Сборник лингвострановедческих материалов. Английский язык

5. What role does the government play in the modern economy of the USA? 6. What was the US GNP in 1993? 7. What, according to the text, are the three major sectors of American economy? 8. What are the examples of tertiary activities? The Russian Federation H The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It occupies about 1/7 (one-seventh) of the Earth surface. The country is situated in Eastern Europe, Northern and Central Asia. Its total area is over 17 million square kilometres. Our land is washed by 12 seas, most of which are the seas of three oceans: the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Pacific. In the south and in the west the country borders on fourteen countries. It also has a sea- border with the USA. There are no countries in the world where such a great variety of flora and fauna can be found as in our land. Our country has numerous forests, plains and steppes, taiga and tundra, highlands and deserts. The highest mountains in our land are the Altai, the Urals and the Caucasus. There are over two thousand rivers in the Russian Federation. The longest of them are the Volga, the Ob', the Yenisei, the Lena and the Amur. Our land is also rich in lakes with the deepest lake in the world, the Baikal, included. On the Russian territory there are II time zones. The climate conditions are rather different: from arctic and moderate to continental and subtropical. Our country is one of the richest in natural resources countries in the world: oil, natural gas, coal, different ores, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and other minerals. The Russian Federation is a multinational state. It comprises many national districts, several autonomous republics and regions. The population of the country is about 140 million people. 18