Английский язык. Александрова Г.А. - 32 стр.

the Volga valley with its wheat and oil, the Black Sea coast, the industrial
Urals rich in natural resources, boundless Siberia, a land with a great in-
dustrial future, and lastly the Far East with the Ussuri primeval forest and
the Kuriles chain.
       Russia can be divided roughly into two main regions – the high-
lands in the east and the lowlands covering the greater part of the country,
with a long mountain range cutting it into two unequal parts. The Urals
form the natural border between Europe and Asia. But the highest moun-
tain chains are situated in the south and the southeast of the country, the
Caucasus, between the Caspian and the Black Sea and the Altai in Asia.
There are peaks four and a half miles high and there are lowlands several
hundred feet below sea level. There are steppes in the South, plains and
forest in the midlands, tundra and taiga in the north. Tundra is a kind of
frozen desert in the Arctic region, but taiga is a trick coniferous forest
stretching to the south of the tundra. It is rich in animals, valued for their
fur like sable, fox, squirrel.
       Steppes are treeless plains covered with grass. The soil is fertile
there.
       In Russia climate is also varied. In the south-west the weather is
usually mild and wet; northern Asia is one the coldest places on earth, and
in the south the heat is unbearable, but in the middle of the country the
climate is continental.

      Read text 2 without dictionary and retell it in Russian.

                                     Text 3
                                 St. Petersburg
       St. Peterburg is the second largest city in Russia and one of the
most beautiful cities in the world. It was founded in 1703 by Peter the
Great as the “Window to the West”. Thousands of workmen were brought
from all parts of Russia to build a new city on the swampy land at the
mouth of the Neva River. Peter the Great was in a hurry. The work was
fast and hard, and workmen dropped dead by the hundreds. But the work
went on. And St. Petersburg became a city of great beauty, with palaces,
cathedrals, churches. The city grew rapidly in wealth and beauty. Archi-
tects were brought from western Europe to lay out the city in harmonious
squares. Buildings were constructed of grey and rose-coloured granite.
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