V. From animals to antiquities … (Museums and Exhibitions)*

Museums are not only for getting knowledge; it's also cool!

There are so many museums in the world and they all are so different. One of the first museums where you go in the childhood is a historical museum or a museum of natural history. You slowly move from one exhibition hall to another one and look at the exhibits displayed in the showcases (витрина) reading the notes to them. Any museum of natural history contains ancient remains of extinct animals, stuffed animals, birds, collection of butterflies and other insects, precious stones and so on. A bit later you go to a museum of Fine Art or a picture gallery. There one can see many pictures and sculptures of many artists. The pictures are of different genres: portraits, landscapes, still life, marines, genre scenes, battle scenes. In some picture galleries we can see Russian ancient icons.

There are several very interesting museums in Moscow: the museum of Applied Arts (музей прикладного искусства), the Bakhrushev theatrical museum, the museum of Oriental Arts (музей восточных искусств) and the Polytechnic museum. There is the museum of Toys, the museum of Science (people there can touch practically all exhibits and even make some experiments) and the museum of Medicine and Florence Nightingale in London. In Prague one can visit the museum of Aviation. In Kaunas people like to go to the museum of devils. In Munich people like to visit the Museum of the Puppet theatre. The fans of space adore the museum of the NASA. And the inhabitants of a small town Myshkin on the Volga River created the museum of mice. Our city has got the museum of Radio and the museum of Fire-fighting Tools and Firemen.

So you can choose any museum you like for visiting. And I think your visit will be not only amusing and enjoyable but educational too.

1. Read and translate all the words from the text printed in bald.

2. What other kinds of museums can you name? What interesting exhibitions you have visited can you tell about?

VI. All That Tourist Romance

1. Use the list of words and make a story about camping holiday which was a) a great fun, b) a complete failure.

pack / unpack huge sacks sleeping bags cooking utensils folding bed

fold-up tables and chairs first-aid kit waterproof and wellies choose a camping site put up / pitch a tent

make a bonfire / camp fire sing songs to the guitar feed the mosquitoes burn trainers forget something

2. Read and retell the text.

Hiking as a way of spending free time.*

No, I can't say that I liked hiking very much. But after the only and, I hope, the last trip over our Ural Mountains I simply can't stand that entire tourist romance. My friends tempted me to go with them promising a lot of fresh air, beauties of the nature, swimming in the cleanest rivers, and so on. The first thing that terrified me was my rucksack. To be more exact, its size. I had never thought that an average person was able not only to raise that huge bag but also to drag it for many kilometres. During the first day I didn't see any beauties because I was afraid that if I had a look at some of them, I wouldn't be able to see where my feet stepped. I was horrified to fall down with that huge bag on the back. When we made a stop for a night I was so exhausted that I wanted nothing but to fall down under any tree and not to move. But my friends laughed and sang, and meanwhile the tents were put up, the fire was made and our supper was cooked. I stupidly looked at that picture because I myself was in no condition to move even a finger.

The morning was awful. I was aching all over. But … but I was afraid to be left alone even more and only because of that I put that rucksack onto my back again and shuffled behind the friends. To my surprise it seemed to be a bit easier. As it turned out folks took food from my sack for the supper they had made the previous night. In few days I used to my rucksack, long hours of moving and hard bed. But there were several things that I couldn't bear. Firstly, there were huge mosquitoes that attacked us every evening in the camp, they could find even the smallest chink (щель) in your clothes or in the tent and sting you. Secondly, I simply hate all kinds of porridge, and especially semolina (манная каша). And when it is burnt I am ready to be hungry the whole day but not to eat it. Thirdly, I like comfort, TV, a soft bed and so on; therefore tourist evenings at the fire with songs to guitar are not for me.

No, I can't say that everything was so horrible. The sights of nature made a great impression on me. I spent several films (пленок) taking pictures. I liked to ride on the back of a horse (we did it one day when we were in a small village). And I liked berries. Once we got onto a berry place in the forest. At the beginning we bent to take berries, then we sat into the grass and gathered berries around ourselves and changed the position then, but at last we simply crawled picking them. We all were covered with berry juice and there were a lot of bees around us. So we had to escape in the river. I had never run so quickly before! Our teacher of PE would be very glad with our results.

Next year my friends are going to raft down one river somewhere in the mountains. They invite me. But thank you, I'm not an adventurous person. I prefer to watch it on TV and to lie on the beach at the Black Sea coast.