PLACES OF INTEREST IN THE USA

One should start sightseeing in America from Washington. There are many beautiful parks and gardens in Washington. The NASA museum is devoted the USA achievements in the exploration of space. Capitol Hill is the highest place in the city. There is a law that forbids building houses higher than the Capitol on Capitol Hill. From the Capitol to the White House Pennsylvania Avenue used for all processions and parades runs. The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument are the most famous ones in Washington. The Washington Monument is one of the most impressive sights in the city. It is situated in Potonic Park. It was erected to the memory of the first President of the USA in 1888. It is called “The Pencil” because it is the tallest stone construction in the world and the tallest in the USA.

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (or Liberty Enlightening the World) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad.

Brooklyn Bridge is a bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. With a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m), it was the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening until 1903, and the first steel-wire suspension bridge.

Disneyland Park is a theme park located in Anaheim, California. Known as Disneyland when it was dedicated on July 17, 1955, and still widely referred to by that name, it is the only theme park to be designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. In 1998, the theme park was re-branded Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the larger Disneyland Resort complex.

Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters in the 1930s and 1940s. After hiring a consultant to help determine an appropriate site for his project, Walt bought a 160-acre (65 ha) site near Anaheim in 1953. Construction began in 1954 and the park was unveiled during a special televised press event on the ABC Television Network on July 17, 1955.

Disneyland has a larger cumulative attendance than any other theme park in the world, with close to 600 million guests since it opened. More people have walked through Disneyland's turnstiles than any other park in the world. In 2011, the park hosted approximately 16.14 million guests, making it the second most visited park in the world that calendar year.

Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical centre of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Even though much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as West Los Angeles and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the back lot of Paramount Pictures.

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is a theatrical performance presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centred along Broadway, and in Lincoln Centre, in Manhattan in New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

The Broadway theatre district is a popular tourist attraction in New York. According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold approximately $1.081 billion worth of tickets in calendar year 2011, compared with $1.037 billion for 2010. Attendance in 2011 was 12.13 million.

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its consolidated casino–hotels and associated entertainment. A growing retirement and family city, Las Vegas is the 31st-most populous city in the United States, with a population at the 2010 census of 583,756.

Established in 1905, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, Las Vegas was the most populous American city founded in that century. The city's tolerance for various forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and this image has made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programs. There are numerous outdoor lighting displays on Fremont Street, as well as elsewhere in the city.

Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York. From largest to smallest, the three waterfalls are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls that form Niagara
Falls. Located on the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world, with a vertical drop of more than 165 feet (50 m). Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America.

The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Managing the balance between recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 19th century.

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is contained within and managed by Grand Canyon National Park, the Hualapai Tribal Nation, and the Havasupai Tribe. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. It is considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,000 feet / 1,800 metres).

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

Vocabulary Notes

achievements – досягнення

exploration of space – дослідження космосу

Roman goddess of freedom – римська богиня свободи

torch – факел

tabula – дошка

suspension bridge – підвісний міст

borough – невелике місто

span – проліт (моста), відстань між опорами

cumulative attendance – сукупна відвідуваність

turnstiles – турнікети, хрестовини

gambling – азартні ігри

Sin City – місто гріха

census – перепис населення

to straddle – утворювати, становити

steep-sided canyon – каньйон із крутим спуском

to carve – висікати із каменю

E x e r c i s e s

I. Answer the questions:

1. What are the famous places of interest in Washington, DC?

2. What do you know about the Statue of Liberty?

3. Where is Brooklyn Bridge?

4. Who is the designer of Disneyland?

5. What is the cumulative attendance of Disneyland Park?

6. What is Hollywood? Explain your own understanding of this word.

7. How many theatres are on the Broadway?

8. Why Las Vegas is called Sin City?

9. What waterfalls form Niagara?

10. Why Grand Canyon is considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World?

11. What is Mount Rushmore National Memorial?

II. Find the correct word for the phrase:

1. a long stick with burning material at one end that produces light –

2. a series of metal rings which are joined together in a line –

3. a bridge that has no supports under it, but it hung from strong steel ropes fixed to towers –

4. a large park with many special machines that you can ride on, such as roller coasters and merry-go-round –

5. the number of people who attend a game, park, concert, meeting etc –

6. a film made to be shown at the cinema or on television –

7. when people risk money or possessions on the result of something which is not certain, such as card game horse race –

8. things such as films, television, performances etc that are intended to amuse or interest people –

9. an official process of counting a country’s population and finding out about the people –

10. a place where water from a river or stream falls down over a cliff or rock –

11. a deep valley with very steep sides of rock that usually has a river running through it –

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