A. Listen, CD (85), and read.
Mexico [ˈmeksɪkəʊ]
the Pacific
Hawaii [həˈwaɪi:]
the Rocky Mountains
Alaska [əˈlæskə]
the Mississippi
Texas [ˈteksəs]
the Potomac [pəˈtəʊmək] River
Rhode [rəʊd] Island
Washington [ˈwɒʃɪŋtən], D.C.
District of Columbia
New York State[kəˈlʌmbiə]
B. Listen, CD (86), and read. Find on the map all the places, whose names are in the text.
The Country Across the Ocean
The USA is a large country in North America. Its neighbour in the north is Canada and in the south its neighbour is Mexico. The country extends from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the islands of Hawaii in the Pacific, and from cold, snowy Alaska to sunny Florida in the southeast. The US has nearly every kind of weather. Also, it has many kinds of land − wide grasslands, rocky mountains, powerful rivers, lakes of different sizes, sandy beaches, great forests and lands of ice and snow. The highest mountains are the Rocky Mountains and the longest river is the Mississippi. More than 300 million people live in the US but the country is very big, so there is still a lot of open space.
There are 50 states that make up the USA. Some are small and some are big. The capital city is Washington, D.C. It lies on the banks of the Potomac River. The letters D.C. mean District of Columbia. Its territory doesn’t belong to any state. The US government and its Congress are situated there.
Every state has its capital. The largest city in the country is New York City. New York City is famous for its skyscrapers.