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NEW YORK – A GATEWAY TO THE USA.

New York has always been the gateway to the USA, but it’s more than just a door,

It is also a window through which the life of the whole nation may be observed. It is the nation’s largest city, (population 7, 868, 000), it is the richest port, it is the nation’s leader in business, finance, manufacturing, communications, service industry, fashion and arts.

You can get to New York by sea or by air. New York’smaritime position has made it the gateway to the USA. Now it is a busy crossroads of the country. It has several airports, serving both international and domestic lines. Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Stations are the busiest railway stations in the USA. Port Bus Terminal handles 5,000 daily interstate bus movements.

New York Bay, at the mouth of the Hudson River, was first seen by an Italian navigator in 1525, and later in 1609 it was explored by Captain Henry Hudson who discovered the Hudson River and Manhattan Island. In 1626 Dutch colonists under the leadership of Peter Minuit[mi`njuit] set up their first settlement, named New Amsterdam. Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island from the Indians for a barrel of rum and a few glass necklaces, worth about $26. The Americans say that this was the best business deal ever made in New York. In 1664 the colony was captured by the British fleet under Duke of York and renamed New York.

New York City consists of five boroughs [`bÀrәz]: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Richmond (Staten Island)

Brooklyn is the largest in population. 3,000,000 people have their homes there, giving rise to its nickname “bedroom of New York “. Richmond is the borough of piers and warehouses. The Bronx is more residential, rather than industrial part of the city. Queens is both residential and industrial part of the city. The heart of the city is Manhattan, rocky Island, 13 miles long and 2 miles wide.

Manhattan is crossed from north to south by avenues and from east to west by streets. The avenues and streets are numbered. But some, such as Park, Madison, Lexington and Columbus, bear names. Park Avenue, Broadway, and Fifth, Seventh and Madison Avenues have become synonyms for wealth or certain occupations. Park Avenue because of its large expensive apartment houses has come to represent luxury and fashion. Seventh Avenue is the centre ofgarment industry, symbolising the women’s fashion. Madison Avenue is a street, on which are concentrated the offices of many advertising and public relations firms. The most fashionable is Fifth Avenue. It is the central avenue, on which luxury stores and better apartment houses are situated. Broadway is an exception from all other avenues. First of all it is not straight; it bends and curves all along the length of Manhattan. Broadway near Times Square is the place where the most leading stage and screen theatres are located. The brilliant illuminations here at night make this section known as the “Great White Way”. It is famous for its night clubs, cafes, restaurants, hotels and shops. The word “Broadway” has come to mean American theatre, especially the professional or commercial theatre of the USA.



 

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Downtown Manhattan is the business centre of the nation. The land of Manhattan costs now too much to be used for large factories. It is used for tall office buildings. Even though the factory, the mine, or other industry may be in some distant part of the USA, the main office is usually in New York. As the financial headquarters, New York is the home of some of the world’s largest corporations and the New York and American Stock Exchanges. Wall Street – America’s financial centre occupying a quarter of a mile - has become world famous. It symbolises the money market and financiers of the US. Wall Street was called so because of the wall which extended along the street in Dutch times. It was built to protect the small colony from attacks by Indians. Later the wall was removed but the name remained. At the foot of Wall Street within a walking distance lies East Side, a slum area inhabited by the poor. As we go up, we come to the City Hall. It houses the offices of the Mayor. In downtown Manhattan in Washington Square is the campus of New York University. Another place of interest in this area is Greenwich Village. Artists, writers, sculptors, composers, poets, actors make their homes in the Village.

 

Places of interest in midtown Manhattan are:

Empire State Building (102 stories), it had the title “America’s tallest “ till 1973 when the twin 110-storey towers of the World Trade Centre were completed. On the 11th of September 2001 the Twin Towers collapsed at the result of the act of the world terrorists. The victims of the terrorists’ act were numerous.

United Nations Headquarters occupy a six-block area. It is the meeting-place of the representatives of the member nations. The regular session is held annually beginning in autumn.

Rockefeller Centre is the city within a city, a group of 15 sky-scrapers, the Radio Corporation of America – RCA- owns the tallest. Sometimes it is called “Radio City”. There are restaurants, stores, theatres, an ice-skating pond and Radio City Music Hall, where the nation’s most popular movies have their first showing.

The new Madison Square Garden is the largest indoor stadium, home of all kinds of sports, public events and elaborate entertainment.

Museum of Modern Arts has a collection of contemporary painting, sculpture, architecture, industrial design, photography and motion pictures.

Carnegie Hall, [ ] founded in 1891, has attained world wide fame by presenting many renowned and accomplished musicians.

 

In uptown Manhattan visitors usually see:

Columbus Circle which is the geographical centre of New York. There is a memorial to Christopher Columbus here.

Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts. Among other theatres here the Metropolitan Opera House (“Met”), is the most famous.

New York has also some museums, art galleries, scientific collections, libraries and educational institutions, most of them in uptown Manhattan.

Frick Collection is a private collection of paintings of European masters of the 14th 19th centuries, situated in the private house of the Fricks, but open to the public.

 

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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum [ ] is situated in a new building of modern and original architecture, contains 20th century foreign and American paintings, sculptures and graphic arts.

There is also American Museum of Natural History, containing exhibits, illustrating the growth and development of man.

Metropolitan Museum of Art is the richest museum in America, founded in 1870. Its collection covers 5,000 years and ranges geographically through Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Greece and Rome, Middle and Far East and Europe.

Columbia University was founded in 1754. Now it is a private institution where the tuition is not less than 6,000 dollars a semester, but the approach to students is individual.

The uptown Manhattan is the site of Harlem, the overcrowded black community. There is not one Harlem, but three: Spanish, Italian and Negro Harlem. The conditions of living here are below the ordinary.

 

Two more places of the city should be mentioned: Times Square, which was the centre of theatrical life on Broadway for a long time. Then it was rebuilt and it has lost its original architecture, but still is the tourists’ centre of the city. The second place is the Central Park, which may be called the lungs of the city. There are playgrounds, tennis-courts and bridle-paths here. Strawberry Fields honour the memory of John Lennon. There is the open-sky theatre and lots of other places for entertainment, but it is not safe to walk in some parts of it even during the daytime.

 

When visitors arrive in New York they pass by Liberty Island with the bronze Statue of Liberty. It was presented to the USA by France in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of American independence. Its top reaches 305 feet (nearly 100 metres) above the water level. It is the work of the well-known 19th century French sculptor Frederic Bartholdi. The statue is made from copper sheets and it is hollow inside. 225 tons of metal were used for its construction. You can go up in a lift and enjoy the view of the city standing at the foot of the statue. If you want to go higher you can use a circular stairway from the base to the crown. The figure shows a young woman freeing herself from the shackles. She holds a torch in her right hand and in her left hand there is a tablet with the date “July 4th, 1776“on it. The torch lights up at night. The Statue of Liberty was built on funds collected in France and symbolises the friendship of the United States and France of those days.

 

One can also visit lots of other places of interest: Chinatown, where you can feel the atmosphere of real China, or “Little Italy”, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Whitney Museum of Art, Museum of the City of New York, Museum of American Indians and West Point, United States Military Academy which is situated on the western bank of the river Hudson and so on and so forth. And then you will go to John F. Kennedy International Airport and leave America for Moscow.

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Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1779


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