The United States of America (Anglický jazyk)

The United States of America (Anglický jazyk) 

Téma: The USA

Predmet: Angličtina

Basic information:

• USA is democratic federal presidential republic.
• Composed of 50 states (48 – in central part + Hawaii + Alaska). There is one federal capital city – Washington, D.C.
• In the head is government with president Barack Obama. He is democratic president. President is elected for 4 years.
• USA is situated in North America, from the Atlantic ocean, to the Pacific ocean and Alaska is bathed by Arctic ocean.
• Hawaii and Alaska Peninsula belong to the USA.
• The capital city is Washington, D. C. and the largest city is New York City.
• Established: 4.7. 1776
• English is national language – 12 dialects
• USA is the 3^rd biggest state in the world.
• Multiracial state – white people, black people, Indians, Eskimoc …
• The American Anthem is called “The Star – Spangled Banner.”
• National Emblem : The bald eagle
• Fast lifestyle in towns, peaceful country life (poklidný život na venkově)

History of the USA:

• 1492 – discovery of the USA by Christopher Columbus

Wars in American history:

• War of independence in the 18th century – 13 colonies (settlers) versus British army. Colonies won in the head with George Washington. Declaration of independence – the first official document about independence of 13th colonies and about establishment of the USA. It was signed on 4th of July 1776 and it was written by Thomas Jefferson.
• The Civil War in the 19th century. North versus south (in the head with Abraham Lincoln). South won and Abraham Lincoln canceled slavery.
• 20th century – WWI. And WWII. In World War II was the USA member of aliance. 1941 – The most important moment for USA in WWII – first atomic bomb in the end of war.

War in Korea and Vietnam.

• 2001 – war against terorism

Clima: very different

• Continental climate – in central part, hot summers, cold winters
• Midwest (středozápad) – low rainfall
• Temperate climate – around the Great Lakes
• East – temperate climate (northeast)- cold winters and much rainfall
• South – Florida and the Gulf of Mexico – a subtropical climate

-Miami – tropical climate

• West – subtropical climate
• Hawaii – tropical climate

West coast:

• Surface: The rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, the Cascade mountains, California lowland
• Subtropical fruit, cattle – sheep, oil and gas (ropa a zemní plyn)
• rivers – Sacramento, Columbia, Colorado
• climate: subtropical and continental, in north is rainy weather
• Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles – engineering, chemical industry, ship building, wood industry
• Los Angeles – film industry, Hollywood
• Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego
• Las Vegas – many casinos and bars

East coast:

• Surface – lowlands, Atlantic Ocean, the Appalachian mountains, the Great Lakes
• Rivers – Mississippi, Saint Lawrence
• Industry – Philadelphia and Boston – engineering, Boston – electronic industry

Tampa – chemical industry

• copper, iron ore, rock salt, oil (měď, železná ruda, kamenná sůl, olej)
• climate – temperate, subtropical and tropical
• Northeast – cold winters, Florida – dry summers
• agriculture – potatoes, cereals, corn, vegetable, fishing, cattle, fruit – Florida
• Boston, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Tampa, Miami

North:

• hot summers, cold winters
• industry – engineering, paper making, production of electricity, Detroit – car industry
• wheat, corn, rice, cotton plant, tobacco, poultry, sheep, pigs, beef cattle (pšenice, kukuřice, rýže, bavlníku, tabáku, drůbež, ovce, prasata, hovězí dobytek)
• oil, natural gas, precious metals, iron,silver,copper, aluminium (ropa, zemní plyn, drahé kovy, železo, stříbro, měď, hliník)

South:

• humid and hot weather, mild winters
• wheat, corn, pigs, cows, poultry
• electronic industry, fishing, Texas –oil, Houston – NASA, Dallas – Kennedy’s assassination (atentát na Kennedyho),
• Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Fort Worth

Midwestern:

• 12 states – for example Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota
• Chicago is the most populated city in Midwest
• Detroit, St. Louis
• surface – prairies, the Appalachian plateau (plošina), Mississippi river drainage, Great Lakes – Niagara Falls
• industry – food, car industry, chemical industry, technology, heavy machinery, transport
• agriculture – corn, wheat (pšenice), soybeans (sojové boby), oats (oves), barley (ječmen)
• pigs, cows, chicken, horses
• climate – continental – cold winters, hot summers,
• coal, petroleum, natural gas (uhlí, ropa, zemní plyn)

National parks:

• 58 protected areas
• Yellowstone – established in 1872, it has geothermal features
• Sequoia park – there are giant sequoia trees – general sherman tree – 85m high
• Yosemite – in California
• Great Smoky Mountains – In North Carolina and Tennessee, the most visited national park
• Wrangell (St. elias) national park – in Alaska, the largest national park, icefield, glaciers, active volcano (ledové plochy, ledovce, aktivní vulkán)
• Death Valley n. p. – In California and Nevada, it is the hottest and driest n. p.
• Grand Canyon – in Arizona, the canyon of the Colorado river is mile deep (kaňon řeky Colorado je míle hluboký)

New York:

• It is situated on the east coast on Hudson river
• original name New Amsterdam
• there live about 8 million people, the most populated and largest city in the world
• parts – Manhattan – the biggest part, Bronx – the biggest criminality, Staten Island – Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn and Queens – residential district
• ferry taxi on Hudson river (trajekt taxi na řece Hudson)
• Columbia university, Wall street,Time square, Rockefeller center, the Empire State Building, Central park,
• international diplomacy, Broadway theater production

Fauna:

• Many kinds of animals
• Protected animals – for example american black bear, mountain lion, bison
• North – coniferous forests (jehličnaté lesy) – wapiti deer, fox, beaver, otter (jelen wapiti, liška, bobr, vydra)
• desert – prairie dogs and coyotes
• On the Southwest coast are alligators, caimans, sea cows, sea lions and pelicans (aligátoři, kajmani, mořské krávy, lachtani a pelikáni)
• In rivers are trout, pike and salmon (pstruh, štika a losos)
• Alaska – polar bears, bald eagles, arctic foxes, wolves, mountain goats

Flora:

• Coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests (jehličnaté, listnaté i smíšené lesy)
• Along the Gulf of Mexico and in Florida: subtropical forests (magnolias, various kind of palms.)
• In Semi deserts and deserts – there aren’t so much plants
• In southern California – giant sequoia trees

Chicago:

• „the windy city“
• in the north, near the lake Michigan
• the 3rd most populated city in USA
• international centre for finance, technology, transportation
• Interesting places: Chicago O’hare – international airport, Willis Tower – is the biggest skyscraper in the USA, Cloud Gate,
• famous people – Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey,
• there is the biggest Czech community in the US

New Orleans:

• in southeastern part of the USA, 340 000 people, many black people
• it is a seaport
• In 2005 the town was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina
• Mardi Gras – carnival in New Orleans
• the Saint Louis Cathedral
• louis Armstrong is from New Orleans

Miami:

• in Florida, it is center of finance and banks, very popular place is Miami beach

Los Angeles:

• The City of los Angeles – initials L.A.
• founded in 1781 by Spanish people – original name Los Ancheles
• 4 million people, the 2nd largest city after NY
• 80 districts – Hollywood
• culture, entertainment, fashion
• Hollywood – films, music and video games are created there
• interesting places: Walt Disney Concert Hall, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, Pavement of Fame, Hollywood Boulevard

San Framcisco:

• one of the most beautiful in USA
• near of Berkeley – Harvard, Yale
• San Francisco is in California. It is situated on the west coast of the USA, there is San Francisco Bay.
• Alcatraz Island and Treasure Island belong to San Francisco
• Weather: Mild wet winters and dry summers
• there are typical steep streets (strmé ulice) and Cable cars (něco jako tramvaje)
• Golden Gate, Lombard Street – one of the steepest streets in the city, Alcatraz – It was a prison, Grace Cathedral

Las Vegas:

• „world city“
• near of Death Valley
• There are many casinos, bars, interesting building – they looks like world famous buildings
• people can quickly married there

Washington, D. C:

• Washington is the capital city of the United States of America, but it isn’t the largest city. There live about 650 000 people. It is the seat of the President, Congress, government, Supreme Court and other important institutions.
• Washington isn’t part of any state
• there is river Potomac
• on the eastern part of the USA
• it was named after the first president George Washington
• White House – There live president and his family, Capitol – the seat of the Congress, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Pentagon – the seat of the Ministry of Defence

Sports:

• American footbal – It is the most popular sport in the USA. Highest league is called NFL, Barry Sanders
• Baseball – MBL, Joe Di Maggio, Patrick Ahearne
• Basketball – NBA, Le Bron James, Michael Jordan
• Ice hockey- NHL, Ben Bishop, Paul Stastny

Culture:

• It is multicultural country
• Literature, thetre (Brodway Theatre in NY, Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles)
• Film – many film companies – Walt Disney Pictures, 20th century Fox …
• Eating – They prefer eating in a restaurants and fast foods, because it is cheeper and fast. There are many national restaurants – Asian, Italian, Indian, French…
• Typical meel – typical meal – beef steaks, mexican cuisines (mexická kuchyně) – spicy, fish, crabs
• desserts – muffins, cheesecake, apple pie, chocolate brownies, donuts