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3. First reading. Read the text to decide what it is about in general. A Few Facts

After a light snack we went out for a walk. Tom told me a few facts about Washington D.C. These letters are always added to avoid confusion with the state of Washington. ‘D.C.’ stands for District of Columbia. This special federal district doesn’t belong to any of the fifty states. It is very small.

Tom said that Washington was unlike many other cities in its treatment of tourists. Most of its sights are free.

Quite naturally I tried to compare this city to New York. I noticed that there were no skyscrapers. The law prohibits building structures taller than the Capitol. There were very few people in the street and many more black people there than in New York. He also said that people went to bed very early in Washington. No, it was not like New York at all.

Washingtonians are proud of their subway system, which they call Metrorail or just metro. It is much more modern than New York’s. This is quite natural as it was opened only in 1976. Buses connect all Metro stations. They also reach areas not served by the Metro.

Washington is important as the seat of the US Federal Government. All major governmental buildings are situated there. The centre of the city is the Capitol Building – home of American law-makers. The building dominates the city. It stands on Capitol Hill, highest point in Washington. Home of both the Senate and the House of Representatives of American Congress, the structure itself is 751 feet long, 350 feet wide, with its dome rising to 285 feet. At the top of the dome is the 19-foot bronze Statue of Freedom.

The Mall (a broad lawn two miles long) stretches from the foot of the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial with the magnificent and realistic seated figure of Lincoln. The 16th American President (1861-1865), assassinated and called “the Great Emancipator” is considered the best loved and most respected of the American Presidents. It was during his presidency that the Emancipation Proclamation that gave freedom to Negro slaves was adopted in 1863.

In the center of the Mall you can see the Washington Monument, a marble and granite obelisk dedicated to the 1st American President. It is the tallest stone structure in the USA.

From the Capitol to the White House (home and office of the President) runs broad Pennsylvania Avenue, about a mile and a half long and flanked with trees. This is the avenue used for all those processions and parades that make Washington so familiar a sight on TV.

Today, Washington has a population of over 750,000 about two thirds of which work for the Federal Government. While it is important as the center of the US Federal Government, it is also a great cultural center containing numerous museums, art galleries, libraries, churches, parks, memorials and monuments to the distinguished men of America.

No wonder that each year, millions of visitors from all parts of the world come to see this magnificent city, richly endowed with beauty and American history.