2015-05-13
762
approximately - приблизительно
vicinity - окрестности
peninsula - полуостров
elevated plateau - возвышенное плоскогорье
magnificent - великолепный
steppe zone – степная зона
detachment - зд. отряд
The city of Ufa – a large industrial, scientific and cultural centre of the country- is located in the East of Europe. Ufa is the capital of multinational sovereign Bashkortostan within the Russian Federation. The first publicly elected President of the Republic is Murtaza Gubaidullovich Rakhimov. The city lies approximately 60 miles west of the ancient Ural Mountain ridges. Major industrial cities such as Samara, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, and Orenburg are located in the immediate vicinity of Ufa.
The capital of Bashkortostan lies upon a peninsula sorts, occupying an elevated plateau encompassed from the three sides by the Aghidel (the Belaya), the Ufa and the Dyoma Rivers. As in the whole of the Urals, the climate here is continental, but somewhat milder than in Yekaterinburg and Perm. Winters are normally snowy and cold and summers are hot.
The magnificent natural scenery of Ufa and its surroundings depends on the city’s location in the forest and steppe zone and on the nearness of big river. It is not surprising, therefore, that the beauty of the land was noticed by people of the ancient past.
In summer 1574, a detachment of Russian streltsi (privileged military corps) laid the foundation of a fortress on the high right bank of the Aghidel river. The small township, erected by the the Russian Tsar warriors on a hill, had initially borne the name of the hill – Tura-Tau. Later, when oaken palisading encircled the township, the locals used to call it “ Imenkala ”, that is “A town of Oak”. Nearly simultaneously the fortress started to be called “Ufa”, most probably, derived from ancient Turkish “ ufak ”, meaning “small” or “little”.
The population of the town was mainly composed of the so-called “service-class” –noblemen, streltsi, gunners. The number of inhabitants was growing (700 in the early half of the 17th century and 5,600 in 1718), the town limits were expanding, mostly along the roads, the main one was Kazan Road, which connected Ufa with Moscow via Kazan. Bolshaya Kazanskaya was the main street of the town at that time (presently Oktyabrskoi Revolyutsii Street).
As time went on, Ufa was turning from a service class-inhabited fortress into a political-administrative and business centre of the area. The Tsar’s ukaz of 1865 made Ufa the centre of Ufa Province. From this time there have been built many beautiful houses, theatres, hospitals and monuments in the capital of Bashkortostan.
The city of today consists of a number of detached districts, stretching from SW to NE for more than 30 miles, and occupies the area of approximately 180square miles. The population of the city is over 1,100,000 people.
I.Find English equivalents in the text: столица, приблизительно, многонациональный, окрестности, красота, берег, одновременно, население, граница, памятники, промышленный, континентальный, древний, дворяне.
