The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Part 1

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles.                                   The capital of the country is London. The official language of the country is English.                                                                                                                             The U. K. consists of four parts: England (capital-london), Wales(capital-Cardiff), Scotland(capital-Edinburgh)   and Northern Ireland(capital-Belfast).                                                                                                                                                                            The U. K. is an island state. The two main islands are Great Britain ( where  England, Wales and Scotland are situated) and Ireland. The two islands are separated by the Irish Sea.                                                          The U. K. is separated from the continent by the English Chanell and the Strait of Dover. The nearest point to Europe is the Strait of Dover.                                                                                                                             The U. K. is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the north and the North Sea in the east.

The territory of the United Kingdom is about 244 square kilometres.                                                                                                   The population is over 60 million people. About 80% of the population is urban and four out of every five people live in towns and cities. The largest cities are London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchaster, Glasgow,Cardiff,Belfast, Edinburgh

The surface of Great Britain is different.  England is the most populated part of the country. It is a vast plain. In Northwest England there are many picturesque lakes with green shores.                                                                                                                                                         Wales, Scotland are mountainous areas. In Wales the highest mountain is Snowdon.                                                                    The Highlands of Scotland are one of the oldest mountains in the world (the highest mountain is Ben Nevis). Scotland is also a land of famous lakes. They are called “lochs” there.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    British rivers are not long. The most important of them are the Severn and the Thames. There are many beautiful lakes in the mountainous parts of the country.

The climate of Great Britain is mild and moderate. The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters of the Gulf Stream influence the British climate. The weather in GB is very changeable.                                                                                                         A fine morning can change into a wet afternoon and evening and the wrong side out.                                                                  The English people say: «Other countries have a climate; in England we have weather.»                                                                    The English also say that they have three variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains in the afternoon or when it rains all day long. The best time of the year in GB is spring(of course, it rains in spring too). The two worst months in Britain are January and February. They are cold, damp and unpleasant. Summer months are rather cold and there can be a lot of rainy days.

Everyone in the U. K. speaks English but differently: people from Wales speak Welsh, the Scotts speak Scottish and people from Northern Ireland speak Irish.

Everyone who was born in Great Britain is British, but  people from Scotland and Wales don’t like it when they are called English.

The British national flag is Union Jack. It is called so because it consists of the emblems of three countries. It combines the red cross of St. George ( the patron saint- (святой покровитель )of England), the red diagonal cross of St. Patrick (( the patron saint- (святой покровитель )of Ireland) and the white diagoal cross on a blue background – of St. Andrew (( the patron saint- (святой покровитель )of Scotland)