Nouns: state, ties, arena, contacts, trade, partner, cooperation, contacts
Adjectives: world, sovereign, modern, direct, international, closer, fruitful, trade
5. Here are the answers to some questions. Ask the questions.
1) _____? – Just about 20 years ago.
2) _____? – They say, it’s favourable, because the country is situated just between western and eastern Europe.
3) _____? – In practically all spheres, such as politics, science, industry, trade, culture, etc.
4) _____? – They promote organizing new industries, thus creating new jobs.
5) _____? – Yes, of course. Naturally, it’s one of the UNO’s constituent member-states.
6) _____? – Some of them deal with the punishment of war criminals, education of young people based on the ideas of peace and friendship among nations.
Choose one issue from the list of events that promote the image of Belarus in the world arena; be ready to speak about it.
a) Minsk International Film Festival “Listapad”;
b) Belarusians at the Olympics;
c) Belarus at the Eurovision Song Contest;
d) BATE Football Club.
From the medieval saints to modern-day Nobel scientists and Olympic champions, Belarus has produced many famous people. Study the information provided and guess the famous Belarusians described choosing from the list.
| a. Nikolai Sudzilovsky; b. Pavel Sukhoi; c. Lev Sapega; d. Sofia Kovalevskaya; e. Tadeusz Kosciuszko; f. Marc Chagall; | g. Olga Korbut; h. Vitaly Shcherbo; i. Darya Domracheva; j. Napoleon Orda; k. Vincent Dunin-Martsinkevich; l. Michal Kleofas Oginski; m. Saint Euphrosyne |
1) Born in the 12th century, she is considered the patron saint of Belarus. Descended from a noble family, she became a nun at the age of 12 and spent her life helping the poor and building churches and monasteries across Belarus. She died on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and her relics were returned to Belarus in 1910.
2) A political and military figure, the Hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a diplomat, a philosopher. One of the main founders of the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1588), which was actually the first European Constitution.
3) Born in Belarus in 1746, the political and military figure of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita), leader of the rebellion in 1794. This Belarusian is considered a national hero in Belarus, Poland and the USA (for his leadership in the American Revolutionary War), the honorary citizen of France.
4) An ethnographer, a geographer, a chemist, a biologist, a genetic doctor, the first president of the Hawaii State Senate. Born to an impoverished noble family in 1850 in Mogilev. From 1892 he lived in Hawaii where he fought for the rights of the locals.
5) The first female Professor of Mathematics, the author of numerous papers on mathematical analysis, mechanics and astronomy, descended from the Belarusian noble family. She spent her childhood in the Palibino Estate, Vitebsk Province. At the age of 18 Sofia entered into a fictive marriage to move abroad and to do science.
6) An aerospace engineer, an inventor, one of the creators of supersonic jets, a designer of more than 50 original aircraft solutions, more than 30 of which have been constructed and tested. Born in 1895, in the town of Glubokoye, Vitebsk Region.
7) A Belarusian and French painter, born in Vitebsk on July 7, 1887. He worked and lived in Vitebsk, in Russia, and in Paris where he immigrated in 1922. Perhaps the most famous of all people from Belarus, he is known around the world as a master of classic avant-garde art, a specialist in easel [1] and book painting, theatre sets and costumes, stained glass windows, applied arts and sculpture. The Honorary doctor of Glasgow University (UK, 1959).
8) He was born in the village of Vorocevichi, Pinsk Uyezd (District). Both composer and a painter, he made more than 1,000 sketches of the buildings in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, France, which has become a priceless source of information for architects and restorers in Europe. In 2007, his 200th anniversary was added to the UNESCO Memorial Calendar List. His work of Niasvizh Castle was placed on the banknote of Br 100 000. The streets were named after him in Minsk and Grodno.
9) A Belarusian writer, poet, dramatist and social activist, he was born in a noble family in the district of Bobruisk; graduated from the medical faculty of the University of St. Petersburg. He is considered as one of the founders of the modern Belarusian literary tradition and national school theatre. He wrote both in contemporary Belarusian and Polish languages.
10) A diplomat, politician, participant of the Kosciuszko Uprising and a talented composer. He wrote his famous polonaise Farewell to the Homeland in the family estate in Zalesie (Grodno Oblast). The 250th birthday of the composer has been included into the UNESCO Calendar of Events for 2014-2015.
11) The legendary gymnast won 4 Olympic Gold medals (three of them at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972). In 1972 the athlete was named Best Sportswoman in the World.
12) A Belarusian sportsman (artistic gymnastics). The gold medal winner at the XXV Olympic Games (Spain, 1992); the bronze medal winner at the XXVI Olympic Games (USA, 1996). 14-time World Champion, 10-time European Champion. The winner of the Good-will games (USA, 1990).
13) This biathlonist joined Belarus’ national biathlon team in 2006 (made her junior team debut in 2005). In 2010 she was named female athlete of the year. The winner of the Biathlon Award 2010; three-time Olympic champion in Sochi-2014 (the women’s 10km pursuit, the women’s 15km individual race and the 12.5km mass start); the bronze medalist in the women's 15km individual race at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. (Female Athlete of the Year).
[1] easel - мольберт