To show people that he was serious, Edison began his project in New York City. By 1887, much of New York City had electricity. Edison founded the Edison Electric Light Company and continued to supply electricity to New York and other places.

Thomas Edison lived until 1931. He continued to invent all his life. After the War, he tried to invent a substitute for rubber because of the shortage that the war caused.

Thomas Edison was a true genius, but he never went to a college or university. The only time Edison attended school was when he was 7 years old. He stayed for 3 months and never returned. Thomas Edison was a school dropout, yet he became one of America’s most famous and most honoured man.

Washington, D.C.

The United States is a federal union, which is made up of 50 states and one independent district – the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia is the territory of the national capital of the USA, Washington, with its own laws and regulations. Washington, D.C. is situated on both banks of the Potomac river, between the two states, Maryland and Virginia.

This place was chosen by the first American President George Washington. In 1790 George Washington laid the corner-stone of the Capitol where the Congress sits. The place was called the District of Columbia in honour of Columbus, the discoverer of America. The capital got the name of Washington after the name of its founder. Washington has been the federal capital since 1800.

Washington is sometimes called the heart of America. It is the capital where the federal government works and where each President of the United States lives. Washington is smaller in size than the largest cities of the USA. The population of Washington is about 11 million people. The buildings in Washington are not very tall because no building must be taller than the Capitol. But in political sense Washington is the centre of the country and the most important city in the United States.

William Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare is the greatest of all playwrights and poets of all times. Not much is known of his life. He was probably the son of a businessman and was born in 1564 in Stradford-upon-Avon. He probably attended the local grammar school and got a classical education. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway and had 3 children. Little is known of his life before 1592, when he appeared as a playwright in London. Soon he became an actor playing supporting roles like the ghost in «Hamlet». In 1599 Shakespeare became a part owner of the Globe Theatre in London.

Shakespeare’s work as a playwright is subdivided into 3 periods. Written in the first period, Shakespeare’s plays are mostly history plays like «Henry VI», and comedies with strong elements of farce. His masterpiece of this period is «Romeo and Juliet».

In the second period Shakespeare wrote a number of comedies where he moved away from farce towards romance. In the third period, after 1600, appeared his major tragedies – «Hamlet», «Othello». They presented a clear opposition of order to chaos, good to evil.

Shakespeare was a great poet and would be well known for his poetry alone. His major achievement as a poet is his sonnets, first published in 1609. A sonnet is a poem consisting of 14 lines, with a moral at the end. The sonnets are addressed to some «W.H.», and to mysterious «Dark Lady of Sonnets». The sonnets deal with the great themes of love, friendship, death, change and immortality. Shakespeare looks at his own poetry as a means of immortality. Shakespeare’s sonnets are excellent. They are full of harmony and music; they praise love, friendship and beauty, though there is no sentimentality in them.

Shakespeare’s poetry is at the summit of human achievement. Many centuries have passed since his death in 1616, but Shakespeare is still considered to be the greatest of all playwrights and poets.