New York
Situated at the mouth of the deep Hudson River, New York has always been the gate of the USA. But it is more than just a door: it is also a window through which the life of the whole nation may be observed. New York is a city of striking social contrasts. It is a place where most of the millionaires live and at the same time a greater proportion of New Yorkers live at a lower level than the average for the US. In 1626 Dutch colonists set up here the first settlement, named New Amsterdam. They bought Manhattan Island from Indians for 24 dollars and a barrel of rum. The Americans say that it was the best business deal ever made in New York. In 1664 the colony was captured by British fleet under Duke of York and renamed New York.
Now New York includes five boroughs: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Richmond.
Manhattan is the smallest of the five city boroughs in size and it is not the largest in population although the majority spend a considerable part of the day in this center of business life. Here are Broadway, Wall Street and the Stock Exchange. This is the heart and source of American policy.
Harlem is also in Manhattan. Thick walls separate this Black Bottom with 450,000 coloured people from the white population.
In the bay stands the bronze Statue of Liberty given to the United States by France as a present in 1886. Its torch is 60 meters high and can be seen at night for many miles. A new American Museum of Immigration is open at the base of the Statue.
The Bronx is a more residential rather than industrial part of the city. The well-known Zoo and Botanic Gardens are in the Bronx.
Queens is both a residential and industrial area. New York's two biggest airports are both there.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard is the largest naval shipbuilding center in the world. Brooklyn has more people than any other part of the city about 3,000,000. It is mostly a district of middle-class people.
Richmond is the borough of piers and warehouses. Its population is only 200,000.
What makes New York? First of all, it is a great seaport, the greatest in the USA. The sea encircles many of the city areas. It is also a great financial center, where money-making is the main law of life. It is the symbol of big business and its Wall Street has become a ruckname for big monopolies all over the world. New York is the leading textile center of the country and its clothes industry. It has a considerable printing industry and many book-shops; It is also undoubtedly one of the centres of social and spiritual lifV of America. There are a lot of Art Galleries, among them rich Henry Frick collections, and many impressive art museums (Metropolitan Museum, Modern Art Museum, American Art Museum and others). For a long time New York specialized in giving visitors a good time at its theatres, restaurants, night clubs, sporting arenas, and therefore has a large hotel industry. It is the main publishing, advertising and radio center with Columbia and New York universities and various city colleges.
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Among (he inhabitants of New York one can meet people of almost all nations. The population of New York numbers about 16 million. Thu citizens speak seventy-five different languages.
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In most capital cities built long before the time of the private car there is, rarely enough space for moving traffic, and certainly not enough for parking vehicles. Buses move slowly because of the great volume of traffic, thus encouraging more people to give up () using public transport. Banning traffic from some areas may heUp, but such a solution may not actually make less the number of ;ars coming into the city. The new city cannot survive () without building a series of ring roads. During the working hours o.fthe day, there is the constant noise of traffic, but at night the center is almost empty.
The mo&t environmentally-friendly way of solving traffic problems is to nise more widely public transportation. Buses require fewer parkimg lots, make less noise and use less road space per passenger than private cars. They consume less fuel, causing less air pollution.
Some environmentalists dream of turning parking lots into parks and replacing cars with bicycles. In some countries there are extensive networks of bicycle paths, which make cycling a safe and enjoyable form of transportation.
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Virtual Laboratory Expands NASA Research
NASA has successfully concluded tests on a computer-generated virtual laboratory that will allow researchers, located anywhere in the world, to study potentially dangerous aircraft and spacecraft situations without risking human life.
The lab can enable research organizations to collaborate longdistance without having to be physically present at the world's largest flight simulator at Ames Research Center, California. It could also be used by universities, research laboratories and industry to develop a wide variety of products beyond the aerospace field. Fu-
ture uses of the laboratory being considered include designing new spacecrafts and training astronauts.
The simulator is able to move airplane and spaceship cockpits in all directions, including 60 feet vertically and 40 feet horizontally. There are five interchangeable cockpits that are used to simulate the Space Shuttle, helicopters, airplanes and other aerospace vehicles.
The simulator creates a convincing environment for a pilot and is controlled by computers programmed to represent each aircraft proposed.
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Computers calculate correct aircraft response when a pilot changes simulator cockpit controls. In real time, responses by the simulator include cockpit motion, images in the windshield, sounds and control readouts. Simulations are monitored from the control lab at ARC. The virtual laboratory and the world it creates exist partly in computer memory and other physical gear.
Recently, astronauts made simulated Space Shuttle landings using a huge motion simulator at ARC while NASA engineers in Houston monitored the sessions using the three-dimensional world that includes video screens, computer video, two-way video conferencing, remote data access and a pilot's out-the-window scene.
