5. Using the information from the text above, complete these sentences.

1. Omsk is the second-largest … .

2. In the Russian Empire … .

3. … it was proclaimed the Capital of Russia … .

4. Omsk is the administrative centre … .

6. Work with your partner. Compose 4 or 5 questions to the text.

7. Read and remember the following words and word combinations:

confluence – слияние

altitude – высота

freight – фрахт, груз

lumber-rich – богатый пиломатериалами

scheduled – по расписанию

destination – место назначения

8. Read and translate the words and expressions:

north-flowing, Trans-Siberian railway, mineral-mining towns, important air gateway, the Far East.

Reading

9. Read and translate the text about location of Omsk city.

Location

Omsk is situated on the banks of the north-flowing Irtysh, at its confluence with the Om River, at an altitude of 87 metres, and on both branches of the Trans-Siberian railway. It is 2,700 kilometres east of Moscow. The Irtysh and the Ob Rivers connect Omsk with coal and mineral-mining towns in Kazakhstan, as well as oil, natural gas and lumber-rich northern Siberia. Scheduled and charter flights link Omsk Tsentralny Airport with multiple domestic and international (primarily, German) destinations, making it an important air gateway to Siberia and the Far East.

10. Answer the questions to the text.

1. Where is Omsk situated?

2. What altitude is Omsk situated at?

3. How distant is Omsk from the capital of RF?

4. What makes Omsk an important air gateway to Siberia and the Far East?

5. Does Omsk have links with many domestic and international destinations?

11. Complete the following sentences using the contents of the text

1. Omsk is situated on ... .

2. …. on both branches of the Trans-Siberian railway.

3. The Irtysh and the Ob Rivers connect ... .

4. ... makes Omsk an important air gateway to Siberia and the Far East.

Vocabulary Training

12. Read and remember the following words and word combinations:

erect – возводить

nomad – кочевник

original – первоначальный

jail – тюрьма

denomination – конфессия

mansion – дворец

recede – отступать, удаляться

13. Read the words and their explanations:

Kyrgyz – a member of a Mongoloid people of central Asia, inhabiting Kyrgyzstan and a vast area of central Siberia;

armoury – a secure place for the storage of weapons;

commandant – an officer commanding a place, group, or establishment;

mosque – a Muslim place of worship;

synagogue – a building for Jewish religious services.

14. Read a joke and suggest the ideas on what it means.

Ink was joked to have been sold by the buckets.

15. Find in the text the English equivalents to the words or word combinations given:

степные кочевники, кирпичные постройки, первозданные ворота, впасть в ле-таргический сон.

Reading

16. Skim the text and define the general message of this text.

The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier, along theIshim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes. In the late 1700s, stronger works of brick were erected on the right bank of the Om, of these, the original Tobolsk and the restored Tara gates still stand, along with the original German Lutheran Church, an armoury, a military jail, and commandant's house.

In the 19th and early 20th century, Omsk became the administrative center of Western Siberia and the Steppes (Kazakhstan). It acquired a few churches and cathedrals of various denominations, mosques, a synagogue, the governor-general's mansion, a military academy. Ink was joked to have been sold by the buckets. As the frontier receded and military importance diminished, the town fell into lethargy. It was during the mid-1800s. That was the time when Dostoevsky lived and wrote in exile here.