United Kingdom

Materie:	Appunti
Categoria:	Inglese
Download:	1057
Data:	01.02.2010
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THE UNITED KINGDOM

The British Isles is a geographical area that consists of a large group of islands lying off the north-west of Europe.
The British Isles is separated from mainland Europe by English Channel to the south and the North Sea to the North.

The UK is formed by two very big islands and others that are smaller:
1. the biggest one is called Great Britain;
2. and the other one, that is smaller than G.B., is the Northern Ireland.

1. The Great Britain is made up of England, Scotland and Wales;
2. Ireland is divided into Northern Ireland or Ulster and EIRE, that is the southern part of Ireland and it is an independent republic.

The UK covers an area of about 242 000 square km and its neighbours in the mainland are Belgium and France. UK and France are united by the Chunnel that start in and arrived in…

In Uk there are two types of terrain: lowland and highland.
The lowland areas are mainly to the south of the country while highlands are concentrated in the northern areas as northern Scotland and northern parts of Wales and England. So in Britain there is an extraordinary mix of highlands and lowlands as hills, valleys, lakes, rivers and mountains.

→MOUNTAINS: the Highlands is a mountainous region in the north of Scotland and it covers about a half of the country. In that region there are also the North Western Highlands and further south the Grampian Mountains and these two ranges are separted by a deep valley called Glen Mor(great valley). In the Grampians there is the highest peak of UK, Ben Nevis. The Cheviot Hills form the border between England and Scotland. The Cumbrian Mountains are situated near the west coast and in this area includes Lake District which is famous for its lakes and peaks as Scaffel Pike. The Pennines stretch along the north of England from Carlisle to Birmingham. They are also known as ‘the backbone of England’. The Cambrian Mountains cover most of Wales and there is also the Wales’ highest peak, Mount Snowdon.

→RIVERS: there are a lot of rivers but they are not very long because UK is not very …. . The longest is the Severn (354 km). In Britain rivers are very important as it is an island and they also connect major cities. The most famous river is the Thames which runs through London and connects London to Oxford and Windsor. Others important rivers are Humber that joins the North Sea at Hull (is an important port);the Mersey which runs near Liverpool, the Wye in Wales and the Clyde in Scotland. In Scotland there also is the Forth that is fundamental for the supply of hydroelectric power in the region.

→LAKES: B is also famous for its lakes as for ex Loch Ness with the legend of the she monster. In Scotland there are other lakes;another well-known is Loch Lemond. In the Cumbrian Hills there is an important area, the Lake District where are 16 little lakes. Today a lot of people go in this area on holiday. However the largest lake is Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland.

→SEAS: the North Sea separates the UK from Norway and under this area was found oil in 1962. the English Channel separates UK from mainland Europe. In 1994 the Chunnel was built so now Britain is connected through rail system to the major Eu cities. The Irish Sea separates Britain from Ireland. On the west coast there is the Atlantic Ocean.

→CLIMATE: the UK has not a cold climate but it has a milder climate. And this is due to the warm influence of the Gulf Stream coming from Mexico. British temperature rarely falls below less then 10°C or go above 32°C. Rainfall is well distributed throughout the year. The wettest part of UK are the mountainous areas of the west and the north.

THE ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK

People have certain basic needs to survive as food, drink, clothing. When these needs are satisfied they want other thighs as TVs, car, computers ecc… and there are an unlimited number of wants. Needs and wants create the opportunity for business. To keep the economy turning businessmen invent always new wants, so new products and they try to add it new features to make people buy want them. As for ex phones: there was only traditional phones, then cordless phones are arrived and then mobile phones and now mobile phones with Internet access or WAP. With each new features the previous models becomes obsolete so people are encouraged to buy the last model. In our society the consumptions are encouraged through mass media communication. Now we consume more and more than the all previous generations.

To produce four resources are required: land, labour, enterprise and capital. These are the factors of production.
→land, is refers to the natural resources available in a country so agricultural land, sea and rivers, mines, forests and gas fields.
→labour, is refers to the people available to assist in the production of goods and services. It also refers to the qualifications and skills available within the labour force.
→enterprise, this is the act of combine together elements of land, labour, capital and provide a product or a service to make a profit. The person who develops an enterprise is an entrepreneur.