3.2. Answer the following questions:

1. What is Orel?

2. Where does Orel lie?

3. How old is the city of Orel?

4. When was Orel founded?

5. How long was our town occupied by the Nazi invaders?

6. When was Orel liberated?

7. Whose life and creative work were interlinked with the city of Orel?

8. What places of interest in the city do you know?

9. What higher schools are there in Orel now?

10. Is Orel a very green city or not?

11. What does the name «Orel» mean in English?

12. Who was the leader of the peasant revolt?

13. Who led the Russian forces in 1615?

14. What historical event took place on the 5th of August, 1943?

15. Where was a red flag hoisted to mark the liberation of Orel from the Nazi invaders?

3.3. Fill in the blanks with information taken from the text:

1. Orel is in the centre … .

2. The city of Orel was founded … .

3. Orel was occupied by … .

4. Work to rebuild the town … immediately after its … .

5. Orel is the birthplace of … .

6. … is the life and creative work of many Russian writes and poets.

7. Ivan Bunin was the first … .

8. The Turgenev theatre was founded … .

9. One of higher schools is … where we study.

10. There are many forests … Orel.

11. Our city has the proud name … that means … in English.

12. The Civil War in Russia was in … .

13. The city of Orel … on the order of tsar Ivan the Terrible.

14. Orel lies … .

15. Its population is now … .

3.4. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English:

1. Орел расположен в центре европейской части Российской Федерации.

2. Нашему городу более 400 лет.

3. Орел был освобожден советскими войсками 5 августа 1943 года.

4. Освобождение Орла и Белгорода было отмечено первым артиллерийским салютом в годы Великой Отечественной войны.

5. Красный флаг был водружен на одном из многоэтажных домов на улице Московской.

6. Мой друг учится в Орловском аграрном университете.

7. Одним из старейших высших учебных заведений в городе Орле является Орловский государственный университет.

8. Драматический театр в Орле был основан 8 октября 1815 года.

9. Сейчас это академический театр имени И.С. Тургенева.

10. Орел был свидетелем многих исторических событий.

11. Великая Отечественная война Советского Союза с нацистской Германией победоносно закончилась 9 мая 1945 года.

12. Мы являемся свидетелями некоторых исторических событий.

13. Н.А. Русанов был известным русским полярным исследо-вателем.

14. Наиболее популярными видами спорта в Орле являются футбол, акробатика, велосипедные гонки, катание на коньках и лыжах.

15. Многие студенты нашего города увлекаются различными видами спорта.

3.5. Summarize the text.

Topic 4. Moscow, the Capital of Russia

4.1. Read and translate the text:

The capital of Russia is the city of Moscow. It is situated in the centre of the European part of the country on the navigable Moskva River, a tributary of the Oka River. Moscow is connected by a system of navigable canals with the Caspian, Black and Azov Seas in the South and with the Baltic and White Seas in the North. That is why Moscow is often called as «a port of five seas».

Moscow is the largest political, administrative, financial, economic, educational, cultural and industrial centre of the country. It is the seat of the highest bodies of state authority. Moscow is the seat of our Government, the Federal Assembly and the Supreme Court. The President of Russia lives and works there.

Moscow was founded in 1147 by Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruki as a fortress on the bank of the Moskva River, then an important trade route, to protect the inhabitants from the Tartars and other invaders. Its centre was the Kremlin around which the town was growing. In 1954 a monument to Yuri Dolgoruki was built in the centre of Moscow.

At first, Moscow was one of the smaller towns near the south-west frontier of Vladimir and Suzdal Land. Little by little the significance of Moscow grew. Even numerous wars and devastation could not stop that process.

In 1177 Moscow burned down for the first time. In 1367 the first stone walls of the Moscow Kremlin were constructed. Moscow burned during the Polish invaders in 1612 and when the Napoleon army entered Moscow in September 1812.

Moscow is more than 850 years old. Now the capital of our country is a very beautiful city with a great number of green parks, large squares and wide streets. There are many museums, theatres, cinemas and exhibitions in Moscow.

There are many places of interest in our capital. The heart of Moscow is Red Square. The Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral (Vasily Blazheny) and the State Historical Museum of Russia are located there. They are masterpieces of ancient Russian architecture.

On the territory of the Kremlin you can see the Great Kremlin Palace, the residence of the President of the Russian Federation, some old cathedrals, the State Kremlin Palace, the former Kremlin Palace of Congresses built in 1961, the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell, the biggest cannon and bell in the world. The Tsar Cannon was cast in 1586. Its weight is 40 tons and the caliber is 890 mm. The length of the Tsar Cannon is 5.5 m. The Tsar Bell was cast in 1735. Its weight is about 200 tons. Ivan the Great bell tower is the centre of the composition of the Kremlin ensemble, an outstanding architectural monument. It was built in 1505 – 1508 by the architect Bon Fryzin. In 1600 the superstructure was added to the tower and then it assumed its modern appearance. Its height is 81 meters. The main Kremlin tower, the Spasskaya Tower, has become a symbol of the country. The clock on it is considered to be one of the finest timekeepers in our country.

One of the well-known Kremlin museums is the Armoury Chamber. The famous golden Cap of Monomakh, the first Russian imperial crown of Catherine the Second and many other historical items are exhibited there.

St.Basil’s Cathedral was built in memory of the victory over Kazan in 1552. The monument standing in front of St. Basil's Cathedral tells us of the people's victory over Polish invaders in 1612. On the monument you can read the following words: «To citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky from grateful Russia».

The State Historical Museum of Russia was founded in 1872 on the initiative of the Russian scientific community. The construction works lasted from 1875 till 1883 and were headed by architects Shervud and Semenov, who designed the building in Russian style.

For those who are fond of art the best places to visit are the Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. The Gallery contains hundreds of masterpieces not only of Russian art but also of many other countries. Moscow is proud of the Bolshoi, Maly and Art theatres.

The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, designed by the architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Theatre was opened in 1825. After reconstruction the Bolshoi Theatre is believed to be opened again in October 2011.

Moscow is the largest scientific centre of Russia. The Russian Academy of Sciences, the oldest Moscow University, many schools of higher education, colleges and scientific institutions are located there. Moscow University is one of the highest and original buildings in Moscow. The university was founded by the great scientist, poet and thinker Mikhail Lomonosov. The first Russian university was opened on the 26-th of April 1755 in the three-storey stone building. There were three faculties at the University – philosophy, law and medicine.

Moscow is the largest city of Russia and one of the largest cities in the world. Recently years the population of Moscow reached more than 11 million and it is still growing. This resulted in large-scale migration of people. Muscovites move from one district to another, when they get new flats and for other reasons. All that calls for further development and improvement of the city’s transport services. Transport is a serious problem for Moscow. The most convenient means of transport in Moscow is the Metro. Most of the people take metro to their work and back home. Besides it there are buses, trolley-buses, trams and taxi.

There are very many plants and factories in Moscow.

A wide network of railways connects Moscow with the farthest parts of our vast country as well as with many major cities of Europe. There are 9 railway stations in Moscow.

There are some airports in Moscow. The air routes link the capital of our country with other parts of the Russian Federation and all the continents of the world. People from all parts of the world want to visit this beautiful city.

Topical Vocabulary

1) capital	столица
2) navigable	судоходный
3) tributary	приток
4) educational	образовательный
5) the highest bodies of state authority	высшие органы государственной власти
6) seat of government	местонахождениe власти
7) fortress	крепость
8) inhabitant	житель
9) invader	захватчик
10) Suzdal prince	Суздальский князь
11) to grow	расти
12) south-west frontier	юго-западная граница
13) significance	значение
14) devastation	разорение, разрушение
15) places of interest	достопримечательности
16) St.Basil’s Cathedral	Собор Василия Блаженного
17) masterpiece	шедевр
18) ancient	древний
19) Tsar Cannon	Царь-пушка
20) Tsar Bell	Царь-колокол
21) the finest timekeeper	самые точные часы
22) item	предмет
23) to be exhibited	быть представленным (на выставке)
24) grateful	благодарный
25) scientific community	научное сообщество
26) construction works	строительные работы
27) to be headed by smb.	возглавляться кем-л.
28) to design	проектировать
29) Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts	Музей изобразительных искусств имени Пушкина
30) to be proud of	гордиться чем-л.
31) to hold performance	давать представление
32) Maly and Art theatres	Малый и Художественный театры
33) scientific institutions	научные учреждения
34) to be located	находиться
35) to reach	достигать
36) to result in	приводить к чему-л.
37) convenient	удобный
38) plant	завод
39) railway station	железнодорожный вокзал
40) the farthest	самый удаленный (по расстоянию)
41) vast	обширный
42) to link	соединять