The USA (6)
Топик США (6) продолжает рассказ об одной из ведущих стран в мире. Из топика вы узнаете о географическом положении страны, ее площади, об общих границах с другими странами и о водах, омывающих берега Америки. В топике упомянуты сведения о зарождении новой страны, о самом начале освоения европейцами незнакомого им континента и том, какие штаты были присоединены к первоначальным 13-ти штатам нового государства. Интересен рассказ о климатических зонах и о рельефе страны, которая делится на 3 части в зависимости от него. Приведены данные о главных озерах, реках и водопадах Соединенных Штатов Америки. Из этого топика вы узнаете о самых крупных и знаменитых городах США: Вашингтоне, Нью-Йорке, Чикаго и Сан-Франциско. Располагая всего 5-ю процентами от населения земного шара и 6-ю процентами его территории, Америка производит около 25% промышленной продукции и сельскохозяйственных товаров в мире. Страна является мировым лидером в таких отраслях как биохимия и генная инженерия, аэрокосмические исследования и разработки, связь, компьютерные и информационные услуги и др., а также одной из ведущих мировых аграрных наций.
The USA is situated in the central part of the North American continent. The total area is over 9 million square kilometers. The Pacific Ocean washes its western coast and the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico in the south wash its eastern coast. It borders on Canada in the north and Mexico in the south.
The USA is a federal republic of fifty states and the District of Columbia. At first it consisted of only 13 states of the Atlantic coast of America. They were English colonies, but they fought against England and in 1776 became an independent state. They won the victory and a new nation was born. As the time went on, settlers from all the countries of Europe moved to the west until the nation reached the Pacific. One by one new states were added to the first 13. Much land was taken from the Indians. Some of the territories were bought from France in 1803, others were taken from Mexico. Alaska was bought from Russia in 1817. It became the 49th state of the USA, in 1859. The same year in 1859 the territory of Hawaii was to the USA as the 50th state.
The USA is divided onto three areas: Eastern area - a high land, Central area - a plane, and western area is mountainous and includes the Rocky mountains and the Sierra Nevada. The Northern part of the USA embraces the region of the five Great Lakes. (Lake Superior Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario) which are connected by natural channels, cut by rapids. The greatest of these rapids is the Niagara Falls. The water of the five lakes have their outlet into the Atlantic Ocean by the St-Lawrence River. The principal rivers of the USA are the Mississippi, the longest river in the world (17.800 kilometers) which flows into the Gulf of Mexico, the Colorado and the Columbia, which flows into the Pacific Ocean, and the Hudson river, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
The climate of the USA differs greatly from one part of the country to another. The coldest climate is in the north, when there is heavy snow in winter and the temperature may go down to 40 degrees below zero. The south has a subtropical climate, with temperatures as high as 49 degrees in summer. The climate along the pacific coast is much warmer than that in the Atlantic coast.
The capital of the USA is Washington, in the District of Columbia. The USA Congress has its seat in the Capitol, and the White House is the residence of the President. Washington, is a beautiful administrative city without much industry. It has many famous monuments: the Library of the Congress of the USA, the Washington Monument, the Abraham Lincoln and others. New York is the largest city and port. It is the financial and business center. It is famous of its skyscrapers. Chicago is one of the biggest industrial cities in the USA. San Francisco on the pacific coast, is a big port and ship building center.
The USA is one of the greatest industrial nations in the world. With only about 5 percent of the world's population and about 6 percent of its land area, the U.S. is the world produces around 25 percent of the world's industrial products, agricultural goods, and services. The USA is the world leader in many branches, for instance, biochemical and genetic engineering, aerospace research and development, communications, computer and information services, and similar high-technology fields. The USA is also the world's leading agricultural nation, which not only feeds her own people but many other people in the world as well.
There are many reasons, which can explain why the USA has been able to become the leading industrial and agricultural resources. Another very important reason is America's vitality, its so-called spirit of enterprise and initiative. The rapid progress of American industry and agriculture is also the result of the constant willingness to experiment and to find new solutions to old problems.
The USA is divided into regions that have different kinds of land and climate, different ways of living and working, and their own characteristics and problems. And each has its own groups of people whose origin and traditions make them different from any of the others. However, out of these differences the American people were able to create a political and social system in which all of these regions and groups were represented and which formed one nation out of many parts.