Impressions of England

Mr. Priestley:Well, you have been in England for some time now; what are the things that have struck you most?

Frieda:The parks — Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Kew Gardens — where you forget that you are in a big town, where you can walk on the grass, and you can see only lovely woodland and flowers and birds.

Lucille:The newspapers were a surprise to me. Before I got in the train at Dover I bought “The Times”, and when the train started I began to read it, or rather I tried to begin to read it, for I spent about ten minutes turning over its sixteen pages before I found the chief news and articles. I was so used to French newspapers where the chief article is on the first page that I couldn’t imagine that in an English paper I should have to look for it in the middle of the paper, and got lost in a forest of pages.

Jan: One of the thingsthat struck me most was the underground station at Piccadilly Circus. It was more like a small town, with its shops, moving stairs, lighted maps of London, machines that give you change, machines that give you the right tickets to almost every station in the 600 square miles of Greater London. Then there is that thing called “See how they run”, that draws a mark every time a train goes out, so that you can see how many trains have gone that hour.

When I went on the underground I carefully put out my cigarette as I entered the station, but I found that half of the people there were smoking. The next day in the bus I lit a cigarette, and was politely told by the conductor that I couldn’t smoke inside a bus.

Hob:What about the taxis — aren’t they unbelievable? When I first saw them I rubbed my eyes: I don’t believe they have changed since about 1900. A fellow once asked me:

“What happens to London taxis when they leave the streets?” I know the answer now — they don’t. And isn’t there a lot of traffic! What with that and the English rule of driving on the left side of the road instead of the right; you feel that you need eyes all round your head when you try to cross the road.

Jan:Ilike the British Museum and the Science Museum at South Kensington, but one of the most interesting is the London Museum. You look at plans and models and you can see how the city first started round London Bridge in Roman times. You can see the Fire of London with the flames coming out of the windows of the houses. In fact, you see London grow before your eyes.

Frieda:Ilove the horses and dogs here. I was always a little afraid of dogs, but here they are so good and quiet that I have now quite got over my fear of them. Ilike the way, too, dogs are given human names, Bob and Jack, and Jim, and Sally.

Mr. Priestley: It has been very interesting for me to hear you giving all these different impressions, but our time is up and we must stop now.

Assignments after the text

Frieda, Lucille, Jan and Hob, students from different countries study at London University. They have been in London for some time already. Since they arrived there, they have been sightseeing and, of course, up to now they have seen a lot of places of interest. Now they are giving Mr. Priestley, the teacher, their impressions of London.

I

1. Speak on what impressions

a) English newspapers produced on Lucy

b) the London underground produced on Jan

c) taxis and the rule of driving made on Hob

d) parks and domestic animals made on Frieda

e) museums made on Jan

2. The students have been in London for some time. Say what they have done, what they have seen and what they know about different things in London.

3. How would the conversation sound if Mr. Priestley and the students were talking about different places of interest in London, that the students have visited.

E.g.

I have visited Hyde Park.

I went there on the first day of my arrival in London.

I know that …

Exercise 5.

Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia. It’s an ancient historical city. It was founded in 1147 by the Russian prince Yuri Dolgoruki. Now Moscow is the fifth largest city in the world, its population is over 9 million people. Moscow is also one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

The centre of Moscow is Red Square with the Kremlin which was built on the left bank of the Moskva River. Among the historical monuments inside the Kremlin there are the Tsar Cannon, the Tsar Bell, made by Russian masters, the Armoury Chamber, and some old Cathedrals.

Visitors can find a lot of other places of interest in Moscow, such as Moscow University and the observation platform from which you can see a panorama of Moscow and all the monumental buildings like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, apartment houses in Krasnaya Presnya and others. Other places of interest that attract tourists are Arbat Street and the Exhibition area. There are also a lot of museums and art galleries in Moscow. The most famous and popular art museums are the Tretyakov Art Gallery and the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum.

Moscow is the centre of political, cultural and educational life in Russia. There are a lot of theatres and concert halls in Moscow. The most popular theatres are the world-famous Bolshoi Theatre, the Maly Theatre, the Puppet Theatre named after Obraztsov, the Chaikovky Concert Hall and others.

There are over 50 institutes and universities in Moscow, among them Moscow State University named after Lomonosov one of the first higher educational institutions in Russia.

Moscow is growing day after day and is becoming more and more beautiful. Some old buildings are being repaired, a lot of new buildings appear in different districts of Moscow. Among the new sights that have appeared recently are the Monument in Poklonnaya Gora and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in the centre of Moscow.

Of course, like all big cities, Moscow is a noisy city. The traffic is heavy both in the day time and at night. During rush hours buses, trolleybuses and trams are overcrowded, but Muscovites prefer to travel by the Metro which is the fastest and the most reliable means of transportation.

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