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БЕЛОРУССКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ГУМАНИТАРНЫЙ ФАКУЛЬТЕТ Кафедра теории и практики перевода ЭЛЕКТРОННЫЙ УЧЕБНО-МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЙ КОМПЛЕКС ПО УЧЕБНОЙ ДИСЦИПЛИНЕ «СТРАНОВЕДЕНИЕ» ДЛЯ СПЕЦИАЛЬНОСТИ «СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ИНОСТРАННЫЕ ЯЗЫКИ (ПЕРЕВОД)» 1 – 21 06 01-02 Составитель: А.В.Гончарик, старший преподаватель кафедры теории и практики перевода 2014 СОСТАВ ЭУМК I. Теоретический раздел 1.1. Краткий конспект лекций 1.2. Презентации к лекциям II. Практический раздел 2.1. Планы семинарских занятий III. Раздел контроля знаний 3.1. Промежуточный контроль знаний (КСР) 3.2. Итоговый контроль знаний IV. Вспомогательный раздел 4.1. Учебная программа I. ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКИЙ РАЗДЕЛ 1.1. КРАТКИЙ КОНСПЕКТ ЛЕКЦИЙ PART 1. PHYSICAL AND HUMAN GEOGRAPHY OF THE UK. Physical geography. Area. Climate. Natural resources. National Parks. Demo- graphic overview. Physical geography The United Kingdom is a country in northwestern Europe; it lies northwest of France, across a body of water called the English Channel. The land is divided into a highland region and a lowland region. The highlands occur north and west of a line from the Tees River, in northern England, to the Exe River, in the southwest. The lowlands lie to the south and east. All of the highland region and most of the lowland region were glaciated during the last Ice Age. In the highlands the massive sheets of ice scoured and eroded the land, leaving rounded summits and barren rocky areas. On the lowlands they left extensive deposits of clay, sand, gravel, and other gla- cial material. Highland Britain. Highlands are the predominant features of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and western and northern England. The highest and roughest sections are the Grampian Mountains and the Northwest Highlands of northern Scotland. Ben Nevis, reaching 4,406 feet (1,343 m) in the Grampians, is Britain's highest peak. Lowland Britain is largely flat to gently rolling, although there are some uplands and some long, rather sharply rising escarpments. Low-lying areas include the Midlands (a plain), the London ba- sin, and the Vale (valley) of York. The upland areas, variously called hills, downs, and wolds, in- clude the Cotswold and Chiltern hills, the North and South downs, and the wolds of North York- shire, Humberside, and Lincoln Many of the coastal areas of lowland Britain are lined with cliffs, sand and pebble beaches, and re- claimed tidal land. At Dover, the North Downs end abruptly in magnificent white chalk cliffs, over- looking the Strait of Dover. The entire lowland region has long been the most productive and populous part of Britain. Climate Britain lies at about the same latitude as the southern half of mainland Canada, yet its climate is ex- ceptionally mild. The influence of the ocean is the dominating factor. Virtually all year, westerly and southwesterly winds bring the moderating influence of the North Altantic Current inland, warming the land in winter and cooling it in summer. Drizzles and light showers, much cloudiness and fog, and frequent changes in the weather are also characteristic. Throughout most of Britain, except in the mountainous areas, temperatures average about 38° to 43° F. (3° to 6° C.) during the coldest months (January and February) and 58° to 63° F. (14° to 17° C.) during the warmest months (July and August). The southwestern peninsula of England has the mildest winter weather, temperatures averaging substantially above those of the rest of the nation. Annual precipitation, which varies with topography and exposure to the Atlantic, ranges from as much as 200 inches (5,080 mm) in the more mountainous areas to as little as 18 to 20 inches (460 to 510 mm) in the extreme southeast. Most of the lowland areas receive 25 to 40 inches (640 to 1,020 mm) a year. Very little of the precipitation falls as snow except in the more mountainous areas. Natural resources What are Britain's Natural resources? Coal, petroleum, natural gas - found in the British sector of the North Sea, zinc, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, slate, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica, arable land, etc. Coal Britain has large deposits of coal, mined for more than 300 years. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, coal was Britains's richest natural resource, meeting most of the nation's requirement for energy. Areas like south Wales, central Scotland, the north of England (the Midlands, Merseyside, Manchester, West Yorkshire and Newcastle) and London were important industrial centers. Oil and Natural Gas Oil and gas was formed from the remains of animals and plants that lived millions of years ago in a marine (water) environment before the dinosaurs. Oil and gas were discovered under the North Sea during the 1960s and new supplies are still being found today. Gas has been particularly important in replacing coal as a fuel for generating electricity. Wind Power In the UK, the majority of electricity is generated by a mix of fossil fuels and nuclear power, re- leasing millions of tonns of carbon dioxide into the environment. The business of generating elec- tricity from the wind is growing fast as the world looks for cleaner ways to produce energy. Miner- als (non- renewable resources) Britain has relatively few mineral resources. Zinc, tin, iron ore, and copper are all produced in small quantities. National Parks The UK has 15 National Parks. These parks are not truly National Parks according to the interna- tionally accepted standard of the IUCN. National parks of the United Kingdom are a devolved matter with each of the countries of the Unit- ed Kingdom having its own policies and arrangements. There are 15 of these managed areas of out- standing landscape where habitation and commercial activities are restricted, with 10 in England, 3 in Wales and 2 in Scotland. All 15 National Parks share two statutory purposes: to conserve and enhance the natural and cultur- al heritage of the area, and to promote understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the National Park by the public. Demographic overview According to the 2011 census, the total population of the United Kingdom is around 63,182,000.[1] It is the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and France) and the 22nd-largest in the world. Its overallpopulation density is one of the highest in the world at 674 people per square mile, due to the particularly high population density in England (currently over 1000 people per square mile). Almost one-third of the population lives in England's southeast which is predominantly urban and suburban, with about 8 million in the capital city of London, the popu- lation density of which is just over 13,400 per square mile. PART 2. HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN Ancient Britain Britain has not always been an island. It became one only after the end of the last ice age. The tem- perature rose and the ice cap melted, flooding the lower-lying land that is now under the North Sea and the English Channel. Our first evidence of human life is a few stone tools, dating from one of the warmer periods, about 250,000 BC. There were two different kinds of inhabitants. The earlier group made their tools from flakes of flint, similar in kind to stone tools found across the north Eu- ropean plain as far as Russia. The other group made tools from a central core of flint, probably the earliest method of human tool making, which spread from Africa to Europe. From about 50,000 BC a new type of human being seems to have arrived, who was the ancestor of the modern British. These people looked similar to the modern British, but were probably smaller and had a life span of only about thirty years. Caves in Somerset, Devon, Derby Shire and Kent have shown the traces of occupancy from the mid Paleolithic period some 35-40,000 BC left by Neanderthal man. Around 10,000 BC, as the Ice Age drew to a close, Britain was peopled by small groups of hunters, gather- ers and fishers. They seemed to have followed the herds of deer which provided them with food and clothing. These people are usually referred to Old Stone Age Men. Britain was part of the continent, a wide plane joined England and Holland in which the Thames and the Rhine met together and flowed to the North. At the end of the second last Ice Age (6000 BC) Britain became an island. The temperature rose, the ice melted, flooded the lower line land which is now under the North Sea and the English Channel. About 3000BC Neolithic (or New Stone Age) people crossed the narrow sea from Europe in small round boats of bent wood covered with animal skins, each could carry 1-2 persons. They probably came from either the Iberian (Spanish) peninsula or even the North African coast – they are called Iberians. They were small, dark, and long-headed people, and may be the forefathers of dark-haired inhabitants of Wales and Cornwall today. After copper and tin were dis- covered the men found the way to blend them and make bronze. The infiltration of bronze tools and weapons from the continent spread for many centuries. This time is called the Bronze Age. After 2400 BC new groups of people arrived in southeast Britain from Europe. They were round-headed and strongly built, taller than Neolithic Britons. They spoke Indo-European language. It is not known whether they invaded by armed force, or whether they were invited by Neolithic Britons be- cause of their military or metal-working skills. Their influence was soon felt and, as a result, they became leaders of British society. They accepted many of the old ways and mixed with local peo- ple.

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