Муниципальное образовательное учреждение

средняя общеобразовательная школа №13

п. Цветочный Майкопский район РА

РЕФЕРАТ

LONDON SIGHTSEEING TOUR

 Работу выполнила

ученица 9  кл.

Савостина В.В.

Руководитель

Погосян Д.К.

2008г.

C o n t e n t s

Введение……………………………………………………………………………….3

Unit 1. London is the capital of Great Britain……………………………………….4-5

Unit 2. London’s  sights……………………………………………………………….6-19

Заключение……………………………………………………………………………20

References……………………………………………………………………………...21-23

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………24  

Введение.

« Вы говорите по-английски?» - с этой фразы начинается общение между людьми, которые говорят на разных языках и хотят найти общий язык для общения.

И очень хорошо, если вы слышите в ответ: «Да», - и начинаете разговор.  Людям разных стран приходится уживаться с прогрессом в мировой торговле и в технологиях и друг с другом.

Поэтому изучение иностранных языков очень помогает нам укрепить дружбу и взаимопонимание.

Актуальность данной работы заключается в изучении иностранного языка, как способа формирования высокой нравственности, развития эстетического вкуса, воспитании любви к Родине через познание культуры и характера различных народов, расширение страноведческого кругозора.

Сейчас английский очень популярен. Это язык компьютеров, науки, бизнеса, спорта и политики. На английском говорят во всем мире. Это официальный язык в Соединенном Королевстве, Ирландии, Соединенных  Штатах, Канаде, Австралии. Объектом изучения данной работы является столица Великобритании – Лондон. Предметом исследования являются достопримечательности Лондона.

Разговаривая на английском, можно читать газеты, журналы и произведения великих писателей в оригинале, смотреть спутниковые телевизионные передачи. Если вам нравится путешествовать, вы можете отправиться куда угодно, не боясь быть непонятыми остальными. Знание одного или двух или даже большего количества иностранных языков помогает людям из разных стран развивать взаимную дружбу и взаимопонимание. Посредством контактов с людьми другой культуры мы можем также развить наш интеллектуальный и культурный потенциал.  

Целью моей работы является расширение кругозора, развитие художественного вкуса, формирование национально-культурного компонента Великобритании.

Для достижения этих целей предполагалось осветить следующие задачи:

- изучение истории Лондона – столицы Великобритании;

- знакомство с достопримечательностями Лондона.

Структура данной работы состоит из введения, двух глав, заключения.

Существует поговорка: чем на большем количестве языков вы говорите, тем больше раз вы человек.

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Unit 1.

London is the capital of Great Britain.

London, the capital of Great Britain, is a very old town. It is two thousand years old. Many years ago London was a small town on the Thames. There were a lot of villages round it and after many years London and three hundred villages grew into a very large city. Some of the names of those villages you can find in the names of the streets in modern London—Kensington, Westminster and others.

When we think of Paris, Rome, Madrid, Lisbon and other European capitals, we think of them as ‘cities’. When we think of the whole of modern London, the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, that great area covering several hundred square kilometers, we do not think of it as ‘a city’, not even as a city and its suburbs. Modern London is not one city that has steadily become larger through the centuries; it is a number of cities, towns, and villages that have, during the past centuries, grown together to make one vast urban area.

London is situated upon both banks of the River Thames; it is the largest city in Britain and one of the largest in the world. Its population is about 7 million people.

London dominates the life of Britain. It is a big port and most important commercial, manufacturing and cultural centre. There is a little heavy industry in London, but there is a wide range of light industry in Greater London*.

 The City* extends over an area of about 2.6 square kilometers in heart of London. About half a million people work in the City but only less than 6000 live here. It is the financial centre of the UK with many banks, offices and the Stock Exchange*. But the City is also a market for goods of almost every kind, from all parts of the world.

The West End can be called the centre of London. Here are the historical palaces as well as the famous parks. Hyde Park with its Speaker’s Corner* is also here. Among other parks are Kensington Gardens*, St. James’s Park*. In the West End is Buckingham Palace* which is the Queen’s residence, and the Palace of Westminster* which is the seat of Parliament.

The best-known streets here are Whitehall* with important Government offices, Downing Street*, the London residence of the Prime Minister and the place where the Cabinet meets, Fleet Street* where most newspapers have their offices, Harley Street* where the highest-paid doctors live, and some others.

The name ‘West End’ came to be associated with wealth, luxury, and goods of high quality. It is the area of the largest department stores, cinemas and hotels. There are about 40 theatres, several concert halls, many museums including the British Museum*, and the best art galleries.

It is the west end that the University of London is centered with Bloomsbury*

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 as London’s student quarter.

Visitors with plenty of money to spend and who come chiefly for enjoyment are likely to pass most of their time in the West End.

The port of London is to the east of the City. Here were kilometers of docks,

and the great industrial areas that depended upon shipping. This is the east End of London, formerly unattractive in appearance, but now changing because of the introduction of new industries and very expensive housing.        

There were many wars in those days and people from other countries came to Great Britain and destroyed London, but new houses of stone grew up.

London stands not far from the sea and many ships from other countries came to the port of London and brought cotton, food and other things. Factories grew in London and other cities. Many shops were opened in the centre of London. In 1863 the first underground railway began to work. It was very short in those days.

Now London is a beautiful city with large squares and parks. London is one of the biggest cities in the world.

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Unit 2.

London’s  sights.

Trafalgar Square

We’ll start our journey through Westminster on Trafalgar Square. It honours Horatio Viscount Nelson (1758-1805), who went to sea aged 12, was an admiral at the age of 39 and after a string of sea triumphs was created Baron Nelson of the Nile before being killed as he defeated the French and Spanish at Trafalgar in 1805.

On the eastern end of the square is South Africa House, designed by Sir Herbert Baker in 1935. Across the square is Canada House designed by Sir Robert Smirke (1824-1827). Originally the mews for royal hawks, then royal stables, Trafalgar Square itself was laid out by the architect john Nash as part of the proposed north-south communication between Bloomsbury and Westminster and it was placed on the open space where the Strand and King Street met. King Street is what Whitehall was once called. Until Nash came along, it had been a jumble of houses. The work began in 1829, and it was cleared and completed in the 1840`s. incidentally, the famous cloverleaf fountains were remodeled at late as 1948. Nash died before the site was ready, and the plan was inherited by Sir Charles Barry.

After Lord Nelson’s tragic death at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 the grieving nation decided to erect a monument to the little hero, and the statue on top of the column is three times larger than life. The fluted granite column was built in 1840-43. It’s 185-feet (56-merre-) high. On the base of the column there are sculpted reliefs depicting Nelson’s victories against the French at St. Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen and, of course, Trafalgar itself. They are all made from captured French guns. The statue by E.H. Baily is 17 feet 4 inches high, so you can try to work out yourself how tall – or short – Lord Nelson was. At the corners of the column’s plinth are four magnificent bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer, added to the monument in 1868.

The north of the square was raised to resemble the poop deck of a man-of-war with the outer rail of stern bollards. If you stand there, you can get a wonderful view down Whitehall to Big Ben which dominates the skyline of West-minister at the far end. Behind this poop deck which runs along the whole north side of the square stands the National Gallery.

Standing in front of the column, you’re facing down Whitehall and on the south-west there’s the Admiralty Arch, a triumphal arch built in 1911 as part of the memorial to Queen Victoria. This marks the start of the Mall, the red-striped road that leads to Buckingham Palace.

One more thing to see on the square is the statue of Charles I, the only English king to be beheaded, in the middle of a small traffic island. The statue is contemporary, and during the Civil War it was hidden in the crypt of St. Paul’s, then sold off by Cromwell’s men to a brazier who kept it intact. It was put on its

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present place in 1675. Charles is facing the scene of his death and he can just see the statue of his arch enemy Oliver Cromwell which stands outside Parliament. All mileage from London is measured from that statue, from a plaque set in the pavement in front of it.

Nelson from his column seems to look at the old Admiralty building, his headquarters and the place where his body lay in state. It’s a Georgian building, dating from 1723, and has a small courtyard hidden from the street by a very attractive stone screen designed by the famous architect Robert Adam as well as arched entrance surmounted by roaring seahorses.

The Tower of London.

These words can be heard every night just before 10 o’clock. They mean that the Tower’s been locked up for the night. The Ceremony of the Keys is at least 700 years old.

What is the Tower?

The Tower of London is a very old building in London. It is nine hundred years old. The Tower of London stands on the Thames.

In the early days of the history of England the English kings lived in the Tower. Then it was a prison where many people died, black ravens had much food near the walls of the   Tower   in   those   years.

The Tower on the north bank of the Thames is one of the most ancient buildings of London. It was founded in the 11th century by William the Conqueror*. But each monarch left some kind of personal mark on it. For many centuries the Tower has been a fortress, a palace, a prison and royal treasury. It is now a museum of arms and armour, and as one of the strongest fortresses in Britain, it has the Crown Jewels*.

The grey stones of the Tower could tell terrible stories of violence and injustice. Many sad and cruel events took place within the walls of the Tower. It was here that Thomas More*, the great humanist, was falsely accused and executed. Among famous prisoners executed at the Tower were Henry VIII’s* wives Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

When Queen Elizabeth was a princess, she was sent to the Tower by Mary

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Tudor (‘Blood Mary’)* and kept prisoner for some time.

The ravens whose forefathers used to find food in the Tower still live here as part of its history. There is a legend that if the ravens disappear the Tower will fall. That is why the birds are carefully guarded.

The White Tower* was built by William the Conqueror to protect and controlled the City of London. It is the oldest and the most important building, surrounded by other towers, which all have different names.

The Tower is guarded by the Yeomen Warders*, popularly called ‘Beefeaters’. There are two letters, E.R., on the front of their tunics. They stand for the Queen’s

name Elizabeth Regina. The uniform is as it used to be in Tudor times*.

Their everyday uniform is black and red, but on state occasions they wear a ceremonial dress: fine red state uniforms with the golden and black stripes and the wide lace collar, which were in fashion in the 16th century.      

 The black ravens live in the gardens of the Tower now. The English people like them very much. A man looks after the ravens and gives them meat in the morn ing and in the evening.

Now the Tower of London is a museum and many peo ple from other countries come to see it. They see the dark stone halls with small windows and thick doors. The walls of the Tower are five meters thick. In the museum they can see many old guns.

     The Tower has been many things: a palace, a fortress, a place of execution, a Zoo. Today, it is best known as a historical museum. About 150 people and six ravens live here.

The Zoo

Kings sometimes get strange presents. About 700 years ago King Henry III got 3 leopards, 1 elephant and a polar bear. He kept them in the Tower. The elephant died after two years but the polar bear was happy as it went swimming and fishing in the Thames with a strong rope round its neck. That was the start of the London Zoo. In 1835 all animals left the Tower and were sent to the Zoo in Regent’s Park. Only the ravens stayed on.  

Ravens

There are always at least 6 ravens at the Tower. The first ones probably built their nests here because they liked the old stone houses and walls. There is a story that they bring good luck to Britain, if they stay at the Tower. That’s why they get “paid” meat and biscuits every day. But their wings are cut so that they can’t fly away.  

They are not friendly. Once one of them bit a German minister.

The Beefeaters*

The Beefeaters used to guard the Tower and its prisoners. Today they work mostly as guides. They show people around and tell stories about all the terrible things that have happened here. They still wear the high ruffs and scarlet tunics

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assigned to them during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Prison

The Tower was a royal palace long ago. Then it became a prison. Kings, queens and noblemen were locked up here. Many, like Lady Jane Grey, lost their heads on Tower Green inside the walls or nearby on Tower Hill. The last time it was used as a prison was during the Second World War when German spies were kept and sometimes shot there.

The Crown Jewels  

The Crown Jewels are shown in the Jewel House. They are well looked after. Once they were stolen by a men called Colonel Blood. But he was caught just as he was leaving the Tower. Thomas Blood didn’t have to go to prison. The king gave him a pension instead. It was in 1671.  

The Houses of Parliament

The Houses of Parliament constitute the most popular and widely spread image of London, known and recognized throughout the whole world. In this famous palace are also many meeting halls and vario is parliamentary offices.

The Palace of Westminster, together with Victoria Tower and the Clock Tower– which houses the most famous clock in the world, Big Ben – form an unmistakable architectural complex. But the Towers and the Houses of Parliament are not only associated architecturally, but also in the democratic spirit that rules the political life developed in the House of Commons, for, if Parliament is sitting – British parliamentary debates constitute an exemplary political spectacle – the flag flies on the top of Victoria Tower during the whole day. If the debates go on during the night – which quite often happens in the dynamic parliamentary life of Great Britain, especially if matters highly important for the nation are being discusses – a light burns above Big Ben in the Clock Tower. This light at night and the flag during the day-time signal for the people of London that the members of Parliament, each from his own political point of view, are watching over the nation’s interests.

The Houses of Parliament can be visited by the public. The entrance is through the door located at the foot of Victoria Tower and next to the Royal Arch. Visitors start at the royal Gallery and then do to the House of Lords. Here there is the historical Woolsack, where the Lord Chancellor takes his place to preside over the sittings. From here, visitors proceed towards the Central Corridor, crossing the Antechamber of the Lords. The historical frescos that decorate the walls of the Central Corridor are very interesting. Passing from here visitors arrive at the Antechamber of the Commons and then continue to the actual Commons itself.

At the end of the House of Commons is the Speaker’s Chair, on the right side of which the members of the parliamentary majority sit. The members of the groups that form the Opposition sit on the left, directly facing the Government benches.

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Another interesting point in the Houses of Parliament is St. Stephen’s Hall, which is decorated with very valuable frescos. From St. Stephen’s Hall one reaches Westminster Hall. It is one of the oldest buildings in London.

BIG   BEN

The Houses of Parliament is a very large building which stands near the Thames. There are two tall towers at the corners of the building and one of them is the Clock Tower.

The English people built the tower and the clock in 1858. The clock has four faces and a very big loud bell. The bell weighs 13 tons. The man in charge of the building was Sir Benjamin Hall. This man was very tall, and the workers and his friends called him Big Ben. So they called the bell Big Ben too. Sometimes people call the clock and the Clock Tower Big Ben.

The people of London who live near the Houses of Parliament can hear the sound of the bell every hour. Other people hear it on the radio. On the New Year’s night people come to the Clock Tower to see the New Year in.  

St. Paul’s Cathedral

St. Paul’s Cathedral is the work of the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren. It is said to be one of the finest pieces of architecture in Europe. Work on Wren’s masterpiece began in 1675 after a Norman church, old   St. Paul’s, was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. For 35 years the building of   St. Paul’s Cathedral went on, and Wren was an old man before it was finished.

From far away you can see the huge dome with a golden ball and cross on the top. The interior of the Cathedral is very beautiful. It is full of monuments. The most important, perhaps, is the one dedicated to the Duke of Wellington*. After looking round you can climb 263 steps to the Whispering Gallery*, which runs round the dome. It is called so, because if someone whispers close to the wall on one side, a person with his ear close to the wall on the other side can hear what is said. But if you want to reach the foot of the ball, you have to climb 637 steps.

As for Christopher Wren, who is now known as ‘the architect of London’, he found his fame only after his death. He was buried in the Cathedral. Buried here are Nelson, Wellington and Sir Joshua Reynolds*.

Those who are interested in English architecture can study all the architectural styles of the past 500 or 600 years in Cambridge. The Chapel of King’s College is the most beautiful buildings in Europe. It is built in the Perpendicular style*. Its foundation stone was laid in 1446, but it was completed sixty-nine years later. The interior of the Chapel is a single lofty aisle and the stonework of the walls is like lace. The Chapel has a wonderful fan-vaulting* which is typical of the churches of that time. We admire the skill of the architects and crafts-men who created all these wonderful buildings.  

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Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey is a fine Gothic building, which stands opposite the Houses of Parliament. It is the work of many hands and different ages. The oldest part of the building dates from the eighth century. It was a monastery – the West Minster. In the 11th century Edward the Confessor* after years spent in France founded a great Norman Abbey. In 200 years Henry III* decided to pull down the Norman Abbey and build a more beautiful one after the style then prevailing in France. Since then the Abbey remains the most French of all English Gothic churches, higher than any other English church (103 feet) and much narrower. The towers were built in 1735 – 1740. One of the greater glories of the Abbey is the Chapel of Henry VII, with its delicate fan-vaulting.

The Chapel is of stone and glass, so wonderfully cut and sculptured that it seems unreal. It contains an interesting collection of swords and standards of the “Knights of the Bath” *. The Abbey is famous for its stained glass*.

Since the far-off the time of William the Conqueror Westminster Abbey has been the crowning place of the kings and queens of England. The Abbey is sometimes compared with a mausoleum, because there are tombs and memorials of almost all English monarchs, many statesmen, famous scientists, writers and musicians.

If you go past the magnificent tombstones of kings and queens, some made of gold and precious stones, past the gold-and-silver banners of the Order of the Garter*, which are hanging from the ceiling, you will come to Poets` Corner.

There many of the greatest writers are buried: Geoffrey Chaucer*, Samuel Johnson*, Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson*, Thomas Hardly* and Rudyard Kipling*. Here too, though these writers are not buried in Westminster Abbey, are memorials to William Shakespeare and John Milton*, Burns and Byron, Walter Scott, William Makepeace Thackeray* and the great American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow*.

Here in the Abbey there is also the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, a symbol of the nation’s grief. The inscription on the tomb reads: “Beneath this stone rests the body of a British Warrior unknown by name or rank brought from France to lie among the most illustrious of the land…”

In the Royal Air Force* Chapel there is a monument to those who died during the Battle of Britain*, the famous and decisive air battle over the territory of Britain in the Second World War.

St. James’s Park

Walk along to the Guards memorial. You’re now standing at the entrance to St. James’s Park, one of the prettiest parks in London. In medieval times it was a marshy wasteland with a hospital for female lepers. When Henry VIII built St. James’s Palace, he swept away the hospital and converted the surrounding area into a deer park. James I and Charles I had the marsh drained and formed the lake,

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and Charles II transformed it into a Versailles-type formal garden and had aviaries along what came to be called Birdcage Walk, where the public  was admitted to  watch and feed the birds. He also added the acres of the adjoining green park and walked regularly in the early morning up a path which came to be known as Constitution Hill.

In 1828 John Nash was commissioned to improve the park. He landscaped it, planted trees and shrubs and transformed the Longwater into a lake with island on which ducks and wildfowl have flourished ever since. From the bridge in the middle of the park there are some fine views of Buckingham Palace and Whitehall. Today this royal park is a favourite place for many Londoners and it’s always full of people.  

Buckingham Palace

On the left, across Birdcage Walk, almost towards the end of the park, are Wellington Barracks. Leaving the park, if you turn to the right, you will come to the open circus, or space, in front of Buckingham Palace. In the centre is the memorial to Queen Victoria. Of the nine statues of her in London this is the most lavish and its creator won a knighthood for it. The ceremony of Changing of the Guard with its music, marching and magnificent solemnity takes place here at 11.30 in the morning. The new guard touch hands with the old guard to symbolize handing over the keys. You can tell whether the Queen is in residence by the Royal Standard flying on the flagpole in the centre of the building.

Formally known as Buckingham House, the palace was built by the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on land which in the previous century had been planted as a mulberry tree garden by James I. The duke built himself a townhouse which in 1762 was purchased for 28 thousand pounds by George III and presented to his bride Charlotte. John Nash started remodeling it and altered it for George IV, but the king died before it was completed and it was only finished in 1837 by which

time George’s successor William IV had also died. The young Queen Victoria took up residence here three weeks after her accession and it has been the London home of the monarch ever since. The east wing was added in 1847 and the whole east façade was redesigned in 1913. The west wing remains largely as Nash designed it, but his great gateway, which was to have stood at the end of the Mall, proved too narrow for the state coach, and the gate was bodily transported to its present site, at the top of Park Lane. “Buck House”, as it called by Londoners, is occupied by the Queen, her children and the Royal Household.

The Royal Mews and Queen’s Gallery are the only parts of the palace open to the public. The Queen’s Gallery shows exhibits of paintings, portraits and drawing from the superb royal collection. In the Royal Mews you can see the modest two-wheeler coaches, the open state landau, the glass coach in which royal brides and bridegrooms return from their wedding, the Irish state coach in which the Queen rides at the state opening of Parliament and the gold state coach which has been used at every coronation.

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With its architecturally defined profile, this is one of London’s most popular historical buildings. Buckingham Palace was built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham. Later restored by Nash, the present façade was planned by Sir Aston Webb in 1913. At the west end of the Mall, Buckingham Palace is the London residence of the Sovereign. When the Queen is here, the royal standard flutters over the palace. The Royal Mews, in Buckingham Palace Road, house the coaches and horses used on all state occasions and are open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday. The Queen’s Gallery, also in Buckingham Palace Road, has special exhibitions from the Royal collection and may be visited every day expect Monday. In its entirety, the Palace and the beautiful gardens which surrounded it occupy an area of approximately 40acres. Altogether this is one of the most interesting places in London for the tourist.

The ceremony of the Changing of the Guard that takes place daily at eleven o’clock in the morning constitutes one of the pageants that provoke most interest among tourist. Every day a large crowd of people gather to see this famous and traditional ceremony. It is an event that, in spite of its regularity, appears vested with that solemn classical ritual, of purely British flavour, that confers on the protocol surrounding the monarchy of the United Kingdom an appearance which is nobly aristocratic, and yet lively and popular at the same time. It is something typically and intimately part of London’s character.  

     A night out in Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus is the centre of night life in the West End. This is one of the most popular meeting points of London, probably second only to Trafalgar Square.

Five important streets meet at Piccadilly Circus. The cars, tourist coaches, red London buses and the taxis go round a statue there. It is not the statue of a famous man or woman. It is a figure of a boy with a bow and arrow. People don’t remember the statue’s real name. They call it Eros, the Greek god of love.

Under the road, two underground lines meet. Piccadilly Circus is a very busy place. It is busy day and night. There are many shops with big advertisement, belonging to different foreign firms there. People come to the shops in the day time

and at night they come to Piccadilly Circus for a night out.

Piccadilly Circus is a dynamic and picturesque place with a happy and lively cosmopolitan atmosphere. There stroll people who come from the most far-flung countries in the world, of all races, dressed in their national clothes. Groups of people like to gather around the foot of the statue of Eros, work of Sir Alfred Gilbert. They form a brightly colored picture.

Piccadilly Circus is actually quite small, and most people are rather disappointed when they see it for the first time because they had imagined it would be much bigger. It’s called “a circus” because the square is round.

Londoners like a night out in the West End. They take underground to Piccadilly Circus, and there they are in middle of the West End. They can eat in one of the restaurants near Piccadilly Circus. They can get food from twenty different countries in west End restaurants.

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Londoners as well as visitors can go to a theatre in the West End, or to a concert, to an opera or a ballet, or to a cinema. There are fifty cinemas near Piccadilly Circus. They can have a conversation and a drink or two in a pub and have a good “night out”.

A lot of streets in London are lit up at night by huge advertising signs. But Piccadilly Circus is quite fantastic with enormous advertisements which are ablaze with light and dancing neon.    

London Bridge

 London Bridge is two thousand year old. The first bridge was of wood. Then people built the bridge of stone and called it London Bridge. There were houses and shops on it and people paid money when they crossed the bridge.

In 1831 a new bridge rose in the place of the first bridge. But the city grew very quickly and in 1960 the people of London wanted to build a large new bridge at that place.

A very rich American bought the old London Bridge as people buy old things. He wanted to show the old bridge in America to people for money. The people of London liked their old London Bridge. But the city needed money for the new bridge.

The American brought the parts of the bridge on a ship to Arizona in the USA. Workers built the old bridge but there was no river under it now, only a street. No ships pass under it now, only people walk along the street and look at the old bridge. In 1973 the new London Bridge was opened in the place of the old bridge over the Thames.  

Madam Tussaud`s

Madam Tussaud`s is the most popular and talked about wax museum in the world. There are wax models of the famous and infamous, both living and dead, from every walk of life.

Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Marilyn Monro, Michael

Jackson, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, the British Royal family, Bill Clinton, Jack the Ripper… There is no other place where you can see all the celebrities at once, even if they are only wax figures.

So if you want to rub shoulders with kings and queens or the latest pop stars, or probably with notorious criminals, this is the place to go.

The museum is situated in Marylebone Road, not far from the street which is famous as the home of the first great detective in fiction, Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.

There’s usually a long queue in front of the museum. Many tourists would consider their trip to London worthless if they didn’t visit the famous Madam Tussaud`s. There are several halls at Madam Tussaud`s. Highlights include the Grand Hall, the Chamber of Horrors and “The Spirit of London” exhibition.

The wax figures are standing and sitting, and sometimes even moving and talking. They are extremely realistic and when they look at you, their eyes sparkling, you often feel uncomfortable in their company. Computer controlled

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figures are especially popular with the visitors.

New models are being produced all the time while the old ones are quietly removed from display.

Over the years hundreds of celebrities have made their way to Madam Tussaud`s studio. Most people agree to be portrayed, but some refuse. Mother Teresa was one of the few who declined, saying her work was important, not her person.  

THE THAMES

The Thames is not a long river. It is three hundred and thirty kilometers long and it runs into the sea. The Eng lish people call it "the Father of London". London began on the Thames. When we go in a ship up the Thames we pass under London Bridge, the Tower Bridge and others. There is a museum of old ships on the Thames. These ships are from the history of Great Britain. One of these ships, the "Discovery", went to the South Pole in 1901—1904.

If we go down the Thames we pass the port of London and get to Greenwich — a very old town. We can see the place where the Greenwich Meridian passes.

The Harrods

«Enter a Different World», it says on the doormat, and this is what you do when you visit Harrods in Knightsbridge, London. Harrods is the «world’s most celebrated store», says Chairman Mr. Mohamed Al Fayed.

In the beginning, though, Harrods was just a small grocer’s shop. It was opened in 1849 and run by Charles Henry Harrod. His son took over and added medicines and perfumes, as well as fruit, flowers, sweets and a van delivery service.

Over the years, Harrods has survived a fire, two World wars and even two bombings. In 1983, Harrods moved abroad and opened a branch in Japan and later others in Hong Kong. Singapore and Taiwan, as well as airport shops in most major European cities. Today, around 35,000 people visit Harrods every day. It has got 300 departments spread over seven floors and employs over 4,000 staff. It also has eight doormen, known as “Green Men”, as well as its own fire brigade, security personnel, doctors and nurses.

Harrods is the official supplier of certain goods to the Royal Family, and sells everything from clothes to caviar. The food Halls are still the heart and soul of Harrods. In addition to the nineteen bars and restaurants in the store, there is a bank, a travel agent’s, a dry cleaner’s and the biggest hair and beauty salon in Europe.

January and July are very busy months for Harrods because they are sale times.

Over 300,000 customers visit the store on the first day alone. Many people sleep outside the store all night to be first in when the doors open on the first day.

“All things, for all people, everywhere” is the store’s motto. The Harrods name means the best of British quality, service and style. All in all, Harrods is a

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fascinating place to visit.  

Hyde Park

London is a city in which green spaces abound. Hyde Park is one of the most popular and most frequented points in London. In one corner is located the old residence of the Duke of Wellington, Apsley House, now Wellington Museum. Along one side of Hyde Park runs Park Lane, by which one can arrive at Marble Arch, not far from where is Speaker’s Corner, universally renowned as the place where numerous speakers propound the most extraordinary ideas in front of the most heterogeneous public. Hyde Park is the largest park in London: including the adjoining Kensington Gardens, the length and breadth of the Park extend over an area of 636 acres. Hyde Park has a large and most attractive lake called the Serpentine, whose area of 41 acres is used to swim in and to quietly row on in summer.

Another attraction of Hyde Park is the horse-riding lane known as Rotten Row, which is a mile and a half long. The large green expanse of Kensington Gardens with its many trees and flowers, its gracious Round Pond and he lovely statue of Peter Pen, work of Trampton, also constitutes a most attractive spectacle.

Hyde Park Corner

With its old trees, its wide stretches of green grass and asphalted paths, Hyde Park is like many other London parks, but there is a corner of it, which is not to be found anywhere else in England, or anywhere else in the world. Here, on wooden stands and soap-boxes and even on ordinary park benches (if the park-keeper doesn’t spot them!) all kinds of men and women stand up and give their views on subjects from politics and religion to cures for rheumatism and the best way of getting on with your mother-in-law.

A century ago this little corner of London’s largest park used to be a favourite place for dueling. When it was that Englishmen gave up settling their difficulties with sword and pistol and decided to use their tongues instead, the historians do not tell us. Probably the tradition became established at the end of the 19th century, when the great political movements of the tome had spread to desire for debate to all classers of the population. Writers differ about the usefulness of Speakers`

Corner to democracy. Some of them say, it is a “safety valve” for releasing discontent, others say it should become a more effective instrument for political actions. It is certain that Hyde Park Corner shares with Trafalgar Square the honour of being the place for great meetings of protest against unjustice and war. Among the park’s orators there are serious speakers and cranks, jokers and fanatics, and some have no particular theme at all.  

London Zoo

London Zoo is said to be one of the oldest and most famous Zoological Gardens in the world. The name Zoo was first used here. London Zoo, situated in Regent’s Park was founded in 1826 to demonstrate animal life and increase the knowledge of it. Since that time the scientists working in the Zoo have made a lot

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of new discoveries about the animals and the world around us.

The Zoo’s work is now more important than ever before, and the discoveries done there are to save the natural and essential balance in the animal world of the planet/ in the zoo they are fighting to conserve animals trying to breed rare species of natural populations.

In the Zoo there is a big variety of animals, some 8,000 in total from all over the world. Visitors of the Zoo admire the animals` magnificence and beauty and are ready to increase their concern for the conservation of all wildlife.

Although this work is very serious, a visit to the Zoo is a kind of fun not only for children but also for adults. They both can see and do something special at London Zoo. Every day the visitors to the Zoo admire a whole range of events including pelican feeding, animals in action shows, spider encounters and what not.

The Royal Academy

Behind an Augustan façade off London’s Piccadilly lies a treasure-house of beauty and colour. This is Burlington House – the home of the Royal Academy of Arts since 1869, whose exhibitions attract thousands of visitors every year.

 The Royal Academy’s services to the arts began nearly 200 years ago. In 1768 a group of leading painters, sculptors and architects presented a memorial to King George II, seeking his interest in promoting an institution dedicated to encouraging art through a school of design and the holding of an annual exhibition of contemporary work.

The Academy’s prime purpose is teaching art to a number of Britain’s most talented students. About 100 students attend the Academy Schools and are trained in the Schools of Painting and Drawing, Sculpture and Architecture. They are selected by competitive examination from young men and women who have spent two or more years at London or provincial art schools.

  The two principal public attractions of the Royal Academy are the famous series of Winter Exhibitions and the annual Summer Exhibition. From time to time the Academy also organizes special exhibitions in its smaller Diploma Gallery, which takes its name from the “diploma works” which every Royal Academician must present on election.

Fleet Street

Fleet Street is situated between the City and the West End. It is famous as the centre of Britain’s national newspapers and the centre of journalists and newspaper men.

Since the 18th century Fleet Street has been the meeting place for writers who met to talk in its coffee houses.

Offices of the most English daily and evening papers can be found in Fleet Street. “The Daily Telegraph” and “The Daily Express” have their offices here, and “The Times”, “The Gardians” and many others are nearly.

 Publishing houses of many big foreign newspapers are also in Fleet Street,

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which is busy day and night. It is packed with vans, cars, motorcycles, newsboys every day between 9a.m and 3p.m. when the latest news is ready to go out all over the world.

In 1980s most of the newspapers moved to new buildings in different parts of London to use new printing technology. But many people still refer to the British press as “Fleet Street”.

London art galleries

London is reckoned possess about a third of the nation’s art galleries and perhaps half the total hanging space in Britain. The greatest of the permanent collections is the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.

Behind it sits the National Portrait Gallery, which houses a vast collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, etchings, photographs, and miniatures of famous faces past and present. British art and international modern painting and sculpture are gathered in the Tate Gallery on Millbank, the art museum named for the sugar tycoon Sir Henry Tate, who donated his private art collection to the nation in 1889. The building occupied by the museum was designed by Sidney Smith and was opened to the public in 1897. The Tate has the world’s largest and finest collection of works by the British painter J.M.W.Turner.

The Courtauld Institute Galleries at Somerset House on the Strand contain a major collection of French Impressionists and Postimpressionists. The Wallace Collection in Manchester Square combines paintings by great masters from several countries with furniture, ceramics, and goldsmiths` work in the ambience of an aristocratic town house. South of the river, Dulwich College has England’s oldest public art gallery, built for important collections of 17th and 18th century masterpieces, including works by Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Thomas Gainsborough, and Nicolas Poussin. Its architect, Sir John Soane, incidentally also designed his own home in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1812-1813 to house an extraordinary  personal collection of art, works of art from the Middle Ages, and antiquities. He bequeathed it to the nation, and today’s visitors find it as he left it.

Both the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery mount special exhibitions. The other main venues for art shows are the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank, a sculptural concrete box of 1960s vintage, and the neoclassical Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington House on Piccadilly Burlington House is one of the first really grand buildings encountered while walking up Piccadilly from Piccadilly Circus towards Hyde Park. Built between 1663 and 1668, it was remodeled for the Earl of

Burlington in 1716 in the style inspired by the Italian Renaissance. Since 1769 it has been the home of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and in 1854 it was acquired

by the Government, subsequently being occupied by various Academies, so that it became the Academic centre of London. In the courtyard is the statue of the first president of the Royal Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The leading commercial galleries are concentrated in the West End of London around the epicenter of Bond Street. Specialist and avant-garde galleries are

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scattered throughout London, with preponderance to the north and west.

Artists have long since been priced out of their traditional quarters in Chelsea and Hampstead. Today the prime areas for the bohemian life are the inner industrial suburbs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets to the east and Southwark to the south, where derelict work spaces and plentiful, loosely managed public rental accommodation have attracted many hundreds of artists. Scores of studios are thrown open in conjunction with the biennial exhibit of the Whitechapel Art Gallery in the East End.          

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Заключение.

В заключение настоящей работы стоит, подводя итоги по проведенному исследованию, остановиться на главных моментах:

1) Лондон – столица Великобритании, ее экономический, политический и культурный центр. Это один из самых больших городов в мире. Население Лондона – более 9 миллионов человек. Лондон находится  на реке Темзе. Город очень древний и красивый. Он был основан более чем 2000 лет назад. Сейчас Лондон – рай для театралов и туристов, но это так же и тихое место с прекрасными парками, древними сооружениями, музеями и библиотеками. Ели вам однажды случится побывать в Лондоне, то вам будет что посмотреть и чем насладиться.

2) Лондон богат достопримечательностями: Тауэр, Букингемский дворец, Дом Парламента, Гайд Парк, Парк святого Джеймса, Музей мадам Тюссо, Британский Музей, Биг Бэн, Вестминстерское Аббатство, Собор Святого Павла и многое другое.  

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References:

London:

1. The City – Сити(исторический центр Лондона; один из крупнейших финансовых и коммерческих центров мира);
2. Greater London – Большой Лондон ( административно-территориальная единица, включает сам город и пригороды);
3. Stock Exchange – Лондонская фондовая биржа (основана в 1773 г.; современное двадцатиэтажное здание построено в 1970г.);
4. Speaker’s Corner – «Уголок оратора» (место в Гайд-Парке, где по субботам и воскресеньям с импровизированной трибуны выступают ораторы на различные темы; в настоящее время превратился в одну из туристических достопримечательностей Лондона) ;
5. Kensington Gardens – Кенсингтон-Гарденз (большой парк в Лондоне, примыкает к Гайд-Парку);
6. St. James’s Park – Сент-Джеймс-парк(расположен в центральной части Лондона);
7. Buckingham Palace – Букингемский дворец (главная королевская резиденция в Лондоне с 1837г.);
8. the Palace of Westminster – Вестминский дворец( с середины XIV в. в нем проходят заседания парламента);
9. Whitehall – Уайтхолл( улица в центральной части Лондона, на которой находятся важнейшие министерства и другие правительственные учреждения);
10. Downing Street – Даунинг-Стрит9 небольшая улица в центральной части Лондона, на которой в доме №10 находится лондонская резиденция премьер-министра);
11. Fleet Street – Флит-стрит(улица в Лондоне, на которой находились редакции большинства крупнейших газет);
12. Harley Street –  Харли-Стрит(улица в Лондоне, где находятся приемные ведущих частных врачей-консультантов);
13. the British Museum – Британский музей(один из крупнейших музеев мира);
14. Bloomsbury – Блумсбери (район в центральной части Лондона, где находятся Британский музей и Лондонский университет).

Westminster Abbey:

1. Chapel of Henry VII – часовня Генриха VII (сооружена в 1503-1513гг.; один из лучших образцов перпендикулярного архитектурного стиля);
2. Edward the Confessor – король Эдуард Исповедник;
3. Henry III – Генрих III(1207-1272), английский король с 1216 г.( при нем создан первый английский парламент);
4.  ‘Knights of the Bath’ – кавалеры ордена Бани(один из высших орденов;

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учрежден в 1425г.);

5. stained glass – витраж;
6. the Order of the Garter – орден Подвязки( высший орден; число награжденных, не считая иностранцев, не должно превышать 24; учрежден в 1348г.) ;
7. Geoffrey Chaucer – Джефри Чосер(1340-1400), поэт, прозаик, «отец английской поэзии»; автор «Кентерберийских рассказов» - одного из первых памятников на общеанглийском литературном языке;
8. Samuel Johnson – Сэмюэл Джонсон(1709-1784), английский критик и поэт, составитель словарей;
9. Thomas Hardy –  Томас Гарди(1840-1928), английский романист и лирический поэт;
10. Rudyard Kipling – Редьярд Кплинг(1865-1936), английский писатель и поэт; лауреат Нобелевской премии(1907);
11. John Milton – Джон Мильтон(1608-1674), английский поэт, политический деятель; завершает историческую полосу развития художественной культуры Англии;
12. William Makepeace Thackeray – Уильям Мейкпис Теккерей(1811-1863), английский романист, автор романов «Ярмарка тщеславия», «История Генри Эсмонда», «Виргинцы»;
13. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – Генри Уодсуорт
14. Лонгфелло(1807-1882), известный американский поэт, автор поэмы «Песнь о Гайавате»(1855) – эпоса о народном герое индейцев;
15. Royal Air Force - ВВС Великобритании;
16. Battle of Britain - Битва за Англию(воздушные бои в районе Лондона и  южной Англии 1940-1941гг.).

St. Paul’s Cathedral:

1. Whispering Gallery – « Галерея шепота29 у основания внутреннего купола собора св. Павла, знаменитая своим акустическим эффектом; диаметр купола – 32 м);
2. Duke of Wellington – герцог Веллингтон(1769-1852), английский фельдмаршал(командовал англо-голландской армией в битве при Ватерлоо(1815));
3. Joshua Reynolds – Джошуа Рейнолде(1723-1792), английский живописец и теоретик искусства, первый президент Лондонской академии художеств; наиболее известное произведение – «Портрет адмирала Хитфиллда»; в виртуозных парадных портретах выявил характер личности;
4. Perpendicular style – перпендикулярный архитектурный стиль (поздняя английская готика; отличается ажурной каменной работой по вертикальным сторонам окон, ребристым сводам);
5. fan-vaulting – веерный ребристый свод, нервюры (характерная черта

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перпендикулярного архитектурного стиля).

The Tower of London:

1. Beefeaters – прозвище стражников Тауэра (букв. «мясоеды»);
2. William the Conqueror – Вильгельм Завоеватель(1028-1087) (норманнский герцог, завоевавший Англию, победив в битве при Гастингсе(1066), и ставший ее королем);
3. the Crown Jewels – королевские регалии (короны, скипетры и другие драгоценности);
4. Thomas More – Томас Мор (1478-1535), английский гуманист, государственный деятель и писатель;
5. Henry VII – Генрих VII(1491-1547), английский король из династии Тюдоров (прославился тем, что в годы его
6. правления проведена Реформация и началось утверждение англиканской церкви; две из его шести жен были казнены в Тауэре);
7. Mary I Tudor – Мария I Тюдор (1516-1558), английская королева с 1553 г. (жестоко преследовала сторонников Реформации; прозвище – Мария Кровавая; пошла на сближение с папством и католической Испанией);
8. the White Tower –Белая башня, построена в 1078-1097гг.(самая старая часть Тауэра,  древнейший архитектурный памятник Лондона);
9. Yeomen Warders – лейбл-гвардейцы, стражи лондонского Тауэра;
10. Tudor’s times – времена правления династии Тюдоров (1485-1603) (период Реформации, усиления английского абсолютизма, централизованной власти).

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Bibliography:

1. Цветкова И.В., Клепальченко И.А., Мыльцева Н.А. Английский язык для школьников и поступающих в ВУЗы / И.В.Цветкова, И.А.Клепальченко, Н.А. Мыльцева – Москва: ГЛОССА-ПРЕСС, 2004
2. Клементьева Т.Б., Монк Б.  Happy English I/ Т.Б.Клементьева,

Б.Монк. – Москва: Просвящение, 1993

3. Evans V., Dooley J. Enterprise 2/ V. Evans, J.Dooley. -  Express Publishing, 2002
4. Ощепкова В.В., Шустилова И.И Britain in Brief/

В.В.Ощепкова, И.И Шустилова. – Москва: Лист, 1998

5. Синельникова М.В. Это Лондон. География. История. Культура. Достопримечательности: Книга для чтения на английском языке с вопросами, заданиями и диалогами/ М.В. Синельникова. – СПб.: КОРОНА принт, 2002
6.  Сатинова В.Ф. Британия и британцы/ В.Ф. Сатинова. – Минск: Вышейшая школа, 2004
7. Лингвострановедческий словарь Великобритании -  Москва, 1980

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