English OK

WHY WAS WASHINGTON MADE THE CAPITAL OF THE UNITED STATES?

After the War of Independence the United States needed a capital city. Choosing the site for the capital was a difficult task because different cities in different parts of the country wanted to be the nation’s capital.

In the end it was decided to build a new city. In 1971 George Washington, the first president, chose the place where the city now stands. He thought it was a good place because the Potomac River was large enough for ships to come as far as the site of the city. The land round the city was called the District of Columbia, after Christopher Columbus; and the city on it was named Washington, in honour of the first president.

The architect of the new city planned straight streets with trees on both sides, beautiful buildings, and monuments to honour great men.

By 1800 the president’s house was almost finished.

The building for the Congress (название парламента США)  of the United States and some other buildings were built on a hill. These buildings were called the Capitol (здание, где заседает конгресс США). Then the hill was renamed Capitol Hill.

In 1800 President John Adams, the second president, and the other members of the government moved to the new city of Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia).

OXFORD

Oxford is one of the most beautiful cities in England, and its university is the oldest in the country. Every year hundreds of young people whose parents have enough money to pay for the university education come to Oxford from school. They spend three or four years at the university.

People who come from other countries, like to visit Oxford while they are in England, because it has many interesting buildings. The most important street in Oxford is High Street. Usually it is full of people, cars and bicycles.

CAMBRIDGE

Cambridge is one of the old university towns of England.

The university consists of many colleges which make a picture of Cambridge as one of the most interesting towns in Great Britain. These colleges are of grey stone.

Parts of the town of Cambridge have not changed since they were built hundreds of years ago.

There are very old bookshops in Cambridge. They are always full of people who look for an interesting book on the bookshelves.

WHO DICOVERED AUSTRALIA?

Australia is the world’s smallest continent. Its area is about the same as that of the United States without Alaska.

Hundreds of years ago there were stories about a large continent in the Southern Hemisphere. But no one could say what it was like and whether it was inhabited. People called this land “terra australis incognita”, or “the unknown southern land”.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to visit Australia. They discovered it while making their journeys to the island of Java, a Dutch colony in Southeast Asia.

When the Dutch found themselves on the west coast of Australia, they gave the name New Holland to this western part of the continent.

In 1770 the English captain James Cook discovered the east coast of Australia.

In 1778, the first English colony was established in what later became the city of Sydney.

THE ICE-BREAKERS OF CANADA

For the people who live along the banks of the St. Lawrence Rive the arrival of the icebreakers is a very important event each year. When the ice-breakers arrive everyone knows that spring will soon come and that the long Canadian winter is almost over. The slow movement of the ice-breaking ships up the river to Monreal is reported over the radio and in the newspapers. Whole families go on Sunday excursions to the river bank where they spend hours watching the ships at work.

In March many ships gather in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, waiting for the signal telling them that the way to Monreal is free. As soon as the signal is given, a race begins for the port. The winning ship is given a great welcome, and the captain receives a special prize. The ships of many countries compete for this prize each year.

But the ice-breakers have other work to do in summer. When the work is finished on the river, the ice-breakers go north around the coast  of Labrador towards the Arctic Ocean. They help cargo ships to go through seas full of ice-floes.

THE STORY OF THE VICTORIA FALLS

Have you ever seen a really big waterfall? At the Victoria Falls the blue Zambezi river, about two kilometres wide, falls down for a hundred metres.

These Falls were first discovered by an explorer called David Livingstone in 1885. He was trying to follow the Zambezi river to its mouth in a small boat when he came to the Falls. At first he did not see the great waterfall from his boat. But the noise of the falling water made him stop at an island in the river and he was saved. He called it “Livingstone Island”.

Nowadays there is a road and a railway bridge across the river, but in those days it was very difficult even to walk near the Falls because of the thick tropical jungle.

You can see a view of the Falls and a picture of David Livingstone on the stamp.

SHUT THE DOOR

Jonathan Swift, the famous English author who wrote “Gulliver’s Travels”, liked order in everything. All the people in his house, for example, had to shut the door behind them when they came into a room and when they left it.

One day a maid servant came and asked him to let her visit her sister who lived ten miles away.

Swift not only agreed, but let her go there in his own carriage. The girl was so happy that she forgot to shut the door when she left the room.

Swift let her go; but about half an hour later he ordered one of the servants to ride after the carriage, and tell the girl to come back.

Much against her wish the poor girl had to turn back. When she came into Swift’s room, her face was unhappy and she asked him what he wanted. “I only want you to shut the door”, was his answer.

“Now you may go to visit your sister. I wish you a pleasant journey.”

A THISTLE EMBLEM

The thistle has nothing pleasant in it, especially if you carelessly touch its thorns. But it has an important meaning for the people of Scotland. It is the Scottish national emblem. Scotland, as you may know, is now part of the UK.

Why did the Scottish people choose this thorny plant as  the national emblem of their country?

The answer is interesting and it can be found in the history of Scotland. The people of that country chose the thistle as their national emblem because it saved their land from foreign invaders many years ago.

People say that during a surprise night attack by the invaders the Scottish soldiers were awakened by the shouts of the invaders as their bare feet touched the thorns of the thistles in the fields they were crossing.

This, of course, was a reason to choose the thistle as a national emblem!

A LIVING NATIONAL EMBLEM

Sometimes you can see a living national emblem. One of them is the kiwi, a very unusual bird found only in some parts of New Zealand. It has no tail, almost no wings, and its nostrils are situated near the end of its bill which is used to find food.

The kiwi lives in thick forests and prefers to spend its time in the dark.

Although the kiwi weighs only a little over two kilos, it has a very good appetite. It can eat as many as three hundred worms a day which are its main food.

The female kiwi lays only one egg, but it is a very large egg – it is about one fifth of their own weight. After laying it, she loses all interest and leaves her husband to hatch the egg out. This takes seventy-five days and by the time the chick is hatched father kiwi has usually lost one-third of his normal weight.

In some English-speaking countries New Zealanders are known as kiwis, because of the bird is also the symbol of the people of New Zealand.

MISS EVANS (After F. M. Mainwaring)

On a beautiful afternoon, in a year now long gone, a big ship set out on its first voyage from England to America. It  was a new ship called the “Titanic”.

For two days the “Titanic” went on its way over the sea. Then it entered an ice-field and was hit by an iceberg.

Everyone was told to come out of their rooms. Men were putting the lifeboat over he sides of the ship, down into the water. Then all the men helped the women and children to get into the lifeboats.

There was not very much time left. The iceberg was on one side of the ship. It was like a high white wall.

A woman came to the side of the ship. Her two children were in one of the lifeboats, and she was very much afraid.

“My children are in the lifeboat. I must go with them!” the woman called to the people in the lifeboat.

“There’s no more room,” someone called out. “If we take one more, the lifeboat will sink.”

There was a young woman in the lifeboat called Miss Evans. When she heard the woman calling, she stood up in the lifeboat and touched one of the men on the arm.

“Let me get back on to the ship,” she said. “Let that woman take my place. I have no children.”

“The ship is sinking,” said the man. “You know that?”

“Yes,” said Miss Evans. “I know that.”

There was no time to talk. People helped Miss Evans to get back on to the ship. Very soon after that there was a great noise, and the “Titanic” went down under the water.

WHY DOES IT RAIN?

Do you know that Britain has a bigger rainfall during months of July and August than at any other time of the year? The geography of Britain can explain to us much about its weather. English people have such a lot of rain because they live on an island. When the  countries to the south of Britain are having sunny days, the warm winds blow towards the British isles, vaporizing the water from the sea, forming clouds in the sky. When the clouds move over the land the coolness of the earth causes the vapour (the clouds) to turn back into the water, and everybody has to run quickly for shelter or put on a raincoat and open an umbrella.

In England there may be several different kinds of weather all in one day. A day may begin as a warm spring morning; an hour or so later black clouds may appear from nowhere bringing heavy rain. At midday it may become quite cold. And then, in the late afternoon the sky will clear, the sun will begin to shine, and for an hour or two before darkness falls, it will be summer.

LONDON PARKS

London parks are the most beautiful areas of the city. In summer you can sit in St. James’s Park by the side of the lake and listen to the band playing music.

Green Park is a different kind of park. It is a quiet, wooded place.

Hyde Park was once part of a forest. In our days, Speaker’s Corner (Уголок ораторов) of the park is always a centre of activity. Public debates are held there nearly every day. Sunday is the most popular day, and you will usually find some people standing on their soap-boxes (импровизированная трибуна уличного оратора) and making speeches.