Find some additional information and interesting facts about the Loch Ness Monster not mentioned above. Share your impressions with your group and try to explain this phenomenon.

TEXT 4 WALES

 

1. Read the text and point out the most important and unknown facts about the geographical position of Wales.

 

Wales is a small country, bounded on the north and the west by the Irish Sea, and on the south by the Bristol Channel. It has an area of more than 120 miles long and 60 miles wide. It has an area of more than 9 thousand square miles (20 thousand square kilometers) and a population about 3 million people.

Approximately 70 per cent of the population resides in the three industrial countries of the South — Glamorgan, Monmouth and Carmarthen.

The surface of Wales is largely mountainous, reaching 3,560 feet in Snow-don. 6 per cent of ales is covered by forest, and much of the country is pasture-land for sheep and cattle.

Wales is noted for mineral wealth, producing iron, coal, copper, lead, zinc, slate and limestone.

The population of Wales is about 3 million people. About one half of the total population lives in the South Wales coastal area, where the three biggest towns are located — Swansea, Cardiff and Newport.

The ancient capital of Wales is Caernarvon, where the British monarch's eldest son is traditionally crowned Prince of Wales.

Wales is traditionally is divided into North Wales and South Wales (some­times into North Wales, Mid Wales and South Wales) A county is a chief re­gional administrative unit and according to this official division Wales consists of 8 counties.

There is no other part of the British Isles where national spirit is stronger, national pride more intense or national traditions more cherished than in Wales. The Welsh still proudly wear national dress on festive occasions; the Welsh language is still very much a living force and is taught side by side with English at schools; the Welshmen, who have a highly developed artistic sense, have a distinguished record in the realm of poetry, song and drama.

The Welsh call their country Cymru, and themselves they call Cymru, a word which had the same root as "camrador" (friend or comrade).

 

2. Pay attention to the marked words and word combinations. Give your versions of translation.

 

3. Match the English words to Russian ones:

chiefly равный

equal определенный

sense главным образом

broadcast добыча угля

Celtic трансляция

independence кельтский

certain чувство

coal-mining независимость

 

4. Find the answers to the following questions in the text:

 

1) What is the area of Wales?

2) What is its population?

3) What is the capital of Wales?

4) What is Wales noted for?

5) What languages are spoken in Wales and why?

6) Does the Welsh language differ from the English language?

7) How is Wales traditionally divided?

8) What is a chief administrative unit?

9) Do England and Wales form one single political and administrative unit?

Finish the sentences.

1) Wales has an area...

2) The population of Wales is...

3) Wales is noted...

4) Wales is bounded on...

5) The Welsh call their country…

 

6. Give suitable English equivalents to the following sentences:

 

1) Уэльс — это страна на востоке Великобритании.

2) Это, главным образом, гористая местность с преобладающей сельскохозяйственной экономикой и промышленным и угледобывающим районом на юге. Ландшафт ее прекрасен.

3) Кардифф, огромный город на юге, был выбран в качестве столицы Уэльса в 1955 году, главным образом, из-за своего размера.

4) С 1536 года Уэльс управляется Англией, и наследник английского престола носит титул принца Уэльского, но уэльсцы обладают сильным чувством индивидуальности.

5) Есть Уэльская национальная партия, которая добивается независимости от Соединенного Королевства, а уэльский язык до сих пор используется в отдельных местах страны.

6) Уэльский язык происходит от древнекельтского языка и является родственным языку бретонскому, на котором говорят в Бретани, во Франции.

7) В 60-х годах уэльскому» языку был присвоен статус официального языка, наравне с английским, и он стал использоваться в судебном делопроизводстве. Его учат в школе, и на нем вещают некоторые "телевизионные каналы в Уэльсе.

8) Но только около 20% населения говорит на уэльском.