Text 12

Task 1. Read and translate the text. Make the vocabulary of unknown words.

Task 2. Make a short annotation to the text

Florida

F lorida is one of the USA states. It is located in the south-eastern part of the USA. It is a peninsula territory. The capital of the state is Tallahassee. The total population of Florida is about 16,000,000. It occupies the 4th place in the USA according to the number of citizens. The total area of the state is about 58,500 square miles. The great deal of territory is covered by marshes.

It stretches from north to south on 447 miles and from east to west on 361 miles. The total length of the beaches is 663 miles.

The biggest city is Miami.

Written records about Florida date back to the arrival of the Spanish explorer and adventurer Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513. He called the area la Florida, in honour of Pascua Florida ("feast of the flowers"), Spain's Easter time celebration. Other Europeans may have reached Florida earlier, but no firm evidence of such achievement has been found.

Spain was not the only European nation that found Florida attractive. In 1562 the French explored the area. These French adventurers prompted Spain to accelerate her plans for colonization. In fact, in the beginning of the 17th century Spain's power over what is now the south-eastern United States was unquestioned.

Britain gained control of Florida in 1763 in exchange for Havana, Cuba, which the British had captured from Spain during the Seven Years' War (1756-63). Spain evacuated Florida after the exchange, leaving the province virtually empty. The British had ambitious plans for Florida.

It was split into two parts: East Florida and West Florida. The two Floridas remained loyal to Great Britain throughout the War for American Independence (1776-83); However, Spain, participating indirectly in the war, captured West Florida from the British in 1781. In 1784 it regained control of the rest of Florida as part of the peace treaty that ended the American Revolution.

When the British evacuated Florida, Spanish colonists as well as settlers from the newly formed United States came pouring in. Finally, after several official and unofficial U.S. military expeditions into the territory, Spain formally ceded Florida to the United States in 1821. Territorial Period began and on March 3, 1845 Florida became the twenty-seventh state of the United States.

Text 13

Task 1. Read and translate the text. Make the vocabulary of unknown words.

Task 2. Make a short annotation to the text

Places of Interest in New York

A lthough New York is not the capital of the United States, it is the biggest and most important city and seaport of the country. New York is situated on the Atlantic coast, in the northeastern part of the country, in the state of New York at the mouth of the deep Hudson River, one of the biggest in the USA. It is the financial capital of the world, the center of the American cultural life and the national leader in fashion and entertainments. The "Big Apple" is the most popular nickname of the city. New York, with the population of more than 16 million people, is the second largest city and the biggest seaport in the world.

Dutch settlers founded this city in 1613. That time, it was called New Amsterdam. In 1664, New Amsterdam was captured by British troops and renamed in New York. Nowadays New York consists of 5 large boroughs: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Richmond.

Brooklyn alone has so many people that if it were a separate city, it would be the fourth largest city in the United States.

There are many places of interest in New York.

The most famous of them is The Statue of Liberty, presented to the USA by France in 1886. Its torch towers about 200 feet above the harbor and can be seen at night for many miles. It is the largest statue in the world.

The Empire State Building used to be the highest building, but now it is only the third. It is a 102-storied building.

Broadway is the longest street in the world. It is about 12 miles long. It is the centre of entertainments.

By the present moment, the Metropolitan Museum is the richest museum in the world in objects of Art, due to what had been bought from Europe after the World War Two. Besides, we can see the works of American painters there too.

The Central Park is the largest park in the world.

There are the best houses, hotels and fashionable shops on the Fifth Avenue. There is the Rockefeller centre of 15 skyscrapers, housing several large corporations. It is also known as "Radio City".

The United Nations Headquarters was built in New York City in 1952. The building and the grounds around contain sculptures and other works of art, donated by member nations.

New York attracts people from all over the world. You can see people of different nations and religions here: White, Black, Asian, Moslem, Christian and Jewish people. It is the city of contrasts and it is really so.