3. Read the text.
“My Native City”.
Luhansk is a regional city situated upon the Luhan River. The population of Luhansk is about half a million people. There are 4 administrative districts, a lot of modern buildings, squares, parks and monuments in our city. Every spring a lot of trees, flowers and bushes are planted along the streets of our city. In parks and gardens numerous fountains glitter in the sun.
Luhansk is a
comparatively young city. In 1795 by the order of Ekaterina II a
cast-iron plant was built on the right bank of the Luhan River near
the village of Kamiany Brid (Stone Ford). First it was a small
settlement of Luhansky Zavod for the workers of a new plant. Later
in 1882 by the order of Alexander III the settlement and the village
were united under the name of Luhansk. The city gradually turned
into a big industrial centre. The tsarist government invited many
foreign specialists to help in developing local industry. Thus there
appeared another big enterprise – Hartman locomotive factory.
The inhabitants of the city boast of its historical past. Many workers took part in revolutionary movement. On June 3, 1938 Luhansk became the capital of the Luhansk Region.
The city suffered greatly during the Great Patriotic War. It was occupied by fascists in 1942 and was almost completely destroyed. After the war the city began to grow very quickly.
Now Lugansk is one of the
most important industrial centers of Ukraine. The leading industries
include machine engineering, metal working, coal-mining, and
producing building materials and consumer goods.
Luhansk is a big scientific centre. There are a lot of secondary and technical schools, colleges and universities, scientific research institutions. There is East-Ukrainian National University, Pedagogical and Medical Universities, Agricultural Academy, Militia Academy and the Institute of Culture and Arts.
Lugansk is a big cultural centre. There are three theatres in the city, many museums, libraries and cinemas, a picture gallery and an exhibition hall. There are a lot of places of interest and monuments in Lugansk. In Dahl street there is a monument to the famous writer, lexicographer and doctor Volodymyr Dahl and the house where he was born. One of the longest streets in the city is Oboronnaya street which leads to the famous Ostraya Mogila Complex.
Luhansk can boast of many outstanding people who have contributed to the glory of our city and region. We can name doctor Volodymyr Dahl and poet Mykola Matusovsky, war pilots Olexandr Molodchy and Mykola Gastello, cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy and miner Vladyslav Tytov, sportsmen Valery Brumel and Sergey Bubka, actors Pavel Klyonov and Mykhailo Golubovych.
Like any other big city Luhansk has got many problems: traffic jams and air pollution, few good parks and little greenery, beggars and stray dogs, noise, litter and vandalism. But our authorities and ordinary people do their best to solve all these problems of modern city life.
Every year in the middle of September our city celebrates its birthday. Lugansk is over 200 years old. Our citizens like their city and want to make it better.
Exercise 1. Give English equivalents of the word combinations:
Рідне місто, мешканці, населення, порівняно молодий, повністю зруйнований, дуже постраждав, виробляти споживчі товари, зробити внесок, намагатися, вирішити проблеми.
Exercise 2. Point out true and false statements. Correct false statements.
1. Luhansk is a very old city.
2. Luhansk was founded by the order of tsar Peter I.
3. Our city is a very important industrial centre.
4. There are no universities in our city.
5. There is only one theatre and one monument in the city.
6. Many famous people lived and worked in Luhansk.
7. We celebrate the birthday of our city in November.
8. There are no problems in Luhansk.
Exercise 3. Answer the questions:
1) Do you live in Luhansk? 2) What is the population of the city? 3) Is Luhansk very old? 4) How did its history begin? 5) Why is Luhansk a very important industrial centre? 6) What universities are there in Luhansk? 7) What places of interest can tourists visit in our city? 8) Can you name any famous people connected with our city? 9) Are there any problems in the life of modern cities? 10) What is your favourite place in Luhansk?
Exercise 4. Match the following:
1) to suffer 2) to boast of 3) consumer goods 4) traffic jams 5) vandalism 6) to solve problems 7) to do one’s best 8) inhabitant |
a) things that are made for people b) destruction c) to find the way out or the answer d) to do something very well e) to feel or have pain f) person living in some place g) to be proud of h) stoppage of cars due to jamming |
Exercise 5. Prove the statements:
Luhansk is one of the most important industrial centres of Ukraine.
Our city is not very old.
Luhansk is a big cultural and scientific centre.
Many famous people are connected with our city.
There are some problems that our citizens have to solve.
Exercise 6. Write down a plan of the text and give a title to each of the parts.
Exercise 7. Write down 4-5 key-words to each part of the text.
Exercise 8. Retell the text using your plan and key-words.
Exercise 9. Discuss the following using key-patterns.