Дополнительный материал по английскому языку «Достопримечательности Лондона с фото и описанием»

Sights of London

An outstanding sight of London is the British museum, which is one of the great museums of the world, showing the works of man from prehistory to the present day. It was founded in 1753 after the death of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), the Muse­um's founding benefactor. He was a physi­cian, scientist, antiquarian and President of the Royal Society. His extraordinary collection of 80,000 objects such as anti­quities, books, manuscripts and natural his­tory specimens led to the foundation of the British Museum. Today its galleries total 4,5 km in length.

The collection is big in size and variety. It was a wonderful art gallery and unique collections of coins and medals, sculpture, ceramics, drawings and paintings of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Ja­panese, Indians, and many others peoples. It also has unique collections of Italian drawings with Leonardo da Vinci's works, English and French prints and so on. And of course, the British Museum is the most important place of archaeological study in the world with unique prehistoric collec­tions. When you are in the museum, make sure you don't miss the objects of special interests such as the Magna Carta, the Rosetta Stone, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Lewis Chessmen, the Sutton Hoo Treasure. Also the British Museum is proud of its great library, one of the largest in the world, with about 6 million books in it. Admission to the museum is free, but many people make donations to it. Visitors who make a donation of 20 pounds or more receive the handsome British Museum Do­nor's Medal with the image of Sir Hans Sloane, as a mark of appreciation of their generosity.

The Natural History Museum is the fin­est museum of nature in the world. It is very popular with children as well as with adults. The museum is divided into Life and Earth Galleries, where you can see exhibitions of the natural world, such as the collections of animals, plants, fossils, minerals. The highlights there are the di­nosaur exhibition, human biology, mam­mals, and ecology in the Life Gallery and sights of Earth in the Earth Gallery. There you can find many answers to the ques­tions you are interested in. So the Natural History Museum is famous all over the world for its scientific research and won­derful collections.

221 b Baker Street, London. This address is famous all over the world as the greatest detective Mr. Sherlock Holmes and his friend Doctor Watson lived there for 23 years from 1881 to 1904. The house itself was built in 1815. It is a two-storied build­ing. The rooms are exactly the same as they were when Sherlock Holmes lived and worked there. The Sherlock Holmes museum was opened on March, 271990. In every room in the museum there are exhibits reminding visitors of various stories. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 60 Sherlock Holmes adventures – four long novels and 56 short stories. It is allowed to examine every item and take pictures everywhere in the museum. The museum is absolutely remarkable.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle helped us to see the brilliant detective and also the late 19-th century life of professional gentleman through the Sherlock Holmes stories

Another interesting museum, which is also at Baker Street, is Madame Tussaud's. It contains life-size wax figures of famous people, both living and dead. New models are made occasionally as people become famous. You can see there the British Roy­al Family, Princess Diana; politicians, such as W. Churchill, V. Lenin, M. Gorbachev, B. Yeltsin; famous actors and actresses like Marilyn Monroe, Joan Collins; singers, such as M. Jackson or The Beatles; sportsmen and women, for example, Olga Korbut, and others. There is also a mediaeval tor­ture gallery there. The most exciting thing is to take a small tram and go through the whole history of Great Britain, where all the epochs are depicted very vividly and colourfully.

Covent Garden is a very exciting place too. Many years ago it was a big fruit and vegetable market. It is a tourist shopping centre now. It attracts a lot of shoppers both from Britain and abroad. Seven days a week you can buy anything there, from food to small antiques, including shoes, Eastern goods, Waterford crystal2, Irish hand-knitted sweaters, etc. You can also find there health foods such as peanut butter, honeys, mustards, different kinds of cheese, chocolate, and so on. There are a great variety of cafes and restaurants where you can relax and have a good time. There you can find some attractions especially for the young people. The Royal Opera House, one of the principal world centres of both opera and ballet, is also situated here. It has been a theatre for almost 250 years. The present building was opened in

1858. The repertoire of the theatre consists of the great 19th-century classics and mod­ern masterpieces.

So Covent Garden is something very spe­cial for Londoners. It is always changing, always lively, always new.

In Oxford Street you can also buy a lot of different things. It is a most beautiful and splendid street with a lot of small shops and huge department stores. The goods there are of top quality, though very expensive. They are mainly for rich people. You can find there a great number of res­taurants, cafes, and bars with a wide varie­ty of food.

Piccadilly with its clubs, big hotels and shops is also very popular. For example, London Store is one of the best shops for exclusive hand-made British knitwear. At Number 139 lived the famous English poet Byron, and his daughter was born there.

Piccadilly Circus is the point at which four streets merge. It is famous for its fountain and a statue. It was officially un­veiled in 1893 in memory of Lord Shaftes­bury (1801 — 1885), politician, philanthro­pist and social reformer. The winged fi­gure, which is known as Eros, represents the "Angel of Christian Charity"1, but peo­ple call it "God of Love". Maybe because of that Piccadilly Circus attracts a lot of people, especially young. It's bright with flower-sellers in daytime and with electric advertisements at night; Piccadilly Circus is the centre of London's theatres and concert halls.

There are a lot of them in London, for example the Haymarket, the National The­atre, the Royal Opera House, the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elisabeth Hall, Royal Albert Hall, etc. You can find opera, bal­let, comedy, drama, musical comedy, and variety there. Most theatres date from the second half of the 19th century, some date from the last war. The performances start at about eight and finish at about eleven. Outstanding productions are always on of­fer in theatres. Some of them run for years. But the real treasure of the theatres is their brilliant actors and actresses. So spectators always enjoy watching their idols perform.

Londoners also enjoy their parks and gardens, as London is very rich in them. The air in the parks is full of scents of flowers and plants, between the trees you can see the glittering water. Royal parks are all around London.

St James's Park is one of the most beau­tiful parks with its graceful trees and flo­werbeds. You can see pelicans and ducks there. Green Park was bought in 1667 by Charles II and soon became very popular with aristocracy. It's called 'green' because there are no flowers there, only trees and grass. Regent's Park was opened to the public in 1838, it was named after the Prince Regent (later George IV). The main sights of this park are a large lake, the Queen Mary Gardens, the Open Air Thea­tre (where performances of Shakespeare's plays are given in summer), the Mosque, and London Zoo which was founded in 1829, and it's the biggest in London.

Hyde Park was opened to the public in 1637; it was a former deer park and royal hunting ground. There is a beautiful lake there divided by a bridge into the southern half called the Serpentine and the northern half called the Long Water. In the park there are green lawns and flowerbeds, beau­tiful soft grass and ancient oaks, fountains and avenues. Hyde Park is famous for its Speaker's Corner. Here on Sunday morn­ing you can see a number of people. They stand on a box or a small platform and make speeches about different things they believe to be very important. People in the park listen to them, argue and ask ques­tions, then they move to another speaker. Londoners think that it's a very democratic park. They enjoy it and are very proud of London with its beautiful sights, parks, customs and traditions.

Задания:

I.Is it true that...

the Natural History Museum is a museum of paintings?

the Museum is divided into Life and Earth Galleries?

you can see collections of animals, plants and minerals there?

you can see collections of stamps and coins there?

II. Answer the questions.

Who lived at 221 b Baker Street?.

When was the house built?

When was the museum opened?

How many novels and stories did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle write?

What do you know about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson? 6. What books by Sir Arthur Conan Doy­le did you read? What films about Sher­lock Holmes and Doctor Watson did you see?

Speak about Madame Tussaud's.

Are the following statements true or false?

Many years ago Covent Garden was a big meat and fish garden.

You can buy only food there.

The Royal Opera House is situated in Covent Garden.

Covent Garden is something very spe­cial for Londoners.

You can buy a lot of things in Oxford Street.

All the goods are not expensive in Oxford Street.

Piccadilly is very popular, because of its clubs, big hotels and shops.

Burns and Byron lived in Piccadilly.

Piccadilly Circus is famous for its fountain and statue.

People call Eros "God of Love".

What do you know about London'stheatres and concert halls?

VI. Speak on:

St. James' Park;

Green Park;

Regent's Park;

Hyde Park.

VII. Imagine that you are a guide.

Speak about the most interesting sights in London.