London книга для чтения по страноведению
..pdf
|
|
QUICK FACTS ABOUT |
LONDON |
|
|
|
||||||
• London |
is |
located in |
the south-east |
of England on |
the |
banks |
of |
|||||
the river Thames. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• London |
is |
the biggest city in Britain and Europe |
and |
also |
the |
|||||||
world's ninth-largest city. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
• London |
occupies over 620 square miles. |
|
|
|
|
|||||||
• London |
has a population of 7,556,900. |
|
|
|
|
|||||||
• About |
12 per |
cent of Britain's |
overall |
population live |
in |
London. |
||||||
• London has the highest population density in Britain, with 4,699 |
||||||||||||
people per square |
kilometre. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
• London |
is the seat of the central government in Britain. |
|
|
|||||||||
• London |
was |
the |
first |
city in |
the |
world to |
have an underground |
|||||
railway known |
as |
the |
Tube. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• The tallest |
building in |
London |
is |
the |
Canary |
Wharf |
Tower which |
|||||
is part of the London Docklands. It is |
244 metres high. |
|
|
|
||||||||
• There are |
100 theatres in London, including 50 in the West End. |
|||||||||||
|
|
THE |
POPULATION |
OF LONDON |
|
|
|
|||||
London is the world's ninth-largest growing city with over 7 million |
||||||||||||
residents known as Londoners. It comprises 32 boroughs, of |
which 13 |
are |
in Inner London and 19 are in Outer London. It is spreading out and
«swallowing» many |
villages |
and |
towns |
in the |
south-east of England. |
Because of this, the |
population |
of |
London |
greatly |
varies. |
London's official population was 7,556,900 in July 2007. But the Greater London Urban Area, the urban area based around London, has a
population |
of |
8,505,000. |
|
|
|
|
|
The |
age |
structure |
of people |
living in |
London |
is not typical of |
|
England |
as |
a |
whole. |
There is a |
greater |
proportion |
of people aged |
between 20 and 44 years old in both Inner London(48%) and Outer London(39%) than for England(35%).
Almost |
one |
third(32%) |
of Londoners |
were born outside |
the |
UK. It |
|||
is around 2.3 million people. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
People have come from all parts of the world to live in the British |
|||||||||
capital. |
They |
have brought |
with |
them |
different ways |
of |
living and |
||
cultures. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There are more than 270 nationalities living in London. Many have |
|||||||||
family |
roots |
in |
Africa and |
India, |
formerly governed |
by |
the |
British |
1
Empire. This |
gives |
London |
the largest non-white population of any |
European city |
and makes it so cosmopolitan. |
||
Over 250 languages are spoken in London making it the most |
|||
linguistically diverse |
city in the |
world. |
Comprehension Check
What do thefollowing numbers refer to?
8,505,000; 32; 250; 32%; 270; 7,556,900; 620; 100.
Answer the Questions:
1.What is the geographical position of London?
2.What place does London take among the world's largest cities?
3.How many people live in London?
4.What fact places London first among big cities of the world?
5.What factors prove that London is the most important city of Britain?
6.Is the population structure of London typical of the whole of Britain?
7. What makes London a |
cosmopolitan city? |
|
|
|
|||
8. How many languages are spoken in the British capital? |
|
|
|||||
THE HISTORY OF LONDON |
|
|
|
||||
|
The |
Romans |
|
|
|
|
|
London's history spans |
nearly |
2,000 |
years, |
beginning |
with |
the |
|
arrival of the Romans soon |
after their invasion of Britain |
in AD 43, |
|||||
though people have lived in the London area |
for more than 5,000 years, |
||||||
but there used to be forests and marshes instead of a city. |
|
|
|||||
London itself was begun by the Romans in AD 43. They called it |
|||||||
Londinium. First, the |
Romans |
landed in the area of Kent, made |
their way |
||||
to the river Thames |
and sailed up |
it. They |
knew |
it was important |
to |
control a crossing point at the river Thames, so they decided to build a
settlement |
on the north bank. They chose |
a spot in two small hills and |
|
where |
the |
river became narrower, built a |
bridge over the Thames, and |
there |
has |
been London Bridge in the same |
area ever since. |
The |
Romans laid out |
buildings, streets and a |
port. Very |
soon the |
|
settlement |
of Londinium became the capital of Roman Britain. The |
||||
population of Roman |
London |
was between 12,000 and 20,000. |
|
||
In AD 61 one |
of the |
native tribes rose up |
against the |
Romans. |
2
They burnt Londinium to the ground and killed all its inhabitants.
The Romans regained control and rebuilt London, this time adding a Forum(market) and Basilica(a business centre). They also built a wall
around the city to protect it from |
further invasion. |
The Romans |
ruled |
||||||
Britain until AD 410. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
The |
Saxons and |
the Vikings |
|
|
|
|
|
Later, in the 5th |
century, |
the Anglo-Saxons settled west of |
|||||||
Londinium |
and set |
up |
the |
town of |
Lundenwic. |
Saxon London consisted |
|||
of many wooden huts with thatched roofs. |
|
|
|
|
|||||
A disaster struck London in 842 when the Danish Vikings looted |
|||||||||
London. They returned in 851 and |
this time burnt |
a large |
part |
of the |
|||||
town. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Saxon King, Alfred the |
Great, totally defeated the Danes in |
||||||||
878 and they divided the country |
between them. Alfred took the south |
||||||||
and the west while |
the |
Danes took |
eastern England including |
London. |
|||||
The |
Vikings |
and |
the |
Saxons ruled England |
jointly until |
1042, |
when |
Edward |
the Confessor became King of both the Vikings and the Saxons. |
||||||||||||||
|
Edward the Confessor built a wooden palace at Westminster which |
||||||||||||||
became |
the |
seat |
of the |
country's |
government |
not the city |
of |
London |
|||||||
itself. Edward also built Westminster Abbey. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
The Norman Period of London |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
After Edward the Confessor's death in 1066 England |
was conquered |
|||||||||||||
by the |
Normans. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
The Norman |
army |
was led |
by |
William, |
Duke |
of |
Normandy, who |
|||||||
then |
became |
King |
of England, known as William the Conqueror. He ruled |
||||||||||||
the |
country |
until |
1100 and was the |
first to |
be |
crowned |
in |
Westminster |
|||||||
Abbey. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
William granted the citizens of |
London |
special |
privileges, |
but built |
||||||||||
the Tower of London to |
keep them under control. He |
began |
the |
building |
|||||||||||
of the |
Palace of |
Westminster. Westminster became the seat of the royal |
|||||||||||||
court and government while the City |
of |
London |
was |
the |
centre |
of trade |
|||||||||
and |
commerce. In |
1100 the population |
of |
London |
was |
around |
18,000. |
London of the Early Middle Ages
By 1300 the population of the city had grown to nearly 100,000. Disaster struck during the Black Death(bubonic plague) in the mid-14th century. London lost about one third of its population.
3
But the city remained relatively untouched by the various civil wars during the Middle Ages.
|
|
|
|
Tudor London |
|
|
|
|
London grew in importance under the Tudor rule (1485-1603). |
|
|||||||
Henry |
VII and Henry VIII were the first Tudor kings. |
Tudor |
was |
|||||
their family name. |
|
|
|
|
|
|||
London |
became the centre of trade and government |
and |
by the |
end |
||||
of the Tudor era there were about 200,000 people living there. |
|
|
|
|||||
King Henry VIII created palaces such as St. James's. He |
is |
also |
||||||
famous for closing the city monasteries in 1536. |
|
|
|
|
||||
During |
the reign of his daughter, Elizabeth I, |
London |
was a |
|||||
wealthy |
and |
successful city. Theatre became popular, helped by |
the |
arrival |
||||
of William Shakespeare. The most famous theatre in London, |
the |
Globe, |
||||||
was set up by him. |
|
|
|
|
|
|||
The river Thames was very important in the |
Tudor |
times |
as |
|||||
Britain's |
navy |
was |
expanded. Dockyards were built and |
the |
ships were |
|||
sent to |
explore |
the |
world. |
|
|
|
|
Stuart London (1603—1649; 1660—1714)
The |
first |
Stuart King, James I came |
to the throne in 1603. He was |
||||
already King |
James VI of |
Scotland. |
He |
united the |
two countries under |
||
one king. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In |
1625 |
Charles II came to the throne. |
In 1635 he opened Hyde |
||||
Park to the public and in 1637 created Richmond Park for hunting. |
|||||||
London |
suffered two |
disasters |
in |
later |
Stuart |
years. In 1665 the |
|
Great Plague killed about 70,000 people. |
The |
bubonic |
plague was brought |
to London by rats on board trading ships. It spread very quickly because
people lived in |
very close quarters and hygiene standards were |
very low. |
|||
In 1666 |
the Great |
Fire |
of London destroyed two thirds of the City. |
||
The fire could be seen |
from |
forty miles |
round the capital. It started as a |
||
small fire and raged for |
four days as an |
enormous fire. |
|
||
To prevent such a |
disaster happening again King Charles |
II ordered |
that all new houses in London should be of stone and brick not wood. Christopher Wren constructed St. Paul's Cathedral as well as many
churches. Buckingham Palace was built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham.
4
|
|
Georgian |
London |
|
|
|
|
(1714—1837) |
|
In |
1714, |
George I became king. He began the line of kings and |
||
queens called the Hanovers who ruled Britain until 1837. |
||||
London |
quickly grew |
in size and population during the Georgian |
||
era. In |
1801 |
the population |
reached |
about one million. Merchants and |
bankers grew rich and many lived in the West End while other people suffered terrible poverty and lived in the dirty East End.
Many town houses were built. These houses were tall and three windows wide. You can still see such houses in London today.
But the streets of London were badly lit and full of beggers and thieves.
Victorian London
(1837—1901)
|
In 1837, Victoria became Queen at |
the age of 18. |
The |
time |
when |
|||||||||
she was Queen is called the Victorian era. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
London was busy with trade and industry and it grew fast. Better |
|||||||||||||
lighting, |
water supply and |
transport developed too. By the time |
Victoria |
|||||||||||
died in |
1901, London was a very different city. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
During the reign of Victoria London expanded enormously. Many of |
|||||||||||||
the |
buildings |
today |
were |
built in the Victorian |
times. The most |
famous |
||||||||
is |
probably |
the Houses |
of |
Parliament |
built |
in |
1834 |
after |
fire |
had |
||||
destroyed the |
original |
buildings. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
By the 1840's gas lights were used to light streets all over London. |
|||||||||||||
There |
were |
also horse-drawn buses and then horse-drawn trams. The |
||||||||||||
world's |
|
first |
underground |
railway, the Tube, opened in 1862. |
At |
first |
||||||||
carriages |
were |
pulled |
by steam |
trains. The |
system |
was |
electrified |
in |
1890 — |
|||||
1905. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comprehension Check
Match the beginnings of the sentences with their endings:
1. The streets of London were badly lit ...
2.The Great Fire destroyed London ...
3.Theatre became popular ...
4.The first Underground railway appeared ...
5.The Black Death took away one third of London's population ...
6.The river Thames became very important ...
7.The Tower of London was built ...
5
8.There were a lot of wooden houses in London ...
9.London bridge was constructed ...
a)... under the Saxons.
b)... in the middle of the 14th century.
c)... during the reign of Queen Victoria.
d)...in the Roman times.
e)...during the Georgian era.
f)... in the Norman period.
g)... when the Stuarts were reigning.
h)... during the reign of Elizabeth I.
i)... in the Tudor times.
Answer the questions:
1.Which periods of London's history were very disastrous? Why?
2.Which period had the most fights?
3.When did the Great Plague take place?
4.In which period did London start to grow in importance?
5.When did the British capital have the biggest population?
6.In which periods was London a thriving city?
7.When were the most technical achievements made?
|
|
|
|
|
DISTRICTS OF LONDON |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
Now London |
consists of several parts. But |
|
originally |
it was made |
|||||||||||||
up of two ancient cities joined |
together: the |
City |
of |
London |
and the |
City |
||||||||||||
of Westminster. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The |
City |
of |
London |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The City |
of |
London, |
known |
simply as «the |
City», |
is |
the |
business |
|||||||||
and |
financial |
heart |
of the United Kingdom. It |
|
is |
also |
known |
as |
the |
|||||||||
Square Mile because it occupies the territory equal |
to one square mile. It |
|||||||||||||||||
was |
the |
original |
Roman |
settlement — ancient |
Londinium. |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
The City |
of |
London |
is |
one |
of |
the |
major |
|
banking |
centres |
of |
the |
|||||
world |
and |
banks |
of |
many |
nations |
can |
be |
found |
in |
the |
famous |
|||||||
Threadneedle |
Street |
and the surrounding area. Here, too, you will find the |
||||||||||||||||
Bank of England and the Stock Exchange. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
The centre of the country's judicial system |
|
is |
to be |
found in |
the |
||||||||||||
western |
part |
of |
the |
City. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6
Fleet |
Street |
is famous as |
the home of the nation's newspapers but, |
||||||||||||
in fact, only two of them - |
«The Daily Express» and «The Daily |
||||||||||||||
Telegraph» |
- are still |
in |
Fleet |
Street. |
However, |
people |
still |
say |
«Fleet |
||||||
Street» to mean «the press». |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
Hundreds |
of |
thousands of |
people work in the City's offices by day, |
||||||||||||
but it is almost deserted at night. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
There |
are |
some |
historic |
buildings |
in the |
City. |
St. Paul's |
Cathedral |
|||||||
and the |
Tower |
of |
London are |
the most famous of them. |
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
The City of |
Westminster |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Westminster |
is |
associated |
with |
Parliament |
and |
government |
as |
the |
|||||||
British Parliament and most of |
the government offices are located there. |
||||||||||||||
It was King Edward the |
Confessor who first decided to build a |
||||||||||||||
palace, |
later known |
as |
the |
Palace of Westminster, beside the river |
|||||||||||
Thames |
in |
the |
11th century. His |
successors extended the palace |
and |
made |
|||||||||
it their |
main |
residence. |
Gradually, |
Westminster |
became |
the |
centre |
of |
government and justice. The British Parliament has its sessions there. At the south end of the building is the Victoria Tower with the Union Jack
flying over it whenever Parliament is in |
session. |
In the north rises the |
|||||||||
famous Clock Tower, called Big Ben. |
In fact, |
this name |
does not |
||||||||
originally refer to the Clock Tower, but to |
the big clock bell inside. The |
||||||||||
clock |
is so |
huge |
that its |
hands are |
as tall |
as a double-decker bus and it |
|||||
is still wound by hand. The House of |
Lords sits to the side of the |
||||||||||
Victoria Tower, while the House of Commons — to the side of |
the |
Clock |
|||||||||
Tower. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Opposite the Houses of Parliament |
there |
is |
Westminster |
Abbey. |
|||||||
Since the Norman times British monarchs |
have been crowned there and |
||||||||||
since |
the 13th century they |
have |
been buried there |
too. Many |
famous |
||||||
people |
are |
also |
buried |
in |
Westminster |
Abbey |
including |
statesmen, |
musicians and writers. In Poet's Corner, inside the cathedral, there can be
found |
statues and |
tombs |
of poets including Geoffrey Chaucer, Robert |
Burns, Lord Byron, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, William Wordsworth, |
|||
Charles |
Dickens and |
many |
others. |
Another important building located in this part of London is Buckingham Palace, which is the official residence of the Royal family. It overlooks St. James's Park where the previous royal residence, St. James's Palace, can be found. Running through the park, from Trafalgar Square to
the front of Buckingham Palace |
is the Mall, a wide tree-lined avenue |
|
designed for royal processions on |
different important occasions. |
|
The street called Whitehall stretches from Parliament Square |
to |
|
Trafalgar Square. In Whitehall there are all the important ministries: |
the |
7
Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office |
and |
the |
|||||||
Treasury. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Off |
Whitehall there is |
a small side street, Downing |
Street, |
which |
is |
||||
the home |
of the |
Prime |
Minister, who lives in |
House Number 10. |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
The |
West End |
|
|
|
|
The |
West |
End is |
the |
name |
given to |
the area of |
central |
London |
north from the Mall to Oxford Street. This part of the British capital is associated with wealth and glamour. It includes Trafalgar Square, the main
shopping |
areas |
of |
Oxford |
Street, Regent |
Street |
and |
Bond Street. Also |
||
there are entertainment centres of Soho, Picadilly |
Circus, |
Leicester |
Square |
||||||
and Covent Garden. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Soho and Covent Garden are lively areas |
with |
a |
huge variety of |
||||||
shops, restaurants, |
cafes, bars. |
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Further west there are residential districts broken by spots of green |
|||||||||
parkland, |
such |
as |
Hyde |
Park, Kensington |
Gardens |
and |
Regent's |
Park. |
West London includes a lot of traditionally fashionable and expensive residential areas, such as Notting Hill made famous by the film with the same name starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Nearby is the famous antique market at Portobello Road.
Kensington, |
Knightsbridge |
and Chelsea are the |
most expensive |
places to live in |
the country. In |
the area of Kensington |
and Knightsbridge |
you can find many foreign embassies, large glamorous hotels and the department store that is the symbol of expensive and high-class living - Harrods.
People say you |
can buy anything in Harrods, including wild animals — |
|
they even have a zoo which will sell you |
lion cubs as well as more |
|
common pets, such |
as dogs, cats or parrots. |
Once, Harrods succeeded in |
supplying one customer with a baby elephant, although it had to be ordered specially.
But Harrods is not the only attraction here. There is the Albert Hall where a festival of popular classical music known as «the Proms» is held every summer. Sporting events such as tennis tournaments and boxing
matches take place there too. |
|
|
|
|
|
London's three very interesting |
museums — the |
Victoria |
and |
Albert, |
|
the Science Museum and the Natural |
History Museum — are |
also |
in |
this |
|
district. |
|
|
|
|
|
Most of London's major theatres are located |
in the West |
End |
as |
||
well. |
|
|
|
|
|
8
|
|
The East |
End |
|
The |
East End was formerly the |
centre of London's heavy industry |
and |
docks. It grew with the spread of |
industries to the east of the City. |
|
It |
covers |
a wide area. There are |
kilometres of docks, wharfs and |
warehouses down the Thames. Now the East End Docklands are very
popular among Londoners and tourists as a thriving and |
vibrant area with |
||
a wide range of shops, restaurants, pubs and wine bars. |
|
|
|
The East End is not attractive in appearance, but very |
important for |
||
the country's commerce. Moreover, it is one of those |
areas of |
London |
|
where people from abroad come to find work. Some |
of |
these |
people |
brought new skills and started new industries. Now one |
of |
the industries |
that makes the East End famous is the clothing industry known as «ragtrade».
Also the East End markets are famous throughout the world. One of them is Petticoat Lane Market taking place every Sunday morning. It has become one of the sights of London. It is a great place to bargain clothes and shoes. Another one is Old Spitalfields Market. It has a lot of small shops and stalls and sells clothes, arts and crafts.
The East End abounds with legend, sentimentality and cockneys. A cockney is traditionally a person born in East London or, as Londoners themselves say, a person born within hearing distance of the sound of the
bells of the Church of St. Mary Le Bow. |
Cockneys have a specific East |
London language whose vocabulary and |
pronunciation are unlike any |
other dialect. For other Londoners it is sometimes easier to understand an American than a cockney.
Cockney speech is famous for its rhyming slang when a word is
replaced by a phrase or a person's name which |
rhymes |
with |
it. For |
||||
example, instead of |
saying, «I don't believe it» a |
cockney person |
might |
||||
say, «I don't Adam and Eve it». |
|
|
|
|
|||
Here are some more examples of rhyming slang: |
|
|
|||||
wife — trouble |
and |
strife |
|
|
|
|
|
stairs — apples |
and |
pears |
|
|
|
|
|
head — loaf of |
bread |
|
|
|
|
|
|
house — Mickey Mouse |
|
|
|
|
|
||
mum — finger and |
thumb |
|
|
|
|
||
bread — Uncle |
Ned |
|
|
|
|
|
|
wine — rise and shine |
|
|
|
|
|
||
water — fisherman's |
daughter |
|
|
|
|
||
The cockney language |
can be |
traced back to |
the early |
19th century. |
|||
It was used to hide |
the true |
meaning |
of discussions |
from the |
police. |
9