The National Flag. The stars and Stripes is the most popular name for the National Flag of the US

The stars and Stripes is the most popular name for the National Flag of the US. Francis Scott Key first called it Star-Spangled Banner. In 1814 he wrote the poem that became the national anthem. William Driver gave the name Old Glory to the flag of the US in 1824. After the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress resolved on June 1777 that “the flag of the US be 13 stripes alternate red and white and 13 stars white in a blue field. Red is for courage, white for purity and innocence, and blue for vigilance and justice. The stripes stand for 13 original colonies. There is no historical basis for assigning each star to a particular state. Presidential orders fixed the positions of the stars in 1912 for 48 states, and in 1960 for 50.

The US flag flies over the White House whether or not the President is in Washington, D.C. The US flag flies over the Capitol every day. The flag is customarily displayed from sunrise to sunset. When flown at night, it should be spotlighted. The US flag should be flown on legal public holidays and other special days.

Other National Symbols

Other national symbols include the Liberty Bell, Uncle Sam and the Stature of Liberty.

Exercise 2. Listen to the text “A Noble Gift” and answer the following questions (Alexander Course, text № 93)

1. What is one of the most famous places of interest in New York?

2. What is the Statue made of?

3. What country presented it to the USA?

4. Who was the sculptor of the famous monument?

5. When was the Statue officially presented to the people of America?

6. What is the height of the monument?

Exercise 3. What do the following dates in the text refer to?

19^th century, 10 years, by 1884, 151 feet tall, by the end of October 1886

It is interesting to know that …

the hamburger is the most eaten food in America. The first hamburgers were made and sold in Connecticut in 1895 by an American chef called Louis Lassen. Louis called them hamburgers because he was given the recipe by sailors from Hamburg in Germany. Hamburgers became a favourive in America in the early part of the 20^th century. Their popularity grew even more after the Second World War, when they were bought in large quantities by teenagers who preferred fast food to family meals. In 1948 two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald opened a drive-in hamburger restaurant in San Bernardino, California. Since then over 25,000 McDonald’s restaurants were opened worldwide and now 35 million McDonald’s hamburgers are eaten every day in 115 countries from India to the Arctic Circle.

LESSON 6

American holidays

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