Английский

3.Read and translate the sentences including Participles.

1)These attempts to sum up St. Petersburg in a few words only scratch the surface, focusing on its history.

2)There are many reasons to visit St. Petersburg, a city filled with cultural, historical, and architectural treasures.

3)Kazansky Cathedral located next to Anichkov Bridge is very beautiful.

4)Catching a performance at the Mariinsky is an integral part of any visit to St. Petersburg.

5)A number of churches erected in St. Petrsburg were ruined for different reasons.

1.Read text 3, make up a plan of it.

2.Translate the text.

Text 3

ST.PETERSBURG

It’s been labelled “The Venice of the North”, “The Window on the West”, “The Cradle of the Revolution”. These attempts to sum up St. Petersburg in a few words only scratch the surface, focusing on its history and its look, and can’t fully convey the energy pulsating from the spires and waterways, façades, and roads.

It is this strange energy that gives St. Petersburg its special allure. There are many reasons to visit St. Petersburg, a city filled with cultural, historical, and architectural treasures, and the people are hospitable, often going to incredible efforts to make visitors feel welcome.

The date of founding the Peter-and-Paul Fortress — May 27, 1703, is considered to be the date of founding the city. The Peter- and-Paul Fortress is the best starting point. The corner-stone of the Fortress was laid by the Russian Tsar Peter I.

If you crossed over to the left bank of the Neva, you would come to Palace Square — the central square of St. Petersburg. The Admi-

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ralty, where the first ships of the Russian Navy were built, faces the square. This building having been planned as the architectural centre of the city, the golden spire of the Admiralty with a boat at its tip can be seen from many streets.

A green park takes us to St. Isaac’s Cathedral. St. Isaac’s Cathedral is the fourth church built on the same place. First, during Peter’s reign on the bank of the Neva River a small church was erected in honour of St. Isaac, Peter the Great’s Patron Saint. In that church Peter married his second wife Catherine I. But the flimsy wooden building was ruined by floods. The other two churches, which appeared there later, were also ruined for different reasons. In the beginning of the 19th century Alexander I organized a competition for the best project of the new cathedral. Monferrant — a young French architect — won the competition. Everybody is surprised at the cathedral having been built for 40 years.

There is Decembrists Square next to the cathedral. The name of the square commemorates the first Russian revolutionaries. On a huge granite boulder in the centre of this square there is Falconet’s statue, the “Bronze Horseman” devoted to the founder of the city.

After viewing these squares we come back to the Winter Palace, the greatest creation of the famous architect V. Rastrelli. The Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world. Its housing a huge collection of Western European art; Oriental art; Applied art; Ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian arts makes the Hermitage very attractive for tourists. The museum is situated in 6 buildings. There are literally a billion things to see in the Hermitage and it is well worth making more than one visit.

If in Europe all roads lead to Rome, then in St. Petesburg all roads lead to Nevsky Prospekt. It would be difficult to imagine St. Petersburg without it. One cannot help enjoying Anichkov Bridge with its four horse statues over the Fontanka. Kazansky Cathedral located here is very beautiful. Its having been designed by the famous Russian architect A.Voronikhin in honour of Russia’s victory over Napoleon is a well known fact. The city’s largest bookstore “Dom Knigi” as well as the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library, the third largest in the world, — both are on Nevsky Prospect. In the

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evening Nevsky Prospect is thronged with people on their way to the city’s theaters and concert halls. The Pushkin Drama Theatre and the Theatre of Comedy both are on the Nevsky Prospect.

At the top of the list is the Mariinsky. Better known in the west as the Kirov Ballet (the name is received during the Soviet era), this historic theatre recently returned to its original designation (which honoured Alexander II’s wife Maria). The Mariinsky was built in 1860 as an opera house, but its reputation rests largely on the ballet that was added to its repertoire two decades later.

The apex of its fame was during the earliest days of modern ballet, just after the turn of the century. In fact, the choreographer of the Mariinsky at that time, Michel Fokine (1880—1942) is considered to have been the founder of modern ballet. The most prominent of the Mariinsky’s dancers were Vasily Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, and Tamara Karsarvina. Almost all of the Mariinsky’s finest dancers were trained at St. Petersburg’s Vaganova School of Choreography, still the world’s premier ballet school in the classical tradition. Catching a performance at the Mariinsky is an integral part of any visit to St. Petersburg, and tickets are best obtained as far in advance as possible.

3. Agree or disagree using the clichés.

Oh, exactly.	I’m sorry, but you are mistaken.
I absolutely agree.	Nothing of the kind.
I’m with you here.	Far from being right.

1)The Peter-and-Paul Fortress is considered to have been built in 1703.

2)The Admiralty, where the first ships of the Russian Navy were built, faces Nevsky Prospect.

3)The building of the Winter Palace was planned as the architectural centre of the city.

4)St. Isaac’s Cathedral was designed by Monferrant.

5)The construction of the cathedral lasted about 50 years.

6)In the centre of Palace Square there is Falconet’s statue, the “Bronze Horseman” devoted to the founder of the city.

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7)The Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world, which is situated in 6 buildings.

8)Anichkov Bridge with its four horse statues is located on the Fontanka.

9)Kazansky Cathedral was designed by the famous Russian architect A. Voronikhin in honour of Russia’s victory over Napoleon.

10)The city’s largest bookstore “Dom Knigi” as well as the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library — both are on Palace Square.

11)The Pushkin Drama Theatre and the Theatre of Comedy — both are on Nevsky Prospect.

12)The Mariinsky was built in 1865 as an opera house, but its reputation rests largely on the ballet.

4.Render from Russian into English and from English into Russian.

— Hi, ... ! I haven’t seen you for ages. Where have you been?

— Привет, ... ! Я только что вернулся из «Северной Венеции».

— Oh, it’s fine. To my mind St.Petersburg is worth visiting. I like being told about sights. What places have you visited?

— Мне удалось посетить много достопримечательностей: Эрмитаж, Петропавловскую крепость, Исаакиевский собор и др.

— Я слышал, что в Эрмитаже хранится огромное количество экспонатов. Для того, чтобы его осмотреть, нужно потратить несколько дней.

— I’m with you here. There are literally a billion things to see in the Hermitage and it is well worth making more than one visit because it is situated in 6 buildings.

— Have you gone to any	— Нет, мне не удалось.
theatres?
— На твоем месте, я бы	— I wish I had visited it. But I
обязательно сходил в Мари-	preferred to visit St. Isaac’s

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инский театр. Там работал Фокин. Считают, что он является основателем современного балета.

—I wonder if you succeeded in visiting Kazansky Cathedral.

—You were lucky to visit

the Admiralty, weren’t you?

—А где находится «Медный всадник»?

—Thanks, bye-bye!

Cathedral. St. Isaac’s Cathedral was erected in honour of St. Isaac, Peter the Great’s Patron Saint.

— Конечно. Этот собор, построенный Воронихиным в честь победы русских над Наполеоном, очень красивый. Он находится на Фонтанке рядом с Аничковым мостом.

—Да. Поскольку это здание планировалось как архитектурный центр города, шпиль Адмиралтейства можно видеть с разных улиц города.

—On Decemberists Square. Oh, sorry. I’m in a hurry. Come to my place on Sunday. I’ll tell you about St. Petersburg in every detail.

—So long!

5.Act the dialogue given above.

6.Topics for Oral Compositions.

1)Sights of St. Petersburg.

2)Your favourite places of interest in St. Petersburg.

7.Read text 4 and give an annotation of it.

Text 4

The Hermitage usually houses several exhibitions. Larger temporary exhibitions are held in the Concert Hall and the Ballroom, and usually the Alexandrovsky Hall and the foyer of the Hermitage Theater have something interesting on display.

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A special exhibition entitled “Treasures of the Russian Imperial Court” can be accessed only with a group excursion lead by a guide provided by the Hermitage. A recently opened exhibition called “Peter I’s Winter Palace” shows rooms belonging to Peter and Catherine I.

Most of the noteworthy rooms are located in the Winter Palace. The Armorial Hall, a huge gold-and-mirrors affair, is filled with very ornate silver work of almost nauseating splendor. Next to this is the 1812 Gallery with walls covered with portraits of generals who fought in the war of the same name. The gallery opens into the St. George Hall (the Large Throne Hall), a palatial chamber lined with vases and amphorae of semi-precious stones, and parquet floors that mirror the bronze ceiling.

The permanent exhibition consists of six different departments. By far the most popular is the Department of Western European Art. Spread over the second floor of the whole complex and the third floor of the Winter Palace, it includes painting, sculpture, and applied art from the Middle Ages to modern times. French art prior to the 19th century is located at the southern end of the second floor of the Winter Palace in some of the nicest rooms of the whole museum. Among the paintings are some excellent sculptures, particularly Houdon’s Voltaire and several works by Falconet (who also did the Bronze Horseman). The English art collection, located in 6 rooms, is small and often closed. Wandering over to the Old and New Hermitage buildings, you’ll find room after room of Dutch, Italian, Flemish, German, and Spanish art.

The third floor is home to Western European art of the 19th and 20th centuries, a very impressive collection of leading names of the early modern period — Monet, Degas, Renoir, Gaugain, Van Gogh, Cezanne and others of that crowd. If everything is here (paintings from this exhibition occasionally go abroad on holiday) you can treat yourself to two rooms of Picassos and the very large Matisse collection, which includes two paintings from his famous Dance series.

The first floor holds an exhibition called Art and Culture of Antiquity as well as the Department of Primitive Culture. The former

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features a large assortment of artifacts from Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and the latter is an interesting display of items found on archeological digs throughout Russia and the former Soviet Union. The Egypt room, right smack in the center of the whole complex, is filled with reliefs, statues, huge sarcophagae and little ancient knickknacks, but the three thousand-year-old mummy definitely steals the show. The Greece and Rome rooms are worth seeing not only for the amazing collections of ceramics, sculptures, and reliefs, but also for the rooms themselves.

The collection known as Art and Culture of the East suffers more than any other from temporary closures. The section of the exhibition that is located on the first floor has been closed for a while.

Notes:
“Treasures of the Russian	сокровища Российского
Imperial Court”	императорского двора
palatial	роскошный
semi-precious stone	самоцвет
artifact	художественное изделие; поделка
knick-knack	безделушка
to steal the show	затмить всех остальных; оказаться
	в центре внимания
relief	барельеф

8. Translate text 5 in writing with the help of a dictionary and entitle it.

Text 5

The Malachite Hall is known to be named so because over two tons of malachite were used in its decoration. If you visited the Raphael Loggia, you would enjoy seeing it. Catherine the Great, upon seeing an engraving of the loggia, decided she wanted one too. She sent artists there. They succeeded in making copies of Raphael’s interior on canvases. The room has been closed for nearly twelve years but recently reopened, hopefully for good.

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The bulk of the Russian Culture exhibition is accessible from a corridor — the Peter I Gallery — that runs parallel to the State Rooms. In this corridor and in the room that opens off it you can find items representing Russian life and culture from the 15th to the early 18th centuries including tools, icons, books, and a 1698 cloth map of Siberia.

If you went to the White Dining Room, you would see a small room lined with tapestries showing silly depictions of the continents. It was the White Dining Room where the members of the provisional government were arrested during the October Revolution.

From the Malachite Hall you can cruise through thirteen rooms showing examples of Russian interior design complete with an 18th century studio apartment (office, living room, and boudoir in one), an Eastern-style smoking room, a “moderne” children’s room, and many more.

On your way to the French art there is hope of your not missing two of the most outrageous rooms in the entire place: room 306, which can only be described as the inspiration for late perestroikaera joint-venture restaurants, and room 304, a garish, gilt-ridden palatial room which holds a large exhibition of carved precious gems (Catherine the Great collected over ten thousand of them) dating from the 13th century.

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U n i t 9

CONFERENCE FACILITIES

Word List

1. assembly			собрание; ассамблея
2. attendance			присутствие; посещаемость
3. convention			съезд; конвенция
4. workshop			мастерская; мастер-класс
5. symposium			симпозиум
6. auditorium			аудитория, зал
7. banquet [ b´ æNkwit]			банкет
8. to guarantee [gærqn ti:]´			гарантировать, обеспечивать
9. loading			погрузка
10.	profitable		выгодный, прибыльный
11.	amplifier		усилитель
12.	autocue [ O´ :toukju:]		оборудование для синхронного
			перевода
13.	overhead projector		графопроектор
14.	cordless microphone (mike)		радиомикрофон
15.	earphones		наушники
16.	loudspeaker		громкоговоритель
17.	bulletin-board [ bulitin]´		доска объявлений
18.	screen		экран; щит
19.	slide		диапозитив, слайд
20.	stand syn.: poster display		стенд, щит
21.	to transmit		сообщать; передавать
22.	video-recorder		видеомагнитофон
23.	visual aids		наглядные пособия
24.	exhibit [ig zibit]´		экспонат

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Phonetics

1. Read the words paying attention to the sounds.

[O:] — board, cordless, autocue, almost, always, auditorium, record, hall, storage, ball

[u] — book, room, good [u:] — food, group

[ou] — loading, boat

[i:] — meeting, increase, least, guarantee, means [q:] — workshop, purpose

[G] — management, arrangement, generate, general, storage

Work at the words

1.Arrange the words and word-combinations into the following groups and translate them:

a)entertainment programme

b)convention facilities

package tour, visual aids, museum, theatre, stand, slide, screen, excursion, cordless microphone, loudspeaker, banquet, earphones, projector, autocue, bulletin-board

2.Match the words in list A with their synonyms in list B.

A:to transmit, pay, to exhibit, work, aim, proposal, to guarantee, shift, stand, gainful, assembly, attendance, to rent

B:poster display, to hire, convention, to communicate, change, profitable, to ensure, to demonstrate, presence, offer, fee, purpose, job

3.Fill in the blanks with the words given below.

1) A large ... or hall is usually necessary for group meetings and events such as banquets.

2) The convention business is very ... for the hotel industry.

3) The people ... also generate more business in the hotel’s restaurants, bars and shops.

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