II. Find the English equivalents in the text and use them in the sentences of your own:

1. загадочный, таинственный

2. заставлять, вынуждать

3. специфический; особенный; своеобразный; необычный

4. важный, необходимый

5. мука, мучение

6. дар; награждение, подарок

7. супруг, супруга (обычно о королевской семье)

8. опасность

9. осторожный, осмотрительный

10. последовательный, стойкий

11. ущерб, вред

12. проницательный, прозорливый; умный

13. невозмутимый, спокойный, хладнокровный

III. Explain the following notions in your own words:

1. obscure problems

2. scattered family

3. be rechristened

4. inseparable companion

5. reactionary party

6. by the force of circumstances

7. cast anchor

IV. Insert the prepositions:

1. Martha’s father died ____ the plague.

2. Frau Glück rid herself ____ the girl by marrying her to a Swedish dragoon.

3. Martha became so indispensable ____ Peter the Great that it was a torment to be ____ her.

4. The situation was regulated by the reception of Martha ____ the Orthodox Church.

5. Peter always attributed the successful issue of the campaign of the Pruth ____ the courage of his consort.

6. Prince Menshikov and Count Tolstoy’s interests and perils were identical ____ those of the empress.

7. The arch-prelates of the Russian church were also ____ her side ____ very much the same reason.

8. Russia now found herself opposed ____ England, because Catherine protected Charles Frederick.

9. On the 6th of August Catherine acceded ____ the anti-English Austro-Spanish league.

V. Discuss the following questions using the information from the text and your own knowledge.

1. Why is Catherine I called an enigmatic woman? What is known about her origin and life before she met Peter the Great?

2. How did Catherine get the official title of Gosudaruinya?

3. Can you prove that Catherine was Peter’s indispensable companion?

4. Why was Catherine raised to the throne by the party of progress? Who else was on her side?

5. What was the great administrative innovation of Catherine’s reign?

6. How can Catherine’s foreign policy be characterized? What steps did she undertake?

7. What can you say about Catherine’s personality and talents?

Text 2 peter II

I. Read the text to get the general understanding of it.

Peter II, Tsar of Russia from 1727 to 1730, only son of Tsarevich Alexius, was born on the 18th of October 1715. From his childhood the orphan grand duke was kept in the strictest seclusion. His grandfather, Peter the Great, systematically ignored him. His earliest governesses were the wives of a tailor and a vintner from the Dutch settlement; a sailor called Norman taught him the rudiments of navigation; and, when he grew older, he was placed under the care of a Hungarian refugee, Janos Zeikin, who seems to have been a conscientious teacher. During the reign of Catherine I Peter was quite ignored; but just before her death it became clear to those in power that the grandson of Peter the Great could not be kept out of his inheritance much longer. The majority of the nation and three-quarters of the nobility were on his side, while his uncle, the emperor Charles VI, through the imperial ambassador at St. Petersburg, Rabutin, persistently urged his claims. The matter was arranged between Menshikov, Osterman and Rabutin; and on the 18th of May 1727 Peter II, according to the terms of the supposed last will of Catherine I, was proclaimed sovereign autocrat. The senate, the privy council and the guards took the oath of allegiance forthwith. The education of the young prince was wisely entrusted to the vice-chancellor Osterman. Menshikov, who took possession of Peter II and lodged him in his own palace on the Vasily island, had intended to marry Peter to his daughter Maria; the scheme was frustrated by his fall (September 21, 1727); but Peter only fell into the hands of the equally unscrupulous Dolgoruki, who carried him away from Petersburg to Moscow. Peter's coronation was celebrated at that city on the 25th of February 1728. He was betrothed to Catherine, second daughter of Alexis Dolgoruki, and the wedding was actually fixed for the 30th of January 1730; but on that very eve the emperor died of smallpox.