This is America. Гришенкова Е.Г. - 21 стр.

UptoLike

Составители:

Рубрика:

2. How long did it take George Vanderbilt to build a house?

3. What does it look like?

4. How many rooms does it have? How many are open to the public?

5. Which room would you like to visit? Why?

6. What can you see apart from the main house?

7. Who designed the building? What is the designer famous for?

8. Who designed the gardens at Biltmore? What is the designer famous for?

9. Who designed the forest at Biltmore? What is the designer famous for?

10. Why do you think people enjoy visiting this place?

BILTMORE ESTATE

It was built more than one hundred years ago near the mountains of North

Carolina. It is still the largest private home in the United States.

An estate is a property, usually large, owned by one person or a family. The

man who owned the Biltmore estate in North Carolina was George Vanderbilt. He

was born in 1862 and died in 1914. His father and grandfather were two of the richest

and most powerful businessmen in America. They made their money in shipping and

railroads.

When his father died, George Vanderbilt received millions of dollars. He chose

to spend a good deal of that money building his home in North Carolina. More than

one thousand people began the work on it in 1889. The structure was ready six years

later in December 1895. Biltmore is now open to the public. It is well worth a visit.

So, close your eyes and imagine you are going there.

Our car has just turned off one of the main roads in the city of Asheville, North

Carolina. We have entered a private road that leads to the main house on the Biltmore

estate. The sides of the road are lined with trees.

When we leave the car, we walk through a wooded area. The air is clean. It

smells of flowers. The trees are dark and very large. They block us from seeing

anything. At last we come to an open area and turn to the right. The main house is

several hundred meters in front of us.

Biltmore is huge. It looks like a king's palace. It measures two hundred thirty-

eight meters from side to side. It is the color of milk, with maybe just a little

chocolate added to make it light brown. As we walk closer, it seems to grow bigger