FACT FILEDo you know? 1. There are some federal public holidays in the USA. These are Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Christmas, New Year’s Day. On these days schools, banks, all offices are closed. 2. Independence Day is also very important holiday because it celebrates independence of the United States from Great Britain and a real founding it as a country. It is celebrated on the fourth of July. 3. One of the noisiest and most crowded New Year’s celebrations takes place in New York City at Times Square where people gather to watch the clock on Times Square Tower herald another year. 4. The terms «melting pot» and «salad bowl» mean that the US is a country of immigrants who work together as Americans while retaining their ethic identities. 5. The most famous American rock-and-roll star was Elvis Priestley. He lived in Memphis, Tennessee. 6. The continental US is divided into four times zones. 7. The best movie actors and actresses are awarded each year with Oscar or Academy Award in the USA. 8. The highest tree in the world grows in the USA in California. It is called «redwood» or «sequoia». 9. The smallest US state is Rhode Island. 10. The nickname of the flag of the USA is the Stars and Stripes. 50 stars = 50 states; 13 stripes = 13 original colonies. 11. The longest serving US President is Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as president 12 years and 39 days. 12. The Statue of Liberty was presented to the USA by France. The occasion was 100-year anniversary of the Franco-American alliance during the American Revolutionary War in 1886. 13. Alaska once belonged to Russia and Sitka was its capital. The USA bought Alaska from Russia in 1867.There are many Russian belongings in Sitka. 14. In 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon. The name of the spaceship was Apollo II. 15. John F. Kennedy was the youngest man, the wealthiest, and the first Catholic ever elected president. He was shot to death in Dallas, Texas in 1963. 16. The famous black fighter for de facto desegregation of races in the United States was Dr. Martin Luther King. In 1964 he received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1968 he was assassinated. In 1983 his birthday became a national holiday. On the 3d Monday in January, many Americans remember Martin Luther King. 17. The author f the popular books about the boy Harry Potter is Joan K. Rowling. 18. In Philadelphia, you can touch Liberty Bell, which was rung after the Declaration of Independence was read. The bell cracked when it was rung on George Washington’s birthday in 1846. 19. The lowest point in North America in California is in Death Valley. It is very hot and dry. 20. Coca-Cola was invented in Atlanta, Georgia. You can see where it was first bottled nearly 100 years ago, at the Biedenharn Candy Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi. 21. The oldest university in the USA is Harvard University, Massachusetts which was founded in 1636. 22. The motto of the USA is “In God we trust”. 23. The national anthem of the USA is “the Star – Sprangled Banner”.
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