After you have read the text

1. Answer the following questions about the text.

1. What does the Russian balalaika look like?

2. To which group of musical instruments does the balalaika belong?

3. When is the balalaika irreplaceable?

4. Where and when did this instrument become popular first?

5. Who dedicated a1l his life to perfecting the balalaika?

6. How did the balalaika change according to Andreyev's instructions and design?

7. When did V. Andreyev give his first recital on the new balalaika?

8. What did his repertory consist of at first?

9. When was the first group of balalaika players founded?

10. How was the Andreyev group received at the World Fair in Paris in 1889?

11. What prize did V. Andreyev receive after the World Fair in Paris?

12. What is the opinion of Mikhail Rozhkov about balalaika playing?

13. What works did M. Rozhkov include in his repertory?

14. What did the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin write to M. Rozhkov after listening to his playing?

15. What name did the Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan think up for Mikhail Rozhkov?

2. Choose the correct word.

1. The performer tries to make music (irreplaceable, accessible, similar) to people. 2. Thanks to the innovations the balalaika (acquired, personified, underwent) a new fresh timbre. 3. The balalaika belongs to the category of (superb, terrific, plucked) instruments. 4. V. Andreyev (dedicated, did justice, proved) all his life to perfecting the balalaika. 5. He was (moved, rendered, elected) an honorary member of the French Academy. 6. Yehudi Menuhin is an (irreplaceable, illustrious, attractive) American violinist. 7. M. Rozhkov plays the balalaika with an orchestra and in a (duet, sweep, recital) with a guitar. 8. To (read, write, quote) Herbert von Каrаjаn, M. Rozhkov is “a great master, the Paganini of the balalaika”.

3. Select the correct meaning of the word.

1) string а) доказывать

2) superb b) исполнять

3) similar c) сходный, похожий

4) momentous d) незаменимый

5) mirror e) современный

6) prove f) огромный

7) waltz g) живой, яркий

8) contemporary h) великолепный, роскошный

9) vivid i) важный

10) fresh j) приобретать

k) отражать/ся/

l) концерт одного артиста

m) свежий

n) вальс

o) струна

4. Give a written annotation of text A.

5. Describe another musical instrument similar to balalaika.

6. Read and retell text B.

TEXT В

Vysotsky forever

Vysotsky passed away years ago. He has already become a historical figure for the younger generation, and he has everything that a historical figure would normally possess: a museum, books, a legend.

During fifteen years the Vysotsky Center was created, housing a museum, archives and a publishing department. It is located at the 3rd Nizhne-Tagansky Tupik in one of those Moscow buildings that are impossible to live in and where people are still working. Organizers sought to reconstruct the atmosphere of the poet's youth and the war years. The museum does its job: it collects materials and arranges exhibitions.

Another sign of a historical figure is the publication of collected works. A Vysotsky five-volume edition is issued. How strange his songs seem without music!

Now one could rarely hear Vysotsky's songs playing behind the windows. The world has changed too drastically.

He was a poet of resistance, of opposition. But listeners, even the party bosses, identified with characters of his songs very easily. His “I” would often become “We” and all the fantastic stories about him (that he did a stretch somewhere, fled some­where etc.) could be explained by the fact that he was treated as a brother, a close friend.

That is the reason why the young people do not listen to his songs. All the troubles in the world touched him, but for this very reason many of his songs now require scholarly commentary when published.

However, when something unpleasant happens again in our country the Ekho Moskvy radio station will always broadcast a Vysotsky tape. As if he was an eternal call for courage in unforseen circumstances. His war songs do not apply to today's wars because those were songs of a just war (for the soldier at least). One could hear his songs near the White House in 1991 and these were, perhaps, the last days when there was that much of Vysotsky in the windows. In any case, he will remain. He remains in history with his role of personified courage and a lot of “true” stories about him by his “closest” friends.