Washington Culture Glossary

Of the memorial. The memorial was erected thanks to donations made by private citizens and organizations to the Vietnam Veterans Memo­rial Fund.

The Smithsonian Institution. People often save things in the attic ^^^^BBHRg^ESH of their house. The nineteenth-

century writer Mark Twain called ^,

the Smithsonian Institution '4he na- tion's attic." This comment is even

more true today, when, with its sixteen museums and galleries, the National Zoo and nine research centers,.

the Smithsonian has at least a little

of everything! It contains such odd items as G. 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 U.S. Presidents. The Smithsonian began in the 1850s, with a capricious gift from James Smithson, an

Englishman, who had a brilliantly successful career as a chemist and mineralogist. Although Smithson had never set foot in the U.S., he left his entire fortune (half a million dollars - a very large sum in those days) to this country to found "an institution for the increase and dif­fusion of knowledge among men." The collections at the Smithsonian are vast, all in all, some 143,5 mil­lion objects - some of the nation's most significant artistic, scientific, and historic treasures. And they are adding more every day! Among the museums, the most visited - indeed, one of the most visited muse­ ums in the world - is the National Air and Space Museum.

The National Cemetery. Across the Potomac lies one of America's most famous shrines, Arlington National Cemetery, created in 1864. Thousands of headstones mark the graves of U.S. soldiers who fought in battles from the American Revolution to the Gulf War. Pierre Charles L'Enfant's grave was placed at a spot that is believed to offer the best view of Washington, the city he designed. Presidents W.H.

Tift (27^th), H. Hoover (31"), John F. Kennedy (35^th), his wife Jacque- j j line Kennedy-Onassis and brother senator R. Kennedy also rest here, I while nearby at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the solemn cere- j шопу of the changing of the guard takes place every half hour. You I can also visit Arlington House, once the residence of Robert E. Lee, and the famous Iwo Jima Statue.I j

If you ride through historic Capi- I Hill, past Lincoln Park you can I get to Cedar Hill, the home of for­mer slave Frederick Douglass. He is known to have become a statesman, orator and advisor to Presidents. This tour might be another way to know Washington.

The residential section of the City of Washington is called Georgetown. It contains homes of many government officials. Here only nineteenth-century houses, shady trees and cobble-stoned side­ walks preserve the air of the past. Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic college in the U.S., is located in Georgetown.

Washington Culture Glossary

the District of Columbia - федеральный округ Колумбия. Тери- тор1я столищ США Micra Вашингтона, не входить у юрисдикщю штапв, перебувае шд юрисдикцию федеральных влад. Риненням Конгресу був видшений з територп штату Мершенд на кордош з\ штатом В1рджинЬ1 в 1790 р. Мюце розташування столищ та феде­ рального округа площиною 69 миль² було знайдене президентом Вашингтоном у 1791 р.

the Potomac River [pd'toumdk -] - pinna Потомак the National Cherry Blossom Festival - Нащональний фести­валь цвтння вишш, свято у Midi Вашингтон!

the Capitol Building - Каштолш, бущвля Конгресу США Massachusetts Avenue [-'aevs'nu:] - Массачусетс-авеню. Одна з головних малстралей у Midi Вашингтон!

the Hill - Капгголшський пагорб, застосовуеться у значеню "Конгрес США"

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29