Unit VI. Native city

Vocabulary

1. be founded – быть основанным

2. be situated – располагаться

3. be washed by – омываться

4. be proud of – гордиться

5. border – граница

6. bay – залив

7. coast – побережье

8. call at – заходить

9. district – район

10. frontier – граница

11. go sight-seeing – осматривать достопримечательности

12. gulf – залив

13. harbor – гавань

14. location – месторасположение

15. latitude – широта

16. longitude – долгота

17. monument – памятник

18. occupy – занимать место

19. population – население

20. peninsula – полуостров

21. sights – достопримечательности

22. skyscraper – небоскреб

23. shore – берег моря

24. seaside– побережье, место отдыха у моря

25. separate from – отделить от

26. square – площадь

27. two-storey house – двухэтажный дом

28. dwell – жить, пребывать

29. cabin – небольшая жилая постройка

30. strait - пролив

Ex. 1. Read and translate the text.

OUR CITY

Vladivostok is one of the most interesting and colorful cities in Russia. Its buildings climb the hillsides dropping to the sea. The se makes Vladivostok unforgettable the city is open to the ocean winds. Once it was compared to Naples and much later - to San-Francisco.

Vladivostok occupies the whole southern tip of the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula. The downtown area is situated at the shores of the Golden Horn Bay, well protected from strong winds, deep and a convenient harbor for ocean-going vessels. Bosphorus the Eastern Strait links two gulfs together - the Amursky and the Ussuriysky -and separates the Russian Island from the mainland. The city is rather young. It was founded on the second of July in 1860.

Due to its location at 132 degrees longitude East, 43 degrees latitude North, Vladivostok perfectly referred to the saying: "The latitude of the Crimea while the longitude of the Kolyma river. This, by the way, explains why Vladivostok has got such a monsoon climate. In wintertime there is almost no snow in the city, while in summertime thick fog moves on it and gives way to practically, non-stop rains. The mean annual temperature is +5°C, the temperature in January is -14°C, the temperature in August is +24°C.

Only one-to-five territory of the city is built-up, the other part is occupied by the forest-park. The northern part is a kind of national park and there was a time, when the impassable Ussury taiga stood there. In the forest-park of the city you can see a lot of rare plants and trees: cork tree, cedar, aralia, eleutorococcus, lime, maple and others.

Naturally, the port is the heart of Vladivostok. A great many of the ships arrive here every day. Vessels maintain the transportation, to dozens of countries all over the world, transfer passengers to Sakhalin, Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, Japan and others.

Vladivostok is an international territory. Businessmen and journalists, specialists and ordinary people of Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, Australia, the USA, Canada and Europe are visiting Vladivostok more often. American, Canadian and French Navy ships have made friendly visits to Vladivostok. Besides, sister-town relationship was established with Japanese prefectures of Niigata, Toyama, and the American states of Washington, Oregon, California.

Vladivostok has a glorious past, a glorious present and still glorious future.

Answer the questions.

1. Where is Vladivostok situated? 2. What makes it unforget­table? 3. Does it occupy the whole southern tip of the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula? 4. Where is the downtown situated? 5. What links the Amursky and the Ussuriysky Gulfs together? 6. What separates the Russian Island from the mainland? 7. What city is the largest in the Far East of Russia? 8. When was Vladivostok founded? 9. What is the latitude of that city? 10. What climate has Vladivostok? 11. Describe wintertime and summertime in Vladivostok. 12. What part of the city is built-up? 13. The northern part of the city is a kind of the national park, isn't it? 14. What plants can you see in the forest-parks of the city? 16. What is the heart of Vladivostok? 17. Can you say that Vladivostok has a status of the international city? 18. What relationship is established between Vladivostok and other countries?

Ex. 2. Agree or disagree with the statements.

1. Vladivostok is one of the most interesting and colorful cities in Russia. 2. There is no sea in Vladivostok. 3. It is compared to San-Francisco. 4. Vladivostok occupies the southern tip of Korean Peninsula. 5. The downtown area is situated high in the mountains. 6. The Bering Strait links two gulfs together. 7. Ussuriysk is the capital and the largest city of Primorye. 8. Vladivostok has the latitude of the Crimea and the longitude of the Kolyma river. 9. Vladivostok has a monsoon climate. 10. There are no typhoons in the Southern Primorye. 11. There is no port in Vladivostok. 12. Vladivostok has no cooperation with the leading countries of the world. 13. Тhere are no higher educational institutions in the city.

Ex. 3. Find the synonyms from the second part to the words in the first part of the exercise.

1. To live; house; to look like; high; site; dweller; subway; to run;, road; light; unknown; police-officer; guard; places of interest.

2. Police-man; resident; to be similar; underground; to exist;; building; conductor; sights; stranger; traffic-lights; tall; location; way; to go.

Ex. 4. Find the antonyms.

1. On the left; to go straight; sunny; downtown; to be ashamed; sea; to call at; indoors; to begin; to lie; late; old; big; skyscraper; to join; on the way; near; to the right.

2. To stand; out of the way; far; to separate; cloudy; land; to leave; to end; to be proud of; in the street; cabin; small; suburbs; on the right; to go round; to the left; in time, new..

Ex. 5. Choose Russian equivalents

A guidebook to Vladivostok; location; to be situated; latitude; industrial center; to dwell; to look like; sights; peninsula; coast; to be washed by; borders of several countries; to go straight on; to turn round; to change for 11 bus; to get off.

полуостров; выходить из; границы нескольких стран; повернуть назад; путеводитель по Владивостоку; местоположение; омываться; находится; широта; промышленный центр; быть похожим; обитать; пересесть на автобус №11; достопримечательности; побережье; идти прямо.

Ex. 6. Render in English.

По склонам сопок, спускающихся к морю, карабкаются дома одного из самых интересных и колоритных городов России. Сравнивая его с Неаполем, знаменитый норвежский, путешественник Фритьоф Нансен отметил, как глубоко и причудливо море изрезает сушу и придает городу неповторимый облик. Открытый со всех сторон солёным морским ветрам, он занимает всю южную часть полуострова Муравьёва-Амурского. Пролив Босфор Восточный соединяет два залива: Амурский и Уссурийский и отделяет от континента остров Русский. Здесь находятся “морские врата” – два маяка, расположенный друг против друга, которые указывают путь морякам в пасмурную и туманную погоду. К югу от полуострова Муравьёва-Амурского на десятки километров протянулся архипелаг, тоже входящий в черту этого города: острова Русский, Попова, Рейнике, Рикорда, Верховского, Римского-Корсакова. Многие из них названы именами русских моряков, открывших или описавших эти острова и побережье Южного Приморья. Всё это - Владивосток, то есть владеющий Востоком. Это - самая окраина России, центр Приморья и лидер во всём Азиатско-Тихоокеанском регионе.

Ex. 7. Read about the sights and monuments of your city and discuss it.

SIGHTS AND MONUMENTS

It is difficult to imagine now, that in the mid-19 century the downtown area was covered with wild taiga and tigers walked there? The memories of those times are in the names of the streets and hills The Tigrovaya Hill is well observed from Korabelnaya-Naberezhnaya street: at this place the city was started and here its first streets were laid. Svetlanskaya is the first street in Vladivostok. It was named after the crew of the frigate "Svetlana" that first cleared the route for it 1881. It is a main ”tourist" street. Many historical buildings constructed at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, museums and monuments and central shops are located in this street and the streets adjacent to it.

The Vladivostok monuments are mostly dedicated to the seamen. The monument to the Admiral G.I. Nevelskoy was the very first one in the city. It was opened in 1877. The admiral was the great traveler who made a great contribution to the modern geographical knowledge he was the first to prove that Sakhalin is the island. The symbol of Vladivostok is a Monument to Fighters for the Soviet Power in Far East. It was established in 1961 in the central square of the city.

The "spirit" of Vladivostok is in its unusual landscape, buildings are placed like an amphitheatre on the slopes of the hill You can observe half of the city from any point of the hills. Due to the irregular coastline, which forms numerous small bays and peninsulas, the view which will open before you is really unique. There are several specially arranged view points in Vladivostok. They are located in the Southern extremity of Shkot (Egersheld) Peninsula, on Goldobin Cаре, in the area of Tikhaya Bay and on the Orlinoye Gnezdo (Eagles Nest hill), which is located a little higher than the upper Funicular Station. You can view Vladivostok both in the daytime and at night. In the evening the city looks mysterious and awakens fantasy and imagination.

The center of Vladivostok and its suburbs are of great contrast. There are some half-destroyed pre-revolutionary dwellings, located in the very heart of the city. And not only there. The majority of the buildings located in the center have been restored during the last 10 years. Construction of new residential and office buildings is being carried out. All the districts are built with 5-, 9- and 12-story residential houses.

Ex. 8. What sights and monuments do you know? Describe them.

Ex. 9. Make up a dialog between you and a tourist from abroad. Tell him (her) about places of interest in Vladivostok. Work in pairs.

Ex. 10. Read and translate the dialogues.