Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament

 London sights part I

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.

Samuel Johnson (1777)

Boy: Today I`ll try to tell you about some London sights. Only about some of them because if I describe each interesting place in London, it will take me a week or maybe even longer.

Forbes ranks London the most visited city in the world. По рейтингу всемирно известного журнала Форбс Лондон – самый посещаемый город в мире. And we`ll try to find out the reason.

London is a city of endless diversity. Лондон – это город бесконечного разнообразия. Back to 1777(seventeen seventy seven) Samuel Johnson speaking with his friend, pronounced a very famous phrase: When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. I won`t speak about great opportunities this city suggests us.  Я не буду говорить о всех тех возможностях, которые нам предлагает этот город. I`ll try to show you its ancient beauty and modern appeal (Я постараюсь показать вам его древнюю красоту и современную притягательность).

I invite you on a hop on/hop off bus tour around London.

But be very careful with traffic in London! It differs from ours! If we compare traffic in the UK and in Russia we`ll notice some differences. Но будьте очень осторожны! Если мы сравним движение в Соединенном Королевстве и России, то мы заметим некоторые отличия. Look here attentively. Have you noticed anything unusual? Заметили что-нибудь необычное?

The car seemed to be on the wrong side of the road, didn`t it?  Кажется, что машина находится на неправильной стороне дороги, не так ли?

This is the very difference I`m trying to tell you about. So, in Russia we`ve got right hand traffic and to cross the road we have to look to the left first. Итак, в России – правостороннее движение. И чтобы перейти дорогу, сначала нужно посмотреть налево. And in the UK, on the contrary, they`ve got left hand traffic and look to the right first to start crossing the road. А в Соединенном Королевстве, наоборот, левостороннее движение, и нужно посмотреть направо, чтобы начать переходить дорогу.

Now, let`s hop on our sightseeing bus.

Hop on/hop off means that you can get on and off the buses of this tour whenever you like. Хоп он – хоп оф автобусный тур обозначает, что можно садиться и выходить из автобусов данного тура тогда, когда сами этого захотим.

So if we want to come closer, for instance, to Buckingham palace, we can easily do it.

Buckingham palace. Look at this beautiful Victoria Memorial in front of it. Queen Victoria was the first queen who lived here. And she was the person who transformed Buckingham House into Buckingham Palace in 1830`s (eighteen thirties).

Именно королева Виктория превратила так называемый Бакингем Хаус в Букингемский Дворец в 1830-х годах.

Now there are 775 (seven hundred and seventy five) rooms in the palace and 188 (one hundred and eighty eight) of them are bedrooms for people who work in it. Nowadays Queen Elizabeth II with her family lives in Buckingham palace. (it`s interesting to know) Look at the roof of the palace. Do you see the flag? The flag is raised at the moment. It means that somebody form the royal family is at home now. And if it is lowered we`ll understand that nobody is at home. …

Now we are passing by Number 10 Downing Street. Do you know this address? No?

Every prime minister of the UK lives here. Who is the prime minister? Кто же такой премьер-министр? There`s a queen in the UK, isn`t there? В соединенном Королевстве ведь есть королева. It`s interesting to know that … queen reigns but doesn`t rule. Королева правит, но не управляет. And the prime minister is the head of the government who rules the state. А премьер-министр – это глава правительства, который и управляет страной. He has the real power in his hands.

And do you see the Houses of Parliament in front of us? This is the place where the prime minister and many other people work. It smells of long history and great power.

Look here: the Houses of Parliament are a group of Buildings. More than one thousand and one hundred offices are situated there.

Let`s get acquainted with the main ones. давайте познакомимся с самыми главными. The British parliament consists of two houses: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Британский парламент состоит из двух палат – Палаты Лордов и палаты Общин. They`ve got their own chambers. И у них есть свои палаты (или, попросту, комнаты). You can see where they`re situated.

It`s interesting to know that:

The original name of the houses of Parliament is the Palace of Westminster.

It is the very place where the House of Commons meets with the House of Lords. The kings and queens of England lived here from the 11^th century till 1512 when it was destroyed by a fire. Короли и королевы Англии жили в Вестминстерском Дворце до 1512 года, когда он был уничтожен пожаром.

The building has three famous towers: Victoria tower башня королевы Виктории (in memory of queen Victoria. It`s the tallest one), the Central tower – центральная башня and Elizabeth tower башня Елизаветы. Do you hear this famous chimes? … It`s Big Ben - The most famous clock in the world….

 (It`s interesting to know) Do you know that Big Ben is neither the name of the tower nor the clock. It is the name of the heaviest bell inside Elizabeth Tower (since 2012). (The Great Bell or Big Ben) weighs 13,5 tones.

I`m sure that now you see, that London is the kind of place where no tourist can be disappointed. Лондон – это такое место, в котором ни один турист не сможет разочароваться.