The UK: The Land and Its People


The Land and Its People

There are two large islands and several much smaller ones lying off the north-west coast of Europe. Collectively, they are known as the British Isles. The largest island is Great Britain. The other large island is Ireland. There are two states in the British Isles. One is the Republic of Ireland, also called Eire (its Irish name); the other state is the United Kingdom (UK), which governs the whole of Great Britain and the north-eastern area of Ireland.
            There are also over 5,000 smaller islands. These are the Orkneys, the Shetlands, the Outer and Inner Hebrides, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight, the Scilly Isles and others. The total area of all these islands is over 244 thousand square kilometres. The most important of these are the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. They are in a way independent, because they have their own parliaments, their own taxes, which are lower than the taxes in Britain. Still, they are ruled by a Lieutenant Governor appointed by the British government. They are Crown dependencies, and the British Government is responsible for their defence and international relations.
The official name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The country’s original Roman name was Albion. When the Romans were crossing the channel in 43 AD, the white chalk cliffs around Dover were the first part of England they saw. So they exclaimed, “Albion”, which comes from the Latin word albus, meaning “white”. The UK consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They have their capitals: London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast respectively.
Britain is separated from the Continent by the English Channel (La Manche is its French name), which at its narrowest part is called the Strait of Dover or Pas de Calais. It divides Britain from France and is 20 miles (about 37 km) wide. Britain is separated from Belgium and Holland by the North Sea. Its western coast is washed by the Atlantic Ocean. The Irish Sea lies between Ireland and Great Britain.
Though quite small in area, Britain has a large population of about 60 million people. Most of Britain’s population is concentrated in England (over 51 million). Wales has around 3 million people; the population is concentrated in the southeast, along the coast between Cardiff and Swansea. Scotland has just over 5 million people, with the population concentrated in and around the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee. Being the most northern part of the island of Great Britain, not far away from the Arctic Circle, Scotland’s Highland region is Britain’s most sparsely populated area with 20 people per square mile.
English is the official language of the UK, but it is not the country’s only language; in Wales the Welsh language is spoken as a mother tongue by about 20% of the population. In Scotland Gaelic is spoken as a second language, and efforts are being made to ensure its survival. Welsh and Scottish people may still use Welsh and Scottish terms even when speaking English. Besides, many other languages are spoken by ethnic minorities, which make up around 3 million people. The “waves of foreigners” to Britain from its ex-colonies (Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and others), significant influxes of refugees from the troubled corners of the globe such as Somalia, Afghanistan and eastern Turkey have made the UK a highly cosmopolitan country.
The UK is one of the founding members of the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union (EU), and the Council of Europe (CE). Britain’s defence policy rests on membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Perhaps the most historically significant international organization the United Kingdom belongs to is the Commonwealth.
Names:
Eire [ 'eǝrǝ ]
Hebrides ['hebrıdı:z]
 Scilly Isles ['sılı aılz]
Edinburgh ['edinbǝrǝ]
La Manche [la'ma:nʃ ]
Pas de Calais [pa:dka'le]
Swansea ['swɔnzı]
Glasgow ['gla:zgǝu]
Dundee [dʌn'dı:]
Bangladesh [bæɳglǝ'deʃ]

Key vocabulary:
tax  n. - հարկ
lieutenant governor [lefˌtenǝnt 'gʌvnǝ] n. – նահանգապետ,գավառապետ անգլիական գաղութում
appoint v. - նշանակել
dependency n. – գաղութ, կախյալ երկիր
set (set, set) v. – մայր մտել
exercise v. - գործադրել
affair n. - գործ
context n. – կոնտեքստ, համատեքստ, իրադրություն
contest n. – մրցում,, մրցություն

rostrum n. - տրիբունա
original adj. - սկզբնական
cliff n. - ժայռ
exclaim v. – բացականչել, գոչել
respectively adv. - համապատասխանաբար
concentrate v. – կենտրոնանալ, կենտրոնացնել
sparsely ['spa:slı] adv. – նոսր, ցանցառ, ոչ խիտ
Gaelic ['geılik], ['gælik] adj.- գելական լեզու, գաելերեն
effort n. – ջանք, ճիգ
ensure [in'ʃuǝ] v. – ապահովել, երաշխավորել
survival [sǝ'vaivǝl] n. – գոյատևում
term n. - տերմին
ethnic minority [ˌeƟnik maı'nɔrǝti] n. – էթնիկական փոքրամասնություն
ex adj. – նախկին, էքս
significant adj. - նշանակալից
influx ['inflʌks] n. - ներհոս
refugee [ˌrefju'dƺı:] n. – փախստական

Talking points:
1.     Where is the UK situated?
2.     What is the country’s full name?
3.     How many states are there in the British Isles? Which are they?
4.     What countries is the UK made of? Which are their capitals?
5.     What islands are the British Isles composed of?
6.     What minor islands lie scattered all around the British Isles?
7.     What seas and oceans wash the coasts of the UK?
8.     What statement best describes this once powerful nation?
9.     What is the original Roman name of the country? What other names does it take?
10.                        How are the British Isles separated from the Continent?
11.                        What is the official language of the country?
12.                        What is the population of the UK?
13.                        What makes the UK a cosmopolitan country?




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