TEXT 3. Read and translate the text. Name 10 reasons to visit Baikal.

Lake Baikal: the Pearl of Siberia

Lake Baikal is the most ancient lake on earth. Lakes rarely live longer than a million years but the «Pearl of Siberia» or the «Sacred Sea», as it is often called, is more than 25 million years old! For scientists it is a living laboratory of evolution!

Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, measuring 1 637 metres from top to bottom. It sits in the planet’s deepest land depression where at least 3 tectonic plates meet! These plates scrape against each other, making the lake even deeper and wider. There is a theory that Lake Baikal is the beginning of a new ocean. The lake holds one-fifth of the planet’s fresh water – and it’s still remarkably clean! The waters of the lake are amazingly transparent – and they change colours all the time!

Lake Baikal is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Everyone who has been to its shores is impressed and charmed by its grandeur, size, and unusual might. This wonder of the natural world is very difficult to describe. Valentin Rasputin once said, «Man does not have enough feelings to respond to this miracle».

The Buryat had settled the lake’s shores long before the 13^th-century conquests of Genghis Khan. Russian fur traders arrived in the 1640s. The Buryat have a mystical feeling for the lake. They believe that its waters are charmed. This is why they never call it a lake, only – the Sea, or the Old Man, or He!

The snows of Siberia come to Lake Baikal in early October. At the end of October the lake begins to freeze. In winter the ice gets very thick – well over a metre! In 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War, a railway track was laid across the ice to carry guns to the front. By mid-April the ice begins to thaw and the lake becomes so huge that sailors and fishermen here talk of «going to sea».

The water of the lake can hardly be called warm. In summer, its average temperature is + 12C. But many people who go for their first swim in the lake behave as if they had jumped into boiling water!

Lake Baikal is a living museum of water plants and animals. About 1 500 species of animals are endemic – you can see them nowhere else in the world! It’s also rich in life at all depths. Its cold waters move vertically, carrying oxygen even to the 1 637 bottom. The golomyanka, a transparent, glass-like fish, lives only in Lake Baikal. The omul, an arctic fish endemic to Lake Baikal, is delicious. One great mystery about the lake is how nerpa, the Baikal seal, originally came there, as it is hundreds of kilometers from any ocean.

The lake is surrounded by beautiful mountains. The Baikal Mountains on the north shore and the taiga are protected as a national park.

Olkhon is the largest of the lake’s 27 islands. It’s 72 km long and its shape resembles the shape of Lake Baikal. Olkhon is a remarkable conglomeration of all possible landscapes that exist around Baikal – rolling grass steppes, deep forests, sand dunes and rocky cliffs. Olkhon is also an important centre of shamanism. Shamanka, or the Shaman’s Rock, is the most famous landmark of the island. According to legend, it has some magic power and blocks the entrance to the underground spirit world.

TEXT 4. Read and translate the text. Make reports on the topic.

What is Russia famous for?

Russian Bear

The Russian Bear is a widespread symbol for Russia, used in cartoons, articles and dramatic plays at least since the 17th century, and relating alike to Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union and the present-day Russian Federation.

It often was and is used by Westerners, to begin with especially in Britain and later also in the US, and not always in a flattering context — on occasion used to imply that Russia is «big, brutal and clumsy».

The bear image was, however, on various occasions (especially in the 20th century) also taken up by Russians themselves. Having the teddy bear «Misha» as the mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games – boycotted by numerous countries due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan – was evidently intended to counter the «big and brutal Russian Bear» image with a small, cuddly and smiling bear.

Matryoshka

Matryoshka refers to a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. The first Russian matryoshka was carved in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter at Abramtsevo. Traditionally the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan, a long traditional Russian dress. The figures inside may be of either gender; the smallest doll is typically a baby lathed from a single piece of wood. Much of the artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be very elaborate. The dolls often have different images varying from typical Russian girls to the famous sportsmen, from fairy tale characters to the country leaders.

Balalaika

The balalaika is a plucking string instrument that resembles a guitar, but has a triangular shape and only three strings (or two in some cases).

It is difficult to explain, but when you hear balalaika’s sounds, you at once think of Russia. There is something deeply Russian, typical folk and traditional in it. It is quiet and delicate, gently filling you with the essence of Russia.

Unfortunately, today the balalaika has disappeared from Russians’ everyday life almost completely. There aren’t many people left who can play it – not to mention, only professional musicians in Russian folk music ensembles.

Samovar

Samovar has traditionally been the most recognized symbol of Russian hospitality and family comfort as well as a sign of prosperity. For more than 250 years, the samovar has occupied an honored place in Russian homes as the centerpiece of the table, around which life revolved. Step by step a peculiar ritual of tea-drinking emerged and was adopted in every Russian home - people gathered to have tea parties and provided the right atmosphere for friendly conversation and sharing news, stories, and fellowship. Thus, samovar had both a practical and an emotional function.

The Russian word samovar literally means “self-boiling.” The vessel consists of a metal container for boiling the water and a fire-pan with a tube. The first samovar was made in Tula (an old city to the south of Moscow) in 1778, and since that time Tula is known as the centre of Russian samovar production.

Russian tea culture

Tea is part of Russian culture. According to recent studies, some 82% of Russians consume tea daily. Tea is a source of various minerals and nutrients that help supplement the Russian diet, and is used in Russia as a source of low cost nutrition.

According to William Pokhlyobkin, tea in Russia was not regarded as a self-dependent beverage; thus, even the affluent classes adorned it with a jam, syrup, cakes, cookies, candies, lemon and other sweets. This is similar to the archaic idiom «чай да сахар» (tea and sugar). The Russian language utilizes some expressions connected with tea consumption, including «чайку-с?» (roughly «some tea?»), used by the pre-Revolutionary attendants. The others are «гонять чаи» (whip the teas) and «побаловаться чайком» (indulging in tea). Tea was made a significant element of cultural life by the literati of the Karamzinian circle. By the mid-19th century tea had won over the town class, the merchants and the petty bourgeoisie. This is reflected in the dramas of Alexander Ostrovsky. Since Ostrovsky's time, duration and the amount of consumed tea are appreciated in the tea-drinking.

The Scarlet Sails

The Scarlet Sails is a celebration in St. Petersburg, Russia, the most massive and famous public event during the White Nights Festival. The tradition is highly popular for spectacular fireworks, numerous music concerts, and a massive water-show including battle among tens of boats full of pirates on the waters of Neva river. Millions people visit the event, among the entertainers were such stars as Cirque du Soleil, Mariinsky Ballet, Antonio Banderas and others.

Entertainment also includes appearances by popular rock stars, as well as St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, ballet, and other classical acts, performing on several stages simultaneously during the days of the event. The show also includes rowing and motorboat races, and a massive battle with pirates culminating with appearance of a tall ship sporting spectacular «Scarlet sails».

Yo-mobile

The Yo-mobile is a planned hybrid electric car that will be produced by Yo-auto, a Russian company. The car will be powered by an engine that can burn both gasoline and natural gas and is connected to a pair of electric motors. Fuel economy of the car is expected to be around 67 mpg-US (3.5 L/100 km; 80 mpg-imp), with a range of 680 miles (1,090 km) and a top speed of 80 mph (130 km/h). However, no tests were conducted due to the lack of working examples.