The City of New York

New York is the nation’s financial, commercial and cultural centre and its leading port. It is also America’s biggest city with the population of over 8 million (0) ..С.. . NY is a city consisting primarily of two (1) … (Manhattan and Staten), part of the third one (Long Island) and part of the (2) ... . The total area of NY is 319, 8 square miles. NY consists of 5 (3) … : the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Richmond. There are 60 bridges and 4 tunnels in the city, most of which (4) … the boroughs to each other.

Manhattan is the real (5) … of the city. When people say “New York City” they usually mean downtown Manhattan, for most of the best shops, buildings and museums are (6) … here, and it is the scene of NY’s nightlife. In 1626 Peter Minewit, a Dutchman, bought the island from the (7) … Americans for a few glass necklaces, (8) … about $26 today.

Wall Street in Manhattan is the (9) … heart of the USA and the most important banking centre in the world. It is a street of skyscrapers.

Harlem, covering the north central section of Manhattan, is almost a city within itself. (10) … in the 20^th century as a result of racial (11) … in other sections of the city black Americans moved to Harlem and formed the majority of its (12) … .

The numerous NY theatres on Broadway and off Broadway put on 185 (13) … a day to suit everybody’s taste. As for the art lovers they are really spoilt for the (14) … among 434 museums and galleries. NY (15) … many international organizations, the United Nations Organization being one of them.

0	A visitors	Boccupiers	C inhabitants	D tenants
1	A islands	Bisles	Clands	Dplaces
2	A area	Bland	Cmainland	Dcountry
3	A districts	B boroughs	Cregions	Dareas
4	A join	Bhit	C communicate	Dconnect
5	A place	Bpart	Cmiddle	Dcenter
6	A concentrated	Bfound	Ckept	Dtook
7	A Real	BNative	CBorn	D Arrived
8	A cost	B calculate	Cvalue	Dworth
9	A cultural	Bcommercial	Cmain	Dfinancial
10	A Early	BFirstly	C Nearly	DBefore
11	A antagonism	Bhatred	C opposition	Danger
12	A people	Bgroup	Cpopulation	Dnumber
13	A acts	Bperformances	Cplays	Doccasions
14	A range	Bchoice	C ability	Drate
15	A houses	Boccupies	Ckeeps	D represents

American Holidays

One of (0)..A.. holidays is Independence Day. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was (1)…. It proclaimed independence of the thirteen British colonies from Great Britain.

July 4th has become the greatest holiday. In the past this day was marked with big parades and fireworks, but now it is (2)… more quietly. Cities and towns are decorated (3)…flags on that day, there are parades in some places, but most people just go on picnics to the countryside.

Thanksgiving Day is marked on the fourth Thursday of November. On this day Americans honour the (4)…of the first settlers. It also marks the end of the harvest season. It is a longstanding tradition to make a festive meal with a fried turkey on this day.

Washington’s Birthday is marked on February 22nd. George Washington led the American Army to victory in the War for Independence. Later he was (5)… President of the United States and was in office for 8 years (1789-1797). The national capital of the USA, a state and several towns are named (6)…George Washington.

Lincoln’s Birthday is celebrated every year on February 12th. Abraham Lincoln was President (7)…the Civil War (1861- 1865). He led the fight to keep the nation together and to free the slaves. His life ended tragically. He was killed in the theatre during the performance soon after the victory of the North. In honour of this great man a beautiful memorial (8)… in Washington, DC.

On New Year’s Day at midnight many people go outside and shout ’Happy New Year!’ Some people (9)…fireworks and blow automobile horns. Everybody exchanges presents and good wishes. In New York, a lot of people gather in Times Square, and watch the ’Big Apple’ fall. It is a moving picture of an apple on the side of the big building in Times Square. Every New Year’s Eve during the last (10)…seconds before the midnight it starts to ’fall down’ the building, and when it gets to the bottom it’s the start of the New Year.

Labour Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September. On this day workers make a public show with marches, meetings, etc. It also marks the beginning of the school year and the end of summer.

0	A the greatest	Bthe greater	Ca greatest	Dmost great
1	A sighed	Bsigned	Csung	Dsight
2	A celebrating	B celebrated	C celebrate	Dcelebrates
3	A to	Bby	Cfrom	Dwith
4	A memorial	B remind	C memory	Dmemorandum
5	A elected	Bselected	Cchosen	D picked up
6	A of	Bafter	C by	Dwithin
7	A during	Bfor	Cwhile	Dsince
8	A has been built	B has built	C have been built	Dhas building
9	A set of	Bset off	Cthrow	D pop
10	A a few	Blittle	Cfew	Da little