2.13 Answer the following questions:
1 What faculty do you study at?
2 How many students study at your faculty?
3 How many departments are there at your faculty? Name them.
4 What is the teaching staff of the faculty?
5 Who is the head of your faculty?
6 Who is responsible for the attendance of lessons and for the students’ progress?
7 What subjects are the students taught?
8 Is it necessary to attend lectures and classes? Why?
9 Who does badly in the exams?
10 What must the student do to acquire much knowledge?
11 What possibilities have the graduates of the faculty?
12 Are you proud of studying at this faculty?
13 Why did you choose this faculty?
2.14 Compose short dialogues for the following imaginary situations:
1 Your friend studies at the faculty of Chemistry. He urges you to transfer to this faculty. Reject his proposal and tell him that geography is your dream.
2 Next year you graduate from the University. Tell your friend what you would like to do in the new year. Remember how interesting it was to study at the University.
3 You are the dean of the faculty of Ecology and Geography. Tomorrow you are going to speak to the first-year students. What would you tell them? What would you wish your future students?
4 You are going to enter the faculty of Ecology and Geography. Your friend is a fourth-year student of this faculty. She is a future specialist in Social and Cultural Service and Tourism. Ask her everything about this faculty.
Use the following conversational formulas:
Would you like to…? I’m afraid, I can’t...
Would you mind…(-ing)? Is it necessary (for me) to…?
Why don’t you…? Do I have to…?
I think you should… No, you don’t
I advise you to… That’s (not) a (very) good idea!
You’d better… You shouldn’t do that
That’s (quite) possible Sorry, I don’t know
That’s impossible I have no idea
I (don’t) think so I can’t help you
I doubt it I have doubts about the…
Why don’t we…? I am not at all sure about this
How about …ing? I object to…
I believe (think, feel) that… I wish I could agree with you that…
In my opinion… I want to point out that…
I agree with you I should like to stress the importance of…
I think you are right Have you thought about…?
As far as I know… I’ll try to explain…
You are wrong. You’ve made it quite clear
That’s true. I see / I understand
I prefer / I hope I get the idea of…
2.15 Speak about your faculty. Use the table:
Tyumen state university
The Faculty of Ecology and Geography |
Specialities: ● Geography ● Geoecology ●Environmental Management ● Social and Cultural Service and Tourism ● Applied Information Science in Geography
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Departments: ● Physical Geography and Ecology ● Ecological Monitoring and Physical Geography (Earth Science) ● Economic and Social Geography and Environmental Management ● Social and Cultural Service and Tourism ●Geographic Information Systems |
Subjects: ● Meteorology ● Hydrology ● Cartography ● Soil Science ● Geology ●Geomorphology ● Ecology ● Geography ● Customs and Civilization ● Literature ● History ● Historical Monuments and Sights ● Ethnology ● Regional Geography ● Mathematics |
UNIT 3 RUSSIA
3.1 Discuss the following questions:
1 What country were you born? Is it your Motherland?
2 What do you know about Russia?
3 Where do you live nowadays?
4 How do you imagine the future of your country?
3.2 Read the Geographical names correctly, then complete the table that follows.
Russia - [`rΛ∫ə], Finland - [`finlənd], Estonia - [es`təunjə], Latvia - [`lætviə], Lithuania - [liθju(:)`einjə], Belarus - [`bjelərus], Ukraine - [ju(:)`krein], Poland - [`péulənd], Kaliningrad - [kəli:nin`gra:d], Georgia - [`dʒé:dʒjə], Azerbaijan - [a:zə:bai`dʒa:n], Kazakhstan - [ka:za:h`sta:n], Mongolia - [méŋ`géuljə], China - [`t∫ainə], Korea - [kə`riə], the Baltic Sea - [ðə `bé:ltik `si:], the Black Sea - [ðə `blæk `si:], the Caspian Sea - [ðə `kæspiən `si:], the Azov Sea - [ði `a:zəv `si:], the Arctic Ocean - [ði `a:ktik `éu∫(ə)n], the White Sea - [ðə wait `si:], the Barents Sea - [ðə `bærənts `si:], the Kara Sea - [ðə `ka:rə `si:], the Laptev Sea - [ðə `la:ptjəf `si:], the East-Siberian Sea - [ði `i:stsai`biəriən `si:], the Pacific Ocean - [ðə pə`sifik `éu∫(ə)n], the Bering Sea - [ðə `beriŋ `si:], the Okhotsk Sea - [ði éu`kétsk `si:], the Japanese Sea - [ðə dʒæpə`ni:z `si:], the European Plain - [ði juərə`pi(:)ən plein], the Ural Mountains - [ði `juər(ə)l `mauntinz], Siberia - [sai`biəriə], the West Siberian Plain - [ðə west sai`biəriən plein], the Central Siberian Plateau - [ðə `sentrəl sai`biəriən `plætéu], the Far East - [ðə `fa:r`i:st], Europe - [`juərəp], Asia - [`ei∫ə], the Don - [ðə dén], the Volga River - [ðə `vé:lgə], the Ob - [ði `éb], the Yenisey - [ði jeni`sei], Ladoga Lake - [`la:dəgə leik], Baikal - [bai`ka:l], the Kola Peninsula - [ðə `kélə pi`ninsjulə], the Kama - [ðə `ka:mə], the Angara - [ði ΛngΛ`ra:].
Country |
Ocean |
Sea |
River |
Lake |
Mountain System |
Territory |
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3.3 Some of these sentences are correct, but some need the (perhaps more than once). Correct the sentences where necessary.
1 River Volga flows into Caspian Sea.
2 Next year we are going to Black Sea.
3 Baikal is deepest lake in world.
4 Ural Mountains are the boundary between Europe and Asia.
5 Mount Narodnaya reaches 1,895 m. It’s highest mountain in Urals.
5 Atlantic Ocean washes Russia in north.
6 Mongolia borders on Russia in south.
7 Tim has travelled a lot in Siberia and in Far East.
8 The climate of Siberia is continental.
9 Angara which flows out of Lake Baikal, an enormous natural reservoir, is practically regulated by nature itself.
10 Some rivers (Pechora, Mezen and Northern Dvina) flow into Barents and White seas while others (Neva with lakes Ladoga, Onega and Ilmen situated in its basin) drain into Baltic Sea.
11 Although Caucasus has warm climate, the mountains are covered with snow the year round.
12 He also believes necessary to take into account an anthropogenic effect on the life of local population, especially small aboriginal peoples of Far East.
13 Arctic Ocean consists of two principal deep basins that are subdivided into four smaller basins by three transoceanic submarine ridges.
14 Russia is a country of thick forests and wide valleys, of high mountains and bare deserts.
15 Resort towns are a feature of North Caucasus region, including Sochi (on Black Sea), Pyatigorsk, and Mineralnyye Vody.
3.4 Read through the text and match these headings with the passages:
Climate / Natural Resources / Flora / The Population / The Geographical Outline
Russia
1) With an area of 6,592,800 square miles (17,075,400 square kilometres), Russia is the world's largest country, covering almost twice the territory of either the United States or China.
On its northern and eastern sides Russia is bounded by the Arctic and Pacific oceans. Russia has the longest border of any country on the Earth. On the west it borders Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Poland through Kaliningrad Region. On the south our country borders Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and North Korea.
Russia is washed by twelve seas and three oceans. It confronts the Baltic Sea in the west. The Black, Caspian and Azov Seas wash Russia in the south. The Arctic Ocean and conjoint seas such as the White, Barents, Kara, Laptev, East-Siberian Seas are in the North. The Pacific Ocean and conjoint seas including the Bering, Okhotsk and Japanese Seas wash the country in the east.
There is an enormous variety of landforms and landscapes, which occur mainly in a series of broad latitudinal belts. Arctic deserts lie in the extreme north, giving way southward to the tundra and then to the forest zones, which cover about half of the country and give it much of its character. South of the forest zone lie the wooded steppe and steppe, beyond which are small sections of semidesert along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. Much of the federation lies in latitudes where the winter cold is intense and where evaporation can barely keep pace with the accumulation of moisture, engendering abundant rivers, lakes, and swamps.
Russian’s main regions are the Russian (or the East European) Plain, the Ural Mountains, the West Siberian Plane, the Central Siberian Plateau, and the Far East. The Russian Plain takes on the European part of Russia. The Urals form the eastern boundary of it. It is held that the Urals separate Europe from Asia. The Urals stretch for about 2,100 km from north to south. The highest peak, Mount Narodnaya, reaches 1,895 m. The most important rivers in the European part of Russia are the Don and Volga. The Volga River, which flows to the Caspian Sea, is one of great historic, economic, and cultural importance to Russia. It has become the cradle of such ancient Russian cities as Vladimir, Tver, Jaroslavl, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod. In Western Siberia the greatest rivers are the Ob and Yenisey. They flow along the most extensive lowland in the world. The largest lakes are Ladoga and Baikal. Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and its water is the purest on the Earth. It contains a fifth of the world’s fresh water supplies, more than all five of the Great Lakes of North America combined. Truly unique on the Earth, Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world.
2) Russia ranks sixth in the world in population, following China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil. The current population is about 150 million people. The great majority of the people are Russians, but there also are some 70 smaller national groups living within its borders. The population in Russia is unequally distributed. Most of the population is concentrated in a great triangle in the western, or European, part of the country, although over the past three centuries—and particularly during the early and mid-20th century—there was a steady flow of people eastward to the Asiatic section commonly referred to as Siberia. Siberia is insufficiently populated, though its economic development was rapid in the second half of the 20th century. The northern part of Russia is practically uninhabitable because of the length and severity of its winter.
3) There are different types of climate on the territory of Russia. Great ranges of temperature are typical. It is very cold in the north even in summer. There are only two seasons, winter and summer; spring and autumn are brief periods of rapid change from one extreme to the other. The central part of the country has mild climate: winters are cold, springs and autumns are warm or cool, and summers are hot and warm. In the south the temperature is usually above zero all the year round, even in winter. Summer is really hot. The climate there is very favourable. The climate of Siberia is continental: summers are hot and dry, sometimes humid, winters are very cold.
4) Within Russia there are six main environmental belts (some with subdivisions): Arctic desert, tundra, taiga, mixed and deciduous forest, wooded steppe, and steppe. Different latitudinal climatic regimes are mirrored in Russian’s flora. A treeless tundra with mosses and grasses extends along the entire Arctic coast. In the south it gives the way to taiga. This coniferous forest growing on swampy ground covers more than half of the country. Southwards taiga is replaced by a zone of mixed coniferous and deciduous forest which in the south transfers into mixed forest-steppe and finally into steppe.
Russia has the world’s largest forest reserves, which supply timber, pulp and paper, and raw materials for woodworking industries.
Because of the harshness of the Russian environment, less than one sixth of the land is used as farmland for growing crops, wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, buckwheat and doing farming.
5) Russia has the richest deposits of mineral resources in the world. In Russia, about 70 percent of the mineral resources are concentrated in the giant and large deposits which cover over 50 percent of the output of mineral raw materials. Among them we can name iron deposits of the Kursk magnetic anomaly, chromites and apatites on the Kola Peninsula, mica in Karelia, nickel, copper, platinum and palladium in the region of Norilsk (north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory), gold in the north of the Irkutsk Region and the upper reaches of the Kolyma, diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes in Central Yakutia, rare metals in Tuva and the East Sayan Mountains. The development of the Russian economy is determined by its natural resources. It is one of the world’s biggest producers of coal, oil, and natural gas, as well as of iron ore, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, aluminium, tin, etc. Extensive pipeline systems link producing districts to all parts of Russia and across the border to many European countries. Much of the country’s fuel is converted to electricity, but about a third of the electricity is produced by hydroelectric plants. The largest of these are on the Volga, Kama, Ob, Yenisey and Angara rivers. Russia’s heavy industries are well-developed. They produce much of the nation’s steel and most of its heavy machinery. Russia’s chemical industry is also well-developed. Light industry centres on the production of textiles.
3.5 Memorize the following words and word-combinations. Then find the sentences with them in the text and translate them.
1 thick forests 6 deposits
2 wide valleys 7 conjoint seas
3 bare deserts 8 cradle
4 majority 9 to be unequally distributed
5 insufficiently 10 raw materials
3.6 Match the words and word-combinations in A with their synonyms in B:
A B
1 to border a) reserve, reservoir, stock
2 to border on (countries) b) to rate, to classify
3 to be obvious c) to spread, to scatter
4 bare d) not much, not enough
5 to stretch e) to occupy, to live in
6 extensive f) boundary, frontier, borderline
7 supply g) to be apparent, to be clear
8 unique h) to be next to
9 to rank i) variety
10 to inhabit j) quick, swift
11 to distribute k) good, satisfactory
12 insufficiently l) treeless, open
13 rapid m) damp, moist
14 range n) great, huge, immense, spacious
15 favourable o) to extend, to spread
16 humid p) marsh, bog
17 swamp q) incomparable
3.7 Give the English equivalents for the following:
Простираться, занимать территорию, занимать какое-то место, густые леса, граничить со многими странами, широкие долины, быть недостаточно населенным, обширная низменность, экономическое развитие, лиственные и хвойные леса, мягкий климат, суровость окружающей среды, природные ресурсы, залежи.
3.8 Match the adjectives on the left with the corresponding nouns on the right:
Adjectives Nouns
1 important a) water
2 high b) population
3 bare c) city
4 fresh d) resources
5 ancient e) ground
6 coniferous f) lakes
7 current g) lowland
8 cultural h) deposits
9 natural i) deserts
10 extensive j) mountains
11 rich k) importance
12 deep l) forest
13 swampy m) rivers
3.9 Are these statements true (T) or false (F)? If the statement is false, correct it.
1 Russia stretches over an enormous area of Eastern Europe.
2 Russia is washed by twenty seas and four oceans.
3 The current population in Russia is about 130 million people.
4 The Urals form the northern boundary of Russia.
5 The population in Russia is equally distributed.
6 There are diverse types of climate on the territory of Russia.
7 The climate of Siberia is temperate.
8 Its mineral resources determine the development of the Russian economy.
9 It is one of the world’s biggest producers of coal, oil and natural gas.
10 There is no official language in the country, because Russia is multinational.
11 Migration from the European sector to Siberia and the Far East is the main factor behind regional variations in population growth rates.
12 Baikal is the largest salt water lake.
13 Snow is a pronounced feature over the whole of Russia, its depth and duration having important effects on agriculture.
14 The Russian Federation is one of the world's leading producers of oil and natural gas.
3.10 Translate into English:
1 Россия занимает огромную территорию.
2 Россия соседствует со многими странами.
3 Россия занимает шестое место в мире по численности населения.
4 Большая часть населения живет в Европейской части страны.
5 Сибирь не достаточно заселена.
6 Россия имеет самые богатые запасы природных ресурсов в мире.
7 Россия – самый большой производитель угля, нефти и природного газа.
8 Тяжелая промышленность России хорошо развита.
9 Официальным государственным языком страны является русский язык.
10 Москва – столица России.
3.11 Complete the following sentences using the information from the text:
1 Russia borders on many countries…..
2 Russia covers almost twice the territory of…..
3 The Russian Plain takes up…..
4 The Urals form…..
5 The most important rivers in the European part of Russia are…..
6 The largest lakes are…..
7 The current population is…..
8 Russia has the richest…..
9 The head of the country is…..
10 Moscow is…..