Some Glimpses of London

      Some Glimpses of London

      London is the capital of the United Kingdom and the mother city of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is the seat of one of the world's oldest parliamentary governments, a great industrial city, an international center of finance, and a huge port. With an area of 659 square miles (1,706 square kilometers), Greater London is one of the world's largest metropolitan areas. More than 7,556,900 mln people live in London and its suburbs.

London is situated on the river Thames. It divides the city into two large parts – the West End and The East End. London consists of four important sections:  the West End and The East End, the City and the Westminster.           

       The heart of London is the City of London. It's commercial and and business centre. Banks and offices are located in this part of London. Most of the streets are narrow here and the traffic is slow. It is the oldest part  of the town, with the Tower of London, that comes first among the historic buildings of the City. If you want to get some glimpses of London, it's just from here you had better start  sightseeng. The Tower of London was founded by Julius Caesar and in 1066 rebuilt by William the Conqueror. It was used as a fortress, a palace and a prison. Now it is a museum of armour; but in present, just as many centuries ago, the ceremony of the keys takes place at its gates. Every night when the guard is changed, there is a cry: "Halt! Who goes there?" Then the guard replies:"The Keys",-"Whose Keys?" – "Queen Elizabeth's Keys". – "Pass, Queen Elizabeth's Keys! All is well". And so the Tower of London is safely closed for the night.            Westminster Abbey

St. Paul's Cathedral

A twenty minutes walk from the Tower will take you to another historic building – St. Paul's Cathedral, the greatest of English churches. It was built by a famous English architect, Sir Christopher Wren.(1632 -1723). St. Paul's Cathedral with its huge dome and rows of columns is considered to be a fine specimen of Renaissance architecture. In one of its towers hangs one of the largest bells in the world, Great Paul, weighing about 17,5 tons. Nelson and other great people of Cathedral

England are buried in the

       Not far away, in Westminster, another important part of London where most of the Government  buildings are situated is Westminster Abbey. Many outstanding English statesmen, painters and poets: Newton, Darwin, Dickens, T. Hardy, Kipling, Tennyson among them, are buried there.

Across the road from Westminster Abbey is Westminster Palace, the seat of the English Parliament. Its two graceful towers stand high above the city. The higher of the two contains the largest clock in the country and the famous Big Ben that strikes every quarter in hour.

If  now we walk along Whitehall where the chief Government offices are to be found, we shall soon come to Trafalgar square. It was so named to memorize the victory at the battle of Trafalgar, where on October 21 1805 the English fleet under Nelsons command the combined fleet of France and Spain. The victory was won at the cost of Nelson's life. In the middle of Trafalgar Square stands Nelson's monument, a tall column with the figure of Nelson at top. The column is guarded by four bronze lions.

The fine building facing the square is the National Gallery and adjoining it is the Portrait Gallery.

Not far away is the British Museum, the biggest museum in London and one of the biggest in the world. It possesses a unique and valuable collection of original ancient sculptures – Egyptian, Greek and Roman of ancient manuscripts, coins, pictures, etc. It is also famous for its library, one of the richest in the world. In the large circular reading-room many outstanding scholars and scientists used to work.

Of the public libraries to be found in London one should perhaps mention Mudie's library. It was founded in 1842 by Charles E.Mudie and gained wide popularity. It was one of the first libraries in London to lend books for home use.

The British are a nation of newspaper readers. Fleet street is famous as the home of the nation's newspapers, but only two of them - the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express - are still in Fleet Street.

The West End of London is an area of Central London, England, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, businesses, headquarters and the commercial West End theatres. Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross.^[1] Located to the west of the historic Roman and Mediaeval City of London, the West End was long favoured by the rich elite as a place of residence because it was usually upwind of the smoke drifting from the crowded City. It was also located close to the royal seat of power at Westminster, and is largely contained within the City of Westminster (one of the 32 London boroughs). Developed in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was originally built as a series of palaces, expensive town houses, fashionable shops and places of entertainment. The best cinemas, theatres, concert halls, famous shops, comfortable hotels, restaurants, large museums are situated here. And now if you have hardly any time left for further sightseeing, you cannot leave the city without visiting one more place of interest – Hide Park. Hyde Park with Kensington Gardens adjoining it in the west is the largest in London. When you are walking along its shady avenues, sitting on the grass, admiring its beautiful flower – beds or watching swans and ducks floating on the ponds, it seems almost unbelievable that all around there is a larege city with its heavy traffic and smoke.

Piccadilly Circus is the center of night life in the West End. It is actually quite small. To the north of Piccadilly Circus is Soho, which has been the foreign quarter of London since the 17 th century. There are many restaurants here.

The East End used to be the poorest part of London. The East End developed rapidly during the 19th century. Originally it was an area characterised by villages clustered around the City walls or along the main roads, surrounded by farmland, with marshes and small communities by the River, serving the needs of shipping and the Royal Navy. The area attracted large numbers of rural people looking for employment. It includes the Port, the docks stretching for miles and the great industrial areas, which depend on shipping. The workers and the unemployed live there. The East End is unattractive in appearance but it is very important in the country's commerce.

1.        Pre-reading assignments:

        Do you know that…?

     The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as the Commonwealth or the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-three independent member states. Most of them were formerly parts of the British Empire.

   The Commonwealth is not a political union, but an intergovernmental organisation through which countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status.

2. Could you name some places of interest in London?
3.  What London is famous for?
4. Use the following word-combinations in the sentences of your own.

To divide; to be situated; to consists of; to start sightseeng; to be founded; to be used as; used to do smth; to lend books for home use; to gain wide popularity;

5. Read the text and think over some questions to ask after reading it.             
6. Make up some questions.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

7. Find English equivalents of the following words in the text.

охрана; крепость; дворец; музей вооружения; весить; выдающиеся государственные деятели; высоко возвышаться над;  огромный купол; прекрасный образец; архитектура эпохи возрождения; правительственные учреждения; флот; одержать победу(завоевать); охраняться;  уникальная и ценная коллекция;  выдающиеся ученые; сельское население

8. Will you find the synonyms from column A to column B?

                    А                           В

fasionable –         to confront

to describe –        stylish

to contain –          prominent

outstanding –     to depict

to face –               to include

9. Complete the following sentences:

1. London is…
2. London is situated…
3. The heart of London…
4. The Tower of London…
5. St. Paul's Cathedral was built by…
6. Westminster Palace is …
7. The fine building facing the square …
8. The West End of London is …
9. If you have hardly any time left for further sightseeing…
10. Piccadilly Circus is the center …
11. The East End …

10. Agree or disagree:

1.

2.

3.

11.  Change the sentence using the Infinitive construction Complex Subject or Complex Object

1.      Greater London is one of the world's largest metropolitan areas.

2.      Banks and offices are located in this part of London.

3.      The Tower of London was founded by Julius Caesar and in 1066 rebuilt by William the Conqueror.

4.      Many outstanding English statesmen, painters and poets: Newton, Darwin, Dickens, T. Hardy, Kipling, Tennyson among them, are buried there.

5.      The victory was won at the cost of Nelson's life.

12. What places of interest would you like to visit if you were in London?

Eg. If I went to London I would visit….

      If I were in London I would start sightseeing from…

      If I had visited the British museum last year I would have seen/ learned/ got….

13. Express your own idea with "Wish - construction".

Eg. I wish I were in London.

             I wish I hadn't gone to the restaurant.

14. Make short reports on the following:

1.        The City of London.

2.        The West End

3.        The East End

4.        The Westminster