Try to describe one or two towns / cities using the words given above in exercises 5 - 8.

10. Answer the following questions.*

1. Do you come from a city, a town or a village? What is it like?

2. In what area is your institute situated?

3. What can you see from your classroom window?

4. What are the busiest streets in your town?

5. What can you see in a typical modern street?

6. Do you travel much within town? What means of transport do you use? How long do your journeys usually take?

7. Do you ever use a season ticket or a travel card?

8. Who travels free in your town?

9. Can you drive? Have you got a driving licence?

10. What makes driving in a big city difficult?

11. What vehicles can you name in our towns?

12. Do you often lose your way in town or have you got a good sense of direction?

13. Are you fond of sightseeing? What places of interest do you prefer to see?

14. Do you often visit museums or exhibitions?

15. What places of interest attract tourists in your town?

16. What are your favourite places in your town?

17. Can you easily move to another town or city for living?

12. Read the sentences and translate them into Russian. Can you add anything to these instructions?

A) Safety in the City.

Never take lift from strangers.

Do not stay out very late, and do not walk home on your own. If so, walk along the centre of the path on well-lit streets if possible.

Avoid empty underground platforms. Stay close to the exit if you find yourself on a deserted platform.

Never carry your address and keys in the same bag: your house could be the next target of a thief.

If you are threatened, give up your handbag rather than risk injury.

If you see someone who has been or is being attacked, don’t offer help, you may be attacked yourself, telephone the police.

B) A Note to Pedestrians.

Walk on the pavement only.

Cross the street at special crossings when the light changes to green.

Look to the left before stepping off the curb and to the right when you have reached the dividing line.

Don’t stand between tram tracks.

If you are caught in the middle of the street when the light changes, stay where you are. Driver will have a better chance to steer clear of you.

Cross only in back of parked buses and trolley-buses and only in front of tramcars, otherwise you may not notice moving vehicles.

Remember that it is against the rule for a driver to signal except in emergencies.

 

Life in any city has its own advantages and disadvantages. Read the following story about the life in London. Can you say the same about your life in Yekaterinburg? Can you add anything else? Explain in English the meaning of the words printed in bold.

My Home – Love It or Hate It!

By Ali Khasan

I live in Blackheath in South London. London’s one of the largest and most exciting cities in the world, and there are advantages and disadvantages to living here.

The main advantage is that there’s a lot to do and see. In the centre of London there are tourist attractions like Madam Tussaud’s and the Science Museum, and there are all kinds of parks and historic buildings. I suppose that we don’t always make the most of it. We only visit the places like the Tower of London when one of our relatives comes to visit.

Secondly, London is a great place for entertainment. All the new films come here first, and if we want to go to a pop concert or a big sports event, there is always right on our doorstep. And of course the shopping is great – there’s everything from department stores like Harrods to Camden Market.

Another advantage of living in London is that you can travel easily and quickly across the city on the underground. And we’ve got railway stations and airports to take you anywhere in the world.

Lastly, London is truly cosmopolitan. Students at my college are from lots of different cultures, but that doesn’t stop us being friends. It’s good to mix with people from different backgrounds. It stops you becoming narrow-minded.

But there are some major problems if you live in London. Like most other capital cities, it is noisy, polluted and congested with traffic. The traffic problem is so bad that they have recently introduced a congestion charge for central London. Drivers now have to pay if they want to take their cars to the city centre. Hopefully that it will improve the situation.

Secondly, things are very expensive here – apparently it’s more expensive to live here that to live in any American city. For example, if you go to the cinema in the centre of London it can cost you £12. And to go just one stop on the underground can cost you £1.

But the worst problem about living in London is that, in general, people aren’t very friendly. Nobody will talk to stranger or help people in the street if they are in trouble. They don’t trust each other, and I think that’s because they are scared of becoming victims of crime. London has the highest crime rate in the country.

But in spite of these negative points, I still wouldn’t want to live outside of London. It’s my home – love it or hate it!

 

13. Read the text and translate it into Russian.

Yekaterinburg – my native city. *

Yekaterinburg is my native place. Though, when I was born it was Sverdlovsk.

Our city was founded in 1723 by Tatishchev and de Gennin by the order of the tsar Peter the Great as the centre of the mining industry. The town was placed on the Iset River. It grew up very quickly and soon it became the centre of metallurgy, machine building and jewellery. The name of the city was Yekaterinburg. Before the October revolution there were about 100 factories. There were also two gymnasiums, a mining college, two theatres, many cathedrals and two newspapers. In the 19^th century the Society of the Ural Technicians and the Ural Society of Nature Explorers were founded. Because of the large number of industrial workers in the city the revolutionary activity was very strong. The Soviet power was established in July of 1919. And in 1924 the city got the name of Sverdlovsk. When speaking about the history of our city, of course, we should mention one tragical event that had happened in Yekaterinburg – the murder of the tsar and his family in July of 1918.

Our city became one of the greatest industrial centres of the country. New large plants appeared one after another. For example, such enterprises as Uralmash, Uralelectrotyazhmash, Uralkhimmash and many others were built in 30-40es. Many old plants and factories, such as Verkh-Iset Steel plant, were reconstructed. During the years of the Great Patriotic War many plants from the western regions of our country had been evacuated here and our city became native to a great number of people. Now there are more than 300 factories and plants here.

Yekaterinburg is a great scientific centre of the country. There are many research institutes, the Ural branch of the Academy of Science of Russia, about 30 higher educational establishments, though only 14 of them are state ones. Among them there is the oldest institute in the Urals, opened in 1917, the Mining Academy, the Ural Gorky State University, opened in 1924, the Ural State Polytechnic University, the Pedagogical University, the Medical Academy, the Architectural Academy, the Financial Academy, the Conservatoire, the Law Academy, the Agricultural Institute, the Industrial Pedagogical University, the Drama School (Institute), the High Military College, the Forestry Academy and many others. There are more than 200 schools, vocational schools, colleges, and lyceums. Many of schools are specialized in different subjects or have classes with advanced courses.

Our city has old cultural traditions. The first theatre appeared in 1843. The Opera House was opened in 1912. Now we have 11 theatres in our city: the Opera House, the Drama theatre, the Musical Comedy theatre, the Children’s theatre, the Puppet theatre, the Chekhov Chamber theatre, the Chamber theatre, the Variety theatre, the “Volkhonka” theatre, the Study-theatre of Drama school, the theatre “On the Outskirts”. Our city is the only one in the country that has two philharmonic societies – for adults and for children. Many famous singers began their artistic career her: Sobinov, Kozlovsky, Arkhipova, Gulyaev, and Shtocolov. The Ural Folk Choir is famous all over the world. There are two professional ballet groups: the Provincial Dances and the Ballet Plus. Several newspapers and magazines are published in Yekaterinburg. Many writers and poets brought glory to our city. Among them we can name Mamin-Sibiryak, Bazhov, Likstanov, Krapivin, Drugal, Kolyada and many others. Our film studio began its work at the end of 50ies of the twentieth century. Many famous films were shot there: “Strong in Spirit”, “Trembita”, Privalov’s Millions” and others. When speaking about our painters we cam mention such names as Denisov-Uralsky, Volovich, Mosin, and Sterligova.

Yekaterinburg has rich sport traditions. There are many stadiums, swimming pools, gymnasiums, shooting galleries, sports grounds, and skating-rinks and ski complexes. Everybody knows the ski-jump complex situated on the Uktuss hills. Our volleyball team “Uralochka”, a hockey team, a boxer Konstantin Tzyu, a diver Irene Lashko – all of them are well-known in our country.

Yekaterinburg has been changing its appearance rapidly. Our city is very attractive now: many streets have become wider and cleaner. A lot of trees have been planted and in summer one can see multicoloured carpets of flowers in the streets, squares and public gardens. Our metro is not very long. It connects only several residential areas with the centre. But it is one of the most beautiful. Not long ago we got one more station – “Geological”. In 2008 we celebrated the 285^th anniversary of our city. And on this occasion the houses of our city had been repaired and painted. In winter our city looks much more strict and severe because of the colourless sky, dark lines of trees and white snow everywhere. But we like our city in any weather, we like the embankments of the City Pond, shadowy alleys of the Main Prospect (the Lenin Prospect), graphic lines of new districts. But most of all we like the spirit of the Yekaterinburg citizens – their strong will, trustworthiness and their readiness to help anybody if there is need. Our city is rich in gifted people. Many famous people lived in different times and brought glory to Yekaterinburg. I am proud of my city.

 

14. Answer the questions. *

1. When was Yekaterinburg founded?

2. Who was among the founders?

3. Where is the city situated?

4. The centre of what branches of industry did the city become very quickly?

5. What was there before the October revolution?

6. What large plants and factories of the city do you know?

7. When were they built?

8. Why is Yekaterinburg called one of the scientific centres of the country?

9. How many institutes are there?

10. What is the oldest institute of the city?

11. When did the first theatre appear?

12. How many theatres are there? What are they?

13. Which theatre do you like best of all?

14. Whom of Yekaterinburg writers and poets do you know?

15. Do you know any of the painters of the city?

16. What sport facilities do you and your friends use?

17. Whom of the famous sportsmen of the city do you know?

18. Is our city attractive? Why?

19. What is your favourite place in the city?

20. What do you want to see your city look like?