B. Russian National Characteristics

Much has been said and written about the Russian character. Traditionally, the Russians have always been reputed as addicted to vodka and a bit out-of-this-world. They possess an outstanding ability to live rough all life long just grumbling about it instead of looking for a dramatic solution.

Those who are distantly familiar with Russian culture, History and present-day life in this country are sure to admit that Russia is a land of contrasts and contradictions. Possessing the richest deposits of natural resources in the world, the overwhelming majority of Russians are confronted with huge unemployment and outrageous conditions of living. Since the early nineties the economic prospects have been getting steadily worse, which invariably brings about turmoil, violence, and as a result, spiralling up crime rate.

Russian tourists are never respected abroad, as they are considered to be sloppy, fussy, aggressive and vulgar. At the same time there is no denying the fact that quite a few Russians are well-read, affable, disciplined and thoughtful. Why these contradictions? The answer is that Russian society tends to be very complicated structurally. There are quite a few social groups or even classes with unique features of their own. The characteristics and behaviour of the members of a certain class cannot be taken as general for the whole nation.

But still there are some features typical of every Russian that nobody can deny. The most striking of them are tolerance, hospitality, candidness, and kind -heartedness. Russia has a long cultural tradition, and a great number of outstanding, genuine masterpieces have been created by Russian sculptors, artists, writers and musicians.

Despite all that millions of Russians suffer from drug- and alcohol-addiction. In Russia adults are too inarticulate and shy to explain to their children how to use contraceptives, and there is no sex education at school, which results in undesirable pregnancy and thousands of abortions.

Since the demolition of the Soviet Union Russia has been suffering from economic and cultural crises, political aberrations and corruption. It is no longer one of the most powerful states in the world it used to be. Now it is in a really pitiful condition. In order to survive and safeguard political independence and state integrity the Russians are to strengthen their position on the world arena, or else its remarkable cultural heritage and traditions may be wiped off the face of the Earth.

My best friend

I couldn’t agree more with the statement once made by Sir Winston Spencer Churchill to the effect that ‘Books and friends should be few, but good’. Guided by this maxim, I’ve got a lot of nodding acquaintances, and only one close friend. His name is John Smith. We made friends years ago, to be more specific, when we started school at the age of 6. We used to live in the same block of flats, and were able to see a lot of each other on a daily basis till I moved to another living area of Moscow. And, though, being very sociable I made quite a few new acquaintances, John has remained my only bosom friend throughout all these years. Like Oliver Goldsmith, the outstanding English writer and playwright, ‘I love everything that is old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine’, and I don’t find anything radically wrong about it.

Besides being of the same age, John and I are also of the same Zodiac sign, which is Virgo. Therefore it’s only natural that we should have a lot in common and see a great many things in the same way. Like a typical Virgo John is decisive and upright. He likes helping others and hates quarrelling. That’s why whenever there arise differences between us, they never lead to a clash of opinion or a row, for John is invariably the first to stretch out a reconciling hand, which I appreciate a lot. What I admire best about him, however is, that he is most dependable and loyal as a friend. I trust him entirely, and I am positive I can rely on him in any situation. He has never let me down or hesitated to get me out of the worst predicaments imaginable.

John was doing remarkably well at school and always produced an excellent set of term grades. His routine preparation showed consistent application and tremendous effort. He made steady and dramatic progress and, as a result always put up an excellent performance in exams showing a sound understanding of the concepts covered. Though John displayed an intelligent interest in all the subjects offered at school and was equally good at nearly all of them, his academic preferences obviously lay in liberal arts, where he attained especially good results. Like myself, John has always been particularly enthusiastic about doing foreign languages and has acquired a fairly nice command of English.

John finds all kinds of studies pleasingly challenging and is always game to give of his best. He is one of the most conscientious and hard-working students I have met so far. He has been very positive in his approach, refusing to be beaten by any difficulties of academic or otherwise character, for which he undoubtedly deserves great credit. I believe that his ability to succeed is far above average and, at times, is really exceptional. No wonder, he should have ranked among the top students of our class back at school.

John is a brilliant team player, and the two of us make a perfect team, doing things together. We adore classical music and spend a great deal of time listening to it either at Concert Halls and Opera Houses, or at home. Where light music is concerned, our preferences lie with jazz. When we get together we often do jazz playing the piano and the guitar in order to entertain our friends and ourselves. We are both great and sincere lovers of the theatre. We used to be theatre-goers never missing a chance to see a good performance.

We happen to like the same writers and the same genres of Belles-Lettres and can talk about books for hours on end.

Apart from being well-read and well-educated, my friend is a strong athlete. He has always been impressing it on me that future belongs to the fit, so the two of us have always been active participants in organized sport, going in for wresting, football and swimming. John is in tip-top shape. He is a real big guy, well-built and broad-shouldered, not fat at all, but solid. He is very pleasant to look at, and this opinion of mine is shared by many a girl. He is olive-skinned, has dark curly hair, which he wears short, and big blue eyes with long eye-lashes. And there are dimples, the cutest little dimples in his cheeks. But it is his personality rather than handsome exterior that attracts people. He has a lot to offer as a person. He has very good manners, a keen sense of humour, cheerful and charismatic disposition, which makes it extremely easy for him to socialize with his peers and adapt himself to diverse social environment. His high integrity, reliability, friendly and compassionate approach are duly appreciated by people around and win him universal respect.

Our mutual attachment is steadily growing with every passing day. John has become sort of brother to me, and without him my life would be incomplete and quite a bt lonely.

THE 39 STEPS»

SUMMARY

The action of the film is laid in G.B. (partly in London, England and partly in Scotland), on the eve of World War I. Retired Colonel Scudder, a former agent of the British Intelligence Service, has unearthed evidence proving that before long the whole of Europe will be plunged into war, with Prussia behind the conspiracy. However hard he tries to bring it home to Mr. Portman and Lord Harkness, seniour officials of the British Intelligence office, neither of them will see the mortal danger looming over the country, its fleet and the Greek Prime- minister Karolides who is to be assassinated on the 15th. On the contrary, they go on to accuse him of overstating the danger and crying wolf. Their complacency and short-sightedness cost them their lives; both of them get assassinated by Prussian agents-'sleepers'.

Colonel Scudder does realize that the sleepers won't stop short of anything in order to dispose of all those who might jeopardize or frustrate their vicious plans. Unfortunately, there is little he can do, for sleepers dexterously pass themselves off as natives in any social or otherwise situation resorting to outrageous bluff. His desperate attempt to escape so as to gain time for collating the facts amassed ends in failure. He also dies a violent death. However before he dies he succeeds in confiding the results of his background research to a certain Mr. Hannay, who appears to be his co-tenant.

At first Mr. Hannay, a mining engineer in South Africa and a sheer dilettante where politics is concerned, doesn't believe a single word of Scudder's, being altogether unable to make out the latter's message. He is a fast learner, though, and by and by he begins to get an insight into what is going on.
Meanwhile the situation develops like a house on fire taking quite an unexpected turn. Hannay gets arrested by the Metropolitan Police for allegedly murdering Colonel Scudder. He is kept in custody pending trial. Having become inadvertently involved in a stark-dangerous cloak-and - dagger game, Hannay automatically turns into the target object for the sleepers who kidnap (abduct) him hoping to find on him the Late Colonel

Scudder's note-book. Upon finding none whatsoever, they leave him to his own devices convinced that he will lead the way in an attempt to reach the note-book.

Ingenious Hannay happens to outwit the Prussians and escape from them, which triggers off a dangerously exhilarating manhunt. Guided by an only clue-phrase in the black note-book, Hannay heads for Strathallan, a Scottish one-horse dorp. It takes colossal physical effort as well as extraordinary ingenuity and resourcefulness on his part to always be one step ahead of his pursuers, who are far from being amateurs. He owes a great deal of his luck to David Hamilton, a Scottish landowner, and Miss Alex Mackenzie, David's fiancee who help Hannay out of the worst predicaments imaginable, with David Hamilton at the cost of his life.
In the long run Mr Hannay and Miss Mackenzie accompanied by superintendent Lomas who is now well aware of Hannay's innocence reach London equipped with the precious note-book whose contents are ciphered in Colonel Scudder's personal code extremely difficult to crack the key to. They arrive just in time to prevent the Prussians from translating their monstrous plan into life. Many a time do Hannay and his Brothers-in-arms have to risk their necks. Hannay stops the minute hand of the Big Ben clock before it reaches 11.45 and preventing an explosion in Parliament, so that the Greek Premier's life is saved as well as those of a great many MP's. The plot is disclosed, Edmund Appleton, the principal conspirator-convicted of treason and sentenced to the gallows. Owing to Richard Hannay's courageous exertions Colonel Scudder's will is fulfilled to the letter - the British fleet stays intact and Great Britain gains valuable time to prepare for the war.