Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.schools.keldysh.ru/school1413/eng/the_uk/ireland.html Дата изменения: Thu Dec 19 18:00:16 2002 Дата индексирования: Sat Dec 22 02:22:12 2007 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: arp 220

The province of Northern Ireland (sometimes called 'Ulster') consists of six counties: Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Londonderry. Belfast is the capital city. The province is surrounded by sea to the north and east, by the Republican counties of Donegal to the west and Cavan and Monaghan to the south.

Years ago, all Irish people spoke Gaelic, and this language is still spoken in some parts of Ireland, although today all Irish people speak English also. Evidence of Gaelic is still found in place names, for example 'bally'- town, 'slieve'- mountain, 'lough'- lake, 'inis'- island, 'drum'- mountain top, 'glen'- valley.

The influence of Irish Gaelic is also found in the names of people. Here are some typical Gaelic first names:

Sean, same as John

Seamus, same as James

Liam, same as William

Seanna, same as Joanna

Brid, same as Bridget

Catail, same as Charles

Many Irish surnames begin:

O'… meaning from the family of

Fitz…, Mac…, Kil…, Gil… meaning son of.

Story- telling has always been a part of the Irish way of life- stories of gods and people who lived in a land of adventure, warfare and romance, stories told by the fire side. Monks living in the lake Middle Ages preserved many of these stories in the beautifully-decorated manuscripts of the Book of Leinster. But it is the song of oral tradition of the Irish people, which has made it possible for so many folk tales to survive. Over the centuries, story- telling was an important profession but nowadays such would be hard to find. Perhaps the last story- teller was Peig Sayers who died in 1958. It was said that she had 375 stories to tell!