Make the following adjectives negative by adding correct prefixes and translate them.




Possible, official, social, usual, economic, respectful, enthusiastic, trusted, important, personal, famous.

Task 3.

Find in the text all the sentences (clauses) with the nouns in the word list, write them out, translate them and be ready to reproduce them from memory. Do the same with the verbs and adjectives.

Task 4.

Unscramble the words in brackets to complete the sentences.

1. Russian people ………….. (papereciat) the deedof their ancestors in the Great Patriotic War.

2. The films ……….. (lebogn) to a rich comic tradition.

3. The book is …………. (botalen) for its striking illustrations.

4. Aeroflot is …………. (lelw-knonw) for its motto “we don’t smile because we are serious about making you happy”.

5. Finding Antarctica in 1820 was a great ………. (cahinevetem) of Russian explorers.

6. Galina Vishnevskaya is ………….. (nicosdedre) one of the best opera singers of the world.

7. For centuries, Russian people lived mostly in ……… (lurra) areas and used to go to folk healers called znakhars.

8. Ivan Petrovich Pavlovis is …………… (depectser) all over the world for his great ………… (toncrinutiob) to world natural science.

9. ……….. (jamotiry) of visitors at the Russian aerospace show MAKS were impressed with the stunts performed by the Russian fighter jets.

 

Pre-reading tasks

Task 1.

Answer the questions below:

1. What ethnic groups inhabit your country?

2. What world religions do you know? Which of them exist in your country?

3. What does the word “culture” mean to you? What comes to your mind when you hear the notion “Russian culture”?

4. Do you know the attitude of other nations to Russian culture?

Task 2.

Read and translate the following international words and word combinations. Practise their pronunciation:

To characterize – characteristics, culture, sphere, Slavic, social, intellectual, sphere, to focus, official, individual, ethnic, Republic, complex, territory – territorial, to dominate – domination, result, orthodox, religion, Christians, enthusiastic, harmony, medicine, technology, extreme – extremely, icon, group, representation, collection, totalitarianism, initiative, compromise, discussion, effect, risk..

 

Reading

Read and translate the text.

Russian Culture

You can’t understand Russia by your mind.

 

Is it possible to characterize the culture of the largest country in the world which has such a long history and deep roots? In order to do it we need to focus on the main achievements of Russian society in the social, intellectual, artistic and spiritual spheres.

The Russian language belongs to the Slavic group of languages and is the official language in Russia. Non-Russians also usually speak Russian, especially in urbanareas. Ruralminorities more often speak their own languages at home or within. For example, Tartars speak Tartar, Chuvashes speak Chuvash and Udmurts speak Udmurt. These individual languages are only taught at schools in areas where the ethnic group is prominent. In the Soviet Union Russian language was the main language to connect Republics of the former Soviet Union to each other and establish the united territorial – economic complex. As a result Russian is widely spoken outside Russia itself. In Uzbekistan people speak Russian mainly in the cities while Uzbek language is dominated in rural areas.

As for religion, the majority of Russians consider themselves Christians and belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. It’s a great achievement for the country where astheism was the official state religion for more than 70 years. Churches other than the Russian Orthodox are scarce in rural areas, but nearly every major religion and many Christian churches have members in cities. Some Tartars and Bashkirs are Muslim, and some Tuvinians and Buryats are Buddist. Even the people who don’t follow all the rules of the church are surely very enthusiastic about celebrating the Christian holidays, e. g. Christmas and Easter, and appreciate Christian values, such as endurance, humility, cordiality, respect to the elderly people, eagerness to help and others. It should be emphasized that friendship is extremely important in Russia. Russians are open-hearted with trusted friends. They rely on their network of friends in hard times and will go to great lengths to help friends whenever possible.

Foreigners often speak about “the mysterious Russian soul” and its’ numerous differences from European one but they can’t deny Russian contributions to world literature, art, science, technology and medicine. The famous Russian tradition of icon painting was inherited from Byzantium where it began as an offshoot of the mosaic and fresco tradition of early Byzantine churches. The icons by the most notable Russian painter of that time, Andrey Rublyov, are not about the representation of physical space or appearance. They are more concerned with conveying meditative harmony. The best collections of paintings by the famous Russian artists Vasnetsov, Repin, Aivazovsky and others are to be found in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the Russian Museum of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburgh. Literature wouldn’t be the same without Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and others. The greatest Russian composers are Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich. A great number of other talented Russian people are well-known, well-loved and respected all over the world.

In conclusion it must be highlighted that Russia’s long history of totalitarianism has denied its inhabitants opportunities to make their own decisions, whether ruled by a Tsar or the Communist Party. Personal initiative, personal responsibility, and the desire to work independently were surpressed by the state, and one was expected to conform to official opinion and behavior. And currently Russians, especially in the younger generation, are eagerly taking advantage of the open environment. Indeed, Russians are learning the value of discussion and compromise, personal creativity, and risk-taking. And this will surely have an effect and lead Russia to the family of the most –developed countries in the world.

Comprehension check

Task 1.



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