New York \English\
NEW
YORK.
New York attract
peopl from all over. Get on a subway in New York and look at the newspapers
that peopl around you are reading . One person is reading a newspaper in
Spanish , anouther in Chinese, yet others in Arabic , Russian , Italian , Yiddish,
and French . New York was always a city of immigrants. It still is .
The are 5 boroughs in New York -
Manhaptan , Brooklyn , Queens , the bronx , and Staten Island. Brooklyn alone
has so many people that if it were a separate city , it would be the fourth
largest in the United States.
Manhattan
Geography.
Manhattan is an
island just 13 miles long and 2 miles wide . It is the centre of American
finance, advertising , art theatre, publishing , fashion - and much more. The
borough of Manhatten is what most people think of New York, one of the most
exciting cities in the world.
Manhattan is divided
into the East Side and the West Side. The dividing line is Fifth Avenue. So,
for example , East 47th Street begins at Fifth Avenue, as does West 47th
Street.
Manhattan is also
divided , wuth less exactnes, into Lower (Downtown), Midtown and Upper
(Up-town) Manhattan. As you go North, or uptown, the street numbers get higher.
Lower Manhatta refers to street numbers below 14th Street and Central Park, and
Upper Manhattan to the renaming, northern, part of the island.
The
Financial District .
The Dutch were the
first Europeans to settle Manhattan. To protect themselves from attacs, they
built a sturdy wooden wall. Although it`s now long gone, this wall gave it`s
name to a street in Lower Manhattan and the street, in turn, became synonymous
with American capitalism. The street, of course, is Wall Street. The New York
Stock Exchange and the American Stokc Exchange are both in the Wall Street
area. So are many stokc brokers, investment blanks and others bank, and
headquarters of many large corporations.
To escape the
commotion of Wall Street you can visit the nearby South Street Seaport, an open
area of low buildings on the East River. In addition to many shops and
restaraunts, the seaport has a museum.
Two good ways to get
the larger picture of New York are to circle it in a bout and to hover over it
in helicopter. In the financial district, thogh, there`s anouther way to see
New York. The twin towers of the World Trade Centre rise 1,350 feet above the
city. There`s an observation deck on the 107th floor of one of the towers.
Appropriately, the
very first business deal in Manhattan was made in what became the financial
district. As every American schoolchild knows, the Dutch bought Manhattan from
the Indians, for the rediculously low price of 24 dollars worth of beads and trinkets.
There is, however, another, less known side of this: evidently, the Indians who
had sold Manhattan did not themselves live there or in any sense own it. The
Dutch and the Indians alike walked away pleased.
The Lower
East Side.
The lower East Side
was originali an ellegant neighborhood. When New York was the capital of the
United States, Presedent George Washington lived on the Lower East Side.
By the mid-1880s the
Lower East Side had changed greatly. It was chracterized by crime and the
poverty and hopes of it`s residents. By the mid-1800s the Lower East Side had
become an area in which immigrants settled. First there were many Irish, then
came many Jews from Easten Europe.
Near the Lower East
Side there are two other neighborhoods that also attracted immigrants and that
are famous for their food.The Italian restaraurants of Little Italy
remain popular to tourists and Italians alike. Today Chinatown is the
only immigrant community that`s still growing. Chinatown has seven newspaper of
it`s own. It also nearly 200 restaurants.
Greenwich Village and the East Village.
Greenwich Village
and the East Village have always been at the centre of New york`s excitement.
Both have been places for people with different and creative ideas. Both have
an active nightlife with plenty of bars, restaraurants and clubs.
In the early 1900s
the charm Greenwich Village attracted bohemians - writers and artists. By the
1920s, the streets of the Village were filled with other peole, curious to see
how these odd Villagers lived. The artists and writers began moving out, some to
the East Village. Today, the Village has many elemets : students attending New York
University ; an active jazz scene; and in Washington Square - it`s centre -
street performers, police. Drug dealers, joggers, roller skates, and just about
everyone else.
Midtown Manhattan.
Many