TEXT. THE BRITISH ISLES

The British Isles consist of two main islands: Great Brit­ain and Ireland. These and over five hundred small islands are known collectively as the United Kingdom of Great Brit­ain and Northern Ireland. Their total area is some 94, 250 square miles.[57] Great Britain proper comprises Eng­land, Wales and Scotland. The southern part of the isle of Ireland is the Irish Republic (or Eire).

Britain is comparatively small, but there is hardly a coun­try in the world where such a variety of scenery can be found in so small a compass. There are wild desolate moun­tains in the northern Highlands of Scotland — the home of the deer and the eagle — that are as lonely as any in Norway. There are flat tulip fields round the Fens[58] — a blaze of colour in spring, that would make you think you were in Hol­land. Within a few miles of Manchester and Sheffield you can be in glorious heather-covered moors.[59]

Once the. British Isles were part of the mainland of Eu­rope — the nearest point is across the Strait of Dover, where the chalk cliffs of Britain are only twenty-two miles from those of France.[60]

The seas round the British Isles are shallow. The North Sea is nowhere more than 600 feet deep, so that if St. Paul's Cathedral were put down in any part of it some of the ca­thedral would still be above water. This shallowness is in some ways an advantage. Shallow water is warmer than deep water and helps to keep the shores from extreme cold. It is, too, the home of millions of fish, and more than a million tons are caught every year.

You have noticed on the map how deeply indented the coast line is. This indentation gives a good supply of splen­did harbours for ships; and you will note, too, that owing to the shape of the country there is no point in it that is more than seventy miles from the sea — a fact that has greatly fa­cilitated the export of manufactures and has made the En­glish race a sea-loving one.

On the north-west the coasts are broken by high rocky cliffs. This is especially noticeable in north-west Scotland, where you have long winding inlets (called "lochs") and a great many islands. Western Scotland is fringed by the large island chain known as the Hebrides, and to the north east of the Scottish mainland are the Orkney and Shetland Islands.

In Scotland you have three distinct regions. There is, firstly, the Highlands, then there is the central plain or Low­lands. Finally there are the southern uplands, "the Scott country,"[61] with their gently rounded hills where the sheep wander. Here there are more sheep to the square mile than anywhere in the British Isles.

In England and Wales all the high land is in the west and north-west. The south-eastern plain reaches the west coast only at one or two places — at the Bristol Channel and by the mouths of the rivers Dee and Mersey.

In the north you find the Cheviots[62] separating England from Scotland, the Pennines going down England like a backbone and the Cumbrian mountains оf thе Lake District,[63] one of the loveliest (and the wettest) parts of England. In the west are the Cambrian mountains which occupy the greater part of Wales.

The south-eastern part of England is a low-lying land with gentle hills and a coast which is regular in outline, sandy or muddy, with occasional chalk cliffs, and inland a lovely pat­tern of green and gold — for most of England's wheat is grown here — and brown plough-land with pleasant farms and cottages in their midst. Its rich brown soil is deeply culti­vated — much of it is under wheat; fruit-growing is exten­sively carried on. A quarter of the sugar used in the country comes from sugar-beet grown there, but the most important crop is potatoes.

The position of the mountains naturally determined the direction and length of the rivers, and the longest rivers, ex­cept the Severn and Clyde, flow into the North Sea, and even the Severn flows eastward or south-east for the greater part of its length.

The rivers of Britain are of no great value as water-ways — the longest, the Thames, is a little over 200 miles— andfew of them are navigable except near the mouth for anything but the smaller vessels.

In the estuaries of the Thames, Mersey, Tyne, Clyde, Tay, Forth and Bristol Avon[64] are some of the greatest ports.

(From "Essential English for Foreign Students" by C. E. Eckersley, Book 3, Lnd., 1997. Adapted)

Memory Work

The sea is calm to-night,

The tide is full, the moon lies fair

Upon the Straits; — on the French coast, the light

Gleams, and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,

Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.

Come to the window, sweet is the night air!

Only, from the long tine of spray

Where the ebb meets the moon-blanch'd sand,

Listen! you hear the grating roar

Of pebbles which the waves suck back, and fling,

At their return, up the high strand,

Begin, and cease, and then again begin,

With tremulous cadence slow, and bring

The eternal note of sadness in.

(From "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)

VOCABULARY NOTES

1. vary υt/i 1. менять(ся); изменять(ся); разнообразить, е.g. Market prices often vary. I try to vary my diet.

Syn. change

2. разниться, расходиться, е.g. Our opinions vary.

Syn. differ

Note: vary is to change or differ partially.

variant n вариант, е.g. This word has two spelling vari­ants.

various adj (a noun in the singular is never used after it)

1. различный, разный, е.g. There are various reasons for my refusal.

2. разнообразный, е.g. I'll give you various exercises on that rule.

Syn. different, е.g. They are quite different people.

varied adj разнообразный (used with nouns both sing, and pi.), е.g. varied climate, scenery, surface, temperature, opinions, sports, etc., е.g. The novel describes the varied ca­reer of an adventurer.

variety n 1. разнообразие, е.g. You must have more va­riety in your food.

2. разновидность; вид, е.g. I've got some rare varieties of such stamps. There are some rare varieties of leaf-bearing trees in the park.

variety-show варьете, эстрадный концерт

2. scene n 1. сцена, явление (в пьесе), е.g. The duel scene in "Hamlet" impressed us greatly. Her acting was wonderful in the last scene.

2. место действия (в пьесе, в книге, в жизни), е.g. In the first act the scene is laid in France. Trafalgar was the scene of a famous battle between the British fleet and the combined French and Spanish fleets.

3. пейзаж, картина, зрелище, е.g. I like the way this writer describes rural scenes. You could see awful scenes after the earthquake.

scenery n (uncountable) 1. декорация, е.g. The scenery was impressive in the last act. They have almost no scenery in that play.; 2. пейзаж, ландшафт, е.g. I prefer plains to mountain scenery. I looked out of the window enjoying the scenery.

3. shallow adj 1. мелкий, as shallow water, a shallow dish

Ant. deep

2. поверхностный, пустой; несерьезный, as a shallow mind, argument; shallow interests; a shallow man, person

Ant. serious (about a person, book, argument), deep (love, feelings)

Note: the Russian word мелкий has different meanings which are rendered in English by means of different words: 1) fine — состоящий из мелких частей, as fine sand, buckwheat, 2) small — некрупный (о достоин­стве монет), as small change (uncountable)', 3) flat — неглубокий, почти плоский, as a flat pan (plate).

4. extreme adj 1. крайний (at or near the end or edge), as the extreme end (edge, border, etc.), in the extreme North

2. чрезвычайный; чрезмерный, as extreme patience (love, kindness, interest)

extremely adv чрезвычайно, as to be extremely interest­ed in smth., to be extremely sorry for smb., smth., etc.

5. supply υt снабжать, е.g. In our hall the students are supplied with all the necessary furniture and bedding. Who will supply the expedition with all the necessary equipment?

supply n (often pl) запас(ы), е.g. This shop has alarge supply of winter coats.

to give a good supply of, е.g. These forests give a good supply of timber.

6. shape n форма, очертание, е.g. I don't like the shape of his nose. This sculpture hasn't got much shape, I should say.

Syn. form, outline

in the shape of, е.g. I want to get a brooch in the shape of a horseshoe.

shapeless adj бесформенный, е.g. He had a ragged coat and a shapeless hat on.

shapely adj красивой формы; стройный, хорошо сло­женный, as a shapely figure

7. channel n канал, a stretch of water wider than a strait, joining two seas or separating two bodies of land, as the English Channel, the Bristol Channel

Syn. 1. ca'nal канал — a channel for water made by man, not by nature, used for ships or for carrying water to places that need it, as the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the Vol­ga-Don Canal, the Fergana Canal; 2. strait пролив — a nar­row channel of water connecting two large bodies of water, as the Magellan Strait, the Strait of Dover

8. value n ценность, значение, е.g. The literary value of that book is not great. I don't believe you realize the value of his advice.

to be of great (little, some, no) value to smb., е.g. In some years his pictures will be of great value. This book will be of no value in your studies.

value υt 1. ценить, дорожить, е.g. I greatly value his friendship.

Syn. appreciate (о)ценить высоко, по заслугам, е.g. We all appreciate aholiday after a year of hard work. I greatly appreciate your kindness.

2. оценивать, е.g. He valued the house for me at £ 800.

valuable adj ценный, е.g. It's a valuable picture.

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