Exercises

1. Translate the following words into Russian:

Southern, paradise, track, rock, red-fronted, finch, carry on, faint, stone, thrush, resound, jackdaw, swarm, upper, peak, circle, golden, soundlessly, glide, abundant, rock, partridge, careless, marmot, explorer, giant, mountain, sheep, nimbleness, wipe out, extinction, share, fate ram-snouted, saiga, antelope, elegant, numerous, cause, decimation, manifold. conversion, surface, equal, large-scale, destruction, irreversibly, deprive, grassland, songbird, disappear, dubious, monoculture, harsh, vegetation, wild, donkey, restore.

2. Give Russian equivalents of the following word combinations:

Southern Siberia, Central Asia, true paradise, the faint song of the stone thrush resounds, upper peaks, golden eagle, Eurasian eagle-owl, abundant rock partridge, careless marmot, one of the giant mountain sheep, red list of animal species, under threat of extinction, ram-snouted saiga, goitred gazelle, numerous birds of prey, agricultural territory, large-scale destruction of natural land, Virgin Lands programme, many animals, songbirds and birds of prey, large-scale agriculture, chemical agents, original steppe vegetation, wild donkey and birds.

3. Put special questions to the following sentences.

1.In 1867, the German zoologist Alfred Brehm, while exploring southern Siberia and Central Asia, found a true paradise in the area now known as Kazakhstan. 2.The causes of the decimation of so much of Kazakhstan's wildlife are manifold.3.European red deer climb effortlessly up and down almost vertical slopes, jump wide crevasses and come down from on high, as though they could fly.4. The large-scale destruction of natural land, known as the Virgin Lands programme, irreversibly deprived many animals of their habitat.

4. Retell the text

Text 13: Wildlife (continuation)

Another cause for the virtual disappearance of many steppe animals is hunting, which once was-and still is, illegally-celebrated in true orgies of killing. The Kazakh and Russian passion for hunting has always been proverbial. But it was social need that drove many inhabitants of Kazakhstan to systematically slaughter the saiga antelope, wild sheep, maral and wild boar, as well as to over-fish the sturgeon population in the Caspian Sea. Pelt hunters still hunt snow leopard and bear, while poachers plunder falcon and e agle nests and sell eggs and fledglings to rich sheikhs and other falcon hunt lovers. In the famine-stricken steppe of Betpak Dala, where the herds of saiga used to be counted in tens of thousands, now only around 1,000 animals survive, whereas in other areas small numbers are thought to linger on. Only in 2001 was the antelope species, under threat of extinction, put under total protection. Some kulan survive in the protected zone of the Barsakelmes Peninsula on the Aral Sea and in Altyn Emel National Park, and thanks to strict protection the animals are multiplying once more.

Back in 1867, Brehm, who was an avid ornithologist, was impressed by the rich bird life in the steppe. Even though this can only be observed today in a handful of remote steppe regions, it still makes for a very worthwhile trip. Tours in these areas support the efforts of national and international nature conservation organizations to open people’s eyes to the beauty of these animals and to sharpen their awareness of the need for preservation of all Kazakhstan's wildlife.