AJ – Maturitní otázka č. 4
OVER THE MAP OF GREAT BRITAIN
The topic, I’m going to talk about now, is Over the Map of Great Britain. So, I would begin with the British Isles, of which Great Britain is an essential part.
THE BRITISH ISLES
The British Isles are a group of islands lying to the north-west off the coast of continental Europe. These Isles consist of two large islands - Great Britain and Ireland - and about 5,5 thousand smaller islands scattered around their coasts.
The British Isles cover an area of about 315 thousand sq. km and are occupied by two political units: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and theIrishRepublic(the Republic of Ireland).
Great Britain is the largest island of the British Isles and has also the highest population density of them. It comprises three parts: England, Scotland and Wales.
England occupies the largest area of Great Britain and is situated between Wales to the west and Scotland to the north. We should never talk about England and Great Britain as identical. We also must take into account, that Wales and Scotland aren't parts of England and so we shouldn't call the Welsh and Scotch English, but British. (The Welsh and Scotch might feel angry if we did.)
Ireland is the second largest island of the British Isles and comprises Northern Irelandand theIrishRepublic. Northern Ireland takes up about one-sixth of Ireland (and is a part of the U.K. whereas IrishRepublic is a self-governing country).
Some of adjacent islands to the BritishIslands are:
The Isle of Wight - an island off the south coast of England
The Isles of Scilly - a group of about 140 islands in the Antarctic Ocean off the south-west coast of England
Anglesey - an island off the north coast of Wales
The Isle of Man - an island in the Irish Sea
The Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney) - close to the coast of Normandy in France
The Hebrides - an archipelago fringing Western Scotland
The Orkneys
The Shetlands
It is obvious that the British Isles must have been connected with the European continent at one time. Proofs of this are the chalk cliffs which can be seen both at Dover and on the opposite French coast.
The British Isles are surrounded by several waters: the North Sea on to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The water between Ireland and England is called the Irish Sea. To the south, the North Sea is connected with the Atlantic Ocean by the English Channel.
The English Channel also separates the British Isles from the rest of Europe and in its the most narrow point (Dover-Calais) is only 33 km wide. On a clear day it is even possible to see across. If you want to go from France to Britain (or from Britain to France) you can get over the Channel on a ferryboat or through the train tunnel built beneath it.
One of the states occupying the British Isles is
THE UNITED KINGDOM
It is a constitution monarchy consisting of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with total population about 56,5 million. It has one of the highest population densities in the world. The average density is about 227 persons per sq. km. (It is nearly twice more than in the CzechRepublic.)
The U.K. is divided into 91 counties. (E-39, S-33, W-13, NI-6)
The U.K. has also several dependences (d. = countries controlled by another country - they depend on that country): the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar ...
Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales)
Rivers
Britain is well-provided with rivers. They are largely navigable and linked by numerous canals. For example the oldest canal - the ManchesterShip Canal- built in 1984 connecting the port of Liverpool with inland. Most of canals were built in Victorian Ages - during industrial revolution - for transporting goods. Nowadays they've been used for entertainment and relaxing. Boats sailing canals are called longboats.
Valuable are the estuaries of some rivers, through which the tides penetrate far inland and enable the big ships to reach the ports far off the coast. This can be said about estuaries of the Severn (Bristol), the Thames (London), the Mersey (Liverpool), the Humber (Hull), the Clyde (Glasgow) and the Forth (Edinburgh).
The most important rivers in England are the Thames (200 miles long) and the Severn(210 m). Scotland's important river is the Clydeand in Ireland it is the longest river in the British Isles (240 m) the Shannon.
Lakes
Lakes are in Britain found in the Lake District, which is a mountainous area in North-West England and where is also the queen of English lakes - Derwentwater, and in the Scottish Highlands, where the lakes are called "lochs" and the best-known ones are Loch Lomond and Loch Ness.
Mountains
We can roughly divide Britainlandscape into two regions - highland and lowland:
The highland area comprises:
English the Lake District, the Cheviot Hills (which together with the rivers Tweed and Solway form the Scottish border),and thePennines(known as the "backbone of England" and the longest range of mountains in England),
then the Welsh Cambrian, where is the second highest mountain in Britain - Snowdon (1085 m),
and eventually the whole of Scotland, where are two main mountains areas - the Scottish Highlands and the Southern Uplands separated from each other by the Midland Valley. In the part of the Southern Uplands called the Grampians is the highest peak of the British Isles - Ben Nevis (1367 metres).
The lowland area is the rest of Britain.
Capitals
Every part of the United Kingdom has its own capital town.
London is the capital of England and also all U.K.(In Roman times was called Londinium.) It is also the political centre of the British Commonwealth, one of the world's banking, financial, commercial, industrial, cultural and historical centres, and one of the greatest ports. At the moment, London is one of the largest cities in the world, with over 7 million inhabitants.
Edinburgh is the capital of Scotlandand is known for its ancient castle and university.
Cardiff is the capital of Wales. It is one of the greatest coal-shopping ports in the world.
Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. It's the most important seaport with the biggest shipyard in the U.K.
Other Important Towns and Cities
Glasgow - the most important industrial area in Scotland. It used to be the second largest town in the U.K., but has now been surpassed by Birmingham. Both Glasgow and Birmingham have more then 1 million inhabitants.
Leeds and Manchester are homes of the cotton industry. Manchester is also known for its newspaper publishing industry.
Oxford (lying at the upper part of the Thames) and Cambridge (lying on the river Cam) are seats of world-famous universities, dating back to 12th and 13th century.
Stratford-upon-Avon - the birthplace of William Shakespeare. He died there as well and is buried there (in the HolyTrinityChurch).
Canterbury - known due to writer Geoffrey Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales. (G.Ch. - "father of English poetry")
Liverpool and many others towns (Manchester) are known for their football clubs. Liverpool is also the Beatles hometown.
Every town in the U.K., that has a cathedral, is called city and it would be still city even if it had just a few inhabitants.
The British People and Languages
The British population is not uniform. It consist of the English, the Scots, the Welsh and the Northern Irish. They all can speak English (with regional dialects) as an official language but have also their own languages, utterly alien to English.
The present British nation is a mixture of several races which invaded Britain at various times. The first historically known races were the Celts, who came into Britain in two tribes - the Britons and the Gaels. The Britons have survived in Wales and their Celtic language is still spoken and taught there (a quarter of Welsh population can speak Welsh). Gaelic is still spoken by the Scots and Irish. (Irish form of Gaelic - Erase - is the first language of the IrishRepublic; English is the second language there.)
In the middle of the 5th century started coming into Britain the Germanic tribes. Their language was Anglo-Saxon. Later on, Anglo-Saxons mixed with the Normand French who invaded England in the 11th century. The mixture of the two languages with a proportion of Latin formed Modern English. Strictly speaking, Modern English is a Germanic language with many French words.
In the U.K. are also many ethnic minorities speaking their own languages (Hindi, Turkish, Greek, Cantonese ...)
The British System of Government
Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy with the sovereign - HM Queen Elizabeth II. - as a head of the state as well as the head of Church of England (Protestant), and the government. The sovereign isn't very powerful but his powers in government aren't strictly defined.
The government ("Her Majesty's Government") consists of two houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The members of the House of Commons are elected by General Election and we can find there members of all political parties. The Prime Minister becomes a leader of the party, which won the general election (Tony Blair, the Labour Party). The members of the House of Lords are people who either inherited or got their titles.
The two main political parties in Britain are the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. Other parties are: the Social and Liberal Democrat Party, Communist Party of GB and the National Front (which is a neo-fascist group).
The Royal Family
The current British monarch is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II from the House of Hanover. Her husband is Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh. They have four children: Prince Charles the Prince of Wales, the eldest one, Princess Anne the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew the Duke of York and the youngest one Prince Edward.
Not long ago, the mother of the present Queen was living - her official title was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
For about last two hundred years, the role of the monarch and the royal family has been mainly ceremonial and representative. They have little direct power and are not actively involved in the politics of the state.
For British society are very important and the majority of the nation like and admire them.
The official seat of the royal family is WindsorCastle near London, but when the Queen is in London her residence is BuckinghamPalace.
The Queen is also the official head of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The British Climate
Thanks the warm Gulf Stream the British Isles have a mild climate. The temperature seldom reaches extremes of cold and heat. The winters are milder and the summers cooler then on the Continent.
Because of western winds bringing rainfall there are many showers, mists and fog in Britain.
Weather can change very rapidly within a couple of hours and therefore the weather forecasts are often complicated to create.
The natural resources
Britain is not very rich in natural resources, except for coal. It is the third in the world (after USA and Russia) in coal production. The most important coal-mining areas are:
a) Central England (York, Nottingham) - produces about 48%
b) North-East England(Newcastle) - coal has been mined here since the Middle Ages
c) Western England (Lancashire)
d) the Midlands (Stratford, Leicester, Warwick)
e) South Wales - produces anthracite
f) the Scottish Lowlands (between Edinburgh and Glasgow)
There are also some resources of iron ore, tin, copper, zinc, lead, china-clay, salt and limestone in Britain.
Economy – Industry & Agriculture
On one hand Britain doesn't have many natural resources but on the other hand it is one of the leading industrial countries. It has highly developed technology (HI-TEC), is strong in automobile, banking, chemical, electronics, shipbuilding, machinery and textile industry.
Only 1,5 % of labour force work in agriculture, 30% in manufacturing and engineering, and 59 % in services.
30 % of land is arable and the main agricultural products are grain, sugar beet, fruit an vegetables. Britain is famous for breeding cattle and sheep, as well. (In Britain live more sheep than people.)
The main Britain's trading partners are Germany, USA, France and the Netherlands.
Other Facts About Britain
Currency: 1 Pound (£) = 100 pence (p)
pozn.: Velká Británie a Irsko tvoří spojené království (ne, že spojené království je Anglie, Skotsko a Wales, a Severní Irsko je jako k tomu)
AJ – Maturitní otázka č. 4
OVER THE MAP OF GREAT BRITAIN
VOCABULARY
essential = podstatný
to lie = ležet; gerundiální tvar = lying
to the north-west = na/v severozápadní
to consist of st. = skládat se z něčeho
scattered = rozptýlený
to be occupied by st. = být něčím zabraný
population = obyvatelstvo
density = hustota
population density = hustota zalidnění
to comprise st. = skládat se zněčeho, zahrnovat něco
to be situated = být umístěný
to take st. into account = brát něco na vědomost
to take up = zabírat
one-sixth = jedna šestina
whereas = kdežto
self-governing = samosprávný, autonomní
adjacent = přilehlý
Normandy = Normandie
archipelago = souostroví
fringing = lemující
the chalk cliffs = křídové útesy
European continent = evropský kontinent
to be connected by st. = být prostřednictvím něčeho spojen
to separate st. from st. = oddělit něco od něčeho
to get over st. = dostat se pře něco
to be divided into st. = být na něco rozdělen
constitution monarchy = konstituční monarchie
county = hrabství
dependency = závislé území
largely = převážně, zvelké části
navigable = splavný
linked = spojený
numerous = četný
canal = průplav
inland = vnitrozemí
Victorian Ages = viktoriánská doba
industrial revolution = průmyslová revoluce
estuary = ústí řeky
tide = příliv a odliv
to penetrate = proniknout, dostat se
to enable = umožnit
far off the coast = vzdálený od pobřeží
loch = jezero
roughly = zhruba
region = oblast
highland = vrchovina, vysočina
lowland = nížina
range of mountains = pohoří
peak = vrchol
Roman times = římská doba
seaport = námořní přístav, přístavní město
shipyard = loděnice
to surpass = přečit, překonat
inhabitant = obyvatel
cotton industry = průmysl zpracovávající bavlnu
newspaper publishing industry = průmysl vydávající noviny
upper = horní
birthplace = rodiště
poetry = poezie
uniform = jednotný
dialect = nářečí
utterly = naprosto, úplně
alien = odlišný, jiný
race = rasa
to invade sw.= vpadnout někam
various = různý
tribe = kmen
proportion = část, podíl
to form = vytvořit
ethnic= národnostní
minority = menšina
Hindi = hindština
Cantonese = kantonská čínština
sovereign = panovník
to define = přesně vymezit
political party = politická strana
fascist = fašistický, fašista
monarch = monarcha, panovník
ceremonial = formální, reprezentativní
representative = reprezentativní
to be involved in st. = být do něčeho zapleten
majority = většina
to admire = obdivovat
residence = sídlo, rezidence
climate = podnebí
the Gulf Stream = Golfský proud
mild = mírný
seldom = zřídka
extremes = extrémy (dva)
rainfall = množství srážek
rapidly = prudce, náhle, rychle
within = během
natural resources = přírodní zdroje
coal = uhlí
to mine = těžit
the Middle Ages = středověk
anthracite = antracit
iron ore = železná ruda
tin = cín
copper = měď
zinc = zinek
lead = olovo
china-clay = kaolín
limestone = vápenec
agricultue = zemědělství
machinery = stroje, strojní zařízení
labour force = pracovní síla
arable = obdělávatelný
grain = obilí
suger beet = cukrová řepa
dvakrát více než = twice more than
příslušníci národa jako celek (Češi) = the (Czech)
the British IslesGreat BritainEngland, Scotland, Wales
IrelandNorthern Ireland
the IrishRepublic (the Republic of Ireland)
adjacent islandsthe Isle of Wight
the Isles of Scilly
Anglesey
the Isle of Man
the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney)
the Hebrides
the Orkneys
watersthe North Sea
the Atlantic Ocean
the Irish Sea
theEnglish Channel
dependenciesthe Isle of Man
the Channel Islands
Gibraltar
canals the ManchesterShip Canal
rivers with valuable estuariesthe Severn (Bristol)
the Thames (London)
the Mersey (Liverpool)
the Humber (Hull)
the Clyde (Glasgow)
the Forth (Edinburgh)
important riversEnglandthe Thames
the Severn
Scotland the Clyde
Ireland the Shannon
lakesEngland the Lake District – lakeDerwentwater
Scottish HighlandsLoch Lomond
Loch Ness
mountainsEngland the Lake District
the Cheviot Hills
the Pennines
Wales the Cambrian (Snowdon)
Scotlandthe Scottish Highlands
the Southern Uplands – theGrampians (Ben Nevis)
capitalsEngland London
Scotland Edinburgh
Wales Cardiff
Northern IrelandBelfast
other townsGlasgow
Birmingham
Leeds,
Manchester
Oxford
Stratford-Upon-Avon
Canterbury
Liverpool
tribesthe Celtsthe Britons with Celtic
the Gaels with Gaelic
the Germanic tribes with Anglo-Saxon
the Normand French
governmentofficial head but powerless: the sovereign
two partsthe House of Commons
the House of Lords
political partiesthe Labour Party
the Conservative Party
the Social and Liberal Democrat Party
Communist Party of GB
National Front (neo-fascist group)
the royal familyHer Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II.
Prince Phillip the duke of Edinburgh
Prince Charles the Prince of Wales
Princess Anne the Princess Royal
Prince Andrew the Duke of York
Prince Edward