Washington

1. Washington, the capital of the United States of America, is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. The District is a piece of land ten miles square and it does not belong to any separate state but to all the states. The District is named in honour of Columbus, the discoverer of America. The capital owes much to the first President of the USA – George Washington, who chose the place for the District and laid in 1790 the corner – stone of the Capitol, where Congress sits.

2. Washington is not the largest city in the USA. It has a population of 900 000 people. Washington D.C. has nothing characteristically American in it, as its conception is purely French. It has long wide avenues, gardens, beautiful parks and no skyscrapers at all. Washington is a one – industry town. That industry is government. It does not produce anything except very much scrap paper. Every day 25 railway cars leave Washington loaded with scrap paper.

3. Washington has many historical places. The largest and tallest among the buildings is the Capitol with its great House of Representatives and the Senate chamber. There are no sky-scrapers in Washington because no other building must be taller than the Capitol.

4. The White House is the President^’s residence. All American presidents except George Washington (the White House was not yet built in his time), have lived in the White House. It was built in 1799. It is a two – storied, white building.

Not far from the Capitol is the Washington Monument, which looks like a very big pencil. It rises 160 meters and is hollow inside. A special lift brings visitors to the top in 70 seconds from where they can enjoy a wonderful view of the whole city.

5. The Jefferson Memorial was built in memory of the third President of the USA, Thomas Jefferson, who was also the author of the Declaration of Independence. The memorial is surrounded by cherry – trees.

The Lincoln Memorial is devoted to the memory of the 16th President of the US, the author of the Emancipation Proclamation, which gave freedom to Negro slaves in America.

6. On the other bank of the Potomac lies the Arlington National Cemetery where President Kennedy was buried. American soldiers and officers, who died in World Wars I and II are buried there too.

7. Washington is a large scientific and cultural center, where there are many research institutes, five universities, the National Academy of Science and the Library of Congress. There is one more well – known building in Washington – Pentagon, the residence of the US Military department. It is situated in the suburbs to the south of the Potomac.

VI. Прочтите 2-ой абзац и вопрос к нему. Из приведенных вариантов ответа укажите номер предложения, содержащего правильный ответ на поставленный вопрос.

What industries are situated in the city?

1. There are a lot of industries in the city: machine-building, ship-building, metal-

processing and others.
2. There are no industries in Washington.
3. There is one industry here. That industry is government, which produces much

scrap paper.

VII. Прочтите 3-ий абзац. Закончите данное предложение, выбрав соответствующий вариант.

There are no sky-scrapers in Washington…

1. …because there is a law in Washington not to build houses higher than the

Capitol.
2. …because the people in Washington are afraid to live in the sky-scrapers.
3. …because they would hide the city’s many monuments from view.