9.3. Reading Improvement

Assignment 1. You are going to read a booklet about wonders of Belarus. Chose from the list A – H the most suitable heading for each part of the booklet (1 – 8). There is an example at the beginning (1).

A The Bible of Francisk Skorina

B The Church of Syncovichi

C “Belovezhskaya Pushcha” National Park

D The Sacred-Cross of St. Euphrosinia of Polotsk

E The Belts of Slutsk

F The Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

G The Castle of Nesvizh

H The Castle of Mir

8 Wonders of belarus

Dear Travellers,

It’s quite natural that the name of this tour is associated with “7 Wonders of the World” of ancient times. They were: the Egyptian Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Artemision at Ephesus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Olympian Zeus Statue by Phidias and Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria.

Each of those beautiful objects was the unsurpassed masterpiece of art, the monument of human genius. Unfortunately, most of them do not exist anymore. But the mankind is always rich in talents and our Belarus can be the example.

The tour offered will get you acquainted with 8 Wonders of Belarus belonging to the world heritage and created by outstanding Belarussian architects, craftsmen and thinkers… of our glorious past, namely:

1 __________D____________ (12^th cent.), a benefactress and the holy Mother Superior of Belarus. Made in 1161 by a famous medieval jeweller Lazar Bogsha, the cross had a fraction of the wooden cross on which Jesus Christ had been crucifixed. The original cross was lost during World War II. In 1997 the duplicate was made and now is kept in the town of Polotsk;

2 _____________________________ (16^th cent.), the outstanding Belarusian enlightener and the founder of Belarusian book printing. The Bible was printed in 1517 in the city of Prague. The Bible of Skorina ranks number 2 in the world among Holy Writs printed in native language (Number 1 is the Czech Bible of 1488);

3 __________________________ (GDL) (16^th cent.), one of the largest multinational European States at the end of the 14^th century. Belarusians predominated among the population of GDL and Belarusian was the state language. The famous Statute (the Constitution) of GDL – one of the progressive constitutions of the medieval Europe was written in Belarusian and was valid during two and a half centuries;

4 ___________________________________ (15^th cent., Grodno region), one of the unique buildings in Belarus – the church and the fortress at the same time;

5 ___________________________________ (16^th cent., 110 km from Minsk, the capital of Belarus), designed for the Radzivills, medieval Belarusian magnates by famous Italian architecture Giovanni Maria Bernardoni. The Castle enters UNESCO List of World Heritage;

6 __________________________________ (16^th cent., 110 km from Minsk, the capital of Belarus), one of the largest fortress-castle in Eastern Europe. The castle enters UNESCO List of World Heritage;

7 __________________________________ (18^th cent., Minsk region) , the precious masterpiece of Belarusian weaving. Their length was more than 2 meters and width up to 40 centimetres. The experienced weaver could make about 10 of those belts only for the whole year;

8 ___________________________________ (near the city of Brest on the Belarusian–Polish border), the symbol of Belarus, the largest and ancient forest reserve in Central Europe, known since 13^th cent. It’s area in Belarus – 87.5 thousand hectares. Since 1992 the Park is in UNESCO list of World Heritage.

Welcome to the World of Belarusian Wonders!

Assignment 2. You are going to read a short article about one of the sights of Minsk. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from sentences A – F the ones which fit each gap (1 – 6).