Text 10

Exercise 1. Read the dialogue and say what new information about Valaam you have got to know.

Sally: Sasha, can you tell us what is worth visiting in Russia?

Sasha: There are a lot of places of interest worth visiting. In Moscow, I suggest visiting the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Tretyakov Picture Gallery and the Bolshoi Theatre.

John: We also plan to go to St.Petersburg.

Sasha: If I were you I would go to the Russian museum. It has a wonderful collection of Russian paintings by famous Russian artists, such as Brullov, Vasilyev, Repin. Through their painting you’ll see and better understand the history of Russia.

Kevin: Is there anything else you could recommend?

Sasha: Yes, I also recommend you to visit the island of Valaam while you are in St.Petersburg. It is situated in the northern part of Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Europe. You can get there by ship or helicopter from St.Petersburg. People have been living there for over 1 000 years.

Sally: What is there on the island?

Sasha: There is a monastery there. It was destroyed many times, but it was always rebuilt. The monks were very peaceful people, who loved God, nature and mankind. Whenever the island was invaded, the monks refused to fight and kill. The primary purpose of the monastery was to be a spiritual centre of Russian Orthodoxy, but it has also inspired Russian tsars, painters, poets and architects. Until the 20^th century the island was free of crime and alcohol.

John: Are there a lot of trees on the island?

Sasha: Yes. The nature on the island is unique. Although the soil on the island, which was brought from the mainland, is only 20-30 centimeters deep, the monks that lived there were able to grow watermelons, pumpkins, and more than 60 types of apples. They even grew melons! There are over 450 different kinds of plants on the island.

John: Does the island get a lot of visitors?

Sasha: Yes, visitors come from Russia, Germany, Great Britain, the USA and other countries.

Megan: Thanks for your advice, Sasha!

Sasha: Have a great time while you are here!

Exercise 2. Make up your own similar dialogue about any city or town in Russia.

Speech exercises.

Exercise 1. Make up a story about the Kremlin and Red Square. You can mention other sights of Moscow in your story.

Exercise 2. Tell about Kaluga, its history and its sights.

Exercise 3. Tell about some Russian cities.

Written tasks.

Exercise 1. Write a letter to your pen friend. There is a part of her letter.

“… Our class has won the competition and we are going to make a trip to your country. We must arrange the programme of our visit. What can you recommend us to see in your country? What cities and what parts of Russia is it better to see?

Hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Mary”

Observe the rules of letter writing.

Exercise 2. Write a composition answering the question: Are you proud of your native /settlement/town/city? Why/why not?

Russian cities during the great patriotic war.

Exercise 1. Pronounce the following words paying attention to the way of pronunciation of the stressed vowels.

/a:/ advance, starve

/i:/ siege, besiege

/i/ persistence

/ou/ loads

/u:/ troops

/e/ enemy, surrender, shell, terrible

/æ/ battle, attack

// crush, plunge, suffer, bloody

// occupy /ai/

/ei/ invasion, liberation, save

Exercise 2. Translate the words into Russian using the dictionary.

a) siege, loads, persistence, troops, invasion, enemy, advance;

b) to surrender, to besiege, to starve, to shell, to crush, to plunge, to suffer, to be driven to, to save;

c) terrible, bloody.

Exercise 3. Define the ways of the construction of the following words and group them according to the parts of speech. Guess their meaning.

Persistence, freedom, besiege, heroism, defensive, unusual, icy, endless, heroic, fully, agreement, military, militant, rename, starvation, tankman, artillerist, seaman, famous, fortress.

Exercise 4. Do you know when the Second World War began? What country was invaded first?

Text 1

Exercise 1. Look through the text and say a) why some cities bear the title of the City-Hero;

b) what Cities-Hero do you know

On the 22^nd of June 1941 the Soviet Union was attacked by fascist Germany and the invasion of the fascist troops began. A lot of grief the war brought to people. Our people did their best to stop fascists. They gave their lives for the freedom of our Motherland. There are many cities in our country which bear the title of the City-Hero. They are called so, because the citizens and soldiers didn’t allow the enemies to enter the city or they showed wonders of heroism during the defense and liberation of these cities. Among them are Moscow, St.Petersburg, Tula, Kursk, Novorossiysk. On the territory of the former USSR we must mention such cities as Kiev, Minsk, Brest and some others.

Text 2

Exercise 1. Read the text and say why the ice-road was called “The Road of Life”