I. Ответьте на вопросы:

1. Whom were the first settlements on the river Thames founded by?

2. What has remained in England from the times of the Romans?

3. Where was the Roman wall discovered?

4. White Tower. Why was it called so?

5. What people were imprisoned there?

2. Определите, правильны или неправильны следующие утверждения.

1. The Romans have left excellent roads in Britain.

2. The White Tower was surrounded with 3 rows of walls.

3. The Tower is not a museum now.

4. The White Tower was the royal residence.

III. Какие прилагательные используются для описания Тауэра (Tower)?

IV. Задайте вопросы к имеющимся ответам.

1. The Romans returned to the continent.

2. The earliest historical monument is the Tower of London.

3. The White Tower was surrounded with a double row.

4. Now it is a museum.

V. Закончите предложения.

1. The White Tower was the royal ...

2. The dark water of the Thames ...

3. The White Tower was surrounded ...

VI. Найдите и переведите предложения в Present Perfect Tense, в Passive Voice .

STRADFORD

1. Stradford, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, is a very interesting town, right in the centre of England .Stradford – upon – Avon possesses a peculiar English character, derived from it, unique heritage of natural setting history and literary associations. Year by year the fame of its long established Shakespeare Festivals spreads as increasing number of visitors from all parts of the world come to enjoy the plays of the greatest dramatist of all times in the setting of his native town.

2. Originating as a river – crossing settlement, Stradford – upon Avon has served as the market centre of the surrounding countryside since 1196. Stradford is quite a busy town, especially on market day when the farmers from the countryside round Stradford come to buy or sell cows or pigs or sheep. Since 1553 Stradford has remained a self-governing borough.

3. Apart from Shakespeare, present day Stradford has small light industries, such as beer-brewing, fruit-canning, the making of wad sings and aluminium goods; various crafts and trades which are associated with agriculture and marked gardening; the farmer’s insurance business.

4. Stradford is a town with a character and atmosphere of its own. Apart from the beauty of its river – the winding Avon – and lovely houses, black and white with thatched roofs, its streets and buildings preserve many links with its interesting past. Most famous are the properties and gardens associated with Shakespeare and his family which are preserved as a memorial to the poet.

5. The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre is the centre of the Avon, the brick-built theatre was erected in 1932 to the design of miss Elizabeth Scott to replace an earlier theatre which was destroyed by the fire. It is without doubt one of the best equipped theatres and its Shakespearean productions attract an international audience.

6. Shakespeare’s statue stands on the Bancroft, commanding the approach to Stradford from Clopton Bridge which with its fourteen arches was build at the end of the fifteenth century by Hugh Clopton, native of the town . The statue of the bard with its figures of Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Falstaff and Prince Hall* is imposing, indeed.

7. The House in Henley Street where Shakespeare was born in 1564 and spent his early years is a half-timbered building* of a type common in Elizabethan Stradford.

NOTES:

• Prince Hall – Prince Henry, the future King Henry VI.

• Half – timbered building – a building having walls made of timber France with spaces filled with other material (e.g. with masonry or plaster). Property has undergone some careful restoration, its essential features remain unchanged. The interior of Shakespeare’s Birthplace contains many features of unusual interest. The poet’s birthroom on the first floor is a fascinating room with a low, uneven ceiling and is furnished after the pattern of a middle-class home such as the Shakespeare family occupied.

Lots of people who had visited the houses had written their names on the walls, among the names were Walter Scott, Dickens, Thackeray and others.