Explorer of the Russian Far East

In the United States it was the Wild West, in Russia – the Wild East, beginning with the Urals and ending with the Far East. And Russia has its Lewises and Clarks, among them Vladimir Arsenyev, a military officer, explorer and writer, who was born on September 10, 1870, in St. Petersburg.

The future writer was educated at the St. Petersburg Infantry School. After graduating from it, Vladimir Arsenyev was sent to a regiment in Poland. It was only in 1900 that he was finally sent to the Far East with another regiment that was moving to its destination on foot from West Siberia.

After the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Russian society began to take interest in the Far East. The development of the Maritime Province and other parts of the Far East was stepped up. Arsenyev took an active part in this movement. He wrote papers describing the Ussuri area and published A short Military-Geographical and Military-Statistical Essay on the Ussuri Territory in 1912 and The Chinese in Ussuri Territory in 1914.

Arsenyev managed to slip through the revolution and transition to the Soviet regime relatively unscathed, continuing his former activities. In 1918 he visited another remarkable area of the Far East, Kamchatka, with its geysers and amazing nature. Despite the ongoing Civil War, in 1921, he published Through the Ussuri Territory. In 1923 he began to work at one of the newly established Soviet organizations responsible for the fish and animal resources of the Far East, and in the same year published the book that has made him most famous – Dersu Uzala.

In the 1920s, Arsenyev was particularly active. He taught at various schools and universities in the Soviet Far East, delivered lectures and contributed to the setting up of numerous local museums in the area. For almost a decade he was director of the Khabarovsk Local Museum.

Arsenyev devoted 30 years of his life to the Russian Far East. He undertook 12 major expeditions and wrote about 60 works. His collected works filled six volumes, which are now a bibliographical rarity. He died on September 4, 1930, at the age of sixty.

 

Вопросы к тексту1

1. When did Arsenyev first arrive in the Far East?

2. What education did he get?

3. What books did he describe the Ussuri area in?

4. When did he visit Kamchatka?

5. Which period of life was he particularly active?

6. Which of his books made him famous?

 

 

Текст 2

AIR POLLUTION IN THE PAST

Humans probably first experienced harm from air pollution when they built fires in poorly ventilated caves. As cities grew during the agricultural revolution, air pollution from the burning of wood and later of coal became an increasingly serious problem. In 1273 AD King Edward I of England banned the burning of coal in order to reduce air pollution.

In1911, at least 1,150 Londoners died from the effects of coal smoke. The author of a report on this disaster coined the word smog for the mixture of smoke and fog that often hung over London. An even worse London air pollution incident killed 4,000 people in 1952, and further disasters in 1956, 1957, and 1962 killed total of about 2,500 people. As a result, London has taken strong measures against air pollution and has much cleaner air today.

In the United States the Industrial Revolution brought air pollution as coal-burning industries and homes filled the air with soot and fumes. The rapid rise of the automobile, especially since 1940, brought new forms of pollution such as photochemical smog.

The first known U.S. pollution disaster occurred in 1948, when fog laden with sulfur dioxide vapor and suspended particular matter stagnated over the town of Donora in Pennsylvania for five days. About 6,000 of the town’s 14,000 inhabitants fell ill and 20 of them died.

In 1963, high concentrations of air pollutants accumulated in the air over New York City, killing about 3000 people and injuring thousands. Other episodes during the 1960s in New York, Los Angeles, and other large cities led to much stronger air pollution control and made the people think how to preserve the environment they lived in.

 

Вопросы к тексту 2

1. When did humans first experience harm from air pollution?

2. When did air pollution become a serious problem?

3. What is the origin of the word “smog”?

4. What made London to take strong measures against air pollution?

5. What are the results of the Industrial Revolution in the USA?

6. What led to much stronger air pollution control?

 

Текст 3

SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN

Christopher Wren was an English architect, scientist, and the mathematician. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, he redesigned part or all 55 of 87 churches that had been destroyed. The most famous one is St. Paul’s Cathedral. The grace and variety of many of Wren’s church spires are still a feature of the London skyline.

Wren was born in the village of East Knoyle in the country of Wiltshire. His early interests and training were in science and mathematics. From 1641 to 1646, he attended Westminster School in London, where the poet John Dryden and the philosopher John Locke were fellow students. Wren received his B.A. degree from Oxford University in 1651 and his M.Ph. degree there in 1653. In 1657, Wren was appointed professor of astronomy at Gresham College in London. His lectures in Latin and English became popular and helped spread his reputation among European scientists.

In 1661, King Charles II appointed Wren to the important architectural position. In 1663, Wren attracted attention with his proposal for unique roofing system over the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. Unlike other English architects of his day, Wren never went to Italy to gain firsthand knowledge of classical architecture. He did visit France in 1665, and the architecture he saw there probably influenced his later work.

Wren was a founding member of the Royal Society in 1660 and served as its president from 1680 to 1682. According to a biography written by his son, Wren was responsible for 53 inventions, experiments, and theories.

 

Вопросы к тексту3

1. What was sir Christopher Wren?

2. Which of his churches is the most famous?

3. What were his early interests?

4. Where did he get his education?

5. What lectures made him popular among European scientists?

6. When was he appointed to the important architectural position?

 

 

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