Exercise 1.
a) Can you introduce yourself? Can you tell you partner what you name is, how old you are and when you were born, where you come from, where you live, how big your family is, if you have any sisters or brother, what your parents do, when you finished school, what university you go to, why you decided to enter Tver State Technical University, what you study, which year you are in now, if you have a job (a part-time job), what you want to do after you graduate. b) Can you ask your partner questions to find out this information about him / her?
Exercise 2. Read the text about Maurizio and use it as a pattern to speak about yourself.
My name’s Maurizio Celi. I come from Bolognia, a city in the noth of Italy. I’m a student at the University of Bolognia. I’m studying modern languages – English and Russian. I also know a little Spanish, so I can speak four languages. I’m enjoying the course a lot, but it’s really hard work. The course lasts three years, I’m in my second year now. I live at home with my parents and my sister. She’s three years my junior. My brother who is ten years my senior went to work in the United States last year. In four years I shall graduate from the university and I’m going to work as a translator. I hope so, anyway.
Exercise 3. Complete the following conversations with the phrases from the boxes, say in what situations they are possible, learn them by heart and act them out. Pay attention to the expression in bold and translate them.
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Exercise 4. Read the following short dialogues, try to reproduce them and then use them as a pattern to speak with your partner.
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Exercise 5. Read the text. Remember different ways of addressing people in English.
There are several ways of addressing people in English. The most universal ones that can be used when speaking to strangers as well as to people you know are: Mr. – to a man (Mr. Brown); Mrs. – to a married woman (Mrs. Brown); Miss – to an unmarried woman (Miss Brown); Ms – to a woman whose marital status is unknown (mostly used in the written; Ms Brown). These forms of address are never to be used without the person’s family name. People who have scientific degree – a PhD, ScD – are to be addressed Dr. (doctor) plus their surname (Dr. Brown), whereas doctors who cure people are simply Doctors, no name is necessary in this case. Professors can also be addressed by the title only. A school teacher is addressed Miss by the children in her class. Sir and Madame are mostly used when speaking to the customers. You’d better use officer addressing a policeman, Your Majesty addressing a King or a Queen, Ladies and Gentlemen addressing a group of people. In fact people in the English speaking countries prefer calling each other by their first name: Peter, Ann, etc. Exercise 6. Study the chart carefully and complete it. How many groups of the nationality words can you identify?
Exercise 7. Read the text.
Well, first of all I’d like to say that entering the university in the capital was my first step into adult life. Certainly I was aware that my life would change a lot and that I would face some difficulties (among which was sharing a room with unknown people), but I decided that it was time to start a new adult life. So now I live in a hostel and share my room with three boys. Frankly speaking during my first months in the hostel I felt like being in a health resort. I was free and it was like a breath of fresh air. But then I got used to it. Now it even seems to me as I have lived in the hostel for ages. When you live in a hostel you never feel lonely; here you always have somebody to turn for help, a piece of advice or just to talk to. I’ve acquired a lot of friends and acquaintances in the hostel, who will certainly lend me a hand if I need it. But sometimes living in a hostel annoys me, especially when some noise disturbs me and prevents me from work. I also want to admit that it’s very difficult to live with people who have another rhythm of life. For example, I’m an early riser but all the other girls in our room like to sleep as long as possible and I can hardly do anything until they awake. Besides you need to adapt yourself to other people’s desires and wishes and sometimes it’s very difficult, because the first wants to listen to hard music, the second wants to learn something and the third wants to sleep; the only way out in such a situation is to find a compromise. We successfully find it, though it isn’t very easy, and that’s why there no quarrels and disagreements in our room. But frankly speaking sometimes I dream of renting a flat. First of all, because you can do everything you want, you needn’t adjust to other people and their habits, for instance, if you want to sleep (even at a daytime) nobody will hamper you, if you want to study something in silence you can easily do it. And from time to time I think that it would be even better to live with parents. First of all, because home is home; it’s your little world where you live according to your own rules and interests. It’s a place where you feel comfort, warmth and reliability. There you have everything you need starting with meals your mother cooks every day and finishing with household appliances like iron, vacuum cleaner, TV set and computer. Also you have a room of your own where you can paper the walls according to your taste, arrange furniture as you like and do what you want.
Exercise 8. Read the text again and speak about yourself. Now, when you are a student, where do you live: do you go on living with you parents, or do you rent a flat (on your own or do you share it with some flat-mates?), or do you live in a hostel / dormitory? Do you like it or would you like to change your way of living? What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a hostel, renting a flat or living with parents? Can you name any other possible ways of living of a student? Exercise 9. Read the dialogue and be ready to retell it.
Exercise 10. Complete the texts with the words from the boxes.
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This country has quite a small population, just 16 million, but the country is _________. The people are mainly of European descent, but there are also aborigines and a lot of south-east Asian _________. People live in towns on the coast, not so much inland because it is so hot. They live a lot of their lives outdoors, and _________ sports, swimming, and having barbecues. This country _________ wine and wool – it has more than 60 million sheep!
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This is the second biggest country in the world, but it has a population of _________ 30 million. It is so big that there is a _________ of climates. Most people live in the south because the north is too cold. It is famous for its beautiful mountains and lakes – it _________ more lakes than any other country. Their _________ sports are baseball and baseball and ice hockey.
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This country has a population of about 45 million. Of these, 76 per cent are _________ and 12 per cent white. It has a warm _________. Either it never rains, or it rains a lot! It is the world’s biggest producer of gold, and it exports diamonds, too. It _________ a lot of fruit, including oranges, pears, and grapes, and it makes wine. In the game reserves you can see a lot of wildlife, including lions, _________, zebras, and giraffes.
Exercise 11. Re-read the texts above and answer the questions.
1. What countries are described? What are the names of their capitals? What languages do the people living there speak? 2. What other English-speaking countries do you know? What are their capitals? 3. What do you know about the United Kingdom and the four parts it is made up of? Give as much information about them as possible.
Exercise 12. Complete the following statements about the English-speaking countries with the suitable word.
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Exercise 13. Read the following text and try to fill in the missing words concerning Russia’s wonders. 1. _________ is considered to be a more European capital than Moscow. The creation of Peter the Great, it is best know for its 18th- and 19th-century palaces; the Peter and Paul fortress, a former prison; the Hermitage Museum, and the White Nights. 2. _________ is a group of towns and cities around Moscow – including Suzdal, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Kostroma and others. They offer a host of restored and abandoned churches, monasteries and fortresses, rich museums and preserved wooden villages. 3. Set on the Black Sea coast against the backdrop of the snow-capped Caucasus mountains, the beach resort town _________ was for a long time the place to spend a vacation, with its subtropical climate, warm seas, arboretum and gardens. Most tourists visit this town to relax on the beaches, swim in the sea and partake of its favourable climate; but its mineral spas and sanatoriums make it an ideal health resort. 4. Areas of _________, which rise dramatically above the Black Sea coast and run down to the Caspian Sea, are also noted for their plant diversity, subalpine pastures grazed by wild animals and lack of human disturbance. Here, one can go skiing, scale Europe's highest peak – the 5,642-meter Mount Elbrus – and relax at the spas of Mineralniye Vody. 5. Travellers can visit _________ to see its hot springs and view its wildlife and spectacular sunsets. This, a more than 1,000-kilometer-long peninsula dividing the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean, is said to be one of the least explored regions on Earth. The most amazing attraction is the Valley of the Geysers in Kronotsky National Park, which was only discovered in the 1940s. 6. A holiday pursuit popular among Russians but rarely tried by foreigners is to take the pulse of the country by plying its main artery, _________. The 3,700-kilometer-long river winds its way past republics and cities with varied environments, religions and economies, but all of which hold the river as something central to their cultural heritage. 7. An impressive spectacle near the border of Russia and Mongolia, _________ is 636 kilometres long and 80 kilometres wide – and is the world’s deepest lake. Surrounded by forests and mountain peaks, the waters are transparent to a depth of 40 meters in the summer, and freeze over so thick in the winter that the Trans-Siberian Railroad once ran over its surface. Exercise 14. What do you remember about London? Make questions to fit the following answers about London.
1. On the river Thames. 2. The City, Westminster, the West End and the East End. 3. Banks, offices and firms, including the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and the Old Bailey. 4. Big Ben. 5. Geoffrey Chaucer, Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Redyard Kipling, etc. 6. The West End. 7. In the memory of Admiral Nelson’s victory at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. 8. The National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. 9. Many factories and the Port of London. 10. Yes, it is.
Exercise 15. Read the following text about Tver.
The town of Tver stands on the great Russian River Volga. The town was known as Kalinin from 1931 to 1990. It is one of the oldest Russian towns. Tver was founded in 1135, so it is 12 years older than Moscow. In 1755 Tver became the principle town of the Tver province. In the 18th century Catherine the Great sent a group of architects headed by P. R. Nikitin to restore the town after two great fires. The best architects of Russia А. V. Kvasov and М. F. Kasakov worked up the town development plan. The town planning was considered to be a height of a three-rayed architectural composition. It has been preserved to our days. Many beautiful buildings designed by them are examples of Russian architecture. These buildings are: the Travel Palace, a number of buildings in Octagonal Square and on the bank of the Volga River. Many famous Russian poets and writers came to Tver many times. Some of them lived or stayed here for a long time: A. S. Pushkin, I. A. Krylov, M. Y. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L. N. Tolstoy, I. I. Lazhechnikov. Monuments to all these people were erected in our town. On the left bank of the Volga River we can also see the monument to the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin who was the first to visit India. In the second part of the 19th century Tver became a large industrial town. Here appeared large textile mills, a steam mill, a timber mill and a railway carriage building plant. Now Tver is a big industrial and administrative center of Tver Region. There are many large enterprises of engineering, metal working, textile, chemical, polygraphical and other industries: a printing combine which publishes text-books and magazines, a larger combine of children books, an excavator works, an artificial fibre combine and an artificial leather combine. Tver is also a big cultural centre of our country. Its Drama Theatre, Philharmonic Society, Children’s Theatre were built after the war. Tver has many cinemas, clubs, palaces of culture, a television centre and many libraries. The Gorky Regional Library was founded one hundred and fifty years ago (1860). It has over 600,000 books. Now it is a center of scientific research. There are many educational establishments in our town. Among them are State University, Technical University, State Medical Academy and Agricultural Academy. The country around Tver is very picturesque. The town of Tver grows and becomes more beautiful from year to year. Its old history, advantageous geographical location between the two Russian capitals, rich nature, developed industry, intellectual, scientific and cultural potential are sure to attract tourists to the Tver Region.
Exercise 16. Read the words with right pronunciation and stress.
Tver Province, provincial, architecture, Octagonal Square, embankment, monument, large textile mills, railway carriage building plant, enterprise, printing and publishing combine, artificial fibre and leather combines, industry, scientific, Drama Theatre, Philharmonic Society, picturesque, tourist.
Exercise 17. Re-read the text, answer the following questions.
1. Where does the town of Tver stand? 2. When was Tver founded? 3. Is Tver older than Moscow? 4. What role did Tver play in the history of our country in the past? And now? 5. By whom was the centre of the city designed? 6. What are the full names of the famous Russian architects Nikitin, Kvasov and Kazakov? 7. What buildings were built by these architects in Tver? 8. Can you name at least one architectural design outside Tver each of these architects is famous for? 9. Which Tver square and three Tver streets form the famous three-rayed architectural composition? What are their historical names? 10. Where is the Octagonal Square? What is its modern name? 11. What famous people lived and worked in Tver? 12. What are the full names of these famous Russian writers and poets? 13. What writers and poets our contemporaries come from Tver or live here? 14. Can you name at least one literary work each of them is famous for? 15. How is M. Y. Saltykov-Shchedrin also important for Tver? 16. What large Tver enterprises do you know? 17. What is the largest library in Tver? 18. What is this library famous for? 19. How many higher schools are there in Tver? 20. Why is our town so attractive for tourists?
Exercise 18. Translate the following sentenced into English. 1. Он расположен на Волге. 2. Тверь – один из старейших русских городов. 3. Город Тверь на 12 лет старше Москвы. 4. В Твери много современных предприятий. 5. В городе живет около 400 тысяч человек. 6. Тверь растет и становится краше с каждым годом. 7. Полиграфический комбинат выпускает сотни учебников и журналов. 8. Памятник Афанасию Никитину находится на берегу Волги. 9. Библиотека имени Горького – одна из старейших в городе.
Exercise 19. Complete the following sentences with suitable verbs in the right forms. 1. Tver _________ in the 12th century. 2. The centre of the town _________ by Kasakov and Nikitin. 3. This centre _________ to our days. 4. A monument to Krylov _________ in our town. 5. Many new buildings _________ in the former «outskirts». 6. The Gorky Library _________ in a big building. 7. The town _________ by forests. Exercise 20. Read the following small texts and give them titles. 1. The Oktyabrskaya Railway linking Moscow and St Peterburg is crossing the town. The primary Tver Railway Station has a locomotive and car shed, allowing it to service both passenger and cargo trains. Besides the Tver Station, there are three minor stations within the town perimeter: Lazurnaya, Proletarskaya and Doroshikha. The suburban railway service links Tver to Moscow, Bologoe, Torzhok and Vasilevsky Mokh (via a separate line). Most trains passing from Moscow to the north-west regions make a short stop in Tver. 2. The major M 10 motorway linking Moscow and St Peterburg is also crossing the town. This motorway is a part of Pan-European corridorssystem. The roads to Rzhev (A 112), Vesyegonsk (P 84) and Volokolamsk (P 90), along with many smaller regional roads, originate in the town. The new highway between Moscow and St Peterburg, that is being designed at the present time, will pass closely to the northern border of Tver. Tver is notable by a pretty high relative number of private cars: there are 288 cars per thousand residents, which is well above average among other regions of Russia. There is also a local bus station that interconnects Tver with minor towns of the home region, neighbouring regions, and Moscow. Local public transport consists of trolleybuses, trams, buses, and fixed-run taxis.
Exercise 21. a)Translate into English the following text about the early days of Tver railway carriage building plant.
История Тверского вагоностроительного завода – это история российского вагоностроения. А она неразрывно связана с историей развития Российских железных дорог. В 1857 году был издан императорский указ о строительстве первой сети железных дорог протяженностью 4000 верст, а в последующие годы ежегодно вводилось в действие по 1750 км стальных магистралей. Железным дорогам во всевозрастающем объеме требовался подвижной состав. Но единственный в России Александровский завод, строивший вагоны, паровозы и занимавшийся их ремонтом, не обеспечивал растущие потребности железных дорог в подвижном составе. Поэтому пассажирские вагоны закупали за границей, преимущественно в Германии и Франции, но они не удовлетворяли ни климатическим условиям России, ни техническим требованиям, предъявляемым к вагонам русскими инженерами. В 1892-1896 годы был принят ряд законов, по которым железные дороги обязывались приобретать весь подвижной состав, в том числе и пассажирские вагоны, только отечественного производства. В Твери началось строительство «Верхне-волжского завода железнодорожных материалов». Он должен был специализироваться на выпуске железнодорожного подвижного состава от грузовых платформ и вагонов до пассажирских вагонов высшего класса. b) What do you know about the further history of the Tver railway carriage building plant and its connections with the war and cosmos machine-building? What famous mechanical engineers working at our plant at different time can you name? Exercise 22. Read the text about Tver again and get ready to speak about it. Exercise 23. Read the following words and expressions. They are all used in giving directions. Translate them.
Go straight ahead for … yards / meters. Take the first / second / etc. on the right / left. Turn right / left at …. It’s on your right / left. You can’t miss it.
Exercise 24. Read and translate the text. Mark all the prepositions of place you come across in the text.
The library is on the corner of Station Road and Green Street, opposite the flower shop. It’s easy to get there from this place. You go down the path, past the pond, over the bridge, and out of the gate. Then you go across the road and take the path through the wood. When you come out of the wood you walk up the path and into the Church Street. Then you walk along it and through the tunnel under the railroad and you see the flower shop right in front of you. Turn round and there you are. It takes seven minutes.
Exercise 25. Read the text and put in suitable prepositions.
Let me tell you how to get to our place. Are you coming by car? OK. You drive _________ the A 1734 _________ Blackstone for about twelve miles; go _________ the first turn to Stroop, take the second turn, and then go straight on until you come to a crossroads. Go straight _________ the crossroads, _________ a petrol station, take the next right and drive _________ the park. On the other side of the park, go _________ the canal bridge, _________ the hill, turn left _________ the Market Square, keep straight on _________ the railway bridge and you’ll come _________ Miller Street. It’s probably best to park there, because there isn’t usually a space _________ our house. We’re just _________ the corner from the post office – 37 Jackdaw Lane.
Exercise 26. Read the following dialogue, say in what situations it is possible, learn it by heart and act it out.
Exercise 27. Match the English replies with the Russian equivalents at the dialogue.
Exercise 28. Complete the following dialogues, learn them by heart and act them out.
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Exercise 29. Read the following words and expressions. They are all used in telephone conversations. Divide them logically into three groups; what groups are these? Translate the phrases.
Hello, I’d like to speak to Mr …. Speaking. I’m afraid he’s in a meeting / not in the office / still at lunch / not available right now. Is there anything I can do for you? Hello, this is Miss … calling from …. Hold on a moment, please. Could you ask her to call me back, please? I’ll just find out if she’s back yet / in the other office / available. Is Ms … available, please? My name’s …. I’ll put you through to Miss …. Could you give him a message, please? I’ll call you back later today. I’ll ask her to call you back as soon as she’s free. What’s your extension number / fax number? What time do you expect her back? Thank you very much for your help. Exercise 30. Read the following telephone dialogues and decide who is speaking to who, what about, and how well they know each other.
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Exercise 31. Work in pairs. Follow these flowcharts to practice making a phone call, using some of the expressions in Exercises 29 and 30. Do this twice, so that you each have a turn playing both roles. Say in what situations these dialogues are possible. To simulate the situation of a telephone conversation, you and your partner must sit back-to-back so that you can’t see each other’s faces.
a) Student A phones Student B.
b) Student A phones Student B.
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