CAMBRIDGE

Hello everyone, today Im going to talk about Cambridge.

Cambridge is a city that is located in the county Cambridgeshire in England, about 50
miles, which is the same as 80 kilometres, from London. The River Cam flows through
the city. In 2011, the population was around 125,000 people, including 25,000 students.
Today, the city is most widely known for its university: one of best universities of the
world.
What to do in Cambridge?
Punting Punting is boating in a punt. A punt is a small flat-bottomed boat, designed for
use in small rivers.The punter, the person who uses the punt, usually propels the punt
by pushing against the river bed with a pole. (picture)
In Cambridge, the punt takes you on a tour through the backs of the buildings of
Cambridge university, and much more. It is the ideal introduction to the city. You can
punt yourself, or you can hire a punter who can do the job for you so you can relax while
looking around. Its definitely something you must do when you visit Cambridge.
Corpus clock The corpus clock is a large clock outside of the Taylor library at Corpus
Christi college. It was conceptualized and funded by John. C. Taylor, an old member of
the college. The clock was first shown to public in 2008 by physicist Stephen Hawking.
The clock was made entirely of gold. It has no hands (hands are the large and small
clock arrows that indicate the time), but it has blue leds that display hours, minutes and
seconds. On top of the clock, there is a metal sculpture of an insect similar to a
grasshopper. John C. Taylor calls it a Chronophage, literally a time eater in the Greek
Mythology. It moves its mouth, appearing to eat up the seconds as they pass and
occasionally blinks in satisfaction.
University of Cambridge
Now Im going to talk about the University of Cambridge, probably the most well known
feature of the city. Cambridge University was founded in 1209, therefore it is the second
oldest university in the English speaking world (Oxford is the oldest). The university
probably grew out of an association by scholars leaving the University of Oxford after a
dispute. After that, the University attracted many students from all over the world and
became one of the biggest Universities of the world. From 1869, female students were
also allowed to study here.
The motto of the university is Hinc lucem et pocula sacra, literally from here, light and
sacred draughts, or From this place, we gain enlightment and precious knowledge.
Cambridge University has a variety of institutions that include 31 colleges, which are
organized into six schools: the school of Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences,
Clinical Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and Technology.
The most famous college is probably Kings College. Kings College Chapel is seen as
the emblematic of Cambridge, like the Atomium is Brussels emblematic or the Eiffel
Tower is a symbol for Paris. The chapel is used as an active house of worship, and
home of the Kings College choir.
Another well known college is Trinity College. With over 1,200 students, it is the biggest
college of the University. In the 20
th
century, members of this College won 31 Noble
prizes. Famous people who have attended this College are six British Prime ministers,
physicists Isaac Newton and Niels Bohr, and two members of the British Royal Family.
At Cambridge University, you can study about everything: you can learn a language like
French or German, you can study Law or maybe History, or if youre the more artistic
kind of person you can study Music, theres something for everyone. But studying at this
university is very expensive: the prices depend on what course youre studying. For
example, if you want to take a course like Law the price is about 15,000 (18,000) but
Medicin students pay 35,000, which is about 42,500 a year. And thats not the actual
price, because there are additional college fees, 6,000 a year, and you still need a
place to live: living expenses should be around 9,200 each year.
Cambridge is currently number three on the world university ranking. It used to be on
one, but its still one of the best universities in the world.
Cambridge University has many notable students. Among the most famous of
Cambridge we have Isaac Newton, who spent the majority of his life at the university.
Charles Darwin made the Formulation of the theory of evolution by natural selection
here. Lord Kelvin provided fundamental contributions to thermodynamics. Stephen
Hawking did the same thing for cosmology. And the list goes on.
Culture
Just like every other city, Cambridge has its own culture: sports, music, theatre
As for sports, the city is home to Cambridge United F.C. They compete in the
Conference Premier, level 5 of Englands Football League system. Theyre second
here. The football club has its own stadium in the city, named Abbey Stadium with a
capacity of 9,600 people. Other sports practiced in Cambridge are Cricket, Rugby, and
rowing.
For theatre, the city has two main venues: Arts Theatre, with 666 seats, is used for
traditional theatre and bigger theatrical performances are held at Cambridge Corn
Exchange, with a capacity of 1,800 people.
The most notable music band with roots in Cambridge are definitely rock legends Pink
Floyd. Their songwriter, guitarist and singer were born and lived in the city. The singer
of Muse, Matthew Bellamy, was also born in Cambridge. Live music venues hosting
popular music in the city are the earlier mentioned Corn Exchange and Cambridge
Junction.
A few festivals and events in the city are the annual Cambridge Beer Festival - the
second largest beer festival in Britain, with 90,000 pints served each year, Cambridge
Shakespeare Festival an eight week season of open air performances of
Shakespeares works and the Cambridge Film Festival.