READERS
MACMILI.AN

LEVET
BEGINNER

PHILIP
PROWSE

This is London

MACMILLAN
READERS

Contents

BEGINNER
LEVET
F oundingEditvr : John Milne
The Macmillan Readers provide a choice of enjoyable reading materials for learnersof Enghsh. The seriesis published at six levels
- Starter, Beginner, Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate and Upper.
Level control
Information, structure and vocabulary are controlled to suit the students'ability at each level.
The number of words at each level:
Starter

about 300 basic words

Beginner

about 600 basic words

Elementary

about 1100basicwords

Pre-intermediate

about 1400basicwords

Intermediate

about 1600 basicwords

Upper

about 2200 basicwords

Answer keys
Answer keys for the Exercises section can be found at www.macmillanenglish.com Introduction

1
2
3
4
5
6

4

History of London
Placesto Visit
Tiavelling in London
Shopping
London ar Night
Information and Advice

)

1t
22
25
28
34

Exercises

36

Introduction
London is the biggestcity in Britain. Over seven million

History of London

people live and work in London.
London is also one of the most important cities in the world. It is a centre for businessand tounsm.
There are many exciting things to do in London. The city has got some of the best theatres and museums in the world. There are a lot of places to go at night. It is a fun city!
This book begins with a brief history of London.
Then we will look at things you can see and do in
London today.

The Romans
The Romanscame to Britain in AD 43. They built a t o wn o n t h e Riv e r T h a m e s . T h e v c a l l e d t h e t o w n
Londinium.
Soon, they built a bridge over the river. Londinium grew bigger. Ships came to the town from all over
Europe.
The Romans built roads from Londinium to other p a rt s o f B rit a in . B y t h e y e a r 4 0 0 , t h e r e w e r e f i f t y peopleliving in the city. thousand Roman London was called Londinium
Shoppers in Oxford Street

William the Conqueror

London
Shakespeare's

In 1066, \Tilliam the Conqueror came to England.
William was the Duke of Normandy in France.He won the Battle of Hastingsand he becameKing of England.
William lived in London but he was afraid of the peopleof London.He built the White Towerto feel safe.
Now it is the tallestpart of the Towerof London.
Many tourists visit the Tower of London every year.
The Crown Jewels the Queen'sgold and jewels - are kept there.
All th e Kin g s and Queens of E ngla n d liv e d in
London. It was the biggesttown in England. By 1600, there were more than two hundred thousand people living in London.

was born in Stratford-on-Avon in 1564.
Shakespeare
wrote thirty-six
Later, he lived in London. Shakespeare all plays.
They arestill readand performed over the world.
The
The plays were performedin the GlobeTheatre. by theatrewas destroyed a fire in 1613.In 1997,a new
Globe Theatre wasbuilt in the sameplace.You can learn more about the new Globe Theatre in Chapter 5.

The River Thames
The River Thames is part of London's history. It has alwaysbeen at the centre of the city.
Until 1749, there was only one bridge acrossthe river: London Bridge.There were housesand shopson the bridge. Often, the river froze in the winter and peoplewalkedon the ice.
In the nineteenth century, many new bridgeswere built. Now there are more than twenty bridgesover the
River Thames. The Millennium Bridge and the
Hungerfordfootbridgesare new. Many of the Thames' bridges lit up at night. They look very beautiful. are Tower Bridge at night

Places Visit to You can visit many interesting places in London. Yott can find some of these places on the map on pagcs

r4-r5.
In London you are never far from the River Thames.
Many tourists go on boat trips from Tower Bridge to
Westminster.
Another

good boat trip

Greenwich you can visit The OId Royal Obseruatory.The boat passes lot of famous buildings. a A boat trip on the River Thames

l0

is to Greenwich. ln

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There are somefine, modern buildings on the South
Bank. You can see The Royal FestivalHall and The Tate
Modern. There are also many art galleries,restaurants and barson the South Bank.
On the South Bank, you can visit the Imax Cinemn" with its huge screenor you can go on the London Eye.
The London Eye is a big wheel that takesyou 135 metres above London. It is the slowestbig wheel in the world and the best way to see the whole city. You can see for forty kilometres in all directions. You can see old buildings like St Paul'sCathedraland Wndsor Castle,and new buildings like theMilbnniumDome and the Gherkin.

T h e G h e rk in is a g l a s sb u i l d i n g . I t l o o k s l i k e a vegetable!From the London Eye you can also see the tall buildings in Canary Wharf. Canary Wharf is a new in centre of business London.
Most of the famousold buildings are north of the
'Westminster.
They river. The Houses Parliament in of ate government.Peoplecall the are the centre of the British tall clock tower by the Housesof ParliamentBig Ben. In fact, Big Ben is the name of one of the bells. There are many govemment buildings in this area.Downing Sneet is nearby. The Prime Minister lives in number 10,
Downing Street.

The London Eye

The Houses of Parliament

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13

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Waterloo
St James's
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Station
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War Rooms t Big Ben
Westminster
o Houses Parliament of A

Churches
Westminster
Abbeyis one of the most famouschurches in
London. It is very near to the Housesof Parliament.The
Abbey is more than nine hundred yearsold. In 1953,
Queen ElizabethII wascrownedthere.
Another greatLondon church is St Pazl'sCathedral.It wasbuilt by Sir ChristopherWren after the Great Fire of
1666. From the top there is a good view of the City of
London. You can visit the cathedral by walking across
The Millennium Bridge,from the South Bank.

The National Gallery and the lions of Trafalgar Square

Art Galleries

The MilleniumBridge and St Paul's Cathedral

t6

You can find many art galleriesin London. The most famous is the National Gallery in tafalgar Square. It has many famouspaintings.You can seepaintingsby Turner,
Co n s t a b le , G o y a , V a n D y c k , L e o n a r d o d a V i n c i ,
Michelangelo,Rembrandt,Renoir, Rubensand Titian.
Another well-known London gallery is The Tate
GaIIery,on the north bank of the river Thames. It was built in 1897.
The Thte Modern is a new gallery:it openedin 2000.
It has a lot of modern art collections by artists like
Picasso Andy Warhol. and 11
LI

Palaces
Palaceis the London home of the Queen.
Buckingham
You can walk from WestminsterAbbey to the Palace.It
Park.
is a pleasantwalk through St James's
Soldiersalwaysguard the palace.At half past eleven everymorning, you can watch the soldierschangeguard.
The Queen'sGaIIery is in Buckingham Palace. You can visit the gallery and see the Queen's collection of parntrngs. Another of the Queen's homes is Windsor Castle.
Win d s o r is n e a r th e R i v e r T h a m e s , a b o u t f o r t y kilometres from London. The castle is eight hundred yearsold. An Egyptian artefact at the British Museum

Museums
London has many interesting museums.The British
Museum is one of the largest museumsin the world.
There are thousands exhibits and over five kilometres of of galleries.
The museumhas regularspecialexhibitions, f o r e xam p le , a n cient Roman and Gree k a rt , t h e
Egyptians
and the Anglo-Saxons.
Another interesting museum is the Victoria and
Albert. It has got the world's largestdresscollection. It exhibitsobjectsaswell aspaintings.
Theseobjectsinclude:
fumiture, carpets, ceramics, sculptureand jewellery.
18

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BuckinghamPalace

T9

Parks
London is well known for its parks. There are more than eighty of them! The most famous parks, near central
London, are Hyde Park, Regent's
Park and Sc/ames's
Park.They are all royal parks.
Hyde Park is a large park of three hundred and forty acres.In the sixteenth century,King Henry Vlll hunted wild animals there! Today people relax on the grass and skate and cycle on the paths.
The Serpentine a lake in the middle of Hyde Park. In is the summer, you can go on a boat or swim there.

Speol