A READING: DISCOVER ...

Read this article related to travels and important cities and look up the dictionary all the words you don't understand to increase your vocabulary. 

I have highlighted some difficult words in bold letters.

But also pay attention to the pronunciation when you look up them at the dictionary.

DISCOVER...

Edinburg has always been a place where art and science, commerce and culture have stood shoulder to shoulder.  As you tour the City, you will see the signs.  On the outskirts, there are thriving industries in avionics, electronics, engineering, computing, surgical supplies and brewing.  In the City Centre, you will find many museums, art galleries and historic houses.  And in every corner of the City, you will discover departments of the two Universities, which have a full-time student population of over 20,000.

London is a mecca for those involved in, or just fond of, the arts.  Its bohemian quarter is Chelsea, though the major art galleries are located in or around the West End.  London's museums cover a wide variety of interests.  Literary London also accounts for many landmarks, especially in the Bloomsbury areas.  Among London's principal shopping centres are Piccadilly, Bond Street, Regent Street and Oxford Street.  Traditional street markets include Portobello Road Market and Petticoat Lane Market.

Amsterdam is renowed for being one of the world's most beautiful and friendly cities.  It has sometimes been called "The Venice of the North", because of its splendid canals.   In spite of its old history, a youthful heart beats amid the venerable surroundings of canals, bridges and elegant gabled houses.  The city is filled with museums, galleries, street markets and restaurants catering for all tastes.  You can choose from a wide variety of concerts, plays, ballets, operas and films.    And you can stay up late to sample Amsterdam's famous night life.

Budapest, created by nature and by man, treasures the old and embraces the new.  Buda and Pest, hills and a flat expanse, are on both sides of the Danube, which flows through the city along a stretch of 28 kilometres.  Budapest is justly called the city of museums, eighty-three of which can be visited.  The biggest public building in the City, the Buda Castle, houses three of the most famous.  With its opera houses, concert halls and theatres, Budapest offers a variety of cultural entertaiment to suit every taste.

Brussels is rich in social and public life, with a dynamic commercial centre, famous galleries and quiet corners.  Its fabulous Grand Place is so impressively unique and harmonious that it is rightly considered the most beautiful square in the world.  Having become the melting-pot of thought and culture, the City is the home of several hundred international organizations.   Brussels has always been able to gain maximum advantage from its privileged central location in the heart of Belgium, an now it is proud to have become the official capital of Europe.

Source:  UNED Advanced English.-  Students' Textbook (Vol.I)  Mª Teresa Gibert / Mª Antonia Álvarez.