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?

Follow the plan: 1. Make the general statement of the problem

2. Give reasons why you are proud of your native place

3. Give facts which spoil you attitude to your native place

4. Make a conclusion

Russian cities during the great patriotic war.

Exercise 1. /a:/ advance, starve

/i:/ siege, besiege

/i/ persistence

/ou/ loads

/u:/ troops

/e/ enemy, surrender, shell, terrible

/æ/ battle, attack

/۸/ crush, plunge, suffer, bloody

/כ/ occupy /ai/

/ei/ invasion, liberation, save

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 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. The war brought to people a lot of grief. Our people did their best to stop fascists. They gave their lives for the freedom of our Motherland. There are a lot of 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 there are Moscow, St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Tula, Kursk, Novorossiysk and others. We mustn’t forget that former Soviet republics also made great contribution into the victory over fascist Germany. On the territory of the former USSR we must mention such cities as Kiev, Minsk, Brest and some others.

Text 2

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

St. Petersburg (Leningrad) – a City Hero.

Now let’s speak about St. Petersburg. This city was besieged by the enemies and all inhabitants of the city starved. People died one after another. At the height of the siege the whole country came to the help of the inhabitants. Columns of transport with provision came from all parts of our country. But it was due to the famous ice-road of Lake Ladoga – later referred to as “The Road of Life” – that the inhabitants of the besieged city kept on working and fighting. The story of the road is truly unusual.

The fascists hoped that the ice would close the ring of the blockade and the city would be starved into surrender. In spite of hard weather conditions a motor road was laid along the ice. Of course, people had to face a lot of difficulties. Every day the enemy shelled the ice road and new ice was crushed. And very often the drivers plunged into the icy water to save the loads. But nothing could crush persistence of our people. In December 1941 the bread ration was increased. In any weather night and day the trucks moved in an endless stream along the icy road. Never will our country and this city forget those who worked on the Road of Life during the heroic defense of the city.

Text 3

Exercise 1. Read the text.

Kaliningrad (Königsberg) was the first city of the Russian Federation which suffered from fascism. In 1933 here the period of fascism began. In 1938 they burnt down the synagogue and the city was fully administered by the leaders of Nazi party.

But already in July 1941 the Soviet aviation made its first bombarding of this city. The most terrible time for the city was April of 1945. As a result of the fights for the liberation of the city only approximately 7-9% of buildings were not destroyed. German general Lyash signed the agreement on surrender on the 9^th of April. After the war a special military area was formed on the territory of Eastern Prussia. In 1946 this region was included into Russia and in the same year it was renamed Kaliningrad.

Exercise 2. Agree or disagree with the following statements according to the contents of the text.

1. Königsberg was situated in Poland.

2. The period of fascism in this city began on the first day of the Second World War.

3. Since the first day of occupation the city was administered by Nazi.

4. A lot of buildings survived after the battle for the liberation of the city.

5. The city was completely liberated by the Soviet army on the day which is celebrated now as the Victory Day.

6. The city was renamed soon after the end of the Second World War.

Text 4

Exercise 1. Read the text and get ready to answer the questions.

Fascists occupied Kursk region in autumn of 1941. The occupation lasted for 15 months. 10 000 people died from starvation and illnesses, 3 000 were killed, 10 000, mainly young people, were driven to Germany.

As a result of the advance of Soviet troops nearly all territory of Kursk region was liberated. The front line resembled the curve and was called Kurskaya Duga. The northern end of it was in the south-western art of Kaluga region. The battle lasted here 50 days during the summer of 1943. The battle on Prokhorovskoye Pole is called the Great Tank Battle. In Oryol, Belgorod and Kursk regions there are a lot of monuments and memorials devoted to heroic deeds of soldiers, tankmen, pilots, artillerists, partisans.

Exercise 2. Answer the following questions.

1) How did the population of Kursk suffer during the occupation?

2) Why was the front line called Kurskaya Duga?

3) Why can one see monument and memorials to soldiers of different kinds of armed forces in Oryol, Kursk and Belgorod regions?