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170
90km
.
60km
.
110k
m.
10. Sum up what the dialogue and the text said about driving in Britain.
11. Role play.
Imagine you are speaking with an English businessman. Discuss:
• traffic jams
• speed limits
• parking facilities etc.
Unit forty four
Windsor and Eton
Text
On Sunday morning the group started on an
excursion for Windsor by coach.
Windsor lies 34 km west of London and is famous, first and foremost for Windsor Castle, the residence of
the royal family Many parts of this historic castle are open to the public while some other parts are always
closed and some are closed when the royal family is in residence.
The site of Windsor Castle was fust defended by William the Conqueror in 1070 and for the next 900
years the building was continually enlarged, growing from a medieval castle to a vast and complex royal
palace.
The most impressive of all the castle buildings is St. Geoige's Chapel, a masterpiece of perpendicular
Gothic architecture. The State Apartments, which are closed to the public, comprise 16 rooms, and each is a
treasure house of superb furniture, porcelain, and armour The rooms are decorated with carvings by
Grinling, Gibbons, ceilings by Venio and works from the royal collections. They include Van Dyck's
paintings
The star attraction, open to the public, is Queen Mary's Doll's House, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and
given to the nation in 1923. The furnishings are designed at one-twelfth lifesize.
Part of Windsor Central Railway Station has now been converted to a waxworks museum iun by Madame
Tussaud's, recreating the scene in 1879 when a special train arrived here to celebrate Queen Victoria's
Diamond Jubilee. Queen Victoria, the longest ruling monarch in Britain, who lived in 1837-1901,
symbolises the unity of the nation, the British Empire and the progress of the nation in the nineteenth
centuiy.
After visiting Windsor the group walked to Eton. They went along Thames Street from Windsor Castle
down to the river, where Windsor Bridge took them to Eton, Windsor's twin town, on the northern bank.
Eton is the home of Eton college, the public school that has produced no fewer than 20 prime ministers. It
was term time and they saw a lot of students around, dressed in their distinctive tail coats and wing collars.
Words and expressions
Windsor
Виндзор. Небольшой город,
муниципальный центр,
население около 30,000 чел
Eton
Итон, маленький городок
напротив Виндзора
to lie (lay, lied)
лежать, находиться
west
запад
first and foremost
прежде всего
castle
[k
sl]
замок
Windsor Castle
Виндзорский замок. Одна из
загородных резеден-ций
английской королевы /короля
residence
резиденция