Л.С. Пасынков Россия - независимое государство (английский язык)

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have collected numerous gold, silver and bronze medals. Numerous Olympic and world records have been broken and are still held.

There are sports clubs at many enterprises and offices. Many of them are fee-paying now, but the membership fee is moderate. At these and other amateur clubs and keep-fit centres people go in for aerobics, yoga, bodybuilding, swimming, skating, jogging.

Participation in sports in this country is massive by any standards.

1. Practise the reading of the following words and phrases and try to remember their meanings.

to keep people fit and healthy

makes smb. better disciplined in

one’s daily activities engage in sporting activities a subject on the curriculum sports facilities

amateur

the core of professional sports

a local branch club a youngster

to be run by

to cover a wide range of sports

track-and-field callisthenics

to break Olympic and world records

to hold a record fee-paying moderate

a keep-fit centre aerobics

yoga jogging

massive by any standards

поддерживать хорошую форму и здоровье людей делать кого-либо более дисциплинированным в...

повседневные дела заниматься спортом предмет в программе спортивные сооружения любительский основа профессионального спорта местное отделение

молодой человек управляться охватывать большое кол-во видов спорта легкая атлетика

художественная гимнастика устанавливать олимпийские и мировые рекорды удерживать рекорд платный умеренный

оздоровительный центр аэробика йога бег трусцой

массовый по любым меркам

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2. Pre-reading task.

Talk about sports, using the following questions. What can you say about it properly?

a)Why is sport so important for the daily activities of people?

b)What proves the popularity of sports in this country?

c)What is the core of professional sports in this country?

d)How does the system of sporting clubs work?

e)What proves that Russia is an active participant of Olympic movement?

f)What sporting activities do people go in for at the amateur clubs and keep-fit centres?

3. Reading task.

Read the text, check whether you were right or wrong and try to find the answers to your questions.

4. Fill in the table with the tense forms you met in the text above and translate them.

	Simple		Progressive	Perfect	Perfect Progressive
Present				have paid
Past
Future
5. Check yourself.

Consult the dictionary if necessary.

1. Миллионы людей занимаются тем или иным видом спорта, так как спорт помогает им держаться в хорошей форме.

2.Спорт входит в программу школ и вузов.

3.Спортплощадки и другие спортсооружения есть в любой школе или университете.

4.Основу профессионального спорта составляет сеть спортивных клубов и обществ.

5.Общенациональные спортивные общества имеют местные отделения в разных городах страны.

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6.Детские спортивные школы управляются спортивными общества-

ми.

7.Дети и молодые люди проходят подготовку во многих видах спорта — художественной гимнастике, легкой атлетике, плавании, боксе и т.д.

8.Членские взносы в спортивных клубах при предприятиях и организациях умеренные.

9.В любительских спортивных клубах люди занимаются различными видами спорта, это помогает им быть в хорошей форме и быть организованными в повседневных делах.

RUSSIAN CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS

Every country has traditions. Some of them are connected with holidays, some reflect everyday life of people. There are some national holidays in Russia when people all over the country do not work. These are New Year, Women’s Day, May Day, Constitution Day, the Day of Sovereignty of Russian Federation. The most memorable date to every Russian citizen is the Victory Day which is celebrated on May 9 to commemorate the Victory of the Soviet people over the Nazi Germany.

Now people celebrate religious holidays, Christmas and Holy Easter first of all. On Christmas people celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. Easter is in spring. This holiday symbolises the Revival of Jesus Christ. It has no fixed date but is held on the first Sunday after the date of the first full moon occurs on or after March 21. On this day people greet each other and exchange painted eggs.

Besides, there are many professional days in our country: Teacher’s Day, Miner’s Day, etc.

The gayest holiday is New Year. It is loved by everybody: adults and children. On the New Year night future seems brighter to people. In every house there is a fir-tree, decorated with toys. According to tradition, a few minutes before the New Year begins the Head of State appears on TV and addresses the people with a New Year’s greeting. Good wishes are heard everywhere. When the chimes of the Kremlin clock strike midnight, people fill their glasses with sparking champagne and say Happy New Year to each other. On this day there are always very interesting TV programmes, many films and cartoons.

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This holiday is the most popular with the children. New Year’s performances are held for children in the kindergartens and schools, concert halls and theaters.

Another popular holiday in Russia is Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8. This is the day, in some way, of paying tribute to women. On March 8, men give women flowers and presents, and do all the domestic chores around the house and in the kitchen. Schoolchildren give flowers to their teachers and present concerts.

On big holidays residents of Russian villages still like to perform traditional khorovods (a kind of round dance) and chastushki (folk chanted rhymes) and ride on troikas. There are many villages in Russia famous for their specific crafts: painted boxes in Palekh, wooden tableware of Khokhloma, and toys in Dymkovo.

Traditional Russian cooking includes porridges, pancakes, various aspics, chicken and fish soup, pirozhki, and kvass, pelmeny.

Russian people are proud of their traditions and try to keep them up.

1. Practise the reading of the following words and phrases looking at their translations for understanding.

custom	обычай
tradition	традиция
to reflect	отражать
memorable	незабываемый
to commemorate	отмечать (годовщину)
to celebrate	праздновать
Jesus Christ	Иисус Христос
Easter	Пасха
revival	возрождение
occur	случаться
to exchange	обмениваться
according to	в соответствии с
to appear	(зд.) выступать
chime	куранты
to strike	бить
sparking	игристый
champagne	шампанское
to pay tribute	отдавать дань (уважения)
to do the domestic chores	делать работу по дому
residents	жители

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1. Pre-reading task.

Think about the important events we celebrate in our country. What are they? Do we have special food? Do you meet in a special place? Do you have parties? Do you give or receive presents? Do different groups of people celebrate different events?

2.Reading task.

a)Reading for the gist.

Read the text quickly and write the name of the celebrations in the correct month.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

a) Reading for the specific information.

Read the text and fill in the chart.

		Fill in the name of the Holiday
		X-mas	…			…	…
1. Eat special food
2.	Give presents
3.	Wear new clothes
4.	Send cards
5.	Visit people
6.	Go on the streets
7.	Stay at home
8.	Have a party
9.	Decoratethe house
10.Dance
11.Sing
12.…
13.…
14.…
15.…

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1.Pair work.

a)Compare your list with the list of your neighbour. Have a talk about those celebrations which are not mentioned in the text.

b)Ask your neighbour about the traditions and customs in his/her family. Which of the National celebrations do they keep up?

c)What are their family celebrations? Have a talk.

1.Speaking.

Choose the celebration you are eager to speak about and find the additional information about it. Make a report to your groupmates.

2. Check yourself.

Read the text once again. Make all necessary notes. Translate these sentences from Russian into English.

1. Россия, как и любая другая страна, имеет свои обычаи и традиции. (as well as)

2.Больше всего россияне любят праздновать Новый год, когда в каждом доме есть нарядная ель, искрящееся шампанское и всюду счастливые люди обмениваются подарками, поют и танцуют.

3.В России также любят праздновать религиозные праздники, такие как (as) Рождество, символизирующее рождение Христа, и Пасху, символизирующую возрождение Иисуса Христа.

4.Еще одним популярным праздником в России является Женский день (8 Марта), когда мы отдаем дань уважения женщинам.

5.Самой знаменательной датой в России считается День Победы.

6.Жители русских деревень до сих пор водят хороводы и, исполняя частушки, ездят на тройках.

7.Русская кухня очень разнообразна и включает разные супы, каши, пельмени, пирожки и квас.

8.Таким образом, обычаи и традиции России связаны с национальными праздниками, а также отражают обычную жизнь людей.

1. Creative work.

Read the following.

Tastes differ. This saying is found almost in every language. People really have different tastes. In the first place it displays in food. There are in-

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dividual tastes and there are common tastes of a nation established by history and customs. A Frenchmen will eat a fried frog with great pleasure, but a Russian would choose something else. Pigs are not eaten in Moslem countries though Europeans are fond of pork. A sandwich of raw veal is a delicacy for a German while in other countries raw meat is not served. Fried ants are eaten in Africa, dogs, in South Asia.

One may cite many other cases proving the saying. What do you know about food customs in different countries? How could you explain this phenomenon? Express your ideas in the composition of your own.

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PART III

KUZBASS

1. The Kemerovo region was founded on the 26th of January in 1943. It’s located in the Russian Federation, in the south-east of West Siberia. The territory of the Kemerovo region is equal to 95,5 thousand square kilometres. Its population is about 3 million 180,2 thousand. Kemerovo is the centre of the Kemerovo region with the population of about 600,01 thousand people.

Text A. INDUSTRY

2.Let’s get acquainted with the region we live in. Kuzbass is really rich. Rich in its fertile lands, forests, rivers and lakes. Rich in animals, birds, fish. But its main wealth is hidden underground. These are iron ore, dolomite, quartzits, manganese. These are flux limes and refractory clays. These are polimetals, aluminium, copper ores, phosphorites, mineral paints and mineral waters. These are unique natural molecular sieves-zeolites. The main wealth of Kuzbass is coal

It was the underground wealth, that determined the structure of industry and the trades of the inhabitants of the Kemerovo region, which although it had no more than one per cent of the territory of Siberia, became the largest industrial complex in Russia.

3.Industrial structure of Kuzbass (in per cents to the total output)

Coal industry	26
Metallurgie (steel, iron)	19
Non ferrous metallurgy	3
Electrical energy	5
Machine building and metal treating industry	9
Timber, wood treating	2
Light industry	7
Food industry	7
Other branches	11

1. Geologists evaluate the coal deposits of Kuzbass as 725 billion tons. Over 200 thousand works are occupied in the coal industry. Coal mining is done by 72 mines, 25 collieries, it is treated by 17 refinery plants.

2. One of the biggest centres of metallurgy in Russia is the Kuzbass city Novokuznetsk. Wide scale industry in Novokuznetsk was started in 1932, when the first blast-furnace of the Novokuznetsk metallurgical combinat was

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put into ope-ration. Metallurgical products make up for near half of the export of the Kemerovo region.

3.Kemerovo is not only the centre of chemistry in Kuzbass, but of the complete western part of Russia. Kuzbass produces about 600 items of chemistry. These are several chemical enterprises in Kuzbass, such as the productional combine “Azot”, the joint-stock company “Tokem”, the productional combines “Chemprom”, “Chemvolokno” and Anilino-pain-factory.

4.The Kuzbass energy system remains one of the most powerful in Russia. The main consumers of electrical energy-ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, the coal mining and railway transport.

5.Machine building takes third place in the structure of industry in Kuzbass. It represents 108 enterprises. This branch of industry specializes on the output of mining equipment and electrotechnical equipment.

Text B. NATURE

6.The Kemerovo region can be strictly divided into two parts, the hills and plains, which together are called the Kuznetsk basin (Кузнецкая котловина). Stretching from the north-west to the south-east 350 kilometres, the basin reminds a right angled rectangle. Probably the only place in the world, where upon such a small territory nature was so generous with its gift.

7.If we take a look at the map, we will see, that the green colour, standing for forests, covers practically the whole area along the right bank of the Tom river from Novokuznetsk in the south to the Siberian railway in the north. The whole north is completely green (Mountainous Shoria). The pride of our forests is the Siberian cedar. A majestic tree, that grows 30-40 metres high having a diametre at the bottom of its trunk up 1,5 metres. The cedar can live 400-500 years and under favourable conditions longer. Besides the cedars, in Kuzbass forests can be met the pine trees (пихты), the larch trees (лиственницы), and among the dense taiga of Shoria, we meet with a particular of Siberian nature – the lime tree (липа).

8.Although the territory of Kuzbass is small, the climate differences are considerable. The climate in the mountains is humid and comparatively cold. The eastern slopes lie in the “rain” shade and receive little rain. The foreststeppe and the eastern slopes (лесостепи) of the Salair range have a drought (засуха) nearly every year.

9.The climate, where the majority of 3 million population of Kuzbass live in, is continental, but not as severe as in the mountain. The frosts in winter

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are severe and reach – 450C, but this occurs not so often, the temperature in summer can go up to 370C. July is the only month, that has a “guarantee” against morning frost. The average winter temperature in Kemerovo is minus 190C, Novokuznetsk — minus 17,40C. The July temperature in Kemerovo is 28,60C, Novokuznetsk — 28,70C. As an average the winter in Kuzbass lasts five months, summer – three months, spring and autumn each two months.

10.The Tom is the main waterway. It starts in Khakasi. At the point, where Kazira (Казыра) river enters the Tom, the Tom crosses the border of our region moving from south-east to north-west. The length of the Tom river is 827 kilometres. Kondoma is a left bank tributary to the Tom. Some scientists consider, that the river bed of the Kondoma older than the Tom’s river bed. If this is true, then it turns out that the Tom was a tributary to the Kondoma and not vice versa. The Belsu is a right bank tributary to the Tom river. Probably, the Belsu is the only river, the ecology of which has not been effected by industry. Our picturous river the Kiya is in the east of the region. The word translated from the turkic language means “rocky”.

1. Pre-reading task.

Think over and say what you have already known about Kuzbass and what you want to know from the text about Kuzbass: its industry and its nature.

2. Reading task.

Home individual work. Read the text and give its Russian translation using the dictionary.

3. Comprehension check.

Look through the text once again and answer the questions:

1. What was the date of foundation of Kuzbass?

2.Where is Kuzbass situated?

3.What is the territory of Kuzbass?

4.What is the main wealth of Kuzbass?

5.What influenced the structure of industry and the trades of Kuzbass?

6.What are the main industries of the Kemerovo region?