Text 6. The British Museum

 

The British Museum is situated in Central London (Bloomsbury district). It was founded by the Act of Parliament in 1753. The present buil-ding was built in 1852. The British Museum comprises the National Museum of Antiquities and Ethnography, the National Library and the Department of Prints and Drawings. It is one of the most extensive and valuable museums in West Europe.

The British Museum Library was founded in 1793. Before it had
6 reading rooms and 670 desks for readers. Now the library of the British Museum is in a new building. By law a copy of every book, periodical or newspaper published in Britain must be preserved in the British Museum. There are over 7 million of volumes in the library today.

The British Museum is closely connected with the name of an Italian lawyer Anthony Panizzi. He occupied the position of principal librarian in the British Museum. He also designed the famous circular Reading Room in the British Museum.

The Reading Room has the form of a perfect circle. The superintendent and his assistants sit in the center of the room, issue and collect books. Long rows of reading desks radiate to the outer walls, like the spokes of the wheel. The catalogues are kept behind them.

Visitors to the Museum who want to enter the Reading Room must have a ticket of admission. Only people at the age of 21, engaged in serious study and who cannot obtain books they require elsewhere, can use the Reading Room. Any person who comes into the Reading Room is greatly impressed by the efficiency of the staff there. You just ask for a book and in a moment it is placed in front of you.

The British Museum contains books and manuscripts: Greek, Roman, British and oriental antiquities. The British Museum has the Department of Ethnography. Ethnography is concerned with primitive people and their cultures in various stages of development as it is revealed by their tools, ritual objects and various crafts. This collection is so vast that only a very small percentage is on show to general public.

Then the British Museum also has the Department of Prints and Drawings. There are departments devoted to maps, coins, medals. Those who are interested in philately can find a magnificent collection of postage stamps. Visitors interested in chronology can see a large collection of clocks and watches. Every year the British Museum is visited by 2 million people.

On one of the houses in Bloomsbury (London) there is a plaque which tells people that for nearly 50 years this was the home of Sir Hans Sloane, the benefactor of the British Museum. Sir Hans Sloane was an Irishman. He arrived in London nearly 300 years ago with 800 species of plants collected in West India. His particular specialities were natural history specimens and books. All his life Sir Hans Sloane remained a collector. In his will he offered his vast collection to the people of Britain. Later on the Government bought his collection.

Text 7. New York

    

In 1607 Captain Henry Hudson left Europe to search for the famous North-West Passage. He didn’t find it, because it didn’t exist, but he reached a river to which he gave his name. Interested by the stories told them by the captain on his return, the Dutch sent other boats to take possession of the land discovered by Hudson and gave it the name «New Netherland». Two men dominate the history of this colony. The first bought the island of Manhattan from the Indians in 1626. The second arrived in 1647 as governor of New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland.   

In 1664 this territory was taken over by the English and they changed the name of New Amsterdam to New York.

New York is one of the largest cities in the world. Its population is over 11 million people. New York is an industrial and cultural centre of the country. Most business is centred in Manhattan Island. The whole area is very small, that’s why the skyscrapers were invented in New York and, especially, in Wall Street. Wall Street is a narrow street with big houses, but it is well known all over the world as the busiest street in the USA. People do business there.

There are two more world-famous streets – Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Broadway is the centre of the theatres and night life. It is known as «The Great White Way» because of the electric signs which turn night into day. It is the city that never goes to sleep. Buses and subway run all night. There are many drugstores and restaurants which never close their doors. There are cinemas with films that start at midnight.

Fifth Avenue is the great shopping, hotel, and club avenue. If you go along this avenue, you come to Harlem, where the black people of New York live, the coloured workers, teachers, doctors and musicians.

New York is the largest port in America. More than half the trade of the United States goes through this city.

There are many places of interest in New York. They are: the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations Building, Empire State Building, Columbia University, City Hall, New York Public Library and others.

 

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