The White House

The White House is the residence of the president of the United States of America. It is situated in Washington, D. C. The White House was the first public building which was built in the capital of the USA. Its cornerstone was laid in 1792 nearly one year before George Washington laid the cornerstone for the Capitol Building.

Architect James Hoban submitted plans for the building and received a 500 dollar prize for his work.

In 1800 President John Adams and his wife moved into the building. At the beginning of the 19th century it was a light-grey structure made of sandstone. The construction of the building hadn't been completed by that time. There were almost no conveniences in the house. There were no bathrooms and water was carried by hand into the house from a spring which was five blocks away.

Work continued on the structure when Thomas Jefferson was elected president. In 1814 the building caught on fire. The interior was reduced to ashes, part of the outer walls were destroyed and the remaining walls were blackened. Later the building was reconstructed and reopened in 1818. Its light-grey sandstone exterior was painted white to cover the effects of the fire. It has been white ever since. Some people think it was from its white walls that the home of the president of the USA got its name. Other people believe that it got its name earlier, when it was still grey. Even then its grey sandstone walls looked white next to the red brick walls of other public buildings. Nevertheless the president's home was officially named the White House in 1902.

Impressions of Modern Architecture

You ask what I think of modern architecture. I don’t know very much about modern architecture in Europe, but styles are probably similar in most countries today. This is because now architects have no opportunities they had in the past.

They are seldom asked to design buildings like wonderful churches and cathedrals of the Middle Ages. Architects today have to design schools, hospitals and huge blocks of flats and offices. If they are asked to make plans for houses, they are usually all alike or nearly alike.

Boxes- that’s what a good deal of modern architecture reminds me of. The blocks of flats in our big towns are huge boxes, whether the fronts and sides are square or oblong. A man who lives in one of these boxes works in another big box, high up in the air.

Architects have done some very good work in designing new schools. Many of them are prefabricated, which means that as much of the building work as possible is done not on the building site, but in factories where mass production methods can be used. The parts are taken to the site and put together there.

Modern buildings look like boxes from the outside, but when we go inside, we find them very well planned for their purposes. An architect today has to be an engineer too.

A lot of interesting architectural work has been done in Scandinavia, and, of course, we’ve read about the work of Le Corbusier in France and it’s interesting to see what American architects are doing now. You may know the work of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He designed the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. It was designed to resist earthquakes and it proved so strong that it did. It was one of the few buildings in Tokyo that did not fall in the terrible earthquake of 1923.

СПИСОК ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ

1. Headway Intermediate. Oxford, 1997.

2. Murphy R. English Grammar in Use. M., 1997.

3. O’Sullivan D., Swan M., Wasltre C., The New Cambridge English Course, Cambridge, 1997.

4. Soars J., Soars L., Headway, Intermediate, Oxford University Press, 1995.

5. Alexander, L.G., Longman English Grammar, Longman, 1997.

6. Murphy, R., English Grammar in Use, Cambrige, University Press, 1997.

7. Murphy, Essential Grammar in Use. A self-study reference and practice book for elementary students of English, Second edition, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

8. R. Hartly, P. Viney, Streamline English, An Intensive English course for Beginners, Student’s Edition, Oxford University Press.

9. P. Viney, Streamline English, Directions, Workbooks A, B, 1995.

10. Follow Me, BBC English, Сопроводительное учебное пособие к видеокурсу английского языка. М., 1995.

11. Headway, Workbook and Student Book, Elementary or Pre-Intermediate Level.

12. Eastwood J. Oxford Practice Grammar, Oxford University Press, 1999.

13. Васильев К. An English Grammar. Грамматика английского языка в таблицах. Учебное пособие. Санкт-Петербург: «Мим-Экспресс», 1996.

14. Винокурова Е.А., Шпаргалкина Л.О. «Изучайте английский, не пересекая Ла-Манш». – М., 1991.

15. Качалова К.Н., Израилевич Е.Е. English. Практическая грамматика английского языка с упражнениями и ключами. М.: ЮНВЕС ЛИСТ, 1996.

16. Миньяр-Белоручева А.П. Topics. – «Московский лицей», 1999.

17. Мусихина О.Н., Гисина О.Г., Яськова В.Л. Английский язык для строителей. – Р.-на-Д.: Феникс, 2004.

18. Строительные материалы. МУ для студентов II курса. – Воглгоград, 1999.

19. Хорнби А.С. Оксфордский интенсивный английский для взрослых. В 3 кн. М.: АО «Буклет», 1994.

20. Эккерсли К.Э. Учебник английского языка. Русская версия. Выборг, 1991.

Учебное пособие

Борисова Татьяна Васильевна

Учебно-методическое пособие по английскому языку

для студентов 1 курса

Редактор: А.И. Сапожников

Технический редактор: В.Г. Чижова

Компьютерный набор: В.Г. Чижова, Р.С. Борисов, И.С. Прилепина

Лицензия ЛР № 040842 от 02.05.97г.

Подписано к печати Формат 60х90/16

Печать офсетная. Уч. изд. л. 6. Тираж – 45. Заказ №

Отпечатано в типографии АИСИ, 414056, г.Астрахань, ул. Татищева, 18.

Тел./факс 251468; e-mail: buildinst@mail.ru

73