Leisure time and hobby

Many men, many minds. All people are different and they prefer spending their free time in different ways. Some of them go the parks, forests, to the country and enjoy the beauty of nature. Others like to stay at home watching TV or reading books. There are people who are fond of cinema and theatres, so they try to go there as often as possible. As for me, I prefer to spend my free time in different ways. I like to go in for sports, to play football, basketball or volleyball with my friends. I like to watch TV, to listen a tape recorder and play computer games. Also I like to go for a walk in the country and enjoy the beauty of nature.And my way of spending free time is connected with my hobby. And my hobby is reading books...

I'd like to say that it's hard to imagine our life without books. Books play such a great role in the development of personality. They help as to forget our daily problems and to pretend we travel to the past, future and to many different, wonderfull places that we can"t visit in reality. I am also sure that books are our good friends and teachers. From them we get to know the life around as better, they teatch as how to tell right from wrong, to love our Motherland, to understand friendship, people's feelings. So, they teach us how to live. As for me I like to read different kinds of books:......

London

London is the capital of the United Kingdom, its economic, political and cultural center. It is one of the world's most important ports and one of the largest cities in the world. London with its suburbs has a population of about 11 million people.

London has been a capital for nearly a thousand years. Many of its ancient buildings still stand. The most famous of them are the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral. Most visitors also want to see the Houses of Parliament and the many magnificent museums.

Once London was a small Roman town of the north bank of the Thames. Slowly it grew into one of the world's major cities.

Different areas of London seem like different cities. The West End is a rich man's world of shops, offices and theatres. The City of London is the district where most offices and banks are concentrated; the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England are here, too. The East End is a district where mostly working people live. The old port area is now called "Docklands". There are now new office buildings in Docklands, and thousands of new flats and houses.

By the day the whole of London is busy. At night, offices are quiet and empty, but the West End stays alive, because this is where Londoners come to enjoy themselves. There are two opera houses here, several concert halls and many theatres, as well as cinemas. In nearby Soho the pubs and restaurants and nightclubs are busy half the night.

London

London draws people from all over the world. Some come on business, some come to study, to work or on holiday. London is naturally a very English city and it is very cosmopolitan, containing goods, food and entertainment, as well as people, from many countries of the world. London spreads its influence over much of the southern areas of England; it gives work to millions of people who live not only in the inner city areas but in surrounding districts. There is much in London which fascinates visitors and inspires the affection of Londoners: the splendor of the royal palaces and the Houses of Parliament, the dignity of St. Paul’s Cathedral and many monuments and beautiful parks. London shows examples of buildings that express all the different areas of its history. Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the Sovereign. The daily ceremony of the Changing of the Guards takes place in its courtyard. The palace was built in 1703 by the Duke of Buckingham. Piccadily Circus has become an important meeting point – for as well as sightseers. At its heart is a bronze fountain topped by a figure of a winded archer, known as Eros, the pagan god of love. This area is now famous for its theatres, clubs and shops. Whitehall is a street in central London running from Trafalgar Square to the Houses of Parliament and containing many important buildings and government offices, such as the Treasury, Admiralty and others, In the centre of the roadway stands the Cenotaph, the memorial to the fallen of both world wars. The Prime Minister’s residence at No. 10 Downing Street is directly connected to Whitehall. London is always full of life. The streets are crowded with traffic. High ‘double-decker’ buses rise above the smaller cars and vans. The city of London today is the financial powerhouse of the country and one of the chief commercial centers of the western world. The city has its own Lord Major, its own Government and its own police force. Here the medieval buildings stand side by side with modern glass high-rise offices. The parks of London provide a welcome contrast to the great built-up areas. St.James’s Park, Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens are linked together. They form 313 hectares of open parkland in the heart of London.

Sights The best-known streets here are Whitehall with important Government offices. Downing Street, the London residence of 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.

Trafalgar Square is named so in commemoration of Nelson's great victory. In the middle stands the famous Nelson Column with the statue of Nelson 170 feet high so as to allow him a view of the sea. The column stands in the geographical centre of the city. It is one of the best open air platforms for public meetings and demonstrations.

One of the "musts" for the sightseer are the Houses of Parliament, facing the Thames, on one side, and Parliament Square and Westminster Abbey, on the other. The House of Commons sits to the side of the Clock Tower (Big Ben), the House of Lords - to the Victoria Tower side.

Westminster Abbey is the crowning and burial place of British monarchs. It has its world famed Poet's Corner with memorials to Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, the Bronte's sisters. Tennyson. Longfellow, Wordsworth, Burns, Dickens, Thackeray, Hardy, Kipling and other leading writers. Only a few however, are actually buried there.

Here too is that touching symbol of a nation's grief. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior.

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 in the West End where the University of London is centred with Bloomsbury as London's student quarter.

The Port of London is to the east of the City. Here. today are kilometres and kilometres of docks, and the great industrial areas that depend upon shipping. This is the East End of London, unattractive in appearance, but very important to the country's commerce.

In recent times London has grown so large. that the Government has decided that it must spread no farther. It is now surrounded by a "green belt" - a belt of agricultural and wooded land on which new buildings may be put up only with the permission of the planning authorities.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14