Inglese - The Geography of Britain, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Inglese - The Geography of Britain e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! THE GEOGRAPHY OF BRITAIN Britain is an island situated in north of Europe. In this island, we have a changeable climate because of the differences geological. In fact, we can distinguish highland from lowland. In the highlands, which are in the north and in the west, the rocks are harder and older. So these areas are less populated except where coal and iron have been discovered. While the south and the east is rarely flat, and there are some hills. The soils are deep and rich, and the climate is dry. POPULATION Britain is densely populated but there are some areas, which contain fewer than 100 people per square kilometre, for example Northern Ireland. While in industrial areas, like South - East England, are more densely. The five cities bigger are Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, London and Dublin. THE WEATHER Climate in Britain is changeable. In North Britain, it is milder because of the Gulf Stream, which brings warm water and air across the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico. Average temperatures in England and Wales vary from 4° grade to 16° grade in July and August. London is drier than continental cities. THE UNITED KINGDOM Great Britain is a geographical expression while The United Kingdom is a political expression. Great Britain is one of the two isles, the biggest one. The name of the smaller one is Ireland. Together they are called the British Isles. Today British Isles are shared in two independent states: Republic of Ireland, with its capital in Dublin; and the United Kingdom with its capital in London. Great Britain contains three “nations”: England, Scotland and Wales. Wales had become part of U.K. in the sixteenth century while Scotland in the eighteenth. The United Kingdom is a name, which was introduced in 1801 when Great Britain became united with Ireland. Then the Republic of Ireland became independent of London in 1922, so South Ireland shared from North Ireland. THE CONSTITUTION British constitution is shared in three parts: Parliament, which makes laws, the Government, which executes laws, and the law courts, which interpret laws. In Britain, there is the Queen who has a little direct power in all three parts. Parliament is shared in two parts: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Members of the House of Commons are elected by the members of Parliament. The prime minister is also a member of parliament. While members of the House of Lords, who name is peers, differ in two parts: hereditary peers, who can pass on their title to their son, and life peers, who cannot. BILL AND ACTS A proposal for a new law is called a bill. Bills are proposed by the Government. After being discussed, the bill is sent to the other house to go through the same process. When both houses agree on a text, the bill is sent to the queen for her signature. At which point it becomes an act of parliament. The royal assent is only a formality. THE GOVERNMENT The cabinet is responsible to deciding policies, controlling and coordinating government administration. The prime minister has an individual power to introduce and control policies and to change the cabinet. THE SOVEREIGN The queen is the official head of state. In all British history, the continuity of the sovereign was broken only after the civil war, in seventeenth century. The crown’s power is hereditary. The queen has a central role in state affairs; in fact, she meets every week the prime minister. BRITAIN’S ENERGY The mayor sources of energy in Britain are oil, natural gas and coal. Other primary sources of energy are waterpower and nuclear power. The 20 per cent of Britain’s electricity is produced by nuclear power. Britain has fourteen nuclear power stations in operation. Many studies show that all-radioactive wastes can be managed and only in this way, they are not dangerous for the man. However, all proposals for new nuclear stations met public opposition and this has increased since the disaster at Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986. Besides many people affirm that nuclear power is unsafe and an accident like that of Chernobyl could happen at any time. EDUCATION THE SCHOOL SYSTEM School system is divided in three parts: Pre-school, that is voluntary, is attended by pupils from 3 to 5 years old. Then we have primary school, attended by children from 5 to 11 years old. After there is secondary school attended by students from 11 to 16. Primary and secondary school are compulsory while the sixth form is voluntary level and it is attended by students from 16 to 18. AFTER SIXTEEN After sixteen pupils have to support, an examination and they have to take “A” in two or three subjects. If they pass it, they will be able to go to higher school or they will be able to choose professional training. HIGHER EDUCATION There are over 100 universities in Britain. In 1980s, students paid their university with the parental contributions and the maintenance grant. Now this was changed. Universities accept only the students because of their “A” level results. BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY The three main sectors of activity in economy are Primary sector, manufacturing sector and service sector. Primary sector concerned agriculture while manufacturing sector-concerned industries. At first, these two sectors were very developed; today are employing fewer people. Nowadays only service sector is the biggest one. Britain economy is based mainly on private enterprise that includes 74% of the goods end service produced in Britain. PRIVATISATION Britain’s energy and transport industries were originally run by companies in the private sector. However, in the late 1940s these services were nationalised. From 1979, however, it was conservative government policy to return nationalised industries to the private sector. THE CITY OF LONDON London is an important centre for finance. In the centre of London there is a square occupied by the financial district, called the “city”. Here, every morning, hundreds of thousands of people work in its offices but in the night the city is almost deserted, in contrast to the entertainment district in the west end of London. The city has the greatest concentration of banks in the world and it is responsible for about a quarter of international bank lending. London has dad a Stock exchange for dealing in stocks and shares for over 200 years. In 1986, it became possible dealing thought telephone computers and this caused the Big Bang in the city. EMPLOYEMENT In Britain almost of 50% of population work. The employment is divided in full-time, part-time and self-employed job. People are employed in three sectors: primary, manufacturing and service. These categories include professional, manual and non- manual. In the middle of twentieth century, 96% of British employed had full-time jobs and the majorities were men. Now a great number of women have a part-time job. Although there are variations between men and woman, because sometimes in a full time job women earn only 80% of the male wage, even if it is the same job. However, at the end of 1990s unemployment had fallen to 5 %. Old industries continued to decline because of new technology is increasing. FAMILY The Britain nuclear family, made up of parents and perhaps two children, has replaced the extended family. Today people marry later: the woman about 27 years old while man is about 30 years old. Britain is one of the countries where divorce’s rates are higher than the others. In fact in Britain, one in three marriages ends in divorce. Approximately 50 % of married women in Britain are in employment. Before having the first child, they work in a full-time job; then they chose to work in a part-time job. Britain has a high percentage of working mothers compared to other countries. Young people leave home early for being independent but they think it isn’t necessary marrying in young age. THE COST OF LIVING With the risen of prize, the cost of living is changed in Britain. Family expenditure patterns changed during the 1980s and 1990s. The number of people, who used technological consumer goods, rose up. Inflation fell to below 3% but the strong pound caused problems for business, so the difference between the rich and the poor continued to become wider during the 1990s. LEISURE British people have more free time and holidays now. All full time workers have at least (almeno) four weeks’ holiday or more including Easter and Christmas. Typical popular free time in UK is spent in shopping, listening pop music, going to pubs or playing sport. The number of people who play sport has risen. The most popular sports activities are walking and swimming; fishing is the most popular country sport. another hobby followed by British is gambling. The 80% of adults play the lottery every week; horse and dog racing are two of the biggest attractions. Other forms of gambling include pub games or casino. It has been estimated that over 50 % of adults gamble sometime while the rest 40 % gamble regularly. THE MEDIA In Britain, there are twelve national daily newspaper and most of them concentrate on the scandalous aspects of life. They have an important affect on public opinion. (London’s Fleet Street was the centre of the newspaper printing). The most important newspaper in Britain is the independent. Trade of newspaper is an expensive and competitive business but in recent years, the number of people who read newspaper has declined. While over 120 million people listen radio. (BBC is British broadcasting ( programmi ) corporations.) Instead the most attractive is internet, in fact it is estimated that internet is becoming almost essential, especially for information. However, television is always the most important. The first television broadcasts began in 1936. Average people watch TV about 28 hours’ par week, especially old people in winter. British TV has an international reputation for producing programmes of high quality such as documentaries, nature programmes, comedies and drama series, but the mass appeals are soap opera, quiz shows and situations comedies. Minority programmes might disappear. VIEWS OF BRITAIN Britain is the fourth largest trading nation in the world, it is the largest energy resource of any country in the European Union, and is an important world producer of oil, natural gas and coal. Instead, Britain won 68 Nobel prizes for science, a number exceeded only by the United States. It is estimated that British people are freer and richer than 1990s. But it is also estimated that most of the people are unhappier than before. In their opinion, the problems could be found in the pollution or in the violence. In fact, they think that Britain had become a more violent society. However, Britain always remains the fifth country most developed in tourism thanks to its varied cultural heritage. London has an international reputation for its historic sites and museum. For example, royal ceremonies attract millions of visitors each year.