Metodichka_po_angliyskomu
.pdf4.Do Englishmen keep traditions even in meals?
5.Have you got an idea of what they call «5 o’clock tea»?
6.What tea do the English call «Russian tea»?
7.What public holidays are there in Great Britain?
8.How is Christmas celebrated?
9.Is New Year celebrated everywhere in Great Britain?
10.Is «first footing» a common custom in Scotland?
11.What is an eisteddfod?
12.What other traditions and customs has Great Britain?
13.Is it important that every country should observe its customs and traditions? Why?
7. LONDON
London is the capital of Great Britain but it is not only the capital of the country, it is also a huge port, one of the world’s greatest commercial centers, a science city, and the seat of the British Government. It is the largest city in Great Britain and one of the largest cities in the world. London is an ancient city more than twenty centuries old. Its population is above 7 million people. It is situated upon both banks of the Thames, spanned by seventeen bridges.
The most important parts of London are the City of London, the East End, the West End and Westminster.
The City, or the Square Mile (another name for the City of London), is the oldest part of London. It got its name from the fact that its area covers about one square mile. The City is the financial and business centre. The mostimportantEnglishbanks,exchangesandcommercialcompaniesareto be found there.About half a million people work in the City but only about 6000 live there. Over weekends the City is almost dead.
Two architectural masterpieces are situated within the City: St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London. St. Paul’s Cathedral was built in the 17th century by the well-known English architect Christopher Wren. From far away you can see its huge dome with a golden ball and cross on the top. Inside there is a great number of monuments to generals and admirals. Admiral Nelson and Duke Wellington are buried there among other great Englishmen.
The Tower of London was built in the 11th century by William the Conqueror. It is served as a fortress, a palace, then a prison, royal treasury. Now there is a museum there.
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As the name suggests the West End is the western part of London. The City and the West End are the heart of the capital. It is the richest and most beautiful part of London. Luxurious mansions, the best hotels, restaurants, shops, clubs as well as theatres, museums and lovely parks are situated there. One of the busiest streets in the West End is Oxford Street. There are many various shops in it, which attract customers from different countries of the world.
The administrative and political centre of London is Westminster. The Houses of Parliament are situated there. It is the seat of the British Government. An alternative title for the Houses of Parliament is the Palace of Westminster. There one can see the world’s known clock «Big Ben» which is the symbol of London. Big Ben is really the bell which strikes the hours. It is housed in St. Stephen’s Tower. The clock was named after Sir Benjamin Hall under whose direction the construction of the clock was conducted.Alight is always shown at the top of the Clock Tower when Parliament is sitting at night.
Westminster Abbey is the place where coronation of nearly all kings and queens has taken place. Many of them are buried here as well as some other famous people of the country (G. Chaucer, I. Newton, Ch. Dickens, R. Kipling, etc).
Trafalgar Square is the geographical centre of London. It was named in the memory of Admiral Nelson’s victory at the battle of Trafalgar in 1803. The tall Nelson’s Column stands in the middle of the square.
Opposite the Nelson Column are the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. They contain the finest art collections in the world. Not far from the National Gallery is the British Museum famous for its rich library (about 7 000 000 books).
Tourists visiting London are usually eager to see Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the Queen and the King, and the colourful ceremony of changing the guard before the Palace.
There are many parks in London: Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, and Kensington Park. Hyde Park is a place where Londoners like to rest and where crowds of people may be seen listening to the Hyde Park speakers at the Speakers’Corner.
The best-known streets are Whitehall — the political centre with important government offices, Fleet Street where most newspapers have
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their offices, Downing Street which is a little street on the west side of Whitehall. Downing Street, 10 is the residence of Prime Minister.
The University of London is the largest University in Britain and the principle centre for post-graduate-study and research.
The East End is an industrial district of London. There are many factories and the Port of London there. It is one of the greatest seaports. It carries on a worldwide trade and in addition to that, it supplies the London region withallkinds of goods.The EastEndis theareawhereworkersanddockers live. In the East End there are no magnificent parks and mansions and far from all the men here have a steady job.
London is very different, it has many faces. There is a lot of traffic in the streets of London: endless lines of buses, motor cars and taxis. Most of London buses are the famous red double-deckers that have two decks for passengers.There are also green one-storeyed buses, they run from London to the countryside. In London as everywhere in Great Britain, the traffic keeps to the left.
Dialogues
1
—Here we are in England. I’m glad the trip is over.
—How long are you planning to stay in London?
—Onlythreedays.That’swhyI’dliketomakeatripthroughthestreets of London right now to get a general impression of the city.
—Let me accompany you. I know the city well. And the weather is
so fine.
—Oh, that’s the first surprise of mine. We used to think that there are fogs or rain in London nearly every day of the year. But the weather is very good today.Aslight wind is blowing and the air is full of spring smells.
—We’ll see moreof thecityif we take a bus and begin in theWest End. Now we are moving along Oxford Street. You can see numerous shops, banks, restaurants on both sides of the street. The pavements are crowded with people. In the roadway there is a constant stream of cars, taxis, buses. It’s dangerous to cross the road until the traffic is stopped.
—An unusual thing is that your drivers keep to the left.
—Oh, yes. It’s very important. We have left-hand traffic here. Remember this while crossing the street.
—And your buses differ greatly from our buses. They are all red and double-decked.Are there also trolleybuses and trams in London?
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—Yes, in some parts of the city.
—Don’t you find it’s too noisy in the street?
—Oh, yes. The noise lasts till midnight. But people get used to it very soon.
—Look right! Isn’t it the building of the Houses of Parliament? I recognize it from the pictures.
—You are quite right. It is the Houses of Parliament, the place where the government has its seat. And can you recognize Westminster Abbey?
—Unfortunately not.
—Here it is, on the left. I recommend you to come here tomorrow and to see the Poet’s Corner. There are the graves and memorials of most of the major English poets and some writers and musicians. Among them the tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer, and the memorial to William Shakespeare. Samuel Johnson and Charles Dickens are also buried here.
—Sure I will. I’d like to visit the British Museum, the National Gallery and Buckingham Palace to watch the ceremony of the changing of the guard.
—But there’s bus stop just over there.We’ll ask the conductor to put us down at Trafalgar Square and we’ll see the National Gallery.
—OK. And then we’ll spend the rest of the day in one of the parks
nearby.
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—We are in Hyde Park, aren’t we?
—Yes, it’s the famous Hyde Park.
—It’s splendid here! There are a lot of old trees, green lawns and a few ponds. The ducks are swimming in the pools. People in light spring clothes are walking around. To my surprise they are walking not only along the paths but also across the grass.
—Oh,peopleareallowedtodoeverythinghere.Youcansing,ordance, or cry, or preach and nobody will make you a remark.
—I’ve heard a lot about the Speaker’s Corner.
—It’s a big open place where a man can stand on a chair, or on a platform, or on the ground and speak everything he likes.You can listen to him, ask questions or you may pass him by without any reaction.
—By the way, are there any other parks in London?
—Quite a lot. Except Hyde Park there is Queen Park, Kensington Gardens, St. James Park and others. People call them «lungs of London».
—Really, it’s a wonderful place to spend time in.
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Questions
1. What’s the capital of Great Britain and what river is it situated on? 2. Is London an ancient city?
3. What parts is London divided into?
4. What is the financial and business centre of London? 5. Why is the City called the Square Mile?
6. What architectural masterpieces are situated within the City? 7. What district is the West End?
8. What is the administrative and political centre of London? 9. What is the name of the world’s known clock which is housed in St.
Stephen’s Tower of the Houses of Parliament? 10. What do you know about WestminsterAbbey?
11. Why is the central square in London named Trafalgar Square? 12. Where is the National Gallery situated?
13. What other sights of London do tourists like visit? 14. Have you heard about Speakers’Corner in Hyde Park? 15. Are there any other parks in London?
16. What are the best-known streets?
17. Does the East End differ from the West End? 18. What buses can be seen in the streets of London? 19. Does the traffic keep to the left?
20. What places of interest are there in London?
21. What place of interest would you like to see first? Why?
8. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The USAlies in the central part of the NorthAmerican continent and is one of the largest countries in the world. The area of the USAis over 9 million square kilometers. In the North it borders on Canada, in the South — on Mexico, in the East it is washed by theAtlantic Ocean and in theWest — by the Pacific Ocean.
The population of the USAis more than 300 million people who speak English, Italian, German, Polish, Russian and others. English is the official and predominant language. Most of the people live in towns.
As the USA is a large country, the climate is various in different parts of the country. It is hot in Florida and Hawaii, but sever frosts are typical ofAlaska. Warm waters of the Gulf Stream influence the climate in the east where it is mainly warm and mild.
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The continental part of the USA consists of two highland regions and two lowland regions. The Highland regions are theAppalachian Mountains in the east, and the Cordillera in the west.
The USAhas many thousands of streams. Some of them are mighty rivers. The Mississippi River is the largest in the USA. Together with the Missouri it is the longest river in the world (7300 km). The rivers in the west are unsuitable for navigation.The largest among them are the Colorado and Columbia Rivers.
This country has thousands of lakes of all kinds and sizes, the Great Lakes make up the largest group of lakes in the country as well as the greatest collection of fresh-water lakes in the world. The Great Lakes (Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario) are between the USAand Canada.
The USAis a Federal Union of 50 states now. Its basic law is the Constitution adopted in 1789 defines the structure of national government.
Under the Constitution the federal government of the United States is divided into three main branches: the executive — the President and his administration; the legislative — the US Congress and the judicial — the US Supreme Court.
The executive branch sees that laws are carried out. The legislative branch makes new laws. And the judicial branch makes sure that the laws and actions of the other branches agree with the Constitution.
The US President is the head of state and government. He is elected for a four-year term.
The two major parties of the USA are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
The capital of the USA is the city of Washington. It was created to be the seat of government of the nation.
Dialogue
—What do you know about the history of the USA?
—The history of the United States goes back as far as the beginning of the 17th century when the major European powers-Spain, England, France, Portugal and Holland began to expand their territories. The United States of today have developed from the British colonial settlements on the Atlantic coast of North America. England exploited its colonies harshly and did everything to prevent their industrial devel-
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opment. A long struggle of the local population for their freedom followed and in 1783 the colonies succeeded in winning their independence.
—The flag of the USAis called «Stars and Stripes», isn’t it?
—Yes, the flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes equal to the number of the original states and 50 white stars on a blue field equal in number to 50 states today.
—What kind of state is the USA?
—The USA is a federal republic. There are fifty federal states and the independent District of Columbia. Forty-nine states, including Alaska, form the continental United States. Canada separatesAlaska from the major territory of the USA.The 50th state, the state of Hawaii, is a group of islands situatedin the Pacific Ocean.The states differ very much in size, population and economic development.
—What are the biggest cities in the USA?
—They are New York, San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, LosAngeles, Boston and others.
—Is the USAa highly developed industrial country?
—Yes, such industries as machine building, shipbuilding, electronic and electric engineering, chemical, metallurgy, textiles, leather and footwear are well developed. Besides machinery and different industrial goods, the USAexports include agricultural produce, especially cotton, wheat and maize. Agriculture retains an extremely important role in the development of the USAnational economy.
—What mineral resources is the USArich in?
—The country is rich in aluminum, copper, lead, salt, zinc, uranium, coal, iron, oil, natural gas, gold, silver, etc.
Questions
1. Where is the USAsituated? 2. What countries does it border?
3. What is the population of the United States? 4. What is the official language of this country? 5. What kind of state is the USA?
6. Who is the head of the state? Do you know who was the first president of the USA?
7. How many states are there in the country?
8. What branches is the federal government of the USAdivided into?
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9. What functions have executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government?
10. What are the two main political parties in the USA? 11. The USAis a highly developed industrial country, isn’t it? 12. Is the country rich in mineral resources?
13. Are there many mountains in the country? 14. What rivers are there on the territory of the USA? 15. What is the largest river in the USA?
16. Has the USAmany lakes?
17. What do you know about the history of the USA? 18. Why the flag of the USAis called «Stars and Stripes»?
19. Have you been to the USA? Would you like to visit it? Why?
9. WASHINGTON
Washington, the capital of the United States, is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. The district is a piece of land ten square miles and it does not belong to any one state but to all the states.The district is named in honour of Columbus, the discoverer of America. The city was founded in 1791 and named after the first US president, George Washington. In 1790, the first President of the USA, General George Washington, personally chose the site for the capital of the new nation. Washington became the capital of the United States in 1800.
It is not the largest city in the United States, but in political sense it is the centre of the republic and the most important city in the United States. Washington is the residence of the President and the Congress of the United States: all government departments and numerous federal institutions are also housed in the capital.
Washingtonisalargescientificandculturalcentrewheremanyresearch institutes are concentrated.There are many libraries, museums, art galleries in the city. The National Gallery ofArts is one of the finest picture galleries in America. The Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln memorials are among the city sights.
The city was built according to a preliminary plan. A rectangular network of streets combines with wide avenues which radiate from two main centers. One of them is the Capitol (the seat of the Congress) and the other the White House (the President’s residence).
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The White House is the oldest building in the city. It is the place where the President of the USA lives and works. John Adams was the first President who lived in that House. The White House is a pleasant two-storeyed house with 132 rooms, 54 of which are reserved only for the private use of the First Family.
The Capitol is situated on Capitol Hill, which is the highest place in the city. There is a law that forbids to build houses higher than the Capitol. The Capitol is the seat of the Congress. It was made of stone and marble and contains 540 rooms.
The leading Universities are Georgetown University and GeorgeWashington University.
Washington has grown into a quite modern city with its long wide avenues with shady trees on both sides, its low buildings, numerous governmental offices, and its green parks and gardens. In 1912 the famous cherry trees were planted in Washington. The 3000 flowering cherry trees were a gift from Japan and are still a major attraction for visitors and residents in the early days of spring.
Dialogues
1
—Is Washington the largest city in the USA?
—No, it isn’t as large as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit or Los Angeles. Its population is about 1 million people. The majority of the citizens live outside the city.
—What is the heart of Washington?
—It’s the Capitol, a high and beautiful building with white marble columns.
—They say there are no skyscrapers inWashington. Do you know why?
—You see, there is a special law against building structures higher than the Capitol, because they would hide the city’s many monuments from view.
—What famous monuments are there in Washington?
—Not far from the Capitol is the Washington Monument, which looks like a very big pencil. It rises 160 metres and is hollow inside.Aspecial lift brings visitors to the top in 70 seconds, from where they can enjoy a view of the city. It is also necessary to see the Lincoln Memorial which is to the West of the Washington monument. It is devoted to the memory of the sixteenth President of the United States, the author of the Emancipation
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Proclamation, which gave freedom to Negro slaves in America. It has 36 columns representing the states of the union at the time of Lincoln death. The main part of the memorial is the figure of Lincoln. The Jefferson MemorialistotheSouthoftheWashingtonmonumentnearthePotomacRiver. It was built in memory of the third President of the USA,Thomas Jefferson, who was also the author of the Declaration of Independence.
—The military centre of the US, the Pentagon, is inWashington, isn’t it?
—Yes, the Pentagon is a building where the headquarters of the Department of Defence, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force are located. It is a huge five-sided building and five storeys high.
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—Was Washington the first capital of the USA?
—No,PhiladelphiawasthefirstcapitaloftheUnitedStatesofAmerica from 1790 till 1800.
—Where is Philadelphia situated?
—It is situated in the east of the USA. Philadelphia is a beautiful city with many skyscrapers in it.
—Why do many people consider that Philadelphia is an important political centre of the USA?
—Many people consider that Philadelphia is an important political centre of the USA, because the USAconstitution was the first written in the world adopted in this city in 1787 and the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in 1776.
—Philadelphia is a seaport, isn’t it?
—Yes, Philadelphia is a seaport and a shipping centre of the country too. It is an important manufacturing centre. It produces agricultural machines and locomotives. Light industry is highly developed here.
—What places of interest do you know in that city?
—There are many places of interest in Philadelphia, for example, the Independence National Historical Park. You can see many monuments in it. If you want to learn the history of America you have to learn something about the Liberty Bell. Now the Liberty Bell is a symbol of freedom. The sound of this bell told the people about the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. It was in July, 1776.
—Is Philadelphia an important cultural centre?
—Philadelphiaisoneoftheculturalcentresofthecountry.TheParkway
is the cultural centre of Philadelphia. You can see the Philadelphia Museum
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