New York City – maturitní otázka z angličtiny (6)

 

Otázka: New York

Jazyk: Angličtina

Přidal(a): Adriana Pavliková

 

 

NEW YORK

• area: 780 km²
• population: 18 million (the whole metropolitan area counted)
• the largest city in the USA, one of the largest in the world (after Sao Paolo, Seoul, Mexico City, Tokyo)
• one of the most important financial, commercial and cultural centres in the world
• lies on the east coast at the estuary of the Hudson and East Rivers
• 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island (Richmond)
• alive with action all day and night: “the city that never sleeps”, ”the Big Apple”, “the Melting Pot” – cosmopolitan society
• NY’s Harbor: a very important American port; primarily a business centre (the Stock Exchange, numerous banks, Wall Street, international institutions)
• ferries;3 main airports: J.F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark International Airport and La Guardia Airport; trains: Grand Central Terminal, Pannsylvania Station; bus connection; the subway system (tha largest urban stransportation system in the world); yellow taxis called cabs
• New Amsterdam’s first streets named (Broadway, Wall street, Bowery..); grid street system (due to the anticipation of its growth in the past) with rectangular numbered streets (155) and avenues (12) à blocks divided into plots

 

History

• 16^th century the area occupied by Algoquin tribes (Indians)
• 1524 Giovanni da VERRAZANO: the 1^st European to enter
• Henry HUDSON: English, but employed by the Dutch East Indian Company, sailed up the river
• 1624 the island was bought from the Indians by the Dutch and named New Amsterdam
• 1664 it became an English colony, the king of England Charles II. gave it to the Duke of York, his brother à it was renamed New York
• There used to be a wall against the Indians protecting the southern part of Manhattan, now replaced by Wall Street
• the capital for 2 years, it grew more and more cosmopolitan (different religions, cultures, languages respected)
• 20^th century: the first skyscrapers( Flatiron Building, Citibank, Woolworth Building) built because of the lack of space; steel frames to support the vertical load; built with the help of computers which take in consideration the wind, earthquakes…
• WW: many intellectuals and artists took refuge in NY (Einstein, Chagall, Rubinstein…); “the city of immigrants”—Chinatown, Little Italy, the Jewish Neighborhood, Harlem… (self-sufficient immigrant communities)
• 1945: the seat of the newly created United Nations

 

Places of interest

• the Brooklyn Bridge (over the East River; joining Manhattan with Long Island where Brooklyn and Bronx are situated); the George Washington Bridge (the only bridge over the Hudson River); the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (spans the strait dividing Brooklyn from Staten Island at the mouth of the Upper Bay)
• the Statue of Liberty (1886): on Liberty island; gift from the French; symbol of freedom and hope, the USA and a memory of French-American friendship; Frederic Auguste BARTHOLDI; 91,5 m high with the pedestal; holding a book with the inscription 4^th July 1776 (the independence of the USA)
• the Empire State Building
• the World Trade Center

 

• Manhattan: the heart of NYC; skyscrapers, commercial and financial centre
  • Wall Street: the financial center, many banks, (the Stock Exchange is situated in Broad Street)
  • the World Trade Center Memorial: WTC used to be dominated by the twin towers (the highest point in the city, the second highest in the world – 417 m); nowadays, there is the WTC memorial to the people who died, built where they used to stand after the terrorist attack on 11^th September 2001
  • City Hall – the Mayor’s office and the place for official ceremonies
  • Park Row – used to be the centre of journalism; now they have moved to the vicinity of Times Square
  • Paul’s Chapel – the oldest church in NY
  • Washington Square (artistic and intellectual hub), Union Square (favourite site for labor-union gatherings and political demonstrations), Madison Square (named after the president James Madison; the Madison Square gardenà cultural and sport events)
  • the Empire State Building: 1931; very high; the highest until the twins
  • theNew York Public Library: 36 million objects, rarities like a Gutenberg Bible…
  • the Chrysler Building: one of the most shining examples of the Art Deco style; very high
  • the Grand Central Terminal: one of the finest public buildings in the US; 1913; architect Whitney Warren; a triumphal gateway to the city
  • the United Nations Headquarters: along the bank of the East River; designed by a team of ten architects (e.g.: Le Corbusier)
  • the Times Square: a great crossroad (Broadway – 7^th Avenue); the center of performing arts; named after NY Times – moved into the Square Tower; New Year; many theatres and concert halls located around
  • Central Park: Frederic Lan Olmsted; 1858; famous rock concerts take place there; the largest park in NYC

 

• Yankee and Shea: the most favourite baseball stadiums; Madison Square Garden: the most famous sport centre in NY
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Guggenheim Museum (five major private collections); Museum of Modern Art
• Columbia University: the oldest and the largest university in the country

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