English-speaking country (the USA)

The United States of America, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand are large English speaking countries. They are located in various parts of the Globe and differ in many ways. Each country has its own history, customs and traditions, national holidays etc. But they have a common language. From the British Isles the English language spread all over the world.

I’d like to tell about The United States of America (also referred to as the UnitedStates, the U.S., the USA, or America). It is situated mostly in central North America between the Atlantic Ocean in the East and the Pacific Ocean in the West. Canada in the North and Mexico in the South are the only countries that have borders with the USA. It also has a sea border with Russia. It is washed by the Arctic Ocean in the North, and by the Caribbean Sea in the Southeast. There are many rivers in the country: the Mississippi (the longest one), the Missouri, the Columbia, and others. The U.S. also has many lakes. I am sure everybody knows the Great Lakes.

The highest mountains are the Rocky Mountains, the Cordillera, the Appalachians, and the Sierra Nevada. The USA is a big country and the climate conditions are very different in different places.

The USA consists of three parts. They are the continental (the main) part in the centre of the North American continent; Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and Alaska. The total area of The USA is over 3 million square miles (over 9 million km²). The United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by population. The USA population is now over 300 million. The U.S. is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, due to immigration from many countries. There are many big cities in the United States: New York, Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago, San-Francisco, Detroit, and Los Angeles.

There are fifty states in the USA. They are different in size, population and economic development. The smallest state is Rhode Island and the biggest is Alaska. Each state has its own capital. The capital of the USA is Washington. It is located in the federal district of Columbia. The forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia) lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean sea and Pacific.

The United States was founded on July 4, 1776. Thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard issued the Declaration of Independence (a document declaring the US to be independent of the British Crown). The Declaration of Independence proclaimed their right to self-determination and their establishment of a cooperative union. The document was signed by the Congressional representatives of thirteen states, including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams.

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic headed by the President who is the Head of state, Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief. The head of state and other officials are representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law. The current United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.

According to the US constitution, the powers of the Government are divided into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative power belongs to the Congress (the elected group of politicians that is responsible for making the law) consisting of two chambers. The Congress consists of the House of Representatives and a smaller upper house Senate. The president of the Senate is the Vice-President of the U.S. There are 435 members in the House of Representative and 100 senators (two senators from each state). The executive power is headed by the President. The seat of the U.S. federal government is in Washington. The judicial branch is made up of federal district courts and the Supreme Court. The President appoints federal judges for life. Federal courts decide cases involving federal law, conflicts between citizens of different states. States are free to organize their individual governments any way they like, so long as they conform to the sole requirement of the U.S. Constitution. States can also organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as they protect the constitutional right of their citizens.

Topical vocabulary

the Earth's northern hemisphere	северное полушарие
an earthquake-prone region	сейсмический район
to differ	различаться
customs and traditions	обычаи, традиции (в масштабах одного народа, культуры)
Mexico	Мексика
to have borders with	граничить с
a sea border	морская граница
the Rocky Mountains	Скалистые горы (на западе Канады и США)
Hawaiian Islands	Гавайские острова
Rhode Island	Род-Айленд (штат США)
to issue	выпускать, издавать
the Declaration of Independence	Декларация независимости. Декларация представителей 13 штатов, провозгласившая образование независимого государства - США.
Thomas Jefferson	Томас Джефферсон, третий президент США
the Head of state	глава государства
the Chief Executive	глава исполнительной власти
the Commander-in-Chief	главнокомандующий Вооруженными силами
to govern	править, управлять
to be adopted	быть принятым (ой)
ten constitutional amendments	10 поправок к Конституции
to be ratified	быть одобренным
the Congress	Конгресс. Высший законодательный орган США
the Senate	Сенат. Верхняя палата высшего законодательного органа США Конгресса.
the Supreme Court	Верховный суд США
federal district courts	федеральные суды
the federal judiciary	федеральное правосудие

Exercise1.