Jack London
(1876-1916)
Jack
London the famous American writer, who reflected the hopes,
conflicts, frustrations (разочарование),
was born in San Francisco on January 12 1876. His family moved to
Oakland where he wrote in his autobiographical “John
Barleycorn”. He had quitted school at 14. He started working as
his family was very poor. He was a sailor. The experience of a
sealing cruise formed the basis of his future sea stories. He was a
member of Industrial army later he was arrested for
vagrancy(бродяжничество)
About the age of 19 he attended Oakland High school for a short time
and then had a year at the University of California. He got a job
because he has no money to pay his tuition(обучение).
In winter 1897 London joined
the gold rush to the Klondike. He didn’t find gold but
wonderful stories written after returning were based on the life in
the North. He had always been an excellent storyteller. He won the
first prize, 25$. His first book “The Son of the Wolf”
gained a wide audience(завоевать
аудиторию).
During his short life
London wrote fifty books his most popular books are: “The God
of His Fathers”, “The Call of the Wild”, “White
Fang”, “Martin Eden”, “The War of Classes”
and others. He died on November 1916. His books are read everywhere
I think Jack London on of the favourite writer among teenagers.
London
Places of Interest.
There are a lot of places of interest
in London. Among them are: Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament,
Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Bridge, the Tower of
London.
London
stands on the river Thames. Crossing the river by the Tower Bridge
you can see the Tower of London. It
is one of the oldest buildings of the city. Many centuries ago
it was a fortress, a royal palace and then a prison. Now it is a
museum of arms.
On
the bank of the Thames, not far from the Tower of London, you can see
Westminster Palace, or the Houses of Parliament.
It is the seat of the British government
and it is one of the most beautiful buildings in London.
In one of its towers there is the famous
Big Ben, the largest clock of England.
It strikes every quarter of an hour.
Buckingham
Palace is the Queen’s official London residence. Tourists always go
to see the ceremony of changing the Guard there.
London
has many fine squares. Some of them are quiet, others are busy like
Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar
Square is the central square of the city. To the right of the square
there is the National Gallery which has a fine collection of Europian
paintings.
St.
Paul’s Cathedral is the biggest English church. Another famous
church is Westminster Abbey where kings, queens, and many famous
people are burried.
London
is also famous for its beautiful parks. Hyde Park is the most
democratic park in the world, as anyone can say anything he likes
there. Regent’s
Park is the home of London Zoo.
I’d
like to see it all myself.
Sports in
Great BritainSports plays
a large part in British life. The British are proud that many sports
originated from their country and then spread throughout the world.
The national sports are football, golf, cricket, table tennis, lawn
tennis, darts, racing. The most popular sport in Britain is football.
Golf is Scotland’ chief contribution to British sport. English
people love cricket. Cricket is played in school, colleges,
universities, in most towns and villages. Tennis is played by both
men and women either in exclusive tennis clubs or on public tennis
courts. People all over the world know Wimbledon as the centre of
lawn tennis. The Wimbledon championships is held annualy in a
southern suburb of London. Englishmen like racing. There are all
kinds of racing in England: horse-racing, motor-car racing,
boat-racing, dog-racing, donkey-racing. You see all sports are very
popular among the British.
The UK of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) occupies most of the territory
of the British Isles. It consists of four main parts which are:
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are
London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the official
name of the state which is sometimes referred to as Great Britain or
Britain (after its major isle), England (after its major historic
part) or the British Isles.
The UK is an island state: it is
composed of some
5,500 islands,
large and small. The two main islands are Great Britain (in which are
England, Wales and Scotland) to the east and Ireland (in which are
Northern Ireland and the independent Irish Republic) to the west.
They are separated by the Irish Sea.
The UK is one of the
world’s smaller countries (it is twice smaller than France or Spain),
with an area of some 244,100
square kilometres. The UK is situated off the west coast of Europe
between the Atlantic Ocean on the northwest and the North Sea on the
east and is separated from the European continent by the English
Channel (or La Manche) and the Strait of Dover (or Pas de Calais).
The population of the United
Kingdom is over
57 million people.
There are fourteen other countries in the world with more people.
English is not the only language
which people use in the UK. English is the official language. But
some people speak Gaelic in western Scotland, Welsh—in
parts of northern and central Wales.
The flag of the United
Kingdom, known as the Union Jack, is made up of three crosses.
Great Britain is the name of the
largest island of the British Isles and it is made up of England,
Scotland and Wales, it does not include Northern Ireland. In everyday
speech Great Britain is used to mean the United Kingdom.
Geographically, the island of Great Britain is subdivided into two
main regions
— Lowland
Britain and Highland Britain. Lowland Britain comprises southern and
eastern England. Highland Britain consists of Scotland, most of
Wales, the Pennines, and the Lake District. The Pennine Chain extends
southward from the Cheviot Hills into the Midlands, a plains region
with low hills and valleys.
England
is separated from Scotland by the Cheviot Hills, running from east to
west.
The
chief rivers of Great Britain are: the Severn, flowing along the
border between England and Wales, tributaries of which include the
Avon, famed by Shakespeare; the Thames, which flows eastward to the
port of London and some others. The swiftest flowing river in the
British Isles is the Spey. Part of the border between Scotland and
England is along the lower reaches of the Tweed, near which is made
the woollen fabric that bears its name.
There are many lakes in Great
Britain. On the northwest side of the Pennine system lies the Lake
District, containing the beautiful lakes which give it its name. This
district is widely known for its association with the history of
English literature and especially with the name of William Wordsworth
(1770—1859), the
founder of the Lake School of poets.
The largest cities of Great
Britain are: London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester,
Sheffield, Bristol, Leeds, Edinburgh. The most important ports
are: London, Liverpool, Southampton, Belfast, Glasgow and
Cardiff.
The
United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a
monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State. The monarch reigns
with the support of Parliament. The powers of the monarch are not
defined precisely. Everything today is done in the Queen’s name. It
is her government, her armed forces, her law courts and so on. She
appoints all the Ministers, including the Prime Minister.
Everything is done however on the advice of the elected Government,
and the monarch takes no part in the decision-making process.
Once the British Empire included
a large number of countries all over the world ruled by Britain. The
process of decolonisation began in
1947 with the
independence of India, Pakistan and Ceylon.
Now, apart from a few
small islands, there is no longer an empire. But the British ruling
classes tried not to lose influence over the former colonies of the
British Empire. An association of former members of the British
Empire and Britain was founded in
1949. It is called
the Commonwealth. It includes many countries such as Burma, the
Sudan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and others. The Queen of Great
Britain is also the Head of the Commonwealth, and so the Queen of
Canada, Australia, New Zealand…
The Queen is very rich as are
other members of the royal family. In addition, the government pays
for her expenses as Head of State, for a royal yacht, train and
aircraft as well as for the upkeep of several palaces. The Queen’s
image appears on stamps, notes and coins.
Parliament consists of two
chambers known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the government of
the country, and they only meet together on symbolic occasions such
as the coronation of a new monarch or the opening of Parliament. In
reality, the House of Commons is the only one of the three which has
true power. It is here that new bills are introduced and debated. If
the majority of the members are in favour of a bill it goes to the
House of Lords to be debated and finally to the monarch to be signed.
Only then it becomes law. Although a bill must be supported by all
three bodies, the House of Lords only has limited powers, and the
monarch has not refused to sign one since the modern political system
began over
200 years ago.
UK
HOLIDAYS
There
are many holidays in Great Britain. The main are Christmas and Bank
holidays.
Christmas
is celebrated on the 25th of December and symbolizes the birthday of
Christ. This day is marked by setting the fur-tree and decorating it
with different toys and candles. Children wait for Santa Claus who
comes to every house and
brings presents.
Going to bed children leave their stockings and shoes to receive
presents the next morning. There are a lot of parties organized
by people to celebrate this wonderful holiday. Young people like to
spend it together in good companies. There are a lot of fun and jokes
on that day.
Meeting
the New Year Eve is held in family in England. Some people in
Scotland go outside and meet New Year on squares singing songs or
dancing. The first man coming to you after the New Year Eve may bring
you luck, especially if he comes with a piece of bread and coal.
Bread symbolizes wealth and coal — warmth. Children like this
holiday very much. They go from house to house, sing songs and
congratulate people. People treat them candies or give them
little money.
Bank
holidays are celebrated four times a year. This day is the day-off
for everybody because all banks and all places of business are
closed. Englishmen spend this holiday in the country.
There
are also great fairs with a lot of goods for sale, with fun, jokes
and choosing the Pearl Queen and King. The Pearl Queen and King are
people at the Fair who have the most unusual costume with a lot of
pearl buttons on it.
There
are many other holidays in Great Britain.