READERS

MACMILI.AN
LEVET
BEGINNER

PHILIP
PROWSE

This is London
 MACMILLANREADERS
BEGINNER
LEVET
Contents
F oundingEditvr : John Milne
Introduction 4
The Macmillan Readers provide a choice of enjoyable reading
materials for learnersof Enghsh. The seriesis published at six levels 1 History of London )
- Starter, Beginner, Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate
and Upper. 2 Placesto Visit 1t
3 Tiavelling in London 22
Level control
Information, structure and vocabulary are controlled to suit the 4 Shopping 25
students'ability at each level. 5 London ar Night 28
The number of words at each level: 6 Information and Advice 34

Starter about 300 basic words Exercises 36

Beginner about 600 basic words
Elementary about 1100basicwords
Pre-intermediate about 1400basicwords
Intermediate about 1600 basicwords
Upper about 2200 basicwords

Answer keys
Answer keys for the Exercises section can be found at
www.macmillanenglish.com
 Introduction
London is the biggestcity in Britain. Over seven million
History of London
people live and work in London.
London is also one of the most important cities in the The Romans
world. It is a centre for businessand tounsm.
The Romanscame to Britain in AD 43. They built a
There are many exciting things to do in London. The
t o wn o n t h e Riv e r T h a m e s . T h e v c a l l e d t h e t o w n
city has got some of the best theatres and museums in
Londinium.
the world. There are a lot of places to go at night. It is a
Soon, they built a bridge over the river. Londinium
fun city!
grew bigger. Ships came to the town from all over
This book begins with a brief history of London.
Europe.
Then we will look at things you can see and do in
The Romans built roads from Londinium to other
London today.
p a rt s o f B rit a in . B y t h e y e a r 4 0 0 , t h e r e w e r e f i f t y
thousandpeopleliving in the city.

Roman London was called Londinium

Shoppers in Oxford Street

 William the Conqueror
In 1066, \Tilliam the Conqueror came to England.
William was the Duke of Normandy in France.He won
the Battle of Hastingsand he becameKing of England.
William lived in London but he was afraid of the
peopleof London.He built the White Towerto feel safe.
Now it is the tallestpart of the Towerof London.
Many tourists visit the Tower of London every year.
The Crown Jewels- the Queen'sgold and jewels - are
kept there.
All th e Kin g s and Queens of E ngla n d liv e d in
London. It was the biggesttown in England. By 1600,
there were more than two hundred thousand people
living in London.
London
Shakespeare's
Shakespearewas born in Stratford-on-Avon in 1564.
Later, he lived in London. Shakespeare wrote thirty-six
plays.They arestill readand performedall over the world.
The plays were performedin the GlobeTheatre.The
theatrewas destroyedby a fire in 1613.In 1997,a new
Globe Theatre wasbuilt in the sameplace.You can learn
more about the new Globe Theatre in Chapter 5.
 The River Thames

The River Thames is part of London's history. It has

Placesto Visit
alwaysbeen at the centre of the city.
Until 1749, there was only one bridge acrossthe
You can visit many interesting places in London. Yott
river: London Bridge.There were housesand shopson
can find some of these places on the map on pagcs
the bridge. Often, the river froze in the winter and
peoplewalkedon the ice.
r4-r5.
In London you are never far from the River Thames.
In the nineteenth century, many new bridgeswere
Many tourists go on boat trips from Tower Bridge to
built. Now there are more than twenty bridgesover the
Westminster.
River Thames. The Millennium Bridge and the
Another good boat trip is to Greenwich. ln
Hungerfordfootbridgesare new. Many of the Thames'
Greenwich you can visit The OId Royal Obseruatory.The
bridgesare lit up at night. They look very beautiful.
boat passesa lot of famous buildings.

Tower Bridge at night A boat trip on the River Thames

l0 ll
 There are somefine, modern buildings on the South
Bank. You can see The Royal FestivalHall and The Tate
Modern. There are also many art galleries,restaurants
and barson the South Bank.
On the South Bank, you can visit the Imax Cinemn"
with its huge screenor you can go on the London Eye.
The London Eye is a big wheel that takesyou 135 metres
above London. It is the slowestbig wheel in the world
and the best way to see the whole city. You can see for
forty kilometres in all directions. You can see old
buildings like St Paul'sCathedraland Wndsor Castle,and
new buildings like theMilbnniumDome and the Gherkin.
The London Eye
IZ
T h e G h e rk in is a g l a s sb u i l d i n g . I t l o o k s l i k e a
vegetable!From the London Eye you can also see the
tall buildings in Canary Wharf. Canary Wharf is a new
centre of businessin London.
Most of the famousold buildings are north of the
'Westminster.
river. The Housesof Parliamentate in They
are the centre of the British government. Peoplecall the
tall clock tower by the Housesof ParliamentBig Ben. In
fact, Big Ben is the name of one of the bells. There are
many govemment buildings in this area.Downing Sneet
is nearby. The Prime Minister lives in number 10,
Downing Street.
The Houses of Parliament
13
 I To Camden oB sh ,. Smithfield
I Market M seum nolborng7 Market
O 5OOm
O O,3 mile Holborn
St
Oxford Royal
Sohoo Courtsof
Square Royal o Justice
Opera
o House
i,.Covent Somerset
Garden House
'

&tayfair Circus Nationalo

Gallerv a
St James's ' lr a
Squaret 5r o RoyalNational
$Nj Theatre
{.""" 5t Horse o Otd War Office South Bank
Jarnes's Cuardso
Green Parade o Ministryof Defence
o 0 DowningSt
Park Waterloo
St James's Cenotaph Station
Park . Cabt
Buckingham War Rooms
Palacer t Big Ben
Westminster
A o Housesof Parliament
 Churches
WestminsterAbbeyis one of the most famouschurches in
London. It is very near to the Housesof Parliament.The
Abbey is more than nine hundred yearsold. In 1953,
Queen ElizabethII wascrownedthere.
Another greatLondon church is St Pazl'sCathedral.It
wasbuilt by Sir ChristopherWren after the Great Fire of
1666. From the top there is a good view of the City of
London. You can visit the cathedral by walking across
The Millennium Bridge,from the South Bank.
The MilleniumBridge and St Paul's Cathedral
t6
The National Gallery and the lions of Trafalgar Square
Art Galleries
You can find many art galleriesin London. The most
famous is the National Gallery in tafalgar Square. It has
many famouspaintings.You can seepaintingsby Turner,
Co n s t a b le , G o y a , V a n D y c k , L e o n a r d o d a V i n c i ,
Michelangelo,Rembrandt,Renoir, Rubensand Titian.
Another well-known London gallery is The Tate
GaIIery,on the north bank of the river Thames. It was
built in 1897.
The Thte Modern is a new gallery:it openedin 2000.
It has a lot of modern art collections by artists like
Picassoand Andy Warhol.
11
LI
 Palaces

BuckinghamPalaceis the London home of the Queen.

You can walk from WestminsterAbbey to the Palace.It
is a pleasantwalk through St James's Park.
Soldiersalwaysguard the palace.At half past eleven
everymorning, you can watch the soldierschangeguard.
The Queen'sGaIIery is in Buckingham Palace. You can
visit the gallery and see the Queen's collection of
parntrngs.
Another of the Queen's homes is Windsor Castle.
Win d s o r is n e a r th e R i v e r T h a m e s , a b o u t f o r t y
kilometres from London. The castle is eight hundred
yearsold.

An Egyptian artefact at the British Museum

Museums

London has many interesting museums.The British rFtrT

Museum is one of the largest museumsin the world.
There are thousandsof exhibits and over five kilometres
of galleries.The museumhas regularspecialexhibitions,
f o r e xam p le , a n cient Roman and Gree k a rt , t h e
Egyptiansand the Anglo-Saxons.
Another interesting museum is the Victoria and
Albert. It has got the world's largestdresscollection. It
exhibitsobjectsaswell aspaintings.Theseobjectsinclude:
fumiture, carpets,ceramics,sculptureand jewellery. BuckinghamPalace

18 T9
 Parks Comer is also in Hyde Park, near Marble Arch.
Speol<ers'
Anyone can make a speechthere.
London is well known for its parks. There are more than
Regent's Park is very beautiful. It is home to the
eighty of them! The most famous parks, near central
LondonZoo. Therc are more than six thousand animals
London, are Hyde Park, Regent'sPark and Sc/ames's
and birds in the zoo. There is an open-air theatre in
Park.They are all royal parks.
Regent'sPark. You can watch Shakespeare's plays there
Hyde Park is a large park of three hundred and forty
in summer.
acres.In the sixteenth century,King Henry Vlll hunted
A lot of big, outdoor concerts are held in London's
wild animals there! Today people relax on the grassand
parks.Other parksto visit are HampsteadHeath in North
skate and cycle on the paths.
London andClaplwmCommonin South London.
The Serpentineis a lake in the middle of Hyde Park. In
the summer, you can go on a boat or swim there.

A music concert in a London park

z0 zl
 You can seemuch more of London from a bus.There
are specialopen-top bus tours for tourists.They show
Travellingin London you the sights of the city. The bus tours include river
cruisesand walking tours.
The tube is London'sundergroundrailway.Its train lines The tourist busesleave from Green Park. Victoria
can take you all over the city. station and Marble Arch.
Some of the lines are very old. The Metropolitan {.r J.
lp

I
Line opened in 1863. It is the oldest in the world. The I

Piccadilly Line runs from Heathrow - London's largest

airport - to the centre of London.

Passengers on an open-top bus

The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is a modern

railway line. Its trains don't have drivers! The DLR is a
good way to seethe Docklandsand EastLondon.
There are a lot of taxis in London. The drivers are
usually friendly and helpful. You should only use black
cabsor licensedtaxis. The roadsare very busyin Central
London. There is a CongestionChargefor every car in
c e n t ra l L o n d o n o n w e e k d a y s .Y o u c a n p a y y o u r
London's underground railway - the tube
CongestionChargeonline or in shops.

22 z3
 The busesand tube get very busy in the morning
between eight o' clock and ten o'clock. They are also
busy in the evening between five o' clock and half past
six. It is better not to travel at thesetimes.
You will find information centres and websites in
Chapter 6 to help you travel around London.
24
Shopping
London is world famousfor its shopping.Oxford Srreetis
London's main shopping centre. Selfridgesis a well-
known department store on Oxford Street. The most
famousshop in London is Harrods.It is in Knightsbridge.
You can buy anything you want in Harrods!
Harrodsat night
25

There are a lot of shops in Couent Garden. In the
1600's, Covent Garden was a fruit and flower market.
Now you can buy clothes and antiques there. You can
visit the cafes and bars. Covent Garden is famous for its
street performers. You can see circus performances,
singing and theatre on the street!
Soho is in central London. It is a good place to buy
music. People go to Bond Streer and Marylebone High
Sneetto buy clothes and furniture.
'l'lrt'y
There are also hundreds of markcts itr l-ontl,rrr.
sell all kinds of things: fcrod,ckrthes, jcwcllcry, nrrrsic
and furniture. The two best known murkcts irrc
PortobelloRoad and Camden. Portobello Road is in Wcst
London, in Notting Hill. You can go there by tube. The
nearest stations are Notting Hill Gate and Ladbroke
Grove. The market sellsexciting things. You can buy old
clothes and antiques there. It is very popular on a
Saturday.
Camden Market is in North London. It is famous for
art and music. Many young people go to Camden
Market. Other popular markets in London are
Spinlfields, G r eenwich and Petticoot Lane.

HIrr'i

Street performers in Covent Garden Gamden Market

Z6 27

London at Night
Pubs, Bats and Clubs
There are more than seventhousandpublic housesin
London! Public houses- or pubs- are usuallyopen all
day and all evening. You can eat and drink in pubs. In
somepubsyou can hear live music.
Outside the pubs in the West End
28
There are a lot of famous,old pubs in London. The
Prospectof \fihitby, in East London, is a vcry old pub. lt
wasbuilt in 1520.The l-amband FIngin Covent Garden
is more than three hundred yearsold. Covent Garden
also has a lot of bars. They stay open much later than
pubs.Barsoften have dancing.
Noring Hill is a good place to visit at night. It has the
largestcarnival in Europe.More than a million people
go there every August. They look at the colourful
costumesand dance.
Nofting Hill Garnival
29
 Th e r e ar e m any nightclubs in Londo n . S o me Theatres and Cinemas
nightclubs stay open all night. You will find many bars
Most theatres and cinem:rs in London irrc in thc Wc.st
and clubs in Soho.They play all kinds of different music.
End.The nearest tube stations are Piccadilly Circus and
You can hear live music and bands in London too.
Leicester Square. You can see all kinds of plirys and
You can buy a newspaperor entertainment guide to find
shows in London's theatres. There are musicals.
out what live eventsarehappening.
comediesand plays by modem writers.

A live band at The Mean Fiddler in London West End theatres at night

l0 )l
 TheNationalTheatreand the BarbicanCentreare good You can eat food from all over the world in London.
placesto seeplays. You can go ro French, Italian, Spanish, Caribbean, Thai,
You can also go to the Globe Theatre, by the River Greek, Tirrkish, Indian, Japanese,African or Chinese
Th a m e s. It is a modern theatre but it lo o k s lik e restaurants. Some of the most famous restaurants in the
Shakespeare's Globe. You can see a picture of the new world are in London.
Globe on page7. You can alsoseeShakespeare's playsat
the open'air theatre in Regent'sPark.
You can seefirst showings of new films in West End
cinemas.There are also a lot of small cinemasall over
London. They show interesting,low-budgetfilms.

Restaurants

ln Soho there are many foreign restaurantsand caf6s.

You can go for an expensivemeal there, or you can eat
very cheaply.There are a lot of good Chineserestaurants
o n G er r a r d Str eet in S oho. The area is k n o wn a s
Chinatown.

)L ))
 Twenty-fourhour phone line: 020 77ZZ1734
\ilebsite: www.tfl. gov.uk
Information and Advice
Useful websites
Perhapsyou will visit London one day. Here is some
www.londontown.com This is a websitefor first-time
advice:
visitors to London. It has information on hotels, sights
o Buy a good map. and restaurants.
. Check the intemet to find out what is on.
www.24hourmuseum.co.uk This is a website with
o Rememberto askfor help - peoplecan be friendly.
information on everysinglemuseumin London.
. London is a greatcity - have fun!
Here are somegoodwebsiteswith information on hotels,
Tourist Offices theatres,cinemas,pubsand bars:
www.londonnet.co.uk
The British Visitor Centre
www.viewlondon.co.uk
I Lower RegentStreet (near PiccadillyCircus)
www. timeout.com/ondon
There is alsothe London Visitor Centre in Arrivals at
Here are somewebsitesto help you find an addressand
Waterloo International Station. www.visitbritain.com
plan your route:
The London Tourist Board www.streetmap.co.uk
Go to www.londontouristboard.com www.multimap.co.uk

Tiavel Information Useful telephonenumbers

tansport for London (TfL) travel information offices E me rg e n c y - p o lic e , f i r e o r a m b u l a n c e : n a t i o n a l

are at: emergency999
Piccadilly Circus, Euston, Liverpool Street, Paddington
Directoryenquiries:118500 or 118 118
and Victoria train stations,Victoria Coach Station, and
Heathrow,Terminalsone, two and three, West Croydon
BusStation and Camden Town Hall.

34 35
Exercises What can you do?Where?
Use the words and phrasesin the boxes.Make sentenceslike the
Prepositionsz in at on example:

Put the coffect preposition in the foll,owing sentences!

I london is the biggestcity ..............

Britain.
2 There ate lots of placesto go ..............night.
3 The Romansbuilt a town the River Thames.

4 Shakespearewasbom Stratford-on-Avon.
5 CharlesDickenslived .........-"...Doughty Street.
6 You can tide all over the city the tube.
7 The Metropohtan is the oldestundergroundline ............'.the
world.
8 You can get a river boat Westminster Bnrdg..
A good place to go: questions and answers
Jumbled sentences:put the words in the correct order Make questions for these answers. The first one is an example:

These ate sentencesfrom the book. Can you put the words in the
correct order?

Whse
Chatles Dickens lived in Doughty Smeet.
Z Wlrgr.
The Grcat Fire of Inndon srarted in September1666.
3 Hout

Westminster Abbev is more than nine hundred vearsold.

You can go by visiting inside Buckingham Palacethe 4 Hattt

Queen's Gallery. The London Eye is 135 metres high.

5 Wrrurt
The Hyde Park is Serpentine in the middle of a lake. Big Ben is the name of a bell and also the name of a clock tower.

36 37
Locations: places on a map OLL NI(IHT TIN l s ts l trlru iil,rriirrnrr,ll
cnrnival.
Here are some of the underground stations and places in central
London.
Paddingh Stdion Baksr Sbd Eus Suioo
Complete the story: fill in the gaps
ooo Use the words in the box to complete the story.
O R€_gee
"* homeless died old in cleaner
* ,*"H""u- rubbish bad
sPod"
people bakery ciry houses and stafted fire of
ONorinqHi[r Ol
the a understand ate Thames davs destroved
QtYuena*comat Q coencoden
g n*ainy ot-" O Leicssr squde
called It
O Kniqhtsbidgo

Q srJm+s eon
J-
| | | RiwrThm
lnr-- The Plague and the Gteat Fire of London
Ovdof,asHnrn Owesins - I LondonBndg€
The population ofLondon ....1665 was about 250,000
Can you work out these place names? The first one is an example.
. It was the largest .... in Europe.But the
w e r e v e r y c l o seto g e th e r ,0 ............ .. th e h o u se sw e r e
Anagram Information
made5.. . w o o d . T h e r e w e r e m a n y fi r e s i n 6 ............... o l d
LONG DONEBIRD This was the first bridge to clty.
crossthe river Thames.

LAST SUP You can see this cathedral
from the Londan Eye.
MUST BRUISEHIM You can see old Greek and
Roman art here.
L o n d o n *" , 7 . . .
t h e s t r e e t sD
. o g sa n d r a t ,
was an open sewer.It smelt
spreadquickly. In 1665 people t2...
. di r ty ci ty. Pe o p l eth r e w 8 .............. . i n r o
o ...........
.... r h e r u b b i sh .Th e R i ve r
...... . Sickness
to die from a disease

QUEST SEALERICER Many theatres and cinemas . ... .... the bubonicplagze Thousands of people
are near here. . . . . . . . f r o m t h i s d i s e a seD
. o cr o r sd i d n o t .... h o w r h e
STARK PENCER London Zoo and an open-alr diseasespread.
theatre are in this place.
There was a great 15...............in the following year.The Grear Fire of
MINT STEWERS The Houses of Parliament
L o n d o n s t a r t e di n a 1 6 . . . . . ...........l t l a ste dfo r fi ve 1 7
and Big Ben are here - and a
from 2nd September 1666.18 destroyedalmost all of the
famous abbey.
c i t y . O v e r 1 3 ,0 0 0h o u se s* e r e 2 0 ............... . Ove r
AVIRICOT This is the name of a famc,us
100,000peoplebecam" 21..............., but very few peopledied in the
Queen of England.
fire.
TENDRAVEN COG The Royal Opera Houseis
here,and many barsand After the fire, London ras a 22...... place- for a shorr rime.
outdoorcafes.

38 )r)
Published by Macmillan Heinemann ELT
Between Towns Road, Oxford ox4 3PP
Macmillan Heinemann ELT is an imprint of
Macmillan PublishersLimited
Companies and representativesthroughout the worli
Heinemann is a registered trademark of Pearson Education, used under licence.

ISBN 978 0 2300 3509 6

ISBN 978 I 4050 8711 7 (with CD pack)

Firsrpublished2006
Text O Philip Prowse2006
Designand illustration O Macmillan PublishersLimited 2006

This version first published 2006

All rights reserved;no part of this publication may be

reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,transmitted in any
form, or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopyrng,
recording,or otherwise,without the prior written permissionof
the publishers.

Cover photo by Getty Images

The authors and publisherswould like to thank the following for

permission to reproducephotographs their photographic material:
Art Directorsand Trip pp?,22,75,7.6,77,28,29; Corbis/ Historical
Picture Archive p8, Corbis / Stapleton Collection p9; Eye Ubiquitous pp4,
12,13,1 6,1 8;Ge tty Im agespp6, 10, 11, 17, 19, 20, 23, 31 , 3 2 ;L o n e l y
Planet p14/15; (c)PeterFrosteat the Museumof London p5; Redfemsp30.

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