Страноведение

МИНИСТЕРСТВО НАУКИ И ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ 
РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ 
РОСТОВСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ 
ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ (РИНХ) 
 
ФАКУЛЬТЕТ ЛИНГВИСТИКИ И ЖУРНАЛИСТИКИ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
С.Р. Агабабян, И.Г. Барабанова 
 
 
СТРАНОВЕДЕНИЕ 
 
 
Учебное пособие  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ростов-на-Дону 
Издательско-полиграфический комплекс РГЭУ (РИНХ) 
2021 

УДК 811.111(075) 
ББК 81.432.1 
А 23 
 
Агабабян, С.Р.  
А 23  Страноведение : учебное пособие / С.Р. Агабабян, 
И.Г. Барабанова. – Ростов-на-Дону : Издательско-полиграфический комплекс Рост. гос. экон. ун-та (РИНХ), 2021 – 
96 с. 
ISBN 978-5-7972-2955-1 
 
 
Учебное пособие знакомит обучающихся с различными аспектами 
культуры Соединенного Королевства Великобритании и Северной 
Ирландии, способствует расширению фоновых знаний. Все тексты 
пособия являются современными и аутентичными. 
Предназначено для студентов направления 45.03.02 «Лингвистика», 
изучающих культуру стран изучаемого языка, также может быть 
использовано на гуманитарных факультетах и в системе дополнительного 
образования.     
УДК 811.111(075) 
ББК 81.432.1 
 
 
Рецензенты:  
кандидат педагогических наук, доцент кафедры иностранных языков 
Ростовского государственного университета путей сообщения 
Бжиская Ю.В.; 
кандидат филологический наук, доцент кафедры лингвистики  
и межкультурной коммуникации Николаева Е.С. 
 
 
Утверждено в качестве учебного пособия  
учебно-методическим советом РГЭУ (РИНХ). 
 
 
 
 
ISBN 978-5-7972-2955-1                              © Ростовский государственный 
экономический университет 
(РИНХ), 2021 
                                                                      © Агабабян С.Р., Барабанова И.Г., 2021 

ОГЛАВЛЕНИЕ  
Unit 1. The Land and the People 
4 
Unit 2. Great Britain‟s Cities and Towns 
17 
Unit 3. The Political System  
31 
Unit 4. The Royal Family 
39 
Unit 5. British Art Galleries and Museums  
56 
Unit 6. Education in Great Britain  
66 
Unit 7. British Mass Media  
77  
Unit 8. British Traditions and Holidays  
87 

UNIT 1 
 
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 
 
Exercise 1. Read the information about geography and climate 
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 
 
The United Kingdom includes four countries.  
UK: United Kingdom is a country belonging to the European 
continent that includes four separate countries on the British Isles: 
England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. 
 Great Britain is the name for three nations on the main isle: 
England, Scotland and Wales. 
 Britain is used only for including the mainland countries 
England and Wales. 
 Population: about 67 million people live in the United Kingdom 
(2021). 
 Capital: London with 9 million inhabitants. 
 Name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 
 Government: Parliamentary Monarchy, Democracy. 
 Language: English. 
 Religion: mainly Christians 60%. 
 Currency: 1 British Pound (GBP) = 100 penny. 
 
 National Anthem: 'God Save the Queen'. 
 National Holiday: none, however, the Queen's official birthday 
is a celebrated public holiday on the second Saturday in June. 
 National Symbol: Lion (national animal), Union Jack (national 
flag) and the national colours: blue, white and red. 
 History: In 1707, the first political union of the Kingdom of 
England which then included Wales and Scotland was formed. 
In 1922 Northern Ireland joined this Union. From 1835 until 
1925 the city of London was the largest city in the world. In 
1927 the UK was officially proclaimed. From 1973 - 2020, the 
UK was part of the European Union. 
 The United Kingdom is a country in northwestern Europe.  
 The UK consists of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales 
and Northern Ireland. 

 The UK is located mainly on two large islands in the Atlantic 
Ocean: the islands of Great Britain and Ireland 
 No location in the UK is further away from the sea than 125 km/ 
77 miles! 
 The only land border to a non-UK country is in Northern Ireland 
the border with Ireland. 
 
 The United Kingdom is slightly smaller than the state of 
Oregon/USA and slightly bigger than Ghana. 
 The UK lies on the prime meridian which marks the Greenwich 
meridian time zone (GMT). 
 The landscape is dominated by rolling plains and rugged 
hillsides. 
 The UK has 13 British overseas territories among them are 
Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, 
Gibraltar on the Iberian Peninsula and Saint Helena in the South 
Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 The largest country of the UK is England. The smallest 
country is Northern Ireland. 

 The UK has the third longest coastline in Europe with 12,430 
km/ 7,723 miles – after Norway and Denmark (Greenland) 
 The United Kingdom's highest mountain is Ben Nevis in 
Scotland with 1,345 m/4,412 ft. 
 
BeBen Nevis the highest mountain of the UK 
 The largest lake in the UK is Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland. 
 Loch Ness is the largest fresh water lake (by volume) in the 
UK.  
 The longest river in the UK is the river Severn with 354 km/ 
220 miles. 
 
Bridge over the Severn river linking England with Wales 

 London Heathrow is the biggest airport on the European 
continent. 
 There is only one land border to Ireland. 
 Bishop Rock off the Scilly Isles in southern England is the 
smallest of the UK islands. 
 
Exercise 2. Give a short presentation on the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Northern Ireland using the information from 
Exercise 1. 
 
Exercise 3. Read the information about the UK‟s geographical 
position, find it on the map, and translate the geographical names.   
 
Where is the UK? 
 
The UK is an island nation in Western Europe just off the coast 
of France. The mainland areas lie between latitudes 49°N and 59°N 
and longitudes 8ºW to 2ºE. 
The UK lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North 
Sea, and comes within 35 km (22 miles) of the northwest coast of 
France, from which it is separated by the English Channel. Northern 
Ireland shares a 360 km international land boundary with the Republic 
of Ireland. The Channel Tunnel bored beneath the English Channel, 
now links the UK with France. 
The UK has a total area of approximately 245,000 km², almost a 
quarter-of-a-million square kilometres. 
The UK is made up of several islands. The only land border 
connecting the UK to another country is between Northern Ireland and 
the Republic of Ireland. 
The UK is bordered by four seas: 
• to the south by the English Channel, which separates it from 
continental Europe; 
• to the east by the North Sea; 
• to the west by the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. 
The Land 
The UK Landscape is very varied, ranging from the Grampian 
Mountains of Scotland to the lowland fens of England which are at or 
below sea level in places. 
Scotland and Wales are the most mountainous parts of the UK. A 
ridge of hills, the Pennine, runs down the centre of northern England. 

Many coastal areas are low-lying, especially in the east and south of 
England. These include the wetlands of the Somerset levels, that 
regularly flood during heavy rain. 
Most of the UK is made up of gently rolling hills with isolated 
areas of high ground such as Dartmoor in the south-west of England 
or the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. 
Lakes 
Northern Ireland is also home to the UK's largest lake, Lough 
Neagh, which covers an area of 396sq.km (153 sq miles). Other major 
lakes include Windermere in the English Lake District and Loch 
Lomond in Scotland. Another of Scotland's lakes, Loch Ness is 
famous for sightings of 'Nessie', a mythical monster! 
UK Rivers 
Being a relatively small Island, the UK's rivers are not very long. 
The Severn, its longest river, is just 338 km in length, beginning in 
Wales and entering the Atlantic Ocean near Bristol in England. Other 
major rivers include the Thames, which flows through Oxford and 
London, and the Trent and Mersey rivers, which drain rainfall from 
large areas of central England. 
Facts 
• The capital of England is London, sometimes referred to the 
capital of Britain. London is built along the River Thames. 
• Three quarters of the land in Britain is used for farming. 
• Nine out of ten people live in towns and cities. 
• The highest mountains are in Scotland and Wales. 
• More than two-thirds of people own their own homes. 
http://projectbritain.com/geography.html 
 
Exercise 4. Read the text and answer the questions.  
 
Migrants in the UK: An Overview 
 
In 2019, people born outside the UK made up an estimated 14% 
of the UK‟s population, or 9.5 million people 
The size of the foreign-born population in the UK increased 
from about 5,3 million in 2004 to almost 9.5 million in 2019. The 
growth of the foreign-born population appears to have slowed slightly 

since 2016 as emigration increased, but net migration remains positive 
(see the Migration Observatory briefing, Net migration in the UK). As 
the data in this briefing do not cover 2020, they do not yet show the 
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK‟s migrant population.  
Although the number of EU migrants has increased more rapidly 
than non-EU migrants over the past decade, the non-EU foreign born 
still make up a majority of the foreign-born population. In 2019, 38% 
of migrants were born in the EU.  
Compared to the UK-born population, migrants are more likely 
to be adults aged 26–64 and less likely to be children or people of 
retirement age (65+). In 2019, 70% of the foreign born were aged 26–
64, compared to 48% of the UK born. The share of migrants in this 
age range varies by place of birth, with the highest percentage being 
for those born in the EU-8, Africa, Pakistan, and EU-2. 
An estimated 19% of the UK-born were at least 65 years old in 
2019, compared to 11% of migrants. Among the foreign-born, there is 
a lot of variation depending on the place of origin. Only 1% of people 
born in Romania or Bulgaria were aged 65+ compared to 17% of 
those born in the EU-14. 
The overall shares of young people aged 16 to 25 are very 
similar for those born in the UK (12%) and abroad (11%). The 
smallest percentage (5%) of young people is born in India; and the 
largest percentage (15%) originates from EU-2 and EU-8 countries. 
London has the largest number of migrants among all regions of 
the UK. 
Migrants are much more likely to live in some parts of the UK 
than others. In 2019, about half of the UK‟s foreign-born population 
(48% in total) were either in London (35% – 3,317,000) or the South 
East (13% – 1,215,000). Northern Ireland, Wales and the North East 
have a low share of the UK‟s total foreign-born population, at 1–2% 
each. In comparison, the UK-born population is more evenly 
distributed. In 2019, only 10% of the UK-born population lived in 
London.  
India became the most common country of origin for migrants in 
the UK after a number of Poles left the UK 
In 2019, India, Poland and Pakistan were the top three countries 
of birth for the foreign-born, accounting respectively for 9%, 9% and 
6% of the total. Poland dropped from the first place in 2018 after 

roughly 100,000 Poles left the UK over the previous two years. 
Nevertheless, Poland is still the top country of citizenship of foreign 
citizens, accounting for 15% of non-UK citizens living in the UK.  
https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migrants
-in-the-uk-an-overview/ 
 
1. 
How many migrants are there in the UK?  
2. 
Where do migrants live?  
3. 
What countries do migrants to the UK come from? 
4. 
Where do migrants live in the UK? 
5. 
What countries became the most common countries of 
origin for migrants? 
 
Exercise 5. Read the information about the population in the UK 
and analyze demographic tendencies in the UK. 
 
United Kingdom (UK) Population clock 
65 216 654 
Current population 
32 112 762 
Current male population (49.2%) 
33 103 893 
Current female population (50.8%) 
578 485 
Births this year 
676 Births today 
420 342 
Deaths this year 
491 Deaths today 
129 724 
Net migration this year 
152 Net migration today 
287 867 
Population growth this year 
336 Population growth today 
http://countrymeters.info/en/United_Kingdom_(UK) 
16-09-2016 07:16:10 
 
Exercise 6. Read the text about climate in England and Scotland. 
 
England and Scotland 
 
England‟s climate can be described as temperate maritime 
climate, because the Gulf Stream ensures mild, maritime influenced 
weather. England is famous for its rain and the lush green of its 
countryside. Average annual rainfall in the north is more than 1,600 
mm, but central and southern England receives an average of less than