Перевод текста по английскому языку (праздники, жилища, спорт в США)

01.12.16 в 01:33

Independence Day

On July 4 the Americans celebrate their national holiday — Independence Day. The United States gained independence as a result of gradual and painful process.

By the mid 1700’s, it became difficult for thirteen British colonies in the New World to be ruled by a king 3000 miles across the ocean. The British empire imposed high taxes upon the colonies.

In 1774, the First Continental Congress drew up a list of grievances against the British crown. This document was the first draft of the document that would formally separate colonies from England.

In 1775, the Revolutionary War began. On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress presented a second draft of the list of grievances. On July 4, the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of independence. But the War of independence lasted until 1783. After the war Independence Day became an official holiday.

On July 4, Americans have holiday from work. People have day-long picnics with favourite foods like hot dogs, ham-burgers, potato salad, baked beans. Lively music is heard everywhere. People play baseball or compete at three-legged races or pie—eating or water-melon-eating contests.

Some cities have parades with people dressed as the original founding fathers who march to the music of high school bands. In the evening people gather to watch firework displays.

Wherever Americans are around the globe they will get together to celebrate Independence Day.

Thanksgiving 

Almost in every culture in the world there is a celebration of thanks for rich harvest. The American Thanksgiving began as a feast of thanksgiving almost four hundred years ago.

In 1620, a religious community sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in the New World. They settled in what is now known as the state of Massachusetts.

Their first winter in America was difficult. They arrived too late to grow a rich harvest. Moreover, half the colony died from disease. The following spring the Iroquois Indians taught them how to grow corn. Indians showed them also how to grow other crops and how to hunt and fish.

In the autumn of 1621 they got a beautiful harvest of corn, barley, beans and pumpkins. The colonists had much to be thankful for, so they planned a feast. Local Indian chief and ninety Indians were present. The colonists learned from Indians how to cook cranberries and dishes of corn and pumpkins.

In following years many of the colonists celebrated the harvest with a feast of thanks. After the United States gained independence, Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole country.

Later, George Washington suggested the date November 26 as Thanksgiving Day. Then, after the Civil war, Abraham Lincoln suggested the last Thursday in November to be the day of thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving Day, family members gather at the house of an older relative, even if they live far away. All give thanks for everything good they have. Charitable organizations offer traditional meal to the homeless.

Foods, eaten at the first thanksgiving, have become traditional. The traditional thanksgiving meal consists of roast turkey stuffed with herb-flavoured bread, cranberry jelly, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie. Other dishes may vary as to region: ham, sweet potatoes, creamed corn.

American Homes (1)

The majority of Americans live in or near large cities, but small living-town is still widespread. A suburb (a small community near a big city) offers the advantages of safer, more intimate small-town life with the recreational and cultural activities of the big city nearby.

For the typical American family, home may be at different place every five or six years. Most moves relate to new job opportunities, but sometimes the American pioneering spirit and desire for adventure inspire the move.

About two-thirds of Americans live in homes or apartments that they own.

But many people rent their living quarters. Some high-rise apartments are very expensive and elegant, but many are built for moderate or even law-income families. Many apartment buildings are condominiums or cooperative apartments, which means that each family owns the unit it lives in.

More than 10 million Americans live in mobile homes, living quarters built on wheels. They can be moved, but are generally brought to a site that becomes more or less permanent. Then the wheels are removed and the home is attached to the ground. Because they cost less than conventional homes, mobile homes are especially popular with young couples and retired couples with a limited incomes. 

Sport in the USA (4)         

Sport is an integral part of education in American schools and universities. Students usually learn two or more ball games, like football, rugby or basketball.

Then at high school the best players in every school form teams. Every team has its own symbol and a supporting group which is called cheerleaders. Girls who are cheerleaders usually wear clothes in the same colours as the students of their team. They learn different dances, jumps, acrobatic stunts and cheers. It takes a lot of time, practice and energy to be good at cheerleading. But today the world of cheerleaders no longer means sideline squads that exist just to support other teams. They are teams enjoying full rights, teams of the same importance as those football and basketball ones which they traditionally cheer. College and high school cheerleaders compete at national championships.

The most popular spectacular sports in the United States are football, baseball, basketball and hockey. As for the top mass sports, they are swimming, cycling and callisthenics.

American football derives from the English game — rugby. It isn’t similar to soccer except some details, like the number of players and the size of the field. It is a far more violent game which requires great physical power and endurance.

Baseball is one of the most popular American team games. The first American baseball match was held in 1839 in New York. Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played by two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square. American children of 8 years old can join certain leagues where they are taught by coaches. Every player and coach must wear a particular uniform: a shirt, pants, baseball cleats (specific shoes worn by the player for better traction with the earth) and a baseball cap designed to shade the eyes from the sun. Nowadays baseball caps are widespread in our everyday life. Catchers have to wear protective helmets with face masks and a special catcher’s mitt.

Basketball is a game which was invented in America in 1891. It is a team sport in which two teams of five players each try to score points by throwing or «shooting» a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules. Basketball is one of the world’s most widely viewed games nowadays. In 1946 the Basketball Association of America (BAA) was formed. Three years later the BAA merged with the National Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA is famous for many outstanding players, including Larry Bird, Earvin Johnson and Michael Jordan.

A healthy way of life is in fashion now everywhere around the world. There are also many other sports that attract millions of the Americans. Such sports as swimming, track-and-field, skiing, skating, rowing and sailing enjoy great popularity in the USA. Climate in the USA

The USA is the fourth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada and China. Including the states of Alaska and Hawaii, the US covers an area of 9 millions square km.

I am going to tell you about the climate in the USA. The United States has many kinds of climate. The weather ranges from the warm, wet conditions of the Appalachians to the semi-desert or desert conditions in some of the western states.

It varies from southern Arizona and southern Florida, where almost there is no winter at all, to the territory of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, where there are long, very cold and severe winters. In other words, the US has practically all the climatic zones.

The main land mass of the US is in the temperate zone. The climatic conditions of the country are determined by the great mountains and the wind.

West of the Rocky Mountains, running all the way from the Canadian border to Mexico, there are vast areas where almost no trees grow. In this section of the country there are deserts, which receive as little as 12-13 centimetres of rainfall a year. Yet, west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, there are places in which 250 centimetres of rain fall annually. It is one of the wettest places in the USA.

There are all kinds of differences in the climate of the US. For instance, all along the western coast, the temperature changes little between winter and summer. In some places, the average difference between July and January is as little as 10 degrees Centigrade. The climate along the northern part of this coast is similar to that of England.

But in the north central part of the country the temperature difference between winter and summer is very great — 36 degrees Centigrade and even more. The coldest days of January may be — 40 degrees Centigrade, and the hottest July days may be 45 degrees. In the eastern part of the US, the difference between summer and winter is also very distinct, but not so extreme.

In the south-eastern corner of the country the climate is mild and spring is like winter, but in summer the temperature may be very high.

Hawaii, the 50th state, is a chain of over 100 islands, lying in the Pacific and stretching from southeast to northwest for 2,575 kilometres. Although this state is located in tropical zone, its climate is favourable, because of the ocean currents that pass its shores and the winds that blow across the land from the northeast. The temperature usually remains close to the annual average of 24 degrees Centigrade.

The situation in Alaska is different. In those parts of the state which lie above the Arctic Circle, Alaska still is a land of icebergs and polar bears. Ice masses lie buried in the earth, which is permanently frozen land to a depth of 90 or more meters.

From early May until early August, the midnight sun never sets on this flat, treeless region, but the sun cannot melt the icy soil more than two thirds of a meter down. The Japan Current of the Pacific warms Alaska, and the Arctic cools it. The temperature may drop as low as — 43 degrees Centigrade in some places, and may drop to 30 degrees in others. In the north, in any given year, more than 11 meters of snow may fall.