New York

New York attracts people from all over the world. If you look at the newspapers that people around you are reading, you will see that one person is read­ing a newspaper in Spanish, another in Arabic, still others in Chinese, French, Russian, Italian, and so on. New York was always a city of immigrants. It still is.

New York, one of the largest and most exciting cities in the world, is situated at the mouth of the Hudson River, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean, and consists of five parts, called boroughs1: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island. But it is of course its central part, the bor­ough of Manhattan, that most people think of when they think of New York.

Manhattan is an island 13 miles long and 2 miles wide. It is the centre of American finance, advertis-New York attracts people from all over the world. If you look at the newspapers that people around you are reading, you will see that one person is read­ing a newspaper in Spanish, another in Arabic, still others in Chinese, French, Russian, Italian, and so on. New York was always a city of immigrants. It still is.

New York, one of the largest and most exciting cities in the world, is situated at the mouth of the Hudson River, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean, and consists of five parts, called boroughs1: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island. But it is of course its central part, the bor­ough of Manhattan, that most people think of when they think of New York.

Manhattan is an island 13 miles long and 2 miles wide. It is the centre of American finance, advertising, art, theatre, publishing, fashion — and every­thing else.

Manhattan is divided into the East Side and the West Side. The dividing line is Fifth Avenue. All

the streets that cross Fifth Avenue are also divided into two parts, that is they have, for example, West 5th Street and East 5th Street, West 11th Street and East 11th Street, and so on. The part of, say, 26th Street that goes west of Fifth Avenue is called West 26th Street, the part going east of Fifth Avenue — East 26th Street.

Manhattan is also di­vided   into   Lower (Downtown) Manhat­tan, Midtown, and Up­per (Uptown) Manhat­tan. The numbers of the streets begin in Lower (Downtown) Manhattan and get higher as you go north. Lower (Down­town) Manhattan is the southern part of the is­land, nearest the Atlan­tic Ocean, up to 14th

Street. Midtown is the area between 14th Street and Central Park. Upper (Uptown) Manhattan is the re­maining,

northern part of the island. 

 

Washington, the Nation's Capital.

A visitor to Washington D.C. is impressed by the straight tree-lined avenues of the capital city and grand houses in neo-classical style.

Washington D. C. is situated on the Potomac1 River. The author of the design for the capital city was the French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant2. His design is based on Versailles3, a palace near Paris4. The capital city is criss-crossed by broad avenues, which meet in spacious squares and circles. The central place of the city is the Mall9, a large open space, a kind of park, stretching from the building of the Capitol1 to Lincoln Memorial, with Washington Memorial in the middle. The Mall is often used by people for public meetings, picnics, games, concerts, etc.

On both sides of the Mall are the numerous build­ings of the Smithsonian Institution2 — a group of museums, scientific buildings and collections. James Smithson3 was an English scientist of the 19th cen­tury, who left his entire fortune to the United States, asking to use it in order to found "an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". The Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846, and it includes now thirteen museums.

       There is only one business in Washington, and this business is government. The executive depart­ments are located in Washington. Most of the peo­ple who live in Washington work for the federal

government.

When you are in Washington, you can visit the White House. You won't see the President at work, because the offices and the living quarters of the White House are closed to the public. But you can visit Capitol Hill, and there you will be able to see the work of the other two branches of government: the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court have public galleries.

 

Chicago.

Chicago is the centre of the Midwest and a typi­cal American city.

It is situated on. Lake Michigan. Waterways (and later railroad lines) have made Chicago a natural link between the products of the Midwest and the markets of the East. For a long time now Chicago has been an important centre of meatpacking and grain storage/There are also many factories in Chi­cago which produce farm equipment. Chicago has played a great role in the growth of the Midwest and of the United States. The population of Chicago has also grown rapidly. In 1850 its population was 50 thousand people. Now it is one of the most pop­ulated cities in the United States.

In 1871 there was a great fire, which destroyed nearly the whole of Chicago. The city needed re­building. The skyscraper — a typical feature of Amer­ica — appeared in the course of this rebuilding.

In the 1880's and 1890's Chicago attracted engi­neers and architects from America and Europe. These men are now known as the Chicago school. In later years, the traditions which they began have been developed by others who worked in Chicago and other places.

Like New York, Chicago is a city of skyscrapers. Chicago's tallest buildings are the John Hancock1 Tower (or "Big John", as they call it), the Standard Oil Building ("Big Stan") and the Sears Tower2, which is the tallest building in the world.

       Although Chicago is situated far away from any ocean, it is famous for its beaches. Most of the area along Lake Michigan is taken up by beaches and parks.

 

New Orleans

New Orleans is not a typical American city. It is a city, the main business.of which is pleasure.

New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718. It became part of the United States only in 1803. So, for nearly a hundred years, it was more like a city of the French Caribbean than of North Ameri­ca. By taking many elements of different cultures, it has created its own unique culture.

The city began With what is now the French Quar­ter. The beautiful houses of the French Quarter, which the rich planters of the South built for their pleasure and comfort, have spacious courtyards and cosy patios, richly decorated interiors with high ceilings and large windows.

       New Orleans is the place where jazz and the blues1 really began. There are still many jazz clubs in New Orleans, for example the club in Bourbon Street2 in the French Quarter. If you visit New Orleans in spring, you can go to the New Orleans Jazz Festival. There you will hear everything from fiddlers to large jazz bands, from street musicians to "big names" in music. At lunch time a visitor can taste local traditional dishes: alligator soup and crawfish pie.

The city's most famous festival is Mardi Gras3 (Fat Tuesday). It is held the week before Lent4 (the period of fasting before Easter1). During the Mardi Gras Festival many parades are organized, and even spectators dress in fancy costumes2. In recent years they also hold a traditional costume contest during Mardi Gras.

 

San Francisco.

Until the 1840's San Francisco was a settlement of 200 people. It grew and became important thanks to the Gold Rush3. Forty-niners4, who came to Cal­ifornia by ship, passed San Francisco on their way. Many of them returned to San Francisco and stayed there. In a few years the population of the city was 50 thousand.

       In 1906 San Francisco was hit by a destructive earthquake. Eye-witnesses described buildings danc­ing and falling to pieces, whole streets moving like ocean waves. The earthquake was followed by fires that could not be stopped because the water supply of the city was destroyed. Only on the fifth day it started raining, and the rains put out the fires. Three-fourths of the city had burned down.

San Francisco is an unusual and very picturesque city. It is surrounded by water on three sides. It stands on forty hills. The city is also famous for its cable cars, which climb up and down the hills, and for its fine houses along steep and narrow streets.

San Francisco has a reputation of an intellectual, liberal and slightly crazy city — a city where you come across new and different ideas.   -

In the 1950's San Francisco's North Beach was a centre for "beat poets"1. In the mid-1960's one of the districts of San Francisco gave rise to hippies1.

In the late 1960's America was swept by college protests2. These protests also began in the San Fran­cisco area — at Berkeley3, the University of Cali­fornia, which has always been known for academic excellence.

The symbol of San Francisco is the Golden Gate4 Bridge, which opened in 1937 — a beautiful suspension bridge1 over the Golden Gate, a strait con­necting San Francisco Bay2 to the Pacific Oceans.

 

Los Angeles.

In the first place, Los Angeles is known as the centre of movie industry. Many film stars live in or near Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a rich and glamorous place. The Beverly Hills3 area is famous for its beautiful man­sions and high-priced shops.

Los Angeles is a rapidly-growing city. Its sub­urbs are not really suburbs: they have developed many businesses of their own. Los Angeles keeps spreading out into farmland and even desert.

Los Angeles's growth is supported by its diverse economy. The city is not only a centre of entertain­ment and tourism. It is also a big centre of manu­facturing, finance, oil and trade. The port of Los Angeles handles more cargo than New York. The growth of trade is due to close contacts with Asian countries. Asian companies have invested a lot of money in Los Angeles; as a result, three-fourths of downtown Los Angeles is owned by foreign compa­nies, mostly by Japanese.

With the growth of distances in Los Angeles, the" importance of the car has greatly increased. Los Angeles's highways are busiest in North America. There are days, when the "rush hour" lasts not an hour, but the whole day.

Los Angeles faces some other serious problems. The traffic is so heavy, that the city has the dirtiest air in the United States: very often people cannot see the sun though the sky is cloudless — the sun is completely hidden by smog.

The other problems of the city are crime and vi­olence. Police say that there are at least 500 gangs in Los Angeles. Experts insist that these problems must be solved if Los Angeles wants to keep to1 the Southern Californian lifestyle for which it is fa-

mous.