Side 18
14 The American flag has 13 stripes and 50 stars in it. The stripes symbolize the first 13 colonies and the stars represent the 50 states. The US flag is called Stars and Stripes. The USA Area: 9,631,420 km2 Population: 299,000,000 Capital: Washington, D.C. Major cities: New York City (New York), Los Angeles (California), Chicago (Illinois) Language: English and Spanish Currency: US dollar Highest point: Mount McKinley (6,194 m) Lowest point: Death Valley (–86 m) Longest river: Mississippi River (3,780 km) Largest lake: Lake Superior National Day: Independence Day, 4 July National flower: the rose TEXTS admit – here: allow to enter considerably – greatly, much arctic – extremely cold tropical – hot and humid The Country The United States of America consists of 50 states. The last two states to be admitted to the union were Alaska and Hawaii, which both became part of the USA in 1959. The country covers an area of nearly ten million square kilometres and is the world’s third largest country. The states vary considerably in size, from tiny Rhode Island, often called Little Rhody, to Alaska, which is bigger than Great Britain, France and Spain combined. The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C., which is not located in a state, but in an area called District of Columbia. The USA borders Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. The climate varies from arctic in Alaska to tropical in Hawaii and Florida, so there may well be a snowstorm in North Dakota at the same time as people are enjoying a sunny day at the beach in Southern California. The west coast of the USA borders the Pacific Ocean and the east coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. The distance from New York to Los Angeles is approximately 4,000 kilometres and covers four time zones.
Side 19
It is often said that everything is bigger in the USA. This is probably not far from the truth. Some of the world’s largest mountain ranges, largest lakes and longest rivers can be found here and some of the trees are among the tallest, widest and oldest in the world. The weather conditions in the USA can be extreme. In the Midwest, tornadoes strike on a regular basis and the hurricanes along the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico are often devastating. These areas are hit by hurricanes every year, but rarely as hard as by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina which caused a major flood, leaving the city of New Orleans under water. Tragically, many people lost their lives and thousands of residents became homeless as a result. mountain range – a series of mountains devastating – highly destructive rarely – seldom flood – water overflowing onto dry land resident – a person who lives at a place 15 The USA The gigantic Redwood trees can be more than 100 metres high. The diameters of the trunks sometimes exceed 6 metres. Some of the trees are more than 1,500 years old! Thousands of people were trapped in their homes during the flooding of New Orleans which was caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
