Say whether these statements are true or false as in the example.

The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world.

T

1. The country is washed by 3 seas and 12 oceans.
2. The Volga is the longest river in Asia.
3. The legislative power is vested in the Federal Assembly.
4. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world.
5. Russia is not rich in natural resources.
6. Russia is a Constitutional Monarchy.
7. To become a law a bill must be approved by the State Duma and signed by the President.
8. The members of the Federal Assembly are elected for a five-year period.
9. The State symbol of Russia is a two-coloured banner.

Answer the questions on the text.

1. Where is the Russian Federation situated?

1. What countries does Russia border on?
2. Which seas is Russia washed by?
3. What is the longest river in Russia and in Europe?
4. What is the deepest lake in the world?
5. What kind of country is Russia?
6. When was the Russian Federation set up?
7. What branches of power are there in Russia?
8. Which is the Lower (the Upper) Chamber?
9. How does a bill become a law?
10. What is the judicial power exercised by?
11. What is the state symbol of Russia?
12. What do the three stripes of the banner symbolize?
13. What is a new national emblem of Russia?

Speak on Russia.

ADDITIONAL TEXTS

NEW YORK

New York is one of the youngest of the world's great cities. It received its first official name, New Amsterdam, in 1625, after the Dutch explorer Henry Hudson first had sailed into the bay in 1609 and navigated north on the river now named for him.

The city's growth begins in 1624 with the arrival of Dutch families sent by the Dutch West India company. New Amsterdam was the name chosen for their settlement on the island of Manhattan. When England, a trading rival of Holland, gained control of the island from the Dutch in 1664, they changed its name to New York. New York remained British until 1783 when the British Army defeated in the War of Independence took to their ships and left for good.

Immigrant groups began to arrive in New York as early as in the 17th century, the number of people in Manhattan passed the 2 million mark by 1910.

New York is the nation's economic and financial centre. It remains an important manufacturing centre, although a declining one. It is the nation's centre for book and magazine publishing and the visual and performing arts. The Port of New York is the nation's second-busiest harbour with the Statue of Liberty standing on Liberty Island. Visitors to New York arrive in two major airports – Kennedy International and La Guardia.

A magnet for most visitors to New York is Broadway – the theatre district on the west side of Manhattan. This is the place to come to see the newest hits and the ageless classics. And for playwrights, directors, actors, and actresses, Broadway is still the pinnacle they strive for.

Wall Street is the shorthand term for the area in southern Manhattan with banks, stock and commodity exchanges. Wall Street, known the world over as the symbol of the capitalist system, is in fact a fairly narrow thoroughfare, not wider than an alley.

All the world seems to be in New York – people from Africa, Asia, Europe, Central and South America, India. They have their neighbourhoods, such as Chinatown and Little Italy, Greenwich Village, with its artists and writers, and Harlem, a large area now populated largely by African-American and Hispanic groups.

The symbols of New York are its skyscrapers, the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, the Empire State Building, a 102-story building and the twin skyscrapers of the World Trade Center, each 110 stories high were destroyed by terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

Major New York's museums are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and Guggenheim Museum.

A refuge from the busy pulse of the city is its Central Park, a huge area between 59th and 110th Streets. There you can find lakes, fountains, bridges, paths, tennis courts, skating rinks, playgrounds, playing fields, and huge lawns.

HENRY HUDSON

New York is situated in the mouth of the Hudson River which was named after Henry Hudson.

About 350 years ago a brave navigator Henry Hudson set out from England in a small ship with a small crew across the Atlantic Ocean. They had many adventures and told different stories on returning home.

Next time Hudson started off in a boat called the "Discovery". He explored Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay, naming them after himself, as he was the first man to discover them.

Then troubles began: for 3 months they tried to escape from the bay covered with ice, but could not. Winter came on, there was very little food, many sailors were ill. Hudson tried to find a passage out but in vain.

Then his sailors rebelled. They decided to punish him: they tied Hudson up, his little son and some others, placed them in an open boat and left them in the sea.

Nobody saw or heard about the little boat and its starving crew. So, this brave explorer died tragically in the waters of the bay which he himself had discovered.

Notes:

adventure	приключение
trouble	несчастье
to escape	избежать, вырваться
in vain	напрасно
to rebel	бунтовать
to punish	наказать
to tie (up)	связать
to starve	умирать с голоду

 

 

THE ERECTION OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

The centennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence (in 1879) in the US gave Edouard de Laboulaye, a French writer on American history and life, an opportunity to propose the erection of a memorial to commemorate the alliance of the two countries. Auguste Bartholdi, a young French sculptor, was selected to plan and execute the memorial. After his first visit to New York he decided to erect a colossal statue of liberty upon one of the islands in the harbour.

Acting on this suggestion, the French began in 1875 to raise funds for the construction of such a statue. The task proved to be greater than had been expected and the statue was not completed in Paris until July 4, 1884. Meanwhile, an American committee was raising funds for the construction of the pedestal. The money was secured in 1886. After the statue had been dismantled in Paris, it was shipped to New York aboard a French ship to be reassembled in New York Harbour.

Incoming and outgoing ships pass near it – the figure of a woman who has just reached her freedom. Grasping a burning torch in her right hand and in her left holding a book of law inscribed July 4, 1776, she is represented as breaking the shackles lying at her feet.

The statue is forty-six metres high – not counting the pedestal it stands on. The pedestal itself is also about forty-six metres. The hollow in the crown on the head of the Statue of Liberty is so large that people can stand in it.

 

THE HISTORY OF NEW YORK

In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian, sailing in the service of the King of France, tried to find a western route to India. He sailed his ship along the eastern coast of North America and on the way found a very pleasant, place within two hills, between which flowed to the sea a very great river, which was very deep in the mouth. He was afraid to go into the river in his ship, so he used a small boat to sail into the bay. Verrazano was the first white man who visited the bay of New York.

However, the real discovery of New York was made only in 1609. Henry Hudson, an English adventurer, employed by the Dutch East India Company, also tried to find a western route to India. In his small vessel, the Half Moon, he was able to sail up the river which now bears his name. He brought trinkets ¹ and fire-arms to the Indians, and the Indians would bring him valuable furs. Hudson sent home reports of his discovery, of the bay and of the valuable furs. Several rich Dutch merchants sent ships to the Hudson River, and a new Dutch West India Company was established. In 1624 the Dutch ship New Netherlands brought thirty Dutch families to the mouth of the Hudson River. The new colony was called New Netherlands. This first colony was not on Manhattan Island, where the present city of New York stands, but higher up on the Hudson River.

In 1626 a new governor of the colony came, and during the summer of that year he bought Manhattan Island from Indians. The island where a huge city was to stand was bought for trinkets valued at 24 dollars. A fort was built on the island, and the new town was named New Amsterdam.

The next governor's attitude towards the Indians was such that a war against the Indians began in 1643. It ended only several years later.

The last and ablest Dutch governor was Peter Stuyvesant. He was an old man with a wooden leg. He established the first police and fire laws and built a wall which enabled him to protect the city against the Indians. The wall ran along the present Wall Street ² and gave it its name.

But one should remember that the English also had their colonies in North America. The English governor did not like this Dutch colony which lay between New England ³ and the southern English colonies, and controlled the profitable fur trade.

That is why, in 1664, King Charles II gave to his brother, Duke of York, all the land between the Connecticut River and the Delaware Bay.

The Duke's ships appeared in the bay. The defenses of New Amsterdam were poor and the Dutch had to surrender the fort on Manhattan Island. Towards the end of that year, 1664, New Amsterdam became New York.

 

Notes:

1 trinkets	безделушки
2 Wall Street	улица в Нью-Йорке, на которой находится нью-йоркская фондовая биржа (Stock Exchange) и основные банки; финансовый центр США, символ американского финансового капитала.
3 New England	название, данное первыми английскими колонистами территории, на которой в настоящее время находятся штаты Массачусетс, Мэн, Вермонт, Нью-Гэмпшир, Род-Айленд и Коннектикут.

THE USA

The United States of America, whose name is often shortened to the USA, occupies most of the southern part of the continent of North America. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders on Canada in the north and Mexico in the south.

The total area of the USA is over nine million square kilometres. It is the fourth largest country in the world. As its name indicates, the USA is made up of a number of states, 50 altogether. Forty-eight of these states are joined to one another. The other two states are Alaska, bordering north-west Canada, and the islands of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The population of the country is about 250 million people.

Most visitors to the USA are struck by four things about the country. These are its huge size, its great wealth, its contrasting landscapes and climates, and its variety of people. The individual states themselves are as big as many other countries. There is a five-hour time difference between New York City on the east coast and Los Angeles on the west coast.

The USA is a federal republic. The federal government's power is divided between three branches – the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.

The executive branch of the government puts the country's laws into effect. The executive branch is headed by the President who heads both the government and state. The President must be at least 25 years old, and be a natural citizen of the USA. In addition, he must have lived in the US for at least 14 years, and be a civilian. The President is elected every four years and cannot serve more than two terms. The Vice-President of the USA is president of the Senate. When the President receives a bill from the Congress, he must sign it, and then the bill becomes a law. However, if he disagrees with the law, he can veto it. The President can also ask the Congress to declare war. He also appoints the justices to the Supreme Court. He must do his job according to the Constitution, or he may be impeached.

The legislative branch is represented by the Congress, which is made up of two houses of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each state has two senators, who are elected every 6 years. A senator must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the United States for 9 years, and live in the state she or he will represent. A representative must be at least 25 years old, a citizen for 7 years, and live in the state.

The legislative branch makes the laws of the nation. Its powers include raising money through taxes, regulating trade between states, and declaring war.

The judicial branch of the government is the system of courts in the United States. Its job is to enforce the laws. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the country. It consists of 9 justices appointed for life by the President and approved by the Senate. The Supreme Court makes sure that people obey the laws. The judicial branch works together with the legislative and executive branches to protect the Constitution and the rights of people.

 

GRAMMAR

Participle

Table 14

 

Verb	Participle I V4 (ing)	Participle II V3
protect защищать	protecting защищающий	protected защищенный
get получать	getting получающий	got полученный