I. Choose the most suitable variant
1. The Capital of the USA was named after
the first president
the second president
the sixteenth president
the seventeenth president
2. Piccadilly Circus in London is located
in the City
in the East End
in the West End
in Westminster
3. Big Ben was named after
a very big and strong citizen of London
a member of Parliament
an architect
the King of England
4. The Tatar Yoke was thrown off Russia in the reign of
Peter the Great
Catherine the Second
Grand Duke Ivan IV
Grand Duke Ivan III
5. Saratov Conservatoire of Music was
the first to appear in Russia
the second
the third
the fourth
II. Match the names given below with the cities they belong to
Krasnaya Presnya, Troitsky Cathedral, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tate Gallery, the Manege, the National Gallery of Art, the Covered Market, the Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Hyde Park, the City Park, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Potomac Park, the White House, the Spasskaya Tower, Madame Tussaud’s, the Library of Congress.
III. Answer the questions:
Who took a great part in planning of Washington?
Why is London called so?
When did the Great Fire of London happen?
Where is the Tzar Bell situated in Moscow?
When did the Monument to P. Stolypin appear in Saratov?
A
n
Introduction to London
Reading for comprehension
Read the text about London.
Divide this passage into paragraphs.
Make up an outline of the passage.
With your partner discuss what attracts you most in London.
London has a great deal to offer visitors. Whether your tastes are modern or traditional, sophisticated or simple, there's plenty in London for you. Most visitors do some shopping, and there is an enormous range of possibilities, from the bargains of Petticoat Lane (Sunday morning) or Portobello Road (Saturday morning) to the jewellery and furs of Hatton Garden and Bond Street. A simple walk along Oxford Street will satisfy most ordinary needs or, if you want everything – from pins to piano – under one roof, then Harrods is the shop for you. You will probably want to mix your shopping with a little sightseeing. You can visit the great buildings, such as St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, or you can watch the Changing of the Guard, or you can rest your feet in one of the large central parks, and all free. Not all the sightseeing is free, of course; you'll have to pay to go to the Zoo in Regents Park, to see the Crown Jewels in the Tower, or for a boat trip along the Thames. Then there are the arts, both ancient and modern. The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum have enormous collections of art and artifacts from many different countries, and the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square houses paintings by the old masters. The more modern world can be seen in the Science museum, the Planetarium and in the paintings and sculptures of the Tate Gallery. In the evening, you can simply enjoy a drink in the atmosphere of a London pub. But if you want organized entertainment, you will always find a film, a concert or a play to interest you among the hundreds that are put on every day. Turning to the question of food, it must be admitted that the English have no great reputation as cooks, but visitors to London can savour food from all over the world: from Mexican to Russian, from Scandinavian to Japanese. In particular, there are hundreds of Indian, Pakistani, Chinese and Italian restaurants, most of which serve good, relatively cheap meals. This brief survey should give you some idea of the great variety of things to do in London. There is literally something for everyone at almost any time during the day. So,as a famous Londoner once said: ' When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.'
The Making of London.
The River Thames flows from the heart of England to the east coast, and London grew up at the lowest convenient crossing place. Here the north and south banks provided firm ground for the Romans to build a bridge, soon after their invasion of Britain in AD 43. They gave their settlement a Celtic name, Llyn-din (river place), later called Londinium.
The Thames Valley was certainly inhabited from the earliest times. A Stone Age has been uncovered in Acton; the sign of an Iron Age temple lies under one of the runways at Heathrow Airport; and many pre-Roman objects have been found in the Thames. But London began with the Romans. It was not only the capital of roman Britain, but also the sixth-largest city in the Roman Empire.
The Romans laid out the military roads and the Thames itself provided a waterway for merchants trading with the Continent or the inland districts.
By AD 60 there was a sizable town there. But in that year the Iceni, an ancient British people, led by their Queen Boadicea, revolted against the Romans. They attacked London and burnt it down. The ashes of their destruction are still found when deep foundations are dug for new buildings. But such were the natural advantages of the place, that when the Romans returned the settlement was re-established.
Londinium flourished and within a generation had become the administrative center for the province. Houses were built inside massive walls, portions of which can be seen beside the Tower. Other pointers to the size and beauty of the city have been discovered: an altar to Diana, an ancient goddess of forest and childbirth, on the side of the Goldsmith's Hall; a temple to Mithras, an ancient god of light, in Queen Victoria Street. Also in Cannon Street is London Stone, possibly the lower part of a column which served as the central milestone for the whole Roman Britain. The stone is set in the wall of the Bank of China.
When the Romans left Britain in AD 410, life slowed down in walled city for the next two centuries. Then, in 604, St. Augustine, a prominent Christian missionary in Britain, ordained the first Saxon Bishop of London, and before the end of the century a mint has been re-established.
King Alfred rebuilt the fortifications in 886 against Viking attacks, and from that point London grew in political and military importance and in trade and wealth.
By the end of the 1st century a significant new development had taken place. King Kanute (1016-1035), England’s only Danish king, had built the palace to the west of the city. Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) chose to live there too, and as he was a very religious man, beside the palace he built a church, his minster in the west, which gave the name Westminster to the small area that grew up around the royal buildings.
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, William I made a separate peace with the citizens of London, promising that they could keep their own laws and customs. But at the same time he began to build the Tower of London just outside the city – to show them the king’s authority.
MATCHING
Exercise 1. Read the four possible ways to complete the sentences and choose the only one correct.
A Celtic name Llyn-din means
a) black water
b) convenient crossing
c) river place
d) Roman settlement
The life of the settlement started from
a) a bridge across the Thames
b) a milestone
c) a temple to Diana
d) a king’s palace
The Iceni, an ancient British people,
a) traded with the Romans
b) drove the Romans out of the country
c) inhabited the Thames Valley
d) attacked London and burnt it down
The Romans re-established the settlement because
a) they liked the climate in the area
b) such were the natural advantages of the place
c) it was the centre of the province
d) They needed water from the river
Nowadays London Stone can be found
a) in Queen Victoria Street
b) in the wall of the Bank of China
c) in Westminster
d) in a temple to Mithras
The Roman invasion ended
a) when Queen Boadicea’s troops revolted against them.
b) in the 12th century
c) in Ad 410
d) when King Alfred came to power
A significant new development in the 11th century was
a) the creation of a mint
b) the building of a palace to the west of the city
c) a victory over the Vikings
d) the ordaining of the first Saxon Bishop of London
The citizens of London were given their laws and customs by
a) William I
b) Edward the Confessor
c) the Romans
d) King Kanute
Exercise 2. Check your comprehension. Say if the sentence is true or false.
1) The banks of the river provided firm ground for a bridge.
2) The Thames Valley was not inhabited before the Roman invasion.
3) London was the capital of the Roman Empire.
4) Many pre-Roman objects are found in the Thames.
5) Diana is an ancient goddess of love.
6) St. Augustine was a prominent Christian missionary.
7) When the Romans left Britain London flourished immediately.
8) Westminster means a church in the west.
9) The Tower of London was built to remind the people about the King’s authority.
CAREFUL READING
Read the text paying special attention to details to answer the questions in Exercise3.
From that time on, London had two centres – Westminster, where royal and later political power was established, and the city, the centre of commercial wealth. Neither of them could hope to flourish without the other, and the Strand, running alongside the Thames, connected the two.
Throughout the Middle Ages the two centres kept peace. William Rufus (1087-1100) enlarged the palace; the city won the right to elect its own Lord Mayor in1191; Henry III began to rebuilt Westminster Abbey in about 1245, while his son Edward, the future Edward I, strengthened the defenses of the tower.
Buildings in the City and in Westminster, rivaled in size and beauty. St. Paul’s Cathedral grew to be the largest in England. Westminster Abbey has always remained magnificent.
During the 16th century London’s population increased from about 50000 to some 200000 and in 1580 Elizabeth I issued a proclamation against expansion outside the walls of London. It did no good. Aristocratic landowners developed new estates in Bloomsbury and Covent Garden – their names can be found in the names of many streets. The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed 13200 houses in the City, causing quick development outside. Inside the City the fire brought about stricter building regulations, calling for the use of brick and stone. From these regulations the pattern of long terraces of houses and symmetrical squares appeared, though not in the City itself.
The development of the City gave rise to a need for more bridges. Westminster Bridge was begun in 1736, Blackfriars Bridge followed in 1769 and the rest were constructed during the next century.
The railways and Queen Victoria arrived almost together.
London’s first railway station, Euston, was opened on July 20, 1837, one month after the Queen Victoria came to throne. In 1863 the Metropolitan Railway, forerunner of the capital’s underground railway system, opened its first section. It ran between Paddington and Farringdon Street in a shallow tunnel.
By the end of the 19th century London had become the financial centre of the world, and the other suburbs began to expand to accommodate the city workers. The Metropolitan Railways spread its lines across the fields westwards. “Live in Metroland” became the slogan.
During the First World War, London had its first taste of aerial bombardment from German Airships. Twenty-five years later the first bomb of the Second World War fell in Fore Street in 1940.
Before the war ended, 164 of the City’s 677 acres had been destroyed and Westminster was little better. Rebuilding began with high-rise offices and blocks of flats, and the City skyline became a panorama of concrete-and-glass monoliths, softened by a graceful dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral which had miraculously survived the bombing.
In 1965 a new administration, the Greater London Council was set up to govern London. The capital was divided into 32 boroughs – each of them larger and wealthier than most of Britain’s other cities. The City remains, as it always has, separate and self-governing.
London may be old, but it does not stagnate. Each generation introduces changes without spoiling the charm and character of the capital’s 2000 years of history.
London’s Treasure-houses of Art and Antiquity.
Napoleon said that the British are a nation of shopkeepers; he could have said also that they are a nation of collectors. The wealth of the 18th century produced men who bought art treasures from all over the world. Many of these collections formed the basis for the museums and art galleries founded by the Victorians. Who left a priceless legacy be enjoyed more than in London.
Behind the classical façade of the British Museum lies one of the world’s most fabulous treasure stores. The museum was founded in 1753 with a collection of books and antiquities donated by Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), physician to George II, on condition that 20000 was paid to his daughter. The money was raised by a public lottery. The collection expanded in 1757 when George II presented the museum with the royal Library, a collection of books gathered by the Kings and Queens of England since Tudor times.
Among the museum’s best-known antiquities are the Elgin Marbles, Greek Sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens brought to London by Lord Elgin in the 19th century. In the Egyptian Gallery is the Rosetta Stone dating from 196 BC. The stone bears inscriptions in Egyptian and Greek, which enabled scholars to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphic script. It also contains a collection of gold and silverware of the Renaissance period.
Principal Art Gallery.
On the north side of Trafalgar Square the National Gallery is England’s principal art gallery and one of the finest in Europe. It is also one of the youngest, having been founded in 1824 with only 38 paintings. The present building was designed in 1834 by William Wilkins (1778-1839).
Leonardo da Vinci’s cartoon of the Virgin and Child with St. Anne, Botticelli’s Mars and Venus and Raphael’s Virgin and Child are among works by Italian artists. Dutch masters include 19 Rembrandts, Vermeer’s Lady in a Stream and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
Round the corner from the National Gallery is the National Portrait Gallery, a collection of more than 9000 portraits of distinguished men and women of British History.
English paintings and modern European and American art can be seen in the Tate Gallery overlooking the Thames at Millbank. The gallery was ordered by Sir Henry Tate, the sugar refiner, in1897. Works by famous English painters Turner, Blake, Constable, Hogarth, Gainsborough figure prominently among the oil-paintings, and the sculpture collection includes figures by Rodin, Epstine and Henry Moore.
Story of London
London’s own museum, which presents the city’s history from Roman times is in the Barbican Centre. Now called the Museum of London, it was formed by uniting the London and Guildhall Museums. The collection of exhibits is arranged to tell the story of London in chronological order. There are religious sculptures found beneath the floor of the Temple of Mithras, old inn signs, models of trams which were still running in London as recently as 1952.
Carriages and Steam
Two vastly contrasting museums can be seen west of central London: Gunnesbury Park Museum and the Kew Bridge Pumping Station. The first was the home of Rothschild family. The house is a Regency mansion, and houses exhibits of local history and the 19th century carriages used by the Rothschilds.
The Kew Bridge Pumping Station preserves in working order five of the steam-engines, which for more than 100 years drove huge pumps to supply water to West London.
At the foot of the hill Hendon, once the home of the Royal Air Force – Hendon Aerodrome – is the Royal Air Force Museum. The oldest aircraft on display is a 1909 Bleriot, and the history of the RAF is presented by machines ranging in size from the First World War fighter planes to the Lancaster bomber of the Second World War.
Hampstead is the home of one of London’s more unusual museums – Fenton House. It was the home of the 18th century merchant, Philip Fenton. It now houses a fine collection of musical instruments, including a pair of 1664 virginals and a harpsichord of 1770.
Stamps and Wallpaper
Bruce Castle in Tottenham was for some time a school run by the Hill family, one of whom was Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879), founder of the modern postage system. He first proposed a prepaid penny stamp on letters in 1837, and three years later the first Penny Blacks were issued. They were called so, because the first stamp cost a penny and were coloured black. In 1857 Hill became the first secretary of the Post Office.
Today Bruce Castle contains a magnificent postage stamp collection.
The boyhood home of William Morris (1834-1896) is now the William Morris Gallery. Morris was a poet, artist and designer of textiles and wallpapers. Many of his designs are on view.
The Bethnal Green Museum is for and about children. There is a collection of toys and dolls’ houses, some of which belonged to Queen Victoria, and the museum is being developed as a Museum of Childhood.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
Exercise 3. Read the four possible answers to the questions and choose the only one correct.
1. What was the basis for a great many museums and art galleries?
archeological findings
private collections
Victorian furniture
antiquities from Athens
2. Where is the world’s most fabulous treasure stored?
the British museum
the Parthenon
the Egyptian Gallery
the National Gallery.
3. Why is Rosetta Stone so valuable?
it is made of gold
it bears inscriptions in Egyptian and Greek
it enabled scholars to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphic script
it dates from the 19th century
4. In what gallery can you see Van Gogh’s Sunflowers?
the British Museum
the National Gallery
the Tate Gallery
the Wallace Collection
5. Whose portraits are hung in the National Portrait Gallery?
portraits of monarchs
portraits of distinguished men and women of the British history
portraits of famous writers
portraits of English painters
6. Why is the Tate Gallery called so?
it is situated in Tate Street
it was donated by Turner
it was ordered by Sir Henry Tate
“Tate” means a “picture” in Greek
7. What does Gunnersbury Park Museum exhibit?
musical instruments
toys
carriages
wallpaper