SMALL HOUSE OF PETER THE GREAT IN ST. PETERBURG

 

A short distance from the Peter-and-Paul Fortress is the city’s first dwelling. It is hidden within a red brick building with large windows. Now it is a museum, the Small House of Peter the Great (Domik Petra).

This little shingle-roofed log cabin was put up in three days in May 1703. The roof was decorated by two wooden mortars and cannon balls, also made of wood. The Tsar was the captain of an artillery company.

The log cabin has only two rooms divided by a narrow hall. The right one was Peter the Great’s study and reception room, and the left one he used as a dining-room and bedroom. Being a very tall man (2.04 metres) the Tsar had to stoop to go through the door. It is recorded that Peter the Great did not like large rooms. When he was free he would watch the ships on the Neva River. This he did quite often as his house stood right at the edge of the water.

The walls of the house are covered with canvas as they were when Peter the Great was alive. There is a cast of his powerful hand; certain articles of furniture and household utensils have been restored. Just outside is a boat said to have been built by the Tsar himself.

On the opposite embankment is a stairway descending to the river, ornamented with unusual stone lions, Chinese representations of the mythological lion-frogs. They were presented to a Russian army officer, and have stood here, in front of Peter's house, since 1907.

Peter the Great’s house is also on an island, but a much bigger one than Hare Island. Once it was called Birch Island, because birches grow there. Today, it is the Petrograd District.

The island now has many public parks and gardens.

(From the guidebook "Leningrad")

 

Задание № 2. Ответьте на вопросы по тексту:

1. Where is Small House of Peter the Great situated?

2. What is it now?

3. How many rooms are there?

4. What are the walls of the house covered with?

5. What are the opposite embankments ornamented with?

 

Задание № 3. Выпишите из текста интернациональные слова.

Задание № 4. Выделите в следующих словах суффикс, определите по нему часть речи, переведите слова на русский язык:

centralization, comparatively, effusive, expansible, general, historic, majority, obliterate, jobless, motivate

 

Задание № 5. Выпишите из текста предложения: а) с глаголом в настоящем совершенном времени в страдательном залоге; б) с причастием I; в) с модальным глаголом tohaveto. Выделите указанные грамматические явления.

Задание № 6. Переведите предложения, обращая внимание на выделенные слова:

duty	a) The dutyof a postman is to deliver letters. b) He goes onduty at 9 a.m. and comes offdutyat 6 p.m. c) I have done my duty.
hit	a) He hithis hand when he fell. b) His new novel is quite a hit. c) Several hours later they hitthe right path in the wood.
paint	a) They presented the girl with a box of paints. b) What are you paintingthere? c) This artist paintsin oil.

 

Задание № 7. Закончите предложения:

a) She has to.... b) It is done.... c) They must....

d) Have you read …? e) You didn’t....

Вариант 4

 

Задание № 1. Прочитайте и письменно переведите текст: