Norwich Norwich, the capital_考试试题_职称英语

Norwich

Norwich, the capital of the part of Britainknown as East Anglia, has been in existence for more than two thousand years.It began as a small village beside the River Wensum. At the time of the Normaninvasion in 1066 it had grown to become one of the largest towns in England.

With two cathedrals and a mosque （清真寺）, Norwich has long been a popular centre for various religions. Thefirst cathedral was built in 1095 and has recently celebrated its 900thanniversary, while Norwich itself had a year of celebration in 1994 to mark the800th anniversary of the city receiving a Royal Charter. This allowed it to becalled a city and to govern itself independently.

Today, in comparison with places like London orManchester, Norwich is quite small, with a population of around 150,000, but inthe 16th century Norwich was the second largest city of England. It continuedto grow for the next 300 years and got richer and richer, becoming famous forhaving as many churches as there are weeks in the year and as many pubs asthere are days in the year.

Nowadays, there are far fewer churches andpubs, but in 1964 the University of East Anglia was built in Norwich. With itsfast-growing student population and its success as a modern commercial centre （Norwich is the biggest centre for insurance services outside London）, the city now has a wide choice of entertainment: theatres, cinemas,nightclubs, busy cafes, excellent restaurants, and a number of arts and leisurecentres. There is also a football team, whose colours are green and yellow. Theteam is known as "The Canaries （金丝雀）", thoughnobody can be sure why.

Now the city's attractions include anotherimportant development, a modern shopping centre called 'The Castle Mall'. Thepeople of Norwich lived with a very large hole in the middle of their city forover two years, as builders dug up the main car park. Lorries moved nearly amillion tons of earth so that the roof of the Mall could become a city centrepark, with attractive water pools and hundreds of trees. But the local peopleare really pleased that the old open market remains, right in the heart of thecity and next to the new development. Both areas continue to do good business,proving that Norwich has managed to mix the best of the old and the new.

16 The River Wensum flows by Norwich