1.Fill in the blanks. A. Geography Britain lies off the north-west coast of Europe. It consists of two large islands - (1) and (2) and about (3) smaller ones. The neighbours are (4) to west and (5) to south-east. The area of GB is about ... (6) thousand sq km. The main mountain regions here are the Mountains (7) in Wales, the Cumbrian Mountains in the (8), the (9) (the Backbone of England). The Cheviot Hills are on the border between (10) and (11). The highest mountains of GB are the of Scotland (12). The highest mountain is ... (13) - 1342 m. The longest rivers are the (14) and the (15). B. People Population of the UK is about .. (1) million people. The density is one of the (2) in the world. We can find the following ethnic groups here: (81.5%) (3), (9.6%) (4), (2.4%) (5), Welsh, Ulster, Pakistani and others. There live also many people from India. They are called (6) . The majority of people speak (7). There are also minority languages which are of (8) origin - Welsh, Scottish and Irish Gaelic. Welsh is spoken in Western (9) and Irish Gaelic is still spoken in the Republic (10). C. Administration Great Briatin is a (1) with the Queen as the (2) of state. Britain is divided into (3) parts : (4) (London capital), (5) (Cardiff capital), Scotland ( capital) (6) and Nothern Ireland ( capital) (7). Wales was politically linked in (8). The English an Scottish (9) were united in 1603 and their (10) in 1707. (11) became the part of this union in 1801 but in (12) the most of Ireland became a separate state - the Irish Republic. Locally is Britain divided into (13). The (14) of whole Britain is London. The second largest city here is (15). British national flag is sometimes called the (16). The flag of England is St. ‘s cross (17) (white and red), Scotland has St. Andrew’s cross (blue and white) and Ireland has St. ‘s cross (18) (white and red diagonals). The red rose is the national symbol of (19), Wales has the leek and the (20), Scotland has the thistle and Ireland the shamrock. D. Interesting places Oxford and (1) are the oldest university towns. (2) is the birthplace of William Shakespeare. B (3), Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Blackpool, Sunderland and Scarborough are the most famous s r (4). They have fine sandy beaches. C (5) is an old town with a majestic cathedral. It is a seat of the archbishop. In the south of England there is also W (6), once it was the capital of England. Near Salisbury we can see the beautiful historical monument of S (7), which is more than (8) years old. The west country has nearly no (9). The most interesting places here are Bristol, E (10), Plymouth and B... (11). This is a spa town and was built by the R (12) 2000 years ago. There are also many n p (13) there, e.g. Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks. B (14) is the geographical heart of England and the second largest city in Britain. Other important cities are M (15), L (16), L (17), Y (18) and S (19). Northern England is the country of beautiful nature. The most famous lake in the Lake District is W L... (20). E.Wales and Scotland – Interesting Places Wales is sometimes called the land of c (1). The land is full of beauty and mystery. The biggest cities here are C (2), S (3) and N (4). There is also a beautiful national park of S (5). Scotland is a historically and culturally separate country from England. It has its own legal and e (6) and c (7). It is the land of many special traditions - playing the (8), quality (9), wearing (10) made of (11) and so on. The biggest city here is G (12) and Edinburgh is the (13) of Scotland. The North of the country is a large mountain and lake area. The largest lake is Loch (14) and the most famous lake is Loch (15) with its monster.
