V. Read the text about Astrakhan Kremlin Astrakhan’s Kremlin
The Heart of Astrakhan is the Kremlin, a wonderful architectural ensemble. It is a famous monument of the Russian architecture and military engineering art of the end of the 16th century.
The Astrakhan Kremlin covers the territory of eleven hectares, the perimeter of it is 154 meters, and its walls are between seven and eleven meters high. The Kremlin was used as peculiar and the most absolute system for defense. There were three rows of cannon loop-holes. Through these loop-holes the defenders could deliver fire.
Uspenskyi cathedral is 75 meters high. It has 5 gold domes. In its outward mounting there are features of early baroque. From the west the place of execution, the so-called “Lobnoye Mesto” joined the cathedral. The Tsar decrees and sentences were announced here. Troitskyi cathedral consists of three churches: Troitskaya, Sretenskaya, Vedenskaya and two refectory chambers.
The Kremlin with its golden domes attracts everybody’s attention and makes a strong impression on tourists and quests of the city.
Vocabulary
ensemble - ансамбль
military - военный
peculiar - особенный
defense - защита
row - ряд
cannon - пушка
loop-hole - бойница
dome - купол
sentence - приговор
to announce - провозглашать
refectory - трапезная
to attract - привлекать
Impression - впечатление
VI. Answer the questions
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Why is the Kremlin called the heart of Astrakhan?
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What territory does it cover?
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How was the Kremlin used?
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How does the Uspenskyi cathedral look like?
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What does Troitskyi cathedral consist of?
VII. On the basis of the texts in this unit write a composition called “My Astrakhan” using some additional information
VIII. Retell your composition
Unit 4 lexical material: My country
I. Read and translate the text
My country
Hi! My name is Olga. I live in the most beautiful and great country – Russia. My country is large, it occupies a large territory. It stretches almost ten thousand kilometers from east to west and nearly five thousand kilometers from north to south. Its population is one hundred and fifty million people.
My country is so huge that Russian people see the New Year in eleven times in one night. If you begin to travel in the Far East by air and fly eight thousand kilometers towards the west, you will land in Moscow on the same hour same day that you left the Far East. Russia is the world's largest country. Russia covers almost twice the territory of either the United States or China.
The capital of Russia is Moscow. It is a political, administrative, economic, industrial, educational and cultural centre of the country. The Kremlin is the centre of the city. It is the historical heart of Moscow. Its redbrick walls and towers were erected at the end of the 15th century. The former Senate building, the Kremlin Great Palace, and the modern Palace of Congresses are located within the walls of the Kremlin.
There is no over countries in which the climate differs so much from one part to another. And it makes Russia very unique. When it is still winter in the northern regions of our country the first warm days arrive in the south. In the central regions show storms and cold are still in power, while in the south people begin to think of spring crops. In the same season nature looks different in different parts of our country.
Today the state Russian flag is three colored. It has three horizontal stripes: white, blue and red. The white stripe symbolizes the earth, the blue one stands for the sky, and the red one signifies liberty. It was the first state symbol to replace the former symbols in 1991. The hymn of Russia is created by Alexandrov and Mikhalkov.
Russian is the official language in my country, but not the only language which people speak in the country. Members of more than 60 other ethnic groups who live in Russia speak their own languages.
Literature, music, and dance have always occupied the most important places in Russian cultural life. The country's best-known writers are - Aleksandr Pushkin, Nikolay Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anton Chekhov, Boris Pasternak. They are popular throughout the world. The greatest Russian composers are Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky.
I love Russia warmly and the reason is it’s my homeland.