Visiting washington's sights

Washington's street plan may seem very complicated to a visitor. Fortunately for sightseers, all the main buildings that make the city so interesting are to be found in groups. The Capitol Hill group is perhaps the most important, if you are interested in the law-making center of the United States. The first port of call for you is the Capitol, with its great Hall of Representatives and Senate Chamber.

If any branch of the arts has first appeal, you may again start with the Capitol; from its towering dome and white marble-columned peristyle and porticoes through its Statuary Hall, the great building offers a good collection of art.

You can walk around to the back of the Capitol and look across Union Square, all the way down to the Washington Monu­ment and beyond to the Lincoln Memorial with its Reflecting Pool, all in perfect alignment with the Capitol on a long diagonal. Pennsylvania Avenue leads off to the right to the White House. Above all, you will want to make a tour of the White House, to see its rooms and grounds; you will want to take a closer look at the 55-foot obelisk that is the Washington Monument and proba­bly go up to its 500-foot level; you will want to stop at the end of the Reflecting Pool near 17th Street and see the Lincoln Memorial from there, then go closer, until you come right up to the foot of the great statue; then go on across the Potomac to Arlington Na­tional Cemetery, where the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is lo­cated.

Many tourists come to Washington every summer to see the nation's capital. Let us get acquainted with some of its sights.

Vocabulary

Adams, John Quincy (1767–1848) –6-й президент США в 1825 – 1829 гг.

Executive Mansion –название Белого Дома в XIX в.

lot =plot of land –участок (земли)

Arlington Cemetery – Арлингтонское кладбище, расположенное в пригороде Вашингтона.

UNIT 6

WASHINGTON, D. C. (II)

THE CAPITOL

The Capitol is the seat of the US Congress. Building of the Capitol in Washington, D. C., was begun in 1793. Its cornerstone was laid by the President amid great pomp. Music sounded and artillery fired salutes as George Washington declared the stone "well and truly laid".

In 1800 the building was partly completed, and Congress, re­moving from Philadelphia, met here, for the first time in the new capital. Here the manifold political forces affecting the destinies of the land met in dramatic conflicts.

The Capitol Building dominates all Washington. It stands on the crest of a hill rising above the Potomac River. The site was chosen by Pierre L'Enfant when he sought to lay out the capital. The Capitol consists of a central building crowned by a great dome and connected at each end by galleries with a large wing. The north wing contains the Senate Chamber, and the south wing — the House of Representatives.

The great central dome appears too heavy for the low facade. Topping the dome is the 19-foot bronze statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford. She watches, calm and unruffled, over all the things that are done in her name in the building below. The36columns which surround the lower part of the dome represent the states in the Union at the time this impressive structure was de­signed. Beneath the dome is a monumental hall called the Ro­tunda, decorated with works of art relating to American history.

Both chambers of the Congress are open to public, they have visitors' galleries, there is a special gallery for foreign diplomats. Special places are set aside for press, radio and TV representa­tives. Inside the Capitol, among the most precious relics of the past, the original of the Declaration of Independence may be seen. The names of those who had signed it are hardly visible except John Hancock's bold signature, written so that the King of England might read it witliout his spectacles.

Inaugurations of presidents and vice-presidents are held in front of the Capitol.

THE WHITE HOUSE

It is a moot question in Washington whether the Capitol or the White House holds first interest. As the residence of the President, perhaps the White House has the edge. Every Presi­dent except Washington lived there.

The Executive Mansion, as it was originally known, is the old­est public structure in the city. The cornerstone was laid on Octo­ber 13, 1792, on the 300th anniversary of Columbus's landing at San Salvador. It was in the same year that James Hoban, an Irish-American, won a prize of 500 dollars offered for the best design of the "President's House", according to L'Enfant's desig­nation.

The home of the president of the United States gets its name from its white walls. But the White House wasn't always white, its original color was grey. During the war of 1812-1814 the British burned most of the public buildings in Washington, in­cluding the President's Palace. Its walls were still standing, but the sandstone was so streaked with water and smoke that it seemed best to paint it white to cover the scars of a fire. That done, it began to be called the "white house". It has been white ever since. During the administration of Theodore Roosevelt "White House" appeared on the President's stationery and the term became official.

Thousands of Americans flock to visit President's home and office. They are admitted to see the Green Room; the Blue Room, where ambassadors and ministers of foreign countries are re­ceived; the State Dining Room and the East Room, used for pub­lic receptions. The Oval Office — the President's Office — is in the west wing of the White House.

FORT WASHINGTON

Fort Washington was constructed at the beginning of the 19th century for the protection of the new Capital City from British naval vessels. In 1808 the Government allocated funds for the defense of the ports and harbors of the United States. Land on the Maryland shore of the Potomac opposite Mount Vernon was bought from the Digges family of Warburton as a site for a fort. Work on the first Fort Washington or Fort Warburton, as it was then called, was soon begun and by December 1, 1809, was re­ported completed.

Fort Washington stood only 5 years. On August 24, 1814, the British defeated the Americans in the Battle of Bladensburgh, and captured Washington. There, they burned the Capitol, the White House, and most of the other public buildings. British ships, moving up the Potomac to cooperate with their land forces, reached Fort Washington on August 27 and destroyed it.

On September 8, 1814, only 12 days after the destruction of the first Fort Washington, Acting Secretary of War James Monroe requested the French engineer, Pierre L'Enfant, who had de­signed the National Capitol in 1791, to reconstruct the destroyed fortification. L'Enfant began work on a new water battery and wharf, but he was requested to submit regular reports on the work in progress, and to prepare detailed plans of the new fort for the War Department. The temperamental French engineer was greatly offended by these requests. So in September, 1815, L'En­fant was dismissed. During the years that followed, construction of the new fort progressed steadily under the direction of Captain T. W. Maurice. In October, 1824, the fort was almost completed "in exact accordance with the plans". It had cost more than 426,000 dollars.

The fort has been little changed since 1824. The fortification is entered by a drawbridge across the dry moat. Its water bat­tery and two bastions are still in an excellent state of preserva­tion. From there guns could deliver a devastating fire against an enemy fleet on the Potomac. Numerous visitors come to Fort Washington to see this outstanding example of an early 19th-century coastal defense.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

The Smithsonian Institution is almost everything: scientific institutes, art galleries, zoos — all the result of a capricious gift from an Englishman who never saw America in his life. James Smithson, the illegitimate child of Hugh Percy, Duke of North­umberland, had a brilliantly successful career as a chemist and mineralogist. He died in 1829 and left all his fortune (half a mil­lion dollars — a very large sum in those days) to the United States to found "an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men". Besides, he wanted his name to "live in the memory of man when the titles of the Northumberlands and the Percys are extinct and forgotten". People sometimes affectionately call the Smithsonian Institution the "nation's attic", because it contains such odd items as George Washington's mess kit and tent, the stuffed horse of a Civil War general and a collection of dresses worn by the wives-of past US Presidents.

The Smithsonian Institution has a lot of duties. It administers the US National Museum, National Collection of Fine Arts, Na­tional Zoological Park, Bureau of American Ethnology, National Air Museum, Astrophysical Observatory, International Exchange Service, Canal Zone Biological Area, and Freer Gallery of Art. The National Gallery of Art is also included in the Smithsonian Group but it is administered by a separate board of trustees.

The Smithsonian Institutionis also an important publishing centre.

DIFFERENT WASHINGTONS

As you walk along the streets of the USA's capital, you will see different cities within the city. There is a Washington of politics and lobbyists. Its inhabitants move from the Capitol to the House and Senate office buildings nearby, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, then by taxicab swiftly back to the Capitol.

There is a Washington of government girls. It is centred at office buildings on Constitution Avenue or 15th Street, and is dedi­cated to the "great god paperwork". It is a Washington of hurried lunches, of packed trolley cars, of bus rides to residential districts across the Potomac River in Arlington, of Sunday afternoons at the zoo adjoining Rock Creek Park. There is a Washing­ton of "Society" in Georgetown and along Massachusetts Avenue.

The newspaperman's Washington is a composite of all these cities. Hundreds of reporters are continually visiting the Capitol and White House, the court-rooms, the offices of department heads and the national headquarters of labour unions and business associations. It is a place where big money is made, but it is not a centre of commerce and industry.

Tourists usually see only one and smaller city — Washington North West and its suburbs in Maryland or Virginia where pros­perous people live. These places are inhabited by few privileged.

But Washington has another place, one that is not part of its diplomatic image or its institutional face. The slums to which you will not be taken are sad indeed. They have made this "centre of the Western world" uneasy and unstable; the prisons behind them are overcrowded. Few people realize that Washington is a pre­dominantly Negro city (over 70 per cent of its population are Negroes). This larger Washington is composed of people who have come to the capital in the hope of escaping poverty, degradation and race discrimination.

FIVE DIFFERENT WASHINGTONS

There are at least five different Washingtons and each has its supporters who earnestly believe that theirs is the only true Washington.

The first is Washington-the-Capital, an official city of great monuments and memorials, of vast bureaucracies housed in buildings of neoclassical or modern Congressional Grotesque de­sign. Over 43 per cent of the land of the District is occupied by the Federal Government. This is the Washington of the Federal reservation.

The second is Old Washington, the sleepy Southern town of ceiling fans, sleeping porches, devoted Negro servants and old families who were actually born here. Old Washington is dying off now.

The third is Washington-the-Town-of-Terror, "The Crime Capital of the World", a horror of racial mixing producing vio­lence too terrible to speak of.

The fourth Washington is University-Washington, the north­west section of pleasant homes on tree-lined streets, where almost everyone is white, well-educated, and has a high income.

The fifth Washington is Negro Washington, largely low-income and low-education, though the city has a relatively large number of professional and middle-to-upper-income Negro fami­lies. But the majority of the Negro population lives in badly over­crowded row houses, its children go to decrepit schools, sepa­rated from and largely unseen by the other Washingtons.

Vocabulary

Hancock, John (1737 –1793) –государственный деятель США, первым подписавший Декларацию независимости

a moot question –спорный вопрос

to flock –стекаться

drawbridge –подъемный мост

moat –ров (с водой)

mess kit –вещевой мешок

trustee –опекун

Georgetown –фешенебельный жилой район Вашингтона, в котором живут многие члены правительства

composite –смесь

predominantly –в основном

row houses –одноквартирные дома, составляющие ряды домов

decrepit –дряхлый, ветхий

UNIT 7

GREAT BRITAIN.

THE LAND (PHYSICAL BACKGROUND) (I)

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION. TERRITORY

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK for short) is situated on a group of islands lying off the north-west coast of Europe. The total area of the country is 94217 sq. miles (244021 sq. km) of which nearly 99 % is land and the remainder inland water. The UK is a small country. It is twice smaller than France or Spain. The UK's territory is 2 % of the inhabited territory of the world, claiming the 75th place among other countries.

The northernmost point of the UK is in latitude 60° North and the southernmost part of Britain is in latitude 50° North. The prime meridian of 0° (or the zero longitude line) passes through the old Observatory of Greenwich in London. The time in every country in the world is calculated from this line.

Of all the islands comprising the territory of the UK, Great Britain is the largest, being the biggest island in Europe and the 7th largest in the world. It is 300 miles (483 km) across at its widest, 60 km at its narrowest and 600 miles (966 km) long at its longest.

The second largest island is Ireland, which lies to the west of Great Britain and is separated from it by the North Channel and the Irish Sea. The total area of 6 counties, making Northern Ireland, covers 5452 sq. miles (14120 sq. km). Among the smaller coastal islands forming administrative counties of the UK are the Isle of White, situated off the southern coast of England, the Isles of Scilly — off the extreme south-west and Anglesey — off north of Wales.

Western Scotland is fringed by numerous islands — the Hebrides. To the north and far north of Scotland are the important groups of the Orkneys and the Shetlands. All these islands have administrative ties with the mainland. But two islands the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and the Channel Islands in the English Channel, lying south of England and forming an archipelago, have a large measure of administrative autonomy and strictly are not part of the UK but are dependencies of the Crown.

THE SEAS

Great Britain is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the north, north-west and south-west. From the European continent it is separated by the North Sea, the Straight of Dover (Pas de Calais) and the English Channel (La Manche — a French name meaning ''a sleeve"). The North Sea and the English channel are often called the Narrow Seas. On the west Great Britain is separated from Ireland by the Irish Sea, the North Channel and St. George's Channel. The most important sea routes pass through the English Channel and the North Sea linking Europe with America.

Great Britain is very irregularly shaped, being deeply indented by numerous gulfs of the sea. Owing to the numerous bays and inlets no point in Great Britain is as much as 75 miles (121 km) from the sea.

The seas surrounding the British Isles are rather shallow — less than 91m because the islands lie on the continental shelf. It can be proved by the fact that to the north-west along the edge of the shelf the sea floor plunges abruptly from 183 m to 914. The shallow waters are important because they provide excellent fishing grounds as well as breeding grounds for fish.

The original connection of the British Isles with the continent can be further proved by the fact that the chalk ridge which ends in the cliffs of Dover reappears on the coast of France opposite, and the position and quality of the coal layers beneath the chalk in Kent have very much in common with those in northern France.

Still further proof of the continental origin of the British Isles are the remains of elephants and extinct species of other animals and plants found in Britain. They help to establish the dates when the British Isles became separated from the continent. The remains of elephants prove that the English channel was formed after these animals had reached the continent. Obviously, in the Ice age the first human inhabitants of Britain were able to migrate from the continent on foot long before man learned boatmaking.

THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

The English Channel which separates Great Britain from France stretches 350 miles from the Atlantic ocean to the North Sea. It is 120 miles at its widest point and only 21 miles (36 km) at its narrowest. One can see the white cliffs of Dover from the French coast on a clear day. This may explain the origin of the old romantic name given to Britain —Albion.

The British Channel is one of the busiest and most dangerous shipping routes in the world. Half of all the world's ship collisions take place between the Western end of the Channel and the Baltic. There is a strong tide running up the Channel from the south, and another coming down from the north. These two tidal movements meet near the mouth of the Thames, creating very strong currents.

Also there is a huge sand mountain called the Goodwin Sands in the Channel. It is 30 km long and 13 km wide. The mountain of sand constantly moves and sucks ships into it. For centuries the Channel has been Britain's defence against invaders. And it has also been the way to the Continent, a highway crowded with ships.

Several armies of swimmers have crossed the Channel by balloon, canoe, rowing-boat, parachute water-skis and swimming. It presents a challenge even to the strongest swimmer as the tides and currents make it difficult for a swimmer to stay on course and swim in a straight line. The manoeuvres to avoid the currents more than double the distance. The first person to swim the Channel in 1875 was captain Matthew Webb. He landed in France 21 hours and 45 minutes after entering the water at Dover. Since then almost 4000 people have tried, but less than 400 have succeeded. The water in the Channel is usually cold, there is oil on the surface and there are lots of jelly-fish under the water. The swimmers cover their bodies with grease to protect their bodies. They are fed by men who accompany them in small boats. The Channel swimmer loses about 7 kg of his weight during the swimming. But swimming enthusiasts are not stopped by the difficulties. Their purpose is not only to cross the Channel, but to set a new record. An Englishman called Michael Read swam the Channel 31 times. The fastest time was 7 hours 40 minutes. The youngest person to swim was an 11-year-old boy. It took him almost 12 hours to swim across in September 1988.

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL

The idea of a tunnel under the sea between Britain and France has been put forward a number of times over the last 200 years. Even Napoleon had a plan to dig a tunnel and conquer England. On several occasions constructions were actually started.

One of the first people who tried to dig a tunnel under the Channel was a French mining engineer, Albert Matnieu by name. His tunnel collapsed. In 1881 Colonel Beamont and Captain English from Britain also tried to dig a tunnel. Their tunnel went 6 km out into the Channel. Queen Victoria stopped them saying it was dangerous to have a link with France. It was a very good tunnel and it still survives today.

The latest abandoned project was that of 1975. In 1987 a new Anglo-French group called Eurotunnel was chosen to construct a system which was to link the road and railworks of Britain and France. The Channel, as it is commonly known, was opened on May 6, 1994. It took 10 years to build it. There are two rail tunnels and a service and security tunnel, each nearly 50 km long. Lorry and car drivers take their vehicles onto special trains and stay inside their lorries and cars for the 20 minutes journey through the tunnel. Foot passengers sit in a normal train compartment. Direct trains already run from London to Paris and Brussels. Trains, which carry moto vehicles as well as passengers can travel through the tunnel at speeds as high as 160 km per hour (100 m/h). There is also a possibility that a separate road tunnel for cars and lorries will be built in the future. The tunnel is the largest undersea tunnel in the world.

RIVERS

The rivers of Britain are very short. Their direction and character are determined by the position of the mountains. Most of the rivers flow in the eastward direction since the west coast is mountainous.

Due to the humid climate the water-level is always high. The rivers seldom freeze in winter, most of them remain ice-free but they are not navigable for ocean ships.

The most important rivers are the Severn (354 km), the Thames (346 km), the Trent, the Aire, the Ouse, the Clyde, the Tweed, the Tees, the Tyne, the Tay, the Eden.

TheTay is the longest river in Scotland (118 miles). Part of the border between Scotland and England is along the lower reaches of theTweed, near which the woolen fabric bearing the same name is produced. TheSevern flows along the border between England and Wales. The longest river of Britain makes only 1/20 of the Amazon — the longest river in the world (3600 miles). One of its tributaries is theAvon with its Stratford, glorified by Shakespeare. The swiftest flowing river in the British Isles is theSpey flowing across the southern Highlands of Scotland.

LAKES

British lakes are rather small and remote with no outlets, so they afford limited economical possibilities in the system of navigable water-ways. The largest of them are Lough Neagh in north-east Ireland, Lough Lomond near Glasgow and Lough Ness near Inverness in Scotland.

Lakeland, or the Lake District, is in the Pennine system in the north-west of England. The 16 major long and narrow lakes lie snugly among the steep slopes of Highlands near Scotland. This remarkable place is known through the world for its beautiful deep lakes, its plunging waterfalls and emerald meadows. It is outstanding for walking, climbing, sailing and boating.

This district is also known for its association with the history' of English literature and in the first place with the name of William Wordsworth (1770-1859), the founder of the Lake School of poets. His home and Lakeland scenes still inspire great poetry.

Vocabulary

to be fringed – быть окаймленным

to be deeply indented – быть сильно изрезанным

inlet– узкий морской залив

to plunge – нырять

jelly-fish – медуза

snugly – уютно, аккуратно, чисто

steep slopes – крутые склоны

UNIT 8

GREAT BRITAIN.

THE LAND (PHYSICAL BACKGROUND) (II)

RELIEF