Text 16. THE USA

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. That 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 from the Atlantic to 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 49^th state of the USA, in 1859. The same year in 1859 the territory of Hawaii was added to the USA as the 50^th state.

The USA is divided into three areas: Eastern area – a high land, Central area – a plain and western area which 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 has 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 for its sky-scrapers. 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. 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.

Answer the following questions:

1. Where is the USA situated?

2. How did the USA get its lands?

3. What geographical areas is the USA divided into?

4. What climate does the USA have?

5. What famous monuments does the capital of the USA have?

6. Why is the USA considered to be one of the greatest industrial nations?