III. Famous Russian person

I. Of course the history knows a lot of people, who accomplished much. Some of them are famous scientists, some are in the Arts, and others achieved great victories or on the contrary are famous for their cruel deeds. But today I would like to speak about a famous Russian person, who is probably not so very well known among the majority, but still is very prominent.

Sergey Yul'evich Vitte was born in Tiflis, and grew up in the house of his mother's parents. He finished Gymnasium, and then the Novorossiysk University in Odessa, and was advised by Count Vladimir Bobrinskii, then Minister of Ways and Communications, to choose a career connected with the railways.

In 1879, Vitte took up a post in St. Petersburg. At that time he met his future wife, who died 11 year later. Vitte remarried, his second marriage being a scandal.

After meeting the Tsar Alexander III, Vitte got the position of Director of State Railways. He served there within the Finance Ministry. Being at this post he supervised the railway construction which included the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Among his other accomplishments are:

- a major currency reform. The Russian ruble was placed on the gold standard.

- participation in negotiations at the end of the Russo-Japanese War. Vitte negotiated on Russia's behalf, and the country lost very little.

He died because of the brain tumor at his home in St. Petersburg. His funeral took place at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Although the deeds of Sergey Vitte seem to be not so very important from the first glance, I would say: let everyone do a few good things like he did and Russia might become as powerful as it once was.

accomplish - достигать

on the contrary - наоборот

cruel deed - [kruəl di:d ] жестокий; дело

among the majority - среди большинства

prominent - значимый

advise - совет; советовать

Minister of Ways and Communications - Министр путей сообщения

connected - связанный

serve - служить

supervise ['s(j)u:pəvaɪz] - надзирать

include - включать

currency - валюта

participation in negotiations [nɪ:gəuʃɪ'eɪʃ(ə)n] - участие в переговорах

on Russia’s behalf - со стороны России

brain tumor ['t(j)u:mə] - опухоль мозга

funeral - похороны

II. I would like to tell you about a very well known Russian woman and a poetess Anna Akhmatova. She is famous for her poetry, but today I would like to speak about her from the point of view of her personal life.

Almost every one knows that she was married to Nikolai Gumilev, who was also a famous poet. They gave birth to Lev Gumilev, who became a highly recognized historian. So I must say their family was a very prominent one. Still it is often said that their relationship was not happy, because they were rivals, and Nikolai envied his wife’s talent. Unfortunately the marriage ended with а divorce.

While she was still married to Gumilev, they moved to Paris and lived there for a while. At that time she met an artist – Modiliane, and there were rumors that they had an affair. Akhmatova denied that fact.

Her second husband was a scientist who studied Assyria – Vladimir Shileiko. Their marriage was a disaster. Akhmatova was completely subdued by him: he never let her out, burned the letters, made her cook, and did not let her write poems. So they parted eventually.

Next she moved in with the family of Nikolay Punin. This relationship was even more strange. In one flat there lived Punin, Akhmatova, Punin’s wife and his daughter. This was stressful, and Akhmatova tried to leave Punin, but he made her stay, saying that he would commit a suicide if she did so. But they parted anyway.

Akhmatova’s next relationship was with Vladimir Garshin. Once he wrote her a letter asking her to marry him. The poetess agreed and left for Moskow, where she learnt that he had already married a nurse.

The life of this wonderful woman was full of everything: love, despair, hope, suffering, but her star will always shine in the sky.

from the point of view - с точки зрения

give birth [bɜ:θ] - родить

recognize - признавать

prominent - значимый

rival ['raɪv(ə)l] - соперник

envy ['envɪ] - завидовать

divorce - развод

for a while - некоторое время

rumor ['ru:mə] - слух, сплетня

affair [ə'feə] - роман

deny - отрицать

disaster - катастрофа

subdue - подчинять

eventually - со временем

nurse [nɜ:s] - медсестра

despair - отчаяние

suffer - страдание