A; are you interested in history?
B: yes, I am. I enjoyed studying it at school, though I had trouble remembering all the dates, so my teacher never gave me good marks.
A: I love history, but Ive always thought that learning the reasons behind events is more important than remembering exactly when they happened.
B; I wish you had been my history teacher! I might have got better marks!
A; some people say that history repeats itself.
B; what does that mean? The same events never happen twice, do they?
A: the idea is that the people and dates change, but the reason why things happen stay the same.
B: I see . I think Id agree with that statement. People often seem to make the same mistakes over and over again.
Intermediate
A; London is such a historic city! Theres history everywhere you look. Theres nelsons column, built as a monument to one of the Britains great admirals and his important victory. He won the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
B: Im looking forward to seeing Westminster abbey, where many historic figures are buried, like Isaac Newton, the great mathematician1 and Winston Churchill, the great wartime leader.
A: nearby, on the banks of the thames, theres the statue of Boudicea. She fought the Romans when they invaded Britain.
B: women have often played an important role in british history. Queen Elizabeth I built a navy strong enough to fight off the Spanish armada in 1588. more recently, Margaret thatcher2 transformed british society in the 1980s.
A: she was a very controversial leader. Are we going to visit the famous tower of London later?
B: theres a lot to see there. Perhaps we should go tomorrow.
A: Im looking forward to seeing the famous castle and prison. Many historic figures were imprisoned3 there in the past. I really want to see the crown jewels too.
B: Ive seen them before. Theyre quite incredible. If you want to see historical figures in London , theres one place you have to go.
A; wheres that? On, I know! Madame tussauds the waxworks4 museum.
B: there you can see british leaders, entertainers, crimicals, and royalty5.
A: sometimes, its hard to know who belongs in each section of the museum!
Words
Period century age era colony war invasion treaty prehistoric evidence ancient ancestor empire leader discover revolution emperor primitive artifact archaeology origin
Monument/memorial
