example Pancake Day and Bonfire Night, on
which certain traditions are observed, but unless they fall on Sunday,
they are ordinary working days.
New Year in England

In England the New Year is not as widely observed as Christmas.
Some people ignore it completely and go to bed at the same time as
usual on New Year’s Eve.
The most common type of celebration is a New Year party, either
a family party or one arranged by a group of young people. This
usually begins at about eight o’clock and goes on until the early hours
of the morning. There is a lot of drinking, mainly beer, wine, gin and
whisky and usually a buffet supper of cold meat, pies, sandwiches,
savouries, cakes and biscuits.
Another popular way of celebrating the New Year’s is dance.
Most hotels and dance halls hold a special dance on New Year’s
Eve.
The most famous celebration is in Picadilly Circus, where crowds
of people gather and sing and welcome the New Year. In Trafalgar
Square there is also a big crowd and someone usually falls into the
fountain.
88
St. Valentine’s Day - February 14
I’ll be your sweetheart, if you will be mine,
All of my life. I’ll be your Valentine...
This is the day when boys and girls, sweethearts and lovers, hus
bands and wives, friends and neighbours, and even the office staff will
exchange greetings of affection, undying love or satirical comment And
the quick, slick, modem way to do it is with a Valentine card.
The first Valentine of all was a bishop, a Christian martyr, who
before he was put to death by the Romans sent a note of friendship
to his jailer’s blind daughter.
The Christian Church took for his saint’s day February 14, the
date of an old pagan festival when young Roman maidens threw
decorated love missives into an urn to be drawn out by their boy
friends.
Pancake Day
Pancake Day is the popular name for shrove Tuesday, the day
preceding the first day of Lent. In medieval times the day was char
acterized by merrymaking and feasting, a relic of which is the eating
of pancakes.
The origin of the festival is rather obscure, as is the origin of the
custom of pancake eating. Elfrica Viport, in her book «Christian Fes
tivals», suggests that since the ingredients of the pancakes were all
forbidden by the Church during Lent then they just had to be used up
the day before.
Today the only custom that is consistently observed throughout
Britain is pancake eating, though here and there other customs still
seem to survive. Among the latter, Pancake Races, the Pancake
Greaze custom and Ashbourne’s Shrovetide Football are the best
known. Shrovetide is also the time of Student Rags.
Mothering Sunday (Mother’s Day)

Mother’s Day is traditionally observed on the fourth Sunday in
Lent. This is usually in March. The day used to be known as Mother-
89
ing Sunday and dates from the time when many girls worked away
from home as domestic servants in big households, where their hours
of work were often very long. Mothering Sunday was established as
a holiday for these girls and gave them an opportunity of going home
to see their parents, especially their mothers. They used to take
presents with them, often given to them by the lady of the house.
This custom remained for today, although the day is now called
«Mothers’ Day». People visit their mothers if possible and give them
flowers and small presents. If they cannot go they send a «Mothers’
Day card». The family try to see that the mother has a little work to
do as possible, sometimes the husband or children take her breakfast
in bed and they often help with the meals and the washing up. It is
considered to be mother’s day off.
Easter
Easter is a time when certain old traditions are observed, whether
it is celebrated as the start of spring or a religious festival. In England
it is a time for the giving and receiving of presents which traditionally
take the form of an Easter egg, for the Easter Bonnet Parade and
hot cross buns. Nowadays Easter eggs are usually made of choco
late, but the old custom of dyeing or painting egg-shells is still main
tained in some country districts. The Easter egg is by far the most
popular emblem of Easter, but fluffy little chicks, baby rabbits and
spring-time flowers like daffodils, dangling catkins and the arum lily
are also used to signify -the nature’s reawakening.
April Fool's Day

April Fool’s Day or all Fool’s Day, named from the custom of
playing practical jokes or sending friends on fools’ eirands, on April
1. Its timing seems related to the vernal equinox, when nature fools
mankind with sudden changes from showers to sunshine. It is a sea
son when all people, even the most dignified, are given an excuse to
play the fool. In April comes cuckoo, emblem of simpletons; hence in
Scotland the victim is called «cuckoo» or «gowk», as in the verse;
90
«On the first day of April, Hunt the gowk another mile». Hunting the
gowk was a fruitless errand; so was hunting for hen’s teeth, for a
square circle or for stirrup oil the last named proving to be several
strokes from a leather strap.
Late Summer Bank Holiday

On Bank Holiday the townsfolk usually flock into the country and
to the coast. If the weather is fine many families take a picnic-lunch
or tea w ith them and enjoy their meal in the open. Seaside towns are
invaded by thousands of trippers who come in cars and coaches,
trains, motor cycles and bicycles. Great amusement parks do a roar
ing trade with their scenic railways, shooting galleries, water-shoots,
Crazy Houses, Hunted Houses and so on.
Bank Holiday is also an occasion for big sports meetings at places
like the white City Stadium, mainly kinds of athletic. There are also
horse race meetings all over the country, and most traditional of all,
there are large fairs with swings, roundabouts, coconut shies, a Punch
and Judy show, hoop-la stalls and every kind of side-show including,
in recent years, bingo.
Guy Fawkes Night

(Bonfire Night) - November 5
Guy Fawkes Night is one of the most popular festivals in Great
Britain. It commemorates the discovery of the so-called Gunpowder
Plot, and is widely celebrated throughout the country.
Gunpowder Plot - conspiracy to destroy the English House of
Parliament and King James I when the latter opened Parliament on
Nov.5,1605. Engineered by a group of Roman Catholics as a protest
against anti-Papist measures. In May 1604 the conspirator rented a
house adjoining the House of Lords, from which they stored 36 bar
rels of gunpowder. It was planned that when king and parliament
were destroyed the Roman Catholics should attempt to seize power.
Preparations for the plot had been completed when, on October 26,
one of the conspirators wrote to a kingsman, Lord Monteagle, warn
ing him to stay away from the House of Lords. On November 4, a
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search was made of the parliament vault, and the gunpowder was
found, together with Guy Fawkes (1570-1606), an English Roman
Catholic in the pay of Spain. Fawkes had been commissioned to set
off the explosion. Arrested and tortured he revealed the names of
the conspirators, some of whom were killed resisting arrest. Fawkes
was hanged. Detection of the plot led to increased repression of
English Roman Catholics. The Plot is still commemorated by an offi
cial ceremonial search of the vault before the annual opening of par
liament, also by the burning of Fawkes’s effigy and the explosion of
fireworks every November 5.
Remembrance Day (Poppy Day)

Remembrance Day is observed throughout Britain in commemo
ration of the million or more British soldiers, sailors and airmen who
lost their lives during the two World Wars. On that day special ser
vices are held in the churches and wreaths are laid at war memorials
throughout the country at London Cenotaph, where a great number
of people gather to observe the two-minute silence and to perfoim
the annual Remembrance Day Ceremony. The silence begins the
first stroke of Big Ben booming 11 o’clock and is broken only by the
crash of distant artilleiy and perhaps by the murmur of a passing jet
When the two-minute silence is over, members of the Royal Family
or their representatives and political leaders come forward to lay
wreaths at the foot of the Cenotaph.
On that day artificial poppies, a symbol of mourning, are traditio
nally sold in the streets everywhere, and people wear them in their
button-holes.
The Remembrance Day is held annually on the Sunday before
Nov. 11, unless eitherNov.il or 12 was itself a Sunday.
Christmas Celebrations
Christmas Day is observed on the 25th of December. In Britain
this day was a festival long before the conversion to Christianity. The
English historian the Venerable Bede relates that «the ancient peo-
92
pies of Anglia began the year on the 25th of December, and the very
night was called in their tongue «modranecht», that is «mother’s night».
Thus it is not surprising that many social customs connected with the
celebration of Christmas go back to pagan times, as for instance, the
giving of presents.
On Christinas Eve everything is rush and bustle. Offices and pub
lic buildings close at 1 o’clock, but the shops stay open late. Most big
cities, especially London, are decorated with coloured lights across
the streets and enormous Christmas trees.
In the homes there is a great air of expectation. The children are
decorating the tree. The house is decorated with holly and a bunch of
mistletoe under which the boys kiss the girls. Christmas cards - with
the words «А Merry Christmas to You», or «Wishing You a Meny
Christmas and a Prosperous New Year», or «With the Compliments
of the Season», etc. - are arranged on shelves, tables, and some
times attached to ribbon or hung round the walls.
Meanwhile the housewife is probably busy in the kitchen getting
things ready for the next day’s dinner. The Christmas bird, nowadays
usually a turkey, is being prepared and stuffed, the pudding is in
spected and the cake is got out of its tin and iced.

1. Match the date and the event:
February 14 Remembrance Day
December 25 Bonfire Night
November 5 Last Summer Bank Holiday
January 1
April 1 St. Valentine’s Day
August (first Monday) Christmas
November 11 New Year
2. Now complete the following:
a) On December 25 the Englishmen celebrate ....
b) The most common type of celebration of the New Year is ....
c) Remembrance Day is observed ....
d) The members of the Royal Family and the political leaders
come forward ....
e) A Valentine card is ... .
93
f) Hie day preceding the first day of Lent is ... .
g) The fourth Sunday of Lent... .
h) Gunpowder Plot is ... .
3. Compare the holidays in Great Britain and in your country.
4. What is your favourite holiday? Write about it a short composition.
55 National Emblems of UK
The flag of the United Kingdom, known as the Union Yack, is
made up of three crosses. The upright red cross on a white back
ground is the cross of St. George, the patron saint of England. The
white diagonal cross on a blue background is the cross of St An
drew, the patron saint of Scotland. The red diagonal cross on a white
background is the cross of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
The Welsh flag, called the Welsh dragon, represents a red dragon
on a white and green background.
St. George’s Day falls cm23, April and is regarded as England’s
national day. On this day some patriotic Englishmen wear a rose
pinned to their jackets. A red rose is the national emblem of England
from the time of the Wars of the Roses (15th century).
St. Andrew’s Day (30 November) is regarded as Scotland’s na
tional day. On this day some Scotsmen wear a thistle in their button
hole. As a national emblem of Scotland, thistle apparently first used
in the 15th century as a symbol of defence. The Order of the Thistle
is one of the highest orders of knighthood. It was founded in 1687,
and is mainly given to Scottish noblemen.
St. Patrick’s Day (17 March) is considered as a national day in
Northern Ireland and an official bank holiday there. The national
emblem of Ireland is shamrock. Accordingto legend, it was the plant
chosen by St. Patrick to illustrate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity
to the Irish.
St. David’s Day (1 March) is the church festival of St David, a
6th century monk and bishop, the patron saint of Wales.
94
On this day, (though it is not an official bank day) many Welsh
men wear either a yellow daffodil or a leek pinned to their jackets, as
both plants are traditionally regarded as national emblems of Wales.

1. Write a sentence about each of the following:
a) St Patrick;
b) St David;
c) St George;
d) St. Andrew.
2. What are the national emblems of the countries of-U.K.?
3. Describe the Union Yack.
The United States
of America
56 The United States of America

The United States of America stretches from the Atlantic Ocean
on the east to the American Pacific islands on the west. Bordered on
the north by Canada and on the south by Mexico, it is a vast nation on
a vast continent. Four landforms are present in the landscape of the
United States.
1. Level lands called plains are found in many parts of the country:
Coastal Plains lie along the Atlantic Ocean. Other plains cover
an immense area in the interior of the country and are called
the Great Plains: these grasslands are sometimes called the
«breadbasket» of the United States, because of the great
harvests from the rich farmlands.
2. High, flat lands, usually found between mountains, are called
plateaux.
3. There are mountains especially in the west and south-west.
The Rocky Mountains extend all the way from New Mexico
to Alaska. Many people from all over the world like to spend
their holidays in these beautiful mountain areas.
4. Hills are present in many parts of the country.
Rivers and Lakes

Many rivers cross the country. The most important are the Mis
sissippi, Missouri, Rio Grande flowing into the Gulf of Mexico; the
96
Potomac, Hudson, Savannah flowing into the Adantic Ocean; the
Colorado, Sacramento and Columbia flowing into the Pacific Ocean;
and the Yukon, in Alaska, flowing into the Bering Sea. The main
lakes in the U.S.A. are the Great Lakes in the north: Lake Superior,
Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The Nia
gara takes the water of Lake Erie into Lake Ontario forming the
Niagara Falls.
The Stars and Stripes

The Stars and Stripes is the flag of the U.S.A; it is also called
«Old Glory». It represents the growth of the nation. It has 13 hori
zontal stripes, 7 red and 6 white which stand for the original 13 states.
In the top left hand comer there are 50 white stars on a blue back
ground, which represent today’s states of the Union. The national
anthem of the United States of America is «The Star - Spangled
Banner». The words are those of a poem written by Francis Scott
Key during the Anglo-American war of 1812-1814 and set to the
music of an old song. Here are the words of the first stanza:
O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
Thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rocket’s red glare the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still here.
O say, does that star - spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Key Facts
Population: over 219.000.000.
Capital City: Washington D.C.
Area: 3.615.122 square miles.
Longest river: Mississippi (3.800 km)
98
Climate: Different kinds of climate.
Currency: U.S. Dollar
Highest Point: Mount Me Kinley (Alaska)
Native People: Indians, Eskimos, Hawaiians
Main Language: English
Government: Republic
Chief of State: President.
In the United States there are four time zones: Eastern time (New
York City), Central time (Chicago), Mountain time (Denver), and
Pacific time (Los Angeles).

1. Using the key facts write a paragraph about the USA.
2. Now do the same about your country.
3. Find the words in the American National Anthem that mean the
following:
a) Sunrise -
b) Courageous -
c) Banner -
d) Greeted -
e) Bright light-
f) Wide -
ф New York City

The Big Apple
New York is one of the largest cities in the world. It is the finan
cial capital of the country and one of the largest seaports in the world.
New Yoik City is situated in New York State, at the mouth of the
Hudson river. Its population is over eight million and it includes five
boroughs.
Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Richmond, also
known as Staten Island.
99
In early times the New York area was populated by Indians. The
first European to enter New York Bay was Giovanni Verrazano.
Later, Henry Hudson sailed up the river which is named after him.
In 1626, a Dutchman bought Manhattan Island for $24 and named
the place New Amsterdam.
The English took over the place in 1664, and renamed it New
York. Today, New York City is informally called «The Big Apple».
The origin of this name is unknown, but it is popular all over the
world.
Manhattan
Manhattan is the economic and cultural heart of New York City.
It is an island at the north end of New York Bay between the rivers
Hudson, East and Harlem and it has an area of 22.6.sq miles with
about 1.5 million residents.
Manhattan Island is usually divided into Uptown Manhattan, Mid
town Manhattan and Downtown Manhattan.
Uptown Manhattan. Central Park is a huge park, its construc
tion took 16 years and it was completed in 1873.
On weekdays it is occupied by mothers and children, people
stretching their muscles and mind before and after work. On week
ends, the park is a playground for all New York, and one of the best
places to feel the spirit of its people.
Harlem is home to 10% of the city’s blacks. Despite its deputation
as a ghetto, Harlem has also middle-class blocks, museums, beautiful
buildings, fine restaurants,'entertainment places and the Apollo Theatre.
The Lincoln Center includes the home of the New York Philhar
monic, the New York State Theater, a library and a school.
The Metropolitan Museum is one of the most important art muse
ums in the world. It includes hundreds of world factious masterpiec
es: paintings, sculptures, tapestries, musical instruments, decorative
arts and costumes.
Midtown Manhattan. The western half of Midtown Manhattan
is dominated by the theatre district and the garment district. On the
East Side there is a dense concentration of office buildings and sky
scrapers.
100
The Empire State Building is a 102 story building (381m) high and
was built in 1931. It includes two observatories. It was the tallest
building in the world until 1971.
The City Corp Tower is one of New York’s most famous sky
scrapers. It is a symbol of new technology and the world’s eighth
tallest building. It is distinguished by its sloping roof, which is made of
solar panels and batteries that provide the building with energy. It
contains «The Market», a 3-level complex of international shops and
restaurants surrounding a skylet atrium.
The Rockefeller Center is a complex of buildings built between
1931 and 1939 and financed by the capitalist and philanthropist D.
Rockefeller Jr. It is the world’s largest business and entertainment
complex owned by privates. The focal point of the Center is the
Plaza, which is below the level of the street. It is used for outdoor
dining in summer and ice skating in winter. All buildings are joined by
a network of underground concourses lined with fine shops.
Carnegie Hall is a music centre founded in 1891 by the capitalist
and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The world’s greatest orches
tras and soloists play here.
Downtown Manhattan. The oldest part of Manhattan Island is
downtown. Wall Street was the northern limit of the city in 1653,
when the Dutch built a wooden palisade here to protect the colony
from Indian attack. Nowadays it is famous as America’s financial
center. The New York Stock Exchange is the nation’s largest
organized market for stocks and bonds.
The World Trade Center is northwest of Wall Street. More than
50.000 people work here and more than 80.000 visitors come to the
Center daily. It is a modern building, completed in 1973. The Twin
Towers, the tallest skyscrapers in New York City (411m), are part of
the World Trade Center. They are 110 stories tall and there is a gal
lery on the 107th floor and an Observation deck on the 110th floor
which are open to the public.
The Statue of Liberty is the symbol of American democracy. It
stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. This National Monu
ment was a present from France to the USA, commemorating the
alliance between the two countries during the American Revolution.
The figure is 152 ft tall and is located on a pedestal 150 ft tall. The
101
French sculptor August Bartholdi built it, but it was A.G. Eiffel, the
author of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, who designed it. The original
name of the statue was «Liberty Englightening the World». Liberty
carries the torch of freedom in her right hand and is stepping out of
broken chains. In her left hand she is holding a tablet with the inscrip
tion «July 4 1776» - American Independence Day.

1. How much did the Dutchman pay for Manhattan Island?
2. Why is New York known as the Big Apple?
3. What must you remember when you arrive in New York City?
4. Where do you go if you want to take exercise?
5. How many people live in New York?
6. Is New York the largest city in the world?
7. Find the important event for each of the following dates:
a) 1664;
b) 1626;
c) 1873;
d) 1971;
e) 1931;
f) 1939;
g) 1973.
ф The Northeast and the Great

Lakes Regions
Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island.
Washington D.C.
Washington, 640.000 inhabitants, mostly black, is the capital of
the United States of America.
102
When George Washington became the first president he chose
the place for the new capital, which was named after him.
It is situated in an independent area on the east coast of the Poto
mac River, named District of Columbia after Christopher Columbus,
and it was planned by a French artist and architect who had fought in
the Revolutionary War, Pierre L’Enfant.
Washington has been described as the most beautiful capital city
in the world and the most beautiful American city. As a matter of
fact, it has nothing characteristically American in it, as its conception
is purely French. It has long wide avenues, gardens, beautiful parks
and no skyscrapers at all.
The climate is one of the worst in the country, very hot in summer
and not too cold but damp in winter.
It contains the White House, the President’s residence; the Ca
pitol, on Capitol Hill, the seat of the American Congress; the Head
quarters of the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation); the Pentagon,
the offices of the Defence department; and Arlington Cemetery,
where many famous Americans are buried, including John Kennedy,
assassinated by a mad man in Dallas in 1963.
Washington is also a place of culture. It has many universities
such as Georgetown University, George Washington University and
Howard University. Some of the most important art collections in the
world are included in the National Gallery of Art, National Portrait
Gallery and in many other museums present in Washington D.C.
The Smithsonian Institution includes art, space and natural history
museums.

1. Explain each of the following:
a) The White House;
b) The Capital;
c) The Pentagon;
d) Arlington Cemetery;
e) The Smithsonian Institution;
f) The National Gallery of Arts.
103
2. State whether these statements are true or false and give an
explanation:
a) D.C. stands for the District of Columbia;
b) Most of Washington’s inhabitants are black;
c) Washington is a typical American city
3. Ask and answer with your partner
a) What would you like to visit in Washington D.C. and why?
b) What would you prefer not to visit and why?
c) What time ofthe year would you choose to visit Washington
D.C. and why?
ф The Midwest and the Interior

West
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming.
Hannibal, Missouri
Samuel Langhome Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, lived
in Hannibal as a boy and later used this town as the setting for inci
dents in «Huckleberry Finn» and «The Adventures of Tom Sawyer».
Marie Twain’s Boyhood Home and Museum, the house where the
author lived between the ages of 7 to 18, is open to the public. Once
a year, in the week of July 4th during National Tom Sawyer’s days a
competition called the National Fence Painting Contest is held in
Hannibal. The competitors must not only paint quickly and neatly, but
must also look like the famous Mark Twain character, Tom Sawyer.
South Dakota
The skill of man and the artistry of nature unite in South Dakota.
Here the faces of four presidents are carved on Mount Rushmore,
104
and Crazy Horse is being sculpted on a nearby peak. Wind, water
and volcanic action formed the multicoloured Badland s, an area show
ing spectacular examples of erosion.
The Crazy horse Memorial is the colossal project begun by a sculp
tor to honour Chief Crazy Horse and the Indians of North America.
Crazy Horse, who defeated Custer at Little Big Horn, was killed by
an American soldier in 1877. The site was chosen by the sculptor
and the chiefs nephew in 1940. A scale model of the statue repro
ducing the figure of Crazy Horse on his pony is exhibited near the
base of the mountain.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial - the colossal heads of
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and The
odore Roosevelt have been carved at the top of Mount Rushmore.
Each face is 60 feet high and is a symbol of great American achieve
ment. Washington represents the founding of the Union; Jefferson,
the declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase; Lin
coln, the preservation of the Union; and Roosevelt, the expansion of
the country and the conservation of its natural resources.
Colorado
Mesa Verde is the Spanish for «green table», it is so called be
came of its level top.
About 1400 years ago, long before any European exploration of
the New World, a group of Indians chose Mesa Verde as their home.
For over 700 years their descendants lived here, eventually building
stone cities in the cavities of the canyon walls. Then in the late 1200s,
in only one year, they abandoned their homes and moved away.
Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular remnant of
their thousand-year-old culture. We call these people the Anasazi,
from a Navajo word meaning «the ancient ones».
Local cowboys discovered the cliff dwellings a century ago and
archeologists are still trying to understand the life of these people.
We will never know the whole story of their existence, for they left
no written records.
105
Wyoming
Yellowstone National Park is the world’s first national park, it
was established in 1872, and is also one ofthe largest and best known.
The largest part of the park is in Wyoming but it also extends into
Montana and Idaho. The most characteristic natural phenomena of
Yellowstone are its thousand bursts of steaming water called gey
sers. The park is one of the most successful wildlife sanctuaries in
the world. It contains grizzly bears, black bears, elk, deer, antelope,
moose and bison which can be seen from part roadways and can be
met along the trails and in the most remote areas. Even though Yogi
Bear, the good bear, invented by the cartoonists Hanna and Barbera,
as a nice bear who steals picnic baskets from tourists, but does not
do them any harm, you should remember that animals in the park are
wild and should be viewed only from a safe distance.

1. Rewrite in your own words the episode of the painting of the fence.
2. Answer the following questions:
a) In which language does «mesa verde» mean Green Table?
b) Why was Mesa Verde National Park given this name?
c) When did the Anasazi choose this place as their home?
d) How long did they live there?
e) How did they live?
f) How long ago were the Anasari homes discovered and by
whom?
g) Why don’t we know much about this ancient race?
3. Write a sentence about-each of the following:
a) Little Big Horn;
b) Mount Rushmore;
c) Mesa Verde;
d) George Washington;
e) Thomas Jefferson;
f) Abraham Lincoln;
g) Theodore Roosevelt.
4. Imagine you are going on a week end trip in the Yellowstone
National Park. Make the dialogue between your mother and
yourself.
106
ф The Southwest and the South
The Southwest - Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas.
The South - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Virginia.
Arizona, Grand Canyon

The forces of Nature have been developing the chasms and carv
ing the gorges of the Grand Canyon for at least two billion years.
Because of continuous erosion, the Canyon is ever-changing and
slowly becoming deeper and wider. The great chasm we know as
«Grand Canyon» (a mile deep and 18 miles in some places) has been
carved largely from the sediments and volcanic material carried by
the current ofthe Colorado River. Like a saw, the river has cut through
the rock layers. However, both water and wind erosion are respon
sible for the awe-inspiring rock formation that we see today. Grand
Canyon tourism began to boon after the turn of the century. The
Canyon was proclaimed a national forest reserve by President Ben
jamin Harrison in 1893. In 1908 Theodore Roosevelt declared Grand
Canyon a national monument and advised to «leave it as it is». In
1919 President Woodrow Wilson created the Grand Canyon Natio
nal Park. In 1979, the Grand Canyon was named a World Heritage
Site as its exceptional natural and cultural features are considered
inversely valuable for all humankind.
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, the State Capital of Georgia, is the commercial and trans
portation centre of the American Southern Region. In 1864, during
the Civil war, Atlanta was burned to the ground by General Sher
man. City planners rebuilt it as a modem city and nowadays metro
politan Atlanta has a population of 2 million people-one third of the
population is black. Many of America’s largest corporations, includ
107
ing such giants as the Coca Cola Company, have their headquarters
in Atlanta. Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport is the world’s
largest terminal complex and the second busiest airport in the world,
next to Chicago’s O’Haie, providing excellent non-stop connections
to more than 140 cities in the USA and beyond. The city has many
restaurants serving every dish imagiQable from the Southern Fried
Chicken to specialities from France and Italy and as far away as
Japan, Korea, Vietnam and India. Many universities and colleges are
in Atlanta including Georgia State University, Atlanta University,
Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University.
Florida
Florida occupies the south-eastern comer of the USA. Like most
of the southern states, it enjoys a wamvand sunny climate, and has a
luxuriant vegetation.
The Palm Beaches and the Florida Keys on the East Coast and
Naples, white sand beaches on the Weast Coast along with major
cities located along Florida’s Goldcoast include Miami; Coral Gables,
Key Biscayne, Miami Beach and Palm Beach. Many wealthy visi
tors spend the winter months in Palm Beach in their villas over
looking the Atlantic. St. Augustine, the oldest city in America, is also
situated in Florida.
Walt Disney World is one of Florida’s key attractions. Located in
Orlando (in the middle of the State) it is a three hour drive via Ex
pressway. Disney World offers many attractions, including Disney
characters, band-playing bears, mechanical men, Cinderella’s castle,
train and motor rides. One train is actually drawn by an authentic
steam locomotive. There is also a gingerbread decorated station.
New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is America’s main cotton market. It has southern
charm and hospitality, fine French and Creole cuisine and original
Dixieland jazz. Its center is Jackson square, surrounded by the St.
Louis basilica, Cabildo and the Pontabla buildings. The famed Mis-
108
sissippi river is directly in front of the square - the curve of the river
has given the city of New Orleans the name «Crescent City».

1. Write a tourist brochure of the Grand Canyon.
2. Write a dialogue between a tourist and a guide in Atlanta.
3. Answer the following questions:
a) What is the weather like in winter in Florida?
b) Which is the oldest city in the USA?
c) How long does it take to get from Miami to Walt Disney Land?
d) Which would you prefer to visit, Florida or Atlanta? Why?
ф The Pacific Coast, Alaska

and Hawaii
California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii.
Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles (pop. 3.096.700) is the largest city in California both
in population and area. Its county contains 76 cities, among which
are Beverly Hills, the traditional home of the stars, Pasadena, Santa
Monica and Long Beach.
In Los Angeles’ suburban area is located Hollywood, movie ca
pital of the nation, with its studio and theatres, and Disneyland, «the
happiest place in the world», which contains all sorts of amusements
for children and adults.
Hawaii
Hawaii is a group of islands located in the centre of the Pacific
ocean that became the 50th state of the United States of America in
1959. The 130 islands are of volcanic origin. Only seven of the eight
major islands are inhabited.
109
Alaska and Hawaii are similar in that they are far away from the
other forty-eight states. Both states must import most of their food
as well as their goods. Both states have a variety of people and have
experienced recent population growth.
Unlike Alaska, Hawaii is not rich in mineral deposits. However,
Hawaii’s ideal climate and beautiful beaches are the source of its
major industry, tourism. More than three million tourists visit Hawaii
each year.
Alaska
Alaska was part of Russia until 1867, when it was sold to the
United States for 7 million and 200 thousand dollars. It became the
49th state of the United States in 1959.
The density of its population is very low and only 400.000 people
live here, mostly in the main cities: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau
and Kenai.
San Francisco, California

San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. In
1848, only 820 people lived in the city, but when news of the disco
very of gold at Sutter’s Mill, about 100 miles from San Francisco,
broke out, the city became the supply centre for the thousands of
people who went there hoping to find gold and change their lives. In
1870 San Francisco was the tenth largest city in the United States.
By 1900 its population was 342.782, theatres had been opened, the
transcontinental railroad had been completed and the first cable cars,
one of San Francisco’s landmarks, had been operating for almost 30
years. At 5.13a.m on April, 1906 a heavy earthquake shook San
Francisco: 700 people died and497 blocks ofbuildings were destroyed.
The city was rebuilt quickly and its growth continued. In 1936, the
San Francisco-Oakiiuid Bay Bridge was opened to traffic and next
year the Golden Gate Bridge was completed. At 5.04.p.m. cmOcto
ber 17, 1989 an earthquake lasting 15 seconds caused death and
destruction in the city. More than 200 people died, many old buildings
110
in the port district were destroyed, the San Francisco-Oakland Bridge
was tom into two parts, and Ae upper deck of Highway 880 col
lapsed onto Ae lower one crashing the cars undemeaA.
San Francisco is built on 83 hills and transportation has always
been a problem. In 1873, Andrews Hallidie, a local engineer, de
signed Ae first cable car to travel up and down Ae city steep hills.
The cars move by gripping a cable which moves continuously under
Ae street

1. Ask and answer questions in pairs with Ae following words. You
are talking to a person from Hawaii: fruit, capital, climate, name of
Ae beach.
2. Answer Ae following questions:
a) Whom was Washington state named after?
b) Where are Beverly Hills and Hollywood?
c) Whom was Disneyland named after?
3. State wheAer Ae following are true or false:
a) San Francisco population increased due to Ae Gold Rush
b) San Francisco is Ae capital of California.
c) A cable car works in the same way as a tram.
d) San Francisco is prone to earthquakes
4. Compare Ae earthquakes of 1906 to that of 1989 using the given
prompts:
a) April/October,
b) 700 died/200 died;
c) 197 buildings/many old buildings;
d) Oakland Bay Bridge;
e) The upper deck of Highway 880.
ф American History
The New World
About a thousand years ago Ae Vikings lived in Northern Europe.
They were sailors and warriors who sailed ships to Ae coast of Eng-
111
land, France, Spain and Italy. They also sailed westward into the
Atlantic Ocean.
Greenland was discovered and settled by a Northman called Eric
the Red. His son was named Leif Ericson, or Leif, the son of Eric.
Once Leifwas returning from Norway. His ship was blown offcourse
in a storm. It reached a shore the Vikings had never seen before.
Because the land had grapes which grew in vines, Leif called it Vine
land. We now believe Vineland was on the shore of Newfoundland,
a part of Canada. The discovery was remembered only in the stories
of old people, which most of the other people did not believe and
soon forgot. Today, we know that the stories of the Vikings were
true. Leif Ericson and his sailors landed in the New World about five
hundred years before Columbus made his voyage.
Knowing about the Viking does not mean that Columbus’s dis
covery is less important. It does not matter who was actually the first
to set foot in the New World. What matters is that Leif, Columbus,
and many others had the courage to sail the dangerous oceans to find
new lands.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was bom in Genoa, in Italy, in 1451. His
father and both grandfathers were cloth makers. When he was twenty
five he joined his brother Bartholomew in Lisbon, a busy Portuguese
city port. Bartholomew owned a small shop that sold maps, com
passes and other tools that sailors needed. Columbus studied the maps
and charts in his brother’s shop. He read books on navigation, visited
shipyards and watched shipbuilders work on new fast ships called
caravels.
Most people in Columbus’s day thought that the earth was flat
and they did not believe that beyond the Atlantic Ocean lay the In
dies. Columbus, however, believed that a route to the Indies across
the Atlantic would be shorter and safer than a route around the tip of
Africa, but he did not have the money to buy ships and hire sailors.
Columbus first asked the king of Portugal to pay for his voyage. The
112
king asked his advisers and after their report he denied Columbus his
help. Next Columbus travelled to Spain to ask Queen Isabella and
King Ferdinand for help. After six years Isabella gave Columbus
three caravels: «The Santa Maria», «The Nina» and «The Pinta».
Columbus’s crew last saw land on the eastern horizon on 9 Sep
tember 1492 and on 12 October 1492, when everybody was tired
and anxious, the lookout on «the Pinta» saw something like a white
cliff shining in the moonlight and yelled out: «Тіегга! Tierra!» Colum
bus named the land he had reached San Salvador («Holy Saviour»).
He thought he had landed in Asia, but in fact he was on a small island
in the Bahamas, a group of islands close to the continents of North
and South America. On 15 March 1493 Columbus was back in Spain
with two of his ships. He carried parrots, an alligator, a few pieces of
gold jewellery, some interesting looking plants and six American In
dians.
The Colonies
European people came to the New World for many reasons.
Some hoped to find new trade routes to Asia. Later many came
in hope of finding gold and silver. Priests and missionaries came
to bring the Christian religion to the Indians. Finally, there were
those who came in search of freedom and a new way of life.
Some were convicts who had come straight to the colonies from
English jails. The colonies stretched for about one thousand miles
north and south along the Atlantic coast line. Life was different in
each English colony. Settlers in the northern colonies found the
soil rocky and not very rich. Instead of farming, they turned to fur
trapping, lumbering and fishing. The settlers in the middle colonies
were mostly farmers. They cultivated wheat and other grains.
Some of the grain was used for food. Grain was also sold as a
cash crop. Some was shipped to other parts of America and to
England. The middle colonies produced so much grain that they
were called the «bread colonies». The southern colonies cultivated
rice, tobacco and hemp which was used to make rope.
113
The Pilgrims
Among those who came seeking freedom was a small group of
English people called Pilgrims. The Pilgrims were searching for reli
gious freedom. They founded the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts
in 1620. The Pilgrims had been forced to leave England because of
their religious beliefs. They had moved to Holland where they had
lived for ten years.
When they decided to leave for America, they sailed on «The
Mayflower» and arrived in the new world in the winter of 1620. The
Pilgrims worked hard all through the spring and summer of 1621.
They hunted, fished and planted crops.
As the harvest that summer and autumn was good, the Pilgrims
wanted to give thanks to God for their food fortune.
They had learned that the Indians, who were their friends, held a
ceremony each year at harvest time. At this ceremony the Indians
thanked nature for the food they had received. The Pilgrims decided
to hold their own feast of thanksgiving that fall*. The first thanksgiv
ing lasted three days. Today, more than 330 years later, Americans
still celebrate Thanksgiving. It is their national holiday in November.
Another religious group, known as Quakers, founded a colony called
Pennsylvania, while some English Catholics, who had left England to
escape persecution settled in the colony which they called Maryland,
■"fall - is the American word for «autumn».
The American Revolution

In 1763 Great Britain defeated France in the French and Indian
War, but was left nearly bankrupt. The only way to fill the treasury
was to raise money by taxes.
The British placed taxes on such goods as molasses, tea, glass
and paint. They also passed Stamp Act. This was a special tax in the
form of a stamp which had to be placed on newspapers and legal
papers. The colonists protested so strongly against this tax that Bri
tain finally dropped in.
The many disputes led to bad feelings on both sides. Colonists
formed an organization called «The Sons of Liberty». It led protests
114
against the British. The British government then sent soldiers to en
force its laws.
In 1770 some colonists clashed with British troops on a Boston
street. In the excitement, the soldiers fired into the crowd. Five peo
ple were killed. The shooting came to be known by the colonists as
the Boston Massacre.
Colonial leaders such as Samuel Adams, his cousin John Adams,
who would later become the second president of the United States,
Paul Revere, Thomas Jefferson, the future third president of the
United States, George Washington, who would later become the first
president of the United States, and Benjamin Franklin organized
stronger protests against British rule. Britain dropped most of the
taxes but kept the one in tea. Some merchants smuggled in tea to
avoid paying the tax.
When in 1773, Parliament passed a new law lowering the tax on
tea, some merchants feared that they would lose the profits they
made by smuggling tea. Late in December 1773 a number of colo
nists took action. Disguised as Indians, they boarded a British ship
and dumped the cargo of tea into the harbour. The incident was called
«the Boston Tea Party» and its story spread to all the colonies. Bri
tain was angry and decided to punish the entire city of Boston by
closing the port to ships. The Boston Tea party proved to be one of
the events that started the Revolution in 1775. The British troops
marched out of Boston hoping to surprise the colonists, who had
stored weapons near the city. Fighting broke out at Lexington and
Concord, two villages near Boston. These battles on 19 April 1775,
marked the start of the American Revolution. А month later Ame
rican colonists occupied the hills around Boston. The British sent
more than two thousand soldiers who held the hills. The result was
the battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775. The British troops seized the
hills, but suffered terrible losses. George Washington took command
of the colonial army. It was known as the Continental Army for the
rest of the revolution. At the start it numbered 15.000 troops.
Many people in Britain and in the colonies did not want war. Co
lonial leaders sent a petition to King George III of Britain. In it, the
king was asked to unite Great Britain and the colonies in a peaceful
way. But the king refused to read the petition. He declared that the
115
colonial protesters were rebels. On July 4, 1776, the Continental
Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. The Declara
tion meant that all people have rights that cannot be taken from them
by any government. All people should therefore be treated as equals
before the law. That is, the laws should be the same for all American
people.
The Gold Rush

The story of the discoveiy of gold in California starts with John
Sutter. He decided to build a sawmill on the American river near
Sutter’s Fort. This was a settlement he had founded. Sutter hired a
mechanic, James Marshall, to start the work. Marshall never fini
shed the sawmill. While digging a ditch, he found a sparkling stone. It
turned out to be gold.
The cry «Gold ! The hills are filled with gold!» spread like wildfire
across the United States.
In the next year, 1849, people swarmed into California by the
thousands. Those who came in search of gold were known as forty-
joiners.
Not all the forty-niners were Americans. Some came from Eu
rope, China and Australia. Only a few found the riches they dreamt
of. Most of them settled on farms or in towns in California and near
by states. Not even John Sutter, the man on whose property gold
was found, became rich. His fields and his sawmill were destroyed
by the rush of new setders. Joht Sutter was ruined by the cry of
«Gold».

a) Christopher Columbus came from a family o f...
b) Columbus was financed by ...
c) Columbus travelled for ... days without seeing land.
d) Columbus thought he had reached ...
e) Columbus returned with ...
f) Columbus was away for ...
116
2. Tell about the origins of Thanksgiving.
3. Say some words about these men:
a) John Sutter;
b) George Washington;
c) Samuel Adams;
d) John Adams;
e) Thomas Jefferson.
4. Describe Columbus’s voyage out and his voyage home. You can
use the following expressions: caravels, crew, 9th September, 12th
October, tired, cliff, San Salvador, 15th March, two ships, what he
brought.
World Warll
On the 1st of September 1939 the Germans invaded Poland; on
the 3rd of September the Western Powers (France and England)
declared war on Germany. It was the outbreak of the Second World
War. The war showed the allied powers (France, England, later USA
and USSR) against the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan). In
April 1940 Hitler’s forces moved into Denmark and Norway, then
they invaded Holland and Belgium and entered France. In Britain,
after the resignation of the prime minister Neville Chamberlain, the
Conservative Government was replaced by a Coalition Government,
headed by Sir Winston Churchill, who, with his gift of rhetoric, was
able to raise national feeling immediately.
The course of the Second World War was such that British troops
were involved in campaigns in the Far East, in Africa, and in Italy as
well as just across the English Channel. The land operations across
the Channel were restricted to the few first desperate morths of
failure to resist the German advance into France, which culminated
in the surrender of France in 1940 and to the massive landings of
invasion forces in Normandy four years later for the steady advance
into Germany that brought about Hitler’s defeat.
The entry of the United States in 1941, the rash German invasion
of the USSR in 1941 and the consequent surrender of a Germany
anny at Stalingrad in 1943 made Nazi power seem less invincible,
117
while the news that began to filter through of the horrors of the con
centration camps corroborated the enemy’s evil status and gave the
Allies’ case the flavour of a crusade.
Italy was invaded by the Allies in 1943; the Fascist Government
was overthrown, but the Germans resisted strongly, and the Allies
managed to reach the north of Italy only in spring of 1945. On 6th
June 1944(D-Day), the Allies invaded Normandy, liberated Paris and
reached the Rhine; Americans and Russians met at the Elbe, and in
May 1945 the war in Europe was over. On August 6th 1945, the
Americans dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, in
Japan. It destroyed most of the city and killed or wounded more than
160.000 people. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. This
time the Japanese agreed to surrender. World War II was over. At
least 17 million soldiers and'18 million civilians had died.
United States foreign policy since 1945

One of the most important results of World War П is that two
countries became world leaders. They were the United States and
the Soviet Union. These two countries had been allies during World
War П. When the war ended in 1945, that alliance fell apart.
American foreign policy after 1945 was aimed at containing the
Soviet Union. Economic and military aid was given to many nations
to help diem resist communism. The US also signed treaties of al
liance with many nations. A so-called «Cold War» ensued between
the USSR on one side, and America and the Western powers on the
other.
In 1950 fighting broke out in Asia between North Korea and South
Korea. The Soviet Union supported the North Koreans. Chinese
troops also came to the aid of North Korea. The USA and the UN
supported the South Korean government. Thousands of American
troops fought in Korea until the war ended in 1953. A truce finally
ended the war. It left North and South Korean boundaries almost as
they had been in 1950.
In the 1960s fighting broke out between North and South Viet
nam. North Vietnamese attacked American destroyers in the Gulf of
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Tonkin in 1963. In retaliation, President Johnson organized air at
tacks on North Vietnam naval bases. Only later in 1965 were com-
bat soldiers sent over from America to fight. By 1968 the number of
soldiers reached 500.000. By then the war had become full-scale
with the bombing of towns, factories and schools. At home in
America the cries of protest, mostly in the university campuses,
were making themselves heard more and more and massive peace
marches were organized in the name of peace.
More than 46.000 American soldiers had died in Vietnam by 1973,
when all American forces were removed and the North Vietnamese
took control of all Vietnam. There were no manifestations of joy
when the war ended. The country had been defeated and the death
of so many soldiers could not even be justified in the name of a noble
cause.
By the mid-1970s American foreign policy aimed to improve rela
tions with the Soviet Union. The United States also established nor
mal relations with the New Communist Government in China. The
people’s republic of China had taken control of the Chinese mainland
in 1949. The United States recognized the new government only in
1976. In 1979 the Soviet Union sent troops into the neighbouring
nation of Afghanistan, the USA protested strongly and the United
Nations condemned the Soviet Union. Relations between the USSR
and the USA worsened.
Ronald Reagan, elected president in 1980, and re-elected a se
cond time in 1984, obtained a remarkable success in bettering the
relations between USA and USSR and in the reduction of nuclear
arms. His successor, George Bush, elected in 1988, adapted the same
policy and now we can say the «Cold War» is over.

1. Why didn’t the Americans and the Russians remain allies after
the «id of World War П?
2. Explain what the «Cold War» was.
3. Which big power supported which part of Korea?
4. How long did the Korean war last? What was the outcome?
5. Which Americans most strongly protested against the war in
Vietnam? Why do you think so?
119
6. What were the two most striking achievements by Ronald Reagan?
7. Identify the following:
a) Neville Chamberlain;
b) Adolf Hitler,
c) Benito Mussolini;
d) Joseph Stalin;
e) The Allied Powers;
f) D-Day;
g) Hiroshima;
h) Nagasaki.
8. Write out the events for each of these dates:
1939,1940,1941,1943,1944,1945.
63 Institutions in the USA

The United States of America is a Federal Union of fifty states
plus the District of Columbia. The Federal Government resides in
Washington D.C., which is the capital of the nation.
The Government of the USA is based on the Constitution, a do
cument written in 1787. The Constitution was signed by representa
tives of the thirteen original States, and since 1789 twenty-six Amend
ments have been added to it (the first ten are known as the «Bill of
Rights»).
The USA under the Constitution is a republic. This means that its
citizens elect the officials who govern them. The United States is
also a democracy. In a democracy the citizens have certain rights.
These include the rights of free press, free speech, and freedom of
religion. Citizens of a democracy also have the right to a fair and fast
trial if they are accused of crimes. The rights of citizens in a demo
cracy are known as civil rights. The Constitution also provides for a
federal system of government. This is divided between the states
and the national, or federal, government. The division of power keeps
either the states or the federal government from having too much
power. Certain powers are given only to the federal government.
These include the power to make peace or war, to print money, and
120
to regulate trade between the states. The powers of the federal go
vernment are listed in the Constitution.
The powers not given to the federal government remain with the
states. This means that the states actually control such things as
education, marriage and divorce, and elections. The Constitution pro
vides that certain powers are shared by the national government and
the states. These powers include the right to pass tax laws, borrow
money, build roads, and by lawbreakers.
The President
The President is elected eveiy four years and is the head of the
State, of the armed forces and the civil service. He cannot be elec
ted for more than two terms. The President lives in the White House,
in Washington D.C., he carries out the decisions taken by Congress,
and makes legislation which must be approved by Congress. Only in
times of emergency and in foreign affairs can he act on his own.
He is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he initiates
Foreign Policy, signs bills, prepares the National Budget and nomi
nates upper Government Officials.
The President is assisted by his Vice-President and his Cabinet,
made up of Department Secretaries. The most important of these is
the Secretary of State, who deals with foreign affairs.
Congress
Congress is divided into two homes: the Senate (100 members,
two for each state, who are elected for 6 years and renewed by one
third eveiy two years) and the House of Representatives (435 mem
bers elected for two years).
The Congress meets in the Capitol, Washington D.C., its main
functions are to declare war and to make laws, which become effec
tive after the President’s approval.
The Senate ratifies treaties and gives its agreement to nomina
tions of high officials.
121
Elections
Every four years Americans participate in the election of the na
tion’s President.
There are two major political parties in the USA, the Democrats
and the Republicans. The summer before the election both political
parties hold a convention, a huge meeting where the policy of the
party is chosen, After the convention of its own candidates. The
nominees make their own campaigns and some months before the
final election there is a «primary» to select one single candidate for
each political party. The winner of the final election is the new Pre
sident.

1. Put in the different powers of each of the following:
a) Federal Government;
b) State;
c) Federal Government and State.
2. Ask questions for the following answers:
a) Fifty;
b) Washington D.C.;
c) District of Columbia;
d) Thirteen;
e) Bill of Rights;
f) 1787.
3. Name 5 rights under a democracy and explain what you think
each means:
Ex: Right o f... means that... .
4. Describe the elections of the President in the United States of
America.
ф Education in the USA

In the United States education differs according to the state. In
each school the «principal», i.e. the headmaster of the school, de
cides the curriculum for each grade in his own school. There are
122
many different kinds of schools: public schools, private schools, pa
rochial schools, schools specializing in the arts, literature or science,
etc. American children receive free compulsory education from 6 to
18 (or 16 in some states). The most common system of education
comprises:
Nursery School from 3 to 4;
Kindergarten from 4 to 6;
Elementary School from 6 to 12 (from 1st grade to 6th grade);
Junior High School from 12 to 15 (from 7th to 9th grade);
Senior High School from 15 to 18 (from 10th to 12th grade).
In Public Schools the curriculum varies in each state, for instance

the subjects New York State requires in the 7th and 8th grade are:
English, social studies (history, geography, economics); science; maths;
technical education; home and career skills; art and music; library
skills; physical education (three times a week); health; foreign lan
guage.
The typical school day starts at 8.30 or 9.00 a.m. In many schools
the day still begins with the salute to the American flag. Lessons are
normally held five days a week, from Monday to Friday.
In most American schools television is widely used in teaching
and there are television channels which offer a wide range of new
educational shows. They are free, most do not have commercials
and some provide teachers’ guides. The American magazine News
week has called the television set «the second blackboard» and «the
teaching tube». Many states are encouraging the use of television in
the class. Some, like Virginia and South Carolina, produce their own
instructional shows and deliver them via satellite.
Higher Education
After graduating from High School students may go on to attend
a university or college where they specialize or «major» in a subject
Colleges and universities give bachelor degrees - after two years -
master degrees - after four years - and doctorates after more study.
Higher education is very expensive in private colleges and universi
ties, but it is much cheaper in those supported by the states and the
123
cities. Many students receive a scholarship from the university or
have part-time jobs to help pay their expenses. American univer
sities are set in a «campus», formed by buildings and green areas.
Students may live in the campus, but may also go home in the
evening. Most students do not live with their families, but rent an
apartment together with friends. Some American universities are
famous all over the world; they are very selective and very
expensive. The most outstanding are the eight of the group called
the Ivy League: Brown, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell,
Dartmouth College, Princeton and Pennsylvania. These universities
have similar academic and social prestige in the USA to Oxford
and Cambridge in Britain.

1. Make up a dialogue between a European reporter and an American
schoolboy about his (her) study at school.
2. Find the prepositions that with the verb to go have the following
meanings (up, down, over, after):
a) to ascend - to go ...
b) to descend - to go ...
c) to examine - to go ...
d) to follow - to go ...
Write one sentence for each.
ф Mass Media in the USA

Cinema
Cinema was invented by the Lumiere brothers in Paris but it de
veloped mainly in the USA. Here the earliest cinemas were called
«nickelodeons», because people had to pay a nickel (five cents) to
get in.
Soon film producers moved to California, and a suburb of Los
Angeles called Hollywood became the centre of the film industry. In
the 1920s some companies were founded for the production and the
124
distribution of films. Names like Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox,
Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Warner Brothers and Columbia became well
known all over the world. Movies were silent till 1927. Then the first
«talkie» was made and a revolution in the film industry started. Many
directors and stars of the silent cinema were unable to keep up with
the new technique and were replaced by new directors and stars.
The greatest success of the American cinema was «Gone with
the Wind» produced in 1939. It lasted 235 minutes and remained the
biggest success until «Е.Т.», the film directed by Steven Spielberg
which sold even more tickets.
The film industry entered a big crisis with the introduction of a TV
set in every home. Nowadays the main studios in Hollywood are
working much more with TV series than with full length films.
The Press
In the United States a very large number of newspapers and
periodicals are published. You can buy them almost everywhere,
in small shops or in huge department stores. A large bookstore is
the best place to go if you are looking for a particular magazine.
Because of the size of the country, in the USA there are no national
papers, but only local ones. Actually, some «local» papers are
very important and are read all over the country. One of the most
important is the «New York Times», which is published in New
York but sold everywhere. Its Sunday edition is very heavy: it has
over 200 pages and includes many supplements. Another famous
American paper is the «Washington Post». It became especially
famous during the 1972 presidential campaign, when some of its
journalists published the news that a group of agents employed by
the re-election organization of President Richard Nixon were
caught breaking into the Democratic Party headquarters in the
Watergate building, in Washington D.C. This event became known
as the «Watergate Scandal». In addition to daily papers, hundreds
of weekly or monthly magazines are published. The most famous
are «Newsweek», «Time», «Life», «The New Yorker», «Look»
and «National Geographic».
125
Television
There are over 600 TV stations in the USA, but the major televi
sion networks are ABC (American Broadcasting Company), CBS
(Columbia Broadcasting System) and NBC (National Broadcasting
Company).
TV viewers don’t pay any tax to receive these stations as the
cost of programs is paid by sponsors who advertise their goods
during the programs. Recently a new system has been introduced. If
you pay you can be connected to the cable TV channel you like. You
can choose from a large number of vety specialized channels. If you
like always to be well informed about what is going on in the world
you will want to be connected to a news channel, like CNN, but if
you like entertainment your choice will be a movie channel, which
broadcasts only films, or even the Walt Disney Channel, where you
can watch Walt Disney movies and shows.

1. Underline the most appropriate:
1) In the US newspapers are:
a) easily available;
b) hard to find;
c) rarely sold.
2) There is a ... variety of newspapers.
a) wide;
b) limited;
c) fair.
3) ... are important.
a) All local papers;
b) Some local papers;
c) No local papers.
4) There are no national newspapers because ...
a) nobody reads them;
b) the United States is too large;
c) not all Americans speak the same languages.
5) The Sundav edition of the «New York Times» is especially ...
a) thick;
b) expensive;
c) small.
126
2. Complete the following sentences:
a) Americans cannot watch cable TV unless ... .
b) If they like being well informed ... .
c) I always switch on the television as soon as ... .
d) Most Emilies have the television on while ....
e) In Italy you can watch films all day on television as
long as....
f) To receive the main TV stations in the USA people don’t ....
g) In American schools the TV set... .
h) The Americans who like watching cartoons ....
ф Festivities and Traditions

in the USA
Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving is the oldest American holiday. It was first cele
brated in October 1621. The Pilgrims had arrived in the New World
from Europe on the «Mayflower» in the winter of 1620. They had
worked hard all during the spring and summer of the following years.
As the harvest was good the Pilgrims wanted to thank God for it
Their first thanksgiving feast lasted three days and the celebration
was repeated eveiy year. Until 1863 the annual celebration ofThanks*
giving was limited to a few states in the east, then it was declared a
national holiday and it was traditionally celebrated with big dinners with
stuffed turkey and pumpking pie cmthe fourth Thursday ofNovember in
the United States and от the second Monday of October in Canada.
Independence Day
America was declared independent on July 4th, 1776, when the
Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence.
Since that day, the Fourth of July has been the most important annual
national holiday in the United States. Independence Day is cele
127
brated with parades, picnics, speeches, fireworks and bonfires. The
army fires a thirteen-gun salute, to commemorate the first thirteen
independent American States.
Columbus Day
October 12th the date of Christopher Columbus’ landing in the
West Indies, is a legal holiday in most states of the USA.
Halloween
«Trick or treat» says the little witch who is at your door together
with a plump faced ghost. You give them candies and they leave for
the next door.
They dress up in fimny clothes and masks and go round the houses
asking for fruit, candies or money. If you don’t give anything to them,
they play tricks on you like taking the garbage bin in front of your
door or throwing flour at your windows. Halloween is a traditional
event both in Great Britain and in the States, but it is much popular
among American children. The name means «All hallows eve», i.e.
the eve of all Saints’ Day», celebrated on October 31st. Its origins
are very old and go back to the times of the Celts, who, on October
31st, celebrated the Celtic New Year and Samhain, the Lord of Death.
Ghosts, witches and.spirits are present in all Halloween celebrations
and the symbol ofHalloween is a ghostly figure called Jack O’Lantem
- a hollowed pumpkin which has holes cut in it to represent a human
face.

1. Match the date and the event:
July 4th Halloween
October 12th Thanksgiving Day
October 31st Independence Day
22nd November Columbus landed in West Indies.
128
2. Now complete the following:
a) The 4th of July is a national holiday because....
b) October 12th is a legal holiday because....
c) On October 31st the Celts celebrated....
d) The Pilgrims created Thanksgiving Day to...
ф Food in the USA

Americans eat a lot and they love junk food. Their diet is not
healthy, they fry a lot and eat fat, sweet food. The average Ameri
can eats three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
They don’t like to eat at home and veiy often go to restaurants.
They can choose from many kind of restaurants - from fancy and
expensive to very cheap ones. There is a great number of ethnic
restaurants - Italian food, Mexican food and Chinese food are as
popular as the traditional American burger. An American institution
is the «Fast food restaurant», which is now veiy popular all over the
world. The American artist Andy Warhol once said that what is best
in most capital cities of the world is the MacDonald’s Restaurant.
In one day, Americans eat 87 million hot dogs. That’s the equiva
lent of a hotdog 30 feet in diameter and half the length of a football
field. If you are a baseball fan, imagine a package of 10 hot dogs -
where each one is 18 feet thick and pitcher’s mound to home plate.
Over six million gallons of popcorn each and eveiy day are eaten
by those people who chomp loudly and sit behind you at the movies,
but actually 70 percent of it is eaten at home.
Is pizza your favourite food? You’re not alone. Americans eat 75
acres of it eveiy day! If you are having trouble figuring out how
much that is, it’s enough pizza to cover 60 football fields.
Today Americans are much more concerned about their health
than they used to be. As you can see from the ad they are tiying to
make people award that eating well is a good habit that everyone
should have.
129
QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS.
1. Find the words in the text meaning the following:
a) sausage in bread;
b) to chew;
c) to calculate;
d) preoccupied;
e) ready prepared food;
f) minced meat in bread roll;
g) restaurants where you can eat quickly.
2. If you feel like an American hamburger go to MacDonald’s.
Complete the following:
a) I feel like eating a hamburger. Then go to ... .
b) I feel like swimming ... .
c) I feel like having a sleep ... .
d) I feel like dancing ... .
e) I feel like reading ... .
ф Music in the USA

'When Africans were taken to the New World as slaves they took
their traditions and also their music with diem. Their music was very
rhythmical and sounded very different from the music Europeans
and Americans were used to, especially because of its complex har
monic pattern.
Black people sang their songs in groups, when they were at work
in the fields or when they went to church. When they learnt to play
musical instruments their songs were transformed into music and
complex currents ofjazz started: Dixieland, swing, be-bop, cool and
flee jazz. Jazz players and singers such as Louis Armstrong, Duke
Ellington, Bessie Smith, Glenn Miller, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie,
Thelonius Monk, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Sun Ra
and George Gershwin entered the history of music and became fa
mous all ov=- the world.
Not only are the songs of the ‘50s back in style, but certain con
stants about rock’n’roll have never gone out of style. They’ve only
been recycled and transformed into modem rock music.
130
Black music continue to supply the impetus for new pop styles,
such as «тар», «hip hop», «reggae» and «house music». The ‘50s
music that led us to the Twist in the ‘60s, which gave way to the
discos of the 1970s, has led to today’s dance explosion and the sound
of Milli Vanilli, Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul.
While rock’n’roll has enjoyed great popularity since the mid -
‘50s, it’s also been the target of criticism by concerned citizens. In
the ‘50s, parents complained about the new fashion of rock’n’roll:
«What’s matter with kids today?» they wondered as their kids ran
home from school each afternoon to watch the latest dances on the
television show, American Bandstand. In the 1960s, the battle line
between the generations was even more sharply drawn as rock mu
sic became louder and hairstyles longer. And in the 1980s, parental
groups such as PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) tried to
censor rock lyrics, legally, causing the reaction of rock fans and mu
sicians.
Like Elvis, rock stars are still role models with rocky life styles.
Controversy rages over such public figures as Madonna, Tommy
Lee of «Motley Crue» and Sebastian Bach of «Skid Row», whose
every little move is reported by the media.
But the power of rock’n’roll continues. Its idealism and emotion
live on: from the harmonies of the «Everly Brothers», to the togeth
erness of the «Beach Boys», to the thoughtfulness and passion of
Bruce Springsteen and «U2». As Huey Lewis once said, the «heart
ofrock’n’roll is still beating».

1. Ask your friend the appropriate questions in order to complete the
chart.
Favourite US singer
Date of birth:
Kind of music:
First hit
Latest record:
Seen live on:
Seen live at:
Number of:
131
2. Now write the questions out in Ml:
3. Multiple Choice.
1. Elvis Presley was popular with:
a) teenagers;
b) parents;
c) neither.
2. Jazz originated in
a) Africa;
b) Canada;
c) Europe.
3. Black people sang
a) alone;
b) in couples;
c) all together.
4. The Twist was popular in
a) the ‘60s;
b) Ше ‘20s;
c) the ‘70s.
5. The PMRC wanted to ... rock lyrics.
a) encourage;
b) stop;
c) change.
ф Sport in the USA

Americans are fond of sport and even the smallest village has a
playground or area where people can go and practice their favourite
sport. The most popular sports in the United States are baseball,
which is played from April to October, American football, played
from September to December, basketball, played from October to
April and ice hockey, played in most northern cities from October to
March. Ther? are more activities which Americans take part in; these
are gol£ aerobics, jogging, fitness walking, swimming, volleyball, tennis,
cycling, etc
132
Baseball
Baseball is a team game derived from the English game of cri
cket. It is played with a bat and ball by two teams of nine players
each, on a field with four bases. Baseball is the national game in the
USA and it is veiy popular in Canada too. The most modem and
impressive Baseball stadium is Toronto’s Sky Dome.
American Football
American Football derives from the English game of rugby. It
started at Harvard University in the 1870s. It is a game for two
teams of eleven men on the field. At the ends of the field are goal
posts. The object of the game is to have the control of the ball and to
score points by carrying it across the goal-line.
Football is a game of violent physical contact. That’s why foot
ballers must be big, strong men.
Soccer
Association Football is better known in the USA as soccer. Soc
cer is not as popular in the USA as it is in all the rest ofthe world, but
interest in this sport is growing more and more. The U.S. team took
part in the 1990 World Cup for the first time after 40 years, and in
1994 the World Cup played in the United States for the first time.
Basketball
Basketball is a game which nowadays is popular all over the world.
It was invented in the USA in 1891 and was taken abroad by Ame
rican soldiers during the Second World War.
U.S. basketball had its heyday all over the world in the ‘70s. In
that period of time the American Championship was divided into two
leagues: the ABA (American Basketball Association), which does
not exist today and which played with a blue, red and white ball - the
133
American national colours - and the NBA (National Basketball As
sociation).
The NBA is a professional league which still plays in the Ameri
can championship. It is divided into four conferences, grouped into a
western and an eastern division.
U.S. basketball is very popular among university students and there
are also university teams which form the NCAA (National Colle
giate Athletic Association). The athletes who play in the Olympic
team and in the basketball world championships are selected from
the NCAA.

1. Answer the following questions.
a) Which year before 1990 did the U.S. take part in the Soccer
World Cup last?
b) Where will the next World Cup take place?
c) When was basketball first played in Europe?
d) What does NBA stand for?
e) When was basketball at its most popular in the United
States?
f) How many leagues are there in the American basketball
championships?
2. Imagine you have just seen your first American football match.
Write a letter to a friend giving your impressions.
Л іте р а тур а
1. Барбарига А. А. В школах Англии: Пособие по страноведе

нию на англ. яз. - М.: Высшая школа., 1983.
2. Зайцева С. Д. Англия в далеком прошлом. - М.: Просвеще
ние, 1981.
3. Россоха М. В. The English - speaking world. - Тернополь,
«Amber», 1996.
4. Тенсон И. А., Войтова Г. A. Habits and Ways in Great Britain
and the United States. - М.: Международные отношения, 1978.
5. Токарева H. Д. Страницы истории Великобритании и США:
Пособие по страноведению. - М.: Высшая школа, 1985.
6. Томахин Т. Д. Америка через американизмы. - М.: Выс
шая школа, 1985.
7. Томахин Т. Д. По Соединенным Штатам Америки. - М.: Выс
шая школа, 1985.
8. Химунина Т. Н. В Великобритании принято так. (об англий
ских обычаях). - М.: Просвещение, 1974.
9. Курьер ЮНЕСКО. Америка: открытие Нового мира. (Ап
рель, 1988).
10. «Эй-би-Си» Калейдоскоп. Журнал для изучающих англий
ский язык. - Киев: «Ельтон».
11. Журнал «Иностранные языки в школе». —1990. - № 5, б;
1989. - № 3, 4. М.: Просвещение.
12. Martin Simons. The New Worlds. London, «Hulton Educational
Publications», 1970.
135
ЗАПРОШ УЄ
до співробітництва авторів та авторські колективи для на
писання підручників і навчально-методичної літератури.
Своїм авторам ми платимо гідні гонорари. Чекаємо ваших
пропозицій!
Определьоннова Тетяна Борисівна
КРАЇНОЗНАВСТВО
Великобританія. США.
Навчальний посібник
по країнознавству для шкіл
з поглибленим вивченням англійської мови
Редактор О. С. Коган
Художній редактор А. М. Недял
Коректор К. Ф. Квілінська
Комп’ютерна верстка Р. В. Тростянецького
Видавництво “Центр підготовки абітурієнтів”

Україна, м. Донецьк, вул. Артема, 46
Зам. 8— 85.
АО “Киевская книжная фабрика”
252054, м. Київ— 54,вул. Воровського, 24.

Místní Studie. Velká Británie. USA 1998

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Посібник являє собою країнознавчий матеріал по Великобританії й США.

ISBN 96 6-7 1 7 7 -0 3-3 © Центр підготовки абітурієнтів, 1998

1 The United Kingdom

NOTES AND MEANINGS

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

0 The Roman Conquest

0 Traces of the Roman Rule

NOTES AND MEANINGS

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

6 The Anglo-Saxon Conquest

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

0 Peasants Begin to Lose

11 Conversion of the Anglo-

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ф Danish Raids on England

ф Strengthening of the Kingdom

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

16 New Attacks of the Danes

ф The Peculiarities of the

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ф The Norman Invasion

20 Subjugation of the Country

0 The Bayeux Tapestry

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ф How the Norman Conquerors

ф Effects on the Language

ф Villages after the Norman

ф The Peasant’s Struggle

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ф The Magna Charta

ф The Hundred Years War

0 The Wars of the Roses

ф The Church of England

Word Class formation

4. Add the correct years to these sentences.

ф The Industrial Revolution

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

The Welsh Language

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

The House of Commons

The Political Parties

The Prime Minister

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

System A: Primary School from 5 to 11;

In Primary School and First School children learn to read and

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

49 British Mass Media

Radio and Television

50 Traditional British Food

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ф From History of English

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

New Year in England

Mothering Sunday (Mother’s Day)

April Fool's Day

1. Барбарига А. А. В школах Англии: Пособие по страноведе