Section II the geographical position of russia

Ex. 6 Pronunciation practice. Practice the pronunciation of the following words and word-combinations: the USSR, the Eastern part, Europe, Northern part, Asia, the Pacific ocean, the Arctic ocean, the Baltic sea, China, West Siberian Plain.

Text 2 Russia (Geography, Population, Economy)

Pre-reading task. Skim the text. Make the plan of the text and give headings to the parts of the text.

Russia was the largest Republic in the former USSR. But now it has become an independent State.

It is situated in the Eastern part of Europe and in the Northern part of Asia. The total area is 17 075 400 square kilometres. The country is washed by 12 seas of three oceans: the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic oceans. The seas are: the White Sea, the Barents Sea, the Okhotsk Sea, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and others.

The climate in Russia varies from arctic in the north to continental in the central part of the country and subtropical in the South. Winters are cold, windy and snowy, especially in the northern part of the country. Summers are hot and dry, especially in the South region of the country. Autumn usually brings rains and fogs.

The surface of Russia varies greatly. There are two great plains in Russia: they are the Great Russian Plain and the West Siberian Plain. There are some mountain chains. The biggest mountain chain, the Urals, separates Europe from Asia. In Asian part of Russia there is another big mountain chain, the Altai.

There are very many rivers in Russia, the longest of them are the Volga in Europe and the Yenissei and the Ob in Asia. The world’s deepest lake - Lake Baikal, with the depth of 1600 metres, is situated in Russia, too. Its water is the purest in the world.

Russia borders on many countries: Norway and Finland in the north-west, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus and the Ukraine in the west, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the south-west, and Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China in the south.

The capital of Russia is Moscow and it is also one of the main political, scientific, industrial and cultural centres. Its population is about 10 million people. Russia has population of about 150 million people of over a hundred nationalities. Nearly one hundred languages are spoken in the country. The national language is Russian written in the Cyrillic script.

Russia is potentially a very rich country. Its vast mineral resources include oil, natural gas, coal, iron ore, lead, aluminium, gold, diamonds, zinc and almost all other minerals. Russia has the world’s largest oil and natural gas resources. Three-quarters of the country’s mineral wealth are concentrated in Siberia and the Far East. Russia has a complete range of mining industries, all forms of machine building, communication equipment, tractors, and construction equipment, medical and scientific instruments, textiles, foodstuffs and fishing industry. Russia inherited most of the defense industrial base of the Soviet Union.

Ex. 7 Answer the questions:

1. Where is Russia located?

2. What is the climate of Russia?

3. What are the main rivers, lakes and mountains in Russia?

4. What countries does Russia border?

5. What mineral resources is Russia rich in?

Ex. 8 a) Match the synonyms:

1. climatic zone a. to differ

2. located b. nation

3. to vary c. huge

4. resource d. environmental belt

5. country e. boundary

6. to divide f. research

7. border g. to separate

8. vast h. clean

9. pure i. situated

10. scientific j. supply

b) Find in the text the sentences with these words and rephrase them using the synonyms.

Ex. 9 Grammar Focus 10. Degrees of Comparison.

	Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
Односложные прилагательные. Прилагательные, оканчивающиеся на гласную и согласную буквы, удваивают согласную букву.	old safe big hot	older safer bigger hotter	the oldest the safest the biggest the hottest
Прилагательные, оканчивающиеся на -y	noisy dirty	noisier dirtier	the noisiest the dirtiest
Прилагательные с двумя или более слогами	boring beautiful	more boring more beautiful	the most boring the most beautiful
Исключения	good bad far	better worse further	the best the worst the furthest

Мы используем than после прилагательных в сравнительной степени (older than… more expensive than…):

- Athens is older than Rome.

Мы говорим… than me/than him/than her/than us/than them:

- I can run faster than him. Or I can run faster than he can.

More/less than…

- The film was very short – less than an hour.

As … as…

- He is as old as me.

Not as … as …:

- Rome is not as old as Athens.

Not as much as …/not as many as …

- I don’t know as many people as you.

b) Change adjectives according to the model.

Model: small - smaller – the smallest

important – more important – the most important

1. large, cold, big, long, deep, pure, new, few, huge.

2. independent, famous, beautiful, charming, serious.

3. many, good, bad, little.

c) Answer the questions according to the model.

Model: Which is longer: a mile or a kilometer? A mile is. A mile is longer than a kilometer.

1. Which is longer: an hour or a minute?

2. Which is higher: a mountain or a hill?

3. Which is bigger: a ship or a bus?

4. Which is more difficult: to go on foot or to go by train?

5. Which is more convenient: to ride a horse or to go by Cadillac?

Ex. 10 Ask you group mates the following questions and write down the answers and report to the class.

Model: Which do you like better: travelling by car or on foot?

I like travelling on car better.

1. Which do you like better: fish or meat?

2. What do you like better: summer or winter?

3. Which do you like better: tea or coffee?

4. Which seasons do you like best of all?

5. Which of the fruits do you like best?

Ex. 11 Open the brackets to use adjectives in a proper degree.

Model: Olga is (young) than Maria.

Olga is younger than Maria.

1. February is (cold) than March.

2. Lake Baikal is (deep) than this lake.

3. Peter is (tall) than Boris.

4. The Volga is (long) than the Ob.

5. Russia is (large) than Great Britain.

6. The Russian language is (difficult) than the English language.

Ex. 12 Speaking. Answer the questions.

1. Which country is bigger, France or England (Spain or Italy, Sweden or Denmark, Holland or Finland)?

2. Which sea is deeper, the Black Sea or the Azov Sea?

3. Which city is older, Moscow, St. Petersburg (London or Washington)?

4. Which is the best time for a holiday? Which is the worst?

5. Which month is shorter, June or July?

6. Which is the hottest season of the year, and which is the coldest?

Ex. 13 Find sentences with the adjectives in the superlative degree in the text about Russia, read and translate them. Give the nominative and the comparative degrees.

Ex.14 Grammar Focus 11. The Passive Voice (Revision)

The Present Simple form: Am/is/are + -ed (past participle).

Positive	Negative	Question
English is spoken all over the world.	Coffee isn’t grown in England.	Where is rice grown?

Use the verb in the correct form of the Passive Voice to complete the sentences.

Model: Russia (to wash) by three oceans.

Russia is washed by three oceans.

1. The territory of Russia (to divide into) 11 climatic zones.

2. Asia (to separate from) Europe by the Ural Mountains.

3. Many people (to engage in) agriculture.

4. Many regions of Siberia and Far East (to be situated) in permafrost zone.

5. More than one hundred languages (to speak) in the country.

6. Russian (to write) in the Cyrillic script.

7. Natural resources (to concentrate) in Siberia and the Far East.

8. Most of the defense industrial base (to inherit) from the Soviet Union.