London's Parks

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 554.

One thing about London which every visitor from abroad admires is the large number of parks. These 'lungs' of London, as they have been called, are like green islands of peace and quiet in the middle of a noisy sea. They play an important part in helping to form the city's character.

The best-known parks are, of course, the central ones: St James's Park, Hyde Park, Regent's Park, and Kensington Gardens. They have many attractions. Hyde Park has the Serpentine, a little lake, where, if one feels inclined, one may take a swim or go for a row, and Speakers' Corner where one may get up and say anything (or almost anything!) one pleases. In Regent's Park there are the Zoo and the Open-Air Theatre. Kensington Gardens has the Round Pond where 'dry land sailors' of all ages sail every kind of model yacht. St James's Park boasts a truly elegant lake on which lives a great variety of wild duck. And, apart from these individual attractions, each park has a greater or lesser expanse of well-kept grass. Here, in fine weather, can be seen hundreds of lucky people who have escaped for a while, from the noise and bustle of the town; some sitting on chairs, some lying full length on the ground, some strolling aimlessly around.

But the central parks of London are not necessarily the most popular. Every district of London has its parks, great or small. In the north there is Hampstead Heath, famous for its summer and winter fairs. In the south there is Richmond Park, where deer and sheep still roam and where one can get the impression of being deep in the country. In the south, too, are the Botanical Gardens at Kew, where almost every kind of tree and plant is carefully tended, in large greenhouses or in the open air. Just over Chelsea Bridge, along the south bank of the Thames, is Battersea Park, one of London's largest, complete with its Pleasure Gardens and Fun-Fair. In the east, there is the large Victoria Park and a host of smaller ones.

And so one could go on. Even for a Londoner it is difficult to know and enjoy them all. The visitor to the city may be confident that wherever he is, he is not far away from a park of some des­cription which waits to offer him the same pleasures and relaxations that it does to the Londoner.

1) Questions on 'London's Parks':

1. Which aspect of London do visitors admire?

2. Why, do you think, are the parks called London's lungs?

3. What exercise would you find people taking in Hyde Park in the summer?

4. What is Speakers' Corner?

5. What do people use the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens for?

6. What have the people in the parks managed to escape from?

7. What, in Richmond Park, gives one the impression of being in the country?

8. What is Hampstead Heath noted for?

9. Where are London's best-known parks situated?

2) Insert since or for in the following sentences:

a I had been rowing on the lake .... two o'clock.

b I had not been swimming .... two years.

c I haven't been in the park … I saw you last.

d We were waiting by the Round Pond .... two hours.

e The flowers in the park had bloomed .... I was there last.

f It is a long time ... I saw a performance at the Open-Air Theatre.

g ... a long time we waited to get into the Fun-Fair.

h I have been walking round the gardens ... twenty minutes.