Russia – our motherland

I. Read the poem “Oh, Russia, I’m in love with you” by L.A. Khusainova in a proper way, translate into Russian and learn it by heart:

I love you deeply, dear land,

Your hills and rivers, sand on strand,

Your songs and dances, lakes and seas,

Your beasts and fish, birds in trees,

Your sunrise in a splendid sight

Which gives me always such delight.

II. Read the following words, give their Russian equivalents and make up 10 English sentences with these words and word combinations:

vast = immense = wide

to span = to cover = to comprise = to occupy

to stretch

to border on = to be bounded by smth.

in the North, East, South, West

to be washed by smth.

to flow (fall) into smth.

to be rich in smth.

the variety of scenery (scene, landscape)

to belong to smth.

natural and mineral resources: coal, iron, natural gas, Zink, nickel, granite, salt, diamonds

to differ from smth.

industry, agriculture

population

to be divided into 2 parts

the highlands, lowlands, plains, grasslands, taiga, tundra

to get the general idea of smth.

below sea level

as far as I know (I can see)

to form the natural border (boundary)

to have a summer vacation

to be fond of = to go in for mountaineering, hunting, to go camping (hiking)

III. Read the dialogue “Looking at the map of Russia” in pairs and translate it into Russian:

• I’d like you to tell me something about your country.

• I think the best way to get a general idea of a country is to study the map. It’s lucky I’ve got one with me. Here it is.

• Perhaps we had better start with the physical outline of the country.

• Well, Russia can be divided roughly into two main regions – the highlands in the east and the lowlands covering the greater part of the country, with a long mountain range cutting it into two unequal parts.

• You mean the Urals. They form the natural border between Europe and Asia. But the highest mountain chains, as far as I can see, are situated in the South and the South-East of the country. What do you call them?

• The Caucasus, between the Caspian and the Black Sea and the Altai in Asia.

• I’d love to go there. My hobby is mountaineering. But our mountains are not so high as yours, as far as I know.

• I believe they are not. We have peaks four and a half miles high. But we also have lowlands several hundred feet below sea level. We have steppes in the South, plains and forests in the midlands, tundra and taiga in the North.

• What are the “steppes”?

• They are treeless plains covered with grass. The soil is fertile there.

• And is the tundra like our heather moors?

• Not in the least. It’s a kind of frozen desert in the Arctic region.

• And what is the ‘taiga’, I wonder?

• It’s a thick coniferous forest stretching to the South of the tundra. It’s rich in animals, valued for their fur like sable, fox, squirrel.

• I’d like to go hunting there, but I’m afraid I would never be able to stand the cold.

• Our climate is also varied. In the South-West the weather is usually mild and wet. Northern Asia is one of the coldest places on earth, and in the South the heat is unbearable. But in the middle of the country the climate is moderate and continental.

• Well, it has been very interesting for me to hear all those things. Thank you very much for your information.

IV. Match the left and the right columns:

to flow (to fall) the general idea of smth.

below into smth.

to border camping

to get the natural border

as far as scenery

to be I know

to be rich washed by smth.

to go sea level

to form on smth.

the variety of from smth.

natural and mineral in smth

to differ resources

V. Fill in the blanks with the necessary words or word combinations:

1. I’d like to get … of Great Britain.

2. Our country is very … in different mineral … .

3. I’m fond of … . I have visited all the mountains in Russia.

4. Russia is … into 2 main regions: the western and the eastern parts.

5. Russia is … by many seas in the North, the …, the … and the … .

VI. Translate the text about our country into English: