Vocabulary Training
12. Read and remember the following words and word combinations:
erect – возводить
nomad – кочевник
original – первоначальный
jail – тюрьма
denomination – конфессия
mansion – дворец
recede – отступать, удаляться
13. Read the words and their explanations:
Kyrgyz – a member of a Mongoloid people of central Asia, inhabiting Kyrgyzstan and a vast area of central Siberia;
armoury – a secure place for the storage of weapons;
commandant – an officer commanding a place, group, or establishment;
mosque – a Muslim place of worship;
synagogue – a building for Jewish religious services.
14. Read a joke and suggest the ideas on what it means.
Ink was joked to have been sold by the buckets.
15. Find in the text the English equivalents to the words or word combinations given:
степные кочевники, кирпичные постройки, первозданные ворота, впасть в ле-таргический сон.
Reading
16. Skim the text and define the general message of this text.
T
he
wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding
Russian frontier, along the Ishim
and the Irtysh
rivers against the Kyrgyz
nomads of the Steppes.
In the late 1700s, stronger works of brick were erected on the right
bank of the Om,
of these, the original Tobolsk
and the restored Tara
gates still stand, along with the original German Lutheran Church, an
armoury, a military jail, and commandant's house.
I
n
the 19th and early 20th century, Omsk became the administrative
center of Western Siberia and the Steppes (
Kazakhstan).
It acquired a few churches and cathedrals of various denominations,
mosques, a synagogue, the governor-general's mansion, a military
academy. Ink was joked to have been sold by the buckets. As the
frontier receded and military importance diminished, the town fell
into lethargy.
It
was during the mid-1800s. That was the time when Dostoevsky
lived and wrote in exile here.
17. Answer the questions to the text.
1. What for was the wooden fort of Omsk erected?
2. What works were erected on the right bank of the Om in the late 1700s?
3. Why do you think Omsk became an administrative centre of Western Siberia in the 19th century?
18. Work with your partner.
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Vocabulary Training
19. Read and remember the following words and word combinations:
merchant – купец
flock – стекаться, собираться
junction – место пересечения, соединения
elaborate – тщательно, детально разработанный, продуманный
hustle-and-bustle – энергично развивающийся, передовой
pinnacle – вершина
20. Skim the text below and say that in English:
транс-сибирская железная дорога, место пересечения рек и дорог, иностранные державы, огромная выставка, вершина успеха, сибирский Чикаго.