UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND Plan to the lecture 1

lecture
1. Geographical position
2. Climate
3. The State system
4. Industry
5. The main

parts of the country

LECTURE 1
The land and the people

Islands and over 5ooo smaller ones. They are known as

the British Isles. The two largest are Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom occupies most of the territory of the British Isles.

1. Geographical position

main regions – Lowland Britain and Highland Britain. Lowland Britain

comprises southern and eastern England. Highland Britain consists of Scotland, most of Wales, the Pennines, and the Lake District.
The highest mountains are in Scotland and Wales: Ben Nevis is 1,343 metres and Snowdon is 1,085 metres.

say that they have no climate but only weather. Therefore

it is natural for them to use the comparison "as changeable as the weather" of a person who often changes his mood or opinion about something. The weather is the favourite topic of conversation in the UK. As the weather changes with the wind, and Britain is visited by winds from different parts of the world, the most characteristic feature of Britain's weather is its variability.
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. Sometimes it rains so heavily that they say "It's raining cats and dogs".

is good for plants and flowers. Some of them have

become symbols in the UK.
The UK was originally a land of vast forests, mainly oak and beech in the Lowlands and pine and birch, in the Highlands, with great stretches of marshland and smaller areas of moors.
Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland and in southeastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with their thin soil are largely moorland with heather and grasses. In the cultivated areas that make up most of Britain there are many wild flowers, flowering plants and grasses.
The fauna, or animal life of the UK is much like that of northwestern Europe.
Some 230 kinds of birds live in the UK, and another 200 are regular visitors, many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbirds, sparrows and starlings. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of the UK. The number of ducks, geese and other water fowl has diminished during recent years. Partridges, pheasants and other large and rare birds are protected by law. Gulls, geese and other sea birds nest near the coast.

as the follows: it consists of four administrative-political units (historical

provinces): England (39 counties, 6 Metropolitan counties and London), Wales (9 counties, 3 cities, 10 towns-counties), Scotland (32 regions) and Ireland (26 districts).
The official language is English. Although they speak another 4 languages: Welsh, Irish, Gaelic and Cornish.

There is a hierarchy of cities. The main cities are: Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast (the capital cities of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland); Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds and Bradford, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool.

industrial country in the world which acts as a supplier

of industrial products. The largest industrial monopolies are Imperial chemical industries, or ICI, Unilever, British Leyland and General electric company.

cross of St George, the patron saint of England.
The

national symbol of England is rose,
the national colour is white.

5. The main parts of the country

Britain and is not densely populated.
Thistle – a
symbol of Scotland.

St Andrew’s cross

Scotland

is a symbol of Wales.
Wales

It occupies the northeast of the island of Ireland, only

one-sixth of its territorry.

The national symbol of Northern Ireland is shamrock.

Northern Ireland