1. Read the text and answer the questions below:

1. What places of interest are enumerated in the text?

2. Where would you like to go and what would you like to see first in the city center?

3. Imagine the situation: a visitor from Edmonton came to the Russian company. You are a manager of the company responsible for foreign relations. You have to treat the guest. What sights will you show him?

2. Find the English equivalents of the following words and phrases:

на любой вкус и для любого кошелька, культурная деятельность (события культурной жизни), постоянно экспонируется, популярное место покупок, по обеим сторонам улицы, популярная достопримечательность.

3. Make you own sentences with the phrases from the previous exercise.

13. Education

Companies looking for a well-educated, well-prepared workforce can find one in Minnesota. That’s because Minnesotans – students, parents, business people, and government leaders alike – value education and recognize its benefits.

For the 1996-1997 school year, Minnesota had a high-school graduation rate more than 84%, the fourth highest among the 50 states and far greater than the U.S. average of 67.6%. More than 26% of Minnesotans age 25 and older had bachelors degrees in 1996 – an increase of nearly 13% from three years earlier, compared to an approximate 7% decrease nationally. The largest Minnesota’s institutions of learning is the four-campus University of Minnesota. In study after study, the University ranks among the leaders in educational quality in science, engineering, health, business, law, and a variety of undergraduate and graduate programs. Minnesota’s graduates are in high demand. In one recent year, every student that had earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from University of Minnesota-Duluth had found a job within 12 months of graduation.

Educational excellence at the University has also propelled entrepreneurial success. More than 1,000 companies were founded by graduates of the University’s Institute of Technology.

The University is only one component of a mosaic of options for post-secondary education in Minnesota.

The state’s technical colleges, and an increasing number of community colleges and state university programs, are eager to provide coursework customized to the needs of businesses in their communities. Often, in response to requests from employers, technical college administrators will establish classes in which all students are employees of the same company. Where it’s helpful, they will see to it that the classes are held on the premises of the company.

State agencies and educational institutions are partnered to create the Internet System for Education and Employment Knowledge (ISEEK), an online repository of job openings, career options, and education and training programs.

Words and phrases:

alike – точно так же, подобно, одинаково

benefit- выгода, преимущество

undergraduate – студент

graduate – выпускник учебного заведения, имеющий ученую степень

bachelors degrees – степени бакалавров

propel – толкать вперед, двигать

entrepreneurial – предпринимательский

customized to – приспособленный к чему-либо

premises – площадь, которой владеет компания

repository – база, хранилище

12. 1 Answer the questions:

1. What institutions of learning are there in Minnesota?

2. What can you say about Minnesota’s graduates?

3. Speak about the mosaic of options for post-secondary education.

2. Match the words from the first column with their corresponding definitions from the second column:

1. decrease a) joined, united

2. increase b) require, claim

3. demand c) raise 4. component d) requirements

5. customized e) reply

6. needs f) part 7. response g) adapted 8. requests h) workforce 9. employees I) desires, wishes

10. partnered j) reduction, cut

2. Give the summary of the text.

3. Revise the grammatical material ‘Numerals’ (cardinal and ordinal ones). How are the dates read?