Great Britain

There are two large islands and several smaller ones, which lie in the north-west coast of Europe. Collectively they are known as the British Isles. The largest island is called Great Britain. The smaller one is called Ireland.

There are two states in British Isles. One of them governs of the most of the island of Ireland. This state is usually called the Republic of Ireland. The other state has authority over the rest of the territory.

The official name of this country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But it is usually known by a shorter name – “The United Kingdom”.

They say that the British love of compromise is the result of the country’s physical geography. This may or may not be true, but it certainly true that the land and climate in Great Britain have a notable lack of extremes. The mountains in the country are not very high. It doesn’t usually get very cold in the winter or very hot in the summer. It has no active volcanoes, and an earth tremos which does not more than rattle teacups in a few houses.

The British Isles are the home of four nations – English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish.

England

England is the largest and the richest country of Great Britain. This is the most important region in the country in terms of industry, agricultural and population.

(вірш “ England”)Byron

England. With all thy faults, I love thee still,

I said at Calais, and have not forgot it.

I like the taxes, when they are not too many;

I like a sea-coal fire, when not too dear;

I like a beef-stake, too, as well as any;

Have not objection to a pot of beer;

I like the weather when it is not rainy,

That is, I like two month of every year.

Breathes there a man with soil so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land.

Stonehenge is one of the most famous prehistoric places in the world. This ancient circle of stones stands in Southwest England. It measures 80 meters across and is made with massive blocks of stone up to four meters high. Why it was built is a mystery.

Not far from Stonehenge stands Salisbury Cathedral. It is a splendid example of an English Gothic Cathedral; inside there is one of four copies of Magna Charta and the oldest clock in England.

Chester is very important town in the north-west of England. In the past it used to be a Roman fort. In Chester, there is a famous museum which contains over 5,000 ancient and modern toys.

Oxford is the home of the oldest university of England. The most famous college is Christ Church.

Cambridge is the home of Britain’s second oldest university. It is one of the loveliest towns of England; it is not a modern industrial city and looks much more like a country town.

York was the capital of Northern England. It is one of the best preserved medieval cites of Europe.

Birmingham is often called the “City of 1,500 trades” because of the great variety of its industries. Birmingham is a market place. Buying and selling has been an important part of life in Birmingham for more than 8 hundred years. Liverpool, the “city of ships” is England’s second greatest port. The most interesting sight in Liverpool is the docks. They occupy a river frontage of seven miles. And Liverpool is well-known for being the hometown of The Beatles.

(пісня “Yellow Submarine”)

Stratford-on-Avon lies 93 miles north-west of London. One of the greatest and famous writers of the world William Shakespeare was born here in 1564. In all he wrote 37 plays, 2 long poems, a sonnet cycle of 155 small pieces.

(сонет Шекспіра)

Shall I compare the to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;

So long as man can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Scotland

(вірш “Our Ain Native Land”)

Our ain native land! Our ain native land!

There’s a charm in the words that we a’understand,

That flings o’er the bosom the power of a spell,

And makes us love mair what we a’love so well.

The heart may have feelings it canna conceal,

As the mind has the thoughts that nae words can reveal,

But alike he the feelings and thought can command

Who names but the name o’our ain native land.

Our ain native land! Our ain native land!

Though bleak be its mountains and rugged its strand,

The waves aye seem bless’d, dancing wild o’er the sea,

When woke by the winds from the hills o’ the free.

Our sky oft is dark, and our storms loud and cauld,

But where are the hearts that sic worth can unfauld

As those that unite, and uniting expand,

When they heat but the name o’our ain native land?

Our ain native land! Our ain native land!

To hear of her famed ones let none e’er demand,

For the hours o’a’time far too little would prove

To name but the names that we honour and love.

The bards lives in light, though his heart it be still,

And the cairn of the warrior stands gray on the hill,

And songster and sage can alike still command

A garland of fame from our ain native land.

Our ain native land! Our ain native land!

Her wild woods are glorious, her waterfalls grand,

And her songs still proclaim, as they ring through the glen,

The charms of her maids and the worth of her men.

Her thistle shall cease in the breezes to wavw,

And the floweret to bloom on patriot’s grave,

Ere we cease to defend, with our heart and our hand,

The freedom and faith of our ain native land.

Scotland is a country in the north of Great Britain. It is a part of the United Kingdom. Scotland is divided into three natural regions A lot of places in Scotland are a natural paradise, still untouched by man..

(вірш “These are my mountains”)

For fame and for fortune I wandered the earth

And now I’ve come back to the land of my birth

I’ve brought back my treasures but only to find

They’re less than the pleasures I first left behind

For these are my mountains and this is my glen

The braes of my childhood will know me again

No land’s ever claimed me tho’ far I did roam

For these are my mountains and I’m going home

The burn by the road sings at my going by

The whaup overhead wings with welcoming cry

The loch where the scart flies at last I can see

It’s here that my heart lies it’s here I’ll be free

Kind faces will meet me and welcome me in

And how they will greet me my ain kith and kin

The night round the ingle old sangs will be sung

At last I’ll be hearing my ain mother tongue.

The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh, well known for its castle. Glasgow is the industrial capital of Scotland. It is the third largest city in Great Britain. Scotland is also the land of myths and mysteries; every castle has its ghost. Glamis Castle is said to have nine of them. And of course everyone knows about the Loch Ness Monster. “Nessie” is said to be about 6 meters long, with a long, thin neck.

Robert Burns, a famous and popular Scottish poet, was born in 1759. At the age of 15 he started to write poems. He composed verses to the melodies of old folk songs, which he had admired from his early childhood. He sang of the woods, fields and wonderful valleys of his native land.

(вірш “My heart in the Highlands”)

My heart in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart in the highlands, a-chasing a deer;

a-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe –

my heart in the Highlands wherever I go.

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,

The birthplace of valour, the country of worth;

Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,

The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

Farewell to the mountains high covered with snow;

Farewell to the straths and green valleys below;

Farewell to the forests and wild hanging woods;

Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart’s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;

A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe –

My heart in the Highlands wherever I go.

Scottish people like to dance very much. They wear Scottish traditional clothes: socks, shoes, a kilt, a tie, a jacket and a bonnet.

(шотландський танець)

There are many folk-songs in Scotland. “My bonnie lies over the ocean” is the most famous one.

(пісня “ My Bonnie”)

My bonnie is over the ocean,

My bonnie is over the sea,

My bonnie is over the ocean,

Oh, bring back my bonnie to me!

Bring back, bring back,

Bring back my bonnie to me, to me

Bring back, bring back,

Oh, bring back my bonnie to me.

Oh, blow ye, winds over the ocean,

Oh, blow ye winds over the sea,

Oh, blow ye winds over the ocean

And bring back my bonnie to me.

Last night as I lay on my pillow,

Last night as I lay on my bed,

Last night as I lay on my pillow,

I dreamed that my bonnie was dead.

The winds have blown over the ocean,

The winds have blown over the sea,

The winds have blown over the ocean,

And brought back my bonnie to me.

Brought back brought back

Brought back my bonnie to me to me

Brought back, brought back

Brought back my bonnie to me.

Wales

Wales is a country in the west of Great Britain. It is mainly a mountainous land with chiefly agricultural economy and industrial and coal-mining area in the south. The landscape is beautiful.

Cardiff, a large city in the south was chosen as the capital of Wales in 1955, mainly because of its size. Since 1536, Wales has been governed by England and the heir to the throne of England has the title of Prince of Wales, but Welsh people have a strong sense of identity.

The Welsh are very proud of their language and culture.

(вірш “ We were the people”)

We were a people bred on legends,
Warming our hands at the red past.
The great were ashamed of our loose rage
Clinging stubbornly to the proud tree
Of blood and birth, our lean bellies
And mud houses were a proof
Of our ineptitude for life.

We were a people wasting ourselves
In fruitless battles for our masters,
In lands to which we had no claim,
With men for whom we felt no hatred.

We were a people, and are so yet.

When we have finished quarrelling for crumbs
Under the table, or gnawing the bones
Of a dead culture, we will arise,
Armed, but not in the old way.

Welsh is an ancient Celtic language, similar to Breton, spoken in Brittany, France. The welsh wear the same clothes as the English. But on holidays a Welsh woman wears a red cloak, a long black skirt, an apron and a high black hat. The men do not have a national costume. They smile, “We have no money after we have bought clothes for our wives!”

The Welsh are known in Great Britain for their singing. Welsh people like singing together. They sing in competitions, on holidays and every time they want to sing.

(пісня “ Oh, pure heart”)

I ask not for ease and riches
Nor earth's jewels for my part
But I have the best of wishes
For a pure and honest heart.
Chorus:
Oh, pure heart so true and tender
Fairer than the lilies white
The pure heart alone can render
Songs of joy both day and night.
Should I cherish earthly treasure
It would fly on speedy wings
The pure heart a plenteous measure
Of true pleasure daily brings.
Chorus:
Eve and morn my prayers ascending
To God's heaven on wings of song
Seek the joy that knows no ending
The pure heart that knows no wrong.
Chorus:

Дата добавления: 2015-11-30