Russia

 

Russia is my native country. Russia is one of the largest countries in the world. Its total area is over 17 million square kilometers. The vast territory of Russia lies in the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia.

            Russia is washed by twelve seas and three oceans. The oceans are: the Arctic, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. The seas are: the White Sea, the Barents Sea, the Okhotsk Sea, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and others.

            Russia borders on many countries, such as Mongolia and China in the south-east, Finland and Norway in the north-west, and so on.

 

 The land of Russia varies very much from forests to deserts, from high mountains to deep valleys. The main mountain chains are the Urals, the Caucasus and the Altai. There are a lot of great rivers and deep lakes on its territory. The longest rivers are the Volga in Europe and the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena in Asia. The largest lakes are Ladoga and Baikal. Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and its water is the purest on earth.

 

Russia has every possible climate from arctic in the north to subtropical in the south. In the west, for example, the climate is usually mild and wet.  The southern parts of the country have warm temperature all year round, but the northern parts have very cold winters. In the middle of the country the climate is usually continental. Winters are cold, windy and snowy, and summers are hot and dry.

The Russian Federation is rich in natural resources. It has deposits of oil, gas, coal, iron, gold and many others.

The population of Russia is more than 145 million people. The European part of the country is densely peopled, and most population lives in cities and towns and their outskirts.  There are a lot of nationalities in Russia and people speak different languages. Russian is the official language of the state.

 Moscow is the capital of our Homeland. It is the largest political, scientific, cultural and industrial center of the country and one of the most beautiful cities on the globe.

Russia is a presidential republic. The head of State is the President.

Russia is a country with solid cultural traditions. There are many villages in Russia famous for their specific crafts. Painted boxes from Palekh and wooden tableware from Khokhloma are well-known all over the world.

There are a lot of Russian symbols. One of them is the Russian national flag. This flag is made up of three stripes: white, blue and red. These colours have always been symbolic in Russia. They symbolize nobleness, honesty, courage and love. Another Russian symbol is a double-headed eagle. Besides, there are other Russian symbols well-known all over the world, for example, Red Square, bear, Matryoshka dolls, pancakes with caviar, ushanka-hat.Russia is the motherland of many world-famous painters, writers and poets, architects, sculptors and dancers. Russia has made a priceless contribution to the world culture. Russian literature is known all over the world.The books by Leo Tolstoy and Feodor Dostoevsky are known the same as the works by Shakespeare and Dumas. “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, “Crime and Punishment” are translated into almost all languages. “Eugene Onegin” by the great Russian poet Pushkin is included into the list of world literature masterpieces of the 19th century, and many remarkable books appeared in the 20th century, for example “Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Russian classical music is well-known too. The best orchestras in the world play the symphonies by Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergey Rachmaninoff and Alfred Schnittke.Every staging of “Eugene Onegin” and “The Queen of Spades” by Tchaikovsky, “Boris Godunov” by Mussorgsky is a remarkable cultural event.

Russian opera singers and musicians are world-famous. Opera fans of Paris, London, Berlin, Milan and New-York applauded to Feodor Chaliapin. Great Russian conductors Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Spivakov are today’s idols of classical music fans all over the world.

Russian ballet, its rich traditions and famous names of the ballet dancers –are the most important cultural symbols of Russia. Russian school of classical ballet is considered to be the best in the world. The great Russian ballet dancers are Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, Michail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nuriev.

               Folk art is also very important for culture of Russia. Russian fine arts, literature, music and dancing art have incorporated centuries-old national cultural traditions and achievements. Originality and national peculiarity are reflected in folklore music and dances, in legends and tales, in traditions of national crafts.

As for sports, many events are popular in Russia, such as hockey, football, figure-skating, basketball, volleyball and many others. Much attention is paid to organized sports. There are different sporting societies and clubs in Russia. Our athletes are famous all over the world.

Famous Russian figure-skaters are Irina Rodnina, Evgeni Plushenko, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov.

               Soccer is also popular sport in Russia. Spartak, TsSKA, Zenit, Locomotive are names of best known football clubs. Football matches are always broadcasted on TV.

All water sports and activities are very popular, including swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, sailing, water skiing, canoeing.

Tennis has a large popularity. Today Russian tennis players are famous all over the world. Sharapova, Kurnikova, Kafelnikov, Miskina are the best known Russian tennis players.

Russian people are enthusiastic sports fans, and Russian athletes have won the respect of the world for their skill. A great number of world records have been set by Russian sportsmen: weightlifters, tennis players, swimmers, figure skaters, high jumpers. Our sportsmen also participate in the Olympic Games and always win a lot of gold, silver and bronze medals.

We are very proud of our country and its people.

Словарь:

ocean ['əuʃn] – океан
sea [si:] – море
lake [leɪk] – озеро
river [ˈrivər] – река

desert ['dezət] – пустыня
forest [ˈfɔrɪst] – лес

valley ['væli] – долина

mountain ['mauntin] –  гора

country [ˈkʌntrɪ] – страна
capital ['kæpitəl] – столица
city [ˈsɪtɪ] – город
town [toun] – город (небольшой)
village ['viliʤ] – деревня

The Atlantic Ocean [ði ətˈlæntɪk ˈəʊʃ(ə)n] – Атлантический океан
The Pacific Ocean [ðə pəˈsɪfɪk ˈəʊʃ(ə)n] – Тихий океан
The Arctic Ocean [ði ˈɑ:ktɪk ˈəʊʃ(ə)n] – Северный Ледовитый океан
The Baltic Sea [ðə ˈbɔ:ltɪk si:] – Балтийское море
The Barents Sea [ðə ˈba:rənts si: ] – Баренцево море
The Okhotsk Sea  [ðə əʊˈkɒtsk si: ] – Охотское море