D

4.2. A) Read about the origin of the Russian people and write down all the

main tribes and peoples who inhabited the territory of the present Russian

Federation and the neighbouring territories at the troubled ancient time.

uring thepre-Christian era the vast territory that became Russia was sparsely inhabited by tribal peoples, many of whom were described by ancient Greek and Roman writers. The largely unknown north, a region of extensive forests, was inhabited by tribes later known collectively as Slavs. These Slavs were the ancestors of the modern Russian people. Far more important to the ancient Greeks and Romans were southern peoples in Scythia, an indeterminate region that included the greater part of southeastern Europe and Central Asia. Portions of this region were occupied by a succession of horse-riding nomadic peoples, including, chronologically, the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians. In these early times, Greek traders and colonists established many trading posts and settlements, particularly along the north coast of the Black Sea and in Crimea.

Large stretches of open plain facilitated the immigration of outside peoples. Such migrations resulted in successive invasions, the establishment of settlements, and the assimilation of people who spoke different languages. Thus, in the early centuries of the Christian era, Germanic Goths displaced the Asian peoples of Scythia and established an Ostrogothic (eastern Goth) kingdom on the Black Sea. In the 4th century nomadic Huns invaded from Asia and conquered the Ostrogoths. The Huns held the territory constituting the present-day Ukraine and most of present-day Moldova until their defeat in Western Europe in the mid-5th century. Later came the Mongolian Avars, followed by the nomadic Asian Magyars, and then the Turkic Khazars, who remained influential until about the mid-10th century.

Meanwhile, during this long period of successive invasions, the Slavic tribes in the area northeast of the Carpathian Mountains had begun a series of migratory movements. As these migrations took place, the western tribes in the region eventually evolved as the Moravians, Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks; the southern tribes as the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and a Slavic people who were conquered by but soon assimilated the Turkic Bulgars; and the eastern tribes as a people who later gave rise to the modern Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. The East Slavs became renowned traders. The systems of rivers and waterways extending through the territory from the Valday Hills facilitated the establishment of Slav trading posts, notably the cities of Kyiv (Kiev), which is the present-day capital of the Ukraine, and Novgorod, directly north of Kyiv. Along these waterways the Slavs transported goods between the Baltic and Black seas.

Notes:

Scythia [`siӨiә] - Скифия (территория в Северном Причерноморье, которую населяли древние племена скифов - Scythians)

Cimmerian [si`miәriәn] - киммериец, киммерийка (племена, обитавшие в VIII -VII в.в. до н. э. в Северном Причерноморье)

Goth [goӨ] - гот (из древнегерманского племени готов (не существует с VIII века н.э)

Ostrogothic [`ostrәugoӨik] - остготский

Magyars [`mægja:z] - мадьяры

Carpathian Mountains [ka:`peiӨjәn] – Карпатские горы

b) Complete the Slavic branch of the Indo-European family tree.

Slavic

West South East

___________ _________ ___________

c) Read the passage about the history of Russia and underline the main words

characterizing the long way of the country’s development. Discuss your

choice in the class.

The history of Russia dates back to the ancient times. It is unique and full of paradoxes. Russia has always suffered from unexpected invasions from the West, South, and East, internal problems connected with impostors constantly trying to take advantage of Russia, its treasures and people. And, of course, Russia itself was a bit backward, in some ways it was always deaf to the civilization coming from the West. Red tape and stubborn officials tried to slow down progress and culture. But, on the other hand, there were a lot of celebrities, who enjoyed popularity and gained reputation as highly educated and gifted people. Russia is proud of them: they are great musicians, scientists, poets and many others.

It is worth mentioning, that millions of Russians gave their lives for the liberation of Russia from numerous invaders: Chin-gis-han, Napoleon, and Hitler. Their plans of enslavement of Russia were crushed and went to pieces. But the country’s losses were irreplaceable, too. We’ve always paid too much for our independence.

After the break-up of the USSR in 1991, Russia faced not only old problems, but new and even unexpected ones, like ethnic clashes. It put the country into a deep economic and political crisis, which lasted during the 90s. During that period we lost a lot of doctors, scientists and musicians, who fled Russia looking for a better life. At present you can meet our former countrymen in almost any country in the world.

Life has changed greatly by now. We are trying to introduce a new way of economy – capitalism with its free market. A great number of people still see this way as alien to our mentality, which results in a lot of jobless people, living on the dole and finding it difficult to make both ends meet. At the same time we witness how our economy is gradually overcoming the economic and social deadlock. And in spite of the current problems, we can't help hoping that our prosperity is a matter of time, and in our lifetime Russia will become a great power, as it used to.