Text B. Geographical location of the USA

The United States covers the entire midsection of North America. It consists of forty-eight states in North America, Alaska, a peninsula which forms the northwestern most part of North America, and Hawaii, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. There are several United States territories in the Pacific and Caribbean. The country shares land borders with Canada and Mexico and maritime borders on Russia, Cuba, and the Bahamas in addition to Canada and Mexico. By land area only, the United States is the world's third largest country, after Russia and Canada.

The United States has a varied topography. The Appalachian Mountains form a line of low mountains separating the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Basin. The United States contain subtropical forests and, near the gulf coast, mangrove wetlands, especially in Florida. The Great Plains lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountain region is the highest region of the United States by average elevation. The highest peak of the Rockies is Mount Elbert at 14,440 ft (4,400 m). Alaska contains some of the most dramatic and untapped scenery in the country. Tall, prominent mountain ranges rise up sharply from broad, flat tundra plains. On the islands off the south and southwest coast are many volcanoes. Hawaii, far to the south of Alaska in the Pacific Ocean, is a chain of tropical, volcanic islands.

Due to its large size and wide range of geographic features, the United States contains examples of nearly every global climate. The climate is temperate in most areas, subtropical in the Deep South, tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida, polar in Alaska, semiarid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian, Mediterranean in coastal California and arid in the Great Basin. Its comparatively favorable agricultural climate contributed (in part) to the country's rise as a world power, with infrequent severe drought in the major agricultural regions, a general lack of widespread flooding, and a mainly temperate climate that receives adequate precipitation.

The St. Lawrence River is the largest river on the east coast, but most of its course is in Canada. Other eastern rivers are much shorter than the St. Lawrence but are nevertheless of great value, especially for purposes of navigation and for the harbors formed by their mouths. These rivers are the Connecticut, the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and others. The Great Lakes – Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario – are the largest lakes of the United States. Of the five, only Lake Michigan lies entirely within the United States. In the dry regions of the West are many salt lakes, of which the Great Salt Lake, in Utah, is the largest.

6. Study the words from Text B and give Russian equivalents: 1) to cover, 2) entire, 3) a border, 4) varied, 5) scenery, 6) a range, 7) to contribute.

7. Fill in the gaps with the words (in an appropriate form) from Act. 6:

1) The United States Range is one of the most northern mountain … in the world and of the Arctic Cordillera 2) Before European settlement, forests in the United States … nearly 4,000,000 km². 3) The United States has two international land …. 4) Rising crude oil production in the United States … to relatively stable global crude oil prices in 2013 5) Which state has the most wonderful …? 6) The following table includes the … population of the USA. 7) Does North America have a … climate?

8. Translate the sentences into Russian, then make up your own sentences with the highlighted words:

1) Most of the U.S. state of Florida is a peninsula that separates the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. 2) These procedures were put into practice in addition to other rights of employees. 3) The United States and Canada have signed an agreement to share data on orbiting space debris, asteroids and other hazards to space flight. 4) In 2012, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,837 kWh. 5) Why is the US economy comparatively strong? 6) US court websites went down due to technical problems. 7) Why is there a lack of qualified IT programmers in the US?

9. Read the text and answer the questions:

1) What bodies share powers? 2) What are three branches of power? 3) Who do the Senators and the members of the House represent? 4) How are justices nominated? 5) What are the main political parties?