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2. Reading.

2.1. Read the text. Olha

(890-969)

Grand Princess of Kyiv

The most popular theory states that the Princess spent her childhood in the village of Vyduby near Pskov, where she apparently met Ihor, her husband to be. According to The Rus Chronicle, she arrived in Kyiv in 903.

During the lengthy campaigns of conquest, when Ihor was away at war, Princess Olha ruled the country. After the Prince’s death at the hands of the rebellious Derevlianians in 945, Olha became a regent of her minor son Sviatoslav and mercilessly avenged her husband's death.

In foreign relations, she preferred diplomacy to warfare, which led to strengthening international ties of Kyivan Rus, in particular with Byzantium. In 947 (some sources say in 946), accompanied by about 100 men, she went to Constantinople. For the first time a leader of the Ancient Rus state appeared in Byzantium not with a navy or an army but as the head of a diplomatic mission. An allied treaty between Rus and Byzantium was concluded, and Olha was baptised in the splendid St. Sophia Cathedral, the main church of the Byzantine Empire. Her godfather was no other than the Emperor Constantine VII. Nevertheless, the ancient Rus society of the mid 10th century was not prepared to accept Christianity as the official religion. Decades would pass before Prince Volodymyr, Olha's grandson, introduced Christianity in Rus.

In 964, Princess Olha passed the princely throne to her son Sviatoslav.

Olha died in 969. Having lived as a Christian for almost fifteen years. The tomb of Princess Olha is in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.

2.2. Correct the sentences.

1. Olha spent her childhood in the village near Kyiv.

2. Olha turned out to be a merciless and short-sighted politician.

3. In foreign relations she preferred warfare to diplomacy, which led to lengthy campaigns of conquest.

4. Olha was baptised in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.

5. Her burial place is the Church of the Tithe.

2.3. Complete the sentences.

1. ___________ was introduced in Rus by Olha’s grandson.

2. Olha accept Christianity in ____ in ____.

3. Olha became _____ of her son Sviatoslav after Ihor’s _____.

4. When Olha went to Byzantium she had a _____ mission.

5. Olha avenged her husband’s death _____.

3. Lexics.

3.1. Answer the questions.

1. What does Ukraine produce?

2. What mineral resources is Ukraine rich in?

3.2. Read the text and think of word which best fits each place. Write the words in the boxes provided.

1.

5.

2.

6.

3.

7.

4.

8.

ancient, remains, leader, established, liberation, powerful, foundation, victory.

Kiev is an 1____ city. Even now historians are carrying on discussion as the date of its 2____.

3_____ of the Golden Gate is about a thousand years old. Once it was the main entrance to the city. At that time Kiev was the capital of the feudal state of Kiev Rus, a large and 4____ state.

Prince Yaroslav the Wise laid the foundation of St. Sophia Cathedral in honour of the 5____ over Pechenegi in 1037.

Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the outstanding statesmen and military 6____ who headed the Ukrainian people in their 7_____ war in 1649-1654. After series of successful battles he 8 _____ an independent Cossack State in the Dnieper River Area.