13.

The Russian Federation

The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It covers the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia. Its total area is about 17 million square kilometres.

The country is washed by 12 seas of 3 oceans: the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic. In the south Russia borders on China, Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In the west it borders on Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Byelorussia and Ukraine. It also has a sea-border with the USA.

There is hardly a country in the world where such a variety of scenery and vegetation can be found. We have steppes in the south, plains and forests in the midland, tundra and taiga in the north, highlands and deserts in the east.

There are two great plains in Russia: the Great Russian Plain and the West Siberian Lowland.

There are over two million rivers in Russia. Europe's biggest river, the Volga, flows into the Caspian Sea.

Russia is rich in beautiful lakes. The world's deepest lake (1600 meters) is Lake Baikal. It is much smaller than the Baltic Sea, but there is much more water in it than in the Baltic Sea. The water in the lake is so clear that if you look down you can count the stones on the bottom.

Russia has one-sixth of the world's forests. On the vast territory of the country there are various types of climate, from arctic in the north to subtropical in the south. In the middle of the country the climate is temperate and continental.

Russia is very rich in oil, coal, iron ore, natural gas, copper, nickel and other mineral resources.

Russia is a parliamentary republic. The Head of the State is the President.

The capital of Russia is Moscow. It is its largest political, scientific, cultural and industrial centre. It is one of the oldest Russian cities.

At present, the political and economic situation in the country is rather complicated. There are a lot of problems in the national economy of the Russian Federation.

But in spite of the problems Russia is facing at present, there are a lot of opportunities for this country to become one of the leading countries in the world.

Российская Федерация

Российская Федерация — самая большая страна в мире. Она охватывает восточную часть Европы и северную часть Азии. Ее общая территория — приблизительно 17 миллионов квадратных километров.

Страна омывается 12 морями 3-х океанов: Тихого океана, Арктики и Атлантического океана на юге. Россия граничит с Китаем, Монголией, Кореей, Казахстаном, Грузией и Азербайджаном. На западе — с Норвегией, Финляндией, Балтийскими государствами, Белоруссией и Украиной. У нее также есть морская граница с США.

Едва ли найдется страна в мире, где есть такое разнообразие пейзажа и растительности. У нас есть степи на юге, равнины и леса в центре страны, тундра и тайга на севере, горная местность и пустыни на востоке.

В России есть две Великие равнины: Большая российская равнина и Западно-сибирская низменность.

В России есть более чем два миллиона рек. Самая большая река Европы, Волга, впадает в Каспийское море.

Россия богата красивыми озерами. Самым глубоким в мире (1600 метров) является озеро Байкал. Оно намного меньше, чем Балтийское море, но в нем намного больше воды, чем в Балтийском море. Вода в озере настолько прозрачна, что, если посмотреть вниз, можно посчитать камни на дне.

На долю России приходится одна шестая часть лесов в мире. На обширной территории страны разнообразный климат — от арктического на севере до субтропического на юге. В центре страны климат является умеренно-континентальный.

Россия очень богата нефтью, углем, железной рудой, природным газом, медью, никелем и другими полезными ископаемыми.

Россия — парламентская республика. Глава государства — президент.

Столица России — Москва. Это ее наибольший политический, научный, культурный и индустриальный центр. Это один из самых старых российских городов.

В настоящее время политическая и экономическая ситуация в стране очень сложна. В народном хозяйстве Российской Федерации существует много проблем.

Но, несмотря на проблемы, с которыми сталкивается Россия в настоящее время, у этой страны есть все шансы стать одной из ведущих стран в мире.

14.

Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia. It is one of the biggest and most beautiful cities in the world. Moscow is a modern city now. The population of the city is about 9.8 million people. Moscow is a political centre, where the government of our country works. Moscow was founded in 1147 by Yuri Dolgoruky. The total area of Moscow is about nine hundred square kilometers.

We say that Moscow is a port of five seas, as the Moscow—Volga Canal links Moscow with the Baltic, White, Caspian and Black seas and the Sea of Azov.

Moscow is an industrial centre too. There are many factories and plants in it. One of the best-known plants produces many lorries, and the other one produces cars.

The Bolshoi Theatre is one of the famous theatres all over the world. If you are fond of painting you can go to the Tretyakov Art Gallery or to the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum and see a lot of interesting portraits and landscapes there. We say that the Tretyakov Art Gallery is a treasure-house of Russian art. Young people like to visit the Central Military Museum. There are many tanks, guns and war documents there.

One can see the Kremlin and Red Square in the city. There are many fine buildings, wide streets, green parks, churches and monuments in Moscow.

One of the highest buildings in Moscow is the State Moscow University. It was founded in 1755 by the great scientist Mikhail Lomonosov.

Moscow is a very big city, and its transport must be comfortable and fast.

One can see a lot of cars, buses, trolley-buses, trams in the streets of our city. The Moscow metro began its work on the 15th of May, 1935. There were 13 stations at that time. Now it has 190 stations. Our metro is a beautiful and convenient one.

There are nine railway stations in Moscow and five airports around the city.

There are many stadiums in Moscow. The Central Stadium is in Luzhniki. Many competitions and football matches are held there.

The Olympic village was built for the 22nd Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. It is a big complex for sport games.