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Extension. Ex. 49.Express your view on the text and relate it to your own experiences




Ex. 49. Express your view on the text and relate it to your own experiences. Write a summery of it.

 

 
 

 

 


By reason, Russia can’t be got. These words were uttered by Fyodor Tutchev, a Russian poet, in the 19th century; but you could rather agree with him even today. Russia is inscrutable. She may only be sensed. But for that you must come into Russia, see Russia, travel around Russia.

Our country is huge, her area is more than 17,000,000 square kilometers. It’s not so simple to imagine dimensions of this sort, especially for Europeans. Mornings in the East, on the peninsula of Chukotka, start nine hours earlier than in Moscow. A railroad journey from the western borders to the Pacific Ocean coast takes about a week, and by air – ten hours. During the flight your plane will pass above tundra and taiga, steppes and deserts. Nature in Russia is wonderful, in many cases unique. That is why there are 25 national parks and 84 reserves in the country. More than half the country’s territory is occupied by forests. The birch is seen as the most romantic tree in Russia and has become in a way her symbol.

There are about 150 million people in the country, 13 towns and cities with more than inhabitants – the largest of which are Moscow and St Petersburg. Eighty per cent of the whole population are ethnic Russians (Slavs). More than a hundred different peoples or ethnic groups speak their own languages, but everybody knows Russian as well. Sixty per cent of Russians are atheist. Most believers are Orthodox Christians.

Only in Russia flows the largest river in Europe – the Volga. But it is by far inferior to many Siberian rivers: the Ob’, Yenisey, Lena, Irtysh, Amur. Staying in Russia you can visit the largest lake in the world – the Caspian. The water in it is salty and it is a sea, despite the fact that it is not connected with the Ocean. The deepest freshwater lake is also in Russia – the famous lake of Baikal. And the highest mountain in Europe is in Russia, in Caucasus.

Russia is the coldest country in the world; in the most regions winter lasts for four to five months, and in the North – ten. Even in Moscow, which is situated in the middle belt, frosts of about 30 degrees are rather frequent. That is why Russians wear the famous fur hats called “ushanka’ to protect one’s ears (“ushi”); foreign tourists gladly buy these hats as souvenirs. For the majority of the guests from abroad, huge snowdrifts in the streets of Russian towns seem sort of exotic – they have only seen such quantities of snow at mountain – skiing resorts. But for the Russian their severe climate is a problem, a very serious one even if habitual: much effort and money is spent on heating one must have a lot of warm clothes. But summer in most of Russia is amiable – warm and sunny.

Foreigners sometimes repeat an old joke: there are no roads in Russia – only directions. Certainly, there are territories in our boundless country where not only will you not see any roads but you won’t even see any population. Even though very much has been changing recently in the settled regions – roads have been or are being built – gigantic distances can still be felt. For example, letters might travel for weeks; and even the Express-Post works not so fast as in Europe.

Foreign have lots of wrong stereotypes about Russian life. May be they were started by the French novelist Alexander Dumas, Senior, who happened to travel about Russia. In one of

 

his books, the author of Three Musketeers described how he had had a rest “under a branchy cranberry-plant”. It is not clear how he managed to crawl under it, since it is not a tree but a tiny bush and grows only in marshes. Since those old days, “branchy cranberry” has formidably established itself in the Russian language as a synonym for incompetence and superficiality of judgment.

It it hardly worth saying today that the contemporary life in Russia has very little to do with playing the balalaika amidst matrioshkas and samovars, or wild rushing in sleighs driven by troika (three horses harnessed abreast) along the streets where bears supposedly wander. All these stories are just myths for naïve tourists. Much is especially told about Russian hard drinking. Well, undiluted vodka – chilled but without ice – has been a favourite alcoholic drink in Russia since the time immemorial, but it can be explained by our severe climate. Having been frozen in winter, you would have such a drink as gladly as we do. And though the Russians do know how to go on spree, there is an old proverb: “Drink you may – but don’t forget your business”.

The Russians are a reading nation. Foreigners get very surprised when they see passengers with books in their hands in the metro and a trolleybus. There are always lots of people in bookshops and around book stalls in the streets. But foreign languages are still not well known in Russia – an aftermath of the closed Soviet society during totalitarian years. Certainly the young generation is actively mastering languages, especially English, but you will hardly be able to communicate with the older people in any other languages but Russian.

There are more women in Russia than men. Russian brides are famous in the whole world not only for their looks but also for their household skills. Many foreigners come to Russia with the special aim of finding beautiful Slav wives and taking them away from their homes.

“The Russians harness slowly, but they ride fast.” It’s interesting to mention that these words, characterizing the Russian style pretty accurately, were said by the prominent German politician Otto von Bismark about one hundred and fifty years ago. The Russian are talented nation.

We are proud of our famous fellow-countrymen. Russia gave the world Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Chekhov. Five Russian authors – Bunin, Sholokhov, Pasternak, Solzhenitsin and Brodsky – were awarded with the Nobel Prize in literature. Music by Russian composers is played throughout the world – Tschaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Shnitke. Malevich and Kandinsky – representatives of the so-called Russian avant-guard – became famous for their innovations in painting.

Discoveries and achievements by Russian scientists in chemistry, nuclear physics and aviation – it’s a common knowledge. Some firsts of invention are regarded in Russia in a way different from that generally accepted. For example, foreigners became genuinely surprised when they learn that Russians consider themselves the inventors of the first steam locomotive, electric bulb or radio. Nevertheless, there are lots of things where Russian firsts are of no doubt.

In 1961, Russia (then the USSR) first sent a man into space. Russian tanks, battle air-crafts and famous Kalashnikov tommy-guns are definitely the best in the world, as well as the Russian classical ballet. The names of Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, Rudolf Nuriev and Michail Baryshnikov are known to each and every educated person. Equally obvious are the achievements of Russia in sports: traditionally high places in team scores at the Olympic Games, world records and titles of our swimmers, weight-lifters, gymnasts, figure-skaters. Among the world champions in chess there are more Russians than all others put together.

Actually there are boundless opportunities for recreation in our country, lots of places to go and lots of sights to see. Recently, the appearance of many towns, monuments and museum exhibitions has changed beyond recognition. In the Volga cities of Kazan’ or Samara, in the northern Pskov or Novgorod-the-Great, in small towns of Suzdal’, Torzhok, Velikiy Ustyug, Izborsk or Myshkin – everywhere you will find cathedrals reconstructed, historical centres renovated and new objects of note built.

And Russia is a real gift for adventurer. No other country will show you such a great variety of preserved nature, or an animal that has never herd a shot, or so many different peoples with their peculiar culture and traditions. Kamchatka, Baikal, the Sayan mountains, the Volga delta, the Russian North. In addition, there are also tours to the North Pole, and to the Commodore Islands, and to the mysterious tableland Putorana in the catchment basin of the Lower Tunguska in Siberia.

And all this land – great, boundless, beautiful and incomparable – is our Russia. Just Russia.

(Just Russia. Russian Association of Travel Agencies)

 

 

UNIT 8

 




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