Обучение чтению и устной речи на английском языке по страноведческой тематике. Ч. 1. Лондон (160

5. It was built in a new gothic style after the fire in the mid of the 19th century. Today the house is divided into the tower and upper chambers – the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

e)

6. It was named after the famous battle on the Spanish land where admiral Nelson’s fleet defeated the French and Spanish navies. The place is dominated by the 55th meter high Nelson’s column.

f)

7. Busy London intersection and popular meeting place. Lying between the neighbourhoods of St. James (south) and Soho (north) in the borough of Westminster, it serves as the crossing of Coventry Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, Regent Street, and Piccadilly.

g)

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8. The coronations of all British monarchs have been taken place here since William the Conqueror in 1066.

h)

9. It is London’s most important and admired building and the seat of the British monarchy. In 1847 queen Victoria moved in her apartment of 600 room place.

i)

10. It is the oldest of all Royal Parks established by Henry VIII in 1532. It is reputed to be one of the most beautiful city places and attracts many artists.

j)

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Exercise 33. Choose the suitable proper name.

1.The City of London spreads along both sides of the river _______________

(Avon, Severn, Thames).

2.Downing Street 10 has been the official home of the British _______________

(king, president, Prime Minister) for more than 250 years.

3.The Tower of London was constructed in the 11th century by _______________

(William the Conqueror, Henry the VIII, Queen Victoria).

4. (Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square) _________________

is dominated by the high column in honor of admiral Nelson.

5.The coronations of all the British monarchs are taking place in _____________

(Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament).

6.On Piccadilly circus we can find a statue of ____________ (Queen Victoria, Eros, Henry VIII).

7.Covent Garden is _____________________ (London’s biggest market, Opera and ballet theatre, London’s museum).

8.Soho attracts tourists by ___________________ (hunting grounds, theaters, various restaurants and casinos).

9.In front of Buckingham Palace there is a memorial to ____________________

(William the Conqueror, Queen Victoria, Admiral Nelson).

10.Visitors can find more its history, and how it operates in the local museum of

____________________ (the National Gallery, Tower Bridge, Tower of London).

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SUPPLEMENT

Text 1. Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] — 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer.

After nine years of work, Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755; it had a far-reaching impact on Modern English and has been described as “one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship”. The Dictionary brought Johnson popularity and success. Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary, 150 years later, Johnson’s was viewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary.

Text 2. Double-decker bus

Double-decker bus

A double-decker bus is a bus that has two levels. While double-decker long-distance coaches are in widespread use around the world, double-decker city buses are less common. Double-decker buses are popular in some cities of Europe and in parts of Asia, usually in former British colonies. Some double-deckers specialise in short sight-seeing tours for tourists for, as William Gladstone observed, “the way to see London is from the top of a bus.” (Gladstone was referring to London’s once ubiquitous double-deck horse drawn omnibuses, rather than a motor bus.)

Text 3. London streets, Piccadilly Circus, China town

London streets

Names of streets and districts are often connected with the history of the country and the city. But very often names of streets are so old and so changed that only few people know how this or that street got its name.

People who read books by English writers, listen to the radio, see English films, can’t help knowing such names as Trafalgar Square, Soho, Piccadilly, Charing Cross, etc.

Let’s begin with Piccadilly Circus. It is a fine square which has seen much history over the centuries. For, generations Piccadilly has been the heart of London. Nowadays it is such a focal place that on special occasions, such as the Coronation or on New Year’s Eve, as many as 50,000 people gather there.

Actually it immortalized a man who is now forgotten. The man was a tailor who grew rich by making-high collars called “piccadillies”. He built a grand house which he called the Piccadilla Hall, and the name, slightly changed, has lived on.

Charing Cross is one the oldest spots in London. Once there was a small village in that place. The villagers were charing wood, making charcoal of it. That is why the village was named Charing. Centuries ago, an English Queen died outside London. Her

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husband wanted her body to he taken to Westminster Abbey and buried there. At every place where the funeral procession stopped, a wooden cross was erected. The last place was at Charing rand since then the place has been called Charing Cross.

A reproduction of that last cross can be seen at the entrance to Charing Cross Railway Station. Nowadays Charing Cross is known by its bookshops where one can buy books in different languages and of new and old editions.

No one, however, can explain “Soho” convincingly. The legend goes that in the old days there used to be green fields there and people around went foxhunting a great deal. When a hunter saw a fox, he called to the dogs “So-Ho”, “So-Ho”! Now Soho is the district where one can see people of different types and hear them speak different languages. It is famous for its different restaurants.

There are some short streets in Soho in which six or seven restaurants of different ethnic cuisine stand one after another in a line.

Piccadilly Circus

As a traffic hub and neon-lit gathering place, Piccadilly Circus attracts visitors from throughout the world, many of whom sprawl on the steps of its stone island, which is crowned by the 1893 aluminum statue of Eros (formally entitled the Angel of Christian Charity, it was built as a memorial to the 7th earl of Shaftesbury). The intersection’s first electric advertisements appeared in 1910, and from 1923 giant electric billboards were set up on the facade of the London Pavilion (then a theatre). Many of the surrounding buildings were redeveloped to house retail shops in the 1980s. The 19th century Criterion building was restored in the early 1990s. Within easy walking distance of Piccadilly Circus are the shops of Regent Street and the theatres of the West End. The area is the location of well-known nightclubs.

China town

At the start of the 20th century, the Chinese population of London was concentrated in that area, setting up businesses which catered to the Chinese sailors who frequented in Docklands. The area began to become known through exaggerated reports and tales of (legal) opium dens and slum housing, rather than the Chinese restaurants and supermarkets in the current Chinatown.

After the Second World War, however, the growing popularity of Chinese cuisine and an influx of immigrants from Hong Kong led to an increasing number of Chinese restaurants being opened elsewhere.

Text 4. Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square

Main plaza in the City of Westminster, London, named for Lord Nelson’s naval victory (1805) in the Battle of Trafalgar. Possibly the most famous of all London squares, Trafalgar Square has always been public and has had no garden. Seven major

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arteries pump automobiles around the great paved space, which is dominated by Nelson’s Column (1839–1843), a 185-foot- (56-metre-) high monument to Lord Nelson that includes a 17-foot- (5-metre-) high statue of him by E.H. Baily. At the corners of the column’s plinth are four bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer and cast by Baron Marochetti.

Trafalgar Square was constructed between the 1820s and ’40s on the site of the former King’s Mews. It is flanked by the National Gallery and the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. The Charing Cross intersection is adjacent to the south, and from it the avenue of the Strand runs off to the City to the east, where its name changes to Fleet Street.

Traditions associated with Trafalgar Square include political rallies, caroling (in December) around a large Christmas tree sent from Norway (donated since World War II), and boisterous New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Text 5. Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Palace and London residence of the British sovereign. It is situated within the borough of Westminster. The palace takes its name from the house built (1705) for John Sheffield, duke of Buckingham. It was bought in 1762 by George III for his wife, Queen Charlotte, and became known as the queen’s house. By order of George IV, John Nash initiated the conversion of the house into a palace in the 1820s. Victoria was the first sovereign to live there (from 1837).

Within the palace the Queen’s Gallery exhibits works from the royal art collection, including Fabergé eggs and drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. The changing of the guard takes place regularly (generally every morning from May through July and every other morning during the rest of the year), but the royal standard is flown over the palace only when the sovereign is in residence. Traditionally closed to the public, the State Rooms of the palace were opened to tourists during August and September in the mid-1990s in order to finance repairs to Windsor Castle, which was damaged by fire in 1992.

Text 6. Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament

Houses of Parliament

In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the seat of bicameral Parliament, including the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It is located on the left bank of the River Thames in the borough of Westminster, London.

A royal palace was said to have existed at the site under the Danish king of England Canute was built for Edward the Confessor in the 11th century and enlarged by William I (the Conqueror). In 1512 the palace suffered greatly from fire and thereafter ceased to be used as a royal residence.

St. Stephen’s Tower, 320 feet (97.5 metres) in height, contains the famous tower clock Big Ben. Along with Westminster Abbey and St. Margaret’s Church, the Houses of Parliament were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

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Westminster Abbey

One of the examples of Early English Gothic architecture, founded by Edward the Confessor in 1065. There all the English monarch have been crowned for over 600 years and many of them subsequently buried.

Some prime ministers, artists, poets, actors, authors, soldiers and politicians are also buried there. The tomb of the Unknown Warrior commemorates nearly a million who perished in the First World War.

The Coronation Chair is situated between the high after and the chapel of Edward the Confessor. The oak chair which was built by order of Edward I in 1300 to contain the legendary stone of scone, captured 4 years earlier in Scotland, has been used for every Coronation since 1300.

Text 7. The Tower of London, Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

Movable bridge of the double-leaf bascule (drawbridge) type that spans the River Thames between the Greater London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Southwark. It is a distinct landmark that aesthetically complements the Tower of London, which it adjoins.

The bridge was completed in 1894 and provides an opening 250 feet (76 metres) wide. Its twin towers rise 200 feet (61 metres) above the Thames. Between the towers stretch a pair of glass-covered walkways that are popular among tourists. The Tower Bridge was operated by hydraulic pumps driven by steam until 1976, when electric motors were put into operation; the steam power system is still kept (in good repair) as a tourist display. Because of the reduction in shipping at the London Docklands, however, the leaves are now seldom raised.

The Tower of London

The Tower of London dates from the Norman Conquest, before this had been used by the Romans, and later by the Saxons as a fortress. Romans, and later by the Tower has served many purposes: a fortress, a Royal Palace, a prison, a treasure, a mint, an arsenal, an observatory, a royal zoo. The oldest part is the White Hall was built by William the Conqueror in 1078.

Today it houses the unique collection of arms and armour, instruments of torture. The crown Jewels had been kept for many years in the Tower. The yeoman or “Beefeaters” are ex-army men are used mainly as guides. They are also involved in the security of this historic building Beefeaters wear dark-blue tunics with red braid (or red and yellow) (a uniform given to them in 1858). Raven have lived in the Tower from its very beginning over 900 years, and they are here now until the white Tower stands. People say that The Crown of England will fall if the ravens leave the Tower. The Revens of the Tower have been under Royal protection.

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PRESENTING A PAPER

Making a presentation. To make your presentation (report) clear and easy to understand remember the following.

1.Presentation is NOT an oral report read aloud.

2.Presentation CAN NOT be delivered as a written report. You should speak more slowly.

3.BEFORE introducing new information give the listener time to anticipate what kind of information is coming next.

4.Make a list of the most important items and arrange them logically.

5.Make a list of minor but interesting points.

6.Arrange the information in logical sequence.

7.Use the links between the points (the issues), the beginning and the end.

The following phrases can be used at different stages of your presentation.

Intr odu cin g the t opi c

To begin with, let’s consider …

During this short talk I’m going to …

This morning I’m going to … (talk about …)

Today I’d like to … (describe …)

The aim of my presentation is to … (explain …)

I’ve divided my presentation into … (three parts)

First, I’d like to … (give you a review of the project)

Then I’ll focus on …

After that we’ll deal with … (the technical aspects)

Finally, we’ll consider … (what new skills will be needed)

Intr odu cin g eac h sec tio n

So, let’s start with … (the objectives …)

Now let’s move on to … (the next part …)

I’d like to emphasize the fact that …

I wish I could agree with you but …

I think, you are entirely right …

I would object just a little …

I have doubts about …

It is worth mentioning the fact that …

Let us have a closer look at …

On the contrary …

I can tell you without any exaggeration …

Finally … (let’s consider …)

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Refe rri ng to i nfo rma tio n

This diagram shows …

Actually, I don’t know …

If you look at this graph you can see …

I’d rather not answer that, if you don’t mind …

I’d like to draw your attention to …

Summ ari zin g a se ctio n

In conclusion let me …

So, to summarize, the main idea of my report …

In closing (conclusion), I’d like to mention very briefly …

Are there any questions?

Could you be more specific about … ?

In addition, I would like to mention …

That brings me to the end of my presentation …

Since I am running out of time …

If you have any questions …

I’d like to express my gratitude to …

Give the English equivalent.

1. Тема моего сообщения …

2. В докладе я затрону следующие вопросы …

3.Цель моего сообщения — сделать обзор …

4.Мне интересна эта тема, так как …

5.Сначала я хотел бы дать общее описание …

6.Я хочу подчеркнуть тот факт, что …

7.Я хочу обратить ваше внимание на чертеж …

8.Позвольте дать пояснения …

9.С одной стороны, …, с другой стороны …

10.Это, в частности, справедливо для …

Distribute the speech patterns according to:

This is true for …

I am pleased to have this opportunity to …

In conclusion, let me say …

Let me give you my explanation of …

On the contrary …

The subject that I’ll discuss is …

I end this report with the description of …

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First of all I would like to …

Finally, I’d like to say a few words about … Let me begin with …

The object of this paper is … Let us have a closer look at … Since I am running out of time … It should be pointed out that …

The last part of my talk will be devoted to … The first think I’d like to talk about is …

It is worth mentioning the fact that …

In closing, I’d like to mention very briefly …

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