Unit 6. My Native City (Cherepovets)

Vocabulary & Speech Exercises

1. Read the following definitions and match to them the nouns from the box.

branch village mine railroad monk battle painter tribe enterprise

1. a man who is a member of a brotherhood living in a monastery and devoted to a discipline prescribed by his order.

2. the parallel metal bars that trains travel on; a system of transport using rails.

3. a place where coal, metal, precious stones, etc. are dug of the ground.

4. an artist whose pictures are devoted to the themes of war and military life.

5. an office or a part of a large organisation.

6. a company organized for commercial purposes; business firm.

7. a group of families living in one are as a community.

8. a group of houses and other buildings in a country district, smaller than a town and usually having a church.

2. Put in the right preposition if necessary.

1. Cherpovets is situated … the Sheksna River … the north-west of Russia.

2. Cherepovets was granted a town status … 1777 … Catherine the Great.

3. Cherepovets isn’t located … mines, but the railway connects it … the mining centers and the capital.

4. Nowadays Cherepovets is in the first place a city … metallurgy, but it also has got … many cultural and educational institutions.

5. Seversal is one … the largest enterprises … Russia.

6. Vereshchagin was one … the most famous Russian battle painters.

7. Milyutin left big mark … the history … our city.

8. The Cherepovets sportsmen take part … international and all-Russian competitions.

3. Complete the sentences with the missing information. Use the clues below.

1. The city of Cherepovets received its name from … .

2. It is located … .

3. In the 14^th century the monks Afanasy and Feodosy … .

4. The city grew up from … .

5. In 1777 … .

6. In the late 1930s … .

7. In Cherepovets there are a number of museums: …

8. Among the famous people of the city are …

9. Nowadays Cherepovet has a number of higher educational institutions: …

The clues:

1. the village Fedosyevo.

2. Museum of History and Art, Museum of Archeology, the Vereshchagin House-Museum and others.

3. the tribe of Ves who lived on the banks of the Sheksna River.

4. founded a Resurrection Monastery here.

5. the construction of metallurgical works began in the city.

6. in Vologda Region in the northwest of Russia.

7. the Cherepovets State University, the Institute of Management and Information Technologies and others.

8. Vasily Vereshchagin and Igor Severyanin.

9. Cherepovets was granted a city status.

4. Who is who? Do you know these people? What are they famous for?

5. Match the names of famous people of Cherepovets with the information about them.

1	a Russian news anchor, journalist and an author of some popular TV shows	a	Ivan Milyutin
2	a manufacturer, the father of the brand Vologda Butter	b	Vasily Vereshchagin
3	a Russian poet, rock-musician, guitarist, and singer-songwriter	c	Nicolai Vereshchagin
4	a merchant, a manufacturer and an illuminer, a mayor of Cherepovets in 1861-1907	d	Igor Severyanin
5	a Russian professional ice hockey forward	e	Alexandr Bashlachev
6	a famous Russian battle painter	f	Alexei Mordashov
7	a Russian poet who presided over the circle of the Ego-Futurists	j	Leonid Parfenov
8	a Russian business oligarch and self-made billionaire	h	Igor Skorokhodov

6. Match the names of the places of interest of Cherepovets from the box with the pictures. Tell about these [laces.

Ice Palace Chamber Theatre Galsky’s Estate Resurrection Cathedral

Milyutin Square Oktyabrsky Bridge Vereshchagin’s House-Museum

Museum of History and Art Monument to Monks Afanasy and Feodosy

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

7. Make up sentences in Passive in the proper tense form (Present Simple or Past Simple) to tell about these pictures as in the model.

8. Describe these pictures as in the model using “be going to”, Present Continuous or Present Perfect.

Text 1

Read and translate the text into Russian. Answer the questions below. Practise good reading of the text.

Cherepovets is a big industrial city in the North-West of our country. It is the largest city in the Vologda Region. Cherepovets has its own airport, three river ports, a railway station and a bus station.

According to a popular version, the city received its name from the words “cherep”, which means “a top of the hill”, and “ves”, the name of a tribe who lived on the Sheksna’s banks. In 1362 the monks Afanasy and Feodosy founded the Cherepovets Resurrection Monastery here. Near this monastery appeared a small village of Fedosyevo, which became the heart of modern Cherepovets. Cherepovets was granted a town status in 1777 by Catherine the Great and became a center of a separate uyezd in the administrative structure of the Novgorod Governorate.

The city began growing rapidly with the construction of the Metallurgical Works in the late 1930s. Unlike the majority of the big centers of metallurgy Cherepovets is not located near mines, but the construction of a railway made it possible to connect remote mining centers like Vorkuta and Olenegorsk with Cherepovets and the two capitals of Russia, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Now the joint stock company Severstal is one of the largest and highly effective modern enterprises in Russia. Unfortunately, Cherepovets is one of the most polluted cities in the world.

Cherepovets is also a city of culture, education and sport. The local Museum Association includes Museum of History and Art, Museum of Archeology, the Vereshchagin’s House-Museaum, the Milyutin’s House-Museaum, the Galky’s Estate, the Exhibition Hall and others.

Vasily Vereshchagin was one of the most famous Russian battle painters and one of the first Russian artists widely recognized abroad. Such well-known works by Vereshchagin as The Forgotten Soldier and Apotheosis of War introduced the bitter truth in the battle theme. Ivan Milyutin, who was the mayor of Cherepovets for 46 years, left big mark in the history of our city. He contributed greatly to the economic and educational infrastructures of the city. He convinced the Russian government to construct in Cherepovets the Mariinsk Canal System (now the Volga-Baltic Waterway) and to lay a leg of the West-East railroad through the city. In the time of his being the mayor seven educational institutions were built in Cherepovets: a technical school, a non-classical secondary school, a normal school, a girls’ gymnasium, and others. Igor Severyanin, one of the most fashionable poets in Russia, lived and studied in our city. In his poetry he often turned to his native land.

Nowadays Cherepovets has a lot of educational institutions: over 40 secondary schools, the Cherepovets State University, the Institute for Management and Information Technologies (a branch of Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University), the Military Engineering Institute of Radio Electronics, several branches of Moscow higher schools, and technical and vocational schools.

The Cherepovets sportsmen take part in all-Russian and international competitions. The hockey club "Severstal" is one of the leading hockey clubs in Russia.

Notes:

the Vologda Region [ʹri:dʒən] – Вологодская область

the Resurrection Monastery [rezəʹrekʃən] – Воскресенский мужской монастырь

Catherine the Great [ʹkæθərin] – Екатерина Великая

the Novgorod Governorate [ʹgʌvənəreit] – Новгородская губерния

the Galky’s Estate [iʹsteit] – усадьба Гальских

the Exhibition Hall [egziʹbiʃən] – выставочный зал

the Mariinsk Canal System [kəʹnæl] – Мариинская водная система

the Volga-Baltic Waterway [ʹboltik] – Волго-Балтийский канал

a non-classical secondary school – реальное училище

a normal school – учительская семинария

Questions:

1. Where is Cherepovets located?

2. What does the city name mean?

3. Name some significant dates and events from the history of Cherepovets.

4. Tell about famous people from Cherepovets.

5. What transport, cultural and educational infrastructures has Cherepovets got?

6. What about sport life in Cherepovets?

7. What places of interest are mentioned in the text?