Listen to the Text “The Tretyakov Gallery”.

a) Answer the questions that follow.

1. Where is the Tretyakov Gallery situated?

2. When was the Tretyakov Gallery built?

3. Who was the designer of the present façade of the Tretyakov Gallery?

4. When did Tretyakov begin collecting paintings?

5. What did he want to have in his collection?

6. Where did he buy paintings?

7. What was the basis of Tretyakov’s collection?

8. When did Tretyakov present his collection to the City of Moscow?

9. What is the present collection of the Tretyakov Gallery like?

10. What does the Tretyakov Gallery collection reflect?

b) Read Tapescript 4A of the Text. Look up the words you do not know in the dictionary.

c) Retell the Text about the Tretyakov Gallery.

d) If you visited the Tretyakov Gallery, tell your groupmates about your impressions.

Listen to the Text “The Kremlin”.

a) You will hear some numbers in the Text. Write them down and say what these numbers refer to.

b) Check your answers with your groupmates and Tapescript 4B of the Text.

c) Retell the Text.

UNIT 5

MY HOME TOWN

READING AND DISCUSSION

TEXT 5A

Belgorod

1. Belgorod is an old and beautiful city. Its history is bound up with the history of Russia. The first mention of Belgorod can be found in the Russian chronicles dated back to the 16th century. It was founded in 1596. Since that time, it has become larger and larger.

2. During the Great Patriotic War fascist invaders burned, blasted and bombed it using the powerful artillery. The Kursk Bulge Memorial situated not far from Belgorod is devoted to the heroic defence of the city during the war. After the war, Belgorod has risen from under the heaps of ruins and now it is young and beautiful.

3. Belgorod is an important industrial and cultural centre of Russia. At present, its population is about 400,000 people. It is the centre of the Belgorod region.

4. Belgorod is a very green city. Everybody likes its abundance of trees and flowers in avenues, public gardens and parks, just in streets near residential blocks of flats. There are a lot of places of interest in Belgorod, such as Revolution Square, the Kursk Bulge Diorama, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Local Lore, the Lenin Park, the monument to M. Schepkin, beautiful churches and others.

5. Today Belgorod is a large industrial city of Russia. There are a lot of plants and factories in it. The trademarks of Belgorod can be seen on machine tools, boilers, power equipment, radio receivers, cement, various metal structures, chemical products, medicines, canned food products and others.

6. Belgorod is also a city of science. It has a lot of research institutes and six higher educational institutions. The city has rich cultural traditions. There are a lot of cinemas, libraries, palaces of Culture and Sports in it. In the centre of Sobornaya Square there is Schepkin Drama Theatre which is very popular with theatre-goers. Children like to go to the Puppet-Show Theatre. Many writers, poets, artists, scientists, engineers and doctors live and work here.

7. The city of Belgorod honours its past and is full of creative effort and vitality. We are proud of it.

Active vocabulary to remember

Exercises

Pronounce correctly.

artillery [a:'tilэri] medicine ['medsn]

avenue ['ævэnju:] memorial [mэ'mоriэl]

bulge [bΛldζ] popular ['pоpjulэ]

chronicle ['kronikl] power ['pauэ]

creative [kri'eitiv] puppet [p'Λpit]

cultural ['kΛlt∫эrэl] residential [,rezi'den∫l]

fascist ['fæ∫ist ] scientist ['saiэntist]

heroic [hi'rэuik] structure ['strΛktэ]

industrial [in'dΛstriэl] various ['veэriэs]

machine-tool [mэ'∫i:ntu:l] vitality [vai'tælэti]

Choose the Russian equivalents from the right column to the following English words and phrases.