London – the Capital of the United Kingdom

As well as being the capital of England, London is the capital andthe main centre ofcommunication of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In the eighteenth century, Dr. Samuel Johnson, a great man of letters, said: «A man who is tired of London is tired of life». This sentence is still true. It has the population of about 9 million and is one of the world's three largest cities (after Tokyo and New York). London is a great political centre, a great commercial centre, a paradise for theatre goers and shoppers, but it is also a very quiet place with its parks and its ancient buildings, and a capital of culture with its museums and libraries.

2,000 years ago the Romans founded a settlement on the River Thames. They called it Londinium. London became a prosperous trading centre during Middle Ages. Since that time it has continued to grow in size and prosperity. As a result of its long and exciting history, London offers its guests a rich store of fascinating buildings, streets, monuments and unique ceremonies.

Let us stroll through London and get a glimpseof its sights. We will start our tour from Trafalgar square, London's geographical centre. It was established in the early 19^th century to commemorate the naval victory of Britain, in which Admiral Lord Nelson took part and was fatally wounded. The Nelson Column with the statue of Admiral Nelson on the top is 185 ft high. At the base of it you can see four bronze lions which are guarding the Column. In the north of Trafalgar Square, there is the National Gallery which exhibits all schools of European painting from the 13^th to the 19^th centuryand includes works by VanDyck, Rubens, Leonardo da Vinci, Goya, El Greco, and Rembrandt.

Not far from Trafalgar Square, there is a quiet little street with quite ordinary houses. So you may be surprised to see a policeman who is standing at one of the houses. It is Downing Street and for the last 200 years at Number 10 each Prime Minister of England has lived there.

Downing Street leads to Whitehall. There was a palace here once, where from the 12^th to the 16^th century the English kings and queens resided. Now it is just a street of governmental offices. Here, in the middle of the road, there is simple but impressive Cenotaph, the memorial to the men who died in the two World Wars.

Walking a little further we come to Parliament Square; Westminster Abbey is on one side, the Houses of Parlia­ment on the other.

The building of the Houses of Parliament is not old; it dates only from the 19^th century, and is in the Gothic style. When the Parliament has a sittinga flag flies from the Victoria Tower. It is Union Jack — the national flag of the United Kingdom. Another tower, the Clock Tower, is famous for the hour bell and the clock named “Big Ben”.

Not far from the Houses of Parliament, there is one of the most beautiful and distinguished of all English buildings - Westminster Аbbey, founded in the 11^th century. There are many tombstones, monuments and statues here. For nearly 1,000 years all the kings and queens of England— 41 in all - have been crowned here and many of them are buried here too. Here is the Poets’ Corner where many of Britain's greatest poets and writers are buried: Chaucer, Johnson, Dickens, Hardy, Kipling etc. You can see memorials to Shakespeare, Burns, Byron, Walter Scott and Thackeray as well.

From Westminster Abbey we can walk along one side of St. James Park to Buckingham Palace — the Royal residence. The vast house is comparatively new, hasno style and quite uninteresting. However, great importance is still attached by the British to this place. Here we can see one of the most colourful and stirring of all London ceremonies, the Changing ofthe Guard. The ceremony starts at 11.30 a.m. and lasts nearly 30 minutes. It is performed by the Guards who guard the Palace. They are dressed in their full ceremonial costumes of scarlet tunics and tall bearskin hats.

All the principal streets of London lead to the heart of the City, the financial and business centre ofGreat Britain. The City is about one square mile in area and only a few thousand people live there. But by day many people swarm its streets and offices. There is the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and the headquarters of many of the richest companies and corporations in the world.

The City's greatest monument and one ofthe finest Renaissance cathedrals in Europe is St. Paul's Cathedral. It was designed by Christopher Wren, a famous English architect, and took nearly thirty-five years to build, being finished in 1710. Running round the interior of the dome is the famous Whispering Gallery. It is called so because you can clearly hear a whisper made by someone who is standing on the opposite side ofthe gallery.

The Tower of London does not belong to the City, though it stood there for almost nine hundred years. It is more connected with the royal dynasties, than with the world of business. It was originally built as a fortressto guard the river approaches to London. Later it served as a palace, a prison, a treasury and an observatory. Now it is a museum, and the Yeomen Warders who are ex-servicemen willingly show visitors the main places of interest.

Here in the City we will finish our tour ofLondon though there are many other places also worth visiting.

Exercises to the topic.

IV. Answer the questions:

1. What city is the capital of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

2. What is the population of London?

3. When was London founded?

4. What is the geographical centre of London?

5. What was Trafalgar Square laid out to commemorate?

6. Where can we see the works by famous European painters?

7. What is Downing Street famous for?

8. Where are most governmental offices situated in London?

9. What can you say about the Houses of Parliament?

10. What can visitors see in Westminster Abbey?

11. When does the ceremony of the Changing of the Guard take place? 12. What do you know about the City of London?

13. Who designed St. Paul's Cathedral?

14. Where is the Tower of London situated?

15. What do you know about its history?

V. Give Ukrainian equivalents to:

centre of communication, to grow in size and prosperity, as a result, exciting history, arich store of fascinating buildings, to get a glimpse of, to have a sitting, the vast house, a colourful and stirring ceremony, ceremonial costumes, bearskin hats,by day, the Stock Exchange, round the interior of the dome, it was originally built as a fortress, the river approaches, worth visiting.

VI. Give English equivalents to:

визначні місця, заснувати поселення, процвітаючий торговий центр, оглянути центр міста, увіковічнити пам’ять про перемогу, бути здивованим, королівська резиденція, собор Св. Павла, охороняти підступи до Лондону, штаб-квартира, Відродження, скарбниця, смертельно поранений, висока ведмежа шапка.

VII.Translate into Ukrainian:

1. London dates from Roman times. 2. Among the memorials in St. Paul's Cathedral there is one to Admiral Nelson and another to Christopher Wren. 3. St. James's Park was laid out as pleasure grounds in the 16^th century. 4. Taking a trip down the River Thames to the Tower of London you can get a glimpse of six London bridges.5. In the centre of Trafalgar Square there are two fountains that are as big a tourist attraction as the thousands of pigeons. 6. The name of one of London's lost rivers is commemorated in Fleet Street, the centre of the British newspaper industry. 7. During your visit to the Tower of London you will get to know some of the darker but none the less fascinating aspects of British history. 8. As a result of the Great Fire in 1666, St. Paul’s Cathedral was destroyed. 9. The British Royal Society, founded in 1660, attaches great importance to the friendly cooperation of learned men throughout the world. 10. Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous English poet of the14^th century, was the first to be buried in the Poets' Corner. 11. This guide book will help a tourist to see the most important London sights. 12. Westminster Abbey dates from the 11^th century, but it was rebuilt and extended in the 13^th century.

VIII. Combine words into sentences and translate them into Ukrainian:

1. lead, Square, this, will, Trafalgar, to, street, you. 2. century, the Tower, from, the 11^th, London, of, dates. 3. offers, to, London, many, tourists, attractions. 4. killed, Cenotaph, the British, in, world, commemorates, the, wars, two, soldiers. 5. the Tower, you, a, can, boat, a glimpse, from, river, get, of. 6, in, fascinating, are, many, London, parks, there. 7. Westminster Abbey, see, to, will, you, memorial, a, Shakespeare, in. 8. day, they, places, that, only, interest, some, saw, of. 9. St. Paul's Cathedral, in, designed, the, century, 17^th, Christopher Wren. 10. regiments, by, Buckingham Palace, guarded, is, five.

IX. Read, translate and dramatize the dialogues:

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