Read and retell these texts in a nutshell about industrial and agricultural regions of the UK.

· The South-east of England

London is the country’s capital and main communication centre, one of the world’s most important financial centres (second – after New York), one of the world’s three largest ports (with New York and Rotterdam). It is the main centre in Britain of printing, cinema film production and of manufacture of clothing, food and drink, furniture, materials for arts, precision instrument and many other specialized products.

London is also important, especially its Outer Ring, for light engineering, chemicals and consumer goods. There are heavy-engineering plants and a number of leading research establishment in this area. Some of the largest aircraft plants are near London (in the town of Hatfield) and factories manufacturing motor vehicles – lorries – are also situated her (in the town of Luton).

In the estuaries of the Thames and other rivers of the region there are large old refineries as well as shipyards.

Major motor vehicle manufacturing plants are some 50 miles north-west of London, near Oxford. Oxford and Cambridge are famous university centres, Oxford being also a car-manufacturing centre, while Cambridge includes diverse instrument making, printing, and electronics. 

· South Anglia

This region contains low plateau country which is mostly an improved farmland. Rural population predominates and more than half of the total area is under cultivation. Barley and wheat are the most extensive crops. Oats, potatoes and sugar-beet are also common. In the part nearer to London vegetables, small fruit and flowers are grown for sale. The number of cattle and sheep is low, but poultry is numerous and Norfolk turkeys have a high reputation in the Christmas market.

· The South-west of England

This part of the area is known for its extensive grassland which is three times as extensive as the area under cultivation. The growth of grass is promoted by frequent rains and the mild warm climate. The principal activity here is farming. Although there are some big farms, most are small family farms with a mixture of cows, sheep and cereal crops. There is a long-established dairy-farming industry throughout the region. Butter, cheese and cream are the chief products. In the eastern part of the region there are many pigs and the production of bacon and other products, including pork sausages, is prominent.

Industry is centred on three large ports: Bristol, Portsmouth and Southampton. In Bristol aircraft is designed and built, and other significant industries are paper-making, printing and flour-milling. The main industries of the other two towns are shipbuilding and oil-refining.

· Central England or the Midlands

The Midlands (or the Midland industrial region) represent the largest concentration of manufacturing industry. Metal-working on the basis of local coals was the source of the “Black Country” development. The characteristic industries of the West Midlands are metallurgy (steel tubes and non-ferrous metals), machine-tool building, electrical engineering, and the car, carpets, and pottery industries (with over 80% of Britain’s ceramic industry located in Staffordshire, around Stoke-on-Trent).

Birmingham is the regional capital, a “city of a thousand trades”, including not only motor cars and bicycles but engines for aircraft production. The district around Birmingham is a land of factories and mines. Steam engines, gas-engines, motor-cars, railway carriages, rails, guns, agricultural implements (инвентарь), cooking utensils carpenter’s tools, screws, and nails are among the articles manufactured in the factories of the Black Country. Coventry is the centre of the car and aircraft industries.

In the East Midlands, Leicester is noted for hosiery and knitwear, footwear and machinery for making these products. Nottingham – for lace and bicycles, tobacco and pharmaceutical goods, Corby – a new town – for steel industry.

In agriculture, horticulture (садоводство, огородничество) is important in the Midlands as a supplier of food for the local urban population. 

· Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The largest cities of Lancashire are Manchester and Liverpool. This county is the centre of the cotton and related textile industries, chemicals of all kinds and textile machinery. Shipbuilding and ship repairing is also essential for Lancashire.

 Liverpool is the second largest port of Britain, a great commercial and insurance centre and, after London, the greatest centre for processing imported foodstuffs and raw materials (flour milling, soap manufacture, sugar refining and rubber products. The port of Liverpool grew up where the stream flowed into the Mersey estuary and formed a pool.

The centre of cotton industry is Manchester, which, with its large suburb Salford, has a population about a million. The city stands on the river Irwell, a tributary of the Mersey. The port of Liverpool and the town of Manchester began their rapid growth in the 18^th century when cotton from America began to float on barges to the UK to be manufactured. Also Manchester is a very important financial centre and major port.  

Yorkshire is separated from Lancashire by the Pennines. About three-fourth of Britain’s worsted and woollen industries are found here and the centre of it is situated in Leeds.

One of the most famous centres of heavy-engineering industry with its high-quality steels, cutlery and tools is Sheffield. The area’s extensive coal-fields provide nearly one-fourth of Britain’s coal.

In North Yorkshire is York, the city that is famous not only with its medieval architecture but as a route centre and the place of producing the main part of the British confectionary, especially chocolate.

The Yorkshire’s Dales are suitable for sheep-breeding, dairying, and beef farming, some cultivation of cereals and root-crops for sale off the farm.

· The North of England

This northernmost region of England contains some of the wildest and loneliest parts in the country, but also some of the busiest industrial centres. It consists of two different areas: the North-West (including Cumbria, otherwise known as the Lake District) and the industrial North-East.

The North-West has a small industrial district on the west coast – the Cumberland Coalfield. The first British atomic power station – Calder Hall – was built there. The unpopulated parts of the area are occupied by military bases and missile sites.

The industrial North-East is more dependent on traditional heavy industries – coal-mining, iron and steel manufacture, shipbuilding and ship-repairing, and chemicals. The industrial centres of this region are situated in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland, and Middlesbrough.

· Scotland

Having the population of only about five million people Scotland nevertheless is famous for its developed industrial region of Glasgow and districts situated nearby. There are deposits of coal and iron ores that have been mining for two centuries at least. Scottish steel has long been used chiefly by the heavy industries of the Glasgow area where shipbuilding has been paramount (первостепенным). For a time Clydeside was the most famous shipbuilding district in the world. The industrial picture in Glasgow has rather changed in the course of time. Engineering hasn’t shrunk to the same extent as coal mining and shipbuilding. But nowadays practically as many workers are in the service industries as in manufacturing. Of the latter, textile and clothing production has long been important, and carpets are among woolen goods. Food products, furniture and office equipment are also manufactured. An activity which is extremely important in Scotland’s export trade is the blending of Scotch whisky produced in Highland distilleries. In the New Towns which emerged in the 1960s to the east of Glasgow new engineering industries developed, especially electronics. Edinburgh has no large industry, though it is famous for rubber manufacturing and engineering and also for its biscuit industry. But the main factor bringing a lot of money to Edinburgh is tourism. Scotland’s third city is Aberdeen, the centre of fishing industry. When oil was exploited from the late 1960s, Aberdeen became a centre of the new industry and also the administration and supply base for the offshore oilfields. Dundee, the fourth city of Scotland, is situated in the wide mouth of the most famous salmon river, the Tay, and it is a port important for shipbuilding. It is also the centre of jute manufacture in Britain. Dundee cakes and marmalade are exported all over the world.

Scotland is a very mountainous country with very thin population and severe climatic conditions. So speaking about agriculture we should mention that there is mainly sheep breeding and cattle farming. Among the crops the main are barley and oats.

· Northern Ireland.

Having the population of about 1,7 million people the whole economy of Northern Ireland is closely integrated with that of Great Britain. It has roots in three basic industries - agriculture, textile and shipbuilding. The largest industry is agriculture conducted for the most part on small family farms. It occupies 72% of the land area. The climate of Northern Ireland is ideal for livestock breeding and growing of vegetables and some fruit as well as barley and oats. In the last two decades a new branch of industry has been developing rather rapidly – tourism and construction of health and holiday resorts. Almost a half of the whole population lives in towns and many of them are busy in services. 

· Wales.

Wales is divided into thirteen counties. But 70% of the population resides in the three industrial counties of the South-Wales coastal area - Glamorgan, Monmouth and Carmathen. Agriculture is the main occupation of the remaining ten counties in Mid-Wales and North-Wales. Recently two nuclear power stations were built in Wales. The main industries of the South are coal-miming, iron and steel, and engineering. There are the three biggest towns located – Swansea, Cardiff and Newport. In Cardiff, besides iron industry and coal mining, flour milling and food processing are also developed. The main port of Wales today is Milford Hayen because of its oil tanker traffic. It’s one of the leading oil terminals of Britain with a lot of refineries. Swansea is an important container port. South Wales is a region of contrasts. The industrial towns are only a short journey away from sandy beaches and busy holiday resorts and holiday business has become a profitable industry. Mid-Wales has many fishing ports. Tourism is mainly concentrated in the northern coastal strip. Wales on a whole has become a popular holiday resort on account of the beauties of nature and original national traditions of the Welsh people.