US Cities

The population of the USA is nearly 239 million people. Most of them are townspeople. The native population is only about 1 million Indians of different tribes. Many of them live in reservations. As a result of prolonged immigration, now there are more than 25 million British Americans (nearly half the population of Britain), about 23 million African Americans, 25 million German Americans and more Irish Americans than the whole population of Ireland, many people from the Middle East and the Far East. The official language is English.

The capital of the USA is Washington, the District of Columbia (D.C.). The US Congress has its seat in the Capitol, and the White House is the residence of the President.

New York is the largest city and port with its suburbs, it has a population of about 13 million people. It is the financial and business center of the capitalist world. It is famous for its skyscrapers.

The second largest city is Chicago. It is situated on the Lake Michigan, in Illinois. It is one of the biggest industrial center.

The third largest city is Los Angeles, in California. It is an important centre of modern industries. Not far from it is Hollywood, the world-known centre of the US film business.

The forth largest city is Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania. Light industry is highly developed here. Philadelphia is an important cultural centre with many fine buildings and a university. The Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, is situated in the city.

San-Francisco, on the Pacific Coast, is a big port and ship-building centre. It is the heartland of California of great interest are its nine bridges over the Golden Gate Channel between the Pacific Ocean and San-Francisco Bay.

Detroit, in the Great Lake region, is the largest city of Michigan. It is known as an automobile capital. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, American Motors are well-known automobile companies.

Boston is one of the first towns founded on the Atlantic coast of America. It is historically famous for the Boston Tea Party, which later developed into the War for Independence. Now it is the capital and the largest city in Massachusetts, an important port, a financial and cultural centre.

Vocabulary

A tribe – племя

Reservation [, rez∂ ’vei∫ n]– резервация

Prolonged – затянувшийся, долгий

Suburbs – окраины

Skyscraper – небоскреб

Chicago [∫ I’ka: gou]

Illinois [, il∂ ’noi]

Los Angeles [los’æ ndз∂ li: z]

California [, kæ l∂ ’fo: ni∂ ]

Pennsylvania [, pnsl’veini∂ ]

San-Francisco [, sæ nfr∂ n’sisk∂ u]

Bay – залив

Detroit [di’troit]

Massachusetts [, mæ s∂ ’t ∫ u: sits]

Exercise 1. Divide the text into parts. Give titles to each part.

Exercise 3. Put questions to the first part of the text.

Exercise 4. What city are these words about?

a) the largest city in Massachusetts; one of the first towns on the Atlantic coast;

b) the heartland of California;

c) has a population of about 133 million people;

d) the third largest city in the USA;

e) is situated on the Lake Michigan, in Illinois;

f) the White House is situated in this city;

g) is famous for its skyscrapers;

h) is in Pennsylvania; an important cultural centre;

i) is an automobile capital;

j) the nine bridges over the Golden Gate Channel is the main sightseeing of this city;

k) here you can find the Independence Hall.

UNIT 9