Part 3. The West End

The West End is the name given to the area of central London between the Mall³ and Oxford Street. It includes Trafalgar Square⁴, the main shopping areas of Oxford Street, Regent Street⁵ and Bond Street, and the entertainment centres of Soho⁶, Pic­cadilly Circus⁷, Leicester Square⁸ and Shaftesbury Avenue⁹. The name West End is associated with glam­our and bright lights.

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Bernard Shaw [Ъэ:гЫ'|э:] — Бернард Шоу

Pygmalion [pig'meiljan] — «Пигмалион» I the Mall [mael] — улица Мэлл

I Trafalgar Square [tra'faelga.skwea] — Трафальгарская плоЩаДь

| Regent Street ['ri:d33nt.stri:t] — Риджент стрит

I Soho [sou'hou] — Coxo

⁷ Piccadilly Circus [,pik3'dili.s3:k3s] — площадь Пикадилл«

| Leicester Square ['lesta skwea] — площадь Лестер сквер

I Shaftesbury Avenue [^,Ja:ftsb3n,aev3nju] — Шафтсбери |

Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar Square was built at the beginning of the 19^th century to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Lord Nelson's stat­ue stands on top of a column in the middle of Tra­falgar Square. The large square is a traditional place for people to meet: all sorts of protest meetings are held in Trafalgar Square. At Christmas time carol singers gather round a huge Christmas tree which is sent to Britain from Norway every year. Behind Nelson's Column is the building of the National Gal­lery¹, a rich art gallery in which you can find many old masters.

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the National Gallery ['пж{пэГдж1эп] — Национальная галерея

Shopping. Most of London's big department stores are situated in Oxford Street and Regent Street. They are always crowded, but especially at sale times¹, in January and July, when there are so many people here that it is difficult to move.

Entertainment. Piccadilly Circus is the centre of night life in the West End. The square is quite small, and many people are disappointed when they see it for the first time because they imagined that it would be much bigger. To the north of Piccadilly Circus is Soho, which has been the foreign quarter of London since the 17^th century. Now it is famous for its res­taurants, which offer food from different countries. Especially popular are Chinese² and Italian foods.

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at sale times — в периоды распродажи

Chinese [t/ai'ni:z] — китайская

London 1,0 famous for its theatres. In the West bud there urn over thirty theatres within a square Шив. They offer a great variety of shows to choose from: opera, musicals, drama, comedies, whodunnits^, and но on.

QUESTIONS

1. What area of London does the West End embrace? What is the name West End associated with?

2. What does Trafalgar Square commemorate? What monumental stands in the centre of it?

3. What tree is placed in Trafalgar Square at Christ­ina.ч time every year? Where is it sent from? What art museum is situated in Trafalgar Square?

4. Where are most of London's big department stores? When are the department stores especially crowded? Why?

5. What place in the West End is the centre of night life?

6. What is Sohо famous for?