Britain The Right Names
Britain or Great Britain (GB) is the name for England, Wales and Scotland. Britain is the eighth largest island in the world. The British Isles is the name for England, Scotland, Wales, both parts of Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The United Kingdom (UK) is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The British government is the government of the UK.
People who live in Britain are called British. Many people think that English is the same as British. But England is only one of the four nations in the UK. The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish are British too. They sometimes get angry when they are called English.
There are also millions of British people whose parents first came to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and other places. Their homes are mainly in the big English cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester.
1. What does the name Great Britain refer to?
2. What does Great Britain include?
3. What does the political term the United Kingdom mean?
b) Which of these people are British: an Englishman, a citizen of the Irish Republic, a Scot, a Welshman?
c) Which of these capital cities are the capitals of independent states: Edinburgh, Belfast, London, Dublin, Cardiff?
Read the two texts and answer the questions.
Climate
Great Britain enjoys humid and mild marine climate with warm winters and cool summers and a lot of rain throughout the year.
The winds blow from the south-west. As these winds blow from the ocean, they are mild in winter and cool in summer.
All parts of the British Isles receive rain at any time of the year. Still autumn and winter are the wettest seasons.
As to temperature, Great Britain has warmer winters than any other district in the same latitude. It is due to mild south-west winds. Another factor is the Gulf Stream, which flows from the Gulf of Mexico and brings much warmth from the equatorial regions to north-western Europe.
Weather
Here are some facts about the weather in Britain.
Ø The climate is temperate, neither very hot in summer (average temperature 15 centigrade) nor very cold in winter (average temperature 5 centigrade).
Ø The weather often changes rapidly during the day.
Ø There is no dry season.
Ø The west of Britain has much more rain than the east.
Ø Britain lies in the zone of contact between tropical and polar air. This makes its weather very complex and difficult to predict.
Ø There are at least 150 weather forecasts every week on the five main British television channels.
Ø In winter there is often heavy snow on the hills and mountains, but little or none in the lowlands.
Ø In summer the sunniest and warmest places in Britain are on the south coast.
Ø In winter, the east of Britain tends to be colder than the west.
1. What is the climate like in Britain? What are the characteristic features of this climate?
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2. Which are the wettest seasons in Britain?
3. Why does Great Britain have warmer winters than any other district in the same latitude?
4. Why is British weather called changeable?
5. Why is it difficult to predict the weather in Britain?
6. Where is there heavy snow in winter?
7. What part of Britain gets more sunshine in summer?
8. Where is it warmer in winter in Britain, in the east or in the west?
A) Read and translate the text.
The Monarchy
Britain is a constitutional monarchy. This means that the monarch, at the moment Queen Elizabeth II, is the Head of State. The Queen is also head of the judiciary (all the judges) and of the Church of England, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. Her face is on all British bank notes, coins and postage stamps.
The Queens constitutional role, however, is mainly symbolic. True power lies in the hands of the Prime Minister and his or her Cabinet. It is the Queen who formally opens Parliament every autumn, but the speech she makes from the throne, giving details of the governments future plans, is written for her by politicians. It is the Queen who officially appoints the Prime Minister, but traditionally she always asks the leader of the party with a majority in the House of Commons.
B) Answer the questions.
1. Who is the Head of State in Britain?
2. What are the Queens duties?
3. Who does real power in Britain belong to?
