美文阅读The USA.docVIP

The USA New York is built on a group of islands on the east coast of the USA at a point where several rivers flow into the ocean. The first westerner to discover these islands was an Italian explorer in 1524. In 1626 the island of Manhattan was bought from local Indians, Native Americans, for a handful of goods worth about ＄24.Today Native Americans express their anger over this business deal. After the War of Independence ended, New York became the capital of the USA for a short time(1789－1790) before Washington, D. C. By 1820 the population of New York had grown to about 125,000, making it the largest city in the USA. In 1858 an area of poor housing, factories and farm buildings was torn down and Central Park was created, reaching from 59th Street to 110th Street and across three avenues. There is space for summer picnics, open air concerts, plays and games. There is a zoo, an art museum, a boating lake, a smaller lake for model boats and, in winter, an ice-skating area. In 1892 the age of mass arrivals began, during which 15 million new people passed through Ellis Island into the USA over a period of 62 years. Today Ellis Island is a museum, showing the roots of America’s new citizens, who came from all the corners of the earth. Officials used to have trouble with the foreign names of people passing through Ellis Island, and because they were so busy, many people’s names got changed in the rush. People who wanted to enter the USA had to go through a number of mental and physical tests, and about 2 million people were turned away. Thus Ellis Island became known as the “Island of Tears”. The building of skyscrapers in New York began around the year 1900. Because Manhattan Island is made of solid rock, it is safe to build very tall buildings. A 55-storey building went up in 1913, and in 193l the Empire State Building was completed, then the tallest building in the world. It has 102 storeys and 73 lifts. From the top of it, you could see up to a distance of 130