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Текст London

1. Review the following words: ancientстародавній; старий; invaderзагарбник; settlementпоселення; sizeable – великого розміру; encloseпоміщати, заключати; stock exchangeфондова біржа; towerвежа; tombмогила; masterpieceшедевр, lawnгалявина; fleetвійськово-морський флот; mentionзгадувати; waxвіск.

2. Read and translate the text.

London is the capital of Great Britain, its political, economic and cultural center. It’s one of the largest cities in the world. Its population is more than 11 million people. London is situated on the river Thames. The city is very old and beautiful. It was founded more than two thousand years ago.

London is an ancient city. It grew up around the first point where the Roman invaders found the Thames narrow enough to build a bridge. They found a small Celtic settlement then known as Londinium and by A. D. 300 they had turned it into a sizable port and an important trading centre with a wall which enclosed the homes of about 50.000 people.

Traditionally London is divided into several parts: the City, the West End, the East End and Westminster. The City is the oldest part of London, its financial and business center. The heart of the City is the Stock Exchange.

Westminster is the most important part of the capital. It’s the administrative center. The House of Parliament, the seat of the British Government, are there. It’s a very beautiful building with two towers and a very big clock called Big Ben, the symbol of London. Big Ben is really the bell which strikes every quarter of an hour. Opposite the House of Parliament is Westminster Abbey. It’s a very beautiful church built over 900 years ago. It is noted for its architecture and historical associations. It’s the church where nearly all the kings and queens have been crowned and where many of them are buried. The tombs of many great statesmen, scientists and writers are there.

To the west of Westminster is West End. Here we find most of the big shops, hotels, museums, art galleries, theatres and concert halls. In this part of London one can see the famous St. Paul’s Cathedral, the masterpiece of the well-known English architect Christopher Wren. Piccadilly Circus – the heart of London’s West End – is a fashionable shopping centre. Its famous fountain with a statue of Eros, the Greek god of love, attracts crowds of tourists. In the West End there are wide streets with beautiful houses, gardens and squares.

There are many public parks in London: Hyde Park, Regent Park, Kengsinton Gardens and others. Hyde Park is Londoners’ favourite resting place, where crowds of people may be seen in the “Speaker’s Corner” listening to Hyde Park speakers. During the day a lot of people sit on green grass lawns eating sandwiches, drinking beer or sunshine. Everything is still and peaceful around. You can hardly imagine that an enormous city with its traffic and noise is but a few paces away.

To the east of Westminster is the East End, an industrial district of the capital. There are no parks or gardens in the East End and you can’t see many fine houses there. Most of the plants and factories are situated there.

London has many places of interest. One of them is Buckingham Palace. It’s the residence of the Queen. The English are proud of Trafalgar Square, which was named so in memory of the victory at the battle. There in 1805 the English fleet defeated the fleet of France and Spain. Another place of interest I should like to mention, is the British Museum, the biggest museum in London. The museum is famous for its library- one of the richest in the world. The National Gallery stands on the north side of Trafalgar Square, it contains a collection of paintings from the 13th century to this century. Madame Tussaud’s is an exhibition of hundreds of lifesize wax models of famous people of yesterday and today. Here you can meet Marilyn Monroe, Elton John, Picasso, the Royal Family and many other writers, film-stars, singers, politicians, footballers and so on.

In conclusion I should say if you are lucky enough to find yourself in London some day you will have a lot to see and enjoy there.