Part 4. Моя страна. Мой город. Достопримечательности.

Exercise 1. Read and translate the text, learn the active vocabulary:

Russia

Russia or the Russian Federation (both names are official) is a state located in Eurasia region of our planet (eastern part of Europe and northern part of Asia). Russia is the largest country by land area in the world (11,5% of total Earth land area). The land area of Russia is about 17,075,400 sq. km.; the population is about 141,867,000 (2009).

About 79% of Russians are living in European part of Russia. The country is the ninth by population in the world. Russian people prefer to live in cities and towns (urbanization level is 73%). Russians are the major nation of the population (80%). The official state language of the country is Russian.

Russia borders on 18 countries including Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Byelorussia, the Ukraine, Abkhazia, Georgia, South Ossetia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and Northern Korea by land and Japan, the USA by sea.

There is hardly a country in the world where such a variety of scenery and vegetation can be found. Russia has steppes in the south, plains and forests in the midland, tundra and taiga in the north, highlands and deserts in the east.

There are two great plains in Russia: the Great Russian Plain and the West Siberian Lowland. There are several mountain chains on the territory of the country: the Urals, the Caucasus, the Altai and others. The largest mountain chain, the Urals, separates Europe from Asia.

There are over two million rivers in Russia. Europe's biggest river, the Volga, flows into the Caspian Sea. The main Siberian rivers - the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena- flow from the south to the north. The Amur in the Far East flows into the Pacific Ocean.

Russia is rich in beautiful lakes. The world's deepest lake is Lake Baikal. It is much smaller than the Baltic Sea, but there is much more water in it than in the Baltic Sea. The water in the lake is so clear that if you look down you can count the stones on the bottom. Russia has one-sixth of the world's forests. They are concentrated in the European north of the country, in Siberia and in the Far East. On the vast territory of the country there are various types of climate, from arctic in the north to subtropical in the south. In the middle of the country the climate is temperate and continental. Russia is very rich in oil, iron ore, natural gas, copper, nickel and other mineral and energy resources and is considered as an energy superpower. Also the country has the largest number of lakes, wood and water resources. About 25% of world fresh water resources belong to Russia.

According to the Constitution, which was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993 following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Russia is a federation and formally a semi-presidential republic, wherein the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term. The Russian Federation is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Federal Assembly, which consists of two chambers - the 450-member State Duma and the 176-member Federation Council.

Russia is a great power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a member of the G8, G20, the Council of Europe, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Community, the OSCE, and is the leading member of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Russia has the world's 12th largest economy by nominal GDP or the seventh largest by purchasing power parity, with the fifth largest nominal military budget. It is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia plays a major role in maintaining international peace and security.

The capital and administrative center of Russia is Moscow. It is its largest political, scientific, cultural and industrial centre and one of the oldest Russian cities.

The total number of cities with the population over 1 million is 11. Among them are Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Omsk, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Ufa.