The royal family

At present tine British Royal family is head­ed by Queen Elizabeth. When the Queen was born on April 21, 1926, her grandfather, King George V, was on the throne and her uncle was his heir. The death of her grandfather and the abdication of her uncle brought her father to the throne as King George VI.

As a child she studied constitutional history and law as well as art and music. In addition she learned to ride and acquired her enthusiasm for horses. As she grew older she began to take part in public life, making her first broadcast at the age of 14.

The marriage of the young Princess Elizabeth to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh took place in November 1947. She came to the throne after her father's death in 1952 and was crowned in Westminster Abbey in June 1953.

Regular visits to foreign countries are among Queen Elizabeth's many duties. The Queen has done much to signify the formalities of the monarchy, including al­lowing the BBC to make a documentary film about the everyday life of the royal family. She also started the tradition of the "walk about", an informal feature of an otherwise formal royal visit, when she walks among the public crowds and stops to talk to some people.

The Queen's heir is Charles, Prince of Wales, who was born in 1948, married Lady Diana Spenser and has two children, Prince William and Prince Harry. The Prince of Wales is well-known as a keen promoter of British interests. It was a shock to the public when Diana divorced her husband.

The Queen's other children are Princess Ann (born in 1950), Prince Andrew (born in 1960) and Prince Eduard (born in 1964). Ann, Princess Royal, has acquired a reputation of being arrogant, but in, recent years has become quite popular 'with the general public.

The Queen Mother, the widow of the late King George VI, celebrated her ninetieth birthday in 1990 and continued to carry out many public engagements every year. The Queen's only sister, Princess Mar­garet, Countess of Snow-don, is one of the most unconventional members of the royal family. She is well-known for her charity work, including her support of Barbados, the Girl Guides association, and the St. John Ambulance Brigade.

heir - наследник; abdication - отречение (от престола); enthusiasm - восторг, энтузиазм; to grow older - повзрос­леть; to make one's broadcast - выступать в радиопередаче; duke - герцог; to crown - короновать; welfare - благосостояние; t о signify —значить, означать; feature — важная при­мета; keen promoter - ярый защитник; to carry out - вы­полнять

VII. Выполните следующие задания.

1. What's your attitude to the Royal power? Why do Englishmen say that their Queen reigns but doesn't rule? Prove your point of view.

2. What do you know about the geographical position of U.K.?

3. How does the climate of the British Isles influence the so-called (так называемый) British character? Prove your point of view.

4. Ask your friend about the history of Great Britain and the reasons that influenced a lot of differences between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Text 4

LONDON

Oh, I'd like to say that my dream is to visit London, the capital of the United Kingdom. I have read a lot of books about different countries and their capitals, and about London in particular. Sometimes I simply close ray eyes and start travelling.

A visit to London is full of surprises. The moment your plane touches the ground you feel that the English you had been learning or had been taught is not the English that is generally spo­ken because the Englishmen speak very fast and sometimes ignore grammar rules.

London is very different, it has many faces. You can find there beautiful red brick build­ings and dirty ones that look like prisons, busy squares and narrow streets, big shops and small ones, full of old clothes. Past and present, old and mo­dern, richness and poverty, beauty and ugliness. Even the traffic keeps to the left. You need time to get used to it.

London is full of customs and traditions. It was founded as a Roman fortification on the Thames river. In 1665 there was a terrible plague in London, so many people left the city. In 1666 the Great Fire of London put an end to the plague but destroyed much of the city. A new city rose from the ashes. The reconstruction culminated in the completion of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1711. From then the popula­tion rapidly increased in the capital.

Today the metropolis of Greater London Covers 610 square miles (1580 sq.km) and has a population of over 6, 7 million. One of its distinctive features is that it has a number of centres: the financial and business centre called the City, the shopping and entertainment centre, in the West End, and the government centre in Westminster.

There are many inte­resting places in the capi­tal of Great Britain. Those who visited London advised to begin with the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. They are the" musts'".

Westminster Abbey is the crowning and burial place of British Monarchs. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Mil­ton, the Bronte sisters, Burns, Dickens and many others were buried there. One more touching symbol of nation's grief is the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. Trafalgar Square where the famous Nelson Column stands is the memory about Nel­son's great victory. It's interesting to know that the column is situated in the geographical centre of the city. This square is always open for public meetings and demonstrations.

In London people like to take the tube or the famous red double deckers, that have two platforms (or decks) for passengers. Bright-red, they look very nice in the grey streets of London. There are also green one-storeyed buses, they run from London to the countryside. You can also see brown buses in the streets of London, which be­long to British railway, Only one quarter of the, mileage of the underground is actually underground. The rest is on the surface. The underground network is the most confusing for a stranger even with a map.

London is a big cultural centre. There are many theatres, among them the Covent Garden, cinemas, dancing halls and clubs. There are also street musicians in London. By law, buskers (as they are called) are not allowed to sing or play in the streets of London. But many of the policemen allow the buskers to entertain people.

"It's all part of London", they say.

At last, our time for visiting London is coming to an end. To my regret, I need to return from my trip to the city of my dream. But I believe that one day my dream to visit London will come true.

dream - мечта; in particular - в частности; to touch - при­коснуться; brick - кирпич; dirty — грязный; prison - тюрь­ма; narrow - узкий; poverty - бедность; ugliness - уродство; fortification - укрепление; plague - чума; to destroy - разру­шить; ashes - зола, пепел; metropolis - столица; distinctive feature — отличительная черта; entertainment - развлечения; "musts" - здесь то, что обязательно нужно посетить; to crown - короновать; to bury - хоронить; grief - горе; grave - могила; column - колонна; tube - метро; double decker - автобус в два этажа; to belong to - принадлежать; surface — поверхность; network - сеть; confusing - запутанный; busker - уличный музыкант; to allow – позволять

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