Lesson 15
London
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London
London is the capital of Great Britain. It is one of the largest and most interesting cities in the world. Great London covers an area of about 600 square miles and has the population of nearly 9 millions people. London is situated on the river Thames, where the Romans landed nearly 2,000 years ago, about forty miles from its mouth. It is divided into two parts by the river. The more important part, with most of the chief buildings, stands on the north bank. In fact there are several parts of London. First there is the City in London.
Nowadays the City is London's commercial and business center. The City is only one square mile in area and only a few thousand people live there. During the day it's full of energy and life, but towards the end of the day it grows almost desolate. It contains the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and the head offices of numerous companies and corporations. Thanks to them, the City is often referred to as «the money» of London. But the City is also a Mecca for a museum-goer. Here is situated the Tower of London that comes first among the historic buildings of the British capital. Founded by Julius Caesar and rebuilt by William the Conqueror, it was used as a fortress, a royal residence and a prison. Now it is a museum of Arm our and the place where the Crown Jewels are kept. A twenty-minutes' walk from the Tower will take you to St. Paul's Cathedral, the greatest of English churches. In one of its towers hang one of the largest bells of the world, Great Paul.
Second part of London is West End. Here one can see the Houses of Parliament, most governmental offices, such as Foreign Office, Home Office, etc. All these areas are called the West End. Visitors with plenty of money to spend come chiefly to the West End of London, its shopping and entertainment center. The heartland is stretched around Piccadilly Circus. Not far from it one can see the British Museum and the Covent Garden Opera House. Expensive shopping promenades - Regent Street, Oxford Street and Bond Street - would lead you to Regent Park and Hyde Park.
Another important part of London, where most of the Government buildings are located, is Westminster. Tourists are invariably taken to see Westminster Abbey, where many English sovereigns, outstanding statesmen, poets and artists are buried; Westminster Palace, the seat of the British Parliament, with its famous Big Ben that strikes every quarter of an hour.
The last - but not the least - of London's functional zones is the East End. It is the district inhabited by workers and the poor. Industry is chiefly found in that part of the capital, gray with soot and smoke. In the East End one can see numerous dirty houses and many slums. The centre of British press is Fleet Street, governmental offices are concentrated in White Hall and Downing Street No 10 is the residence of the Prime Minister.
London is the main centre of Britain's printing and the manufacture of clothing, food and drink, precision instruments and aircrafts, cars and ships. London is not only the capital of the country. It is also a very big port, one of the greatest commercial centres in the world, a university city, and the seat of the government of Great Britain.
Like many big cities, London has problems with traffic and pollution. Over 1,000,000 people a day use the London Underground, but there are still too many cars in the streets. The air isn't clean, but it is cleaner than it was 100 years ago. Until the Clean Air Act in 1956, London was famous for its fog or “smog", which is a mixture of smoke and fog.
London and Its Historical Places
London, the capital of Great Britain, lies in the valley of the Thames. There are many interesting historical places in London, such as the Tower, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Buckingham Palace. . London is famous for its museums and galleries. The Tower of London is an old castle [ka:sl] on the bank of the Thames formerly a fortress, a palace and a prison, a royal menagerie (передвижний звіринець). Now it is a museum It has the Crown jewels and other treasures. The Palace of Westminster - - the proper name for the Houses of Parliament -was the King's palace for 5 hundred years. There is an ancient church of St. Peter which was rebuilt many times, many Kings of England have been crowned here, and Coronation Chair with the Stone of Scone is here.
Westminster Abbey is very old and very beautiful. Nearly all kings and queens of Britain, were crowned and buried here. (You can see the Tombs of- Elizabeth II Tudor and Mary Stuart, Oliver Cromwell, Poets Corner: Shakespeare, Burns, Byron, Scott, Rudyard Kipling, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin).
In the south part of the Parliament you can see its clock Tower, Big Ben. .In the north corner of the Houses there is Victoria Tower. A flag is over it, when the parliament is sitting. Trafalgar Square was named in the memory of great naval victory of 1805. Lord Nelson destroyed the French Fleet in the battle of Trafalgar. Monument to Nelson (Column) is in Trafalgar Square with 4 lions on the base on it.
St. Paul's Cathedral was designed by Christopher Wren. He built it 35 years. Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the Queen.
Speak on the following:
If you happen to go to London, what will you do on your first day there?
Would you prefer to take a bus or a boat tour to see as many sights in one day as possible?
Name 5 sights of London that you would like to see ( in the order of preference).
What will you start with: the old part of London or the new attractions?