2020-05-12
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1) Valentine’s Day has always been the day dedicated to lovers.
2) Valentine’s Day has its origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, observed on Feb. 15.
3) Lupercalia celebrated the coming of Spring in the Roman calendar.
4) The legend of St. Valentine stems from real-life martyrs from the Roman Empire known as Valentines.
5) One of these Valentines was a Roman priest and physician.
6) He was killed in the third century, during the persecutions of the Emperor Claudius II.
7) A second Saint Valentine candidate was a bishop of Teni (a province in central Italy), was executed in Rome.
8) They harboured Christians from persecution, cured the blindness of a cell keeper’s daughter, and conducted marriages while they were forbidden during times of war.
9) These are the examples of congratulations:
Happy Valentine’s Day! I love you.
Take my heart in your hand.
My heart burns for you.
Text № 2. Minin and Pozharsky
1) They came from two different worlds – Dmitry Pozharsky belonged to the aristocracy and Kuzma Minin was the son of a salt producer.
2) They struggled for independence of Russia from the Poles.
3) The beginning of the seventeenth century was a time of great uncertainty in Russia.
4) Polish troops constantly invaded Russian lands.
5) By 1610 Polish troops occupied several Russian cities, including Moscow, and most of the territory was under the rule of Polish King Sigizmund the Second.
6) In 1611 Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin tried to free Moscow but Dmitry Pozharsky was seriously injured.
7) Kuzma Minin suggested every resident of Nizhny Novgorod should devote one third – or in some cases one fifth – of their belongings to form a militia.
8) In 1612 an army headed by Minin and Pozharsky had a bitter battle to free Moscow from the Poles.
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9) On the 24th of August the occupiers were fully crushed.
10) Moscow was liberated and Kuzma Minin and Count Dmitry Pozharsky became national heroes.
Text № 3. Oxford University
1) Oxford University was founded in the 12th century.
2) It was and has remained as an aristocratic university to the present day.
3) The University consists of 32 colleges.
4) Each college is an autonomous body.
5) There are 3 terms in the Oxford academic year.
6) Within the first week the freshman meets his tutor who tells him about the lectures which he must take, about the requirements for the examinations. He gives him a task for a week.
7) Once every week each undergraduate goes to his tutor and reads out his essay and discusses it with him.
8) Attendance at lectures is not compulsory.
9) At the beginning or end of each term the students takes the examinations.
10) The working day of the student begins at 9.
11) He attends lectures, works in the laboratory or in the library, sees his tutor.
12) They pay great attention to athletics at the University.
13) The majority of the students are graduates of private schools.
Text № 4. Udmurtia
1) The Udmurt Republic is situated in the European part of Russia between the Volga and the Urals.
2) Udmurtia is often called the country of big forests and clean streams.
3) There are many rivers in our republic but most of them are not long and deep.
4) The climate of the republic is continental.
5) Udmurtia is rich in oil, peat, medical mud and mineral water.
6) Udmurtia is a highly developed industrial region.
7) Agriculture is also well-developed.
8) The peasants grow wheat, rye, linen, potatoes and vegetables.
9) There are many big cattle-farms, which produce meat, milk, butter.
10) The population of Udmurtia consists of Udmurts who belong to the Finno-Ugric language group (31 percent), Russians (58 percent), and Tatars (7 percent).
11) Udmurt people are very talented, their folk songs are really charming.
12) The Udmurts are famous for their decorative and applied arts, monuments of peasant architecture.
13) They have rich traditions in weaving, knitting.
