my country
.pdfprevalence – преобладание spruce – ель, хвойное дерево pine – сосна
humidity – влажность leaf-bearing – лиственный species – вид, разновидность watershed – водораздел
inland – внутренняя территория страны extension – протяженность
medicinal – целебный
Ex. 23. Read and translate the text.
Geography
The Urals mountains represent the range of not high mountain ridges stretching from the north to the south and being divided by wide lowlands and river valleys. The highest part of the Urals is its northern part with the medium ridge height of 1300–1400 m. Development of that territory being rich in meadows and economic minerals entails certain difficulties.
The relief of other regions of the Urals, especially in the middle (height of 100–300 m) makes it possible to carry out industrial and road-building works, but the possibilities of use of that enormous territory for agricultural purposes are limited.
In the foothills zone being wide in the west and narrow in the east there are wide plane-surface areas which arc suitable for being populated and for carrying out economic activities. But the most favourable areas for vital activities are the Trans-Ural and Pre-Ural lowlands. The mountain range of the Urals rather connects than separates the Russian and West-Siberian Plains.
The Urals represents the great variety of landscapes. Within the Urals Economic Area one can find forest, forest-steppe and steppe soil-and-vegetation zones.
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Forest is the green wealth of the Urals. As to the forest density the Urals yields only to Siberia, Far East and the north of European part of Russia in this respect. Almost 2/3 of the woodland is coniferous forest with prevalence of spruce in the Pre-Ural zone featuring: higher humidity and of pine in the Trans-Ural zone and on eastern slopes. Among leaf-bearing trees burches prevail over other species. Enormous wood resources, their suitable location as regards transport means (the Kama basin) called forth the development of large-scale forest industry.
The Urals is a watershed between the Arctic Ocean and the inland Aral-Caspian basin. The Urals region numbers 69 thousand rivers, their extension amounts to 260 thousand kilometres. The total length of navigable ways of the Urals Economic Area amounts to 3 100 km.
The Urals is rich in medicinal mineral waters, namely, radon waters as well as in medicinal mud.
The Urals climate is characterized as the temporatecontinental one. However, due to great territorial extension from the North to the South and variety of relief some differences in climate are observed.
Annual range of the mean monthly air temperatures is equal to 33-35o in the Urals lowlands and to 26-28o in the highlands; summer is cooler and winter is warmer here. Strong and longlasting frosts restrict development of agriculture in the northern regions of the Urals. In the southern regions it is possible to grow all kinds of crops pertaining to the middle zone of Russia including highquality hard wheat, sugar-beet, sunflower.
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Ex. 24. Read and translate the text.
My native city
The 7th of November 1723 is the official date of the birth of Ekaterinburg, the industrial and military centre of Mining Administration. Ekaterinburg was an important stronghold of Peter 1 for the colonization of the vast expanses of the Urals and Siberia. The town owes its origin to a metallurgical and metalworking plant which rose on the banks of the river Iset. By the standards of those days it was one of the best plants not only in Russia but also in Europe. The plant and the town were built by an army of two thousand serfs recruited in the neighbouring villages and 960 soldiers from the Tobolsk regiment.
The builders worked in extremely hard conditions suffering from backbreaking labour and inhuman exploitation. They were led by talented Russian mining experts and dambuilders. Peter's I servants and co-thinkers such as general Gennin and captain Tatishev, prominent states-man and noted scientist, headed the construction project.
The town was surrounded by wood and earth works. The first shops, water operated machines, houses and public buildings were also made of wood. There were only 13 stone buildings: four churches, a military hospital, an arsenal and other buildings.
By the end of the XVIII century the population of Ekaterinburg numbered 9000. Half of them were workers and peasants.
Now Ekaterinburg is one of the largest centres of industry in the Urals. There are 150 industrial enterprises and among them: the Uralmash, Uralkhimmash and the Verkh-Isetski works. The
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population of our city is more than 1 million, but Ekaterinburg itself covers a comparatively small territory. It stretches from West to East and from North to South for 14 and 22 km respectively. The river Iset flows through Ekaterinburg in a cascade of beautiful man-made and natural lakes. It may be said of Ekaterinburg that it is a city of ponds skirted by parks and forests. The contribution of the city to the development of culture and science in the eastern part of the country is quite considerable. There are more than 120 research institutes, 16 higher educational establishments, 35 specialized schools. Ekaterinburg has 6 theatres, a philharmonic society, a circus, 50 clubs and Houses of Culture, over 600 libraries, 11 museums and several sport complexes. There are many beautiful buildings in Ekaterinburg: the Cosmos cinema, Concert Hall, the Palace of Youth, the Sports Palace, the Opera House and the Drama theatre. Six stations of Metro are opened in our city. Ekaterinburg is linked with other cities and towns by all means of communication. It establishes wide contacts with various countries and becomes the centre of international cooperation in the Urals.
Ex. 25. Find the English equivalents to the following words and expressions from the text.
промышленный и военный центр горнозаводской администрации
форпост Петра I
колонизация обширных пространств жизнь городу дал завод приписные крестьяне из окружных сел невероятно тяжелый труд жесточайшая эксплуатация мастера горного и плотницкого дела
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слуги и сподвижники царя дерево-земляные укрепления
Ex. 26. Answer the questions to the text.
1.What is the official date of the birth of Ekaterinburg?
2.Whom was the plant and the town built by?
3.Who headed the construction project?
4.What was Ekaterinburg of the XVIII century?
5.What are the most attractive buildings of Ekaterinburg?
Ex. 27. Read and translate the text.
Major Cities
Perm (1098.6 thousand people) rose in 1723 out of works settlement. Perm is the administrative centre of the Perm region. It is situated at the crossing of the river Kama with the Siberian High Road and the Sverdlovsk railway line. It is a major trade and railway junction. The industrial potential is represented by Engineering Works, Aircraft Engine Works, Artillery Works, Bicycle Works, Mining Equipment Plant, Trade Engineering Works, etc. Chemical plants produce superphosphate, fertilizers, products of petroleum chemistry. Cable Works, Insulators Works, Telephone Sets Works, Electrotechnics Integrated Works, Integrated Wood-Pulp and Paper Mill, Paper Money Mill "Goznak," etc. are well known in the country. The State University, Polytechnical, Medical, Agricultural and other institutes provide adequate education. The Perm Choreographic School and Opera-House are far-famed. The Perm Arts Gallery is famous for a unique collection of wooden sculpture named "The Perm Idols".
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A number of institutes of the Urals Department of the Academy of Sciences of Russia and All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Mineral-Salt Production are accommodated in the city.
Wide embankments of the great Russian river Kama raise the feeling of spaciousness and grandeur of the city, being the former capital of the Urals.
Nizhni Tagil (437.4 thousand people) was founded in the Sverdlovsk region in 1725. It is situated on the river Tagil, 150 km to the north of Ekaterinburg. It is the city of metallurgists and machine-building industry workers. The Nizhni Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works produces rails, beams, sheets, boiler plates, bars, vanadium, wheels, skelps, coke, refractory materials, fertilizers, phenols, resin. The Wagon Works "Uralvagonzavod" manufactures heavy open wagons and T-72 tractors. Products manufactured at the Boiler and Radiator Works, Medical Instruments Works, the "Uralchimplast" Plant are well-known all over Russia. Copper is mined therein. There is a Pedagogical Institute, Mining Metallurgy College, the Urals Handicraft Arts School. Beautiful painted trays made by craftsmen of Nizhni Tagil are renowned far beyond the city boundaries. A Theatre, Puppet-Show, Circus add to cultural life of the city. Demidov's Museum-preserve is under build-up now. Arts Museum and Mineralogical Museum exhibit rich and scarce collections.
Izhevsk (650.7 thousand people) was founded in 1760 by count L. I. Shuvalov as a settlement for workers of the Izhevsky Works. It is the capital of Udmurtia, situated on the river Izh, 40 km from its fall into the Kama. It is a railway junction. Engineering and metal working industries are highly developed therein. The "Izhmash" Production Amalgamation manufactures cars,
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motorcycles, fowlingpieces, sporting-guns, Kalashnikov submachine guns, machine-tools, electric saws, etc. There is a number of large enterprises such as "Izhneftemash", "Izhstal", "Tiazhbummash", Radio Works, Handicraft Ware Works makes carpets, strips of carpet, shawls decorated with national Udmurt ornament. The city has four higher-education institutions: Pedagogical, Medical, Agricultural Institutes and the Udmurt University. Russian and Udmurt Drama Theatres, Musical Comedy, Puppet-Show, Philharmonic Society, museums, "Udmurtia" Publishers are assets that are just as important as industrial enterprises.
Scicntific potential is concentrated at the Institute of Mechanics (dealing with defense industry), Scientific Research Institute (dealing with social and ethnographic problems) and Institute of Physics of the Urals Department of the Academy of Sciences of Russia.
Ufa (1097.2 thousand people) was founded in 1574. It is the capital of Bashkortostan. It is situated in the centre of the Republic on the confluence of three rivers the Belaya, the Ufa and the Dema. In Ufa pipelines are originated carrying the Bashkir petroleum refining products to the Urals, Siberia and other regions of the country. Oil Refineries and Chemical Plants are the main features of the city. Besides, there are Engineering Works, Cable Works, plants manufacturing electric bulbs, electric apparatus, industrial and house-hold equipment, timber, vitamins and dyestuff.
Social and cultural sphere is represented by seven highereducation institutions including the Bashkir University and Aviation Institute, a number of scientific research institutes of the Bashkir and Russian Academies of Sciences, five Theatres, a
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Museum of Local Lore, Museum of Architecture and Ethnography and other establishments.
Cheliabinsk (1143.0 thousand people) was founded as a fortress in 1736. It is situated on the eastern slope of the South Urals on the river Miass. It is the administrative centre of the Cheliabinsk region. There is a number of large enterprises, mainly, of heavy industries and machine-building industry, such as: Metallurgical Works, Electrometallurgical Works, MachineTool Plant, Tractor Works, Pipe Rolling Mill, Radio Works, "Teplopribor" (manufacturing thermal control instruments), Clock Works, Electrolyte Works, Zinc Works, etc. There are seven higher-education institutions, including two Universities. A Drama Theatre, Opera-House, Puppet-Show, Youth House, Philharmonic Society with a hall for chamber and organ music, Museum of Local Lore, Handicraft Arts Museum, Geological Museum and Arts Gallery provide cultural life of the city. Cheliabinsk is one of the cities of historical value of Russia. Within the precincts of the city there are two picturesque lakes, a water storage and a pine forest.
Magnitogorsk (441.7 thousand people) was founded in 1931. It is situated 400 km southward from Cheliabinsk in the South Urals close to the border with Bashkortostan. Formerly, it was a Cossack fortress named Magnitnaya and founded on the bank of the river Yaik (the Ural) in 1743. The city rose due to build-up of the Integrated Metallurgical Works (1929–1934) on the basis of iron ores being deposited in the Magnitnaya mountain entrails. Nowadays, the annual output of steel made by the Works is 19 million tons. At present, the Works is under reconstruction. There is a number of Metal-Working and MachineBuilding Works, Piano Factory. Two higher-education institu-
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tions: Pedagogical and Mining Metallurgy Institutes, a Drama Theatre and Puppet-Show, Circus, Choir, the first in Russia House of Music, Arts Gallery contribute to cultural development of people.
Kurgan (365.1 thousand people) was founded as a fortified settlement named Tsariovo Gorodishche in 1662 and up to 1782 it bore the name of Tsariova Sloboda. It is the administrative centre of the Kurgan region. The city is situated on the bank of the river Tobol.
It is the centre of machine-building industry including enterprises manufacturing agricultural machinery "Kurganselmash", "Uralselmash", Autobus Plant, Chemical Machinery Works, Valves and Accessories Plant, High-Way Engineering Works, etc. The Plant of Medical Preparations is well-known for its products. Meat Cannery, Flour Mill, Poultry Hatchery, Oil Mill, Tannery, Knitting Mill, Shoe and Clothes Factories deliver their products to many regions of Russia. There are Agricultural, Pedagogical and Engineering Institutes. A Drama Theatre, Philharmonic Society and People's Art House enjoy wide popularity.
Kurgan is far-famed for its Centre of Orthopedy and Traumatic Surgery, (Professor G. A. Ilizarov's School).
Orenburg (556.5 thousand people) is the administrative centre of the Orenburg region. It was founded in 1743. The city is situated on the bank of the river Ural, near the mouth of the river Samara. The site of the city was changed twice.
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Chemistry, Engineering and Food industries are highly developed. Products of the "Hydropress", "Radiator", "Ekran" Works, Instrument Works, Refrigerator Equipment Works are well-known all over Russia. A number of mechanized mills and Cereals Factory provide people with their products. Beautiful downy shawls and Orenburg lace shawls called "spider's web" are world-famed.
There are Pedagogical, Agricultural, Medical and Polytechnical Institutes. Among scientific research institutions the Institute of Meat Industry is worth being mentioned.
There is a Drama Theatre, a Musical Comedy, a PuppetShow. A Philharmonic Society and the Orenburg Folk Choir have won great popularity.
Orenburg is sited on the old trade routes from Russia to the countries of the East. This fact exerted influence on the city appearance featuring combination of the elements of European and Oriental architectural styles.
Литература
Баканова И. Ю. 600 устных тем по английскому языку для поступающих в вузы. М., 1999.
Выборова Г. Е. 70 устных тем по английскому языку. М., 1999. Выборова Г. Е. Учебник для учащихся средней школы и студентов
неязыковых вузов. М., 2000.
Уральская торгово-промышленная палата. Ural – Your Business Partner. Екатеринбург, 1993.
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