Industry of Great Britain

Task 1. What do you know about Great Britain?

Task 2. What are the main industries of Great Britain?

Task 3. Read about Industry of Great Britain and fill in the appropriate headings to each abstract.

The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to become highly industrialised. Eleven people work in mining, manufacturing and building for every one in agriculture. The United Kingdom is one of the world's largest exporters of manufactured goods per head of population and the range of its industrial manufactures reflects its position as one of the most important workshops of the world. England is one of the most powerful capitalist countries in Europe. It has highly developed industries. There is a lot of industrial cities here, such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Sheffield and many others. London is one of the biggest commercial centres of the world.

Coal is the main source for the development of British industry. The biggest coal and iron mines are in the north-east of England, near the industrial centres of Newcastle and Sunderland; in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the west and central England; in Scotland, near Glasgow, in Wales near Cardiff, the capital of Wales, and near the port of Bristol. The biggest centres of iron and steel industries are situated in the neighbourhood of coal basins. They are Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Cardiff, Glasgow, and Sheffield. The most ancient centres of English iron and steel industry are Birmingham and Sheffield. Iron smelting based on local ore deposits has been practised here since ancient times. In the period of England industrialization Birmingham and Sheffield played the leading role in the creation of England's heavy industry. Sheffield has specialised in producing high-quality steel and articles of steel: heavy armaments, wheels of railway cars, looms, knives, fine instruments. Producing 80% of Britain's crude steel, British Steel is the fourth biggest steel company in the Western world. Just under half of the total output is exported.

Each of the big towns became the centre of various industries. Especially great is the variety of industries in Birmingham, people call it "the city of 1500 trades". One can find any type of production here, from steel smelting to manufacturing the most delicate articles. Rifles, various machinery, railway cars, motor cars, electrical equipment, scientific instruments and many other things are produced in Birmingham in great quantities. Alongside with the most modern large plants a great number of old small enterprises are to be found in this town. Birmingham is Britain's "second city". The district around Birmingham is a land of factories and mines.

One of the leading industries of Great Britain is the textile industry. Britain produces a lot of wool, and the woollen industry is centred in Yorkshire. The main centres of cotton and woollen industry are Leeds, Bradford and Manchester which export their products to many countries. Britain imports cotton from America and other countries through the port of Liverpool, and cotton industry is at home in Lancashire, mainly Manchester, and also in Glasgow and Belfast. Textile machines are also made in all these and other towns. Plants producing textile machinery not only satisfy the needs in British industry but also export great quantities of machinery to the other countries

The ship-building industry is of great importance for Britain. For centuries Britain has been the leading shipbuilder in the world. The ship-building industry is centred in London, Glasgow, Newcastle, near Liverpool and in Belfast.

Coal-mining, metallurgy, textile, shipbuilding are the oldest branches of industry. The new industries are the chemical, electro-technical, automobile, aviation and electronics. The new industries have developed hand in hand with science and technology and are equipped to meet present technical demands. Big cities and towns such as London, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and Birmingham have enterprises of nearly all branches of industry, old and new.

Britain's chemical industry is the third largest in Western Europe, and it exports nearly 50% of production, making it Britain's single largest export earner. The most rapid growth in recent years has been in pharmaceutical, pesticides and cosmetics. Britain also has highly developed mechanical engineering and metal goods industries, electrical, electronic and instrument engineering industries, shipbuilding and marine engineering industries, textile, clothing and footwear industries, construction, service and tourism industries.

In some sectors of the economy, a small number of large companies are responsible for a sizable percentage of total production, especially in vehicle, aerospace and transport equipment industries.

There are approximately 250 British industrial companies, each has an annual turnover of more than 500 MLB pounds. British Petroleum (BP) is the 11th largest industrial grouping in the world, and the second largest in Europe. Five British firms are among the leading 25 European Community companies. The largest manufacturing concerns are BAT Industries (tobacco, food products, etc.), Imperial Chemical Industries, Grand Metropolitan (food, drink, etc.), British Aerospace, Unilever (chemicals), Ford, General Electric Company, British Steel, and some others.

Britain is the world's ninth largest oil producer and the fifth largest gas producer. Developing North Sea oil and gas it has created huge support industry offering equipment and services to oil and gas companies at home and abroad. The two leading UK oil companies are BP and Shell.

London, Liverpool and Glasgow are the biggest English ports. The products of Britain economy, for example, automobiles, textile, machinery, electronic equipment and many others, are exported to many countries of the world. Liverpool is the principal port of Western England. It stands on the river Mersey. It is the first in Great Britain in exports and it comes second after London in imports. Imports passing through Liverpool consist of cotton, wool, non-ferrous metals and oil export consists of fabricstextile machinery, electrical equipment and chemicals. International trade plays a vital role in Britain's economy. Exports of goods and services make up around 25% of national output.

English agriculture is also a highly developed industry. The greater part of the land here is used for sheep- and dairy farming. Vegetables are grown in all parts of the country. The chief grain crops are wheat and barley. British agriculture is famous for its efficiency and productivity. It employs about 2.1% of the workforce, and Britain is self-sufficient in 58% of all types of food and animal feed. Britain is a major exporter of agricultural machinery and agrochemicals. But because of lack of cultivated lands, it cannot supply the country with sufficient food products. Great Britain has to import grain, meat, fruits and other foodstuffs. Today Britain imports about 42% of its food. Two-thirds of agricultural land is owner-occupied. The fishing industry provides 59% of British fish supplies and employs nearly 17,000 full-time fishermen.

Task 4. Find in the text equivalents to the following words and expressions:

гірничо-видобувна, текстильна, хімічна, фармацевтична, харчова, важка, вугільна, легка, авіаційна, газова, нафтова, рибна, швейна промисловості, приладобудування, кораблебудування, автомобілебудування, обслуговування, туристичний бізнес, металургія.

Task 5. Translate the following words and word combinations into Ukrainian:

total production, national output, annual turnover, workforce, main source, development, manufactured goods, highly developed industry, iron smelting, deposit, high-quality steel, heavy armaments, wheels, railway cars, looms, fine instruments, crude steel, rifles, various machinery, motor cars, electrical equipment, quantity, district, wool, cotton, textile machines, metal goods, fishermen, at home and abroad, non-ferrous metals, fabrics, sizable, vehicle, electronics, the most rapid growth, food products, per head of population.

Task 6. Translate the words in italics into English using the given words below:

to satisfy the needs, to meet demands, to supply with, to provide,

to play a vital role, to make up, to be situated, to be produced

1. The biggest centres of iron and steel industries розташовані in the neighbourhood of coal basins.

2. Textile machines випускаються in Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast and other towns.

3. Plants producing textile machinery not only задовольняють потреби in British industry but also export great quantities of machinery to the other countries.

4. The new industries have developed hand in hand with science and technology and відповідають present technical вимогам.

5. Exports of goods and services складає around 25% of national output.

6. International trade відіграє важливу роль in Britain's economy.

7. The fishing industry забезпечує 59% of British fish supplies.

Task 7. Give the English equivalents to the names of such industries as:

1. The ____ is the country which sells their products to other countries.

2. The ____ is the country which doesn’t produce enough goods and have to buy them abroad.

3. Any industrial unit which makes some products is called a ____.

4. The person who works in the fish industry is a ____.

Task 8. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. Prove your thoughts.

1. In Britain more people are engaged in manufacturing than in service.

2. Britain exports cotton to America and other countries through the port of Liverpool.

3. Britain is one of the major steel exporters in the world.

4. The oldest branches of industry, such as coal-mining, metallurgy, textile, shipbuilding are more highly developed in Great Britain than the new ones.

5. Britain not only satisfies its own need in energy but can also export it to other countries.

6. Britain is self-sufficient in food products and does not have to import much.

7. All the farmland in Britain is privatized.

Task 9. Tell about the agriculture in Great Britain using the following words:

sheep- and dairy farming, vegetables, wheat and barley, efficiency and productivity, self-sufficient, food and animal feed, agrochemicals, lack of cultivated lands, to import grain, meat, fruits and other foodstuffs, owner-occupied, fishing industry

Task 10. Answer the following questions:

1. Can we speak about Great Britain as a highly developed country?

2. What is the main source for the development of Great Britain?

3. Where are the biggest centres of iron and steel industries situated?

4. What are the most ancient centres of English iron and steel industry?

5. For how long iron smelting based on local ore deposits has been practised here?

6. What articles of steel are produced in Sheffield?

7. Do you know the name of the biggest British steel company?

8. Can we consider each of the big towns of Great Britain as a centre of various industries?

9. What city is called "the city of 1500 trades"? What is produced in the city?

10.Why is Birmingham the Britain's "second city"?

11.What can you say about the textile industry of Great Britain?

12.Does Great Britain produce textile machinery for export?

13.Is Great Britain the leading shipbuilder in the world?

14.What new industries have been developed in UK?

15.Why Britain's chemical industry is the largest export earner in Britain?

16.Name some of the biggest British companies and firms. What annual turnover do they have?

17.Does UK produce oil and gas?

18.What is the principal port of Great Britain?

19.How is agriculture developed in Britain?

Task 11. Memorize the following words and word combinations:

1.	agriculture	сільське господарство
2.	ancient	давній, старий
3.	armament	озброєння
4.	coal and iron mines	вугільні та залізні шахти
5.	crude steel	термічно необроблена сталь
6.	dairy farming	молочне сільське господарство
7.	demand	попит
8.	electrical equipment	електричне обладнання
9.	knife	ніж
10.	loom	ткацький станок
11.	manufactured goods	промислові товари
12.	mining	гірнича промисловість
13.	neighbourhood	сусідство
14.	ore	руда
15.	pharmaceutical	фармацевтичний
16.	railway car	залізничний вагон
17.	to reflect	відбивати, відображати
18.	self-sufficient	самостійний, самодостатній
19.	ship-building industry	кораблебудування
20.	textile industry	текстильна промисловість
21.	trade	ремесло, професія
22.	vehicle	транспортний засіб
23.	wheel	колесо
24.	wool	вовна
25.	workshop	майстерня, цех

MODULE 2

UNIT 1

METALS

Task 1. What kinds of metal do you know?

Task 2. How many metals can you name in English?

Task 3. Read the text and complete the table:

metal	use
gold
silver
copper

One basis of classification of the elements groups them into metals and non-metals. It is with the metals that we shall concern ourselves, considering the group as a whole. It is now 2,000 years since Julius Caesar was stabbed in a small auditorium known as Pompeii's Curia and his body cremated in the Roman Forum. Since that time, many changes have taken place. Yet, in a sense, many things have remained the same. Steel is still the basic material of armaments, although, it is not used in the manufacture of shields and short swords. Gold, silver, and copper are, as 2,000 years ago, the coinage metals. Bronze is still used for objects in­tended to resist the corrosive action of the atmosphere, but now it has many competitors.

Knowledge of the metals, of course, has increased, greatly since Caesar's day. Yet, the average citizen might have difficulty in naming more than twice as many metals as a Roman could. The Roman world knew, at least, copper, lead, gold, silver, tin, iron, mercury, and zinc (in a copper alloy). To this list, the twentieth-century's man in the street might add aluminum, magnesium, nickel, chromium, cobalt, tungsten, molybdenum, ura­nium, and one or two others. If he happened to be interested in aeronautics, he might add titanium. Almost certainly, he would be unable to name more than a third of the known metals.

The first metals which were used by primitive man were those that are found free in nature to a comparatively large extent. These are gold, silver, and copper. Tin entered the metal picture when someone discovered, probably accidentally, that if it was mixed with copper the resulting substance was harder. So there came into being the alloy that we call bronze, a material which was so important in the ancient world that its name is given to one of the cultural stages in human development. The Bronze Age began in Egypt around 3,000 before our era and in Europe some 500 or 1,000 years later.

Since almost no iron exists free in nature, it undoubtedly came into general use somewhat later than those just mentioned. However, the Egyptians and Assyrians made some use of iron a number of centuries before our era. As soon as methods were developed for separating iron from its ores in reasonably large quantities and at fairly low cost, it ceased to be classed as a precious material and began its career as the world's most valuable metal from the standpoint of actual use.

It is only since the time a man had learnt how to obtain and use metals and their alloys, he has been able to adapt his environment to his needs and desires. The present age is, in fact, the Age of Metals and it is important that we should have some acquaintance with these useful substances. In the ancient times, gold, silver, copper, tin, iron, lead and mercury were known as "The Seven Metals".

One other metal, zinc, has also been known in its role as one of the constituents of the alloy brass. Almost no metals other than these seven or eight were known until the eighteenth century and many that we use today, not until the nineteenth.

Metals are mostly solids at ordinary temperature and have comparatively high melting points with the exception of mercury. They are for the most part good conductors of heat and electricity, and silver is the best in these respects. They can be drawn into fine wires and hammered into thin sheets, characteristics that are called ductility and malleability, respectively. An ounce of gold can be drawn into a wire almost 50 miles long or hammered into a sheet that has an area of between 175 and 200 square feet.

From the point of tonnage produced and used, iron is the world's most common metal, followed in turn by copper, zinc, lead and aluminium.

Task 4. Find in the text equivalents to the following words and expressions:

класифікація елементів, озброєння, щит, пересічний громадянин, мідний сплав, кінцева речовина, відокремлення заліза від руди, дорогоцінний метал, знайомство, давні часи, твердий при звичайній температурі, за виключенням ртуті, провідники тепла та електроенергії, тонкі дроти, ковкість.

Task 5. Translate the following words and word combinations into Ukrainian:

to take place, manufacture, to resist, corrosive action, to increase, at least, copper alloy, to be interested in, to a comparatively large extent, to discover, to mix, development, use of iron, separating iron from ore, quantity, low cost, valuable metal, to obtain, constituent, solids, conductor, to draw, fine wires, to hammer, thin sheets

Task 6. Read and memorize the names of the following metals and alloys:

copper, lead, gold, silver, tin, iron, mercury, zinc, aluminum, magnesium, nickel, chromium, cobalt, tungsten, molybdenum, uranium, titanium, bronze, brass.

Task 7. Translate the following groups of words:

compare – comparison – comparative – comparatively,

conduct – conductor – conduction - conductive – conductivity,

produce – product – production – productivity – productiveness,

class – classify – classification,

separate – separator – separation.

Task 8. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Сталь залишається основним матеріалом для виготовлення озброєння.

2. Золото, срібло та мідь – метали для виготовлення монет.

3. Бронза використовується для виготовлення предметів, що стійкі до корозії.

4. Золото та срібло знаходяться в природі у вільному стані в порівняно великій кількості, а залізо майже не існує в природі у вільному стані.

5. Цинк є однією з складових латуні.

6. Коли були розроблені методи виділення заліза з руди, воно стало цінним матеріалом.

Task 9. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the basic classification of the elements?

2. What metals were known in Roman world?

3. What were the first metals used by primitive man?

4. When did tin enter the metal picture?

5. Which name is given to one of the cultural stages in human development?

6. Does iron exist free in nature?

7. When did iron begin its career as the world’s most valuable metal?

8. Are metals solids or liquids?

9. What metal is the world’s most common metal?

Task 10. Memorize the following words and word combinations:

1.	acquaintance	знайомство
2.	to adapt	прилаштовуватись
3.	aeronautics	аеронавтика
4.
5.	brass	латунь
6.	to cease	зупиняти, закінчувати
7.	coinage	виробництво монет
8.	conductor	провідник
9.	corrosive	корозійний
10.	to discover	виявляти, розкривати, з’ясовувати
11.	ductility	ковкість, в’язкість
12.	fine wire	тонкі дроти
13.	hard	твердий
14.	iron	залізо
15.	lead	свинець
16.	malleability	ковкість
17.	melting point	точка кипіння
18.	mercury	ртуть
19.	non-metals	неметали
20.	precious material	дорогоцінний матеріал
21.
22.	separating	відокремлення
23.	shield	щит
24.	solid	тверде тіло, твердий
25.	standpoint	точка зору
26.	to stab	наносити удар, поранити
27.	substance	субстанція, речовина
28.	tin	олово
29.	tungsten	вольфрам
30.	undoubtedly	безумовно

UNIT 2

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14