2. Languages
English, Spanish, French, German, Italian,
Chinese, and many others
Largest cities, with
population
New York 8,085,742
Los Angeles 3,819,951
Chicago 2,869,121
Houston 2,009,690
Philadelphia 1,479,339
Government
Form of government Federal republic
Head of state President
Head of government President
Area
9,826,630 sq km
Capital
Washington, D.C.
3.
4. The United States of America
The United States of America is the fourth
largest country in the world (after Russia,
5. It is situated in the central
part of the North American
Continent. It also includes
Alaska and Hawaii. The USA
borders on Canada in the
north and on Mexico on the
south. It is washed by the
Pacific Ocean in the west and the
Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of
Mexico in the east.
6. It is a very large country, so
the climate is different from
state to state. It is mostly
temperate but tropical in
Hawaii and Florida, and arctic
in Alaska.
7. The most important rivers in the USA are the
Mississippi, the Colorado, the Ohio and the
Hudson River. The main mountain chains are the
Cordillera in the west and the Appalachian
Mountains in the east. The Great Lakes on the
border with Canada are the largest and the
deepest in the USA. The Niagara Falls are
voluminous waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling
the international border between the Canadian province
of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York.
8. States and Capitals of the United
States
The United States is a democratic federal
republic. It comprises 50 states including the
District of Columbia, where the capital of the
country is situated. The largest state is Alaska,
and the smallest is Rhode Island. Each state has
9. Flag of the United States, popularly called the American flag, the
official national flag of the United States.
It consists of 13 horizontal stripes, 7 red alternating with 6 white,
and in the upper corner near the staff, a rectangular blue field, or
canton, containing 50 five-pointed white stars.
The stripes symbolize the 13 colonies that originally constituted
the United States of America.
The stars represent the 50 states of the Union.
Because of its stars, stripes, and colors, the American flag is
frequently called the Star-Spangled Banner, the Stars and Stripes,
or the Red, White, and Blue.
10. The bald eagle was designated as
the national bird of the United States
in 1782.
The USA’s coat of arms.
11. WashingtonWashington
Washington, the capital of the USA, was founded in
1790.The city was named after the first president George
Washington. The population of the city is nearly three
million people. Washington has many sights, for example,
the Library of Congress, the Lincoln memorial, the Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier and others. The National Gallery of
Arts contains art collections by the great masters of the
14th to 18th centuries. The Library of Congress contains
millions of books and manuscripts. Outside the city the
Arlington National Cemetery is situated. John Kennedy
was buried there. The famous Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier is also situated there. The industry of the city is
not well developed. But Washington is a large scientific
and cultural centre.
Many research and designing institutes are concentrated
here. There are five universities in the city and the
National Academy of Sciences. In Washington it is also
difficult to find a park or a square without a monument.
15. The largest and highest among the buildings of Washington is
the Capitol, where the Congress is situated. It is in the centre of
the city. There are no sky-scrapers in Washington because no
other building must be higher than the Capitol.
16. Head of the State is the
President, who is elected every
18. New York
New York is the largest city in the USA and the biggest seaport. It is situated in
the mouth of the Hudson River. New York is the city of sky-scrapers. The highest
of them is the 102-storeyed building. There are many other places of interest in
New York: Central Park, Times Square, Rockefeller Centre, the shopping districts
and the United Nations Building.
19. Manhattan IslandManhattan Island
New York was founded by the Dutch. It is interesting to know that
Manhattan Island – the central part of New York – was bought from the
local Indians by the Dutch for 24 dollars. That was the most profitable
commercial deal in the US history. Today Manhattan is the heart of
business and commercial life of the country.
20. The Statue of LibertyThe Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty
was put up in New
York Harbor in 1886.
It was designed by
Bartholdi, a French
sculptor, who worked
ten years at it. Then
the statue was taken
to pieces and shipped
across the Atlantic as
a gift from the French
government to the
United States.
21. The statue of Liberty is a woman
who holds a torch up high. She
symbolizes a welcome to a land
of freedom.
22. Los Angeles
Los Angeles, in California, is the centre of modern industries. Not far from Los
Angeles there is Hollywood, the centre of the US film industry.
23. Chicago
Chicago is one of the biggest industrial cities in the USA and the second largest after
New York.
31. Here is the Mount Rushmore
Memorial.
The construction of this memorial
began in 1925. Gutzon Borglum, a
famous American sculptor, carved on
the face of Mount Rushmore the heads
of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and
Roosevelt.
32. This tremendous work, which took fourteen
years to complete, was finished in 1941.
These gigantic heads are eighteen metres
high. This memorial is often visited by the
