The Tower of London

The Tower of London is one of the most imposing and popular of London's historical sites. It comprises not one, but 20 towers. The oldest of which, the White Tower, dates back to the 11th century and the time of William the Conqueror. Nowadays a lot of tourists visit the Tower of London, because of the Tower's evil reputation as a prison. The Tower is famous as home of the Crown Jewels. They include the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother which contains the celebrated Indian diamond.

Traitor's Gate has steps leading down to the River Thames. Countless prisoners, including the future Queen Elizabeth I of England, were brought to the Tower by barge and ascended the steps before being imprisoned. For many it was their last moment of freedom before their death. But Elizabeth was released from the Tower and became Queen. Sir Thomas More was beheaded there in 1535.

Of course, no visit to the Tower would be complete without seeing the ravens; huge black birds who are an official part of the Tower community. Legend states that if the ravens were to leave the Tower the Crown will fall, and Britain with it. Under the special care of the Raven Master, the ravens are fed a daily diet of raw meat. And there is no danger of them flying away, because their wings are clipped.

Лондонский Тауэр

Тауэр Лондона — одна из наиболее заметных и попу­лярных лондонских исторических достопримечательностей. Он включает не одну, а 20 башен. Самая старая из них — Белая Башня, которая уходит в историю XI столетия и времена Вильгельма Завоевателя. Сегодня много туристов посещают лондонский Тауэр, привлеченные его недоброй репутацией тюрьмы. Тауэр известен как хранилище коро­левских драгоценностей. Среди них корона матери королевы Елизаветы, которая содержит знаменитый индийский алмаз. Ворота Предателя имеют ступеньки, спускающиеся в реку Темзу. Большое количество заключенных, включая будущую королеву Англии Елизавету I, были привезены в Тауэр баржей и поднимались по ступенькам перед тем, как стать заключенными. Для многих это был последний миг свободы перед смертью. Но Елизавета была освобож­дена из Тауэра и стала королевой. Томас Мор был обез­главлен здесь в 1535 году.

Конечно, визит в Тауэр не будет считаться состоявши­мися, если вы не увидите ворон, огромных черных птиц, которые являются законными обитателями Тауэра. Ле­генда гласит, что если вороны покинут Тауэр, корона падет и Британия вместе с ней. Под специальным наблюдением хозяина ворон им дают дневную порцию сырого мяса. И нет опасения, что они улетят, потому что их крылья под­резаны.

New York

New York is the largest city in the USA and the biggest seaport. It is the business centre of the United States.

New York is situated in the mouth of the Hudson river In comparison with such ancient historical cities as, say Rome, London, Moscow or Paris, New York is quite young, It was founded in 1613 by Dutch settlers.

There are five districts in the city: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Richmond. Manhattan is the central and the oldest part of the city. It is the district of business and finance. It is here in Wall Street that many business offices,banks and the world famous New York stock exchange are situated. The New York stock exchange dominates business life of many countries.

The total area of New York is 365 square miles or 900 square kilometres. Its population together with the population of its suburbs amounts to 16 million people.

Among the inhabitants of New York one can meet people of almost all nationalities. They settled here during the immigration in the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century.

A traveller who visits New York for the first time wonders at the modern architecture. The Statue of Liberty, which is on Liberty Island, was a present from France in 1876 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of American independence. Wherever your eyes travel, everywhere you can see sky-scrapers.

New York, one of the USA leading manufacturing cities, is the home of great firms and banks. The most important branches of industry are those producing vehicles, glass, chemicals and all kinds of machinery. The city has very busy traffic. Its streets and highways are full of cars and buses. The mouth of the Hudson river makes an excellent harbour for numerous passengers and cargo ships from all over the world.

New York has many museums and art galleries which have collected works of art of many peoples and of all times. Many of them are on constant display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art.

Most of the theatres and cinemas are in or near Broadway.