Topical vocabulary

boundary	граница
to share land borders with	граничить на суше
to be washed by	омываться
peninsula	полуостров
coast	морское побережье
counter-clockwise	против часовой стрелки
stretch	протяжение/простирание, пространство, участок, отрезок
mountain chain/range	горная цепь
slope	склон
desert	пустыня, пустынный район
various types of climate	различные типы климата
latitude (in the latitude of 40 degree South; at a latitude of ten degrees North)	широта (на 40 градусе южной широты; на 10 градусе северной широты)
deposits of coal	месторождение угля
heavy industry	тяжелая промышленность
eastwards	в восточном направлении
margin	берег, кромка, край
coniferous forest	хвойный лес
foliage	листва
sedge	осока
flowering herbs	цветущие травы
nuclear weapons	ядерное оружие

Exercise1.

Match the highlighted words or word combinations in the text with their definitions.

1. comprising the whole number or amount;

2. persons who are kept in a prison as a punishment for a crime that they have committed;

3. in the order already mentioned;

4. extending across or relating to two or more continents;

5. treeless cold desert covers almost all the extreme north of European and Siberian Russia from the Arctic coast to the northern margin of the coniferous forest;

6. situated in the interior of a country rather than on the coast;

7. the lowest point or part of something;

8. the outside part or uppermost layer of something;

9. a narrow passage of water connecting two seas or two other large areas of water;

10. The territory which is famous for black earths or chernozems. Their thick upper layer consists of black organic matter or humus, the residual product of decayed roots and feather grass foliage, sedges and other flowering herbs.

Exercise2.

1) Match items from columns (1-12) and the second one (a-l) to form phrases which describe geographical facts of Russia:

I	II
1. The principal river of the west Siberian lowlands and one of the largest rivers of the world.	A) The Kara sea
2. An Industrial city of Russia to the south of Moscow, traditionally famous for rifles, samovars and pryaniki (gingerbread).	B) Baikal Lake
3. A mountainous region in the southern part of West Siberia.	C) The oldest towns
4. Russia’s most easterly point	D) Arkhangel’sk
5. The third longest river, following the Volga and the Danube.	E) Yaroslavl’
6. It is situated between the Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef land islands, and the Archipelago Severnaya Zemlya	F) The Ob’
7. For a long time it was Russia’s only access to the sea.	G) Cape Dezhnev
8. A group of volcanic islands situated between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the island of Hokkaido.	H) The Altai
9. 336 rivers flow into this lake, the world deepest, and only one, the river Angara, flows out of it.	I) Tula
10. It is situated between the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaido and connects the Sea of Okhotsk with the Sea of Japan.	J) The La Pérouse Strait
11. The “Gold Ring of Russia” unites	K) The Kuril Islands (the Kurils)
12. An ancient Russian city of the River Volga. According to the legend it has been known since 1071.	L) The Dnepr