Exam Topics for Foresters

Exam Topics for Foresters

The English Language

The United Kingdom

London’s Places of Interest

The UK Political System

Industry of the UK

Customs and Traditions in the UK

Bank Holidays

Forestry and Foresters

The Role of Forests in the World

The Structure of a Tree

The English Language

English belongs to the Germanic languages branch of the Indo-European language family, widely spoken on six continents. It is the primary language of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various Caribbean and Pacific island nations. English is also an official language of India, the Philippines, and many sub-Saharan African countries. Approximately 1.5 billion people speak English: more than 350 million speakers use it as a mother tongue, and the rest study it as a foreign language.

The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany.

Englisc or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language (Old English) that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants.

The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought many French words into English. Greek and Latin words began to enter it in the 15th century, and Modern English is usually dated from 1500. English easily borrows words from other languages and has coined many new words to reflect advances in technology.

Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA’s dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland includes England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and a lot of smaller islands. The British Isles are a group of islands lying off the north-west of Europe.

The United Kingdom is washed by the North Sea in the east, the English Channel and the Strait of Dover in the south, the Atlantic Ocean in the north. The total area of the country is 244.820 sq. km. and its population is 63 million people.

The capital of the whole country is London; the capital of Wales is Cardiff; the capital of Scotland is Edinburgh; the capital of Northern Ireland is Belfast. There are 46 universities in Britain. The oldest and best known are located in Oxford, Cambridge, London, Edinburgh.

The climate of the United Kingdom is classified as temperate, cool.

The chief rivers of the country are: the Severn (the longest), the Thames, the Trent, the Clyde and the Mersey.

The surface of England and Northern Ireland is flat, but Scotland and Wales are mountainous. The highest mountain top in the country is Ben Nevis in the Highlands of Scotland (1343 metres). The second highest mountain is in Wales, it is Snowdon, it is 1085 meters high. Many parts of the country have beautiful green meadows and hills.

The fauna of the British Isles is similar to that of Europe. The number of such large animals as bear, reindeer is very small. Here one finds foxes, hares, red deer, badgers, wild cats in most rural areas. Otters and seals may be seen on various parts of the coast. There are about 430 kinds of birds on the territory of the British Isles. Characteristic of the birds are sea gull, duck, goose, red grouse, dove, black cock, mountain eagle and others. The most numerous are blackbird, sparrow and starling. Robin redbreast is the national bird of the country. There are three kinds of snakes (the grass snake, the adder, the smooth snake) of which only one is venomous. Sea and river fish are trout, salmon, pike, grayling and so on. Fish farming production is centered mainly on salmon and trout.

As for the flora of the British Isles it is relatively poor comparing with that of many other countries. The most common trees are oak, beech, pine, birch, alder, maple, elm. Heather and moss dominate in the damp soils.

London’s Places of Interest

London is the cultural, political and economic heart of Britain, famous for world-class museums, galleries, royal palaces, shopping destinations, West End theatre shows and award-winning restaurants.

A captivating mix of old and new, London is also renowned for its creativity, innovation and originality in art, theatre, music, design and cuisine. It is home to countless art galleries and museums, including the Tate Modern, National Gallery and British Museum.

To catch all the “big-hitters” in one go, you can’t beat a walk along the River Thames. Strolling from Tower Bridge to the Houses of Parliament you’ll pass the Tower of London, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tate Modern, the Southbank Centre, the National Theatre, the London Eye, the Sea Life London Aquarium and London Dungeon.

The West End is the place to go to see London’s top theatre shows and musicals.

If you’d rather save money than spend it, the eight Royal Parks are well worth a visit – and a great spot for a picnic. You can visit Greenwich Park to drop in on the Royal Observatory, walk through Kensington Gardens to see Kensington Palace, take a paddle on the Hyde Park boating lake, see Buckingham Palace from scenic St James’s Park, spot deer at Richmond Park and Bushy Park, and meet the animals at London Zoo, which lies within Regent’s Park.

The UK Political System

The United Kingdom is a parliamentary monarchy. The country has no Constitution, but a set of laws. The head of the country is the Queen. The official residence of Queen Elizabeth II is Buckingham Palace.

The British Parliament sits in the Palace of Westminster in the center of London. There are two towers in the Palace of Westminster: the Victoria Tower and the Clock Tower (called Big Ben).

The Queen’s power is limited by the Parliament, which consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The members of the House of Commons are elected by the population for a period of five years. There are 651 members of the House of Commons. The Speaker is the chairman of all debates in the House of Commons. His duty is to keep order. The Speaker is elected by the Members of the House of Commons.

The government of the country is formed by the party which has the majority in the Parliament. The Queen appoints the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister appoints about 100 ministers. The British Government is in the Whitehall.

The House of Lords has no real power but acts rather as an advisory council for the House of Commons.

There are three main political parties in the United Kingdom: the Labour (the Willies), the Conservative (the Tories) and the Liberal parties.

One of the oldest flags in the world is the British one. Its crosses stand for the patron saints of England (St. George’s flag), Scotland (St. Andrew’s flag) and Ireland (St. Patrick’s flag). The national anthem of the country is “God Save the Queen”.

Industry of the UK

The United Kingdom has few mineral resources, of which the most important are coal and oil. The largest coal fields are in England and Wales. The Welsh coal is considered to be the best in the world.

The oil fields are situated in the North Sea, along the coast of Scotland and England. Other minerals are natural gas, iron ore, lead, zinc, slate, lime stone, chalk, copper.

Metallurgy, chiefly iron and steel, is vital to other key industries such as shipbuilding, ship-repairing, automobile and aircraft industries, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering. Electronics, printing, pharmaceutics are the largest of all manufacturing sectors.

Production of textiles is spread throughout the country and British wool is well-known in the world. At the same time the textile machinery industry is an important sector of the British industry. Though the United Kingdom is a highly developed industrial country, agriculture remains the major sector of economy. The chief agricultural products of Britain are wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, sugar-beet, milk, beef, mutton and lamb. Britain has a long tradition of sheep production.

The horticultural industry produces a lot of fruit, vegetables and flowers. Scotland is known for its largest raspberry plantations in the world. Strawberry is widely grown in England. Black currant is grown in all parts of the country.

Customs and Traditions in the UK

Every nation has its own customs and traditions. In Britain traditions play a more significant part in the people’s life than in other countries.

It has been the law for nearly 300 years that all the theatres are closed on Sundays, no letters are delivered; only a few Sunday papers are published.

The 6 ravens have been kept in the Tower of London for centuries. Over the years people thought that if the ravens ever left the Tower, the Monarchy would fall.

Some ceremonies are traditional, such as the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Trooping the Colour, the State Opening of the Parliament. The Ceremony of Trooping the Colour is one of the most fascinating. It is staged in front of Buckingham Palace annually on the monarch’s official birthday, which is celebrated on the second Saturday in June.

Once a year the Queen goes in the golden coach to the Houses of Parliament to open it with a speech in the House of Lords, she wears the crown jewels. Her cavalrymen are dressed in red uniforms, shining helmets, long black boots and long white gloves. These men are Life Guards.

The Lord Chancellor sits on the sack of wool. This tradition comes from the old times when sheep wool made England rich and powerful.

The Englishmen have love for old things. They prefer houses with a fireplace and a garden to a flat and modern houses with central heating. The houses are traditionally not very high. They are usually two-storied. British buses are double-decked and red, mail-boxes are yellow, the cars keep to the left side of the road – all these are traditions.

Most English have a garden in front of the house. They love flowers very much. The British are fond of animals, too.

Old customs and traditions may seem strange to visitors but the English still keep them up.

Bank Holidays

There are 8 public or bank holidays in Great Britain, the days when people do not need to go to work. They are Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank Holiday.

All the public holidays, except Christmas (25 December) and Boxing Day (26 December) do not fall on the same date each year.

Christmas Day is probably the most exciting day of the year for most children. English children enjoy receiving presents which are traditionally put into a stocking, and have the pleasure of giving presents. Houses are decorated with coloured paper or holly, and there is usually a Christmas tree in the corner of the front room.

The traditional Christmas Dinner includes roasted turkey or goose accompanied by potatoes, peas, carrots and pudding. An essential part of Christmas is carol singing.

December 26 is called Boxing Day. It takes its name from the old custom of giving workers an annual present in a Christmas box. It is the day to visit friends, go for a drive or a long walk or just sit around recovering from too much food. In big cities and towns the tradition on that day demands a visit to the pantomime.

The most common type of the New Year’s celebration is a family party. At midnight everyone hears the chimes of Big Ben and a toast is drunk to the New Year.

Another popular public holiday is Easter, which comes in spring at different time each year (March or April). In England it’s time for giving and receiving presents: Easter chocolate eggs and hot buns. Carnivals and merry-making parades are held in many places on the day before Lent. Many families have their Easter feast blessed by the priest by either taking their food to the church or by having the priest come home.

There is also May Day, when people choose the Queen of May, erect maypoles around which they dance. Spring Bank Holiday falls on the last Monday in May. Summer Bank Holiday usually comes on the last Monday of August. It’s an occasion for big sport meetings – mainly all kinds of athletics.

Forestry and Foresters

Forestry is the science, art and craft of creating, managing and using, conserving and restoring the natural resources associated with forest lands.

Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. The main goal of forestry is to create and implement systems that manage forests to provide environmental supplies and services. The disciplines of forestry and natural resource conservation encompass numerous areas of study. Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests.

Modern forestry generally concerns itself with: assisting forests to provide timber as raw material for wood products; wildlife habitat; natural water quality regulation; recreation; landscape and community protection; a “sink” for atmospheric carbon dioxide. A practitioner of forestry is known as a forester.

A forester is a person who practices forestry, profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including timber harvesting, ecological restoration of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to provide a variety of objectives including direct extraction of raw material, outdoor recreation, conservation and hunting. Usually a bachelor’s degree is considered the minimum education required, but some individuals are able to secure a job without a college education based on their experience.

The Role of Forests in the World

Forests cover approximately 9.4 percent of the Earth’s surface they function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers. Forests are present in many biomes: Polar, Temperate, (Sub)tropical, Dry, Wet, Aquatic biomes.

Forests absorb about one-third of the CO2 and provide essential services to the agricultural, energy, water, mining, transport and urban sectors. They help to maintain the fertility of the soil, protect watersheds, provide habitat for a variety of species, and reduce the risk of natural disasters, including floods and landslides.

At the same time, deforestation and forest degradation contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, and many of the world’s remaining forests are under increasing threat because of human activities and climate change.

Forests represent an important safety net for rural populations in times of economic or agricultural stress. Forests are also an economic good, providing jobs for often rural populations with few alternative off-farm employment options. Formal employment in the forest sector is an estimated 18 million jobs worldwide. Forest industries contribute about 1% to global GDP.

Forests are an important source of energy for many countries and wood-based fuel will continue to represent a principle source of energy in low-income countries and is increasingly viewed as a “green” alternative to fossil fuels in developed countries.

The Structure of a Tree

Trees are an important part of our daily lives. They also absorb carbon dioxide and give us oxygen to breathe. Trees make our environment beautiful with their different colours, flowers and shapes and they provide us with shade and relief from the sun’s heat and harmful rays. Trees help absorb the rain and help stabilize the weather. Trees are very important to us!

A tree begins from a seed. A seed must have food, water and sunlight to grow. Once the seed sprouts, it grows into a seedling that grows into a sapling and eventually saplings grow into trees that produce their own seeds.

All trees have roots, which extend into the soil and have two important jobs to do: they anchor the tree to the ground so that it can stand upright, and they absorb water, minerals and nutrients from the soil.

The trunk of a tree supports the branches and transports water and minerals from the soil to the rest of the tree. The trunk is covered with a tough outer covering of bark that protects the tree. The layer under the bark is called sapwood and the centre of the trunk is called heartwood.

Branches grow out from the trunk and have twigs at the tips. Leaves and needles are arranged on the twigs to capture maximum sunlight. Leaves use energy from the sun to take the carbon dioxide in the air and use the water from the soil to convert into sugars to feed the tree. This process is known as photosynthesis.

Дата добавления: 2015-09-29