- •I. Read the text to get the general understanding of it.
- •II. Find the English equivalents in the text and use them in the sentences of your own:
- •III. Explain the following notions in your own words:
- •IV. Insert the prepositions:
- •V. Discuss the following questions using the information from the text and your own knowledge.
- •Text 2 peter II
- •I. Read the text to get the general understanding of it.
- •II. Find the English equivalents in the text and use them in the sentences of your own:
- •III. Mark the following statements as True or False according to the text:
- •IV. Make a report about the Menshicovs and the Dolgorukis who had influence on Peter II. Text 3 anna, empress of russia
- •I. Read the text to get the general understanding of it.
- •II. Find the words in the text which describe or mean the following:
- •III. Continue the sentences using the information presented in the text.
- •Ivan VI
- •I. Read the text to get the general understanding of it.
- •II. Find the nouns that are used in the text with the following verbs:
- •III. Give synonyms to or explain the following notions:
- •IV. Sum up the information about Ivan IV in 8-10 sentences. Text 5 Elizabeth’s Accession to Power
- •I. Read the text to get the general understanding of it.
- •II. Find the English equivalents in the text and use them in the sentences of your own:
- •III. Insert the prepositions:
- •V. Discuss the following questions:
- •Text 6 Elizabeth’s reign
- •I. Read the text and fill in the sentences (a-g) which best fit each paragraph (1-3).
- •II. Give synonyms to or explain the following notions and use them in the same context as they are given in the text:
- •III. Act out a dialogue between Elizabeth and Bestuzhev discussing a) foreign policy or b) domestic policy of Russia. Text 7 Peter III
- •I. Read the text to get the general understanding of it.
- •II. Find the words in the text which describe or mean the following:
- •III. List all the adjectives and nouns that characterize Peter’s or Catherine’s personality and reign. Give examples of their behaviour or actions to corroborate these characteristics.
- •IV. Discuss the following questions with your partner:
II. Find the words in the text which describe or mean the following:
overindulgence, esp in eating or drinking
not eager; unwilling; disinclined
to advance or carry on, esp after stopping
to make or become smaller in size, number, extent, degree, intensity, etc
close observation or supervision maintained over a person, group, etc
to greet, esp enthusiastically; to acknowledge
reasonable, sensible
rude and not showing any respect behavior
to violate so as to hurt
to interfere annoyingly
to allow the possibility
to find again or obtain the return of (something lost)
the act of acquiring or gaining possession
to destroy completely
an effort to do or attain something
lack of knowledge, information, or education
the quality of being revengeful
the face, esp when considered as expressing a person's character or mood
III. Continue the sentences using the information presented in the text.
Anna was ordered to proceed on her way to Mittau to take over the government of Courland after _________________________________________.
She accepted the Russian crown and subscribed _________________ which ____________________________________________________.
On the 8th of March she was hailed as autocrat as a result of _____________
____________________________________________________.
On the one hand her government was ______________________________, on the other hand it became universally unpopular because of _________________
____________________________________________________.
The chief political events of Anna’s reign were _______________________
____________________________________________________.
The Crimean War of 1736-39 was very important for Russia because ______ ____________________________________________________.
There were the following results of this war: in the first place, ___________
____________________________________________________.
Anna can be characterized as _____________________________________
____________________________________________________.
Text 4
Ivan VI
I. Read the text to get the general understanding of it.
Ivan VI, Tsar of Russia, was the son of Prince Antony Ulrich of Brunswick, and the princess Anna Leopoldovna of Mecklenburg, and great-nephew of the empress Anna, who adopted him and declared him her successor on the 5th of October 1740, when he was only eight weeks old.
On the death of Anna he was proclaimed Tsar, and on the following day Ernest Johann Biren, Duke of Courland, was appointed regent. On the fall of Biren, the regency passed to the baby tsar's mother, though the government was in the hands of the capable vice-chancellor, Andrei Osterman. A little more than twelve months later, a coup d'état placed the tsesarevna Elizabeth on the throne (December 6, 1741), and Ivan and his family were imprisoned in the fortress of Dünamünde, or Ust Dvinsk (December 13, 1742) after a preliminary detention at Riga, from whence the new empress had at first decided to send them home to Brunswick.
In June 1744 they were transferred to Kholmogory on the White Sea, where Ivan, isolated from his family, and seeing nobody but his jailer, remained for the next twelve years. Rumors of his confinement at Kholmogory having leaked out, he was secretly transferred to the fortress of Schlüsselburg (1756), where he was still more rigorously guarded, the very commandant of the fortress not knowing who "a certain arrestant" committed to his care really was.
On the accession of Peter III the condition of the unfortunate prisoner seemed about to be ameliorated, for the kind-hearted emperor visited and sympathized with him; but Peter himself was overthrown a few weeks later. In the instructions sent to Ivan's guardian, Prince Churmtyev, the latter was ordered to chain up his charge, and even scourge him should he become refractory. On the accession of Catherine the Great still more stringent orders were sent to the officer in charge of "the nameless one." If any attempt were made from outside to release him, the prisoner was to be put to death; in no circumstances was he to be delivered alive into anyone's hands, even if his deliverers produced the empress's own signature authorizing his release. By this time, twenty years of solitary confinement had disturbed Ivan's mental equilibrium, though he does not seem to have been actually insane. Nevertheless, despite the mystery surrounding him, he was well aware of his imperial origin, and always called himself gosudar (sovereign). Though instructions had been given to keep him ignorant, he had been taught his letters and could read his Bible. Nor could his residence at Schlüsselburg remain concealed forever, and its discovery was the cause of his ruin. A sub-lieutenant of the garrison, Vasily Mirovich, found out all about him, and formed a plan for freeing and proclaiming him emperor. At midnight on the 5th of July 1764, Mirovich won over some of the garrison, arrested the commandant, Berednikov, and demanded the delivery of Ivan, who there and then was murdered by his jailers in obedience to the secret instructions already in their possession.