Reading. 1. After I (to write) all my letters, I went to the kitchen to make coffee

Test Tenses

1. After I (to write) all my letters, I went to the kitchen to make coffee

a) wrote b) had written c) was writing

2. While my son (to wait) me call, somebody knocked at the door.

a) was waiting b) waits c) waited

3. W (not \ have) a holiday last year.

a) didn’t have b) haven’t had c) hadn’t have

4. The phone is ringing. I (to answer).

a) will be answering b) am going to answer c) will answer

5. Dad (usually \ to work) on Saturdays.

a) is usually working b) usually woks c) usually work

London

London, the capital of Great Britain, is a big city. It covers more than 600 square miles. London is a political, economic and commercial centre. It is a great industrial and cultural centre. Today London is one of the biggest cities in the world, and the biggest seaport in Europe. London is very old city. It is more than twenty centuries old. Its population is about ten million people. London lies on both sides of the river Thames. The Thames is a very beautiful and wide river. The river Thames divides London into two parts: the North Bank and the South Bank.

London stretches for nearly thirty miles from north to south and for nearly thirty miles from east to west. The street traffic of London is very heavy. There is a constant stream of cars, taxis and buses. In some parts of London there are trolley-busses and trams as well. The important parts of London are the City, the West End, the East End, and the Westminster.

The City is a commercial part of the capital. There are the most of London banks, offices and firms there. Very few people live there. In the centre of the City there is the Tower of London and St. Paul‘s Cathedral. The Tower has a very long history. It used to be a fortress, a royal residence, then a prison, and now it is a museum.

The West End is the richest and the most beautiful part of London. There are fine mansions, the best theatres, cinemas, museums, big shops and expensive clubs there. Its streets and parks are the finest in the capital. Another interesting sight in the West End is Hyde Park. It is the largest of London parks and is famous for its Speaker‘s Corner which attracts a lot of tourists. The busiest streets in the West End of London are Oxford Street and Regent Street. Trafalgar Square is the geographical centre of London. In the middle of it is the famous Nelson Column, which was built in memory of Admiral Nelson‘s victory at Trafalgar. There is the National Gallery with its wonderful collection of works from the British, French, Dutch, Italian and Spanish schools here. There is the famous Downing Street and house №10 here. It is the residence of the Prime Minister of Great Britain.

The East End is the poorest part. There are many factories, workshops, and docks there. Most of workers live in this part of London.

Westminster is the most important part of London. Here you see the Houses of Parliament. It is a beautiful building with two towers: the Clock Tower with Big Ben and the Victoria Tower with the national flag over it. Opposite the Houses of Parliament is Westminster Abbey. Many English kings and queens were crowned and are buried there.

Washington

In the early days the government offices of USA were located first in the one city, then in another. Finally, in 1790, Congress decided that a capital city should be built. On a cold spring morning in 1791, George Washington, the first president of the USA, and six other men took a horseback ride¹to choose the land on which the capital was to be built. They rode through the wilderness², along the Potomac River till they came to a place that looked good for them. They chose a plot of ground partly in Maryland and partly in Virginia. In 1800 government offices were moved into the young city. Since then the nation‘s capital called Washington has kept on growing³. Now, the city with beautiful building, fine monuments, and green parks is a magnet that draws⁴people from all over the world. Here are the centers of the government‘s three branches: the Capitol, begun in 1793; the White House, home to every president expert George Washington; and the Supreme Court, completed in 1935 All are open for tours, as are a number of other public buildings including the Federal Bureau of Investigation⁵.

Washington is not a very large city. There is a law in Washington against buildingshigher than the Capitol. So it differs from New York with its sky-scrapers. The Capitol, where the Congress meets, is a very beautiful building with white marble columns⁶. When designed in 1790‘s, the streets were planned to reach out⁷ in all direction from the Capitol Building – like the spokes of the wheel⁸.The streets were given the names of states. Pennsylvania Avenue runs from the Capitol to the White House. It has been the route of many parades – some sad, some glad. When a new President goes into office, there is always a parade along Pennsylvania Avenue to honour the occasion⁹. Not far from the Capitol there is the Library of Congress, one of the two largest libraries in the world (Lenin Library in Moscow may be larger). It holds 5 million books.

The White House, the residence of the president, is the oldest public structure in the capital and one of the most beautiful. Washington is a city of monuments and its most famous pay tributeto Presidents Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. There is also the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which has become one of the popular city‘s monuments since 1982. Washington is a city of museums as well. These include the National Gallery of Art, which houses one of the nation‘s finest collections of paintings, sculptures and drawings; the National Archives, where the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are displayed; the Philips Collection, the first museum of modern art in the country. Lots of tourists visit the capital of the USA all year round.

Notes:

1. to take a horseback ride – отправиться на лошадях

2. wilderness – дикая местность

3. to keep on growing – продолжать расти

4. to draw – привлекать

5. the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Федеральное Бюро Расследования

6. marble columns – мраморные колонны

7. to reach out – простираться

8. the spokes of the wheel – спицы колеса

9. to honour the occasion – в честь данного события

Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia, its administrative, economic, political and scientific centre. It is one of the largest cities in the world with the population of 10 million people. Its total area is about 900 thousand square kilometres.

The city was founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in 1147 as a fortress¹ on the bank of the wide and deep Moskva river. At first it was a small settlement² with wooden houses surrounded³ by walls to protect people from the enemies. As the time passed Moscow turned into a wealthy city. In the 16^th century, under Ivan the Terrible, Moscow became the capital of the state of Muscovy. Many times Moscow suffered from various invaders – the Tatars in the 13^th century, the Napoleon's occupation in the 19^th century, two World wars in the 20^th century. The present day Moscow is the seat of the government of the Russian Federation. Government offices and different international organisations are located here.

Moscow is a major industrial city. Its leading industries are engineering, chemical and light industries. Moscow is an important railway, highway and international airway cross-road. It has 9 railway stations, 5 airports and besides Moscow is a port of five seas. Its two river ports join it to five seas and many foreign countries. Moscovites are proud of its magnificent underground, the most splendid metro in the world. Today Moscow has over a hundred beautiful stations, many of which look like palaces.

Moscow is a great cultural centre where there are lots of cinemas, concert halls, more than forty drama and musical theatres, including the Bolshoi Theatre with its famous world ballet and opera, the Art Theatre, the Maly Theatre, the Vakhtangov Theatre and others. There are a lot of museums: the Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts named after A. Pushkin, the Kuskovo museum, Kolomenskoye, literary museums and art galleries.

Notes:

1. fortress – крепость

2. settlement – поселение

3. surrounded – окруженные

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the role of Moscow in Russia? 2. What is the population of Moscow? 3. What is the total area of Moscow? 4. When was Moscow founded and who was the founder of Moscow? 5. How did Moscow look like in the 12^th century? 6. When did it become the capital? 7. What industries are developed in Moscow? 8. The port of which seas can Moscow be named? 9. Why are Moscovites so proud of their Metro?

Text 2. The Sights of Moscow

The Kremlin is the historical heart of the capital. It is surrounded by a high wall of two and a half kilometres long. The Kremlin walls are joined by 20 towers constructed in the 17^th century. The main and tallest of the Kremlin towers is the Spasskaya Tower, notable for its clock, whose melodious chimes¹ are well known to all citizens of the country. The oldest Tower is the Secret Tower under which there was a secret underground passage to the Moskva River.

During its history the Kremlin went through great ordeals². It was repeatedly subject to foreign invasions and suffered from fires, but Russian craftsmen always restored what had been destroyed, made the Kremlin still more magnificent and beautiful.

The Moscow Kremlin is a rich collection of historical monuments of different ages. In the central, Sobornaya Square, the oldest in Moscow, you can see three beautiful cathedrals, built in the 15^th – 17^th centuries: the five-domed Uspenski Cathedral in which the Russian tsars were crowned, the Archangel Cathedral with tombs of the Moscow princes and tsars, the Blagoveshchensky Cathedral noted for the unusual oil paintings done by Andrei Rublev and his pupils. These cathedrals are priceless treasures of ancient Russian art, including unique frescoes, icons and marvelous samples of handicrafts.

Among the ancient buildings in the Kremlin you can enjoy the Belfry³ of Ivan the Great, built in 1600. Standing next to the bell tower are the Tsar Cannon, a wonder of the 16^th century casting, and the 18^th century Tsar Bell, the biggest bell in the world weighing 200 tons both made by Russian masters.

The largest buildings in the Kremlin are the Great Kremlin Palace and the Palace of Congresses. The Great Kremlin Palace was the tsar's residence, constructed in the middle of the 19^th century. A passage connects the Palace with the Armoury Chamber⁴, the oldest Russian museum and the richest collection of weapons. The Armoury also houses the exhibition of the "Diamond Fund of Russia", showing such treasures of Russia as giant gold nuggets (самородки), unique articles of gold, silver, precious stones, magnificent jewelry and the famous Monomach hat, the symbol of power of Russian tsars. The Palace of Congresses has 800 rooms and its huge conference hall seats 6000.

A very beautiful building, Granovitaya Palata built in the end of the I5^th century, is the place where the Moscow tsars held magnificent receptions in honour of foreign ambassadors⁵.

Red Square is the main square of Moscow. In the ancient Slavonic language, "red" was synonymous to "beautiful". This historical centre of Moscow, was laid out in the I5^th century. It is the place of parades, meetings, festivals and demonstrations. Here one can see the colourful multydomed Pokrovsky (St. Basil) Cathedral, erected by architects Postnic and Banna to commemorate Russia's conquest of the Kasan Kingdom in 1552. In front of it is the first sculptural monument of Moscow, built in a sign of respect for the Russian national heroes-patriots Kozma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky in the struggle against the Polish-Lithuanian invasion of the 17^th century. It was designed by Ivan Martos in 1818. Near the monument you can see Lobnoye Mesto, the tribune of ancient Moscow. The tsar's decrees, edicts (указы) were usually read out there.

The most magnificent tower of the Kremlin, the Spasskaya Tower, looks down on Red Square; it has become the symbol of Moscow. In the middle of the 19^th century the famous Kremlin Chimes were mounted on the tower. The clockwork⁶ occupies three floors of the tower and weighs 25 tons. The Kremlin Chimes can be heard daily over Radio Moscow at 6 a.m. and 12 p.m.

The State Historical Museum in Red Square is a magnificent building. Besides, it is one of the major scientific and educational institutions where we can follow the life of Russian people since ancient times.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — a monument to unidentified soldiers who perished during the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 – rises at the foot of the Kremlin in Alexandrovsky Garden.

Notes:

1. chimes – куранты

2. ordeals – суровые испытания

3. Belfry – колокольня, башня

4. Armoury Chamber – Оружейная палата

5. receptions in honour of foreign ambassadors – приемы в честь иностранных послов

6. clockwork – часовой механизм

Answer the following questions:

1. What are the two main sights of Moscow, that attract attention of all the tourists? 2. What is the Spasskaya Tower famous for? 3. What ordeals did the Kremlin go through during its history? 4. Why does the Moscow Kremlin rank among the most remarkable architectural creations? 5. What cathedrals are situated in Sobornaya Square and what are they noted for? 6. What is the ‘age’ of the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell? 7. When was the Great Kremlin Palace built? 8. What is the Armoury Chamber? 9. What does it house? 10. What famous sights can one see in the Red Square?

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