The English Language

The United States of America (2)

After 350 years of development the United States of America still holds the leading position in the western world. The USA is the most powerful and highly developed country of the world. The United States of America lies in the central part of North American continent. Its western coast is washed by the Pacific Ocean. Its eastern coast is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The USA consists of three separate parts. They are the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska and the rest major part of the USA. There are fifty states and district of Columbia. The states differ very much in size, population and economical development. The population of the United States is about 250 million people. What makes the USA the leader of the western world is its economical, political and military dominance over other countries. The United States is a federal republic. The Government is divided into three branches: legislative (the US Congress), executive (the President and his Administration) and judicial (the US Supreme Court). There are two main political parties in the USA: the Democratic and the Republican. The flag of the USA is called "Stars and Stripes". The 50 stars — white on a blue field — represent the 50 states, 18 stripes represent 13 original English colonies, which in 1776 became independent of England. The capital of the United States is Washington. It was named in honor of the first president whose name was George Washington. The biggest cities of the USA are New York, San Francisco, IMS Angeles, Chicago and other.

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    The Discovery of America (1)
    

America was founded by Columbus in 1492. Columbus fled to this country because of persecution by Ferdinand and Isabella, who refused to believe the world was round. Before Columbus reached America he cried "Ceylon! Ceylon!" because he wanted to see India. When he arrived, he cried again. This time he cried "I have found it!" Columbus was mistaken in thinking he had reached India. There is still a great deal of confusion about the East and the West. As Columbus discovered, if you go west long enough you find yourself in the east and vice versa. In the New World most of the eastern half of the country is called the Middle West although it is known as the East by those who live in the Far West. Columbus, who was as confused as anybody who has been at sea for a long time, called the first people he saw "Indians". Accompanied by his followers, Columbus made several other voyages in search of India. Try as he might, however, he kept discovering America and finally returned to Spain to die.

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