London

Famous Landmarks found in England

http://projectbritain.com/landmarks.htm

The Chunnel

Wonders of the World, Part 3: Modern Wonders

EXPLORATIONS

… Our next great Wonder of the World connects land. This connecting device is called the Channel Tunnel, or "Chunnel." It connects the island that is Britain with France. It was one of the largest and most difficult construction projects ever attempted. It is a three-tunnel railroad from Calais, France to Folkestone, England. The tunnels are fifty kilometers long. They were built about forty-five meters below the earth under the English Channel. Two of the tunnels carry trains and one is used for repair work and emergencies.

The idea of a tunnel connecting Britain with other nations of Europe was first proposed to the French Emperor Napoleon in the early eighteen hundreds. However it was never a serious idea. The technology to make such a tunnel did not exist. But people dreamed of such a tunnel. Crossing the English Channel by ship was often a terrible trip because of storms.

Three serious attempts were made to build the tunnel. The first two failed. Political differences between France and Britain stopped the first attempt. Financial problems stopped the second.

The third and successful attempt to build the Chunnel began in nineteen eighty-seven after France and Britain signed an agreement. It took seven years to finish the work. To complete the tunnels, construction workers had to move more than seventeen million tons of earth. The cost was more than thirteen thousand million dollars. The Chunnel opened in nineteen ninety-four.

The Chunnel or Eurotunnel links Britain with France.

Today, the Chunnel is very busy. High-speed trains carry cars, trucks and passengers from Britain to France and back again. The trains are famous for their smooth, quiet ride. The money paid for the trip is slowly paying for the huge cost…

By Paul Thompson  “English-Russian World”

Brief History of Great Britain

The first Celtic tribes (племена) are believed to have come to the British Isles between 800 and 700 BC. Two centuries later they were followed by the Brythons or ancient Britons after whom the country was called Britain.

 The first Roman invasion (завоевание) was led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC. But Britain was not conquered until some 90 years later, under Emperor Claudius, in 43 AD. Although the Roman occupation of Britain lasted nearly 400 years, its effects were few. The people did not adopt the Latin language and so Latin did not displace Celtic.

In the middle of the 5th century, three Germanic tribes - The Angles, Saxons and Jute's invaded Britain from the continent. From the 8th century the Anglo-Saxons had to face Scandinavian invaders - the Danes and the Norsemen sometimes referred to as Vikings - who occupied parts of Britain and made some permanent settlements. The Scandinavian invasions continued till the 11th century.

The period of feudalism started around 1066 and lasted to the 15th century. In this period the modern English nation and language came into being. It was a period of struggle for power between kings and between powerful nobles, a period of frequent wars. But it was also a period in which the development of the wool trade and the early decline of feudalism prepared the way for England's rise as a world power.

 The period between 1485 and 1603 is known as the Tudor Period (Эпоха Тюдоров (английская королевская династия 15-17 вв.)). It was a turning point in English history. England became one of the leading powers. The two famous rulers of the House of Tudor were Henry VIII and Elisabeth I. The Elizabethan age (елизаветинская эпоха) produced the world's greatest playwright William Shakespeare.

The first 40 years of the 17th century can be characterised as a period of growing conflict between the King and parliament, representing the interests of the bourgeoisie. The conflict led to the civil war in 1640 which resulted in the abolition (отмена, упразднение, уничтожение, ликвидация,аннулирование) of the monarchy and in Cromwell's military rule in the middle of the century. This period ended in the Glorious Revolution ("Славная революция" (1688-89 - государственный переворот, завершившийся свержением Якова II (James II) и утверждением на престоле Вильгельма III Оранского (William III of Orange) и его супруги Марии (Mary). Привёл к установлению господства землевладельческой знати и крупной буржуазии, а к установлению конституционной парламентской монархии)) which marked the end of the English bourgeois revolution.

In the period of 1688 to 1760 England definitely took the lead in European commerce. During the Industrial Revolution (1760 - 1850) Britain became the first industrial power in the world, "the workshop of the world." The Anglo - French rivalry for world domination which had started in the previous period continued and culminated in the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815).

The Victorian era which comprised the second half of the 19th century, called after Queen Victoria, was a period in which Britain became the strongest world power: besides being the greatest financial and commercial power, the greatest sea power and the greatest colonial power. In was the era of the greatest colonial expansion.

The 20th century is a period of the decline of Britain as a world power a period of crises of the two world wars, from which Britain emerged as a victor, but greatly weakened. It is characterised by the disintegration of Britain's colonial empire and the effort to adjust Britain to the new situation by joining the other developed capitalist countries of Western Europe in EEC (ЕЭС, Европейское экономическое сообщество).

Источник:

 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Some_brief_history_of_Great_Britain

Great Britain

To the North-West of the continent of Europe there are tow large and over 5, 000 small islands. The largest islands are called Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England, Wales and Scotland are parts of Great Britain. Together with Northern Ireland they constitute the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The capital of the country is London. The total area of the United Kingdom is about 120,000 square miles. The population is over 58 million people. Most of them live in towns and cities.

The warm waters of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean influence the climate of Great Britain very much. It is mild and wet on the whole territory. Rains and fogs are usual things here. The surface of the country varies greatly. The western and northern part is covered with mountains but the mountains are not very high. There are also a lot of beautiful lakes in this area.  The rest of the territory is a vast plain with rivers but the rivers are neither deep nor long. The most important of them are Severn and the Thames.

The United Kingdom was originally an agricultural and sheep-farming country. At present it is a highly developed  industrial power. It is known as a world's largest producer and exporter of iron and steel products, machinery and electronics, textile and chemicals, aircraft and navigation equipment. The largest industrial cities of the country are Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Coventry, Manchester etc. Liverpool is the largest port on the west coast of England. Glasgo is also a large sea port and a centre of ship-building industry.

But the greatest town and port of the United Kingdom is London with the population of more than 8 million. London is political, economic, commercial and cultural centre of the country. It is situated on the river Thames. The City of London is the oldest part of the capital, its financial and business centre where numerous banks, offices and  firms are concentrated. Few people live in the City but over a million come to work here. There are a lot of places of interest in the British capital such as the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben and St. Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square with the tall Nelson's column and Picadilly Circus, Buckingham palace where the Queen lives etc. There are also a number of museum and picture galleries in London which are famous  for their rich collections of masterpieces of fine arts.

To my mind, almost every town and city in Great Britain can be considered as a place of interest. Most of them are very old and visitors can find there a lot of cultural and architectural monuments such as castles, churches, abbeys, houses where outstanding people were born, lived and created their works. It proves that  Great Britain is a country with  old cultural traditions and customs. The most famous places of education are Oxford and Cambridge  which are considered to be  the intellectual centres of  Europe.

The United Kingdom is a parliamentary monarchy and the Queen is the head of the state. It is known than the Queen reigns but doesn't rule. In practice the country is rules by the elected government with the Prime Minister at the head. The British Parliament consists of two chambers:  the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

There are large and small political parties in the United Kingdom. The main of them are the Conservative, the Labour  and the Liberal Parties. The party which wins the elections and gets the majority of seat of the House of Commons becomes the ruling party. The leader of this party traditionally becomes the Prime Minister. The current Prime Minister, David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 11 May 2010.

5 Easy Ways to Save the Planet

Ex. 2 b, p. 99

1)

The Queen is Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth lands. She was born in 1926 and became Queen at the age of 25, and has reigned through more than 60 years of great social change and development. The Queen is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and has four children and eight grandchildren. Surprisingly, The Queen of England despite all her present majesty and glory, is not allowed to enter the House of Commons simply because she is not its member!

2)

The official religion in Britain is Christianity as practised by the Anglican Church. Its followers are known as protestants. Until the 16th century Britain was a Roman Catholic Country. King Henry VIII, who ruled at that time, wanted to have a son, but his first wife gave birth only to daughters. He decided to divorce her, but the Vatican didn’t allow him to do it. So he decided to found his own church - Church of England or Anglican Church, which up till today is country’s major religion.

3)

Eurotunnel is the company responsible for building the twin railway tunnels under the English Channel connecting Britain and France. The Channel Tunnel is often called by the British simply as Chunnel. Eurotunnel runs its own shuttle service that carries passengers and their vehicles. Trains run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The shuttle has now been in operation for over 12 years and since its first commercial services 177 million people have travelled through the Channel Tunnel - that's 3 times the population of both France and England!

4)

White buildings of whisky distilleries is a typical sight of the Scottish Highlands. The production of whisky started in 1494 and now there are over a hundred distilleries . No two whiskies can taste the same, and the taste cannot be copied anywhere in the world, because the water is taken from local hills. And of course one can’t visit Scotland without trying to find Nessie at Loch Ness.

5)

Wales is a small country with a colourful history and beautiful landscapes, including 3 National Parks. At only 170 miles from north to south and 60 miles east to west, it's no surprise that you're never far from a mountain or the sea. Welsh - the native language - is spoken by many people in Wales, and is one of the oldest languages in the world. Wales is also known as 'the land of castles', it is home to 641 famous fortresses - more castles per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Wales is also home to 6 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and although Cardiff, the capital city, dates back to Roman times, it's actually Britain's youngest city!