The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) occupies most of the territory of the British Isles. It consists of four main parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. London is the capital of England, Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, Cardiff— of Wales and Belfast — of Northern Ireland. The UK is a small country with an area of some 244,100 square kilometres. It occupies only 0.2 per cent of the world's land surface. It is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the north-west, north and south-west and separated from Europe by the North Sea in the east and by the English Channel in the south. The Strait of Dover or Pas de Calais is the narrowest part of the Channel. The North Sea and the English Channel are often called "the narrow seas"; they are not deep but are frequently rough.
In the west the Irish Sea and the North Channel separate the UK from Ireland. The seas around Britain provide exceptionally good fishing grounds. The country has many bays favourable for shipping. In their shelter are Britain's main ports such as London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Hull and others.
One will not find very high mountains or large plains in Great Britain. Everything occupies very little place. Nature, it seems, has carefully adapted things to the size of the island itself. The highest mountain is Ben Nevis in Scotland, 4,406 feet high. The longest river is the Severn in England.
The population of the United Kingdom is over 57 million people. Foreigners often call British people "English", but the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh do not consider themselves to be English. The English are Anglo-Saxon in origin, but the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish are Celts, descendants of the ancient people, who crossed over from Europe centuries before the Norman Invasion. It was this people, whom the Germanic Angles and Saxons conquered in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. These Germanic conquerors gave England its name — "Angle" land. They were conquered in their turn by the Norman French, when William the Conqueror of Normandy landed near Hastings in 1066. It was from the union of Norman conquerors and the defeated Anglo-Saxons that the English people and the English language were born.
The official language of the United Kingdom is English. But in western Scotland some people still speak Gaelic and in northern and central parts of Wales people often speak Welsh.
Поделитесь своими знаниями, ответьте на вопрос:
заранее . : 3imagine you are sending a time capsule into space. in the time capsule you can put five things that represent your nation. decide what to put in it. present your choices to the class. give reasons. use the phrases below to discuss. • i disagree with you because • i think that • i don’t think that • i agree with • in my opinion,
Hey, Roy! I'm sorry your parents made you. Try it, maybe you'll like playing the violin. I would like to learn how to play drums, but unfortunately I don't have time for that. I am not upset because my parents bought me a simple drum kit and almost every night I train on it.I love buddy rich, he's gorgeous. he's got a great technique of drumming and well-known performances. its speed and smooth performance have become the standard in drumming. One of his tricks is the overlapping hand movements during the drum roll. always wanted to (and) so learn to.Basically, I walk with friends or spend time with my family, I also like to watch music concerts, specifically watch the people who play drums. sometimes I think drummers - masters of their craft and are never wrong.I'm waiting to hear from you now, Roy. Bye.