Madam tussaud’s museum

Notes: Madam Tussaud’s Museum of Waxworks – музей восковых фигур Мадам Тюссо в Лондоне

Chamber of Horrors – комната ужасов

Jack the Ripper – Джек Потрошитель (прозвище печально известного убийцы, совершившего в 1888 году в Лондоне по меньшей мере семь убийств)

Among lots of London’s museums of different types and significance there is one of special interest. It is Madam Tussaud’s Museum of Waxworks, named after its founder – a French woman, Madam Marie Tussaud (1761-1850), who started the museum in 1835.

The museum contains hundreds of life-size wax figures of outstanding statesmen, scientists, sportsmen and sportswomen, world-famous film stars and musicians, poets and writers of Britain and the world over. Among them are the figures of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor with her seven husbands, Elvis Priestly, Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Chaplin and many others.

There are several halls in the museum where the figures of kings, queens, princes and princesses are placed. A special hall is dedicated to the Royal family. The figures of adults and children look quite natural. They are standing or sitting, looking at each other, smiling and “talking”. They have clothes and some things that are characteristic of them. Special attention is drawn by the eyes sparkling and looking at you so that sometimes you feel uncomfortable in their company.

The politicians and leaders of different countries are taken together. They are watching you without any emotions. They are a very strange company: Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Roosevelt, Margaret Thatcher, Nikita Khrushchov, Michael Gorbatchov and a lot of others.

The well-known scientists Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are also in the museum.

The Chamber of Horrors contains wax models of some famous criminals, murderers and thieves of past and present, among them is the figure of Jack the Ripper.

Exercise 2. Read the text and complete the sentences:

1. The museum contains life-size figures of outstanding …

2. Among them are ….

3. The figures of people …

4. In the Chamber of Horrors one can see …..

Text 6

Exercise 1. Read the text and do the exercise 2.

St. Paul’s cathedral

Note: Crypt – склеп, подземная часовня

Everybody coming to London for the first time wants to see St. Paul’s Cathedral. This is the third cathedral with this name which London has had. The two others were burnt down, the first in 1086 and the second in 1666.

Christopher Wren was an architect who had already built many buildings. Now, in 1675, he started on his greatest work. For 35 years the building of St. Paul’s Cathedral went on, and Wren was an old man before it was finished.

From far away you can see the huge dome with a golden ball and cross on the top. The inside of the cathedral is very beautiful. After looking around, you can climb 263 steps to the Whispering Gallery, above the library, which runs round the dome. It is called this because if someone whispers close to the wall on one side, a person with an ear close to the wall on the other side can hear what is said. Then, if you climb another 118 steps, you will be able to stand outside the dome and look over London.

But not only can you climb up, you can also go down underneath the cathedral, into the crypt. Here are buried many great men, including Christopher Wren himself, Nelson and others.

Exercise 2. Say if the following plan corresponds to the structure of the text. Change it if necessary.

1. Description of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

2. History of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

3. The architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral

Text 7

Exercise 1. Read the text and do exercise 2.