TEXT C. LOOKING AT THE MAP OF RUSSIA

— I'd like you to tell me something about your country.

— I think the best way to get a general idea of a country is to study the map. It's lucky I've got one with me. Here it is.

— Perhaps we had better start with the physical outline of the country.

— Well, Russia can be divided roughly into two main re­gions — the highlands in the east and the lowlands covering the greater part of the country, with a long mountain range cutting it into two unequal parts.

— You mean the Urals. They form the natural border be­tween Europe and Asia. But the highest mountain chains, as far as I can see are situated in the south and the south-east of the country. What do you call them?

— The Caucasus, between the Caspian and the Black Sea and the Altai in Asia.

— I'd love to go there. My hobby is mountaineering. But our mountains are not so high as yours, as far as I know.

— I believe they are not We have peaks four and a half miles high. But we also have lowlands several hundred feet below sea level. We have steppes in the south, plains and forests in the midlands, tundra and taiga in the north.

— What are the "steppes"?

— They are treeless plains covered with grass. The soil is fertile there.

— And is the tundra like our heather moors?

— Not in the least. It's a kind of frozen desert in the Arc­tic region.

— And what is the 'taiga', I wonder?

— It's a thick coniferous forest stretching to the south of the tundra. It's rich in animals, valued for their fur like sa­ble, fox, squirrel.

— I'd like to go hunting there, but I'm afraid I would never be able to stand toe cold.

— Our climate is also varied. In the south-west the weather is usually mild and wet; northern Asia is one of the coldest places on earth, and in the south the heat is unbear­able. But in the middle of the country the climate is moder­ate and continental.

— Well, it has been very interesting for me to hear all those things. Thank you very much for your information.

Memory Work

England! with all thy faults, I love thee still,

I said at Calais, and have not forgot it

I like the taxes when they're not too many;

I like a sea-coal fire, when not too dear;

I like a beef-steak, too, as well as any;

Have no objection to a pot of beer;

I like the weather when it is not rainy,

That is, I like two months of every year.                            George Byron

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY (П)

Words

border n                       hedge n, υ                         resort n                              cattle n          

level n                          rural adj                            chemicals n                      machinery n

steppe n                        cotton n                             moderate adj                                stretch υ, n

desert n                        pasture n                           taiga n                                           dock n

peak n                           tool n                                 fence n                              picturesque adj

tundra n                        fertile adj                          range n                              vast adj

financial adj                raw adj

Word Combinations

information technology                densely (thinly) populated        consumer electronics         

shipbuilding yards                         highly developed                        trading centre

coal (iron) fields                            rural district                            offshore oil industry           

rich in (smth.)                                 heavy (light) engineering           moderate (mild) climate

Proper Names

the Avon                                  Dublin                               the North Sea

Belfast                                      Eire                                    the Pennines

Birmingham                             Glasgow                            Portsmouth

the Bristol Channel                the Grampians                 the Severn

the Cambrians                         the Hebrides                     Sheffield

the Cheviot Hills                                the Orkney Islands          Southampton

the Clyde                                 the Shetland Islands                    the Strait of Dover

the Cumbrians                         Ireland                               the Tyne

Leeds                              the Thames

Manchester

the Mersey

Newcastle

EXERCISES

I. Study Texts A and В and a) transcribe the words below:

petrochemicals, commerce, fertile, engineering, iron, in­dustry, equipment, moderate, resort, pharmaceuticals, dairy­ing, rear, rural, picturesque, meadow, ploughing, acre.

B) Transcribe the geographical names used in Text A,

II, Pick out front Text A English equivalents of the following:

высокоразвитая промышленная страна, ведущий финансовый центр, тяжелое машиностроение, каменноугольный бассейн, элект­ронное оборудование, судостроительные верфи, ускоряющийся темп перемен, разработки в высокотехнологичном производстве, добыча нефти в открытом море, информационная технология, бытовая элек­троника, страна с высокой плотностью населения, земледелие, хими­ческие продукты из нефтяного сырья, сельскохозяйственный район, плодородные долины, хорошо возделанные поля, живописный пей­заж, мягкий климат, модные курорты.

III. Writte questions about Text A, using the words and phrases from Ex. II. Prepare to discuss the text (Use hemap.)

IV. Read Text С and pick-out English squivalents of the following phrases:

получить общее представление о чём-n., иметь при себе что-л., образовывать естественную границу, насколько я понимаю, мое лю­бимое занятие (мой конек), насколько мне известно, ниже уровня моря, ни в коей мере, непереносимый.

V. Retell Text С in indirect speech. Try and give anadditional piece of information on the topic.

VI. Fill in Use weirds bolder, boundary or frontier. Choose the correct alternative.

Note:The Russian word граница has several equivalents in English: border— пограничная зона или полоса по обе стороны демаркационной линии, е.g. The people living on the border of two adjoining countries usually speak the languages of both.; boundary — граница как разграничительная ли­ния, предел, е.g. This stream forms a boundary between the two farms.; fron­tier — граница как демаркационная линия, государственная граница, е. д, to pass the frontiers, и как пограничная зона или район (в отличие от border) толь­ко по одну сторону демаркационной линии, е.g. to guard the frontiers, frontier station, fortress, incident, dispute,

1. When we went camping, we put up our tents on the ... of the lake. 2. The ... incident was reported by the newspapers in detail. 3. A ... dispute is a quarrel about where a ... is or ought to be. 4. The river formed a ... between these rural dis­tricts. 5. The half-ruined tower used to be a ... fortress. 6. The region along the boundary between England and Scotland is called the ... . 7. A hedge is a fence or a row of bushes or low trees, which are planted to form a ... round a garden or field. 8. Great Britain's .... northern, eastern and southern, are formed by seas and oceans.