New York Sights

New York is one of the biggest cities and ports in the world. It has two natural advantages: it is located in the mouth of the Hudson River, and it is well located for travel and trade between the United States and Europe.

New York consists of five districts (or boroughs) – the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Richmond. In New York, there are representatives of nearly all the world`s nations and races. That is what makes people call it the “Modern Babylon.”

The Statue of Liberty is a 225-ton, steel female figure, 152 feet in height, facing the ocean from Liberty Island in New York Harbour. It was a present from France for the hundredth anniversary of American independence. The right hand holds a torch, and the left carries a tablet with the date of adoption of the Declaration of Independence (4.06.1776).

The place most people come to visit is Manhattan. A few miles uptown Manhattan is Greenwich Village and the East Village, both have always been at the centre of New York`s excitement. Central Park includes a zoo, a theatre, two skating-rinks, model yacht pond, rowing lakes. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the world's leading art museums. It has great art collections from the ancient civilizations to the present day from all over the world. The Guggenheim Museum contains modern painting, sculpture and graphic arts.

In midtown Manhattan, one finds the most familiar sites – Rockefeller centre, a group of fifteen skyscrapers, including the 70-storey RCA (Radio Corporation of America) Building, which houses the Museum of Modern Art and Carnegie Hall. On the east side stands the United Nations Headquarters. Times Square is the heart of the theatre district – the area where Broadway plays are performed. On New Year`s Eve, December 31, crowds of people stand in Times Square and wait for midnight. Empire State Building used to be the world`s tallest building, the 102-storey structure, built in 1931.

The streets themselves are symbolic in New York: Madison Avenue for advertising, Broadway for theatres, Wall Street for finance, Seventh Avenue for elegant shopping. Unlike Tokyo or London, New York is a 24 hour city, a place where buses and subways operate round the clock.

New York is, in many ways, American`s premier city. It`s the nation`s financial, communication and cultural centre. Above all, an international city, it houses the General Assembly and the Security Council.

7.1 True or false?

1. Niagara Falls is one of the best known wonders in the world.

2. Arizona is famous for its natural wonders.

3. The Grand Canyon is situated in the UK.

4. The Grand Canyon is the world`s greatest geological laboratory.

5. The Niagara River gives electric power.

6. Four faces of four famous American writers are carved on Mount

Rushmore in the USA.

7. The Statue of Liberty stands on Manhattan Island in New York.

8. The Statue of Liberty was presented to the people of the USA by

Canada.

9. There are many skyscrapers in Washington D.C.

10. The Capitol is the place where the Congress of the USA meets.

11. Visitors can tour all of the rooms in the White House.

12. An American president lives and works in the Capitol.