The face of every city is different. Washington D.C. - География - Скачать бесплатно

The face of every city is different. Washington D.C.

   The United States of America is the fourth largest country in the  world,
after Russia, Canada and China. It  occupies  the  southern  part  of  North
America, and includes Alaska.
   The USA is made up of 50 states, and the District of Columbia, a  special
federal area where the capitol of the country is situated.
   If we look at the map of the USA, we can see lowlands and mountains.  The
highest mountains are  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The
highest peak is Mount McKinley  which  is  located  in  Alaska.  The  United
States is a land of rivers and lakes. The largest and deepest lakes  in  the
USA are the five Great Lakes on the border with  Canada.  America’s  largest
rivers are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Rio Grande and  the  Columbia.
The Mississippi is the word’s third longest river after  the  Nile  and  the
Amazon. The climate of the country varies greatly. The climate of Alaska  is
arctic. The climate of the  central  part  is  continental.  The  south  has
subtropical climate.
   The history of the country is rather long.  Christopher  Columbus  sailed
from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of reaching India  as  he  had
expected he landed on an island off a continent unknown  to  Europeans,  but
he thought that he was in India.
   In the southern states white farmers used black slaves to work  on  their
huge plantations. When slavery was stopped in the North the southern  states
left the Union and formed the Confederacy. Civil war between the  North  and
the South started. The Union won and the slavery was abolished all over  the
USA.
   Nowadays, the USA is highly developed industrial country.
   There are many important cities in the USA, for example New York, one  of
the largest cities in the world,  a  great  seaport  and  financial  center,
Chicago near the Great Lakes, one of the biggest industrial  cities  in  the
USA, and the second largest after New York.  Boston  is  one  of  the  first
cities which were built on the Atlantic coast of America. Now it  is  a  big
cultural centre with three universities. Los Angeles is a centre  of  modern
industries and show business. Other big and important cities of the USA  are
Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Detroit, Washington and so on.
   Washington D.C. is the capitol of US. It is situated in the  District  of
Columbia and is like no other city in America. it’s the world’s largest one-
industry city. And that industry is government. The White House,  where  the
US president lives and works, the Capitol, the home of the US congress,  and
the Supreme Court, are all in Washington. The city was so named   in  memory
of George Washington, the first president of the USA, known for  the  active
participation in the war with Britain. A special district  was  created  for
the city – the District of Columbia. The city was laid out according  to  be
a capitol. Washington is one of the most magnificent and unusual  cities  in
the USA. In the centre of it rises the huge dome of  the  Capitol  –  a  big
white dome standing in a circle of pillars. It’s rather easy to get lost  in
this huge building, full of paintings and statues.
   Not far from the Capitol is the library of Congress, the largest  in  US.
It contains more than 13 million books, more than  19  million  manuscripts,
including the personal papers of the American presidents.
   The official residence of the USA president is White House.  It  has  132
rooms, among them the Oval Office  where  the  president  works.  The  White
House used to be a president residence since it first occupied by  President
John Adams in 1800.
   One can hardly find a park, a  square  or  an  open  area  in  Washington
without a monument or a memorial, the Jefferson Memorial was built in  honor
of Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence  and  the
third president of  the  USA.  Inside  his  statue,  and  his  writings  are
inscribed on the walls. The Lincoln Memorial reminds  everybody  of  Abraham
Lincoln, the sixteenth  American  president  who’s  noted  for  the  slavery
destruction. There’s a statue of Abraham Lincoln  inside  the  memorial.  At
the National Air and Space Museum  visitors can see the  history  of  flight
from the first airplane to the Apollo spaceship.  The  National  Gallery  of
Art, a large museum of painting, sculpture and other arts is  also  situated
in the capitol.
   From the beginning of the twentieth century the USA  became  the  world’s
leading country. Thousands of tourists visit Washington  every  day.  People
from all parts of the US come to see their  capitol,  and  also  people  all
over the world. Washington greets tourists with the Cherry Blossom  festival
every spring. The pink and white blossoms of the Japanese cherry these  near
the Washington Monument create a magnificent delicate picture, and  you  are
to visit Washington just to see it, and then all beauties  of  other  cities
will seem to you gloomy.



Tsivun N. 9B