London

London is the capital of Great Britain. It is situated on the Thames. It is a large industrial and cultural centre. It is one of the largest cities in the world. Its population is about 9 million people.

The Thames divides London into the following parts: the West End and the East End.

The West End is the district of the rich. In the West End there are many famous museums and theatres, palaces and parks. Also there are very many places of interest which you know through photographs, pictures and films, e.g. the Houses of Parliament, the Tower, St. Paul Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the British Museum. Piccadilly is a fashionable shopping centre. Whitehall is the political centre. These places of interest attract tourists' attention.

The East End is full of factories and plants. The City, where nobody lives, is the commercial and the financial centre of London. There are a lot of offices and banks there. London is not only a large city but it is also famous as a seaport.

My family

1 am Steve Jones. Steve is my first name and Jones is my surname. I am seventeen years old. My family is large. We are four in our family: a father, a mother, a sister, a brother and me.

My parents are fine people. My mother's name is Emma. She is fourty-two. She's tall and slim. My father's name is Ben. He's fourty-five. He's often very busy. My sister's name is Dolly. She is twenty-three. She is married. Her husband's name is Ted. Dolly and Ted's son Den is my nephew. Their daughter Ann is my niece. My father is Ted's father-in-law. My mother is Ted's mother-in-law. Ted is my parents' son-in-law. And I am Ted's brother-in-law. We are close friends. My little brother's name is John. Johnny is only six. He's very noisy. His life is easy. My father's sister Bess is my aunt. My mother's brother Nick is my uncle. My aunt and uncle's children are my cousins. My cousins' names are Mike and Jane. My grandparents, my parents' parents are not very old. My two grandfathers are about seventy. My two grandmothers are sixty-five. I am a student. My hobby is music. We are all very happy together.

The March sisters

Margaret or Meg is the eldest of the four girls. She is sixteen. Meg is very pretty, plump and fair with large dark eyes and soft brown hair. She has a sweet mouth and beautiful white hands. Meg likes fine clothes, she is sometimes vain and proud, but her nature is sweet and her heart is kind. Meg is very intelligent.

Fifteen-year-old Josephine or Jo is very tall, thin, with dark complexion. She has a decided mouth, a comical nose, sharp grey eyes, long thick dark chestnut hair and big feet. Jo loves sport and she is very active and courageous, her friends are all boys. She also loves reading very much, she is a real bookworm. Her imagination is great, she even writes plays. Jo's dream is to go to college.

Elizabeth or Beth for short is a girl of 13 with rosy cheeks, smooth light brown hair, bright eyes and a peaceful expression on her face. She is very shy and her voice is timid. Her sisters call her Mouse because she likes to be at home. Beth even does her lessons at home. She loves her sisters very much, she is a peacemaker in her family. Elizabeth is very talented too, she plays the piano very well.

Amy, the youngest sister, is 11. She looks like a snow princess with her large blue eyes,
curly golden shoulder-length hair, pale face and small hands. She is slender and tall for her age.
Amy is funny when she tries to be a young lady and speaks long difficult words. She is
ambitious too, her dream is to become famous.                     Amy thinks her nose is too flat. She is

everyone's pet because of her good temper, beauty, refined manners and a talent for painting.

THE     GREATEST     CITIES     OF     RUSSIA

Moscow.

Moscow is the capital of Russia. It was founded eight centuries ago by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Historians have accepted the year of 1147 as the start of Moscow's history. Gradually the city became more and more powerful.

In the 16th century under Ivan the Terrible Moscow became the capital of the new united state. Though Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg in 1712. Moscow remained the heart of Russia. Three quarters of the city was destroyed by fire during Napoleon's occupation, but by the mid-19th century Moscow had been completely restored.

Now Moscow is one of the largest cities in Europe. The population of the city is over 8 mln people.

Moscow is the seat of our Government. President of Russia lives and works there.   The Moscow Kremiin , St. Basil's Cathedral are the most beautiful masterpieces of Russian architecture.

For those who are fond of art, the best piace to visit is the Tretyakov Gallery or the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.

Moscow is famous for its theatres. The best- known of them are the Bolshoi. Maly and An Theatres.

Moscow is a scientific centre. The Academy of Sciences of Russia, the oidest university, many schools of higher education and colleges are   located there.

Traffic in Moscow is very heavy. There are the underground . busses, trolley-busses, trams and taxis in Moscow.

Moscow is the port of five seas. Four main airports connect  Moscow with other parts of- our country and many other countries. There are nine railway stations in Moscow.