New York 1 area =the size of an object community = here: population, group of people connect = link consist = to be made up of district = part of a city entry point = place where an immigrant enters a new country ferry = boat that brings people or goods across a river or sea Hispanic = someone who comes from a country where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken, especially from Central or South America immigrant = someone who goes to another country to live and work there Jew, Jewish =someone whose religion is Judaism mainland = the main area of a country, not the islands major = main, most important melting pot = place where people from different races, countries or social classes come to live together origin = the country or place which someone has come from population = the people who live in an area refer = is said to be resident = someone who lives in a place residential district = area of a town in which people live ; without offices or factories row = line seaport =a large town on or near a coast with a harbour that ships can use seat =base, centre situated = located square kilometre =an area that is one kilometre in all directions stock exchange = a place where stocks are bought and sold suburb = an area where people live which is farther away from the centre of a town or city New York is the biggest city in the United States with a population of over 8 million. It lies along the Hudson River in the southeast corner of the state that has the same name. New York is always alive a city that never sleeps. B O R O U G H S New York is made up of five districts, called boroughs. Manhattan is the central part of New York. It is the 1 Manhattan smallest district with an 2 Brooklyn area of only 60 square 3 Queens kilometres. All of the city s major banks and the 4 The Bronx stock exchanges can be 5 Staten Island found here. It is the seat of the city s government and the home of cultural institutions. Brooklyn is a major seaport and the centre of industry. It has the most residents of all boroughs and is known as the district of churches and homes. Queens is the largest of New York s boroughs. It consists of rows of singlefamily houses and is often referred to as the city s biggest suburb. Whites, Hispanics and Blacks live together in Queens. The Bronx, a residential district with many apartment buildings, is the only borough situated on the mainland. For many years Staten Island could only be reached by ferry. Today, the borough is connected with Brooklyn through the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. The opening of this bridge in 1964 led many New Yorkers to move to Staten Island. P O P U L A T I O N New York is a melting pot of different nationalities with people who have their origins all over the world. Hispanics, African Americans and people of European origin make up most of the city s population. Ellis Island, not far from the Statue of Liberty, was once the main entry point for the millions of immigrants who have come to America in the past two centuries. The first immigrants came from England, Germany and Scandinavia at the beginning of the 19 th century. Between 1880 and 1930 Eastern Europeans, Italians and the Irish came to America. After World War II Asians, Cubans and Hispanics came to New York in large numbers. The city also has the largest Jewish community in the world.
New York 2 achievement = something important that you have done appear = show complete = finish concrete = material that is made by mixing sand, cement and water it is used for building houses construction = building crossroad =an important or central place crown = a circle made of gold and jewels that kings and queens have on their heads electronic billboard = large signs that change all the time and are used to show ads engineering = the building of roads, bridges, machines and other objects facility =a building or service used for special things fountain = a structure in a garden or a park from which water is pushed up into the air gift = present height =how high something is ice rink = an area where they make ice so you can go ice skating include = to have in it lay dry =to get water out of a wet place observation deck = place high up in a building where you can look out of the window and have a view of an area or a city pedestal = base, platform populous = full of people, crowded public = for anyone remove = here: cut down span = to go across steel-framed =with a steel structure storey = level, floor of a building surround = to be around something swampy = wet ground torch = an object that burns on one end tremendous = very big S I G H T S For over a hundred years the Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of the United States. It stands on Liberty Island and was a gift that France gave to the USA in 1886 as a symbol of friendship between the two countries. With its pedestal made of concrete the statue has a height of 93 metres. It represents a woman looking out over the harbour. On her head is a crown and in her hand a torch. Although tourists can go up to the observation deck in the crown, the torch itself is closed to all visitors. Times Square, where 42 nd Street and Broadway meet, is often called Crossroads of the World. Millions of people see it on television every New Year s Eve. It got its name because the New York Times building was originally located there. Today it is home to theatres and cinemas with many electronic billboards surrounding the square. The Empire State Building is one of the best known buildings in the world. Located in the middle of Manhattan, the steel framed structure has 102 storeys and a height of 381 metres. Built in 1931, it was the first building of such a tremendous height. For over twenty years it was the tallest building in the world and the tallest building of New York until the construction of the World Trade Centre in the 1970s. The building has appeared in famous films like King Kong and Superman. About 2 million tourists visit the Empire State Building every year. Central Park is the largest and most important public park in Manhattan. It extends for about 4km and has an area of 340 hectares. The park includes lakes, ice rinks, fountains, playgrounds, bicycle paths and other facilities. When it was built in the 1840s the park was far away from the city s centre. Some of it was farming area another part was swampy, wet land that had to be laid dry. It took 20,000 workers more than 15 years to remove thousands of trees and complete the park. Brooklyn Bridge, built between 1869 and 1883 connects Manhattan with New York s most populous borough, Brooklyn. The 1.5 km long bridge, which spans the East River, is one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 19 th century.
New York 3 attend = go to busy = here: many planes take off and land ; active cab = taxi centre = focus on cruise = travel around district = area of a town especially =above all foreign = from another country huge = very big is said to be = people say that it is megacity = very big city with millions of people performance = when someone acts out a play or plays a piece of music popular = liked by a lot of people range = here: very many different things sculpture = an object made of stone, wood or other materials by an artist subway = underground railroad C U L T U R E New York is often said to be the cultural centre of the United States. Many famous museums are at home in the city. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a huge collection of over 2,000 European and 4,000 American paintings, sculptures and drawings. Other famous museums are the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art. New York City is especially popular among theatregoers. The greatest theatre district in the world is around Times Square and Broadway. About 40 theatres offer a wide range of dramas, musicals and comedy shows. Music lovers can attend performances of New York s Metropolitan Opera or concerts of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. T R A N S P O R T A T I O N A THEATRE ON BROADWAY Like many modern megacities New York also has great traffic problems. Most foreign travellers get to New York through John F. Kennedy International Airport, one of the world s busiest, situated in the south-eastern part of the city. Public transport centres on a subway system which is the largest in the world. It is over 300 km long, has over 400 stations and is used by almost 4 million people every day. Because New York is such a large city many people tend to walk or, when in a hurry, go by one of the thousands of Yellow Cabs that cruise around. A NEW YORK SUBWAY STATION
New York 4 American Revolution = war in which the British colonies in America became independent bankrupt = when you don t have enough money to pay for things basement = underground floor of a building bill = written list that shows how much you have to pay for something boost = improve; to make better capital = the main city of a country ; where the government is collapse = fall down developer = person who buys land and plans to build something new on it economic =everything related to business and money economy =the buying and selling of things in a country explorer = someone who travels to an unknown area to find out something about it growth =increase hijack = to take control of a plane or ship by using force little = not very much navigator = here: explorer on a ship overpopulation = when too many people live in a place pollution =when you make air and water dirty so that you cannot use it any more poverty = a situation in which many people are very poor rapid = fast recent = in the last few recover = get back; get better skyscraper = a very tall modern building tip = end trading post = a place that was set up a long time ago at which people could buy and sell goods wave = here: groups of people 9/11 = another name for September 11, 2001, when the attacks on New York and Washington took place H I S T O R Y The first Europeans were explorers who were impressed by the area s natural harbour. In 1609 the English navigator Henry Hudson sailed up the river that is today named after him. In 1626 the Dutch set up a trading post at the southern tip of Manhattan and called it New Amsterdam. In the same year they bought Manhattan from the Indians who lived there. The British took over the colony in 1664 and named it after the Duke of York. After the American Revolution New York became America s first capital, but only for a short time. Back then about 33,000 people lived there. In the early part of the 19 th century waves of European immigrants started to come to the city. They usually worked for little money, helped boost the economy and made New York the largest city in the country. The rapid growth of the city also created problems: crime, poverty, overpopulation and pollution. In the 1970s the city went through a big IMMIGRANTS AT ELLIS ISLAND economic crisis. It didn t have enough money to pay its bills and almost went bankrupt, but recovered again some years later. In recent years the city has become the target of terrorist activities. In 1993 a car bomb exploded in the basement of the World Trade Centre, killing six people. The city s darkest hour came on September 11 th, 2001 when terrorists hijacked two planes and flew them into the World Trade Centre. Both buildings collapsed the attack killed almost three thousand people. In April 2006 developers began constructing a skyscraper called Freedom Tower at the place where the World Trade Centre once stood. 17TH CENTURY MAP OF NEW AMSTERDAM WORLD TRADE CENTRE AFTER THE 9/11 ATTACKS
New York 5 border = a line that separates two areas connect = link couple = a man and a woman who are having a relationship with each other enclave = a small area that is in a larger area where people of a different kind or nationality live Federal Reserve Bank = the central bank of the USA founder = here: a person who starts a new company heap =mass of things immigrant = someone who goes to another country to live and work there items = products long = to want something very much mainland = the main area of a country, not the islands make it = here: to become successful melt = if something becomes liquid perform = act, present record = to store music on a CD so that you can listen to it again and again refer = to speak about something saying = motto spread =here: to say to other people store = keep stray = to wander away study = report vagabond = person who has no home and travels from place to place vault = a room with thick walls where you keep money waterfront = the part of a city that is near the sea or a river There are many stories about the big Apple. Here is one of them: In the late 1920s and early 30s New York City s jazz musicians began referring to the city as the Big Apple. An old saying in show business says that there are many apples on a tree but there is only one Big Apple. A jazz musician could perform in many smaller places, but if he made it to New York he got the Big Apple. One of the most famous songs about the city, New York, New York was recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1979 Start spreading the news I'm leaving today I want to be a part of it, New York, New York These vagabond shoes Are longing to stray And make a brand new start of it New York, New York I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps To find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap These little town blues Are melting away I'll make a brand new start of it Why are taxicabs yellow? John Hertz, founder of the company in 1907, read a study in which he found out that yellow was the easiest colour to see. Macy s is the world s largest store. It has about 500,000 different items. New York City has about 800 km of waterfront. The Bronx is the only New York borough connected to the mainland. There are more than 66,000 hotel rooms in New York. When the Dutch controlled the town, Wall Street was the city border and there was really a wall there. Manhattan s Chinatown is the world s largest Chinese enclave in the western world. The vaults beneath the Federal Reserve Bank on Wall Street store more than 25 % of the world s gold. Every Valentine s Day couples get married on the 80 th floor of the Empire State building. Between 1892 and 1924 twelve million immigrants entered New York Harbour through Ellis Island. In old New York If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere It's up to you, New York, New York. I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps To find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap These little town blues Are melting away I'll make a brand new start of it In old New York If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere It's up to you, New York, New York.
7th Ave. Park Ave. 2nd Ave. East End Ave. Ave. C New York 6 NEW JERSEY NEW YORK Broadway W 86th St. W 79th St. 11th Ave. W 57th St. 12th Ave. W 91st St. W 53rd St. W 50th St. W 45th St. W 42nd St. Columbus Ave. W 72nd St. 10th Ave. MANHATTAN Central Park West Metropo litan Museum of Art Central Park America n Museum of Na tural History Central Park S. Bryant Park 5th Ave. E 86th St. E 91st St. E 89th St. Yorkville E 82nd St. E 79th St. E 76th St. E 72nd St. E 70th St. E 67th St. E 65th St. E 62nd St. E 59th St. E 57th St. E 50th St. E 45th St. E 42nd St. York Ave. FDR Drive N Queensboro Bridge Queens Lincoln Tunnel W 34th St. Hudson River 11th Ave. Holland Tunnel 10th Ave. 9th Ave. W 23rd St. W 14th St. 8th Ave. W 12th St. West Street Em pire State Bld g. Avenue of the Americas Greenwich Village W Houston St. Spring St. Broadway Washington Square Park SoHo Canal St. 5th Ave. Madison Ave. Bleecker St. Madison Square Broadway Chinatown New Jersey City Hall Park AREA OF MAIN MAP Lexington Ave. 3rd Ave. E 34th St. E 23rd St. Gramercy Park Union Square Bowery 1st Ave. E 14th St. E 12th St. E 10th St. Ave. Ave. B Little Italy E Houston St. E Broadway Brooklyn Bridge East River Ave. D East River Park Lower East Side FDR Drive Manhattan Bridge New York Wall St. Broad St. Battery Park Brooklyn I992 MAGELLAN GeographixSMSanta Barbara, CA (800) 929-4627