Лингвострановедение

 

(1) Great Britain. A little bit of history and names  England – Engla Land (the land of angels).Britain is derived from the Middle English Bretayne , a variant of Latin Britannia. Pritani or Priteni..They picked up this word from the earlier habitats. Britannia prima (England)  Britannia secunda (Wales), North Britannia (Scotland).Originally, the term Gr. Br. distinguished Britain from Britannia Minor, that is Brittany (in France).The term Gr. Br. was used in 1604, when James I was proclaimed the king of Gr. Br. J. Thomson – patriotic song “Rule, Britannia!” (1740) “Rule, Britannia, rule the waves/Britons never will be slaves”.United Kingdom. This name was adopted on January I 1801, when Gr. Br. and Ireland were united. The national banner consists of 3 united crosses: St. George, St. Patrick and St. Andre. It is called “Union Jack”. The union of the kingdoms came to the end in 1922. Now only 6 Northern countries remain in the UK.

(2) A sense of identity. Gr. Br. is only geographical expression, whereas the UK is a political expression. The Br. Isles describes the isles themselves. The Br. Isles today are shared by 2 separate and independent states: the UK and Republic of Ireland. It is widely assumed, that the British form a relatively homogeneous society with a strong sense of identity. But this is an assumption, that requires considerable qualification. Even after 4 hundr. Years the term British and Britain, which are used for official purposes, are seem very artificial. H. W. Fowler. In his dictionary of Modern Eng. Usage, which has the 1^st published in 1926: “How should an Englishman utter the words Gr. Br. with the glow of emotion, that for him goes with England?” For centuries it has been the idea of “Scotland, Eng. and Wales” rather than “Britain”, which has been charged with patriotic emotion, particularly a times of national. Admiral Lord Nelson's famous order to the British fleet read: “England expects, that every man will do his duty.” In 1939 during parliament's emergency depute on the eve of the war one MP called across the chamber to another, who was rising to speak  “Come on, after. Speak for England”

Are you British enough? Once a Br-h government has announced, that it is to introduce a test about Britain and British culture for people, who wants to become a Br. citizen. “My family is proud to be British. We came here from Uganda n the 1970s. In those day, they didn't have a test, but I think it's a good idea. People are always asking: What does this country do for me? But a better question is: What can I do for my country?”

3.Highland and Lowland Britain. Climate and weather. Britain is divided into Highlands and Lowlands. Highlands consists consists of Scotland, most of Wales and the Lake District. Lowland Britain comprises southern and eastern England. Highland is a mountainous territory. People there are quite tough and proud, they preserve their traditions, family unity. Scots wear traditional clothes – kilts, made of tartan. In Scotland there still exist clans, each has its own tartan pattern. Every year the so-called Highland Games take place. There are about hundred small games, watched by the Royal Family. Drums and pipes can be heard. National sports are tug-of-war, tossing the cabre, also there are dancing and Scottish fling. Nature is rich: 300000 deer live there, rivers of Highlands are good for fishing. Highlands is a region of lakes. Barley is grown by the farmers, used to make whisky. Many writers use Highlands as the scenes for their creations, for example Walter Scot or Robert Burns. The Lowlands is a more economically and technically developed region, with London as its centre.

4.England. Core and periphery. Population. Britain is a relatively densely populated country. The most densely populated areas of England are the major cities and metropolitan areas of London and the South East, South and West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, the West Midlands, and the conurbations on the rivers Tyne, Wear and Tees. According to the 2011 census, the total population of the United Kingdom is around 63,100,000—the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the 22nd-largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world at 660 people per square mile, due to the particularly high population density in England (currently over 1000 people per square mile). Almost one-third of the population lives in England's southeast which is predominantly urban and suburban, with about 8 million in the capital city of London, the population density of which is just under 13,000 per square mile. London has the highest population density with 4,00 people per square kilometre, and the South West the lowest (210 people per square kilometre). The population in percentage: England – 83,8, Scotland – 8,3, Wales – 4.8, Northern Ireland – 3,0. Throughout the history the centre of population has been in the South of the country. There are only 5 cities with population more then 500000 people: London, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow. In Scotland and Wales the biggest part of the population is concentrated in Lowland areas.

 

 

 

 

5. The North-South Divide. If one looks at living standards and expectations they show that the South-East, South, South-West, East Anglia and the East-Midlands tend to do much better than the peripheral areas.The most northerly of the 10 most prosperous towns was Stratford-on-Avon. The most southerly of poorest town was still north of Nottingham.A sharp contest exists b/n the conditions of life in the North and in the South. Death rates are highest in Scotland, followed by the North and North-West regions of England and East Anglia.The northern population generally is more subject to heart disease & cancer. People in the North tend to smoke & drink more heavily than in the South. The North of Eng. had the worst school examination results in Britain.The North-West of Eng. Had the highest rate of births, outside marriage & the lowest proportion of 16-years-old still in school.

6. Sunset & Sunrise areas.  The sunset areas are broadly those, where traditional industries have collapsed during the past decades, for ex.: cotton goods in Lancashire, car production in the West-Midlands, coal & steel. Production in South-Wales, Tyne and wear, Durham & parts of Yorkshire & shipbuilding in Tyne & wear, Clydeside & Belfast.The North has its sunrise areas, those areas where significant economic activity is occurring. For ex.: b/n Manchester & Leeds, but unlike the large areas in the south, prosperous parts are far more patchy in the north.

7.England. Town and country. By the middle of the century Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds were already large. But such new towns were still treated as villages and so had no representation in Parliament. All the towns smelled bad. There were no drains. In fact people added to it, leaving in the streets the rubbish from the marketplace and from houses. The streets were muddy and narrow, some only two metres wide. The towns were centres of disease.

During the eighteenth century, efforts were made to make towns healthier. Streets were built wider, so that carriages drawn by horses could pass each other. From 1734, London had a street lighting system.

There were four main classes of people in eighteenth-century towns: the wealthy merchants; the ordinary merchants and traders; the skilled craftsmen; and the large number of workers who had no skill and who could not be sure of finding work from one day to another.

  The real disaster in the Highlands, however, was economic. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the clan chiefs began to realise that money could be made from sheep for the wool trade. They began to push the people off the clan lands, and replace them with sheep, a process known as the clearances. Many Highlanders, men, women

and children, lived poor on the streets of Glasgow. Others went to begin a new life, mainly in Canada where many settled with other members of their clan. A smaller number went to Australia in the nineteenth century. Clan society in the Highlands had gone forever.

 

In England the countryside changed even more than the towns in the eighteenth century. Most farming at the beginning of the century was still done as it had been for centuries. Each village stood in the middle of three or four large fields, and the villagers together decided what to grow, although individuals continued to work on their own small strips of land.

       During the eighteenth century most of this land was enclosed. One main cause of these enclosures was that a number of the greater landlords, including the aristocracy, had a great deal of money to invest. Most of them wanted to invest their money on the land, and having improved their own land, and built fine country houses, they looked to other land. Their reason was that farming had become much more profitable.

 

8.Great Britain Geography.GB comprises England, Scotland and Wales, and is located between Ireland and mainland Europe. GB is the largest island in Europe. The population of GB is 62 698 362^[ (as in 2011). Over 1000 small islands and islets encircle GB. GB covers a total area of 80,823 sq. mile.  
England, the biggest country of Great Britain, is located in the southeast region of the British Isles. London is the largest city in GB. The longest river in Great Britain is Severn. Other rivers include Thames, Tees, Tyne and Avon. The western part of Great Britain consists of steep hills and valleys. The high peak mountains are located in Scotland and Wales.  
About 25% of the overall land area in Great Britain is used for cultivation and 12% of Great Britain's total land area is covered by forests.  
Great Britain has a varied climate with frequent cloud and rain. The highest average temperatures that Britain experiences are in the months of July and August, when they remain at around 18єC. Britain experiences steady rainfall throughout the year. It varies between an average of 31 mm in the month of February to an average of 52 mm in the month of September. The months of August and September receive the maximum rainfall. 

 

 

 

 

9.The English National Character.Patriotism. One of the feature of England which sets it apart is the great respect that the E have for their own history. Eng history is alive, cultivated and propagated in the form of old traditions. The E do not simply love history, they also get a lot of pleasure from it. It’s easy to find a 17^th  century hotel to stay or drink beer in 18 century pub. The tradition of visiting homes and castles had already appear in E by the time of Elizabeth 1.The owners of rich is states would, at the certain time of year, open the doors to their privet house for whom wanted to have taste of the beautiful Warwick Castle is one of the most frequently visited museums in E. Here it’s literally possible to immerse themselves in history: different part of the castle reproduce the varies of episode like rose.

10.Monarchy The monarchy of the United Kingdom (commonly referred to as the British monarchy) is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The title of the monarch is king or queen. Queen Elizabeth II became monarch on 6 February 1952. The monarch and immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic, and representational duties. As the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch is by tradition Commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces. Though the ultimate formal executive authority over the government of the United Kingdom is still by and through the monarch's royal prerogative, these powers may only be used according to laws enacted in Parliament, and, in practice, within the constraints of convention and precedent.

11. nature

Britain has mountains, but none of them are very high; it also has flat land, but you cannot travel far without encountering hills; it has no really big rivers; it doesn't usually get very cold in the winter or very hot in the summer; it has no active volcanoes, and an earth tremor. The climate of Britain is more or less the same as that of the northwestern part of the European mainland. The popular belief that it rains all the time in Britain is simply not true. The image of a wet, foggy land was created two thousand years ago by the invading Romans and has been perpetuated in modern times by Hollywood. In fact, London gets no more rain in a year than most other major European cities, and less than some.Britain has neither towering mountain ranges, nor impressively large rive s, plains or forests.The south and east of the country is comparatively low-lying, consisting of either flat plains or gently rolling hills. Britain has a greater proportion of grassland than any other country in Europe except the Republic of Ireland. One distinctive human influence, especially common in southern England, is the enclosure of fields with hedgerows.The English and the Welsh don't like living in blocks of flats in city centers and the proportion of people who do so is lower than in other European countries.It was in Britain that the word «smog « was first used (to describe a mixture of smoke and fog). As the world’s first industrialized country, its cities were the first to suffer this atmospheric condition.Water pollution was also a problem.

12. Attitudes

Because English culture dominates the cultures of the other three nations of the British Isles everyday habits, attitudes and values among the peoples of the four nations are very similar. However, they are not identical. Among many people in Britain, there exists a suspicion of intelligence, education and «high culture». Teachers and academic staff, although respected, do not have as high a status as they do in most other countries. Nobody normally proclaims their academic qualifications or title to the world at large. Anti -intellectual attitudes are held consciously only by a small proportion of the population. The reason for caution about generalizations relates to the large scale immigration to Britain from places outside the British Isles in the twentieth century. In its cities at least, Britain is a multicultural society. Most of the British live in towns and cities. But they have an idealized vision of the countryside.  To the British, the countryside has almost none of the negative associations which it has in some countries, such as poor facilities, lack of educational opportunities, unemployment and poverty. To them, the countryside means peace and quiet, beauty, good health and no crime. Nowadays such a village is not actually very common, but it is a stereotypical picture that is well - known to the British.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13. Eton College. is one of the most famous public schools in the world.

It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as a charity school to provide free education to seventy poor boys who would then go on to King's College, Cambridge, founded by the same King.

Now Eton is a British independent boarding school (школа-пансион) for boarding pupils (for boys) aged between 13 to 18 years. The School is located in the village of Eton, and is one of 9 English independent schools, commonly referred to as "public schools". Following the public school tradition, Eton is a full boarding school, which means all pupils live at the school. It contains 25 boys' houses, each headed by a housemaster, selected from the more senior members of the teaching staff. The school is known for its traditions, including a uniform of black tailcoat (or morning coat) and waistcoat, false-collar and pinstriped trousers.

At Eton, there are dozens of organisations known as 'societies', in many of which pupils come together to discuss a particular topic, presided over by a master, and often including a guest speaker. Some societies are dedicated to music, some to religion, some to languages, and so on.

Sport is a feature of Eton. There is an extensive network of playing fields. Eton has a long list of distinguished former pupils. Among them- generations of British aristocracy and members of the Royal family, the most recent being Prince William and his brother Prince Harry.

 

14.The Highlands of Scotland. Socially and geographically Scotland is devided into 2 areas: Highlands and Lowlands. The Highlands are a historic region of Scotland.

The area has many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. Before the 19th century the Highlands was home to a much larger population, but due to a combination of factors including mass migration to urban areas during the Industrial Revolution, the area is now one of the most sparsely (негусто) populated in Europe.

Scottish is mostly-wide spoken & preserved language here. The Highlanders are people with strong sense of traditions & customs. They are grouped in tribes, and each wear a special tartan.

Every year in the town of Braemar “The Scottish Olympics/ Highland games” take place. Music is played of drums and pipes. Different competitive games are played: *”a tag-of-war”(перетягивание каната), *”tossing a cabor”- the tossing of a large wooden pole (60-80kg),..  Dancing competitions are also organized: “Scottish fling”- dancers (soldiers, old people,.) wear the standard kilt outfit to perform this dance.

The Highlands of Scotland has mountainous and wild nature. There are a lot of lochs (Scottish name for “lakes”), so people there enjoy fishing, catching crabs and salmons.The Highlands are also famous for their Scottish whiskey (other names: water &barley, water of life). Many writers were inspired by the beauty of the Highlands for writing their plays, novels, romans.

 

16. The Lake District, also  known as The Lakes or  Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes, forests, and mountains, but also for its associations with the early nineteenth century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the other Lake Poets.

The Lakes were designated a National Park on 9 May 1951, becoming the second National Park in the United Kingdom after the Peak District. It is the most visited national park in the United Kingdom. It is the largest of the thirteen National Parks in England and Wales, and the second largest in the UK after the Cairngorms.

The Lake District now lies within the modern county of Cumbria. All the land in England higher than three thousand feet above sea level lies within the National Park, including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. It also contains the deepest and longest lakes in England, Wastwater and Windermere, respectively.

The Lake District is home to a plethora of wildlife, due to its range of varied topography, lakes and forests. It provides a home for the red squirrel and colonies of sundew and butterwort, two of the few carnivorous plants native to Britain. The Lake District is a major sanctuary for the red squirrel and has the largest population in England. The lakes of the Lake District support three rare and endangered species of fish: the vendace, which can be found only in Derwent Water. In recent years, some important changes have been made to fisheries byelaws covering the north-west region of England, to help protect some of the rarest fish species.

Tourism has now become the park's major industry, with about 12 million visitors each year, mainly from the UK's larger settlements, China, Japan, Spain, Germany and the US.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15. Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.

The wall was the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. In addition to its role as a military fortification, it is thought that many of the gates through the wall would have served as customs posts to allow trade and levy taxation.

A significant portion of the wall still exists, having been rescued in the 19th century by John Clayton, who bought a number of sections. For much of its length, the wall can be followed on foot by Hadrian's Wall Path or by cycle on National Cycle Route 72. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern England. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. English Heritage, a government organisation in charge of managing the historic environment of England, describes it as "the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain".

 

Durham ( /ˈdʌrəm/,dɜrəm/) is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county. It lies to the south of Newcastle upon Tyne, Chester-le-Street and Sunderland and to the north of Darlington.

Durham is well known for its Norman cathedral and 11th-century castle, both designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986.

Durham’s geographical position has always given it an important position in the defence of England against the Scots. The city has played an important part in the defence of the north and Durham Castle is the only Norman castle keep never to have suffered a breach. The Battle of Neville's Cross which took place near the city on 17 October 1346 between the English and Scots is the most famous battle of the age.

General geography. Durham is situated 13 miles (21 km) to the south west of Sunderland, England. The River Wear flows north through the city, making an incised meander which encloses the centre on three sides to form Durham's peninsula. At the base of the peninsula is the Market Place, which still hosts regular markets. Durham is a hilly city, claiming to be built upon the symbolic seven hills. West of the city centre, another river, the River Browney, drains south to join the Wear to the south of the city.

Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Durham has a temperate climate.

Durham Castle was originally built in the 11th century as a projection of the Norman power in the north of England, as the population of England in the north remained rebellious following the disruption of the Norman Conquest in 1066. It is an excellent example of the early motte and bailey castles favoured by the Normans.

Durham is home to Durham University. It was founded as the University of Durham by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837. It was one of the first universities to open in England for more than 600 years, and is claimed to be England's third oldest after Oxford and Cambridge.

 

 

 

17.York. The history of York goes back to Roman times. York is a great cathedral city in the north of England that boasts some of the best preserved historical buildings and structures in Europe. York's many sights of religious interest include the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, a handful of medieval churches, abbey ruins, a historical Jewish site, a Catholic shrine, and a museum with ancient religious artifacts – all of which are overshadowed by the magnificent York Minster. There is plenty to do in York with its superb architecture, award winning museums and lovely shopping districts – so you shouldn’t be bored. And it is a very good city for families to visit for there are lots of attractions that will keep the kids entertained. York Minster.The largest Gothic cathedral north of the Alps, York Minster has breathtaking proportions. Its largest stained glass window is the size of a tennis court! St Mary's Abbey.This picturesque ruined medieval abbey in the gardens of the Yorkshire Museum is the legendary home of Friar Tuck.

18.West Yorkshire. Metropolitan county (pop., 2001: 2,079,217), northern England. Its main cities are Wakefield and Leeds. From 1974 to 1986 West Yorkshire was an administrative unit; in 1986 the metropolitan county lost its administrative powers, and its constituent boroughs became autonomous unitary authorities. Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians from the east established the first settlements. While baronial power was strong in the medieval period, anarchic conditions often prevailed, and the area was the site of several 15th-century battles. In the same period, the wool textile industry developed. In the 18th and 19th centuries, abundant waterpower, and later steam power based on locally mined coal, stimulated factory-based industry. Worsted and woolen industries remain important, while an engineering industry has developed. Leeds, the area's largest city, is a major commercial and cultural centre, also has substantial electronics, chemicals, furniture, and printing and publishing sectors, an important financial services industry, and two universities.